I dislike SMOG

[triflor]

So yesterday was Montreal's first Smog day of the year. All in all we actually have pretty good air quality comparatively. However, ouch... ummm, my lungs hurt! Last year I was living/training in the Toronto area and half the summer there were smog warnings. This makes me wonder why only one day training in it this season hurts like crazy when last summer I trained in smog every other day with no problem!?!
Any suggestions on how to train through poor air quality days?

That being said, thank goodness for thunderstorms

[DebW]

Carry oxygen. Or don't. It's not worth your health to train in those conditions. And as for why some smog conditions are worse than others, you'd need complete info on concentrations of O3, NOx, CO, hydrocarbons to really compare. Maybe the Montreal metro area has different industries and therefore a different pollutant mix than Toronto. Are mornings any better than afternoons? Sunlight is required to make smog, but the stuff can sit for a few days if stagnant air persists.

[triflor]

montreal is in a convegence of weather patterns, some stuff coming up the st. lawerence from the great lakes, but we also get eastern seaboard stuff too. toronto on the other hand is all great lakes weather with a lot of air moving up from the detroit/windsor, and hamilton industries.

the thing is a month away from IMLP I can not train.

[Grog]

In Montreal you get a lot of the stuff from Toronto, plus whatever adds up in between.

This being said: very early mornings work best.

I mean, very early........

Where about in Montreal do you live/train? Some areas may be better than others, too...

[triflor]

I live downtown, close to Westmount. I tend to head down towards the Lachine canal to get away from Centre-Ville, then I prefer to go west because there is more that way. Westmount I like for hill repeats. But wherever I go I'm tentative about the road conditions. I've noticed on the weather network that the air quality reads better in Verdun. Do you know of much down there?

[Grog]

I live downtown, close to Westmount. I tend to head down towards the Lachine canal to get away from Centre-Ville, then I prefer to go west because there is more that way. Westmount I like for hill repeats. But wherever I go I'm tentative about the road conditions. I've noticed on the weather network that the air quality reads better in Verdun. Do you know of much down there?

I'd definitely avoid anything east (as you already are).

I'd suggest riding down Atwater to the Canal, crossing the little bridge at the Atwater market and then following the sign to "Les Berges", which is the Verdun bike path that runs along the river. The signs are not so bad, should be pretty self-explanatory. Past the Canadian Tire store (awkward: bike path changes side of the road without much warning) you'll ride between a polyvalente and a baseball backstop, and there you are. It's a wonderful bike path by the river, and usually very quiet in the early mornings (read: you can go fast). On the weekends (and on a nice summer night) it's like the canal Lachine, and you should avoid it at all cost except if you have a comfort bike with streamers.

Les Berges connects to the Canal at the end. Together they make a 30 km loop or so. From the bridge (where the two paths connect) you can cross to Lachine and head west to Pointe-Claire, Dorval, Senneville, etc. That can give you another 40 km and it's a sweet ride (just avoid the bike path because it's nastily configured - I find).

You probably know of these areas already.

Less well known perhaps, and also fairly close to you: Other than that, I'd also guess that the Estacade du pont Champlain would be a great bet. At the same Canadian Tire, go left instead of slightly right (which would lead you to Les Berges) and up to Nun's Island (Île-des-Soeurs). From there follow the signs, if I remember correctly, to the Estacade or something like that (last year there was construction and it was a bit confusing). You have to go through one if not two roundabouts. You go over the little bridge that crosses the river parallel to Champlain Bridge and on the other side you have 11 fabulous kilometers (that's 22 return) of perfect pavement, and a cute park with a fun 1 km circuit that we use sometimes for mini-criteriums at the end. A great place to ride. Even on weekends there's usually less skaters there than on the Montreal side.

Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve would be also a less polluted option in the early mornings, but it's closed until the 27th of June for the Grand Prix.

If you have any other ideas, please share them with me, as I'll be in Montreal from 10th of July and will be happy to explore new places to ride