24 May 2020 Around the Mountatin

24 May 2020 Around the Mountain

    It was a perfect spring morning as I bumped and swerved along Sherbrooke St. from the west to our meeting point and my second outing with the famous Montreal Bicycle Club. A. T. Lane led our group of 3, first to the west past fragrant fruit trees in full blossom, then deftly winding through NDG, Snowdon and Cote-des-Neiges. It was so quiet, it almost seemed as if the city had surrendered its streets to we zooming cyclists.

    Somewhere around Victoria (?) W.G. Ross turned back. with prior commitments to attend to, but A. T. and I continued into Outremont and points beyond. (He could write a book on how to navigate our city’s piecemeal connector paths.)

    Although we rode were many paths that were new to me, the highlight was the gravel pathway that skirts the north side of the tracks from Little Italy to Rosemont. Full of joggers, walkers and cyclists even at 11 am on a Sunday, it was a joyful discovery.

    The track spat us out near the Angus Yards. Most everything was shut tight on a Sunday in the time of Covid, but we fortunately found Mamie Clafoutis open with a lot of empty outdoor picnic tables in the warming sun – an ideal pit stop and opportunity for the newly initiated to learn more about the club.

     On the return loop, we zoomed along Rachel past the garage that I’m pretty sure was used as a set piece for the 2005 Jean-Marc LaVallée film C.R.A.Z.Y. (worth watching or watching again). Lots more walkers and joggers were out and about by then, so we dawned our trusty masks and motored along.

    A happy surprise, the de Maisonneuve bike path was comparatively free and clear as we wended our way past two guys on “choppers” and back to the meeting spot close to noon.

     I started 5 km to the west so actually clocked 35 km which was just right for this beautiful day

Judee