I will be traveling to Montreal for work in a few weeks (6 weeks out from IM Canada). Can anyone suggest good training routes for bike and run as well as a good place to swim. I’ll be staying downtown near Rue Ste-Catherine and Rue Crescent.
Thanks for the help.
I will be traveling to Montreal for work in a few weeks (6 weeks out from IM Canada). Can anyone suggest good training routes for bike and run as well as a good place to swim. I’ll be staying downtown near Rue Ste-Catherine and Rue Crescent.
Thanks for the help.
The F1 track is a staple in Montreal for day-to-day riding.
http://maps.google.com/maps?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=gilles+villeneuve+f1+track&oe=utf-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
Right next to it there is a causeway that is commonly called “The Estacade” that makes a good 20km TT. It’s as flat as pancake, though. But both of these rides are very safe.
Apart from that, there are good routes all around the city. On weekends, we go to Jay, Vt, Lake Placid, NY or Mont-Tremblant.
There is a swim-bike-run shop called CycleTechnique (http://cycletechnique.com) that has a double endless pool. There is a world-class pool at Parc Jean Drapeau, and the Olympic Rowing Basin hosts an open water swim race in early July on Ile-Notre-Dame.
Just PM me if you need any help.
Lots of great pools in MTL - they have the big outdoor facility at Jean Drapeau Parc (home of 2005 worlds), claude robillard, olympic parc, pointe claire - all 8 or 10 lane 50 metre pools. OWS in the rowing basin may be an option? I have only ever been to Montreal for swim meets so my knowledge is limited. I hear Jean Drapeau parc is good for running but cycling is restricted to 30 km/h there…
the Jean Drapeau website seems to indicate 30 km/h - is that in the park and not the circuit? I would kill for an outdoor 50m pool here.
Lots of great pools in MTL - they have the big outdoor facility at Jean Drapeau Parc (home of 2005 worlds), claude robillard, olympic parc, pointe claire - all 8 or 10 lane 50 metre pools. OWS in the rowing basin may be an option? I have only ever been to Montreal for swim meets so my knowledge is limited. I hear Jean Drapeau parc is good for running but cycling is restricted to 30 km/h there…
http://www.parcjeandrapeau.com/
It’s not really restricted to 30 km/h. At least, they haven’t started hitting riders with a radar gun yet.
I will be traveling to Montreal for work in a few weeks (6 weeks out from IM Canada). Can anyone suggest good training routes for bike and run as well as a good place to swim. I’ll be staying downtown near Rue Ste-Catherine and Rue Crescent.
Thanks for the help.
The F1 track is a staple in Montreal for day-to-day riding.
http://maps.google.com/...amp;hl=en&tab=wl
Right next to it there is a causeway that is commonly called “The Estacade” that makes a good 20km TT. It’s as flat as pancake, though. But both of these rides are very safe.
Apart from that, there are good routes all around the city. On weekends, we go to Jay, Vt, Lake Placid, NY or Mont-Tremblant.
There is a swim-bike-run shop called CycleTechnique (http://cycletechnique.com) that has a double endless pool. There is a world-class pool at Parc Jean Drapeau, and the Olympic Rowing Basin hosts an open water swim race in early July on Ile-Notre-Dame.
Just PM me if you need any help.
All great advice
Bike : the F1 track early morning is the best for flat & fast (20mins by bike)
There is a mountain in the middle of the city with some nice climbing (short but steep)
Run : the mountain has nice hilly trails (10 mins from your hotel)
the lachine canal is nice and flat (10 mins from your hotel)
Swim : there is a YMCA 3 blocks away. The Olympic pool is great. The cylcle Technique endless pool is also very good
There is an open water swim race every wed night for $15(1&2km)
PM me if you want to try any of the above early mornings (6AMish)
Lots of great pools in MTL - they have the big outdoor facility at Jean Drapeau Parc (home of 2005 worlds), claude robillard, olympic parc, pointe claire - all 8 or 10 lane 50 metre pools. OWS in the rowing basin may be an option? I have only ever been to Montreal for swim meets so my knowledge is limited. I hear Jean Drapeau parc is good for running but cycling is restricted to 30 km/h there…
http://www.parcjeandrapeau.com/
It’s not really restricted to 30 km/h. At least, they haven’t started hitting riders with a radar gun yet.
Thank you for all the feedback.
Is there any cost to bike on the F1 track?
Thank you for all the feedback.
Is there any cost to bike on the F1 track?
Nope. It’s also very easy to get there using bike paths. Montreal has a lot of bike paths. Not great for training, but pretty good for getting to training.
No, it’s free
Not sure what dates you are coming. There is Nascar in August (19th I think), so it may be closed a few days before.
One thing you need to do Climb Camilien Houde on a Bixi. Figure it out when you get here
I will be traveling to Montreal for work in a few weeks (6 weeks out from IM Canada). Can anyone suggest good training routes for bike and run as well as a good place to swim. I’ll be staying downtown near Rue Ste-Catherine and Rue Crescent.
Thanks for the help.
Crescent and Ste Catherine…you’re in the middle of all the partying…not sure how much training you will get done if you are a single guy!
Definitely go do some running in Mount Royal Park…just run up Crescent to Sherbrooke, turn right on Sherbrooke, left on Peel and you’ll end up at the entrance fo the park. McGill university used to have a daily masters group at 6 pm or so, but I don’t know if that still exists. Also you can go do repeats up Camillien Houde as another poster said. They’ve used this climb for the UCI world cup protour race in Montreal in the past. To get there, I’d ride east on Sherbrooke, turn left up Peel to Doctor Penfield, turn right, till it joins up to Ave de Pins, turn right. Now it gets a bit tricky, but you go under the underpass and follow the signs to Ave des Parcs (Park Avenue). Go north on Ave des Parc and turn left of Ave du Mont Royal and then another left quickly after that on Camillien Houde. If I recall, this is a steep 2K climb and it takes you pretty well to the summit of Mount Royal. Great place to do repeats with lots of space for riding…getting there is a bit of a pain in the butt, however, well worth it. Check it out on google maps street view and you’ll get a feel. Great views of the city.
As others said, for flat rides the F1 circuit
I will be traveling to Montreal for work in a few weeks (6 weeks out from IM Canada). Can anyone suggest good training routes for bike and run as well as a good place to swim. I’ll be staying downtown near Rue Ste-Catherine and Rue Crescent.
Thanks for the help.
Crescent and Ste Catherine…you’re in the middle of all the partying…not sure how much training you will get done if you are a single guy!
Definitely go do some running in Mount Royal Park…just run up Crescent to Sherbrooke, turn right on Sherbrooke, left on Peel and you’ll end up at the entrance fo the park. McGill university used to have a daily masters group at 6 pm or so, but I don’t know if that still exists. Also you can go do repeats up Camillien Houde as another poster said. They’ve used this climb for the UCI world cup protour race in Montreal in the past. To get there, I’d ride east on Sherbrooke, turn left up Peel to Doctor Penfield, turn right, till it joins up to Ave de Pins, turn right. Now it gets a bit tricky, but you go under the underpass and follow the signs to Ave des Parcs (Park Avenue). Go north on Ave des Parc and turn left of Ave du Mont Royal and then another left quickly after that on Camillien Houde. If I recall, this is a steep 2K climb and it takes you pretty well to the summit of Mount Royal. Great place to do repeats with lots of space for riding…getting there is a bit of a pain in the butt, however, well worth it.
There’s no underpass anymore leading up to Parc Ave. They’ve completely removed all that roadway. Just head for the thing that looks like a mountain. 
Camilien-Houde is a classic Montreal climb, and is famous as the main climb for Dede Demet’s 2002 World Cup win. It has a very large shoulder, though the roadway is very rough. You can hit 60km/h down a very ugly road with lots of debris… be careful if you decide to go down Camilien-Houde. It’s better to climb it and go down Cite-des-Neiges Rd.
Lucky guy.
You can train all over the City, unfortunately you can also party all over the City.
Well it sounds like I’m going to have a good time in Montreal. Thank you all for the advice on places to swim, bike and run. It sounds much like Phoenix as far as places to train, but without the scorching heat. I’m looking forward to a little break. I’ll be there the week of July 18.