Hi Everyone,

Today was a frustrating day, but alls well that ends well.

I started by crossing a bridge with a super wide bike path and then 
followed the directions from the Al Forkosh website and everything 
worked fine with some glitches.  The directions were correct but the 
highway wasn't.  The directions said to ride on the left side of the 
highway because the bike path would be on the left hand side across 
the bridge.  True, but the bike path was blocked off deliberately by
 concrete dividers and as I crossed the bridge on new pavement, I 
could see the bike next to me over the concrete dividers.  Then I 
had to exit on an entrance ramp, but there was a shoulder.  

The next part was ride along the lakeshore and there was no problem.
 There I saw numerous bike club riders and some wannabe racers (pelotons).
 I even found the bicycle shop that the local bicyclist told me about 
yesterday but they did not have the Route Verte book, but they did have 
it in the past.  I met a local bicyclist who was interested in my bike
 because he is thinking about buying a Co-Motion tandem.  He already 
has two tandems.  A Burley and a Santana. He said that he would have 
ridden with me to Montreal except that he has to ride to meet his son
 for a previous engagement.  

I then had to get on the Lachine canal bike path and I asked another
 bike shop (stopped to ask about maps) and he said that I was on it!  
That was frustration number one.  There were too many cyclists out today.
 It is Saturday, but there was too much of a variation in the abilities 
of the cyclists. And the bike path had turns and underpasses and crossovers
 from one side of the canal to the other and back.

Then I waited to enter the old port of Montreal and the bike path seemed 
to end on one side and everyone was crossing over so I followed them and 
suddenly I was at the old port. Now there were pedestrians and sightseers
 and rental four wheel bikes, etc.  Even the streets had horse drawn carriages.
 Frustration number two.

From the bike path map of Montreal that I got off the Internet, I knew that I
 had to ride along the old port for a while and then go on Rue Barrie and then
 the bike path would turn right and go along the Parc de Fontaine and the Velo
 Quebec place would be on the adjacent street Rachel.

I rode on Barrie where the bike path was a bike lane with both lanes on the 
left hand side with a low concrete separator to keep cars out.  I asked someone
 how to get to Parc de Fontaine and I was told to turn at Sherbrooke which was
 easy to remember as that is the town I wanted to go to see Arkel headquarters.
 I remembered from the map that Sherbrooke was a diagonal street and I never 
saw a diagonal street.  Then all the cyclist turned right at a street and I
 didn't know why except that the bike path ended.  I kept on going and asked 
someone where Sherbrooke was and he said back several streets but I wasn't 
going to turn around and I knew that if all else fails, I would bump into 
Rachel at the far end of the park.  

Finally I bumped into Rachel and a few blocks later I found the park and 
Maison Ciclists where Velo Quebec is.  I locked up my bike to a tree 
(panniers don't fit in bike racks) and went inside. There is a coffee 
shop up front and a bookstore in the middle and a travel agency in the
 back.  I bought the Route Verte book and the clerk told me how to get
 started on the way to Sherbrooke.  I came into Montreal by following 
Route Verte number 5 for several days and at the old port I started
 following route 5 and route 1.  Now to go to Sherbrooke, all I had to
 do was to follow route 1 all the way.  Simple.

While I was talking to the couple watching my bike (because I locked 
it to a tree next to their table (they were drinking coffee) a bike 
ran over my foot and the woman did not apologize.  It was the couple 
from Sequim, Washington that I met in Wisconsin (?).  She was on the 
first Woman Tour group from Anacortes to Fargo, ND.  They were going 
to take the northern route through Michigan and cross into Canada at 
Sault Ste Marie.

Well, they had a terrible time on highway 17 in Ontario out of Sault 
Ste Marie and tried to rent a car at Sudbury, Ontario and couldn't 
get a car and found out about drop off charges.  They were lucky to
 fine someone who offered to drive them to Toronto where they rode 
Hwy 2 and the Waterfront Trail like I did.

Now they were at Maison Ciclists to buy a map of Quebec and the Maritime
 Provinces.  I told them that I got mine from AAA but that all the gas 
stations and convenience stores sold maps but they would have to wait 
to get the Maritime Provinces.  They were also planning to save time 
by driving part of the trip such as renting a car in Prince Edward 
Island and exploring it by car.

I left them at Maison Ciclists and started on my journey to Sherbrooke. 
 Actually I did not expect to go far.  I just wanted to get across the 
St Lawrence River and stay at a motel away from the big city.  Plus I 
expected the costs woukd be cheaper outside of the city.

Simple, all I had to do was to backtrack a little ways as I had seen 
the route 1 signs on the in.  The route started across the street at 
the park and I followed them to the street where everyone had turned 
off from Barrie and the bike path ended.  Off course there were no 
signs on Barrie but now there were signs coming the other directions.

I lost the signs on the old port where all the pedestrians and sightseers
 were and asked an officer who told me to go down to where the path turns
 and go left.  It was confirmed by the Route Verte book.  I went back the
 way I came in and when the bike path did all kinds of crazy loops because
 of overpasses, etc, I looked at the Route Verte book and someone else 
looked at a bike path map and it confirmed to go under the overpass / 
elevated road.  The bike path ended with a detour and the detour ended 
up at the Port Champlain Bridge which is the bridge to the US.  frustration number three.

I turned around and saw a bicyclist go down toward dock warehouses and 
I didn't know where that when but assumed that it was a dead end. Big mistake.

I decided that I had enough of the pedestrians and rode on the road and 
saw the other bridge in front and way up.  I had to keep riding and then
 I realized that the bridge started climbing blocks away and that is where
 all the cars were going too.  I was half way back to Maison Ciclist when
 I found the on ramp to the bridge.  It had a good size pedestrian / bike
 path but the bridge was awfully high.  Frustration number four.  I have 
acrophobia and I had to ride on the outside (two way bike traffic) again
 and I had a horrible time on the Richard Bong Bridge in Duluth, MN.
 I made it up and over and then I realized that I was over an island.  
There was another bridge to go over. Frustration number five.

I got off the bridge and off Hwy 134 and looked at my map.  A local 
cyclist to turn left at the light and to go to Rue Elan and turn right.
 So I rode on that street and found the shopping mall district and ate 
a late lunch.  No one could help me on finding my way back to route 1
 and then a clerk at a gas station pulled out a local map and said that
 I had come too far.  So I turned around and saw a hotel.  I was ready 
to call it a day and to start fresh tomorrow.  

The hotel was full but another hotel by the Metro station had rooms 
earlier.  I went to the other hotel and it had rooms available and
 no wonder.  It wanted  two night stay and that would be $400.  Also
 all the other hotels nearby were full, according to the clerks.

I decided to go back, look for Rue Elan and head away from the river 
and toward Sherbrooke and hope to find a motel away from the exclusive area.

I got back to where I got off of Hwy 134 and had not found Rue Elan. 
 I decided to continue going away from the river.  There must another
 business area further out.  About a mile later I found a business 
district but no motels but there was a lot of traffic a couple of blocks
 away so I headed there.  Motels are where traffic is.  It was Hwy 134 
and there was an ESSO station there so I asked someone and was told that there
 was a motel a kilometer away at an interchange.  I then asked the clerk
 for confirmation and she pointed across the highway and said there was 
a motel there and I looked and saw a motel sign.

I decided to try that motel and then there was the one a kilometer away
 if the first didn't work out.  The first motel was ok but did not have 
wifi or Internet.  The clerk called the other motel for me it was a little
 more expensive and did not have Internet either.  She could have lied to
 me but I didn't want to ride down there to find out so I am here in Longueuil
at a motel without wifi or Internet.

The clerk could not help me with route 1 but said that there was a bike path
 just over the back fence, but she couldn't show me on the map where we were
 exactly. And without the Internet, I can't use my gps because I have to get
 map from the Internet.

After a Coke and a shower and time to relax, I studied the Route Verte map 
of this town and thought that the route was on the other side of the Hwy 134
and back to the front desk because  there were local maps on the wall there.
 There was a "how to find us" map there and it showed the exact location of 
the motel and I coiled find the exact match in the Route Verte map and I was
just a block away from route 1.  It was just over the back fence!

Now remember when I mentioned that a bicyclists had gone down a road along 
the pier warehouses and I didn't know where it went?  Well, that was the right
 way to go.  It leads to a bridge to an island and then a ride to the other 
end of the island leads to another bridge which crosses over to this side. 
 However one bridge is closed and I don't know which one that is so maybe 
that is the one that is closed.

The Statistics:  48.71 miles and 798 feet of climb


Steve from Longueuil, Quebec, Canada across the river from Montreal