A Day of Alternates or So many ways to get to the Mountain it's hilarious

A. T. Lane, Dorothy Cole and G. T. Bishop met at the venerable Shaika Cafe and were so eager to get on the road, they did not take time for the group photo.

 The goal for the day was a ride to Mont Saint-Hilaire via Chambly. As usual, A. T. was tight-lipped about the route but promised, as he tantalizingly waved a Google Maps printout, that we would be trying out 'a different way'. Not to give too much away, he was true to his words; so true, it was almost hilarious (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_of_Arles).

Not long after setting off, A. T. turned right at the Glen and we were already heading for our first alternate route for the ride to the Lachine Canal, pushing past a 'Path Closed' sign to race down towards the Turcotte.

Riding by a "No Pedestrians/No Cyclists" signed, we passed under the 20, past construction workers busy conferring and managed to get across the make-shift roadway to a deadend that miraculously (perhaps thanks to Saint Hilary or Hilarius) brought us to a small dirt path through some lovely trees and out the other end at the lower end of Courcelle.

Back on known territory, we quickly got to and over Lachine Canal via the new, funky round-about and then on towards Nun's Island, stopping briefly while A. T. regaled G. T. about his and Dorothy's previous ride from the Black Rock in Verdun and along the river where they scouted the possible route of a bike path to Nun's Island from that direction.

Once over the bridge on to Nun's Island, we followed the short way round to the North Point to get to the Champlain bridge and were happy to find that someone had finally removed the superfluous barrier along the North Point path so it was clear riding to the bridge.

I have to say after probably a dozen times crossing the bridge since it opened last December, that the experience is still just as pleasing. It never gets old.

On the South Shore, A. T. led the members on to his next alternate route to find the Chambly path that led them through the innards of suburban Preville, Greenfield Park and Springfield Park with so many twists and turns we were dizzy by the time we got anywhere near the Chambly path. However, the skies finally cleared as we spied the fabled family of cyclists, a sure sign of the path's nearness, and a sign in the air that told A. T. that he was on the right (righteous?) path.

Before long, we were back in the known world and on our way to Chambly proper.

Arriving at our first destination, the municipal authorities were kind enough to open the facilities to allow for a nature call, and then we carried on to the basin for a well-deserved rest stop before continuing on to Mont Saint-Hilaire.

Though tempted to relax under the shady tree, the members continued on towards the bridge to cross the Richilieu river. A. T. chose to follow the Chambly Canal path to get to the bridge and was so enamored with the riding that it appeared that he thought that one saint was as good as another (Saint-Jean instead of Saint-Hilaire) but Dorothy managed to call him back and we back-tracked to a side-street to get us to the river and finally onto the bridge.

The ride on the other side was along the shore road that then intersected the 133, which we would take all the way to Mont Saint-Hilaire. The shore road provided some nice views of the river.

There was a reasonable shoulder along the 133 and the traffic was steady but not onerous so, with the wind behind us, we barreled along the road with the hilarious mountain rising higher with every kilometer we rode.

Arriving at the furthest point in our ride (no one suggesting that we should actually climb the road up the hill), it was decided that we should treat ourselves anyways and take advantage of the offerings at the Chocolate store before starting the ride back to Montreal.

I somehow managed to get the chocolate and ice cream through the mask, and it was the best dipped cone I had ever had!

From there, we followed the route in reverse that the members had taken on a previous Fixture ride to get to Mont Saint-Hilaire following Oka/Mont Saint-Hilaire route signs. This took us over to the other side of the Richilieu river and then along to river until we picked up the path leading the St. Bruno, stopping briefly for a final look at the river.

Once into St. Bruno proper, we continued to follow the Oka/Mont Saint-Hilaire signs until we got to the other side of the EXO tracks at which point we abandoned them, since they lead to St. Julie and Varennes. 

Instead, we made our way towards 'Clear View' street and St. Hubert airport. Our final search for an alternate route was inspired by a brief sighting of a mysterious path from the EXO train on a return from an earlier fixture that ran between the tracks and the airport. After a false trail lead to a dead end, we returned to 'Clear View' street and finally come upon the fabled New Path.

At the other end, there was some, surprise, road construction but we got around it and on to the regular path leading to Longeuil. With all the new paths and the new Champlain bridge, some Route Verte signage appears to be out of date.

Fortunately, our noses were able to lead us home from this point and we headed for the Jacques Cartier bridge, where Dorothy Cole left us to head home via the islands and A. T. and G. T. finished the traverse before separating ways near the Bibliotheque Nationale.

Total distance ridden for each member was about 108 kilometers depending on their starting points. A fine fixture ride with great weather and interesting alternatives taken along the way. And ice cream!

G. T. Bishop


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