I love Montreal

On Friday I got up early and headed into Montreal. The original plan was to ride in to the city and then come back but I realized that I had a low tire again so apparently the repair in NYC was not a repair at all but just a seven dollar looksee. I figured a drive into town and a rideabout while the tire was fixed would put me closer to my final destination and give me more time to explore the city. When I got to town I wandered around until I saw a very strong rider ahead. I promptly got on his wheel and decided to see where he would take me. This was no easy task as he was both strong and talented and a bit crazy. His riding was a carving ballet of poetry in motion. Suddenly he parallel jumped up onto a curb, hopped off his bike and walked into a corner bike shop so I followed him inside. There are bike stores and bike shops. This was the latter.

The cyclist I had followed was not in sight. It turns out he works there. It was a great shop and I spent an hour there hanging out. When they found out I was from Austin, they remarked that that was where Stevie Ray Vaughn was from. Nothing else was said. hmmmm. They also agreed that none of them will follow the guy that I followed. hmmmmx2. When I got ready to leave one of the wrenches who was bilingual said that the guy sitting at the counter was offering to take me for a tour of the city but spoke almost no English. Well hell yeah!

I took lots of Gopro videos but not enough pictures. Pierre took me to another bike shop that he said was the best in town for expensive bikes. He said they had $3,000 bikes there. When we arrived, I was blown away. It was 4 times the size of Mellow Johnny's. Downstairs there was a swim center, a running center and massage tables along with testing labs and generous baths and showers. Upstairs they had several showrooms to showcase the 8 brands they carry. I was given a nice tour of the place.

Montreal has even more cyclists than Toronto and I was a bit blown away by encountering bicycle traffic jams and bicycle super paths. This is bicycle heaven. I rode all around after parting with Pierre and crossed a monster bridge. Not a great picture of the bridge but a good video for later sharing.

The only problem in Montreal is that I was told the police have it in for cyclists and have been giving a rash of tickets for no wheel reflectors at 40$ a pop. I took my chances. After collecting my car I headed on to the east to Quebec city. Another of Canada's massive bridges.

I drove on through and stayed for the next couple of nights at a campground on the far end of Ile d'Orleans just east of the city. The Island is in the St. Laurence Bay and is home to lots of well run farms that are currently exploding with asparagus, strawberries and blueberries. I ate myself into a berry coma.