Ride report: P'tit train du Nord and (almost) Mont-Tremblant

Instead of embarking on a 200km brevet on wet Saturday, I had decided to go onto a long solo ride on sunny Sunday. Whereas on the previous weekend I had turned to the southeast, this time I wanted to head north.

The P'tit train du Nord is a rail train on the former route of a train to the ski resort towns of Mont-Tremblant and Mont-Laurier. The train begins in Blainville, just north of the Montreal island, and continues for about 200 km to Mont-Laurier.

My destination for the day was the Mont-Tremblant. Two years ago, the SO and I cycled on the P'tit train for a two day camping trip, but for health reasons we only made it about halfway to Mont-Tremblant. Based on my planning the route at home, the total mileage from the Place-de-la-Concorde metro station to the village would be about 110 km one way -- a long but doable distance.

I headed out to the metro station near our house just before nine. As I was about to swipe my card at the turnstile, the ticket agent knocked on the window of her booth and let me know that today the metro was off-limits for bikes until 6pm, thanks to the F1 Grand Prix. Just another reason to dislike the Grand Prix...

But what can you do -- I just started riding, with the clear knowledge that this would probably add a good hour of not-that-fun riding and was diminishing my chances of actually making it all the way to Mont-Tremblant. Since it was Sunday morning, I just rode on the main arterial for most of the way and finally arrived at the de-la-Concorde station. From here to the start of the actual trail the route is a mix of separate paths and suburban and residential roads -- nothing spectacular but also not too bad.

In Blainville, the fun began: parallel to the commuter rail line lies a smoothly paved path. It's very popular amongst cyclists, inline skaters, and runners alike, but it's wide enough that you can still go at a good clip. I was feeling great and put the hammer down, zooming along at 30km/h. The wind was mostly a side to headwind, but it wasn't particularly strong.

In Saint-Jerome I took my first break after 60km, wolfing down a sandwich and refilling my water bottles. Once you get to the outskirts of Saint-Jerome the trail turns into gravel, and the gentle ascent begins. The trail is really well maintained and was easily rideable on my 25mm tires. For many kilometers the trail follows the scenic Rivière-du-Nord which switches betwenn still, wide parts and gurgling rapids multiple times. A lot of the old train stations were converted into tourist infos, rest stops, or cafes, and there are also always signs directing cyclists to nearby local businesses.

On my second rest stop, I finally had a closer look at one of the sigs with distances on the trail -- realizing that something had gone wrong with my distance calculation: It turns out that "Mont Tremblant" consists of multiple little parts, and that the one that I was trying to get to was the furthest, almost 20km past the one I had mapped. At this point it was pretty clear that I wouldn't make it there and I decided to just continue until I felt like turning back.

The route continued being beautiful and scenic, with the only annoyance being the sets of narrow chicanes at each and every road crossing (since they require a good deal of concentration I never ended up taking a picture of them). A lot of cyclists of all ages and types were enjoying the beautiful day on the trail.

I reached my point of return when the combination of riding on gravel, the ascent, and the headwind had worn me down sufficiently. I had already crossed the highest point of the route and didn't feel much like having to go back up on the return leg. Having the wind in my back now, going back was a lot of fun. My body had started getting sore in various spots, but I was doing alright. I even had enough energy to ride fast enough to be a target for a roadie grabbing onto my wheel on the section between Saint-Jerome and Blainville. Unfortunately I took a wrong turn at one of the street crossings and missed my chance to have him do some work for me.

After almost exactly 10 hours of time in the saddle and 241 kilometers I finally reached the metro station, being very happy to be spared the final kilometers back home. Today I'm feeling a little stiff, but nothing major. All in all a great ride, despite not having made it to my intended destination. Maybe I'll try it again some time after August, when the commuter rail to Saint-Jerome will have added weekend service.

The hardest ride of my life: Stelvio 2011

The Adige bike path in the early morning

Entering the Stelvio National Park

Pass open? Check.

I was going through my old GPS log files and discovered this gem which I hadn't uploaded to Strava yet: A log of the hardest ride I've ever done (No. 2 is this one, I think). We spent the summer of 2011 in the North Italian Alps. We primarily went hiking, but on the second to last day of our trip I rented a fancy crabon road bike and set out for a ride up the famous Stelvio pass. The original plan was to save myself some of flatter parts of the route by taking the train to Prato, at the bottom of the pass. When I arrived at the train station at 6 am, however, I realized that one couldn't buy tickets on the train. Oh well, what can you do -- I just got going, telling myself that those 42 km wouldn't make that much of a difference.

The bike's lowest gear was a 34-27 which is not bad for a road bike, but for 25 km of constant 8% gradient it wasn't exactly what would have been good for me. Well, the spectacular scenery and the loads of other cyclists (some slower, some faster) pushed me on and I actually rode up all 48 switchbacks to the pass at 2750m with just one stop.

For the way back I went down the slightly less spectacular but still scenic and quiet Umbrail pass. Once I reached the Adige valley again I was already pretty spent. But there were still about 50km to go. While they theoretically were all downhill, the typical hot wind that blows up the valley made my life miserable. In addition, my butt was really sore from being on this tiny racing saddle for many hours.

Well, after 150km, over 3500m of climbing and 9 hours in the saddle I made it back to the hotel in the end. Unfortunately, my suffering wasn't quite over yet. I obviously had overexerted myself enough to compromise my immune system and caught a nasty stomach bug. For almost a week I couldn't eat anything solid. But hey, it was still totally worth it.

Some remnants of the brutal fought here

Blurry picture of the first switchback

The valley opens up, providing great views

Plenty of cyclists

Nice, smooth pavement

Ortler. At 3905m the tallest summit in this part of the Alps

The iconic view of the final switchbacks. At this point you've already climbed for a long time

Time for a rest break before tackling the final climb

The pass is tough on everyone and everything. Stranded RV.

Switchback No. 1. Woo!

Top of the world (almost).

Turn off to the Umbrail in a picturesque Swiss village

My crabon wonderbike

Re-entering Italy

First 200 of 2013

This winter in Montreal was much harsher and longer than last year's and therefore I hadn't gotten too many miles in so far. Yet, May marks the beginning of the brevet season, with a 200k. I probably won't be able to do any brevets next year, as we'll be moving to a town with a rando club and I therefore wanted to get a good number of rides in this year.

Important things first: Once again, I managed to not put back my memory card into the camera. I really hate it when that happens, especially when there would've been many opportunities for taking pretty pictures on this nice and sunny spring day.

The ride was scheduled for 7. I got out of bed at 5:30 and my usual slow morning self completed the last bits of preparation necessary. Other than forgetting the memory card, I also failed to prepare sandwiches -- something I would dearly regret later. The forecast for the day was a high of 24°C and pure sun. Given how pale I am after the winter and having seen my SO getting badly burned from a relatively short run, I decided to play it safe and wear my longsleeve wool jersey.

When I arrived at the starting point, there was already a big crowd of riders assembled -- possibly the largest number I'd ever seen at a CVRM event. Jean, our club president, quickly explained the rules of the ride for the newcomers and after the obligatory group picture we headed out. I stayed with the front of the group, and riding through the quiet morning streets in a pack of 15 to 20 riders at high speed was exhilarating. Once we got out of the suburbs, a group of 8 or so cyclists increased the tempo further and after a short attempt of keeping up with them I let myself fall back and rode by myself for a while. While I had my first Clif Bar of the day, I was caught by another group of 6 riders and we stayed together until the first control stop at 41 km. On the way there, I -- for what I think the first time of my life -- managed to drop my water bottle while being near the front of the group. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and I was able to retrieve the bottle, but I was rather embarassed.

Going with my usual policy of keeping the control stops short, I only had my card signed, went to bathroom and headed out again before the rest of the group. After a couple minutes it dawned on me that I hadn't refilled my water bottles because somehow in my mind the next rest stop would be before getting to the big climb of the day. A quick glance at the cue sheet, however, confirmed that that was not the case and I therefore bought a bottle of Gatorade at the next gas station. The lost minutes, of course, meant that the people behind me would soon catch up with me. I considered hanging on to them but they were just a tad bit too fast and I therefore continued by myself.

The route had been flat so far, heading straight south towards the US border. At the last turn before the crossing, we then turned west and rode parallel to border. This was also where things started getting hilly. It starts out with gentle rolling hills and a lot of false flats and I started feeling a little exhausted. This was exacerbated by my maladjusted rear derailleur that kept ghost-shifting into a higher gear. On the other, this stretch of the route is also the most scenic part. Vineyards and orchards, old stone walls, and nice views (you can see a bit of it here). The final climb up Covey Hill was mean, as always, but I made it up, huffing and puffing.

The following downhill to the next control stop quickly made me forget the hard work, though, and soon I arrived at Boulangerie Chartrand, which was as busy as usual, both with regular customers and other randonneurs. I only had an espresso and a Clif Bar, refilled my bottles, re-applied sunscreen, fixed the derailleur, and headed out again, once again by myself. The sun was burning by now which on the one hand made me glad to have the protection the long jersey provided, but on the other hand also made me pretty hot. Once again, I was being passed by the group of people I'd been playing cat-and-mouse with. The route out here was again all very quiet -- there's only one little town, Saint-Chrysostome, on the 60 km between rest stops 2 and 3.

Having a properly working derailleur was nice, but now I had to struggle with a headwind (even though it seemed to switch directios many times during the course of the day) and me being absolutely sick of eating and drinking sweet things. This is not uncommon for me, but usually doesn't happen as early. I dreaded having to eat yet another Clif Bar and longingly thought about those savory sandwiches I never ended up making. My feet were also complaining, but in the end I made it to the third control stop (which is the same as number 1). A few other riders were there, fixing someone's flat, and this time they actually headed out before me. The V8 and coke I had had at the control made me feel better, as did the knowledge that only a good 40km were left until the finish.

Just before reaching the outer limits of the suburbs I was caught by yet another group. This time, I did ride with them and had a nice conversation with one rider who was doing his first fixed gear 200k. We arrived at the final control at 15:37, a good 8.5 hours after the start. Given how early in the season it was and that I had ridden mostly on my own, this was a surprisingly good time and I didn't feel too bad. I also seem to have avoided getting burned by the sun. Overall, a very happy ride!

Jacques Cartier Bridge fully open again -- but closed again soon

Jacques Cartier Bridge at dusk

The Jacques Cartier Bridge is a vital link between the island of Montreal and the South Shore. To the chagrin of many bike commuters the bridge is closed during the winter, but at least "The Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated" which manages the bridges is much better than the city of Montreal in closing the bridge as late in the season as possible and reopening as early as possible. This year's opening date was March 26 but until now the southern approach to the bike path was closed. This meant that one had to go up or down a steep, long set of stairs to get on and off the bridge, making the bridge practically unusable for a number of cyclists.

Bike path on the bridge

The reason for the closure was an unstable embankment. If you've used the bridge you've probably noticed that the side of the path kept sinking, and after they've tried some minor fixes this season a more durable solution was implemented. The first round of this work has now been completed but there will be more work -- and another closure of that section for five weeks in July. During that period some other work will also be carried out, resulting in a complete closure of the path for two weeks. While the closure is annoying, I'm looking forward to the improvements, and a detour via the sidewalk on the other side of the bridge exists. Since walking your bike across the entire span of the bridge and/or using the steps will be rather tedious (and yes, you should not harass pedestrians and actually walk your bike), it might be a better option to take a detour.

During the partial closure you can exit the Cartier Bridge onto Ile-Sainte-Helene, cross the little bridge towards the Formula 1 race track and then follow the bike path to the Saint-Lambert locks across the St. Lawrence Seaway. During the complete closure (and if you come from points further south/west) you can detour via Pont-de-la-Concorde to Ile-Notre-Dame and then take the same way as above to the locks.

© OpenStreetMap contributors. Data available under the Open Database License, cartography licensed as CC-BY-SA.

I don't like battery lights, but...

I'm a serious convert to and proselytizer for dynamo-powered lighting. Nothing beats the convenience and reliability of a generator hub and LED lighting, and other than our folder all the bikes in our household are thusly equipped. However, there are some circumstances when it makes sense to have battery lights. The problem with most battery lights sold in North America is that they have rotationally symmetric reflectors, meaning that most of the photons they shoot out end up somewhere other than the road in front of you -- not the least in the eyes of on-coming riders and drivers. In Germany this is verboten and there are elaborate standards for defining how much light can go where in a street-legal front light. One light that meets these standards is the Philips LBL (LED bike light). I have the Philips SafeRide 60, which is the dynamo-powered version of this light, and while it now might have been surpassed by the latest generation of B&M lights, the Luxos series, the SafeRide has been the best dynamo front light out there. It beats the B&M IQ Cyo in beam pattern, light color, and brightness -- though not by much. The downside are its horrible aesthetics (they remind me of a really bad battery light I owned sometime in the 90s), its weight, and that it doesn't come with a daylight sensor. Having these characteristics, but with a different power source sounds like it would make a very decent light, and the reviews of the LBL are pretty positive (the most informative one can be found here).



Why am I posting all this? Well, the Philips LBL is now on sale at amazon.com for merely 89 dollars. I don't live in the US at the moment and therefore can't buy the light, but if I could I would. No, I haven't strayed from the path of dynamo-enlightenment, but for 90 bucks I would totally buy this light -- as an additional light for those night-time brevets I hope to be doing this year, for the folding bike where installing a generator hub is tricky, or as a backup for the road bike that doesn't need a generator hub on many rides.

Hat tip to Steve Chan on the IBOB list for mentioning this deal. And the usual disclaimer about amazon affiliate links applies.

Observations from Berlin

Bikes are everywhere in Berlin, even in the famous food department of KaDeWe

Last summer I spent a couple of days in Berlin. I went to university there between 2001 and 2007 but haven't been back for a few years. Before moving to the US I did bike a decent amount, mostly for transportation, but would never have considered myself a "cyclist"--a bike is just what gets you around town faster and cheaper than the subway or bus. In addition to my changed attitude and behavior, cycling in Berlin has changed, too. The modal share has increased quite a bit and infrastructure keeps getting added or replaced. So it was quite interesting to be back and I wanted to share some of my observations.

The bike rentals

Bike rentals are everywhere, and they are dirt cheap. We rented from Lila Bike in Prenzlauer Berg and they charge 8 Euros for the first 24 hours and 5 Euros for every day after. We picked the bikes up on a Sunday and it was completely crazy with people flocking in by the second to rent or return their bikes. In addition to specialized bike rental places one could also rent from bike shops and even convenience stores. The bikes usually are heavy step-through city bikes with internal gear hubs, big, cushy saddles, dynamo-powered lighting (a legal requirement in Germany), fenders, a rack, and wide, puncture-resistant tires. North American cyclist might scoff at these bikes and they are certainly not meant for riding a century, but for riding around Berlin with its many cobblestone streets they work very well.
On one day we used our rental bikes to ride out to Pedalpower in Lichtenberg to rent a tandem. Pedalkraft makes their own tandems and cargo bikes, and for 25 Euros per 24 hours we got a step-through tandem with S&S couplers. Rental opportunities for other kinds of more specialized kinds of bikes exist, too.

Finally, Deutsche Bahn offers Call-A-Bike, a system similar to Bixi or Velib.

The sidewalk cycling and salmoning

Bike traffic can be heavy and unfortunately there is a large amount of sidewalk cycling. It is illegal and there is some enforcement (we saw someone being pulled over while we were on [or in this case: off] the tandem) but a lot of people don't care at all and ride on the sidewalk pretty aggressively. We stayed near Schönhauser Allee and this is both a sidewalk cycling and salmoning hotspot -- partly probably due to the fact that it is a big uncrossable street with the elevated subway in the middle.

Salmoning on the Schönhauser in action (Photo: GBiB; license CC-BY-NC-SA)

In 2008 the modal share for bikes was 13% for the whole of Berlin and I'm sure it has grown since then. As in most cities, the numbers change the farther away from the city center you go, but even the outer borough have a significant amount of cyclists. A high mode share combined with bad behavior and bad infrastructure creates a lot of tension but cycling is still a very safe activity in Berlin.

The bike shops

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is a huge number of bike shops around town. I was looking for a couple of more or less exotic parts and for that reason visited a number of them. One really nice thing about them is that they can usually order every part that Hartje, the major German wholesaler, has in stock within 24 hours! And you don't even have to pay upfront.
Another great discovery was Cicli Berlinetta. They specialize in vintage Italian racing bikes and their shop is just a-m-azing! In addition to gorgeous frames they also have vintage components and apparel, and they also build their own custom frames and bikes. Even though I'm not the biggest retro-fan I can highly recommend a visit there!

Retro heaven at Cicli Berlinetta

Steel bike pr0n

The bikes

Pretty much any kind of bike imaginable can be found in Berlin. In comparison to North American cities, the proportion of upright city bikes is much higher and what is known as "hybrids" doesn't really exist as a category. The proportion of bikes equipped with dynohubs has increased significantly compared to when I lived in Berlin; sidewall generators, however, are still a common sight, as are ninja riders with no or broken lights.

The infrastructure

Situations like this are common in Berlin and kill several cyclists every year (Photo: quapan; license: CC-BY)

The types of bike infrastructure has a similar variety to the types of bikes ridden. In terms of quality it is a mixed bag, too. There are horrible cycletracks, probably dating back to the 1980s, which are narrow, have potholes and bumps galore, and put riders at a high risk of right-hooks (the major cause of cyclist deaths in Berlin). In general, the infrastructure built in recent years is not as bad -- mostly on-road cycletracks with somewhat decent solutions for the intersections. When riding by myself I would usually ignore the bad kinds of infrastructure but my significant other did not feel comfortable enough to ride on major roads. What has improved in the past years is signage: several bike routes, either leading to and from the center or on tangents, have been developed and they're well marked.
The legal situation in Germany is somewhat complicated: most basically, cyclists are obliged to use bike infrastructure -- but only if it is marked with certain signs, such as "Z 237". In principle these signs should only be put up in situations where there is an "objective danger" for cyclists but in the past local administrations haven't taken that requirement too seriously. Bike advocates have used the courts to get rid of a lot of the signs and in Berlin I have gotten the impression but the administration has gotten much better about giving cyclists a choice to use bike infrastructure or not.

Z 237: If you see this one you have to use the bike lane/cycle track

The helmets

My significant other had been told by someone at a conference that helmet use had increased significantly in Berlin. I was somewhat skeptical of that, as the statistics for Germany indicate that helmet use after a couple of years of growth is now stagnating or even declining. And that indeed seems to be the case. It's hard to guess accurately but I'd say that only 10 to 20 per cent of cyclists wear helmets.

A crowd-sourced chain testing procedure: Campa C9 vs. SRAM PC-971

Measuring arrangement: Chain is hung up on nail, pulled down by a 1000g weight. Measuring 6 full links on the inside with calipers

Changing a worn chain is a task you regularly encounter if you ride a decent amount of miles. How often you have to exchange them depends on a whole number of factors--gear ratio and cross-chaining, weather conditions, lubrication and cleaning, riding style and--the make and model of your chain. For the past couple of years I have been riding mostly SRAM's PC-971 chain. It was the one recommended and sold cheaply by my LBS and its price to value ratio seemed to be in a good zone. Its more expensive brother, the PC-991 appeared to offer mainly weight savings; and the cheaper model PC-951, which I tried once, lacked the nickel-plating that prevents the chain from getting permanently rusty in the salty winters of Upstate New York and Quebec.

My previous go-to chain: SRAM PC-971

I never kept exact records of chain life but after some years I got the impression that other people's chains lasted longer. As I've said above, this can be due to all kinds of factors but in the German radreise-forum.de a consensus developed that the Campagnolo Record C9 in general seems to last longer than other chains.

The reference chain: Campa Record C9

Some evidence for this was produced in a chain test by forum member JensD, and I was excited when another member announced that he would start a crowd-sourced follow up test. Because of the number of factors affecting chain wear you have to keep as many of them as constant as possible. One way of doing this is to test the chain in a controlled environment. Tests of this kind are regularly done by various bike magazines but the problem is that the performance in a test stand doesn't necessarily translate into real-world performance. In order to address this, BaB suggested the following procedure: Take two half-chains, join them together with master links, and then ride them on the same bike until one of them has passed the wear limit. At the beginning and at the end of the test the chains should be accurately measured while off the bike by hanging them on a nail, weighing them down with a 1 kg weight and then taking multiple measurement of 6 full links with calipers.

Reference weight: a water-fille SIGG bottle

There are a few potential problems with this procedure: some have pointed out that the differences in wear in the two parts of the chain will also lead to a specific wear in the cassette cogs which in turn will affect chain wear. And similarly, some believe that master links tend to wear faster than regular chain links. No matter if this is the case or not, it should not be a problem for the test results: the different amount of wear between the two chain parts will still be indicative of one chain's relative superiority over the other.

My current chain was already stretched beyond the recommended point for replacement and therefore I kept riding it until the bitter end before switching out the complete drivetrain. This delayed my testing for a bit but as of yesterday I'm in, comparing a Sram PC-971 with the Campa C9! Others on radreise-forum.de have already started the test and I am very curious about the forthcoming results. I will post here regularly about on-going developments. If anyone else is interested in participating, please let me know.