I learned recently with sadness of the passing of a friend and one-time colleague whom I'd not seen since auld lang syne. Claire Morrisette, the co-founder of Monde a Bicyclette, was a champion of cyclists on the local level. And she carried that message as a sister to the call for global justice and an urgent intervention to save the planetary environment. As far as advancing cyclist's Rights, she taught me everything I know.

I landed a job at Monde a Bicyclette in the summer of 1992, the year I returned from South America. There was scarcely any work in Montreal then (I'm not sure there is now) so I was thrilled to make $200/week for an organization that advocated cycling in the city. This is where I met Bicycle Bob Silverman, the legendary old-school bicycle advocate, and of course Claire who had co-founded the organization with him. The two were more or less permanent members of it.
Le Monde a Bicyclette was a perfect organization in that it welcomed the ideas of everyone who attended the 9 am Monday meetings. All were welcome to come and pitch ideas which may improve the conditions for cyclists in Montreal. Lack of access to commuter rail was hot then, as were dangerous underpasses on which bikes had no space and risked being dragged to hell by an oblivious cube-van driver. The commuter rail agency capitulated to us, after theatrical protests at their stations with our bikes. It was really cute. And what a great cause. I believed in it then and I believe in it now.

Claire and Bob approached their work in Montreal transportation issues with a message of global evangelism. They were the first people I ever heard speak about global-warming. They loved volleyball above all other games becasue it had no star positions. The team rotates and everybody gets to serve. No quaterbacks thank you. They were into Cuba, and the idea of its rebirth as a velo-centric society such as the low countries are. These guys were velo-rutionairies.

There were twelve or so of us working at Monde a Bicyclette that summer. I was 22 at the time, just returned from a year in South America, and full of desire to do something meaningful. Claire taught us how to identify a social ill, or a problem in the municipal system (such as unfair conditions imposed on cyclists) and then it was about working out a way to get the government to do what we wanted. With twelve people working in concert on a particular problem, it was hard not to succeed. And if there was a set-back in one of our projects it would be carried forward to the next week's Monday coordination meeting. The individual who had brought the issue to the group would be carrier of it from week to week, responsible to update the group on progress or solicit new ideas and takes on how to solve the problem. It could be slow as the I.R.S. but just as irresistible. There's no way to stop a truly good idea.

Our cell at Mondo Bicyclette interacted and kept relationships with sister organizations in other towns. There was BIKES NOT BOMBS out of Boston. They were deep into velo-rution, doing bike outreach in Central America and poor communities around Boston. TRANSPORTATION ALTERRNATIVES carried the message in their cool New York City way, and we were down with them. We inter-related in the manner of homegrown resistance groups. So each team had auspcious traits unique to their town. And we were damn proud to be from Montreal. In a world of hot activists, we were as mellow as a ride through Parc Lafontaine in august. That was Claire Morrissette's influence as I see it now. She was a memorably gracious person, having something in her way of being that I see now as characteristically French. Among a lot of cycling activists who don't always have the greatest sense of style, Claire always looked good. She was a stylishly attractive lady. Hers was the manner of a humble virtuosa, detached and yet highly attentive to those around her. I remember clearly now the way in which she received people and heard them. I see now that she thought much more than she spoke.

Returning to Montreal this summer after so many years in the states, I am floored by the degree to which the city has embraced everything that Claire and Bicycle Bob advocated. Beyond bike racks and painted pathways, the government has gone a long way to figuring out the order of priority for ways of getting around the city. Montreal (arguably) is years ahead of New York, Boston and San Francisco, just by the numbers of riders, and the diversity of their ages and stations in life. It's decades ahead of Los Angeles and the cities of the south west. The day I picked up an old Globe And Mail and found Claire's obituary, it set off a kaleidoscopic shift in my seeing and a curing of the cement that is comprehension. We were so right. Claire was so right. Figure out your message and then stay on it, just like the bad guys do. Life is dream in which you're whacking baseballs over the fence.

Claire Morrisette was born on April 6, 1950, in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que. She died of breast cancer on July 20, 2007. She was 57. She is survived by her partner, Pierre Giasson, and by her siblings, Jean, Andree, Claude and Pierre. She also leaves five nieces. (Globe And Mail).