Grand Prix Cycliste Montreal

MONTREAL FAST FACTS:

1. Second largest city in Canada and the eight largest in North America.
2. Population: 1,649,519 (2011 census).
3. French is the city’s official language and is spoken at home by 56.9% of the population.
4. Montreal is the second largest primarily French-speaking city in the world, after Paris.
5. The Montreal Canadiens have ongoing hockey rivalries with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins.
6. Montreal has the highest number of restaurants per capita in Canada and the second highest in North America after New York City.
7. On average it snows 60 days a year in Montreal.
8. There are 4,445 licensed taxis in Montreal.
9. No building in Montreal can be taller than the cross on the Mount Royal Mountain (the city’s namesake).

SISTER CITIES:

1. Algiers, Algeria
2. Amsterdam, Netherlands
3. Beersheba, Israel
4. Brussels, Belgium
5. Bucharest,
6. Busan, South Korea
7. Casablanca, Morocco
8. Hanoi, Vietnam
9. Hiroshima, Japan
10. Nashik, India
11. Lyon, France
12. Managua, Nicaragua
13. Manila, Philippines
14. Milan, Italy
15. Moca, Dominican Republic
16. Paris, France
17. Port-au-Prince, Haiti
18. Rome, Italy
19. San Salvador, El Salvador
20. Shanghai, China
21. Tunis, Tunisia
22. Santo André, Brazil
23. Yerevan, Armenia

MAYORS OF MONTREAL (CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER):

1. Jacques Viger
2. Peter McGill
3. Joseph Bourret
4. James Ferrier
5. John Easton Mills
6. Édouard-Raymond Fabre
7. Charles Wilson
8. Wolfred Nelson
9. Henry Starnes
10. Charles-Séraphin Rodier
11. Jean-Louis Beaudry
12. William Workman
13. Charles-Joseph Coursol
14. Francis Cassidy
15. Aldis Bernard
16. William Hales Hingston
17. Sévère Rivard
18. Honoré Beaugrand
19. John Caldwell Abbott
20. Jacques Grenier
21. James McShane
22. Alphonse Desjardins
23. Joseph-Octave Villeneuve
24. Richard Wilson-Smith
25. Raymond Préfontaine
26. James Cochrane
27. Hormidas Laporte
28. Henry Archer Ekers
29. Louis Payette
30. James John Edmund Guerin
31. Louis-Arsène Lavallée
32. Médéric Martin
33. Charles Duquette
34. Camillien Houde
35. Fernand Rinfret
36. Adhémar Raynault
37. Jean Drapeau
38. Sarto Fournier
39. Jean Doré
40. Pierre Bourque
41. Gérald Tremblay
42. Michael Applebaum
43. Laurent Blanchard
44. Denis Coderre

FAMOUS PEOPLE FROM MONTREAL:

1. Scott Abbott – co-inventor of Trivial Pursuit.
2. René Angélil – singer, actor, husband/manager of Celine Dion.
3. Melissa Auf der Maur – rock musician (bass player in the band Hole).
4. Lanny Barbie – porn star.
5. Chris Benoit – pro wrestler.
6. Maurice “Mom” Boucher – ex-leader of Hells Angels.
7. Kenneth “Kenny” Brain – Big Brother Canada contestant.
8. Steven Cojocaru – fashion critic.
9. Glen Drover – guitarist for Megadeth.
10. Shawn Drover – drummer for Megadeth.
11. Ralph Gilles – designer of the Chrysler 300C.
12. Annie Grenier – AKA “Annie Brocoli” (Children’s performer).
13. Kevin McDonald – actor/comedian/voice actor, member of The Kids in the Hall.
14. William Shatner – actor, best known for playing Captain Kirk in Star Trek.

MFS RACE NOTES BY KLAUS:

1. There’s something slightly unsettling about walking into your room at Hotel Espresso in Montreal, putting your bags down, and hearing the sounds of someone potentially being molested in some fashion through the AC vents. Similarly, there’s something unusual about hearing the people in the room upstairs walk around in high heels at four in the morning as the smell of cigarette smoke wafts in through the previously-mentioned vents.
2. Observation: since his death, Casey Kasem has traveled to more countries than some members of the Manual for Speed staff.
3. Astana’s Janez Brajkovič looks like an oversized banana when wearing his bright yellow, team-issue winter jacket.
4. Why was Ted King carrying four boxes of nutritional bars up to his room the night before the race? Did he just sit and eat those in his room instead of going to team dinner?
5. Garmina, our GPS’ female voice, has a fantastic way of mispronouncing every single French street name, primarily by putting the accent in eight different places all at once.
6. Parking signs in Montreal state what time, day of the week and month you can and cannot park in a particular spot. We also believe that there’s a parking spot near a not-so-great Indian restaurant we ate at that is only available for public use during Mardi Gras.
7. Pros—they’re just like us, or at least they have to deal with the same mundane problems that all of us put up with. During the race, we overheard riders discussing the following topics among themselves:
   • Having to deal with a flooded basement.
   • Buying a new washer dryer set.
   • Experiencing deplorable customer service with a new bank.
8. The mandatory meeting that photographers are forced to attend is not very helpful because it’s in French.
9. At times during the meeting it sounds like someone is up on stage mocking French speakers, making pseudo-French sounds in a potentially xenophobic fashion. And then you realize that they are just speaking French.
10. There’s nothing like putting a piece of tape on an expensive lens, and thus converting into a much cheaper version of itself.
11. Cameras on long sticks are the new iPads at races.
12. Guy in the woods found a 1644 Morningstar.
13. Crazy guy who talked a lot:
    • “Journalists who are kidnapped should have their ransoms covered by the newspapers they work with.”
    • “We are going back to how we were during the middle ages. Today, even Protestants are out of control, while American leadership is a concern.”
14. “Feed Zone!” wass easily the most important aspect of the race to the Montréalais, and which “Feed Zone!” we were asked about every five minutes by all kinds of people, and were in turn told about (especially its location) by nearly as many people nearly as often. One member of the audience, asked about the “Feed Zone’s!” location, but refused to tell us why he wanted to know where it was, that was his secret.
15. Nothing is as satisfying as being photobombed by a race director when trying to take a selfie with a podium girl (see below).
16. Yes, there’s a Leica cycling cap.

OFFICIAL GRAND PRIX CYCLISTE MONTREAL MFS PLAYLIST

1. Kongos – Come With Me Now
2. Dirty Heads featuring Rome from Sublime – Lay Me Down
3. Weezer – Back To The Shack
4. Les Merseys – Elles Se Moquuer De Moi
5. Hozier – Take Me To The Church
6. Taylor Swift – I Knew You Were Trouble
7. Enrique Iglesias – Bailando feat. Descemer Bueno & Gente De Zona
8. Vance Joy – Riptide (Flicflac Edit)