| I had thoroughly enjoyed my guided bicycle tour with | | | | every tour. |
| Ça Roule and Bruno, a licensed city guide from | | | | His customers come from all over the world including |
| Guidatour, really introduced Montreal up close to us. | | | | the USA, the rest of Canada and a wide variety of |
| And my own independent explorations of the bicyle | | | | European countries. Even Australian, Korean and |
| trail along the Lachine Canal introduced me to a side of | | | | Japanese travelers rent muscle-powered equipment |
| Montreal I had never been exposed to. After returning | | | | from him and many of his clients are referred by |
| my bike after a full day of exercise I wanted to find | | | | hotels and the Montreal Tourist Office. In addition he |
| out a bit more about who is behind this operation, | | | | also offers bicycle repairs and some of his repair |
| Ça Roule, or Montreal on Wheels, as it is known in | | | | clients are part of the 3500 permanent residents that |
| English. | | | | now live in Old Montreal, or employees that work in |
| Montreal, by the way, is a fabulous city to explore by | | | | Old Montreal and commute there by bicycle. |
| bicycle. The Old Port area, the bicycle path network | | | | Ça Rule has six staff members: two bicycle repair |
| along the Lachine Canal and alongside the St. | | | | technicians and four tour leaders. Recently he has |
| Lawrence River, as well as the islands of Ile St. | | | | started to collaborate with Guidatour and both |
| Hélène and Parc Jean Drapeau in the St. | | | | companies combined have developed an Official City |
| Lawrence are eminently bikeable. Of course the trail | | | | Tour By Bike that is led by a licensed tour guide. This |
| network on Mont Royal also adds some interesting | | | | morning I participated in this official city tour and in my |
| terrain for cycling enthusiasts and many of Montreal's | | | | opinion exploring a city by bike has to be one of the |
| quaint neighbourhoods lend themselves perfectly to be | | | | best ways of discovering a new place. |
| discovered en vélo. Montreal was actually voted | | | | In any northern country, the bicycling business is |
| the number 1 city for bicyclists in 1999 by Bicycling | | | | seasonal, and the high season at Ça Roule goes |
| magazine. | | | | from May to October, sometimes stretching into |
| Ça Roule is a Bicycle Rental and Touring Shop | | | | November, depending on the weather. During the |
| located on the harbourfront boulevard at 27 De La | | | | winter André works on updating the website and |
| Commune Est. André Giroux, the owner, created | | | | preparing the strategies for the next business years |
| this company 12 years ago. He originally studied law | | | | and last year he had a chance to go to Florida for 3 |
| and spent 7 years as a lawyer, specialized in litigation | | | | weeks. During the summer the shop is very busy and |
| and legal consulting for large real estate developers. | | | | André and his staff members work very hard, |
| As an avid sports person, André plays hockey | | | | but he tries to go out bicycling himself in the evenings |
| and tennis and he really enjoys cycling and in 1994 he | | | | between 7 and 8 pm. He loves to cycle over to |
| decided to open a small rental store that initially | | | | Montreal's islands: Ile St. Hélène and Jean |
| focused on renting roller blades, a big craze in the mid | | | | Drapeau Park. |
| 1990s. His original stable of equipment also included 12 | | | | André also pointed out that Ça Roule is able |
| bicycles. In the meantime his fleet has grown to more | | | | to offer customized bicycle tours. One time a group of |
| than 70 bicycles which include touring bikes, tandems, | | | | people asked to start a tour on top of Mont Royal. So |
| trail bikes, electric bikes and electric scooters. His store | | | | he rented a cargo van and carted several bikes up to |
| also rents kids trailers and child carriers. | | | | the top of the mountain so the tour group could start |
| I asked him what the name "Ça Roule" actually | | | | their ride at their intended starting point. All sorts of |
| means and he explained that this French phrase literally | | | | special assignments can be done, they might just |
| means "it's rolling", but is generally understood as "it's | | | | require a bit of notice to organize. |
| going well", "it's running well". He explained that his store | | | | With all this exercise I was ready for a very solid |
| specializes in customer service, his staff is | | | | dinner, so I thanked André for his time and for |
| knowledgeable, and they are available to provide | | | | putting on the Official Guide City Tour, one of the best |
| advice on all sorts of biking activities in and around | | | | ways of getting to know the city and continued my |
| Montreal. Everyone gets outfitted with a city-wide | | | | explorations of Montreal on this Canada Day. |
| cycling map and a free bottle of water is included in | | | | |