Vermont-Quebec “The Flat Parts” Bike Tour, July 2024

If you’re looking for a bike-friendly city, visit Montreal, Canada, which deeply impressed me during my four-night Vermont-Quebec tour. The experience pushes people like me, who live in car-centric US cities and suburbs, to reconsider what’s possible when changing both the infrastructure and the culture around transportation. Check it out and see for yourself! See my 200-mile journey with photos in the map below or explore and download my route on Cycle.Travel.

Back in July 2023 I biked from Hartford CT to Burlington VT, to face some mountainous inclines as well as my fears about long-distance biking with limited vision. This time I decided to name this “The Flat Parts” tour of Vermont and Quebec! I rode Amtrak’s Vermonter train line from Hartford to St. Albans VT for about $50 one-way and reserved a spot to bring my bike on board for $5 extra each way. Before boarding, look for a car with a “bike-friendly” sticker to locate a compartment. On this train, you need to remove your front wheel and hang the back wheel on a hook inside a special bike compartment (which also required me to politely ask other passengers to move their luggage out of the compartment marked “Reserved for Bicycles”. I did not make many friends on this portion of my trip!) Rolling the bike on board in Hartford was feasible because the platform there is level with the train car. Inside, the car, maneuvering my wide handlebars around the inside corner was a bit challenging, and my 650B x 1.95-inch wide tire just fit inside the hook. But when departing the train at St. Albans, my bike and I needed to descend several steps from the train car to the platform, in the dark, where it’s really hard for me to see. Fortunately, the conductor outside the car kindly lifted my bike’s front wheel so that I could more easily walk the back end of the bike down the stairs and onto the platform. Thank you!

Reserved a spot to bring my bike on board Amtrak’s Vermonter train from Hartford CT to St. Albans VT.

When planning this trip, I decided to sleep indoors, rather than camp outside, so I begrudgingly paid a premium to reserve a hotel room overnight next to the St. Albans train station due to the lack of alternatives. I chose St. Albans because it’s the end of the Vermonter train line, which put me only 75 miles away from Montreal on my first day of biking. I knew ahead of time that the Vermonter was not scheduled to arrive until 9pm (sometimes later). Due to my non-existent nighttime vision, I could not safely bike to the only campsite near St. Albans I saw on the map, more than five miles away, nor did I find any Warmshowers hosts or affordable AirBnBs ahead of time. Next time, I would look more closely at my next-best alternative: get off the train at Essex Junction, put the bike on the front of the municipal bus to Burlington, to somewhat more affordable overnight accommodations. But that plan depended on the train arriving before the last bus departed around 11pm, and that there was room for my bike on the two-spot bus rack. Also, starting the trip in Burlington would have added 30+ miles on my ride to Montreal, and my 59-year-old body can no longer handle 100-mile days on the bike. So I swallowed my thrifty-spending pride and paid the premium for the St. Albans hotel room….sigh. Day 1: only 5 miles (home to Hartford train station, then St. Albans train station to nearby hotel)

When departing St. Albans on the first day of my tour, I decided to check out the new Vermont rail trail that my friend Nancy had texted me about a week earlier. At the north end of town I jumped onto the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail and rode it about twelve miles to Sheldon Junction VT, where I jumped over to the newly-opened Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, and rode that about ten miles to Swanton VT. The straight route from St. Albans to Swanton would have been shorter, but I had an early start to the day and the weather was gorgeous, so decided to explore a bit off my original path. The trail was a combination of crushed stone dust and occasional single track. Saw several trail runners that Saturday morning but only a couple of bike riders. If you enjoy biking in the woods, try out either trail, which go further than I went. Or if you prefer biking in the city, head to Montreal.

Back in 2010, my spouse Beth and I took our very first multi-day tandem-with-trailer bike tour around the Lake Champlain region, so I was already familiar with the southern portion of this 2024 trip. With my passport in hand, I crossed over at the very small border station at Alburg Springs VT (spelled without an “h”) near Alburgh VT (spelled with an “h”). What’s up with that? Read further to learn more about this orthographical mystery! Anyways, I was the only person in line headed into the tiny village of Clarenceville, Quebec, but there was a very long line of cars with Canadian license plates headed into the US, so was lucky to be heading the right way that Saturday. If you’re riding a bike, it’s a great place to cross, but as the border guard will remind you, they close the gate promptly at 4pm. This rural area has no stores that I could see, but lots of farms.

After exploring parts of two Vermont rail trails, biked across the border at the Alburg Springs-Clarenceville station.

After pedaling about 25 miles through rural Quebec I arrived at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, a beautiful town on Lake Champlain with many cafes and public parks, the northernmost point that Beth and I had visited on our 2010 tandem tour. After lunch and a rest break by the water, I followed signs for Route Verte 1 on the Canadian bike network and was absolutely stunned by the 30-mile separated bike path that goes direct to downtown Montreal and beyond. The most beautiful portion is the Chambly Canal, an 18-mile segment between the cities of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Chambly, which is very popular for biking, walking, and boating. Wow, what an amazing work of Canadian infrastructure that US residents can explore and bring lessons to our communities back home! Day 2: 75 miles.

After biking 25 miles of rural Quebec farm roads, I jumped on the Route Verte 1 bikeway at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and joined many cyclists of all ages on the Chambly Canal separated path.

Rather than biking directly into Montreal on my first day, I stayed overnight in the suburban town of Longueuil, in an AirBnB room very close to the Route Verte 1 bikeway and the municipal Parc de la Cité. Originally, I chose this destination because it was closer to my starting point and seemed more affordable. But next time, I would consider riding the extra 10 miles into Montreal (meaning a 75-mile trip from St. Albans, without the VT rail trail side trip) because it wasn’t too much further and I later saw similar prices for overnight accommodations. Or for a less-intensive bike tour, consider staying overnight at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (25 miles from Alburg Springs VT border), then bike the next 30 miles the next day into Montreal.

After a long day of biking to the Montreal region, I took it easy the next day with a short ride to downtown. The Route Verte 1 bike path is almost entirely separated from car traffic, with a couple of short exceptions in relatively calm residential areas. Be aware that biking into Montreal this way requires crossing two bridges over the Saint Lawrence River, both with separated bike paths, but some elevation gain. Lots of people, old and young, biked across these bridges on the Sunday I visited, and even at one point where signs warned that cars had the right-of-way to cross the bike path between the two bridges, I saw drivers stop in the off-ramp and let cyclists safely pass in front of them. As someone who resides in the car-centric US, I did not expect to see such generous driver behavior. In any case, use caution when crossing traffic and enjoy the view!

Exploring Montreal was great fun on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, though I only covered a small portion of this extensive city. After pedaling halfway up Mount Royal, I remembered naming this “The Flat Parts” of Vermont & Quebec bike tour, so allowed the many more ambitious cyclists to pass me, then turned around and headed for the famous Montreal bagel shops in the Mile-End neighborhood, such as St-Viateur Bagel, which accepts only Canadian cash and be prepared to stand in line a bit. Although Montreal bagels are boiled in a mix of honey-and-water and baked in a wood-fire oven, this process makes them slightly smaller and more dense than New York City bagels, which are still preferable to my taste. But I highly recommend Montreal bakeries such as Guillaume, cafes, and public parks with shade trees and comfy benches. And I loved watching so many people, of different ages and genders, riding on Montreal’s extensive bike lanes and separated bike paths. After snapping the last photo below, another cyclist passed me on a penny-farthing, the old time bicycle with one very large wheel and one small. Seemed like a typical day in bike-friendly Montreal. I’ll need to come back and see what it looks like during the other three seasons. Day 3: 25 miles (from my suburban AirBnB into Montreal, around the city, and back to the same AirBnb for a second night).

The Route Verte 1 brought me–and thousands of other cyclists, young and old–on separated bike paths and across two bridges into downtown Montreal.

Refueling with good food mattered because on Monday I had a long 75-mile ride in warm weather back to the US. Previously, when biking north to the city of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, I stayed on the east side of Lake Champlain. When biking south away from the city, I stayed on the west side of the Lake (which had a longer stretch of separated bike path, but overall more road traffic due to more small-town businesses). When facing a long day of biking, I prefer not to sit down and eat a lunch that fills my belly. Instead, my perfect bike touring meal consisted of farm-stand blueberries and three pints of chocolate milk. That’s what works for my stomach. Your mileage may vary.

Once again I was the only person in line to cross the border, this time at the tiny Alburgh VT – Noyan QC border station. Apparently the Canadians spell it without the “h”, and so did the Americans after 1891, until Vermonters changed their minds in 2006 to add back the “h”, as far as I understand. Do not confuse this border station with the similar tiny Alburg Springs VT (without the “h”) border station about three miles to the east. My passport was inspected by the US border guard cat (and his human, who tried to explain that he wasn’t really the cat’s human, but the cat knew differently). They let me cross back into the US, but I clearly fooled them, because clearly didn’t realize I’m actually more of a dog person.

On the Vermont side, the Lake Champlain Bikeway is a beautiful ride. But now that I’ve biked on the Route Verte 1 separated path to Montreal, I realize that the Vermont side is simply a loose collection of rural roads, where you need to trust that drivers will see and avoid you. After a long ride I cooled down by submersing my toes in Lake Champlain at the small “beach” that’s a favorite of Beth and mine. Many thanks also to Beth’s high school friend Reina and her spouse Will for allowing me to stay overnight at their home on South Hero VT, even though they were away. Day 4: 75 miles.

Blueberries and chocolate milk fueled me across Canadian farmland and back to the US, where the border cat allowed me to cross (even though I’m more of a dog person).

Tuesday was a short ride, by design, on the wonderful LocalMotion bike ferry across the short gap in the causeway to Burlington. Facing a stiff southern wind while biking a few miles on the causeway reminded me how little wind I had encountered to and from Montreal. Spent time hanging out on a shaded grassy “beach” on Lake Champlain while the skies were still clear. When afternoon thunderstorms rolled in, I took cover in one of our favorite Burlington restaurants, The Skinny Pancake, where they forced me to eat both savory and sweet crepes. Parked my bike at my Burlington AirBnB room and walked around the downtown area in the evening, with my raincoat, thank you Hector for nudging me to bring it along. Day 4: 25 miles.

Beautiful biking on rural Vermont roads along Lake Champlain, plus the next day’s fun 2-minute bike ferry ride across the causeway gap to Burlington.

On Wednesday morning, my original plan was to wake up and ride to the nearby downtown Burlington transit center to catch the 8:00 AM bus to the Amtrak station about 7 miles away in Essex Junction. I knew the weather forecast predicted morning showers, and also knew that I preferred not to navigate morning traffic on roadways that were not consistently designed for cyclists. But I forgot that there are two kinds of bus drivers: those who generally like their jobs and make riders feel safe and welcome; and those who woke up grumpy that particular day. My intended bus driver was in the latter group. Despite arriving on my bike at precisely 7:59 AM, according to the time on the large monitors, this particular driver took one look at me and my bike and drove off, apparently deciding that he didn’t feel like waiting 30 seconds for me to remove my bags and place my bike on the front rack of his bus. Surprised by his action, I initially gave him the benefit of the doubt, thinking that perhaps he needed to drive off to avoid blocking other buses also scheduled to depart at 8am that were positioned right behind him. So I quickly pedaled behind him to catch him at the next bus stop. But this particular driver briefly pulled into his stop, then quickly pulled away, with me clearly visible in his rear-view mirror.

At this point, with my energy level rapidly rising, I had a choice. Either I could go back to the transit station to catch the 8:20AM bus and still arrive at Essex Junction with plenty of time before my train arrived. Or I could show that particular bus driver what I thought of him by biking in the light rain and light morning traffic for 7 miles. Naturally, I chose the latter. But there are no photographs to document this portion of my journey because it’s difficult to firmly hold an iPhone in the rain while your middle fingers are protruding outward. Day 5: 7 miles (not by design).

When boarding the Amtrak Vermonter train at Essex Junction to head south to Hartford, the people sitting around me were much friendlier than those on my northbound journey (probably because I didn’t need to politely tell people to move their luggage out of the “Reserved for Bikes” rack!) Some passengers had never seen a bike on board Amtrak, wanted to know how the system works, and asked to take photos. Also, one amazing Amtrak coincidence. Turns out the passenger sitting across from me, a college student working on an historical research project, was heading to the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford, where my spouse Beth works, and had corresponded with her and another staff person two weeks earlier. What a small world! And a good reminder why you should always be willing to chat a bit with other passengers on a six-hour train ride.

View the full-screen map of my route and click “photos” or explore and download my route on Cycle.Travel.