Hello From Montreal - Part 11 - A Chat With André Giroux - Owner Of Ça Roule Bicyle Rentals

July 1, 2006had thoroughly enjoyed my guidedbottle of water is included in every tour.
bicycle tour with Ça Roule and Bruno, aHis customers come from all over the world
licensed city guide from Guidatour, reallyincluding the USA, the rest of Canada and a wide
introduced Montreal up close to us. And my ownvariety of European countries. Even Australian,
independent explorations of the bicyle trail alongKorean and Japanese travelers rent
the Lachine Canal introduced me to a side ofmuscle-powered equipment from him and many
Montreal I had never been exposed to. Afterof his clients are referred by hotels and the
returning my bike after a full day of exercise IMontreal Tourist Office. In addition he also offers
wanted to find out a bit more about who isbicycle repairs and some of his repair clients are
behind this operation, Ça Roule, or Montrealpart of the 3500 permanent residents that now
on Wheels, as it is known in English.live in Old Montreal, or employees that work in Old
Montreal, by the way, is a fabulous city to exploreMontreal and commute there by bicycle.
by bicycle. The Old Port area, the bicycle pathÇa Rule has six staff members: two bicycle
network along the Lachine Canal and alongside therepair technicians and four tour leaders. Recently
St. Lawrence River, as well as the islands of Ilehe has started to collaborate with Guidatour and
St. Hélène and Parc Jean Drapeau in theboth companies combined have developed an
St. Lawrence are eminently bikeable. Of courseOfficial City Tour By Bike that is led by a licensed
the trail network on Mont Royal also adds sometour guide. This morning I participated in this
interesting terrain for cycling enthusiasts andofficial city tour and in my opinion exploring a city
many of Montreal's quaint neighbourhoods lendby bike has to be one of the best ways of
themselves perfectly to be discovered endiscovering a new place.
vélo. Montreal was actually voted theIn any northern country, the bicycling business is
number 1 city for bicyclists in 1999 by Bicyclingseasonal, and the high season at Ça Roule
magazine.goes from May to October, sometimes stretching
Ça Roule is a Bicycle Rental and Touringinto November, depending on the weather. During
Shop located on the harbourfront boulevard at 27the winter André works on updating the
De La Commune Est. André Giroux, thewebsite and preparing the strategies for the next
owner, created this company 12 years ago. Hebusiness years and last year he had a chance to
originally studied law and spent 7 years as ago to Florida for 3 weeks. During the summer the
lawyer, specialized in litigation and legal consultingshop is very busy and André and his staff
for large real estate developers. As an avid sportsmembers work very had, but he tries to go out
person, André plays hockey and tennis andbicycling himself in the evenings between 7 and 8
he really enjoys cycling and in 1994 he decided topm. He loves to cycle over to Montreal's islands:
open a small rental store that initially focused onIle St. Hélène and Jean Drapeau Park.
renting roller blades, a big craze in the mid 1990s.André also pointed out that Ça Roule
His original stable of equipment also included 12is able to offer customized bicycle tours. One time
bicycles. In the meantime his fleet has grown toa group of people asked to start a tour on top of
more than 70 bicycles which include touring bikes,Mont Royal. So he rented a cargo van and carted
tandems, trail bikes, electric bikes and electricseveral bikes up to the top of the mountain so
scooters. His store also rents kids trailers and childthe tour group could start their ride at their
carriers.intended starting point. All sorts of special
I asked him what the name "Ça Roule"assignments can be done, they might just require
actually means and he explained that this Frencha bit of notice to organize.
phrase literally means "it's rolling", but is generallyWith all this exercise I was ready for a very solid
understood as "it's going well", "it's running well". Hedinner, so I thanked André for his time and
explained that his store specializes in customerfor putting on the Official Guide City Tour, one of
service, his staff is knowledgeable, and they arethe best ways of getting to know the city and
available to provide advice on all sorts of bikingcontinued my explorations of Montreal on this
activities in and around Montreal. Everyone getsCanada Day.
outfitted with a city-wide cycling map and a free