2 Cyclists die in Montreal this week

I started my day today by learning that a 17 year old cyclist involved in a collision yesterday didn’t survive the night. He was the second cyclist to die in Montreal this week. The first one was a 56 year old man who got crushed by a cement truck turning right while he was trying to go straight on his green light. The case of the young teen is a debate on who went through a red light. Whatever the reasons or the blame to lay, 2 people are needlessly dead.

Now this prompted a big debate over the local media about cyclists being chronic scofflaws or drivers being homicidal maniacs. The numbers are in about this. Of the 800 incidents involving bike collisions last year, the Montreal Police reports that responsibility is split 50/50 between cyclists and drivers. I admit that I see bikes blowing red lights and stop signs. What we need for that is more regular enforcement. Cops on bicycles should do regular operations to enforce traffic laws for cyclist as their counterparts in cars do with motorists. The occasional spot checks don’t work. Cyclists here know that getting a traffic ticket while biking are in the same range of odds as winning something at the lottery.

The biggest concern in my opinion however, are the riders who go out there and ride unaware. Unaware of the risks and dangers. Unaware of the consequences of ignoring basic safety issues. Unaware of the fact that they are invisible to most drivers and since a lot of drivers are also out there unaware, collisions are bound to happen. Riding a bike with your brain switched off is suicide.

Here are some tips that will keep you safe and hopefully alive out there:

Be aware

Make sure all your senses are available for the task. No ear plugs, both hands on the handlebars and your eyes open for traffic next to you, behind you, in front of you and beyond. Anticipate so you don’t get caught reacting at the last moment.

Assume nothing

Prepare for the worst scenario every time. Don’t assume that the door won’t open, that the car driver is going to go straight, or stop or go or turn or see you or anything else for that matter. Hoping for good things to happen instead might get you killed. I did that mistake only once and ended up flying in the air launched from a car windshield. I assumed that the driver saw me while I was crossing the street on foot, on a green light and he was about to turn right in my path. Luckily I survived unharmed, you might not.

Respect traffic laws

Riding on sidewalks with pedestrians present is dangerous, get off your bike and walk. Pedestrians should get the respect that you expect from drivers on the road. Stop and wait at red lights. I know that it’s a bummer when there is no traffic but leaving on a red while cars are waiting only perpetuates the myth that all cyclists are bums. If we want respect from drivers, we need to share at least a little of their time wasting frustrations like this one. Slow down at stop signs at the very least, proceed through only if there is no traffic present whatsoever. Don’t ride against traffic. The reasoning that it’s less dangerous to have traffic in front of you being safer is absolutely stupid. Drivers get confused when they see you and this could actually cause you harm. If you are paranoid about cars behind you, get a mirror or two. They are cheap and available everywhere in all sizes.

Be visible at night

Forget riding in the dark with only reflectors, they are unidirectional and a driver might see you only when it is too late. Less than $10 will get you a blinker for the front and back of your bike with enough power to last an entire season. Want to stand out big time? Get one of those lime yellow reflective vest, you will never go unnoticed.

Wear a helmet

I’ll mention this sticker I saw on a courier’s helmet: “I wear a helmet because of the way you drive.”. You just never know when your head will smack the pavement. It is proven that helmets reduce the risk of major head trauma by 70 to 80 percent. Use your brain and put a lid on it.

Physics, it’s the law!

And it’s always right. That should be your prime concern when riding. A 3000 pound car will always win against your flesh and bones. This law prevails over any traffic law when riding. Yeah you may have had the right of way according to the traffic code but if you are 6 feet under pushing daisies you won’t really care about the slap on the wrist that driver gets.

After reading all this you might wonder if I ride like a paranoid maniac all the time. No I don’t. Becoming aware is like anything else, you get used to it and it becomes second nature after a while.

If you wish to keep your head in the sand and still ride with an attitude that it won’t happen to you, here’s another story that happened this week as well: A man turned himself in yesterday 5 years after hitting and killing a cyclist. He hit a 43 year old Father of 2. The driver took the time to unjam the bike from under is truck one kilometre away from the collision and tossed it in a field before he drove off. He didn’t bother calling 911 to get help to his victim which he left to die by the side of the road. I’m not saying that every driver is out to kill you but if you ride as if they are, you’ll have an edge and have a much better chance of avoiding a collision.

Hopefully this post motivated by this sad tragedy might prevent someone, somewhere from getting hurt bad or dead.

To both families, my heart and sympathies go out to you.

Ride safe and ride free.

Gerry

A case for lights and open ears, safe bicycle riding tactics.

 

I've noticed a lot of riders in my city riding at night with no lights or with an Ipod plugged in their ears. It's been said again and again not to do that and I agree with it since it's only logical.

Well while out on my daily evening ride only minutes ago, I got a hard reminder from life that it IS actually very unsafe. Not that I would be dumb enough to ride without lights in the dark, having my ears filled with the greatest hits from Journey and pedaling without a care in the world totally oblivious to what happens around me, but bare with me.

So I'm flying down this small street called De Gaspé with my front and back LEDs flashing and I'm approaching a major intersection at Jarry. The traffic light is green, I mean full solid green. No cars in sight on both sides waiting on the red light, I'm still flying but I stop pedaling. I'm listening for possible oncoming traffic outside of my field of vision, I hear an engine under full acceleration, my hands are going for the front brake lever and my legs are getting into position to hit the coaster brake on the rear hub. I look to my left where the sound is coming from and I see flashing blue and red lights, Montreal PD, he's coming fast, I hit the brakes.

As I started to bring the bike to a stop, we both saw each other and made eye contact. He stopped at the intersection at the same time as I did. I let him through, he nodded, I resumed my ride home.

Now all of this happened in mere seconds. What I would like to point out here is that $9 worth of little LED lights and a little situational awareness saved me from serious injury or death. In this case, the Police Officer is trained to be on the look out while on the job and even more so while going to calls in emergency mode. Think about the clueless idiots driving around with no care in the world, drunk drivers or the drivers that are openly aggressive towards cyclists. You cannot afford to ride carelessly at any time and even less at night. Be aware and stay alive.

Don't forget to check out the how-to articles post

and download my free bike maintenance book if you haven't already.

Until next time, ride safe and free.

Gerry :)

Vacation in Montreal on a Bike Part 3

Sunday was a lovely day and the good people at MEC (Mountain Equipement Coop) had organized Montreal's first Bike Fest. Of course I had to go down there to meet up with a lot of people I know and I sure did.

I met some familiar faces that day and even a pair of readers. It's always fun to meet people who read my stuff. You know who you are both of you. :)  We had the presence of many community groups who promote biking, from the all season commuters association, the bike moving company and the gardeners on bikes. Even the gals in blue showed up to give safety tips to kids and they held a raffle for a cool looking helmet. Eric Hannan and his crew showed up with their mad Choppers and grabbed all kinds of attention as usual.

I spent the rest of the day with a ride downtown. The last one was over a year ago and the nice warm day was all indicated to go at it. I was surprised to see Ste-Catherine so crowded on a Sunday afternoon. I'm not phobic about crowds but it seems that their was a lot more people than I am use to. I cruised away from the "Cat" and took some shots of Windsor station. If you recognize it but can't put your finger on it, it has been used to portray many cities in movies.

It was a great day and I hope that Bike Fest will be done again next year. The Féria du Vélo in the beginning of June is nice but too corporate. The Bike Fest was more down to earth and really reached out to the grass roots people.

Until next time, ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry :)

Vacation in Montreal on a Bike Part 2

Today I decided to look over the bike before heading out to a short ride in my immediate neighborhood North of the City. Turns out the front brake pads came out of alignment and were rubbing on the front tire. The rear pads were not fairing as good either since they had a lot of toe-out that made them yell like crazy!

All came back together with a bit of tweaking. I even managed to get my saddle height correct and now that 50 year old Brook's saddle feels great. I went for a short 10 kilometer ride today but it was well worth it. I happen by chance to get hungry near a little place on Gouin at the corner of Delorimier called Pitabec. I had the best Shish Taouk pita sandwich in my entire life. That pita sandwich alone was worth getting the cruiser out today.

Big bike fest tomorrow(Sunday May 23rd) at Lafontaine Park starting at 10am. If you are in Montreal, come look for me there tomorrow.

Until next time, ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry :)

Vacation in Montreal on a Bike Part 1

So the first day of the vacation started off with a late evening ride that is posted on the Fixed Gear Montréal group on Facebook. It's every Thursday evening at 10H30 pm starting in the park at the corner of St-Laurent and St-Joseph.

I met up with three other riders, Max, Vladimir and a reader of this blog who chose to remain nameless. The plan was to go South, so we did. South from that point in Montreal is downhill so it was a lot of fun despite the fact that in the back of my mind I would have to climb those hills on the way back at some point in the evening. But I live in the now and truly enjoyed the ride all the way down to the Old Port. We ended up on top of the belvedere at the Old Port with a superb view of the skyline.

We moved out West passed the old Five Rose flour plant. It was great to see that the neon sign, which is a City landmark, is still working and to be this close to it was pretty cool. We rode the Lachine canal all the way up to St-Henri were we parked it in a local pub. Riding the canal at midnite is quite different than riding it during the day with tourists, commuters and Lance Armstrong wannabes. The darkness and absence of said populace made it surreal.

We shared a large pitcher of a refreshing beverage, the beer kind. It was quite refreshing to hang out with a few twenty somethings discussing bikes, life and existence in general. 2 am came along and we parted ways. I had 15 kilometers ahead of me to get back home, of which at least half was uphill and I was completely smashed!

I learned a lot of things during that gruesome ride.

1- I do live in one of the safest cities in North America. The Canadien hockey club just won 5 to 1 against the Philly Flyers that evening in the Stanley Cup series and although people were in a very high party mood, all was done in a civilized manner.

2- My bike weighs a ton! Pushing that thing up St-Laurent boulevard made me realized that I have to be more weight conscious when I slap a bike together.

3- You're less likely to get doored at 2 am. The more you get away from the City core, the quieter it is.

4- Some people love my bike. Determined by the fact that a drunk girl yelled out "I love your bike!" while I was concentrated on the pain of pedaling it uphill hard.

5-  Beer doesn't numb the pain enough. I still felt my butt, legs and back hurting all the way.

I made it home in one piece and I was quite happy with the day's riding. I will cherish this late evening ride forever. Would I do it again? I most probably will next week. Many thanks to my riding buddies who made this experience truly awesome.

Until next time ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry :)

Vacation in Montreal on a Bike

I had a week's vacation coming and I wondered what to do with it. Fortunately the recent nice weather here and me having to get around the City for many reasons made me realize that I live in a pretty cool place that needs to be explored.

So the idea is to take my bike and camera and go out there everyday. It all started today with the ride back from work which was exhilarating not too say the least. The kind of epic ride where everything seems to mesh perfectly together. Wind, road, traffic, body and the bike all came together in perfect unison to make a small commute awesome. A great Omen for the week to come.

I will share with you in text and image as I explore my City on 2 wheels. Not only the usual tourist attraction but also less visited neighborhoods that are still quite interesting and lucky for me there are a few biking events scheduled for the next week as well.

So keep posted on my adventure in Montreal on a bike.

Until next time, ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry :)

My first real spring bike ride of 2010

April 3rd of this year was amazingly warm and sunny for Montreal. We usually still have snow waiting to melt away and a snow fall waiting to hit us one last time before Summer. That day was also a holiday for me and my big cruiser was just begging to be taken out for a ride.

This was also my first serious ride since being hit by a car while crossing the street on a green light as a pedestrian. Blind luck and a Ninja move kept broken bones and death at bay. I was in pain for 3 months with my body aching all over.

With a hint of edgy nerves, I strapped on my helmet and pedaled into traffic. Turns out I haven't become paranoid but I am a lot more aware of my surroundings. I wasn't scared either, I felt right at home in Montreal traffic and didn't jump every time a car passed by a bit close.

That was a very good thing since this turned out to be an epic ride on a blissful Spring day. In typical Montreal fashion, all the people come out of their Winter hiding and plunged themselves into the beautiful weather by just hanging out, lye in the Sun or blow bubbles at passing cyclist from their apartment window accompanied by a fantastic smile(no joke, this happened for real). Everyone was happy and it showed. I just kept on riding and ended up doing 30 km. I also stopped in the Mile End district for my favorite Portuguese chicken sandwich, hmmmm good!

On the mechanical side of things I realized that I didn't follow my own advice before leaving. First off I had left the bike in storage without taking the tension out of the derailleur cable. It took at least 15 minutes to up-shift on the next available gear and now the spring has been stretched for so long that I'll have to replace the derailleur. It just won't shift into the last gear anymore.

I also left without checking for proper inflation of my tires. I did the stupid side squeeze (I should know better) of the sidewalls and resistance told me that "Oh yeah that looks like at least 30 pounds, I should be good." Wrong, ended up being lower than 20 pounds. Thankfully the good people of Cyclo Nord-Sud were on my route and helped me out with a killer foot pump to get pressure up to standard.

All and all it was a glorious ride, I came out of it refreshed and energized. If cars and heart ailments don't try to kill me this year, it should be an awesome riding season!

Until next time, ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry :)

The mountain bike for the beginner

Here's a publication that I found on issuu.com that explains everything about riding a mountain bike off-road. It is a bit hard to read since it's all hand written but the information is top notch and to the point. Enjoy!

Get your own - Open publication

Until next time, ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry :)

Ride like you are invisible, you're not car proof!

The bike above, or what remains of it, belongs to a fellow volunteer at the Mile End community bike shop where I give some time. His name is Elton and he's a spirited young rider. This is his second crash this summer, that I know of anyways. Bike 0 Cars 2. Luckily he came out of it a bit shaken and bruised. The bike suffered a destroyed fork and wheel. No big deal, the kid is alive and well, that's all that matters.

Then a few days ago my friend Riley, another volunteer at the shop, got rear ended by a drunk driver and ended up in the hospital(The driver was arrested and charged.). Thank God he came out of it without any major injuries. A bad case of road rash on his hip from what I heard. Now Elton's incident may have been partly due to his enthusiastic way of riding, but Riley's was totally unpredictable and those are the scary ones.

I posted about safe riding a while ago and I want to use this post to again emphasize the importance of being aware, extremely aware, of your surroundings when you ride. Take for granted that most drivers don't have any consideration for you or your safety. A lot of them out there don't even know how to operate the heater in their car for crying out loud, but they are very good at multi-tasking with their make-up, cell phone and newspaper. That's until something on the road happens to break their concentration. Remember that even if you are in the right, the law of physics has always precedence over anything else, one ton of car will always win in a collision. Ride as if you were invisible, always.

I don't know if it's because my kids are in the same age group as the guys and gals at the shop, but whenever I hear about one of them getting involved in an accident, I feel terrible. Just as if they were one of mine. I've chatted online with Riley today and he did tell me he was OK, but my mind won't be at peace until I see him in person. I only wish that this post will help someone avoid getting killed or seriously injured so that something positive came out of those incidents.

Until next time, DO ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry

HOW TO RIDE YOUR BIKE SAFELY

I’ve done many articles about bike maintenance, but one area that I realize I haven’t addressed is safe bicycle riding. You can have a properly maintained ride, but if you are not careful out there you could be killed or maimed.

So the first thing you must have in mind at all times in your head when riding your bike is this: BE ALERT AND BE AWARE.

BE ALERT

I don’t care if it’s a beautiful sunny day on the bike path and traffic is light, if you don’t pay attention to what you are doing with your head in the clouds and your eyes on the pretty birdies, you open yourself to whatever will happen to you. Unconsciously riding your bike anywhere but in your driveway is THE recipe for disaster. Keep tabs on what is moving and not moving around you. Look ahead and anticipate what the other guy might do, may he/she be a pedestrian, driver or even another cyclist. Keep an eye on the road surface as well, missing manhole covers and crater sized potholes can seriously ruin your day. This might sound complicated and impossible to do, but consider that you have an unobstructed view of everything, your rate of speed is a lot more manageable than a car or motorcycle and, if your brakes are in good condition, you can stop pretty quickly on a very short distance.

BE AWARE

Being aware is not just about your surroundings, it is extremely important, but it is also about being aware of yourself and your bike. What kind of rider are you? Fast, slow? In what condition is your bike? Good brakes, gears working properly, anything about to break on it that you are aware of? Take all these things into consideration before that first push of the pedal. I ride around on a big cruiser sometimes with very bad brakes (for my taste anyways) and knowing that fact I will ride it very casually at speeds that I know it can stop fast…relatively speaking of course. You will never catch me doing stupid stunts in weekday traffic on that thing!

Here are other things to consider:

BIKE PATHS AND CYCLING LANES

Ah yes the safety and convenience of bike lanes…NOT! Even the best case scenario of the protected and dedicated bike lane that physically keeps vehicle traffic away from you has it’s dangers, just imagine what the painted line on the ground variety is like. The list is long in both cases: Opening car doors, unconscious morons on foot using or crossing without looking, Lance Armstrong wannabes, kids sent there by there mothers with their tricycle doing donuts, kids or regular brain-dead cyclist weaving from side to side, parked maintenance vehicles or moving vans, rollerbladers taking both lanes to skate, wheelchair type scooters, and a whole bunch of other things that I’m sure some of you could add. Keep this in mind next time you go for a leisurely ride. The one that freaks me out the most are the mothers walking their baby stroller right in the middle of the path, I think these ladies failed their physics class since a rider and bike moving at 30 km/h can cause serious damage if they or their baby gets hit. Hopefully that rider will have read this post an managed to avoid her in time.

BEING DOORED

This has never happened to me, but I’ve had two close calls. From what I’ve gathered when talking to victims of this type of incident, deceleration is instantaneous and extremely painful. One cyclist ended up in intensive care last week clinging to life after being doored. She bounced off the door and was projected onto incoming traffic and got hit by a truck. When riding next to parked cars, keep an eye inside the vehicles and side mirror to detect movement inside. If you can’t see the inside of a car because of tinted windows or other reasons, take for granted that it is occupied and prepare to evade or stop. Keep an eye on the traffic behind you at all times. I’ve equipped all my bikes with a decent bell so that when I see movement in a car I ring it to make sure the occupant is aware that I’m there. So far it’s worked wonders.

STRATEGY AND TACTICS ON THE ROAD

When riding with traffic you have to take some precautions and adapt your way of riding. Never ride facing oncoming traffic, it’s a myth that it’s safer. Drivers find you out of sync and might not react well, at night your red rear reflector or light is not visible and neither are you. Avoid sidewalks at all cost, it is dangerous for pedestrians and illegal in most places. Don’t forget to keep an eye on what’s happening behind you and keep your ears open. Use all the feedbacks from the road, may it be visible or audible. Never forget that in a hitting contest the car will always win. If you have priority and a driver decides otherwise, don’t insist or you might get killed to get your point across. When you get to an intersection and there is more than two cars competing for the right of way, play it safe. Stop, sit up on your saddle and cross your arms over your chest. This way the other users will see that you are not going anywhere. You can now wait until they’ve all settled their arguments, in a matter of speaking, moved along and safely go through once the intersection is clear. Those few seconds that you’ve waited will insure that you can ride on instead of wasting some precious riding time in a hospital bed. Blasting thru stop signs and red traffic lights is of course extremely suicidal. At least take the time to slow down and look both ways.

SOME PEOPLE HATE YOU

Yes it’s true. Either it’s because we look different, save money on gas or just because we seem to enjoy ourselves and the world, some people find this offensive in the sense that everybody should be as miserable as they are or they are simply stupid period. This type of idiot can try to aggress you with his/her car or throw things at you just for the hell of it. In this type of situation it is imperative that you avoid and evade immediately. Your first priority is your safety and survival, Police reports and arguments will have to wait for later. A car as tons of horsepower, but you are extremely mobile and you can go anywhere. Go places a car can’t go or follow you, keep moving and if you have to, even consider going against traffic. Once you’re in a safe place you can call the Police if need be.

RIDING AT NIGHT

Bikes usually come equipped with reflectors and most people think that this is enough to get by when riding at night...WRONG! Nothing beats a good front light and a red blinker in the back. LED equipped bicycle lights are now available in both red and white. They are inexpensive, easy to find and don't require a cumbersome dynamo to slow you done. If you want total visibility at night, throw in a lime yellow safety vest and only a total blind man or idiot won't see you. There is no technical reason why you should ride at night without being visible. Reflectors are only good so a driver can notice you seconds before he/she plows into you.

LAST WORD

In your mind, prepare yourself for any and all problem that you might encounter while riding. You would be surprised at the difference it can make in any situation. Lastly I will quote a Montreal bike courier who once told me this: “I ride as if I was invisible.” That means that you always take for granted that nobody sees you and you ride your bike the proper way, defensively.

Til next time DO ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry :)

Update

Here's a copy of an email I received from one of our readers telling of his experience and I think it is worth sharing here. So here it goes:

"I consider myself a very safe and alert cyclist based on many years of riding a motorcycle with the attitude that "everyone out there who can get me, will" and always having an exit plan. I commute 14 miles each way 2-4 days a week to work. I have since given up the motorcycle after my dad lost his life to a drunk driver riding the motorcycle on which I learned.

One situation I never anticipated caused a friend of mine a broken jaw and over a year's worth of surgery. Road conditions were excellent: sunny, dry, and clean roadbed. There was a nice bike lane and the street was long, straight, relatively flat with infrequent cross streets. My friend was in front of me on a road bike, me behind on my Vision recumbent. Traffic was heavy and stop and go while we were cruising along at about 12 mph. A medium sized panel truck stopped in traffic just ahead of us, but since traffic was stop and go we didn't think anything of it. However, the panel truck driver had actually stopped to allow an oncoming truck to turn left into a business driveway (i.e. in front of the panel truck and across our bike lane). The turning truck accelerated and roared in front of us, giving us no time to see him and stop in time.

My friend's jaw hit the bottom edge of the turning truck's flatbed. His jaw was broken and he endured over a year of oral surgeries including a length of time with his jaw wired shut. Had I been in front, I would have gone under the truck due to my lower riding position. I shudder to imagine what that would have been like.

I am used to watching out for traffic turning in front of me from behind, in front, and the sides, which is common at street intersections whether there is a bike path or not. What I learned from this experience was be very wary during stop and go traffic when obscures my vision of oncoming traffic.

Toby

Portland, OR"

Thanks Toby for sharing your experience.

Gerry

MORE BICYCLE DRIFTING

This time in Saudi Arabia. At the urging of one of my readers, I share this with you. Although he gets pulled by a car to get momentum, it is still pretty amazing how he smokes that rear tire drifting his bike. Mind you that the roads in Saudi Arabia are as smooth as glass from what I'm told.



Gerry:)

Japanese bicycle drift King?

Now some say this is not drifting but sliding. I don't care, it's pretty amazing. Watch this crazy rider drift is way through some pretty tight Japanese streets while drifting on his pretty simple commuter bicycle. I guess the smooth roads in Japan must help a lot in being able to pull those power slides like that on a bicycle.

Enjoy



Gerry :)

BEST RIDE EVER! MONTREAL CRITICAL MASS

I always wondered what it was like to ride in a critical mass. Critical mass was created 15 years ago in San Francisco when a bunch of cyclist decided to reclaim the streets on their own by just getting on the streets once a month and taking as much space as possible. Now there are critical masses all over the world, including Montreal. I was contacted this winter to check out there site and this Friday I decided to join in.

Now these rides are notorious for being very unorganised affairs in some places. The one in New York City is, from what I hear, a monthly clash between cyclist and the very well manned NYPD. The Montreal ride as also it's extremist elements, but being Montreal it's in a civilized manner. The morning before the ride I was watching the weather on a regular basis and I was hoping for the rain to vanish so I would be able to take part. Mother nature decided otherwise!

I was about to call it at around 3 O'clock and it made me realise that I was getting soft. I used to ride to work 12 months a year in way worst weather and here I was being held back by a little rain. Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. Out came the high-vis raincoat and I headed downtown with the 45 lbs cruiser. The ride down to Phillips Square was a blast and when I got there I was surprised to find at least 50 people who had gathered in spite of the rain. I even met a reader of this blog who put together a trailer from one of my articles. Riley used the trailer to carry the music for the ride, sweet!

With no Police escort, we took to the street and rode for at least 30 minutes without any trouble. The rain was on and off but that didn't affect our spirits. Pedestrians on the sidewalks cheered us on and motorists were cursing the very fact that we were alive! Then somewhere on Park Avenue, we crossed a Police car that was waiting in the oncoming lane and by the look on the officers face, I knew we had just ruined what must have been a very quiet shift.

We had three Police cars join us after that in no time. We were intercepted at the corner of St-Laurent and Mont-Royal were they tried to escort us. One car was preparing to open the ride up front, but the mass decided to turn on the street before on Drolet to start a game of cat and mouse. The cruisers caught on pretty fast and the mass was boxed in within 2 minutes. The officers from station 38 were pretty ticked off. You could see it in their face, body language and deployed straight batons! They really didn't won't to mess around. But station 37 came behind us and the sargeant on duty from that station managed to calm things down on both sides. Great work on his part prevented things to go ugly. The ride was over, this was confirmed once we were advised that it was an illegal demonstration. The Police took down the names of 4 people without advising them of why I was told. The group broke up and we ended up at the Mont-Royal metro station for chat and snacks. I rode back home at around 8H30 pm and that ride was a blast.

What made this ride enjoyable for me was not the mere fact of riding in the streets in a spate of what might be interpreted as civil disobedience. The people I met there, the ride-in in traffic, the ride-out in the darkness were even more fun. Meeting a reader of this blog that actually put together one of my crazy ideas was also a great kick I must admit. Almost as exciting as a brush with the law.

So if your bike riding or your life is getting too boring, get to Union and Ste-Catherine at 5H30pm every last Friday of the month and go for it. For the readers of this blog that are out there in the world, just google critical mass to see if there is one in your town. If not, start one.

Til next time, ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry