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Roger Kenner
Montreal, Qc,
Canada 2004
I rode up through Laval on the main street past the bridge at St. Denis street. At the top of Laval, I crossed over the familiar Bois des Filion bridge (the old wooden one) and continued north, retracing some of the route that my old schoolbus had taken. Northward, still, I came to Ville des Laurentides, which was quite a sizeable town. (I did not know at the time how close to the old Place Longchamp I had actually been.). North from Ville des Laurentides, I found myself on an old, country road, with very little traffic. This led me to the town just south of Rawdon, where I picked up the main road again. I had to climb up the escarpment, and then take the Rawdon turn off. Having left at 11:00, I was the Falls by 15:00, after only 4 hours. It felt really good.
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I hung around for a little while, and then rode into town and had lunch at a casse-croute. I bought a postcard as proof. As I started back, I noticed the big, black clouds that had gathered overhead. I rode as fast as I could, in the hope that I would outpace them. I did not. Just as I was on the main road, north of the town at the base of the escarpment, the heavens opened up in a thunderstorm. The salty water washed up form the pavement blinded me and I had to stop at the top of the hill. Within half an hour, the sun was out again, and it was like nothing had ever happened. I even began to dry out.
I retraced my route along the quiet country road towards Ville des Laurentides. On the way, I saw this beautiful, distant white cloud. Soon it was not so distant. There I was again, getting drenched in my second thunder shower of the day!
Riding along the quiet road, I saw this young girl coming up towards me on her bike. I watched her and gauged the direction to shift, in order to be out of her way. She was like a magnet, though, and every move I would make, she would do the same. We crashed! Both of us were okay, but my front wheel was a bit bent.
I struggled on, cutting over to other roads that would bring me to Rosemere. I finally called my friend May and asked her if I could stay at her place. I got there at 18:15, and crashed almost immediately.
(Roger Kenner: October 2000)