Local Motions VerMontreal Tour: A First Person Report

By
Andy Berisford
Posted February 21st, 2011

Day 1: South Hero, Vermont to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec, 65 miles.
We started at Snow Farm Vineyard in South Hero. It was a beautiful morning, but a bit chilly. The forecast was for sun and perfect riding temperatures in the low 70s. And, in fact, the weather was a carbon copy of the first day’s riding on last years trip.
We rode about four miles and then took the ferry across to New York. The route this year was up the west shore of Lake Champlain. We had lunch in Rouses Point, N.Y. at Sandy’s, at mile 32, almost exactly half-way to Saint Jean. We had sandwiches, macaroni salad, potato salad, and a large assortment of tasty cookies. We ate outside in a little park at a picnic table made of poured concrete, notable because it was nearly impossible to stand up after lunch without taking a chunk out of one’s leg.
The entire ride was flat and almost all on roads with little traffic. Once we got off the main road in New York, I think one car passed me on the trip and maybe two coming the other way. In Rouses Point, there is a bridge that goes back over to Vermont. It would be a lovely day-long ride to start at the ferry terminal in Vermont, cross and ride up to Rouses Point, over the bridge, and back down through the Champlain Islands.
Auberge Harris is a hotel that specializes in hosting cyclists. The place is rather surreal. The rooms are oddly shaped and the furnishings are somewhat strikingly odd. But it is quite comfortable and they know how to keep cyclists happy. They have covered secure bike parking, very hot water for showers, lots of towels, kitchenettes, and a swimming pool.
Anyway, B and TT had checked in by the time TF and I arrived. We all showered. TF took a nap. The rest of us went out to the yard and cheered in arriving cyclists. MS and I had our knitting, so we sat and chatted and knitted and had a grand time of things. TF joined us later for the reception. The folks at Auberge Harris do a nice casual reception after everyone has arrived and cleaned up. They serve beer and wine and sodas, and have high-carb snacks, perfect for after a full day of cycling.
We chose to walk back into town for dinner. The walk is about two miles, we think. They run shuttles back and forth, but we think the walk helps keep our muscles loose after all that riding. We went to the same drink spot, La Trinquette, which has an awesome outdoor space. It was packed with people, and it was fun to watch everyone. After our gin and tonics we strolled to find dinner and ended up at a sausage and beer place. Their table d’hôte was a first course of snails and mushrooms covered in melted cheese with tons of garlic (yum!), followed by your choice of two sausages with sauerkraut, fresh vegetables, and mashed potatoes, if I’m remembering correctly. Dessert was also included. It was very good, and we accompanied our dinner with Québec beers. They even had all the Dieu du Ciel beers.
Day 2: Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec to Montréal, 35 miles.
We woke to another sunny day. The morning was a bit warmer than the day before. They do a big breakfast spread at Auberge Harris. It’s good, but also just a little surreal. They insist on cooking eggs to order for everyone, and it takes a long time.
The route for Day 2 is almost all on La Route Verte, a system of bike trails that covers all of Québec. It’s a bit twisty and confusing, so the group strategy is to break into smaller groups of ten riders with a leader who knows the route from having ridden it before. Even though we rode the very same route last year, I didn’t recognize some things. Of course, last year it was pouring down the rain, and I was struggling with brake issues, so I have some excuse. But still, honestly, I have a craptastic sense of direction. I rely heavily on cue sheets and mileages.
Anyway, the first part of the ride is on a straight path in the middle of a canal. We ride by a series of working locks, which is interesting. Then we all rendez-vous at Fort Chambly to form the groups and take a break. It’s an easy pace on Day 2.
We split into groups. All four of us, TT, TF, B, and I, were in the first group to leave. We didn’t get very far into Chambly and one of the guys in our group (I’ll call him “Ned” to protect his identity), dropped his bike in the middle of a street crossing. He wasn’t hurt, but I think it shook him up a bit and surprised everyone.
We continued on. La Route Verte goes through some parks and suburban areas. Sometimes it is paved, and sometimes it is soft surfaces. Sometimes there are bike lanes, and sometimes not. It follows cleared paths, like power lines and railroad tracks, so, honestly, it’s not always very scenic. There is one majorly busy intersection we have to cross, where we’ve been following railroad tracks with streets on both sides of the tracks. There is high fencing to keep people from crossing the tracks except at designated crossings. The route wasn’t that difficult the rest of the way in terms of turns, but we did have to do two pedestrian/bike bridge crossings and some suburban navigation.
It was clouding up a lot by this time and threatening rain. But the weather held.
We did the first major pedestrian/bike bridge. It is a long ramp up and over a major highway, and then a corkscrew spiral down. (This is where I lost my rear brakes last year!) Everyone made it down the corkscrew just fine.
We got to the ferry about 12:20 or so. It is a pedestrian and bike ferry only that runs every hour on the hour. As we pulled up to the facilities at the boat docks, it started to rain on us. Not hard rain; just some sprinkling. It did look like it was going to rain for real though. We had a quick rest stop and picked up our picnic lunches and walked our bikes down to the ferry dock and the rain cleared out. It was chilly and windy down by the water, but no more rain. We ate our lunches and waited for the ferry. The lunches were probably the weakest meal of the trip: pre-ordered sandwiches, half an orange, some fruited Jello, and a cereal bar. There was some trading of items, but mostly it wasn’t very satisfying.
We sat out on top of the ferry for the crossing. The ferry goes right by La Ronde, an amusement park, and pulls into the main dock in the old port. We pulled in right beside Le Grand Chapiteau of Cirque du Soleil. Once docked, we exited on the pier and rode the short ride (1.2 miles) up Rue Barre to the hotel. They had us park our bikes in a meeting room on the first floor, so we didn’t have to do the bikes-in-the-elevator routine, but the room was small and later on, folks had to take their bikes up to their rooms instead.
We got showered and went out to walk around town. We decided we needed refreshment, and B found the pastry place we’d gone to last year. They have Paris Brest Cake that is really good. And we found out they have Panaché (a mix of beer and lemon-lime soda, which is really good after biking or hiking).
We returned to the hotel for the reception. There was some food, vegetables and cheese and really bad bread. It was fun because this is where we meet up with the folks who did the four-day version of the trip. They leave on Thursday and ride to Saint-Jean and then they ride north and spend the night and then ride back down to the ferry as we’re riding over to it. We enjoyed meeting up with those folks, but we didn’t stay long.
TF wanted steak and B wanted a cocktail on top of one of the hotels, so we managed to do both. It was a long walk back over to Old Montréal, and we were tuckered out. But the rooftop bar was excellent, and worth the walk. It’s right on the water, so we had wonderful views. The weather had completely cleared and it was a beautiful evening. We joked around with four women who had gone to Cirque and were at the adjacent table. They were from Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Then we were off to dinner at The Steakhouse at Vieux Port Hotel. The atmosphere was excellent. The food was good.
Day 3: Le Tour de l’Île, 52K (~32.5 miles) plus to and from the start, approximately 35 miles.
Day 3 starts with breakfast at the hotel. It’s buffet style. On the plus side, there are lots of choices: eggs, bacon, sausage (beef and pork), French toast, pancakes, pastries, cold meat, cheese, fruits, yogurt. On the minus side, the eggs are powdered and the quality of some of the baked goods is less than desirable. But it balances out and most everyone can make a good breakfast of it.
We all met outside and rode en masse to the start of the Tour de l’Île.
The best part of the whole thing is that Local Motion and Vélo Québec are partners in trying to get bikeways connected between Québec and Vermont, so our group gets VIP status, which means we get into the VIP starting area. This means we get to start up front. The lineup is almost always on both sides of a median-separated boulevard. At the front are two funnels, I guess to keep things a bit spaced out. They estimate 30,000 riders for the Tour each year. This year, with the weather being so good, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more.
Anyway, being at the front means that we get through the funnel pretty quickly. The VIP gatekeepers were doing a pretty good job, but I when I rode into that area, there were a bunch of other people around me. They heard people saying “Local Motion” and when they got up there, they said it too, and got in. So I think it’s kind of hard to police the VIP area.
They were supposed to start at 9:15. They did the countdown at 9:30 and then it was probably 10 more minutes before we made it through the funnel and started. The first 12 km were pretty hairy. There’s a lot of really close riding and the usual bunch of idiots who cut in front and pass without warning. But by the time we passed the first pit stop (without stopping) things had thinned quite nicely. I found a big open pocket and rode at a steady pace. I would occasionally catch up with TF and sometimes TT and B.
All the streets are completely closed to cars and parking, and it is a pleasure to be able to explore different parts of the city without having to dodge traffic.
By not stopping at any of the pit stops, we made good time and beat some of the crowds. We did stop at a Tim Horton’s to use the bathrooms. But we made it to the finish line a little bit after noon.
We rode back to the hotel and were in our rooms again by 1 p.m. They were kind enough to delay check-out until 2 p.m. so we could shower. We could see riders on the Tour struggling up the hill by our hotel. That was fun. There was a steady stream of riders. We grabbed a quick lunch and were ready to load onto the buses to ride home. No buses. We waited.
After a while they announced that the buses couldn’t get to us because of the streets blocked for the Tour. So we had to walk a few block to get to the buses. The walk included having to cross the Tour route. There were still many many riders on the route. The crossing guards stopped the riders so we could all walk across. That was better than 100 people trying to dart between bikes!
We had a nice drive back to Vermont. I knitted on some socks. It started raining, and by the time we got back to Snow Farm, it was raining steadily. We had to load up luggage and bikes in the rain, but that was fine with me, a small price to pay for three days of dry riding!
The rain tapered off, and we had a beautiful sunset to welcome us home.
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LOCAL MOTION’S VERMONTREAL 2011
June 2-5, 2011
Choose from three day, 140 miles; four day, 180 miles, or four day, 170 to 230 miles.
For more information, visit http://www.localmotion.org/vermontreal.
Registration is open now.