WE WON! Our weekend at the UCI World Cycling Championships in Montreal

My wife Lisa and I spent an inspirational weekend in Montreal, primarily to see the World Cycling Championships. Things could not have gone better, including a powerhouse showing by the US men’s team.

We arrived Friday afternoon and enjoyed a very cool, very Montreal-ish circus cabaret show (think off-broadway Cirque de Sole) that night. It was a great warm-up for the main event.

DAY ONE: THE WOMEN

Saturday morning, we set out on our bikes to see the women’s race. Our hotel was about a half-hour bike ride away from the Fan Village and all the race action. We used Google maps to navigate through the streets and around Mount Royal to the finish area.

It was intended to be sort of a reconnaissance day, but the women’s race turned out to be a thriller! Here are a few of fan experience highlights:

·      There are bike lanes throughout Montreal, and people really use them. Not just during a big biking event but as their regular day-to-day commuting.

·      Bike check. We learned that there is a great deal of bicycle crime in Montreal. Organized operations with large vans that ship massive quantities of bike overseas. The Fan Village had a sponsored bike check, free service, where hundreds of cyclists could safely leave their bikes.

·      Women’s race was facinating. After initial out-and-back course, the women went eight times around a 13.8-k loop, so we could watch their progress lap after lap.

·      Ultimately, it was a super-close race with 4 women vying for the top three spots. An attack from Poland was fended off by highly decorated champ from the Netherlands. In bright orange she mustered a sprint to cross first. Third place went to Italy, who had led at one time. The fourth place rider, Marlen Reusser of Switzerland made an intense effort in the last 800 meters, got within 5 seconds, but could not break into the top 3.

Gold (Winner)

Demi Vollering, Netherlands

Silver

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Poland

Bronze

Elisa Longo Borghini, Italy

·      The Fan Village featured several huge-screen TVs following the action. There were a couple thousand people walking around. And the number of hard-core road cyclists was amazing. So much carbon fiber!

·      Helicopters, not drones, provided aerial footage.

·      Filled with sponsor tents, the Fan Village featured activities from Bixi, the local version of Citibike rentals. Also, Shimano, Argon bikes, Van Rysel frames, a recruitment tent for Montreal Police, even the Montreal Airport was giving away water bottles.

·      There was, of course, a merch tent. But after a week of races leading up to the elite pro events, most of the hats, water bottles, and t-shirts were picked over. Only odd sizes and extremely high-priced items remained. So we came home with free stickers and some swag from other tents.

Perhaps best of all, I “won” the world championships at a tent sponsored by the city of Montreal that featured a three-person bike race. You rode on stationary bikes that powered slot-car-like bikes on a little tabletop track. Pitted against two strangers who appeared to be in my age group, one from Texas and one from Montreal, I surged on the single speed bike to take the prize! See video.

DAY TWO: THE MEN

In the absence of the two most dominant riders on the European tour – Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, both missing due to injuries – there were many potential favorites. And sportswriters noted the exceptional strength of this year’s US team.

We were star-struck to see so many elite cyclists in the lead group on the first few laps. Mathieu van der Poel. Issac Del Toro. Mads Pedersen. Thomas Pidcock. Ben Healy. Remco Evenepoel. Wout van Aert. (We met a devoted Wout fan at our hotel.) And many more.

The men raced 12 laps around the Mount Royal loop, so we were able to see progress, changes, and breakaways as they unfolded. Van der Poel and US rider Matteo Jorgenson remained at or near the front for many of the laps. So it was a big surprise to us when suddenly Brandon McNulty, a US rider, zoomed passed our location nearly a full minute in front of the group. On such a short lap, just over eight miles, it was hard to imagine how he could jump ahead by so much. Of course, the chasers made every effort to reel him in and by the final lap his lead was down to about 15 seconds.

Gold (1st)

Brandon McNulty, United States

Silver (2nd)

Michael Matthews, Australia

Bronze (3rd)

Mathieu van der Poel, Netherlands

Even so, he was able to hold them all off and become the first official US World Champion since Lance Armstrong won it 1993. Before that, Greg Lemond won for the US in 1989.

The races were amazing. The support vehicles – vans, motorcycles, VIP cars, plus a mechanical car for every country -- whizzing by throughout the race were terrifying. Yet it was so cool to see how many countries were represented in both races. Mexico. Australia. Italy. Spain. Denmark. Norway. Belgium Ukraine. Senegal. Israel. UAE. Netherlands.

We watched the interviews and awards ceremony on a ginormous TV in the Fan Village. The cheers for the US champion were loud and authentic.

Afterwards, we hopped on our bikes, navigated through the streets of downtown Montreal and grabbed some delicious dinner. On our way back to the hotel, we happened upon a live band playing in one of the parks. Dancing in our bike helmets, it was the perfect unplanned ending to a cycling-centric getaway.

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NOTE: I’d like to interview some who took part in last weekend’s YMCA Three Lakes Ride. This blog is intended to focus on the local cycling scene. Please reach out if you’d like to share your experiences. Word2rapp@gmail.com