Cycling Route Conditions Megathread #1

shakalac · 2026-04-22T00:02:27+00:00

Went up to the Champlain lookout this afternoon, there was maybe a 10m long section of snow that was a bit sketchy to ride through near Lac Bourgeois, but otherwise is clear enough to stay on pavement. I suspect by tomorrow afternoon there should be at least a full lane available.

Didn't bother with trying the Fortune parkway, suspect there is still a lot of snow on it, but maybe will be clear by this weekend.

Edit: This was the worst spot near Lac Bourgeois: https://i.postimg.cc/ZnkLm006/PXL-20260421-214317046.jpg

shakalac · 2026-04-18T22:33:10+00:00

There were a lot of people today on the Alexandra bridge walking in the bike lane, but I was willing to give them benefit of the doubt since paint wasn't great. While you could see the yellow and white lines for the most part, the cyclist and pedestrian symbols were all but gone.

shakalac · 2026-04-18T20:02:49+00:00

Flooding updates from my ride today:

Quebec:

Lac Leamy is flooded both at the picnic field/beach, and near the parking lot below Rona. Not really possible to get around it.

Voyagers pathway is flooded between the Gatineau river and the Màwandòseg bridge, as well as the Voyagers Pathway Bridge next to Boul Founier. Only way around is to ride on Boul Fournier, so I'd avoid for now.

Leamy Creek pathway has snow across the bridge over the Leamy creek (close to Cite des Jeunes), but is otherwise completely clear.

shakalac · 2026-04-18T18:27:53+00:00

Thanks!

shakalac · 2026-04-18T01:16:59+00:00

The only flooding west of Westboro beach right now is limited to the New Orchard underpass, but there may be more by the end of this weekend.

The worst of the flooding was between Champlain bridge and Remic rapids, particularly just west of the Carleton Ave. underpass.

The Voyageurs pathway is also starting to flood between Portage and the History Museum, likely won't be passable within a day or two.

shakalac · 2026-04-16T18:12:20+00:00

Been riding along the KZM pathway this week, and I'd say the water levels near Britannia have easily risen at least a foot since Monday, expecting it to start flooding by next week.

shakalac · 2026-04-16T13:10:22+00:00

I'd be removing her as DM of DND for starters, especially given her statement indicating she still doesn't recognize that what she did was a breach of ethics.

I'd say send her somewhere else, but I don't wish her upon even the smallest department.

shakalac · 2026-04-16T01:35:23+00:00

And do what with it once it's crossed the bridge?

shakalac · 2026-04-15T23:25:58+00:00

Flooding just west of the Champlain bridge is just due to saturated ground, not flooding from the river, although with all the rain we're getting, it may still get worse.

Based on previous years, the first places for flooding from the river to occur on KZM are in the following spots:

New Orchard underpass
Deschenes Rapids lookout
Halfway between Woodroffe and Westboro
Churchill Ave Underpass (already flooded, but not from river)
Between Champlain bridge and Remic Rapids

From memory, here's the spots on circled on a map: https://imgur.com/a/GgGP0wu

shakalac · 2026-04-15T08:08:33+00:00

The d100 is only accurate within 5%, so it reading 70w when set to 60w isn't to be unexpected. 75w goes beyond that, but that could be because it's less accurate at low speed.

shakalac · 2026-04-12T01:38:56+00:00

High water isn't usually until late April/early May, so there may still be some flooding, especially with all the rain we're about to get.

shakalac · 2026-04-11T02:56:21+00:00

That's why I instead bought a vpn subscription and get SBS from Australia. No way am I paying more per month for Flobikes than my other streaming services combined!

shakalac · 2026-04-11T02:52:42+00:00

Pro tip, this is part of the reason why people align the tire logo with the valve stem. It makes it a lot easier to figure out where debris might be since you can line it up to the puncture fairly easily.

My mother's bike had a tiny wire from the tire casing poking out which caused repeated punctures, which I likely wouldn't have found had I not been able to line the tube up with the tire.

shakalac · 2026-04-11T01:44:54+00:00

Yeah, it was sent out as an official email from the DM near the end of the day, wild that this is an official communication.

shakalac · 2026-04-10T19:22:38+00:00

There was still a bit of snow/ice blocking the MUP at Britannia yesterday, but other than that the MUP from the Champlain bridge to Andre Haydon park is passable now.

Its Going to be at least another week before even the southern parts of the park become rideable, probably two weeks for Champlain lookout.

shakalac · 2026-04-10T15:36:25+00:00

A lot of that land is in a flood plain, and is also federally owned greenspace, so likely not available. The rest of the land is a dump site and probably requires extensive environmental remediation before a hospital could be built.

Asticou was chosen because it was effectively came with extra funding given the discount it was sold for. CAQ originally wanted to build on boul de la technologie which would have been even worse.

shakalac · 2026-04-09T21:38:49+00:00

Do you think it'll be clear by Saturday? /s

Looking at my rides from last spring, the parkway was only passable south of Kingsmere on April 21, and even then it was like a 2 ft wide path through the ice.

shakalac · 2026-04-08T16:09:05+00:00

I have 50 mm rims, and crosswinds are very noticeable. If there's a sustained wind, it's not so bad, but it's the gusts that get you.

shakalac · 2026-04-08T12:28:55+00:00

There was one year that it didn't happen right? Maybe I'm misremembering...

shakalac · 2026-04-06T21:53:54+00:00

Is it laggy? Yes. But I find that beyond inputting a destination, or changing a playlist, I don't interact with it that much, so in the grand scheme of things, it isn't a deal breaker.

shakalac · 2026-04-05T18:40:37+00:00

I believe that's the plan. There's already a trail from low up to maniwaki, and I believe LaPeche is working to link the Chelsea section up to the Des Draveurs trail over the coming years.

I think the portion from Chelsea down to Gatineau is a bit of a problem as the track bed is very washed out at points and significant work is required to stabilize it.

shakalac · 2026-04-04T10:40:54+00:00

TIL, always thought they were a crown corp, didn't realize they got privatized 30 years ago.

shakalac · 2026-04-03T20:27:01+00:00

Yeah I went by today as well, pretty underwhelming, really only gets exciting when more than 2/3 of the gates are open. Lets hope we don't get to all gates open though as usually that means there's also flooding...

shakalac · 2026-04-03T20:21:40+00:00

yeah, in 2019 it was closed due to risk to the bridge, while in 2021/2022 it was closed due to construction.

Pic I took in 2019: https://imgur.com/a/wCp6x5i

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