Today the route would take us
through Montréal Island; however, it would primarily take us along the
outskirts of the city of Montréal. Gee and Larry wished to venture in the city and
tour around and so Louise and I as well as Rob and Yukon Greig decided to tag
along. Our venture ended up becoming quite eventful.
The cycle into the city was great. To
get onto Montréal Island we had to go over a bridge and then a spiral bicycle
path to get down, it was really neat. Once we were on the island we cycled
along the St. Lawrence River which was stunning. We stopped to check out a few
people who were white water rafting :)
At approximately kilometer 60 Gee
took over navigation to get us into the city. Our first stop ended up being a
market called “Marche Atwater,” where we had a snack. It was an awesome food
market, fully of great goodies and lots of people.
Afterwards we ventured to Mont
Royal. The cycle to get to the mountain was more difficult than going up the
mountain itself. There was this insanely steep hill with a stop light at the
top of it that we had to cycle up before reaching the entrance to go up the
mountain. When cycling up steep hills I get a bit nervous because it is a bit
difficult to unclip my feet and so I fear falling over when I reach the top. This hill proved to be
a bit nerve-racking because there was a lot of traffic and as I was reaching
the top of the hill the light turned red. Rather than stop I went onto the
sidewalk. It was a very awkward moment and I concluded that it should be
illegal to have a stop sign at the top of a hill :P In comparison to that
frustratingly steep hill in busy traffic the cycle up Mont Royal was easy
peasy. The view from the top was incredible. I could see all of Montréal; it
was definitely worth getting up that hill to see that view.
The group of us were starting to get
hungry and Gee and Larry said that if you are in Montréal you have to visit Schwartz
which is famous for its Montréal smoked meat. The deli was founded in 1928 and
it continues to go on strong. There are line ups outside the door onto the
street of people waiting to get a Montréal smoked meat sandwich. We stood in
line for 20-30min. A friend of Louise joined us for lunch as she had not seen
Louise since university. All of us ordered the Montréal smoked meat sandwich and
it was amazing, definitely worth the wait. Plus, the service was incredible.
The waiters there were extremely nice and made you feel welcome.
Lunch did not end with sandwiches.
According to Gee and Larry a visit to Montréal also required getting freshly
made bagels and so we cycled our way to “La Maison L’Original Fairmount Bagel”
where they bake bagels in a massive wood oven, it was awesome to see and the
bagels were yummy :)
At this point I was starting to get
a bit anxious to get to camp as it was getting a bit late and we still had
about 40/50km to go. But before we left the city we saw Notre Dame, which is
always nice to see because it is a beautiful church and located in Old Montréal,
which is definitely worth the visit. However, the traffic was getting to me and
I was getting a headache as I was anxious and just wanted to get out of Montréal,
get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Luckily we left after seeing
the church.
To get off Montréal Island we had to
go over a bridge which had a bicycle path. The bridge was pretty high up but
the view was amazing.
Once we got off the island I was definitely feeling the exhaustion
from the eventful day set in. Unfortunately this exhaustion led to a minor
incident.
When cycling over railroad tracks,
one must ensure their bicycle wheels are perpendicular to the tracks, if not
you run the risk of having your wheel get caught in the tracks and that is
exactly what happened to me. Rather than cycle diagonally over the tracks I
simply continued going straight ahead resulting in Paula’s wheel catching the
tracks and consequently me toppling over. I did not hit my helmet against the
pavement, rather I somehow struck my sunglasses which sliced open my skin and caused
a minor head wound with a lot of blood. Since I was exhausted all I wanted to
do was lay down, which is just what I did for a couple minutes and Gee, Larry,
Louise, Yukon Grieg, and Rob gave me some space, which I appreciated. A couple
saw the incident and stopped, came over, and helped me out by cleaning out the
wound which was really nice, I appreciated their kindness immensely. Luckily at this point we were outside the city and traffic wasn’t busy
so the remainder of the ride was quiet, which was exactly what I needed at that
point. We all made it safely back to camp without any further incidents.
Despite the crash and the busyness of the day, it was enjoyable and I
experienced it with some great people.
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