Montreal Bike Trip Was a Success!

The trip was a success! We rode hard for four days and got to Montreal around 8pm on Monday June 30th. It was a lot of riding and a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.

Thanks to the generosity and support of a bunch of people, we more than doubled our goal of raising $1000. Our final count came to $2100! Thanks to everyone who donated, including family members, friends, coworkers, the fine people at Marigold Ford in Whitby, Coach Canada for the free bus ride home and everyone else who contributed or helped out in any way.

We met at Spencer’s house on Friday morning at 7am for a little send-off party. We presented the money we raised to Wyatt’s aunt, took some photos and then we were off. Within four minutes, we had our first breakdown. Spencer broke the first of many spokes. It took a good 25 minutes or so to get fixed, then we were off again. As we were turning into Darlington Provincial Park, I took a little spill on some loose gravel. Luckily, I didn’t get hurt and nothing on my bike was affected. As soon as we left the park, I got a flat tire. Ten minutes later, I got another one.

So, within the first hour or so, we had three breakdowns and one wipeout. It got better from there. Spencer’s spokes broke almost routinely throughout the ride, but the frequency decreased as the days went on. It wasn’t horrible though – spoke breaks provided us with a little break to get off the bike and stretch.

We had a good time in Montreal, checking out the sights, eating at different restaurants and drinking at different bars and pubs. It’s a nice city, like a smaller, Frencher Toronto. While we were there, we got to check out a little bit of the Jazz Festival, which drew a lot of crowds.

Over the next week or so, I’ll write about some of the highlights of the trip and upload some pictures.