So Close, Yet So Far

We made it to Montreal in one day, and in one piece. Google Maps told us the distance from my place in Ottawa to my brother's place in Montreal was 198 kms, but we were hoping that we'd be able to push it over 200 kms. Alas those folks in Mountain View know what they are doing so my cycle computer recorded the final distance as 198.20 kms. Guess we are going to have to try again to get a double century.

The actual ride was nice, we had a solid tail wind blowing us to Montreal all day long, and the highways so far in Quebec have had more than enough of a shoulder. About the only gripe I had with the route we selected was that the 40 kms or so before Laval we were obviously on the route to the Montreal garbage dump. It was a nice little secondary highway, but our experience was punctuated by full garbage trucks passing us on the way out of town and empty ones heading back into town. In case you were wondering, there doesn't seem to be a great difference in the smell associated with a full or empty truck.

Aiden had another bit of bad luck with a sharp little piece of metal on the way through Laval. The leak was slow enough that he was able to make it all the way crest of Mt. Royal along Cote des Neiges before he elected to change the tube. It turned into quite the ordeal getting the tire back on and involved ruining another tube in the process, needless to say it wasn't something either one of us wanted to do after cycling 190 some kms. Luckily for us, Aiden's mom is here to visit so there was the promise of a good meal waiting for us. Today is a rest day and we'll be heading out tomorrow to start our way onto Quebec City.