|
July 1, 2006
Hello from Montreal: A Chat with André
Giroux – Owner of Ça Roule Bicyle Rentals
I had thoroughly enjoyed my guided
bicycle tour with Ça Roule and Bruno, a licensed city
guide from Guidatour, really introduced Montreal up close to us.
And my own independent explorations of the bicyle trail along the
Lachine Canal introduced
me to a side of Montreal I had never been exposed to. After returning
my bike after a full day of exercise I wanted to find out a bit
more about who is behind this operation, Ça
Roule, or Montreal on Wheels, as it is known in English.
Montreal, by the way, is a fabulous city to explore by bicycle.
The Old Port area, the bicycle path network along the Lachine Canal
and alongside the St. Lawrence River, as well as the islands of
Ile St. Hélène and Parc Jean Drapeau in the St. Lawrence
are eminently bikeable. Of course the trail network on Mont Royal also adds some interesting terrain for cycling enthusiasts and many
of Montreal's quaint neighbourhoods lend themselves perfectly to
be discovered en vélo. Montreal was actually voted
the number 1 city for bicyclists in 1999 by Bicycling magazine.
Ça Roule is a Bicycle Rental and Touring Shop located on
the harbourfront boulevard at 27 De La Commune Est. André
Giroux, the owner, created this company 12 years ago. He originally
studied law and spent 7 years as a lawyer, specialized in litigation
and legal consulting for large real estate developers. As an avid
sports person, André plays hockey and tennis and he really
enjoys cycling and in 1994 he decided to open a small rental store
that initially focused on renting roller blades, a big craze in
the mid 1990s. His original stable of equipment also included 12
bicycles. In the meantime his fleet has grown to more than 70 bicycles
which include touring bikes, tandems, trail bikes, electric bikes
and electric scooters. His store also rents kids trailers and child
carriers.
I asked him what the name “Ça
Roule" actually means and he explained that this French
phrase literally means “it’s rolling”, but is
generally understood as “it’s going well”, “it’s
running well”. He explained that his store specializes in
customer service, his staff is knowledgeable, and they are available
to provide advice on all sorts of biking activities in and around
Montreal. Everyone gets outfitted with a city-wide cycling map and
a free bottle of water is included in every tour.
André Giroux from Ça Roule
His customers come from all over the world including the USA, the
rest of Canada and a wide variety of European countries. Even Australian,
Korean and Japanese travelers rent muscle-powered equipment from
him and many of his clients are referred by hotels and the Montreal
Tourist Office. In addition he also offers bicycle repairs and some
of his repair clients are part of the 3500 permanent residents that
now live in Old Montreal, or employees that work in Old Montreal and commute there by bicycle.
Ça
Rule has six staff members: two bicycle repair technicians and
four tour leaders. Recently he has started to collaborate with Guidatour
and both companies combined have developed an Official City
Tour By Bike that is led by a licensed tour guide. This morning
I participated in this official
city tour and in my opinion exploring a city by bike has to
be one of the best ways of discovering a new place.
In any northern country, the bicycling business is seasonal, and
the high season at Ça Roule goes from May to October, sometimes
stretching into November, depending on the weather. During the winter
André works on updating the website and preparing the strategies
for the next business years and last year he had a chance to go
to Florida for 3 weeks. During the summer the shop is very busy
and André and his staff members work very hard, but he tries
to go out bicycling himself in the evenings between 7 and 8 pm.
He loves to cycle over to Montreal’s islands: Ile St. Hélène
and Jean Drapeau Park.
Ça Roule - early in the morning
André also pointed out that Ça
Roule is able to offer customized bicycle tours. One time a
group of people asked to start a tour on top of Mont Royal. So he
rented a cargo van and carted several bikes up to the top of the
mountain so the tour group could start their ride at their intended
starting point. All sorts of special assignments can be done, they
might just require a bit of notice to organize.
With all this exercise I was ready for a very solid
dinner, so I thanked André for his time and for putting
on the Official Guide City Tour, one of the best ways of getting
to know the city and continued my explorations of Montreal on this
Canada Day.
Useful books about travel to Montreal:
Related articles:
Hello from Montreal 2006 - My 4-day
explorations of Montreal
Hello from Montreal: An interesting
train ride and first impressions
Hello from Montreal: Getting
the lay of the land in a driving tour
Hello from Montreal: Dinner and a
little jazz at Modavie
Hello from Montreal: Reliving
history with the Old Montreal Ghost Tour
Hello from Montreal: Architectural
discoveries in the Old Montreal Walking Tour
Hello from Montreal: Exploring
the Chateau Ramezay during a torrential downpour
Hello from Montreal:
Mexican delights at La Iguana & a peak at the Jazz Festival
Hello from Montreal: A guided bicycle
tour to explore Montreal's neighbourhoods
Hello from Montreal:
Biking on the Lachine Canal - Industrial history turned into a recreational
opportunity
Hello from Montreal: A chat with
André Giroux about Bicycling in Montreal
Hello from Montreal: Savouring Italian
cuisine at Galiano's and Canada Day Celebrations
Hello from Montreal:
Exploring the Olympic Stadium, the Botanical Garden & Insectarium
and outdoor action at the Jean Talon Market
Hello from Montreal: A Peruvian immigrant
success story at Restaurant Mañana
Hello from Montreal: Friendly
neighbourhood encounters on Square St. Louis
Hello from Montreal: Exploring
the Casino de Montreal
Hello from Montreal: Gourmet
dining at Nuances and amazing fireworks at La Ronde
Hello from Montreal: A final walk
to discover amazing architectural beauties
Helpful links for travel to Montreal:
Tourisme
Montreal - Montreal's official tourism information office
Quebec Tourism
- Official tourism website for Quebec
|
