Some of the residents of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville in Quebec appealed to their city councilors on Monday to stop what they consider an unreasonable influx of cyclists into their quiet neighbourhood.

The residents who showed up consider the club riders who come to train on the roads of their neighbourhood more than just a nuisance but an invasion of their quiet streets. They think cyclists using the neighbourhood to train are disregarding the street laws and there needs to be a greater police presence.

Nicole Kirouac, who lives on Rue du Sommet-Trinité near the corner of Chemin des Hirondelles and Rue Mésange, told La Radio Allumée she feels like a hostage because of the cyclists who chose the roads of her neighbourhood to train on for hours.

A popular Strava segment that goes by this intersection, a 500 m stretch of road that rises at an average gradient of 3.7 per cent, has 11,912 attempts by 1,335 users. Many of the roads in this corner of Saint-Bruno rise gently as they sit on the slopes of the Mont-Sainte-Bruno and are dead ends so they don’t see very much vehicle traffic.

The Chemin des Hirondelles has a separated bike lane but Rue du Sommet-Trinité, another popular Strava segment with 20,336 attempts that rises for 700 m at five per cent does not.

The residents who showed up to the meeting want the city to better regulate the neighbourhood to prevent cyclists who disobey the law from using their roads for training which residents have come to find very disturbing.

City mayor Martin Murray said there has been a police presence in the area to insure the roads are safe and tickets are issued to those who do not follow the laws of the road. However, Kirouac said that the police presence is insufficient and cyclists easily outwit law enforcement.

The mayor’s advice to residents for now was to call 911 as soon as possible when they spot cyclists disobeying the law. A more permanent police presence is unlikely as he said cyclists would just continue to use the roads at off hours and the city needs to deploy it’s resources more effectively.