In Timmins, I attended Earl Miller Public School for my formative years. There was a trail that started not too far from where I lived, that went through the bush, over a small creek, and eventually came out near my school. If you were on foot, you could get out right at the school. But if you were on a bike, you would have to shoot past the school and loop around about a block. On more recent visits, they’ve remedied that in addition to adding all sorts of extra playground equipment, but that’s not this story.

Anyhow, during the early and late months of the school year (and school went through almost all of June back then), I would bike these trails to school and arrive with my legs pretty well caked with mud. I learned something very important from mountain biking as a child: always have a spare set of clothes. The trails were fun. There was one spot, just around a corner, where it would drop quickly, and then there was a big climb on the other side. If you weren’t paying attention, you would hit the exposed root and flip over your handlebars as the wheel caught.

Anyhow, I was a little late to get up one morning. My mom had already left for work, as we had long become accustomed to  (that wasn’t bad parenting back then, apparently it is now). My brother went to a french immersion school across town, and always rode the school bus. I usually had the option to walk or bike to school, though apparently there was a bus that could pick me up only a couple blocks from my house. We would never remember said bus until January, when we ceased caring.

So given the choice to walk to school or bike, I naturally did what any kid would do: slept until the last possible minute and then biked as quickly as my little legs would carry me. Well this particular morning, the joke was on me. It had snowed the night before, so there was a thin layer of slush on the roads, and snow throughout the wooded trail. Weather patterns are really different today from even 18 years ago, so I’ll go ahead and tell you it was still September.

So there I am, standing just outside the door to my house, locking it up and thinking words that kids in public schools aren’t supposed to admit they know (and I’m sure many kindergarten students today would have been able to show me up for my sailor talk of grade 5). I hopped on my bike, strapped on my helmet that I wore religiously along that back trail, and headed out.

The sidewalks weren’t too bad. A little slushy, a little wet, but otherwise passable. When I finally entered the trail, it was a lot like trying to follow a mud trail after a few days of rain. My tires sank and slid in the mud and slush. By the time I made it to school, I was covered head to toe. I cleaned off my helmet using the outside tap meant for the gardening hose, entered via the office doors, waved my muddy hand and gave my whitest smile at the secretary, and then stepped straight into the washroom to get myself cleaned up.

When I finally was all cleaned up, and warmed up by the hand dryer, I came out of the washroom, got my late slip with the note “had to get out of muddy clothes caused by the ride in” and headed in to class. The ride home was equally messy. My brother and I always got home before my Mom, again that was normal then, so I got myself cleaned up, cleaned up the mess my footprints created, and then used the big sink downstairs to handwash the mud off my clothes.

Did I hate handwashing mud off clothes? Probably. I probably hated it a lot. But it was a heck of a lot better doing that, than listening to my mother complain about it, and tell me that I couldn’t bike to school anymore. I loved biking to school.

While I was behind those handlebars, I had control. Kids don’t feel like they are actually in control and truly free very often. For me, when I was on that bike, I was truly free. That’s why I still love biking today. Every time I go ahead and start peddling, I get that rush of freedom with the nip of the wind on my face.

I’ll handwash mud out of my clothes any day, just give me my bicycle.

To the left you’ll see a shot of the bike, a Jeep TJ Sport. I’ve got one wheel off in the photo because I was in the middle of switching out the tube and tire. Yup, there’s a bit of rust on the gears from improper storage, and a bit on the chain too, but nothing that can’t be handled by cannibalizing good working parts off the old Carerra Algonquin. Pulling off those parts was a part of my first order of business. So I went to work removing front & rear light mounts, rear rack, carry-all, and bell. The extras that turn the bike into something useful for commuting. I went out and bought the tubes for the wheels, a tire-liner to prevent them from getting ripped as I plowed along the roads, a new bell because the old one was no good, and a can of cleaner for the chain and gear wheels that I had been looking for anyways. I’ll talk about my cleaning and grease stuff in a different post sometime.

So there I am, everything ready to go. I pop the front wheel off the bike, remove the tire and tube. I could see through the tire at several points, and it only took me a couple seconds to see where the tube was split. I grinned. Honestly, I did. This was what I was expecting, and I was prepared for it. I got the new tube, tire liner, and tire in place. Then I filled it with air and it looked good. The tire is still nicely inflated now, so I know I did a good job.

Then I got to the back wheel. The gears are there, so I expected it to be a little trickier to get off. The basic mechanics of it are the same, but there’s a chain in the way. I looked online and found a site that had a picture showing the one extra step involved. Sounded easy. Well… The nut on the gear wheel side was definitely put on with a gun. And it seems the weather that it had been exposed to while rusting, softened the nut itself. After only a couple of tries. The nut was completely rounded. Not fun. I went out to Canadian Tire and found a nut splitter. Unfortunately it’s manual, but no worries, I have decent muscles. To the right, you’ll see the results… After I tried to get around the nut splitter’s shortcoming.

The nut splitter would not stay over the back portion of the nut. It went right through the standard front part, but the area that looks a lot like a connected washer, it just slipped right off. I went at that part with a chisel and hammer. Took almost an hour to get as far as I did, and the last 20 minutes or so I was making no headroom on the nut, and was actually destroying the chisel (which now rests in the trash).

So after a moderate sum was spent on parts and tools, after we went through all the trouble of getting the bike down here from North Bay, and after all the work removing parts and attaching them to the new bike, I have to stop where I am and finally admit something. I’ve now been screwed by older bikes twice since I returned to Ottawa. I need to get one NEW.

Do I have cash for a new bike? Nope. It’s pretty much coming up on the end of the season here anyways. I’ve eyeballed a lot of bikes at Kundstad, the M.E.C. and Bushtaka. There area a lot of sweet rides out there. Hopefully, last year’s models will be reduced to a good price when I’m shopping for a new bike early in the spring.

So there it is! I admit defeat, and am done biking for the season. Until a new bike arrives, I’ll be posting a bunch of memories and probably responses to news articles or research on new bikes. So the blog will still be interesting.

Have recommendations? Post them below.

As I write this, I’m actually on a Greyhound headed to North Bay. From there, I’ll be hopping in a car and riding all the way up to Timmins, Ontario. I grew up in Timmins, though I don’t really consider it home. It does hold a special place in the heart, but my home has been Ottawa since I first moved down there for school over a decade ago.

While I was growing up, I used my bicycle a lot. As a kid, I wasn’t big into sports. I didn’t even like hockey, as sacrilegious as that is to admit as a Canadian. I was in karate, I swam, and I was a part of a scout group. Those all fell by the way-side, one by one. First karate, then swimming, and then when I went to university, the scouting. Did cycling ever fall by the wayside? Unfortunately yes: during my first couple of years in Ottawa, and again during the most recent year when I was in Timmins (2006?).

But like everyone, it all goes back to when I was a kid. When I was really young, maybe grade 7, my brother and I got new bicycles. They were big, shiny mountain bikes. He got a black 18-speed, and I had a silver 12-speed. My brother was taller than me, despite being younger, and his bike was too tall for me, otherwise I’ve sure I would have had the higher-speed bike. We were both very proud of our new bikes, and our new bike helmets.

That was also the year we learned the rules of the road for cyclists in Ontario. We learned how to properly signal, where we were supposed to keep on the road, and that kind of stuff. We figured we were pretty cool, pretty smart, and given that all the other kids on our block were three or four years younger than us, pretty much in charge.

So what did we do? Did we ride the crap out of our bicycles on trails, getting full of mud, scraping our arms and legs like regular grade 7s? Surprisingly, no. We decided that we were going to be bike-police on our block. We gathered up the kids and taught them the hand signals and the shiny newly learned rules of the road. We also made it clear that it was required, by law, to wear a helmet (for those under the age of 10). We came up with our own ride-tests, and the younger kids seemed to have fun playing along.

This went on for about a week, and we glorified in our childish power. I was good at spotting people ignoring the rules, and my brother was good at catching them, and meeting out some sort of punishment. I think we had kids do a lot of push-ups or something. Eventually though, like all things in childhood, we got bored of it and moved on. I know my brother stopped using the hand signals for turning and the like pretty quickly. Me, although I stuck with it longer at the time, I was just a kid, and ended up doing what all kids do: forget the rules, I’m going to hit the muddy trail.

I look back though, and I realize what an interesting week that was, when we first got those new bikes. I can’t help but wonder if any of those kids still bike. Do any of them now follow those rules of the road that we tried to teach them when we were young and full of ourselves? I guess I’ll never know. But it’s good to look back on things sometimes, and brings a smile to my lips every time I think about how I was a bike-cop on my block in Timmins.

There will be no cycling stats this week. As previously mentioned, the bike’s out of commission. I should have a newer bike next week, and some stats to go with it.

Because of my lack of cycling this past week, I feel sluggish, less alert, and “fat”. I’m a skinny guy, we’re not supposed to feel fat. As I mentioned in my opening post, I only really started getting reliably cycle-active again this past spring.  I’m in Canada, so pretty soon the snow will start falling, and I’m going to have to find another way to keep myself fit over the winter. I don’t want to sit back on the bike next spring and discover I can barely do 8 km, at 12 km/hr again. That brings me to the topic of this week’s entry: off-season fitness.

What do cyclists do during the off season?

Well, a little research reveals something that would shock a lot of people. Many cyclists continue to bike after the snow falls. There are studded tires available to help with grip during the winter months. The folks over at bikeforums.net recommend putting them on during the winter, and they also highly recommend a good set of fenders if you don’t have them already. The salt does a lot of damage to a bicycle, so it’s necessary to perform maintenance weekly during those winter months or you’ll have a rusty chain and creaking joints in no time.

As for me, I plan to get through October once the new bike arrives. After that, travel will be done by bus, so I still need to figure out a fitness routine. The bus doesn’t save any commuting time. It actually takes longer than it would for me to bike to the college. It does, however, give me a chance to do reading for my courses while en-route, clearing up the same amount of time to “do other stuff” at home.

For me, and for most economically aware individuals, getting an exercise bike or a gym membership, is not an option. So we need to come up with our own exercise routines. A lot of websites suggest winter sports like Nordic Skiing and Snowshoeing. Again, I’m short on equipment and options for that.

There’s a single line on an article at Carmichael Training Systems that will probably define my winter program: “During the Foundation Period of training, working the general aerobic system is the main goal. The body’s aerobic system really does not know if you are running, swimming, inline skating, hiking, snowshoeing, Nordic skiing, or cycling.” This means I can basically do anything, so long as it’s a aerobic workout.

Now, I happen to have a Nintendo Wii. Not an overly great fitness system in itself, but some of the games can work as decent tools. I have several versions of Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), the Wii Fit Plus, and Shaun White’s Snowboarding. I believe by combining some of the exercises in these three games, I can at the very least keep a basic level of fitness throughout the winter months. With the Wii Fit Plus, I can focus on the Aerobics and Strength training sections. DDR is an aerobic workout in itself, and it focuses on the muscles in the legs more than anything else. The Snowboarding game, again exercises the leg muscles and works on your balance. As I’ll have 2-hours of bussing, per day, that’ll free up 2-hours of daily readings and give me the chance to take 2 hours of Wii training every day.

It’s not a perfect plan. I don’t think I’m going to be exercising the right muscles in my legs to keep me in cycling shape. But at least I’ll still be keeping to an exercise routine and won’t feel like a fat lump on the couch.

So I put it to you, what should I do in the winter to keep in shape? What are you doing this winter? Do you know of any sources that have better suggestions on how to work the cycling-specific muscles over the winter months? Please, post a comment below so I can check it out.

This week’s cycling report:

Sunday & Monday: 0km – Still need part for bike. I did manage an 8.5 km walk however…

Tuesday: Test run. Alta Vista/Industrial to Terminal, Terminal to Walmart & return trip. 1.88 km. 6 minutes. 18.8 km/hr.

Wednesday – Saturday: 0 km – Head tube is bent, bike out of commission.

When I first got this bike in 2003, the only “adjustment” I made, was to slightly angle the handlebars toward the right side. My left arm is a bit longer than my right, so for me to ride comfortable, the handlebars can’t be straight-on. That was all I did. I last night, after I fixed the stiff steering and greased up the cranks, chain, and wheels, I adjusted the height of the handlebars, and the height, angle and distance forward/back of the seat. I also put a bit more air into my ever-leaking tires.

While I had it up, I gave it a proper inspection. I’ve been meaning to do it thoroughly for a while. I finally replaced my helmet and cycling gloves (both circa 2003, new & old pictured left) this past Wednesday. One was a long-overdue safety issue, and the other was just falling apart. So I gave the bike the inspection to see what would need to be replaced, theoretically by next spring. The list wasn’t long, but it was worrisome: brake pads are thin, tires are starting to split, handle-bar grips are torn, bell is broken, pedals are chewed, chain and gears are a little rusty… Not quite enough there to warrant a new bike.

The chain, gears, pedals, and handle-bar grips, I could probably ignore without too much trouble. The brake pads are a quick and relatively inexpensive fix, so I mentally made note to pick up a pair of pads next time I was near a Kunstadt Sports (one of my local cycling stores). The tires were splitting. They weren’t all the way through yet, but I bit my lip and mentally planned to make a special trip to the bike shop on Tuesday, or after I got out from Bike for Beats on Saturday if there was time.

Saturday morning I got up, ate my Wheaties (not really), and hauled the bike back down to ground level. I hopped on and began cycling. The steering was still a little stiff, but better than when I had brought it up to the apartment. I felt really comfortable at my new height, and it seemed like my peddling was coming a lot easier and smoother than it did before I adjusted everything. Then I hit a pothole.

The front wheel spun a couple more times, but I felt it sink right away. I dismounted, tore off my helmet and inspected the tire. It was 100% flat. I cringed, hoped beyond all hope that the air had just been forced out or something simple like that. I put my hand-pump in, and pumped for a couple minutes. Nothing. Swearing, I made my way back home and hopped on a bus to Lebreton Flats so I could still help out.

I got back home this afternoon. The following photos show what happened next:

I think that third photo makes things clear enough. I’m not sure if you can make out the 2 holes, but the large one is huge enough to realize that there’s no holding air in that thing. The tube, tires, and bike itself have been poorly maintained, and have been used to travel well over 7000 km, so it really didn’t owe me anything. But as it stands, as of September 25^th, 2010, I am without a bicycle. I have no reliable, self-powered, environmentally friendly mode of transportation available to me. I have been emasculated.

Ok, maybe not emasculated, but you get the idea. I’ve basically got two options at this point. Buy a new tube, new tires, and reinstall it, leaving me with the same brake problem, stiff steering, broken bell, torn grips, chewed pedals, and rusty chain and gears. Replacing these parts would probably run me close to $60. Or I can buy a new bike, and get a proper road bike this time instead of a mountain bike. But that costs minimum $350. Here’s the problem, I have $0, and would like to spend less than that if possible (don’t we all?).

So here we are folks, How to Bargain Shop for bicycles. If you’re looking to work for it a bit, you can check out garage sales, craigslist.com, kijiji.ca, or freecycle.org. If you have a freecycle.org for your area, it will be a fantastic option as the price is FREE. The catch is that you may need to do a bit of work to fix it up. Garage sales, craigslist and kijiji are all good for finding stuff that people currently own, and are trying to get a bit of money back on. Sometimes this works out great for everyone involved, sometimes it doesn’t. Inspect the product before you hand over your cash, because you won’t get it back afterward.

Now here in Ottawa, we have a couple other options. There’s Re-Cylces Bicycle Co-op at 473 Bronson which resells bikes that were donated to the shop and fixed up. Two student favourites, because of the 10% discount, are Cyco’s at 5 Hawthorne Ave, and The Bike Dump at 407 Hawthorne Street. Cyco’s has used bikes starting around $80, and The Bike Dump starts around $30. Tim’s Used Sports Equipment on 1280 Wellington Street West has used bikes starting around $90, and Recyclore, a non-profit organization, located at 2675 Draper starts their pricing around $70.

So, I’m going to be hiking my way out to these places on Tuesday and Wednesday next week to see what I might be able to find. I’ll spend a bit of my precious student loan, and hope that I find myself a part-time job after all. I had actually managed to budget my way through the school year without a job, but it seems the fates just don’t want that to happen.

Anyhow, here’s my cycling log for this past week, sabotaged by a tube.

Sunday: I relaxed. Wished I had a cold, alcoholic beverage too! 0 km. 0 km/hr

Monday: Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. Total Time 1 hr 30 minutes. 26 km. 17.3 km/hr

Tuesday: Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Bank. +Return Trip along same route. Time 25 minutes. 8.5 km. 20.4 km/hr

Wednesday: Threat of rain deterred biking to an interview, but managed 10 km of walking… 0 km. 0 km/hr.

Thursday: Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. Total Time 88 minutes. 26 km. 17.7 km/hr

Friday: Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. Time 80 minutes. 26 km. 19.5 km/hr

Saturday: Bike irreparably damaged mere blocks from home. – km. – km/hr.

Average Daily Distance: 12.4 km

Average Speed: 18.3 km/hr

Average Weekly Distance: 73.02 km

Average Cumulative Speed: 18.0 km/hr



There’s another type of cyclist that I have a lot of respect, and may even idolize a little: the cyclist that bikes to raise money for a cause or organization. I’m going to highlight three in this entry, though there are hundreds, if not thousands of different causes that people use cycling to raise money or attract attention.

The first one I want to talk about is Share the Road. Share the Road was mentioned in a previous entry, but I didn’t go in to any details. The mission of this organization is to enhance access for all cyclists on roads and trails, improve safety for cyclists, and educate people on the value and important on safe cycling for healthy communities and lifestyles (loosely paraphrased). Basically, they want to make cycling a lot safer and wider spread in Ontario, Canada. The goal that they are striving to achieve is admirable, and works on many levels. Next year, when Share The Road returns to Ottawa, I hope to be a part of it. Currently they also host events in Milton, Sudbury, and Canmore (Alberta).

Ride the Rideau is a fundraising event. I’ve never had the opportunity to participate, but found out about it when I stopped in at my local Starbucks. The funds raised from this 100 km bike ride are put toward cancer research at The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Last week this fantastic event took place and they had 325 riders, 130 volunteers, and managed to raise an astounding $901,632 in support of cancer research. I’m sure we’ve all be touched by cancer in some way. I lost my grandmother to cancer when I was younger. I found out about the event far too late this year to participate. Next year though, I’ll be there.

Finally, I want to talk about an event happening next weekend here in Ottawa. Bike for Beats has three race distances: 25km, 50km, and 100km. The 25km and 50km are almost entirely in Gatineau, but the 100km takes a huge swipe across south-eastern Ontario by the looks of the route maps. The funds raised from this event go to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, which is touted as “Canada’s largest and foremost cardiovascular health centre dedicated to understanding, treating and preventing heart disease.” Considering that heart disease is the #1 killer disease in Canada, I’d call that a damn noble cause. Once again I’m too late to start raising money and training for this event, but I’m not too late to volunteer for this one. Still awaiting confirmation, but I believe I’ll be a part of the sign setup crew. Not much, but we do what we can!

There are a tonne of these events out there, and these three are only a VERY small sampling. I highly recommend, if you can, get involved in any event of this sort that may be happening in your community. Face it, if you’re reading this, you’re going to be biking anyways. You may as well do it for a cause.

I’ve added the links to these three groups to the bottom of the page. If there’s a group running cycling fundraisers that you’d like to give a shout out to, please post it in the comments. I’ll get their link up and mention them briefly in my next post.

And now on to my weekly cycling report:

Sunday: Family in town, so no cycling. 0 km. 0 km/hr

Monday: Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. Time 40 minutes. Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. Time 45 minutes. 26 km. 18.4 km/hr

Tuesday: Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. Time 43 minutes. Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. Time 46 minutes. 26 km. 17.5 km/hr

Wednesday: Alta Vista/Industrial to Riverview, Riverview to Beechwood, Beechwood to The Bridgehead. 17 minutes. The Bridgehead along Beechwood to Vanier Parkway, Vanier Parkway to Industrial, Industrial to Alta Vista/Industrial. 15 minutes. 9.58 km. 18.0 km/hr. ( Fresh Tracks! Maps Updated!)

Thursday: Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. Time 45 minutes. Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. Time 39 minutes. 26 km. 18.6 km/hr

Friday: Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. Time 45 minutes. Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. Time 42 minutes. 26 km. 17.9 km/hr

Saturday: Sick, no cycling. 0 km. 0 km/hr.

Average Daily Distance: 16.2 km

Average Speed: 18.1 km/hr

Average Weekly Distance: 82.2 km

Average Cumulative Speed: 17.9 km/hr

With today’s changing economy, more and more people are working late into the night. There are 24-hour grocery stores, walmarts, restaurants, etc. University and colleges now keep their doors open much later into the evening, and I know of a couple that you can get into 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Public transportation is not a 24-hour thing, but a bicycle has been. Today I’d like to talk about a few things to help you be visible in the case of night riding.

It’s the law to have a front white light and a rear red light on a bicycle for night riding. I’m currently using the set in the photo on the right. This is not a high-end or expensive set. It uses basic AA and AAA batteries and ran me less than $20 CDN. There are lights that run off of bicycle powered generators than can help you see really far ahead of you, and they run hundreds of dollars. Although very useful for trail-biking, on city streets, you don’t need something that high-end.

A more experienced cycling friend of mine once gave me a very important piece of advice when I was buying my first bicycle lamp 10 years ago: “the bicycle lamps are not so you can see, they’re so people can see you.” A cheap, inexpensive light easily hooks to your handlebars and seat-post, and provides that service as well as an expensive light. If the lamp happens to help you see, that’s cool, but shouldn’t be a deciding factor for a street cyclist.

Another key piece of equipment for night cycling are reflectors. You already have a couple on your bicycle, as they tend to come standard. They aren’t enough. If you’re wearing a backpack, sew some reflective patches on there. If you usually wear a jacket when cycling, make sure there are reflective stripes on that. Actually, it’s VERY important to have a brightly coloured jacket, or visible reflective stripes on the sleeves of your jacket. You still need to signal your turn ( see Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_signals ), and drivers coming up behind you need to see that signal.

There are powered signal lights available for bicycles that some people may think are handy. If you’re going to be doing a lot of night biking, don’t care about the speed & weight of your bike, and have the extra room you’ll need on the handlebars to mount the control, go for it. But for most people, that’s not a good option. Not only do you have increased weight, you’ve also lost a lot of aerodynamics.  If the signal lights are battery operated, that’s a recurring cost. If they’re generator powered, you lose more speed powering them up and have the extra weight of their battery pack.

Now, on to story time. I can’t mount a rear-light on my seat-post. Well, I can, but it won’t be visible by any cars behind me because of my big, plastic, locking carry-all that I have mounted on the back of my bicycle. The carry-all has an oversized reflector on the back, which is nice, but doesn’t provide anywhere for me to mount the rear light. This generally hasn’t been a huge problem as I’ve been able to slide my light’s clip into the carry-all and close it over the edge leaving the lamp fully exposed.

I left the school this past Thursday, after the Alexisonfire concert. I went to attach my rear light, and discovered the batteries were dead. No problem, I always have a couple spares taped inside the carry-all (TIP: ALWAYS HAVE SPARE BATTERIES). So I put in my fresh batteries and clip it on. I tried to close the carry-all, only to discover that because of the excessive use and the pot-holed cycling lanes, it doesn’t quite close properly with the hook in there. I figure it’ll do, as it’s done before and begin my bike ride.

I made if four blocks before I came off a drain cover and heard the lamp fall from my bike. The lamp ended up in front of where I stopped my bike. Not to mention behind it, beside it, and even in the opposing traffic lane. I never was able to track down the second battery. So there I was, 12 km from home, without a rear light. “Good enough for now” was not good enough for a proper ride.

The moral of the story: What’s good for a quick trip to the corner store, isn’t good for the daily commute. Make sure your gear is secure, or you’ll have to make another trip to the shop to pick up a replacement. I’ve since put a hole in my carry-all to which I’ve bolted the new light’s fixture. I’ve also re-aligned the casing so it’ll seal properly.

That’s all for this week. Here’s my cycling record for the week.

Sunday: No cycling due to rain. 0 km. 0 km/hr

Monday: No cycling due to rain. 0 km. 0 km/hr

Tuesday: No cycling due to rain. 0 km. 0 km/hr

Wednesday: Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. Time 45 minutes. Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. Time 50 minutes. Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Bank. 20 minutes. Alta Vista/Bank to Alta Vista/Industrial. 17 minutes. 34.6 km. 15.7 km/hr.

Thursday: Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. Time 55 minutes (tire blew). Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Clyde, Clyde to Value Village. Time 5 minutes. Value Village to Clyde, Clyde to Baseline, Baseline to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. Time 5 minutes. Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. Time 45 minutes. 32 km. 17.5  km/hr.

Friday: Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. Time 45 minutes. Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. Time 48 minutes. 26 km. 16.8 km/hr.

Saturday: Entertaining family, no cycling. 0 km. 0 km/hr.

Average Daily Distance: 13.2 km

Average Speed: 17.3 km/hr

Average Weekly Distance: 66.5 km

Average Cumulative Speed: 17.9 km/hr

This past week, I had an article sent to me from Sudbury. I’ve lived in Sudbury the past two years, was getting pretty involved in the community, and used my bicycle to get around. So any cycling news that comes out of that city is of interest to me, even though I’m no longer there.  You can read the article in the Sudbury Star here: http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2737379 .

For those of you unfamiliar with Sudbury, Long Lake Road is in the “South End”, also commonly known with jealous derision as “the rich end” of the city. That gives you an idea of the kind of demographics, the housing, and the shopping to expect in that area. Recently they’ve also added a new “super” Walmart on Long Lake Rd.

I used to work at a place called South Ridge Mall, which requires me to ride along Long Lake Rd, and Paris St (same street, just changes names at a set of lights). As a result, I biked along that stretch a lot. Now, on my first couple of bike ride, I followed the rules of the road. I was almost hit by motorists a few dozen times. What stopped me from getting hit? Open ears, open eyes, and paranoia leading to a complete inability to only look ahead of me.

Cycling in Sudbury, while following the law, I quickly considered a form of suicide. I’ve biked in four cities so far: Timmins/Porcupine, North Bay, Sudbury, and Ottawa/Nepean. Only one of those cities considers cycling “normal”, and that’s Ottawa where they have cycling lanes. North Bay is the next best, as they do have a few small areas with cycling lanes and even have some cycling trails here and there. Timmins is the most cycling remote of these areas, as most drivers have probably never even seen someone cycling on the road. As a result, they give cyclists a wide berth, which is just fine to me (though I could have done without the honking and yelling). One thing Timmins has is a lot of hiking/cycling trails. They’re rough, but that’s why I own a mountain bike.

The only city I’ve biked in where I had a fear for my life was Sudbury.

It’s not that cycling is foreign to Sudbury. There’s a couple of cycling lanes in areas that no one ever goes, on streets that lead nowhere. There’s a couple of biking groups that are trying to push the city into creating cycling lanes and the like (most notably the Sudbury Cyclists Union and the Sudbury Cycling Club). A big part of the problem are the motorists in Sudbury. We deservedly had a candidate on Canada’s Worst Drivers (and we could probably have fielded a lot more).

As a result, to preserve life and limb, when cycling in Sudbury, I broke the law. No one walks in Sudbury. If the corner store is 2 minutes away by car, of 5 minutes by foot, they’ll take the car, even if it takes 5+ minutes to find a parking spot. As a result, the sidewalks are mostly empty, most of the time. And since almost all of my cycling was done during morning rush hour, noon rush hour, dinner rush hour, or late at night, that means I had the sidewalk to myself.

Cycling on the sidewalk is illegal. I want to make that clear. So is suicide. So, the question that came to me was which law to break, the one that kept me alive, or the one that left me dead. I like life, so I broke that set of laws instead, and I don’t regret it. I wish I could have followed the laws up in Sudbury, but it was not feasible. Not with their drivers, their driving attitude, and the layout of their streets.

The catch with using a sidewalk is you must be more aware of driveways, pedestrians, and crosswalks. You have to stop at the end of every block and look both ways, as though you were a pedestrian yourself. You cannot ramp yourself up to top speed, because you need to be actively aware of the pedestrians around you. I once had to get off my bike and walk around a large loitering group of police officers. Once past them, I could get back on my bike and go. Not one said anything about my cycling on the sidewalk. As far as the cops in Sudbury are concerned, I was right where I was supposed to be (especially with all the construction).

So, during this “Share the Road” ride that they’ve now run for two years, I have to wonder if it’ll make the third year, or if the cyclists of Sudbury will come to the same choice I inevitable faced, about which law to break. The cyclist in the article is going to be OK, he only had a broken arm and was shaken by the incident. I hope it doesn’t keep him from riding in the future. But I do hope this has some effect on the motorists of Sudbury. Perhaps something good can come of it.  But that might be hoping for a bit too much.

I’m not saying all motorists in Sudbury are the problem. A lot of them are actually good drivers. They have to be in order to manage to survive on a road with all the horrid drivers. What I am saying is that there’s a major lack of education about cyclists in Sudbury, even more than in other areas of Ontario, and as a result, drivers are aggressive when they see someone using “their” space for a bicycle.

Maybe I’ll do a primer on cycling safety next week. Hand signals, what parts to have on your bike, that sort of thing. Or possibly on cycling laws in Ontario (and the special laws for Sudbury, North Bay, Ottawa, and Timmins). Maybe.

Edit (Sep 7/2010): One of my friends up in Sudbury forwarded me a follow-up letter that was sent to the Sudbury Star. The letter is written by David Kershaw, an local Olympic Nordic skiier. It further talks about the same sort of hazards that I had to deal with while in the city, and brings up other Northern Ontario municipalities and the different approaches they took toward cycling. Reading the letter: http://www.sudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2745601

This week’s run-down:

Sunday: Alta Vista/Industrial to Terminal, Terminal to Train Yard Mall & return trip. Total time: 8 mins. 3.4 km. Daily Average 25.5 km/hr.

Monday: Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. 47 minutes, 13 km. Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. 45 minutes, 13 km. Daily average 17 km/hr.

Tuesday: Alta Vista/Industrial to Russell, Russell to Smyth, Smyth to BMO. BMO to Smyth, Smyth to Cuba, Cuba to Russell, Russell to Coronation, Coronation to Rolland, Rolland to Alta Vista/Industrial. 7.6 km. 24 minutes. 19 km/hr

Wednesday: Was lazy. 0 km. 0 km/hr

Thursday: Alta Vista/Industrial to Terminal, Terminal to Train Yard Mall & return trip. Total time: 8 mins. 3.4 km. Daily Average 25.5 km/hr.

Friday: Was lazy. 0 km. 0 km/hr

Saturday:  Weather warned me off. Should have fought the weather. 0 km. 0 km/hr

Average Daily Distance:  5.8 km

Average Speed: 18.4 km/hr

Average Weekly Distance: 40.4 km (last week’s data incomplete, so starting here)

Average Cumulative Speed: 18.4 km/hr

I wouldn’t call myself an experienced cyclist. Yes, I’ve biked for years, but that doesn’t mean I know anything about cycling beyond the basics. In some areas, like basic maintenance, I know less than the basics. There are a lot of areas that I need to improve if I’m going to be able to consider myself a good cyclist. This site will showcase my learning, and my exercise routine as I work toward that goal.

As this is my first entry, I guess I’ll use it to provide a little bit of background on my cycling experience. I will, in the future, occasionally include stories from my earlier years of cycling, especially if I can get a map or photographs to go with it. Heck, I’m hoping to have some sort of photo with every post, just to keep track of how things are going.

Like most of us, I got my first bicycle as a kid. I couldn’t tell you the make or model. I couldn’t tell you if it was a mountain bike or road bike. But I can tell you that I was only allowed to bike on my block, a pair of streets called Delia Crescent and Martin Avenue in Timmins, ON. A rule that I promptly broke the very first day I was allowed to bike unsupervised. I think I broke that rule every day that I hopped on my bicycle.

As a kid, the bicycle was the ultimate tool for freedom. For the first time, I could go anywhere I wanted, and didn’t need to beg my parents for a lift. Sure, the extent of my “freedom” was my friends’ homes or the corner store, only four or five blocks away. Eventually though, I got older, more experienced, and my folks decided to lift their rule (because they probably realized I ignored it anyways), and I started to take my bicycle up the hill to school during the early fall and late spring. The snow always came early where I grew up. We would be bundled up in snowsuits before Halloween, and we wouldn’t be out of them until late April, sometimes even May.

As I grew older, my bicycle was replaced a couple of times. I remember by late high-school, I had a silver 12-speed mountain bike. I don’t remember the brand. I personally installed a bike computer, a metal rack on the back, and a pair of saddlebags. We had moved to a small town on the outskirts of Timmins called Porcupine. There was a small mall down the street, and I would ride to that mall, pick up some stuff, and ride home. I had a couple of friends in the neighbouring town of South Porcupine that I would occasionally visit on my bike. During my summers back home from college, I had a job in a different section of South Porcupine that I would ride to on most days. On a couple of occasions I would actually ride all the way into Timmins to the “big” mall. I also remember taking a ride most of the way to Iroquios Falls to a little place called Uncle Fester’s for the best damn poutine I’ve ever had. The saddlebags weren’t installed properly and were eventually destroyed. I ended up replacing them with a hard locking case that I picked up at Zellers on clearance.

The silver bike made its way to Ottawa, Ontario during my final couple of years in the city. I lived in an apartment building on Prince of Wales, worked at the Best Buy on Merivale, and went to Carleton University. I didn’t really explore much of Ottawa on my bike. I once went all the way to a place called Pho Thu Do on Somerset, but that was about it. Other than my rides to work or school, I didn’t really use my bike. I ended up picking up a front & back light because of the night cycling that I would have to do to get home from closing shifts at work.

The silver bike’s front fork’s bent up and threw me head over handlebars on my way home from work one day. Thankfully, there was a sports shop a short distance away (the same place I had just picked up new brake pads from only a week or two before). I went in, and bought a new bike. It was, and is, a blue 18-speed Carerra Algonquin with click-shifters. I transferred my equipment from my old silver bike to the new one, grabbed the brake pads, and left my silver bike for the shop to recycle as they saw fit.

Cycled Map of North Bay

The new bike seemed faster than the old one, and I loved it. I moved up to North Bay, Ontario for yet more university. It became my primary mode of transportation that year. I lived out on Whitney St and would use the bike to go anywhere. I travelled to either mall, my work on McKeown Ave, and even up to the university. Eventually I came to the decision that it was far too exhausting to take it up to the university every day and would park it at my workplace and take the bus up the hill from there. My North Bay cycling map is to the left. The red lines indicate where I biked.

When school was finished, I moved back up to Timmins, Ontario. Found myself a small place near my “temporary” work. I biked to work every day while the weather permitted; walked when it didn’t. Occasionally I would make a trip downtown just to see some different scenery. But the bike became a tool for transportation from home to work, and that was about it. The winter was long and brutal, and I eventually ended up moving back in with my folks in Porcupine, shelving the bicycle for the year.

Cycled Map of Sudbury

I was promoted at my “temporary” job and transferred to Sudbury, Ontario. I found myself an apartment, and used my bike to get to the New Sudbury Shopping Centre, and on occasion all the way to my workplace up at the New Millennium Shopping Centre. I hated my new position, so I stepped down and moved to a different location. At first I took the bus there. Eventually, I couldn’t afford the bus and the weather was nice, so I started to bike there, as suicidal as trying to bike on the streets of Sudbury was. My Sudbury cycling map is to the left, with red lines indicating where I’ve biked.

Before I left Sudbury, I had managed to get myself biking regularly. A good help to that was that I needed to travel the 10 km to work and back five times a week. The construction that started blocking off my main cycling route ended up forcing me to explore different areas. I kept track of the time it took me to get to work on the bike. It started at 1-hour, showing a horrible biking speed. By the end of my first week of regular biking, I was down to 45-minutes. By the time I moved out of Sudbury, I was managing my trip in 25-minutes. It always took me between 5-10 minutes less to get home because it was almost all downhill home from work. My writing group began to joke that I was training to become the next Lance Armstrong.

Now I’m back in Ottawa, Ontario. I still have my blue Carerra Algonquin, though it’s starting to show its age (6-years without proper maintenance). The bike computer is destroyed, the lock on my carry-all is broken, the chain is beginning to look pretty rusted, the gears don’t shift properly, the grips on the handlebars are nearly destroyed, the pedals are pretty beat up, the crankshaft may or may not be bent and I’m pretty sure there’s a leak in the back tire. The front light is still the original from when I moved to Ottawa the first time, and it’s starting to dim, despite fresh batteries. The back light is new from just before I left Sudbury, a gift from one of my favourite customers.

I’ve been back in Ottawa for almost a month now. I can count the number of days I’ve spent less than an hour on my bike, on one hand. Less than two hours requires a couple extra fingers. I’ve re-covered almost all the areas that I biked when I lived down here before, and added a lot of new streets to my repertoire.

I have two routes (and their reverse routes) that I hit up regularly: home to Algonquin College, and home to St. Laurent Shopping Centre. Often, on my way back from the college, I’ll swoop down and visit South Keys Shopping Centre. There’s a Chapters there that I like to hang out in. The trip to Algonquin College is roughly 14 km, and I’ve been managing it in about 35 minutes (40-45 minutes to return home). Unfortunately, I’m exhausted when I arrive.

That brings us to now. The school year is only another week away, and I plan to be biking to the school. I need to make 3 trips there every week, on Monday, Thursday and Friday. The other days I have other places to bike: grocery store, Chapters, “work”, etc. Find below my Ottawa cycling map, red lines indicating where I’ve taken my bike. This is up to date as of today.

Cycled Map of Ottawa

This site will have one entry per week. The format will be as follows:

• Open with a story, biking regulations, or biking tips. This will vary from one week to the next and will probably contain the most interesting parts of this site.
• List the days of the week, beside each mark cycling route, distances, and times.
• Calculation of average speed and average daily distance for the week.
• Calculation of average weekly distance & cumulative speed

So, if we count the above as the story, the post would end:

Sunday: No cycling due to rain. 0 km. 0 km/hr

Monday: Travelled from Alta Vista/Industrial, along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Woodroffe, Woodroffe to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. Time 35 minutes. Travelled from Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Bank, Bank to South Keys Mall. Time XX minutes. Travelled from South Keys Mall to Bank, Bank to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. Time XX minutes. 32 km. XX km/hr.

Tuesday: Alta Vista/Industrial to Alta Vista/Bank. Alta Vista/Bank to Alta Vista/Industrial. 11 km. XX km/hr.

Wednesday: Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. Time 35 minutes. Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. Time 40 minutes. 26 km. 20 km/hr.

Thursday: Alta Vista/Industrial to Terminal, Terminal to Train Yards Mall. Time 4 minutes. Train Yards Mall to Terminal, Terminal to Belfast, Belfast to Coventry, Coventry to St. Laurent Mall. Time XX minutes. St. Laurent Mall to St. Laurent, St. Laurent to Belfast, Belfast to Terminal, Terminal to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. Time XX minutes. 7.8 km. XX km/hr.

Friday: Felt lazy, stayed home. 0 km. 0 km/hr.

Saturday: Buried under paperwork, stayed home. 0 km. 0 km/hr.

Average Daily Distance: 11 km

Average Speed: XX km/hr

Average Weekly Distance: 76.8 km

Average Cumulative Speed: XX km/hr