Tour La Nuit

The start of the Montreal cycle fest weekend is the Tour La Nuit. 17,000 cyclists turn up to do a 25km ride around the streets of Montreal. OK, 25km is not a significant training ride, but this evening is blog worthy just because it is fun!

We first did the night ride two years ago and Stuart had decorated my bike with flowers, telling me that all bikes would be dressed up! They weren’t but we did meet two people from Boston (Nathaniel and Ann), who had covered their bikes and outfits with lights! We were impressed and Stuart said he would out-light Nathaniel the following year. It was during this year that Stuart was diagnosed with cancer and underwent all his treatments, but he never forgot the challenge. It was one of the events that he looked forward to and often mentioned his plans for lighting up his bicycle. So for last year’s night ride when Stuart was through his treatments he dressed up our bikes with EL wire. However, this wasn’t enough, Nathaniel had added even more lights and we declared him the winner of the challenge.

Now it’s 2013 and the challenge was on again! We turn up at the start of the ride to find Nathaniel has added wings to the outfits!!




Stuart and I were also suitably over the top, and we find that we make it to CBC news!!!

CBC News

Interviews at 6 mins 55 sec and me leading out the start of the ride at 7 mins 55 sec. (I did speak to camera too, but I try and promote the Ride to Conquer Cancer, probably very badly and I get cut!)

Stuart had spent a huge amount of time, not only adding the flowers to my bicycle, but also weaving into the flowers, many stems of small LED flowers that he found in Dollarama for $3/box. He spent a day going round the Dollarama stores clearing out their stocks of these flowers!




Montreal is such a great friendly city that the streets are always lined with people cheering the bikes on, but this year my bike has such a wow factor that there were many occasions the crowd broke spontaneously into applause!

see my bike


At the end of the challenge, Stuart wants to award the trophy to Nathaniel, and Nathaniel wants to award the trophy to Stuart, but I think that we were all winners because the evening was such great fun!


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Some women get to wear Manolo Blahniks.....

.....I get to wear these



Lovely wet weather over booties!

One day perhaps I’ll get to wear shoes like this, but I don’t think they are available with cleats yet.



Today the weather is unremittingly awful. If I wasn’t training for the ride, I would never venture out on my bike on a day like today. It’s cold, it’s wet and it’s windy! We cycle as far as Lachine and stop to look at the sculpture park. I have a function button on my camera that is called super vivid, but the greyness of today is too much even for the super viv button.



Stuart suggests we turn back (I’m not complaining). Although the ride wasn’t too bad up to that point, as we turn around to head back, things get much worse. The wind and driving rain is now in our faces. This is awful!

Despite being wet through and very cold, I have to stop to take this picture. I was hoping the policemen were going to buy ice creams, but in fact they are purchasing nice hot coffee. Stuart asks if the horse comes fitted with a coffee cup holder. Not yet replies the policeman, but says he has one on order!



We get to Atwater market and stop for lunch, although it’s nice and warm inside, I am completely soggy and don’t dry out even a little bit. Lunch is uncomfortable. I stop to admire the cakes to cheer myself up (OK I ate one, but I think I had earned it). My jacket shows how wet and muddy you get on a bike with no mud guards!



We get home and find we have only done 43km, at an average speed of 16.4 km/hr (zero cleaty moments!) I think today was more about a demonstration of commitment to training rather than actually getting any fitter!

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Upping the average

Mon 20th May - Victoria day is a public holiday in Canada, so a bonus day to do more cycling! (Yesterday’s trip to the Formula 1 track to practice some speedy laps is abandoned as the rain turns up. 1 lap, no photos, could do better!)

We wake to lashing rain, but the forecast shows improvements in the weather, so we decide to get the 11am train from Gare Central to Deux Montagnes. Trains to Deux Montagnes have handy cycle racks, we’re heading to the land of very nice bike paths



Once off the train, we’re straight onto the lovely paths. No traffic, no suburbs, just green! We’re heading to Oka, but 3km short of the village we hit a problem – flooding! Didn’t realise the rain was that bad last night!



We double back and take the road for the last 3km. At Oka we jump on the ferry, which will take us across the river to Hudson. Last time we were here we drove across the river (yes really, over the Ice Bridge).



From Hudson it’s a cycle on mainly quiet roads and some bike baths to St Anne de Bellevue for lunch. A delightful stop with many riverside cafes. We choose Herbs, a great place to get home-cooked organic veggie food.

I was going to call this picture Billie One Mate, but Stuart insists it should be called Billie Best Mate!



From St Anne de Bellevue it’s just a short hop to Pointe Claire and then an easy skoosh home.

I’m delighted to say that I have broken through the 60km barrier and today’s ride was 85km, at an average speed of 18.4km/hr. I have a new "kilometer-ometer" on my bike, so can get an accurate measure of average speed, distance travel, calories burned (over 1000!). I feel a spreadsheet coming on!


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Thank You

Stuart and I have just both reached our initial target fund raising through the sponsorship. People have been so amazingly generous. We want to say a big thank you to everybody who has donated. Talking to people makes you realise how everyone is impacted by cancer. With 2 in 5 Canadians destined to get cancer there can't be many people who don't have somebody close to them who has been affected.

The Segal Centre at the Jewish General Hospital looked after Stuart so well and will be there for many others in the future. So if you haven't donated yet please do, it's a really worthwhile cause.

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Finally...

It’s the perfect weather for a bike ride. After the snow and ice in March, the rain and gales in April, we have a beautiful sunny still day. There’s just one thing missing…

Stuart

He went to the dentist on Thursday for a tooth extraction, and only after the tooth was taken out did the dentist mention that he should do absolutely no exercise for 3 days! So our plans for a long bike ride to St Sauveur (stay over at a friends cottage and return on Sunday) have to be radically changed.

I’m cycling on my own on Saturday! I decide to take the nice easy option of the 60km ride to Pointe Claire and back.

The first part of my journey is along the Maisonneuve bike path. A path through the centre of Montreal, which has many many traffic lights on it. I am one of the very few Montreal cyclists who stops at red lights, so this path causes me a few issues. All is not well with my cleats today. Somehow, every time I approach a red light and need to unclip my cleats they get stuck. This causes a few nerve wracking moments, since if you don’t unclip fast enough you slowly start to tip to one side and with no foot to stop a fall, things could get nasty.

My sticky cleat issues lead me to develop a new unclipping method – I shake my whole leg from thigh to toe, whilst crying out in panic. Probably not as effective as a sharp twist and pull from the ankle, but after many red lights, I have my leg shake/strangled cry manoeuvre down to a fine art.

Next onto the bike path by Lachine canal, I am determined to work on my speed today. I am overtaken by a girl who is doing just over 20 km/hr. I tuck in behind and keep up, she slows, I overtake and she keeps up with me. This continues on for a few km. Things are going well. Just one problem, since I don’t know her, I can’t shout “can we stop and take a picture of that puppy”!

I am pleased to arrive at Pointe Claire at 8.55am, and after a quick visit to the bike store, I treat myself to a latte and a chocolate croissant. Sadly, I have to take my Billie No Mates picture using the self timer on my camera!



I get home at 11.40 am. Having set off at 7.05 and had a 1hr 5min break, that’s an average speed of 17 km/hr, my best yet. Hmm – I wonder if it’s Stuart that’s slowing me down!


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Blustery

Sunday morning and we don’t leave the house until 10.30, not just the usual faffing, but trying to fit so many other things into the weekend as well. Whoever thought that we should invent an extra day and put it between Saturday and Sunday was onto something.
We’re heading North today and this involves jumping on the metro at Sherbrook. No lifts at the station, but the escalators help.



We’re heading up to metro station de la Concorde to pick up Route Verte 1. ( Route Verte are a network of 5,000km bikeways criss-crossing Quebec )



I’m amazed to find that the bike path has been brought right into the heart of the station, we don’t even need to cross a car park.



And so begins the battle with the wind. I’m convinced we are heading in to a headwind all the time, Stuart says some of the time it’s a tail wind, but whichever way you look at it, it’s damned hard going. We hardly see any other cyclists today, and I don’t blame them!

The cycle pathways are really impressive, separated from the roads for much of the time, and if you do need to cross a road, there is usually a designated bike crossing, so you can get the cars to stop and let you cross.




Although, I’m delighted with the quality of the track, it’s not the most picturesque of routes. Of the 30km route on our outward journey, I would say that 25km was cycling though suburbs and 5km was through greenery.

Only when we get home and google “Herbe a puce”, do we discover that the plants in this wooded area are poison ivy. Glad we didn’t stop for a picnic!



We had been planning to cycle all the way to St Jerome (45km), but depressingly, it takes 3 hours for me to cycle 30km to St Therese. We grab some lunch there and turn around to head back. The return journey is only slightly quicker, average 13km /hour rather than 10km per hour.

I’m shattered when we get back, and more than a little anxious. Only 7 more training weekends to the ride!




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Chuffed

So the fund raising video is published, and I’m chuffed to see that real donations are coming in. There’s no going back, I have to do the ride now! Despite the lousy weather forecast, I feel honour bound to do some training. A quick trip up Camillien Houde, hopefully avoiding the rain showers, is on the agenda. The support and donations spur me on. Despite the spitting rain we start the climb up the hill.

About a third of the way up the hill, Stuart mutters something about heading off to do a couple of laps round the mountain and meeting me at the top. I don’t really hear what he is saying, I’m in the zone. Not quite sure which zone, probably the wet and cranky one. I raise my head to see him heading off up the hill, with my rain jacket in his pannier. I return to my zone, slightly wetter and definitely crankier.

However, my motivation and cleats carry me to the top of the mountain – without stopping!! This is the first time I feel any sense of progress in my training.





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Fund Raising Video

After the fantastic news of Stuart's scan result on Friday, I'm able to finish the fund raising video.

Here it is!






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Next Stop New York!

A few months ago we signed up for the 5 boro bike ride. 32,000 riders enjoy car free streets on a 40 mile bike tour through the five boroughs of New York. So this weekend my training ride is in NYC!

First, however we have an appointment at the Jewish General Hospital to get the results of Stuart’s 3 monthly scan. Stuart insists on packing up the rental car with the bikes ready to head straight off to NY. I’m reluctant just in case…

We have the usual terrifying wait, but happily he gets the all clear. We’re on our way to New York!

After stopping over at a friend’s house in New Jersey on Friday night, we head into Manhattan on Saturday morning. First stop the Bike Expo to pick up our Rider numbers and Bibs. It’s a great place, and happily I find it’s not all spockets and gear ratios, and there’s plenty of shopping.



We then spend the afternoon wandering around the city, happily I find there’s plenty of shopping.



Only in New York City!



Sunday morning, and we decide to get up as early as possible to be at the front at the start. My usual slowness issues may cause us a problem, as we are planning to drive straight back to Montreal after the ride. We arrive at the start at 6am!



It’s a little cold! Temp probably starts at around 7 deg, rising only to 16 deg during the day. We hear later that it was 28 deg in Montreal, but we’re not bitter!



We are in the front of the riders at the start, but then I settle into my usual pattern of being overtaken by absolutely everybody. I have no idea how to get my speed up, even with the incentive of cycling in a pack, I just keep slipping further and further back. However, it’s still fun to ride through the streets of NYC. We start in Manhattan, and cycle up through Central Park, a brief loop through the Bronx, and then across Queensboro bridge into Queens.




After Queens we head into Brooklyn, and finally stop for a proper rest. We pretty much skipped the other rest stops to save time! My bike has been decorated with Dollarama flowers by Stuart, which has become a tradition every time I enter a city bike tour



We then head over the Verrazano Bridge across to Staten Island. I find Verrazano bridge really hard going, it’s a long slow uphill at the end of the ride and I’m pretty tired. My pace is now slow to almost rolling backwards. One of the ride volunteers shouts words of encouragement through a megaphone “Come on Flower Girl”, a cry which is picked up by the other riders behind me. Come on Flower Girl they all cry. I find I am mildly embarrassed rather than motivated!
After an 8am departure, we arrive at the finish around 12.30. So 4 ½ hours to do 40 miles (60km). No real improvement in the speed then, but at least it was a fun ride. We don’t hang around too long, as we’ve heard the wait for the Staten Island ferry can be horrendous. Fortunately, it’s only ½ hour wait.



We depart New York around 3pm. Stuart usually relies on me to navigate, but I’ve fallen fast asleep. There’s a point on the road between New York and Montreal where the I87 splits into two. The I90 heads east and the I87 heads north. We needed to stay on the I87, but Stuart merrily heads off down the I90 since his navigator is still completely out of it. The roads are awfully long in the States and you can head a hell of a long way before you realise that you shouldn’t actually be seeing signs for Buffalo. We eventually get home at 1.30am!




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