Canada – Page 12 – Bromptomaniac

Je reviendrai à Montréal

On: October 18, 2016

While cycling through Europe this past summer I received an offer to join Cirque du Soleil and PopArt for a new show called Sep7imo Dia. The first contact with the producer happened while I was at a campsite near Trieste. It took a few more weeks to hammer out the details and I formally accepted the position in a coffee shop in Reykjavik during a Skype call. Hence, for the last eight weeks, I was in Montréal where the creation of the new show has begun.

Most of my cycling there was for my commute. I quickly realized that Montreal roads are worse than in NYC. During the weekends I ventured out a bit further: I cycled along the Lachine channel and on the South Shore. Once, Julie and I ended up on Île Notre Dame, on the F1 Grand Prix circuit. We were surprised by the quantity of cyclists there, all dressed up in cycling gear, riding in teams. We looked out of place on our bikes, Julie on a Bixi and me on my Brompton. It took us a while to realize that we had barged into an actual cycling race, but there was no way out so we finished the lap.

Our friends invited us to come visit them in Magog, a nice little town about 140 km east of Montreal. I felt a bit restless and the weather was perfect, so I thought “pourquoi pas”. I set off on a ride. Julie, being smart, took a bus. It was a very nice ride: at least half of the way was on a dedicated bike path going through the forest, on a warm sunny day. After about 90 km my knees started to hurt and during the last 25 km, I had difficulties pedaling uphill. When I showed up at our friends door, I could barely climb the stairs. Suddenly going from 20 km to 140 km a day did not sit well with my body. We thoroughly enjoyed our evening, with good food and wine. It would have been the cherry on the cake if Russia had beat Canada that night in the World Cup, but to the delight of my friends, it was the opposite.

The Montreal part of my new gig has come to an end. Now, a week home in Brooklyn, then off to Latin America for next 18 months.

Although I am bringing Greengo with me, it will not be a cycling tour. I’ll be mostly commuting with occasional day trips. But I will post from time to time about how we are doing down south.
Hasta la vista!