Another week of hanging out with old friends and chilling, ending with some camping! Weather not cooperating fully. Really good to see everyone!

Quebec is a little more hilly then Ontario. Tons of this landscape of kickers and lakes. It makes for pretty tough riding when everyone’s motivated. The good weather keeps tricking me into thinking Quebec isn’t that bad a place to live. Stayed with my friend Sacha, who I used to ride/race with in Montreal like 10 years ago. Sacha be strong.
Sorry for the lack of pictures, was busy going fast.

Typical Quebec landscape anywhere not near large rivers.

Sacha wondering why he didn't eat or take any salt for that ride.

They have a dog. He will never leave you alone.

just stayed inside blogging, planning and drinking.

Another hammerfest with Sacha, to deserve the beers. Not many pictures but it was nice, trust me. Tons of cottage / lake life around here, just like Ontario. Roads are more gnarly though. No pics : (

Rained out day in Montreal. Just stayed with friends and drank too much.

This was the day to bike with as many old friends as possible. Started in the morning riding with the Club Espresso. Huge turnout, friendly pace. Roads in the city more destroyed then ever… Then went for coffee with a friend and rode around the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. It’s now pure chaos as one of the few places you can even ride in the city. Some guys still train/race around that at 45 kph, buzzing by toddlers.
Then rode with Pavel on the South Shore. Very flat area for the most part, ending up in Rougemont, which has lots of apple orchards and wineries.

Woke up extra early to go do the coffee Papa ride organized by my friend's Coffee Shop: Club Espresso Bar

That's him, blame him.

Went back to the shop after the ride. Only Tim Hortons can supply coffee to this many people in a timely manner.

City view in the foggy morning from the Camillien Houde lookout

View of the city from ile St-Helene

The Old Port seen from Parc Jean-Drapeau ( halfway across the bridge to escape the city )

That bridge there, the Jacques-Cartier Bridge. One of Montreal's iconic sights.

That's the Biosphere Environment Museum. Some would say there's Environment everywhere and you don't need to buy tickets to see some, but what do those people know?

Third ride of the day was with Pavel! He never trains because he has two kids but he's always just as strong somehow.

Mont St-Hilaire, just south of the city. Too bad there's no paved roads on it as it rises over 400m above sea level. Come on guys, pave it.

View from that bridge. Lots of little marinas everywhere with athletes pushing buttons to make boats go forward. Keep the training up guys.

Started the afternoon with a few of iconic loops on the “pro tour”, one of the two places anyone can even ride in the city anymore. You go up Camillien Houde then the Polytechnique and try to avoid the potholes. Most of this course is now more hole than road. Montreal is a great city to ride in…. compared to other large cities. Kind of how your face is the best place to receive a roundhouse kick…. after your nutsack.
You aren’t supposed to ride in cities. Large cities are hard to live in for cycling because it takes to long to escape them. If you’re in downtown Montreal, you’re a solid 20-30 minute ride away from any sort of non-exploded roads.

After chatting with my friend, I had a bit of time to kill and just did a bit of tourism around the city. Always fun to observe the traffic jam and the people seething with rage stuck in their cars, going nowhere.

This is the Olympic stadium which took quebecers 40 years to repay, but got a Mayor to be super cool in 1976! Worth

This is the Biodome, sort of an interior zoo / habitat. Very unique and my #1 recommendation for MTL.

This is La Ronde, now a Six Flags park. Great if you love waiting in line in the heat.

People picking spots to watch the fireworks that night for St-Jean, Quebec's "National" Holiday.

Quebec has a LOT of churches. Almost every town has one.

Montreal's Chinatown. It's not very large but they still got a cool gate.

These disgusting Lego buildings, called "Habitat 67" were made for the 1967 World Fair and unsurprisingly approved by many politicians.

My camera takes horrible pictures...

The Old Port was closed up to host the triathlon, likely to the dismay of 99% of locals.

Architecture from the Old Port, dating back centuries.

Montreal and Quebec have the oldest buildings in Canada, which gives their city core a unique feel in North America.

Cobblestone streets were not designed to facilitate traffic, however.

The week ended with me driving up to Mauricie to do camping for a few days. I wish the weather had been better because I planned to use the camping trip as a rest period after blasting myself silly. Ended up doing quite a bit of exercise anyway and turns out drinking and breathing campfire smoke isn’t that restful for the body anyway, so maybe it’s all for the best.

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Touring Canada Week 6 - StAgathe - Montreal