Photos de la Route

It’s late February in Montréal, so the weather is predictably cold and snowy. I’m sitting in a bar on St. Denis with my good pal Nicolas, as we work our way through a second pitcher of Boréal. The topic has drifted from our losses in last fall’s flag football season to passing Roth’s partial differential equations course with flying colours — the second time’s a charm — to Nic’s attempts to educate me on the Québecois music scene. Eventually the conversation turns to summer and I describe the sweet summer job I have lined up. Then Nic fills me in on his plans: the crazy bastard wants to cycle from Vancouver to Montréal.

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The Rocky Mountains haunt my dreams.

I’ve never seen mountains bigger than the Laurentians yet their aged forms seem to pale in comparison to photos of the Rockies. Friends from out west are hesitant to even call them real mountains. This doesn’t bode well, because as small as the Laurentians may be, I’ve certainly never cycled there either.

I must admit that I do like climbing hills. In fact, I prefer a good hill to long, flat stretches. I spent my teens in Québec City, built on top of a high plateau with steep cliffs on all sides. If you wanted to cycle anywhere outside the plateau, you were going to have to climb one hell of a hill on the way home. But those were hills, not mountains.

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Nic is concerned with my ability to cover long distances. He’s a regular weekend rider and owns more than one bike, the mark of a serious cyclist. My longest ride to date has only been a one-way trip to Ile Perrot, at the western tip of the island, about 30km. We obviously have to cover a more significant distance per day if we want to make it back to Montréal before the winter!

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05h00: My gear is neatly laid out on the couch, my bike is propped up against the nearby wall. Nic should be arriving in an hour and then we’ll leave for the airport. The only problem is that I’ve been up all night preparing that gear and getting the apartment ready for my 2+ month absence. And I’m not even sure if all that stuff will fit on my bike, because I’ve never tried it yet. So much for advance planning.

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As the plane touches down, a round of applause breaks out. Nic laughs and attributes this to the number of Québecers on board. It’s been an uneventful flight and I feel rested enough for the remainder of today’s ride. We collect our gear to begin the process of unpacking and reassembling the bikes.

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