On the joys of snow

A few days ago, a snowstorm hit the province. We accumulated 25 cm over two days. Tomorrow, we'll receive an additional 10-15 cm.
While enjoying the respite I am posting these pictures in hope of illustrating better my position on winter, winter cycling and defending my arguments in the last two posts. As of today, the snow has not been cleared on my street yet, while these pictures were taken on Friday.

Enjoy!

Friday night, I went to my sister's place to pick up some of the furniture I put there during our summer renovations.

She lives right across from a metro station but the volume of the furniture was such that we had to go by car. Plus it was -17 Celsius, excluding windchill.

As we do not own a car, we booked 4 hours of carshare program, Communauto.

In case you did not notice, there a bicycle lane right there, right were the car is parked. Yep, a marked one, with paint on the road and all. Can't see it?  

Cutting across, we're approaching the station.

It's about 9 pm, my camera comes from El Cheapo, my fingers are freezing so those pictures kind of suck but I am sure you're getting the point.

Plunging view on my right leg.

 Left.

Dear Hubby scrapping snow and ice off the car.

The three other cars parked at the carshare station. Usually there are all gone, especially on a Friday night, this is one of the most popular stations in town, gotta book way in advance.

Yet tonight, all cars are home! Nobody is stupid enough to be running errands on such a day but hey...

Finally we take off. For a moment there, I thought I was going to have to push the car out of the patch... Thank Heavens the beast pulled out on its own!
Then we found  ourselves behind one of these snow removal machines, mostly Caterpillars and John Deers construction machines converted for the winter season.

Most of these guys are private construction companies, leeching out on public funds in exchange for poor service, half-done work, aggressive and dangerous behaviour on roads, sidewalks etc. Every year people get killed.

Finally we get to destination. And obviously, the street was cleaned already. Damned, before us even!!
Nice right? It warms the heart to see one's hard-earned tax dollars put to such neat use.
Imagine if those guys were to clean the lanes and paths!!! Well maybe you would be getting a better look at the two bicycle lanes right there in the picture...

And I am not even mentioning the segregated one cutting across right in front of the bus and going all the way downtown!
No doubt, winter cycling is such a treat!

Ok, I am being mean-spirited again. Once this mess melts away a little, it is possible that the streets regain some kind of composure. Like in mid-December:

Like these two above, granted you are willing to challenge yourself with some bicycle skating!

At the end of the lane

   
This a lane that I rarely take.
Even though it is the second closest to where I live, I kind of dread having to ride on it.
Can you see why?

Please meet the Viger St. bike lane. Nice design right?
Oh no, not the segregated area, where the dude is walking; this is a footway, not a lane. The lane is right outside of it, between the cars and the blocks.
See it now? Well, me neither!
Why? because bike lanes are just that, nothing but f$@!ing painting on the road and nothing else and, as such, get erased over time due to, among other things, cars rolling on it over and over.

Of course, some portions of it are in a better state, it is not Irak (yet)... Oh, there it is, the "lane" re-appeared!

Not Irak (yet) but slowly and surely getting there! Anyways...
Does it matter? Well maybe not as the "lane" disappears again! Where?  Under the f%$#ing cars' wheels...

Ah, there it is again!

Well, kind of... more like the anemic remainders of it!

And on the way back, on McGill?
Well, if cars can roll on the bike lane with full impunity... 

 

Why not squarely  park in it?

Does it show that I prefer paths than lanes? Ahem...

Well, the real question is rather, what was I doing on that road, if I hate it so much, and what is the title "At the end of the lane" all about?

Mystère, mystère...
To be continued, la suite, au prochain épisode!

And indian summer ballade

  
   
This is going to be a picture only post.
They date back from the early October indian summer days. That was my last week-end before the surgery and my last "ride" of the season. "Ride" as I rarely get on my bike to wander around these days. But this time, we did.
We noodled around the Mile-end, Université de Montreal campus and Outremont area. Stopped here and there. And it all ended, if I remember well at the Bilboquet on Bernard st. for the best ice cream in town.

Enjoy!

The one and only...

   

... bicycle box of the city is already a mess.
I was rolling on Milton St. approaching University St., hoping to enjoy the newly installed bike box ("sas vélo") facility, so generously provided by the city. How nice, how innovative!

When it was launched earlier in the summer, everybody gloated about it, reporters came and took pictures, police paraded around it to show the populace how they were enforcing the Code, bla bla bla...

Months later, I pull up to see where it is at...

Well, as always, it was too good to be true. Sure enough, some broad had her fat car sitting squarely on the path leading to the box.

I knocked at her window, explaining as nicely as I could that she was blocking the $%#@? way and she needed to move from there. She barely got off her $@\%# cell phone to tell me off, invoking some emergency or whatever.

I had plenty of time to cross the street, turn around and take the picture of the @#%? broad who had not budged, even though her light was green.

Only after the next round of lights did she finally move her a$$ out of the box, probably as she realised I was taking pictures.

And for those not familiar with the city, the cars behind her are not in line to drive off: they are parked. So she is not in a lane, she actually parked on the ramp to the box.

For the record, I must admit that I have cycled the area quite often since the box was inaugurated. Most cars ignore it and stop on it or in the middle of it. I just never seemed to have my camera on hand at those times to take the proper pictures.

So, to the lady's defense, she is not, by far, the only one shitting on that bike box.
For some reason, the police has stopped parading around it... Just like in everything, as soon as there is no enforcement, hell breaks loose.

Authorities are currently "observing" and "monitoring" the "experiment" to see whether they should extended to the rest of the city.
Ahem! Whatever.