I live in a suburb of Montreal. The city has a strong cycling culture. This coming weekend it will host the annual Tour de L'Ile. The last time I did it, I started in the first wave which consisted of the fastest riders. The distance was about 70 km. By the time I finished, There were still several thousand people waiting in line to start their ride. I don't know how many people they allow now, but they have had to split it into different events. Friday evening, there is an event called the Tour la Nuit, there is also an event for children, and Sunday there will be the main event with distances up to 100 km. The province of Quebec in general is a great place to ride a bike. In last year's Tour de France, all but one of Canadian riders were born in the province. The only exception was Mike Woods who grew up in Ottawa, just a couple of kilometres away across the Ottawa River.
Woods was an elite middle distance runner before taking up cycling. His current Canadian home is in Chelsea Quebec
Greg Lemond was a competitive alpine skier before he took up cycling
Eric Heiden was the best speed skater ever, having won every race in every category at the Olympics. He later turned to cycling and was good enough to have ridden in the Tour de France