Road Worlds in Montreal: Our Pre Race Guide
Bonjour, ca va? So you wanna see a world championship bike race?
If, like us, you reside in the Northeast, it’s finally a perfect time to check out the height of the UCI road racing calendar within easy reach of home and set out to watch the pros hunt for the rainbow stripes. From NYC it’s relatively easy travel at only about an hour flight or 6 hour drive. Flight options for a last minute visit to the Women and Men road race this weekend are probably slim and costly but you could carpool with some friends and point north, just don't forget your passport and some friendly French greetings!
Here’s a quick guide on Montreal and how to spend your time during and outside the race this weekend! Hope to see some of you there!
Scenes from the Montreal Jazz Festival earlier this year
Getting Around
The highest concentrations of accommodations are going to be downtown and in Old Montreal. The Mile End and Le Plateau areas are nice and centrally located between the best parts of the course and the highest concentration of restaurants. If you haven’t secured something yet, well, you might be too late, but can try and scope out last minute Airbnb options.
The transit options are generally easy and plentiful - the subway system is small but simple to navigate. The bike share system Bixi is equally easy to use and Montreal has plenty of connected bike lanes making it a breeze to get around. For those that remember the old NYC citibikes these will feel familiar. Visitors just need to set up a Bixi membership via the app; if you plan to use the bikes a few times a day, I would recommend using daily passes so you have a 45 minute timeframe for dock to dock use. I can’t predict how easily available bikes and docks will be during the racing week, something tells me the stations near the race village, start/finish area and maybe some other popular spots around town may be more heavily trafficked, so check the app before you take a trip
BIXI bikes are plentiful and the bike lane infrastructure excellent
If you are driving up, I would recommend securing some parking ahead of time either with your hotel or in a covered garage as spots can book up, and stick to public transit or uber getting around town, there will be lots of street closures all week for the races which are outlined on the official race site!
Things to do outside the race
Montreal is a neat city so I would recommend fitting in some exploration before and after your main viewing events.
We highly recommend taking a bike and heading over to the island of Ile Notre Dame to the Parc Jean Drapeau to check out the F1 track which is open to cyclists to ride around the famous racecar circuit. You can easily take a Bixi bike there or rent a bike for the day and explore around town. Just check on when the track will be open to the public.
If you are into music you can check out the Piknic Elektronik festival just across a short bridge onto St Helens island, the electronic music festival goes every weekend through October with a very easygoing and accepting atmosphere. Food and drinks are available onsite and it’s all outdoors
Jean Talon market for fresh fruits and produce and local treats
You must try poutine, it’s practically a national staple and you can find tons of varieties, but in my opinion the classic is best; places abound but try Chez Tousignant, La Banquise, or Patati Patata
As a native new yorker I am fully biased towards NY style bagels - to be honest I didn’t know in my childhood there were other varietals - but you should give the Montreal ones a try. They are pretty tasty when they are hot and fresh out the oven and you can get that 24/7 from Fairmount or St Viateur.
Like gelato? After some bagels head to Kem CoBa
In the historic Jewish area of Mile End you have all the staples in addition to bagels: smoked meats and pastrami famous at Schwartz’s or laid back diner vibes at Beauty’s
Shopping abounds in this area, and we are told if you are in the market for jeans you should really check out Jeans Jeans Jeans and be prepared to know what you want and for the salespeople to throw various options at you to try
The old town is worth a visit to meander through the cobble streets or the waterfront piers
There are honestly tons of good restaurants around, many of course french inspired and really hard to go wrong. At this stage you probably need to go based on where you can get a reservation but some interesting options either tried and trued or well known are Joe Beef, Mon Lapin, Le Violon, and L’Express.
Into hockey? Whether you got invested before or after Heated Rivalry, you can check out the real Montreal Canadiens at Centre Bell playing a preseason game on Saturday 26th
Watching the race
Lets be honest if you are going to montreal this weekend you are really there for the bike racing and you should probably have some idea of where and how you want to view that
The benefit of the road race setup is that both the men and womens races will include several loops of a circuit on the course which affords you plenty of viewing opportunities. We think the finish stretch could make for an easy view point, or if you want to splurge and go for the Grandsdtands you are at least guaranteed to see the women 8 times and then men 12 times
The hill at Mont Royal is probably where some action will happen and the slower speeds means it should be a little easier to see your favorite racers for a few more seconds on each loop, bring some cowbells and be prepared to cheer or heckle a bit. The climb runs 2.3km and averages 6.2%, follwed by a few additional shorter climbs, one topping at 11%, ending on a slightly uphill finish drag on Avenue de Parc.
The Mont Royal Park is really cool on any day, with a bunch of different trails inside that immediately makes you feel like you are miles outside the city as soon as you get inside and rewards you with great views at the top. For the race viewing, some recon in July leads us to believe you should be able to walk up the Olmstead Trail and cut into spots along the road Voie Camellien-Houde for viewing access
Dont forget there will be a fan village at Parc Jeanne-Mance not far from the finish, with screens set up for viewing and lots of vendors for swag, food, and beverages
Canyon and Zwift are doing a bunch of rides, activations, and viewing parties and Escape Collective will be gathering somewhere near here on the climb
And if you just simply can’t make it, then set up your streaming with Flobikes or Youtube and host a nice viewing party with your bike team <3
À bientôt à Montréal
