Biking the Mount Royal summit trail

With all the recent rain and warm weather, the Mount Royal trails have finally thawed. Headed up on my summit trail to gauge what sort of biking shape I'm currently in. Being one of my most popular rides, I know that I'm in good biking shape once I can hit the top in under 25 minutes on my double suspension mountain bike.

Ice and snow on the main trail is gone, though some melting snow and lots of water and deep mud still remain along the secondary forest trails.

The trail doesn't have much foot traffic yet, especially being that this was midday during the week. Just the way I like it when pedaling uphill at a quick enough pace to have my heart rate up where it should be during an intense ride.

Sure enough, I make it there in 24 minutes, despite 2 days of overeating and drinking a few liters of wine for our passover holiday prior to this ride.

The communications antenna marks Mount Royal's summit, Unfortunately, there is much of a view, the spot is surrounded by trees. Autoshoot myself along the fence.

Also take some shots of the antenna , couldn't fit the entire thing into one picture from where I was standing.

 

Heading down around the other side of the trail, I stop to stretch at the Chalet du Mont Royal. As you can see, the splendid view of Downtown Montreal, the St Lawrence River, the South shore, and various mountains beyond (St Bruno, St Hillaire, and even Adirondacks on a clear day), make this the sort of spot that attracts large crowds, mainly tourists, mixed in with some fitness freaks, cyclists and photographers.

From there, it's my usual run down Camillien Houde, though the Notre Dame Des Neiges cemetery, and back home from there.

The following week, I decided to ride the summit trail in the opposite direction. After exiting the cemetery, I passed by Beaver Lake to catch the trail. 

Behind Beaver lake, lies the main trail that leads from the foot of the Mount Royal park, to it's summit. Smaller trails crisscross the main trail, as well as a set of staircases with about 400 stairs leading to the lookout. I rode the trail down to the Mount Royal monument park, also known as the "tamtam".

The nickname comes from the weekly gathering of tamtam players that show up there every Sunday (weather permitting). They gather around the monument to play their tamtam in unison. Aside from tourists, the crowd is typically made up of mainly younger potheads, hipsters, rastafarians, and some old school hippies. The police tend to turn a blind eye to the pot smoking, as long as everything is under control.

As my ride there turned out on April 20th, there was a special "420" rally planned for later that day at the monument park. For those that aren't aware of it, April 20th is the unofficial international pothead holiday. With the Canadian government having recently tabled legislation to legalize commercial marijuana sales within 1 year, the commercial aspects of the industry wasted no time in getting in on the action. A team of representatives from Potcoin were setting up shop before the crowds arrived, to push their new "crypto currency" targeted to the cannabis industry. Interesting bunch of people, there were all smoking big blunts less than 100 feet from the police cruisers. Stopped for a quick chat with them.

From there, the are a variety of routes to ride home, I chose the more scenic route, riding the summit trail back to Beaver Lake. Though it was a bit wet and muddy from all the recent rain, I prefer that option than having to ride city streets with traffic.

Bike ride to St Helen's Island

A couple days ago, we hit summer temperature for the first time in 2017. Having nagged my wife to come along on one of my bike rides, she finally took me up on my offer. As she isn't quite in the same biking shape that I am, I opted for a ride without much uphill. Figured that a linear ride should be easy enough if we kept it at her pace.

Decided on a ride to St Helen's Island, via the Lachine Canal trail. Roughly a 30 KM ride to the Biosphere Museum from our home, passing some scenic areas and landmarks on the way.

Cycled South on Decarie, down to St Jacques, and St Remi, hitting the Canal near the old refinery. Pedestrian bridge is closed for construction, so cross over the Cote St Paul Lock. Water level is very low, probably 10 to 12 feet lower than normal. Rapids on side of lock are completely dry.

Headed East along the South side of the canal, but was forced to cross over due to construction and blocked trail about halfway. Griffintown seems to be undergoing a fair bit of construction, many new condos being built along the canal, replacing many of the old worn down properties. Eventually hit the Peel basin, which is just about where the main section of the Lachine canal ends. A bit further down, we ride the Bikerdyke path along the Western section of the port of Montreal.

A few anchored ships unloading cargo.

As well as the Five Roses plant.

As we near Pont de la Concorde which leads to St Helen's Island, we pass by the heart of downtown Montreal and the old port to the North.

Passing over Parc de la cite du Havre, We get onto Pont de la Concorde, and stop for some pictures. Montreal skyline to the North.

Molson brewery, Olympic stadium, and Jacques Cartier bridge to the East.

We exit the bridge direction Parc Jean Drapeau, just past the thawing Lac des Cygnes. From there. it's a short ride to the Biosphere museum.

Instead of heading home, we decide to hit the Gilles Villeneuve racetrack. Still in use for the Montreal Grand Prix formula one race every summer, it serves as both a car lane, as well as a bike / rollerblade  / skateboard track. The circuit runs along the Southwest portion of the area, which is basically it's own island connected to St Helen's Island by a series of small bridges.

A couple kilometers South, lies the Montreal Casino.

By the time we  loop around the Casino, my wife starts feeling the effects of the ride. Of course, we are now at the furthest point from home, so I get the feeling it's going to be a long ride home. By the time we hit the Lachine canal trail, we stop to rest near the St Gabriel lock. From there, we make it back across the St Paul lock.

This is where the "fun" part of the ride starts, much to my wife's chagrin. All uphill past the superhospital, and then a few more long blocks up Decarie until the Villa Maria metro station, where it's back to downhill all the way home.

Not too sure my wife is going to attempt this sort of ride with me any time soon, though I am proud that she had the fortitude to power on through this ride instead of calling it quits. I'm guessing she'll opt for shorter, more intense rides up Mount Royal now that the trails have thawed.