I have to say, I don't know the whole story about the cyclist who was hit. That's what it sounded like, but really, I don't know all the details. Except he was hit by a car. Fortunately, he seemed to be okay.
As for bike paths, we've all had tons of discussions about how useless they can be- Montreal is no exception. We hvae many bike paths that stretch throughout the city, but they also have the usuall non-cyclist traffic of kids, people walking dogs, people pushing strollers, kids on scooters, etc. Much worse on weekends. Mount royal is also popular with mountain bikers, but DON'T go on weekends, especially sunday. Weekends are much more crowded (especially with nice weather) and sundays are the stupid tam-tam jam, which means it's even more crowded with spaced-out hippies, dopey teenage slackers (and often, their own kids) and various other stoned-out flakes which make it impossible for cyclists. However, the bike paths aren't bad on weekdays and there are some paths which aren't used very much at all, and Mount royal is great on weekdays.
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You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. That's great...if you want to attract vermin.