Why Quebec endlessly beckons those on a bicycle

By CALVIN WOODWARD , Associated Press, Associated Press

2019/05/22 00:21

Cyclists get underway in Tour la Nuit, the annual Montreal bicycle festival's night ride, June 3, 2016. This year, on May 31, the crowd of some 10,000...

A cyclist takes in the St. Lawrence vista at Notre-Dame-du-Portage, Quebec, on Aug. 12, 2015. Along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River in this ...

Paule Bergeron takes in the scene in Place-Royale in Old Quebec, Aug. 27, 2018. Quebec City offers compelling urban bike routes along the river, out t...

Cyclists on Velo Quebec's Grand Tour sweep along a trail in the Eastern Townships, Aug. 1, 2015. More than 1,200 cyclists took part in the ride, which...

Quebec City's iconic Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac dominates the city skyline from the ferry crossing the St. Lawrence River, Aug. 15, 2015. Riverfron...

Cyclists chat beside a historical fresco in Old Quebec, Aug. 31, 2017. Nearby, the Promenade Samuel de Champlain path takes cyclists along the St. Law...

In this Aug. 7, 2015, photo, Quebec and Canadian flags greet visitors at a shop on Isle-aux-Coudres, where a road circling the island shore provides a...

Towering equine topiaries dominate a carpet of flowers at the Montreal Botanical Garden, Aug. 10, 2013. Montreal is a hotbed of bicycling, offering a ...

A bear takes a dip with a toy at Zoo Sauvage in Saint-Felicien, Quebec, Aug. 14, 2014. The zoo, notable for the wide open spaces turned over to its an...

A view of the grounds at Manoir Hovey, outside North Hatley, Quebec, in the Eastern Townships, Aug. 30, 2017. Bill and Hillary Clinton vacationed with...

Quebec in summer is a place of wildflowers, garden flowers and sometimes flowers in a boat, as seen in this Aug. 7, 2015, photo from Isle-aux-Coudres....

A cyclist pedals on P'tit Train du Nord, a rail trail running through Quebec's Laurentian region outside Montreal, Aug. 11, 2013. The "little train of...

Visitors to Val-Jalbert, a re-created paper mill town from the 1920s along Lac-Saint-Jean, are dwarfed by the roaring Ouiatchouan waterfall, which onc...

Tents await the cyclists on Velo Quebec's Grand Tour in Granby, Quebec, Aug. 1, 2015. The tour is a logistical marvel, as transport trucks outfitted w...

Cyclists get underway in Tour la Nuit, the annual Montreal bicycle festival's night ride, June 3, 2016. This year, on May 31, the crowd of some 10,000...

A cyclist takes in the St. Lawrence vista at Notre-Dame-du-Portage, Quebec, on Aug. 12, 2015. Along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River in this ...

Paule Bergeron takes in the scene in Place-Royale in Old Quebec, Aug. 27, 2018. Quebec City offers compelling urban bike routes along the river, out t...

Cyclists on Velo Quebec's Grand Tour sweep along a trail in the Eastern Townships, Aug. 1, 2015. More than 1,200 cyclists took part in the ride, which...

Quebec City's iconic Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac dominates the city skyline from the ferry crossing the St. Lawrence River, Aug. 15, 2015. Riverfron...

Cyclists chat beside a historical fresco in Old Quebec, Aug. 31, 2017. Nearby, the Promenade Samuel de Champlain path takes cyclists along the St. Law...

In this Aug. 7, 2015, photo, Quebec and Canadian flags greet visitors at a shop on Isle-aux-Coudres, where a road circling the island shore provides a...

Towering equine topiaries dominate a carpet of flowers at the Montreal Botanical Garden, Aug. 10, 2013. Montreal is a hotbed of bicycling, offering a ...

A bear takes a dip with a toy at Zoo Sauvage in Saint-Felicien, Quebec, Aug. 14, 2014. The zoo, notable for the wide open spaces turned over to its an...

A view of the grounds at Manoir Hovey, outside North Hatley, Quebec, in the Eastern Townships, Aug. 30, 2017. Bill and Hillary Clinton vacationed with...

Quebec in summer is a place of wildflowers, garden flowers and sometimes flowers in a boat, as seen in this Aug. 7, 2015, photo from Isle-aux-Coudres....

A cyclist pedals on P'tit Train du Nord, a rail trail running through Quebec's Laurentian region outside Montreal, Aug. 11, 2013. The "little train of...

Visitors to Val-Jalbert, a re-created paper mill town from the 1920s along Lac-Saint-Jean, are dwarfed by the roaring Ouiatchouan waterfall, which onc...

Tents await the cyclists on Velo Quebec's Grand Tour in Granby, Quebec, Aug. 1, 2015. The tour is a logistical marvel, as transport trucks outfitted w...

MONTREAL (AP) — The Montreal bike festival at the end of this month marks an unofficial start to the bicycling season in Quebec, a leading world destination for cyclists.

Why so popular? It's because of Route Verte, a sprawling network of trails and bike friendly-byways that offers more than 3,300 miles or 5,300 kilometers of cycling in verdant lands.

And the network, nearly a quarter century old, is about to get another growth spurt. Quebec is adding some 560 miles or 900 kilometers to Route Verte.

In Montreal, a festive night ride on May 31 typically draws 10,000 cyclists. On Sunday, June 2, the Velo Quebec organization puts on its iconic tour of the city-island, with 25,000 taking part in the family-friendly tour and thousands more cheering them on.

For more, check out The Associated Press' travel podcast, "Get Outta Here ."

Updated : 2022-05-29 02:08 GMT+08:00

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