OPINION: The Dark Side of Montreal Cycling and the UCI Road World Championships

Corridor de la Mort. It means thoroughfare of death in French. It has been the unfortunate nickname for Avenue du Parc for some time since this traffic corridor has distinguished itself to boast the dubious honour of thirteen pedestrian and cycling fatalities in thirteen years under the rolling rubber of motor vehicles. Yet, this year, this is also the site for the checkered flag finish line of The UCI Road World Championship in central Montreal. In a strange parallel to the gentrification seen in the world of arts and culture, where starving artists are paved over by yuppies and investment bankers, the commuter bikes of Montreal citizens, long crushed under the wheels of motor vehicles, are being replaced by the millions of dollars of carbon race bikes. With the quasi-legal alleycat races by bicycle couriers in traffic on open streets being replaced by a sanctioned closed-track UCI race. Please give two former bicycle couriers who have ridden Parc countless times a moment to bring you into the darker side of North American UCI.

The first element that really struck us with the UCI coming to town, and possibly the most important item for Montreal cyclists is how the city is handling the UCI cyclists versus how it treats locals. For this race, there seems to have been no expense spared to ensure quality roads and pristine asphalt for the UCI racers. This is in an extremely sharp contrast to the investment in local cyclists. The recently elected Montreal municipal government, led by Mayor Soraya Marisel Martínez Ferrada, was voted in on a decidedly anti-cyclist and anti-bike lane agenda. Their campaign included promises to review all bike lanes, remove lanes that impeded traffic, and to pause or cancel any upcoming bike lane projects. Comparatively, there has been a tremendous investment for the UCI. However, this spending is likely because it is drivers who will be rewarded with the new clean pavement once the barriers are down and the UCI has moved on to its next destination.

Another point of contrast that shows just how car-centric Montreal and its media are is the coverage before the race. Articles were constantly coming out lamenting the plight of drivers who will have to navigate road closures and how their lives will be absolutely impossible with all the cyclists in town. However, when it’s the F1 race causing road closures for street parties, and main arteries are clogged with insecure men in rented exotic cars, no one bats an eye. The coverage is only about how great the race is, how many people are in town, and where the best parties are. Conversely, for locals, it can be atrocious to try to get around, and the whine and buzz of F1 engines can be heard across the city.

A final point of contrast between the lived experience of UCI cyclists and Montreal locals is the temperature. While the professional cyclists and locals both sweated away all summer, it is doubtful that the UCI pros have ever raced in the winter conditions that Montreal locals handle with grace, poise, and soaked socks. Montréal had been taking great strides to improve the winter cycling network and the speed with which bike lanes were cleaned, but multiple cities in Québec are backpedalling on the idea of year-round cycling. Sherbrooke, as an example, recently saw their winter bike path plowing program cut from the city budget, and many bike lanes close in November to allow the snowplows to push the snowbank into the bike path in order to clear the street. This forces cyclists into the street with traffic during some of the darkest and most perilous riding of the year.

Where we have seen some unfortunate overlap between the UCI riders and local riders is in having to deal with cars. Teams were free to train and practice on and off the island of Montreal, and this saw multiple teams having to ride in areas with few to no bike lanes, in traffic, and surrounded by cars. Notably, a driver struck Belgian racer Seff Van Kerckhove while he was training off the island, he was sent to hospital and forced to withdraw from the upcoming races due to his injuries. Sadly, we can attest to the omnipresent danger of cars in and around Montreal, having been struck by cars multiple times during our time in the city. Montreal is home to nearly 30 Ghost Bikes (vélos fantômes), which are white bikes placed at the locations where cyclists have been killed by drivers. One of the most notable Ghost Bikes is the one for Clement Ouimet, who was killed in 2017 by a driver performing an illegal U-turn. The driver was not charged with any crime, nor even given a ticket for the illegal U-turn because the police determined that killing a cyclist was traumatic for the driver so he shouldn’t experience any more hardships. Clement’s bike was later vandalized on multiple occasions with police refusing to investigate the vandalism. Clement was 18 when he was killed and was a rising star in bike racing; had he not been killed by that driver it is possible he would have been racing this year.

Day one of the race was on Saturday, September 19, when amateurs got to try the circuit and we visited the site for the first time. No familiar skunky plumes wafted from the drum circles at the George Etienne Cartier Monument. There was, however, down tempo, inoffensive techno music, complementary electrolyte drinks, detour signs, defaced (or improved, with encouraging slogans!) election placards for a Pro-Gaza candidate. A true sign of Montreal, orange cones, and gaggles of police officers enjoying the sunshine. An interesting question is who and what are they protecting? Is it the cyclists and crowd against an attack by a disgruntled motorist who is murderously frustrated by an orange tinged detour? Readers will recall that this was the case at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver, as well as the rental van attack in north Toronto and, finally, closer to home in Amqui.

It is common knowledge that cars kill. Bicycles are very very rarely the cause of fatal collisions. We have had, as the folks at Collectif Apaisons Parc remind us, thirteen pedestrian and cyclist deaths in thirteen years on Parc Avenue, enough to earn it the dubious distinction of Corridor de la mort. A genious nickname that would make any mayor ashamed. Is this really hell for the detoured commuting citizens? Or is the persona of Death haunting us to remind us of fatal freedom from fire-breathing steel reinforced cages that are cars.

If the world cycling championship ever returned to Montreal, perhaps they could be held in the winter because that is when local cyclists truly prove their mettle. The freeze-thaw cycle on the road creates craters and rivets in the asphalt. How would they cheat? What edge would this provide to bookies? If the schools were closed for a snow day, would the race follow suit?

Montreal cyclists contend with winter. When the barriers come down and traffic reopens, we will go back to the normal standard operating procedure, defensive cycling and exercising hypervigilance on the street. The three-ring circus will be down the highway, and motorists will have their thoroughfare again.

Artwork by Julian Peters

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