While local drivers often curse them, bike lanes and Montreal go together like French fries and cheese curds.
With a bicycle path network that spans over 1,000 km, Montreal was named the best major city for cycling in North America by PeopleForBikes in 2022. And Bixi, its homegrown bike-sharing network, was recently crowned one of the top inventions of the 21st century by TIME.
Now, one local YouTuber has taken that cycling culture to its logical extreme by biking the circumference of the entire island in a single day.
In case you’re wondering, that’s about 140 km.
Back in December, Jean-Philippe Baillargeon, a software developer who posts YouTube videos under the name lifeofjepi, published “I was bored… so I biked the entire Montreal island”, documenting his ride around the full circumference of the island on a gorgeous fall day.
The idea came from a mix of personal challenge and content creation. “Riding the full circumference of Montreal felt like both a fun physical challenge and a great idea for a video,” Baillargeon told MTL Blog. He also had a practical reason for choosing this particular route.
“Many of the most beautiful bike paths are around the outer edges of the island, so without leaving the island, I think this is the most beautiful long ride you can do.”
He started and finished in Hochelaga, where he lives, and logged the whole 140-km journey on the GPS cycling app Strava. “That’s the beauty of riding inside the island, you can just start from wherever you live,” he explained.
Total moving time came in at 6 hours and 20 minutes, with 7 hours and 10 minutes elapsed overall. The 28-year-old said filming along the way slowed him down a bit. He also took snack breaks. Baillargeon completed a similar route the year before without a camera in about 5 hours and 30 minutes, though that version skipped Île Verdun and covered a slightly shorter distance.
The cycling enthusiast is no stranger to long rides. He typically does 60 to 80 km on a regular outing and tackles rides of 150 km or more once or twice a summer. His longest to date was a roughly 170 km ride from Montreal to Sherbrooke to visit family, which proved to be a hillier and more gruelling effort than the island loop.
Next on his list is Montreal to Quebec City, just over 200 km, which he’s eyeing as a goal for summer 2026.
As for the highlights of the Montreal island route, Baillargeon mentioned the northern stretches. “Some of the nicest sections are definitely in the northern part of the island, like in Rivière-des-Prairies and Senneville. It feels more remote, with either bike lanes or quieter roads with very little traffic, which makes it feel like you’re outside the city.” The bike path on Île Verdun also impressed him, though he admits he’s ridden it enough times that the novelty has worn off.
The low point of the ride was the stretch around Mercier and Montreal-Est. “It’s more industrial, with a lot of truck traffic and noise. Even though there are bike lanes and you’re technically safe, the environment feels less comfortable because of the noise.”
So, if you’re a Montreal cyclist looking for your next big challenge, the full island loop is apparently very doable in a day. Just maybe leave the camera at home if you want to keep your time down and get home before nightfall.
– YouTube www.youtube.com
