MBC goes global

MBC members Louis Rubenstein and G. T. Bishop were pleased to host a guest cyclist, Suryani Tan aka Cissie Colreavy, who is touring Canada and hails from Melbourne, Australia. She is taking some time in Canada's best cycling city and joined the members for a fixture ride to the South Shore. 

Cissie Colreavy has provided her minutes for the fixture ride to Mont St Hilaire:

Ron, Ian and I met at Cafe Ma Bicyclette along Lachine Canal at 8am for coffee first before starting our ride. After some caffeine, we left Montreal Island and rode across to Nuns Island and continued crossing the St. Lawrence River through Samuel De Champlain bridge. 

With Ron’s expert navigation through a few neighbourhoods’ streets and more bike paths, we passed several towns including Saint-Lambert. 

Longueuil is quite industrial like and has a small airport. Saint-Hubert, St-Bruno-de-Montarville then Saint-Basile-le-Grand in which the bike path ends at Parc Prudent-Robert. We then rode on the roads with narrow shoulders on first half and nice bike lanes on second half along Rivière Richelieu. It was very picturesque with Mont Hilaire as the constant companion. 

After some kms we arrived at Beloeil in good timing just as the Brasseurs du Moulin opened and had lunch there. With stunning views of Rivière Richelieu, and St. Hilaire Church and Mont Hilaire in the background, delicious food and amazing company, this is my ideal of travelling.

After some sustenance, we rode to the Mont Hilaire station. This time Mont Hilaire was in front of us and once again beautiful! 

The train was abit delayed but journey back was fast. We arrived at Gare Centrale around 2.50pm and said our goodbyes. 

Thanks, Cissie Colreavy, for some excellent minutes and your kindness towards the condition of Quebec roads and EXO train service. MBC members are looking forward to your sobriquet (now found) and maybe a Melbourne fixture sometime in the future?!

Total distance for the day from the cafe to Mont St Hilaire: 52K

G. T. Bishop