Tour de l’île: the usual griping
TVA rejoices in griping about the Tour de l’île. Peter Sergakis doesn’t like it. People are out cycling who should be drinking in his dive bars. A weird pseudo-promise that the cycling events are profitable for the city is raised and then dismissed with no evidence either way. A Côte St-Luc councillor is also in the news for expressing hopes that rain would ruin the tour. But it didn’t, and 25,000 riders turned out.
I got stuck this weekend not once but twice because of the Tour. Friday night, coming home late, I was unaware that most of the 55 bus route had been cancelled for the entire evening, and had to wait nearly an hour for the first 363 to show up. Note to the STM: it is not helpful to post a sign at Sherbrooke Street telling you to go catch the bus at de Castelnau station – 5 km away.
Then Sunday I got stuck in a detoured 55 southbound at Mont-Royal, in the rain – I’d only glanced briefly at the map and had the impression the whole route was in the southwestern part of town, but no, the start and finish were in Jeanne-Mance Park. The bus driver was laughing because she couldn’t go anywhere, with Park Avenue blocked off by cop cars and Mont-Royal closed for a street sale. So I got off and walked.
But I’m not mad about any of it. It’s one weekend out of the year. The Tours are a good tradition.
Marco 00:17 on 2019-06-03 Permalink
“Peter Sergakis doesn’t like it” …oh I love it.
Kevin 10:07 on 2019-06-03 Permalink
I’m glad I have the home address and cell phone numbers of several doctors, and took advantage of it Sunday morning since there was no way I could get to any open clinic without crossing the route.
Rebecca 10:55 on 2019-06-03 Permalink
The signs along the 55 route were really confusing. They looked like the standard detour signs but gave no directions. I don’t remember how they labeled it, but I tried to look it up online and it took a friend reminding me that it was Tour de l’île weekend.
Christopher DeWolf 11:16 on 2019-06-03 Permalink
Ruth Kovac was elected by 834 people. More than 25,000 people took part in the Tour de l’Île. I’m not sure why various members of Côte Saint-Luc’s mini-me city council have been so vocal about opposing this event, but I’m sure glad they are completely irrelevant.
Meezly 12:34 on 2019-06-03 Permalink
Kate, you are probably a rare exception of someone who appreciates this tradition despite being screwed once a year in transit. The Tours have been going on since, like 1985?? You’d think after 35 years, Montrealers would have accepted it by now! p.s. finally participated in Tour La Nuit for the first time, and it was quite an adventure. This year the route included going through the Olympic Stadium.
Blork 12:48 on 2019-06-03 Permalink
I did the Tour de l’ile many years ago and really enjoyed it. I keep meaning to do the Tour de Nuit, but the darn thing always creeps up on me. It’s like “hey, that Tour de Nuit should be coming up soon… wait, it’s TOMORROW?”
Alex 15:22 on 2019-06-03 Permalink
Do people complain this much about the marathon which also closes a bunch of roads or is it outrage strictly limited to cycling events?
Kate 21:10 on 2019-06-03 Permalink
Alex, people don’t complain about the marathon. It’s just not a problem.
Blork, Meezly: I did the Tour La Nuit a couple of times, more than ten years ago. I recall a couple of memorable passages: once, going through the botanical garden in the real darkness – no street lights in there, it was kind of hair-raising to do, riding so close to so many other cyclists – and once, the tour went up the foot and cycle path on the east side of Mount Royal, but it evidently hadn’t occurred to the organizers that there are spots where, once you leave the path, the ground drops off pretty sharply and there’s no barrier, so they had volunteers standing in those places shouting at us to keep back. But it was always fun.
walkerp 06:53 on 2019-06-04 Permalink
Ruth Kovac, the Cote St-Luc councillor who said the Tour was holding them hostage and wished it would rain has deleted her tweet. Next she is going to say she was hacked.
Kevin 10:07 on 2019-06-04 Permalink
@Alex
The closures for the marathon cover less territory. It’s typically a line instead of a circle around most of the island.
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/montreal-marathon-and-construction-add-to-weekend-street-closures-for-sept-21-1.4102641