A.T. received an email inviting him to an inaugural ride on the new Réseau Express Vélo on St Denis street scheduled for 7 November. However, due to previous commitments he knew he would be unable to attend. After discussing this with H.S. Tibbs, they decided to do a Fixture ride the day before, comparing other parts of Montreal that have various different degrees of bicycle infrastructure, with the new REV on St Denis.
First Section: Home to Shaika Cafe along Sherbrooke Street
Conversations held on Sherbrooke Street
Ordering a coffee, I waited for the others to arrive.
Section 2: Up Girouard and Clanranald
The group assembled, we headed up these two streets do have painted lines that define the bicycle path.
Traveling north on Clanranald, cyclists are offered two interesting choices to continue on their way once reaching Vezina.
Option 1: Detour to Decarie and use the sidewalk underpass.
Video of Louis Rubenstein's using Underpass - 24 October 2020
Option 2: Continue to end of Clanranald and cross over railroad tracks.
A.T. led the group to Option 2.
And was quickly followed by the rest.
Rail Sign marking northern limit of Hampstead
Section 3: North to The Trans Canada Highway
Crossing the Trans Canada Highway is a major man made obstacle for urban cyclists. We took the pedestrian railway crossing after taking a few pictures of the now wild fields of the modern Blue Bonnet Race Track. A name that has a long association with our club.
Section 4: Trans Canada to the Back River
There are two main North-South bike paths in this area of Montreal, the first along Alexis Nihon does not go as far as the Back River. The second, starting at the Back River along O'Brien leads to a difficult area to access in TMR. We took the southern on Alexis Nihon and then crossed over to O'Brien for the northern half.
Clear Sailing up Alexis Nihon
The connection from Alexis Nihon to O'Brien started off well
A bit of a rough patch near Boulevard Marcel-Laurin
A ride in the park
Clear Sailing again on O'Brien
Section 5: Along the Back River to Île de la Visitation (Lunch)
This section, along the Back River aka Rivière-des-Prairies, has the best scenery of the trip. We went further east than Rue St Denis in order to have lunch at Île de la Visitation.
H.S Tibbs, always with an eye out for interesting buildings and geese, took a few shots along this section.
Finally we approached the place we planned to have lunch.
Section 6: Rue St Denis
After a backtracking westwards again, we came to our quest, the new Reseau Express Velo Saint Denis.
Northern limit of Reseau Express Velo Saint Denis
Conversations held on Reseau Express Velo Saint Denis
Crossing the Trans Canada on the Reseau Express Velo Saint Denis.
Portions are still under construction
At Rachel the group began to split up with people going in different directions.
Section 6: Rue St Denis & Rachel to Home
H.S. Tibbs, Tomas & Gabrielle continued south on St Denis, Louis, A.T. and Dorothy headed west on Rachel. The latter group passed through the McGill campus, A.T & Louis returned on the direct Sherbrooke street, Dorothy opted for the safer de Masionneuve path.
Comments
Post a Comment