October 2, 2016
Prevost to Montreal: Sunday chaos
From the moment I started pedalling, the entire day was building up to something. A couple patches of farmland aside, the scenery today was an assortment of houses, apartments, industry, and roads, getting closer together as I went, leading into the first city I've seen in a long time.
Okay, it's only been three weeks. But it feels like longer.
I was sad to be leaving behind the pine trees, lakes, and rocks, the canoes and flying squirrels, but also eagerly anticipating the energy of a big city. And its food. If I'm being honest here, all I really want out of Montreal is to stuff myself stupid.
The first surprise was at Saint-Jerome, where the P'tit Train du Nord took me to a public square outside the old train station. I'm not sure why it was surprising, maybe it was just the thought that had gone into it as a place for people to congregate without necessarily buying anything.
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I admired that for a while, and then came an even bigger shock: a real train station, with real trains. No more of those ghosts of stations or the many tracks that were now bike paths and snowmobile trails.
And I was still only in Saint-Jerome! The bike path turned into a series of road crossings and tight turns, an urban path now. At one busy road, I was stopped, surveying the route ahead, and gradually became aware that all the traffic was stopped, too: everyone was waiting for me to cross the road.
Oops. Wait, what? That's not how it's supposed to work. Although not hostile like Ontario drivers, Quebec drivers are crazy. I had been thrust into a very unfamiliar world.
The Route Verte went all the way into the heart of Montreal, a carefully curated route along paths, segregated bike lanes that sometimes took me against the flow of traffic, and the occasional quiet road. It would've been a nightmare to navigate by map, and the constant turns combined with overcast skies rendered me hopelessly disoriented, so I decided to trust in the signs of the Route Verte to guide me into the city.
That, of course, was a mistake. While I was initially impressed, and while it's this close to being amazing, there are a few critical gaps in Route Verte signage, and I spent a lot of time staring at my GPS and trying to deduce where I was supposed to go next.
Once on the island of Montreal, I lost the route entirely and have no idea how I got into the city, but that one was my fault for trying to find a more direct route.
Montreal was as chaotic as I expected, but everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, so there was no problem and I felt safe. It was Sunday chaos. Drivers here are aware of cyclists, cyclists are permitted to run red lights, pedestrians are permitted (but not obligated) to jaywalk, and it is strictly prohibited for anyone to come to a complete stop at a stop sign.
Very straightforward. Cyclists often use hand signals, but in a lackadaisical way; if you stick your arm straight out you will immediately be identified as a visitor, or possibly get your arm removed by a car.
The one thing I couldn't figure out was how to deal with turns from a bike lane on the "wrong" side of the street. At no other time did I feel like I was getting in the way; I behaved as expected to other people on the road, except for these turns.
All in all, it was a good ride into a city, if a bit slow.
Back in a city. The first things I noticed, aside from the sheer number of people, were the homeless people (asking for money or sleeping on benches), the people eating alone (so many solitary people--is this how I appear to others?), the grime and decay, the renewal and construction and closed streets everywhere.
Montreal has a serious road construction problem. The detours have detours.
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Today's ride: 84 km (52 miles)
Total: 1,264 km (785 miles)
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