Winter cycling in Montreal

December 1st, just a few weeks away from the official start of winter. You wouldn't know if from the bright sunrise on a clear day, but outdoor ground temp is -12 C, feels like -18 C with the windchill factor. Luckily, roads are bone dry after rain a couple weeks ago melted what was left of our first snow storm a few weeks ago.

Without any snow or ice on the roads, time to take the bike out for a subzero ride. While some may shy away from biking in this sort of cold, I embrace this sort of weather, and enjoy the rare occasion of being able to have bike lanes and trails all to myself on a Sunday morning.

Keys to remaining warm for cycling in cold weather:

1) A good base layer of fleece works wonders for me when ice fishing, even more so when cycling at a steady pace.

2) Warm out layers and a windproof windbreaker with fleece lining. I can hit hit windchills below -30 when riding down Mount Royal's slopes, yet manage to stay warm.

3) Light winter boots, heavy toque, and ultra warm mittens complete my outfit.

While a ski mask may help avoid freezing my face off when riding downhill, I prefer to give up that luxury to have better peripheral vision, with all Montreal's crazy, unobservant drivers.

For this particular ride, I decided to mix in a bit of uphill/downhill riding, along with a mainly flat run. The ride to St Helen's island from my house is perfectly suited, yielding a good 28 to 30 km, depending on the end route. In this case, I made an exploratory detour, thinking I'd be able to cut across from Pointe St Charles, but ended up being a dead end. Added a good 5+ km to my ride, but I got to explore part of Montreal that I've never been to in 46 years living here.

Found a small lookout named "Observatoire de la Pointe St Charles.

Eventually made my way back to the Peel basin, then down my usual route by the port of Montreal, Habitat 67, and onto Pont de la Concorde.

Moving along, I was curious to see if Lac Des Cygnes had any ice cover yet. Turned out to be fully covered, though the middle looked sort of sketchy. Not that we're allowed to fish there, but it's a decent indicator for what other smaller waterways in the region may look like.

Heading home, I crossed over the Lachine canal. Seems to be frozen pretty solid, after having been mostly drained in mid October.

Hoping the get in some more cold weather rides before we get dumped on by our next snowstorm.

Biking the Soulanges Canal bike trail

Been a long time since I've posted anything here, most of my blogging time has been spent focusing on my fishing blog (http://freshwater-phil.blogspot.com/ ).

I fish the Soulanges canal quite often, mainly from a float tube, or in the winter, on ice. I rarely use the bike trail that runs about 24 km along the canal, other than walking a bit to find access to the water, to fish.

Yesterday, I decided to take my wife there for the first time. We brought along our bikes, and the plan was to bike most of the trail and back to the parking spot, a good 40 KM ride.

Much like the Lachine canal, the Soulanges canal was for cargo barges to bypass rapids in the St Lawrence river before the seaway was built. Once the seaway was ready for traffic, the Soulanges canal was pretty much closed off into various segments, with North/South road crossing between each segment. The North side borders the hwy, while the bike trail runs mainly along the South side for most of it's length.

Though it has now been extended, the Soulanges canal trail runs from Coteau du Lac, through Les Coteaux, Les Cedres, and eventually ends in the nature parc in Pointe Des Cascades. Being paved, and with very few inclines, it's an easy ride that allows for bike traffic from beginners to pros, who use it for distance training.

For my wife an I, it was a bit of a date, spending some time together without the kids. Though it was her first ride in over 8 months, she managed the 40 km trek quite well, albeit at her own pace.

We stopped for a quick pic halfway through the ride, at the start of the canal, as we were parked close to the other end.

Hope to be back to the Soulanges canal with her more often this season, float tube for me, marathon training for her.