It's 10pm on a sunday night as I write this, where I nest in the comfort of a laptop and dry clothes and a warm lamp, on a sunday that began with enough rain to sink noah's ark, where I began my day at the starting line of the Tour de L'île amongst thousands of other colorful bikes, beachballs bouncing through the crowd, happy people singing along to Olé Olé but chanting soleil, soleil soleil soleil instead.
It was shitty weather. Not once did the rain stop, but we were always greeted by volunteers who either cheered, shouted, yelled, blew horns, rang bells, or just stood there. It sort of amazed me. You could have taken a look at the sky in the morning, said fuck it and stayed home. But you didn't. You showed up to watch tens of thousands of strangers cycle by. And most of us appreciated that so we waved back.
By the time we were circling Lafarge quarry I was pretty much high on endorphins. I was riding full speed down a slope with a huge smile on my face, just really smiling for no reason. I thought the quarry was the breathtaking because I was so exultingly joyful. Trees cleared to my left and all of a sudden I was looking at layers and layers of dirt and stone of a big hole in the earth. We took a few more turns and descended on another path through the quarry. You know that perfect moment where you don't have to worry about braking for the person in front of you because everyone around you is also riding full speed ahead so the distance between everyone just remains about the same? That moment lasted like, five whole minutes. It was glorious.
The spoils of my victory! Milk and two free passes for the metro at the finish line. I waited in hypothermia-inducing conditions for a chance to spin the wheel and win something from STM. My shoes were sloshing and my fingers were carrot sticks. And my knees! Oh how they ache. But I finished! 50km! 3 hours! I can do anything now!
Montreal spoils me, three splendid hours of a day, stolen away from all the cars, all the trucks, all the buses, all the minivans all just for the leisure of a bike ride.
