Get out and ride Montreal during bike festival week

A city that already carries the distinction of being North America’s most bike-friendly city, Montreal puts its love of cycling on display at the end of May each year.

The weeklong Go Bike Montreal Festival pays homage to that cycling culture, comprising a number of events geared toward riders of all experiences and ages.

“Bicycles are now part of the DNA of Montreal,” says Joelle Sevigny of Velo Quebec, which organizes the event. “It’s quite an amazing experience to discover a city this way. It’s quite a blast.”

The May 24 to 31 Go Bike festival includes three major rides culminating with the marquee event — the Tour de l’Ile de Montreal.

Into its 31st year, the island-wide tour allows riders to explore Montreal with a different route each year, extending through some 22 towns and boroughs.

You can go at your own pace — the tour has a variety of distances for all riders, from 28 kilometres to 100 km.

“It’s the first gathering of the season,” Sevigny says of the May 31 event. “Some people get out there and do the full route, but the idea is to just get out there and ride.”

Several other events in the week can help you get warmed up.

Kicking off the event on May 24 is the Metropolitan Challenge, a recreational ride with no podium and no clock. This year’s event will trace a route that begins and ends in Chateauguay, south of Montreal.

For those who prefer cycling under the stars, the Tour la Nuit is a 21-km ride on May 29 and offers a unique, nocturnal experience. It drew 17,000 riders last year.

Sevigny says almost a quarter of the participants at the festival travel at least 40 km to attend, many of them from much further.

“It’s the only place in North America where we have a bike fest,” Sevigny says. “The whole province of Quebec is really renowned for its festivals and this event is very unique to the province.”

In general, Montreal’s reputation as a cycling tourism hot spot is growing, in part thanks to 600 km of dedicated bike paths and the popular bike share program Bixi.

An Old Montreal bike shop and tour operator chalks it up to tourists wanting to sightsee differently.

Andre Giroux, owner of Ca Roule, offers various rides and tours with themes like architecture, history and gastronomy. This year, Giroux says he’s adding a new street-food bike tour to coincide with the recent arrival of the foodie phenomenon.

“Cycling is a new way to take in a city and people are always looking for alternative ways to see a town,” Giroux said.

Bicycles are now part of the DNA of Montreal. It’s quite an amazing experience to discover a city this way. It’s quite a blast.