Quote:
Originally Posted by mrkajz44
Okay CP - ride your bike to work day is May 3 and I was thinking of attempting it. I work on 11th Ave SW and would be coming from Douglasdale. I don't have a commuter type bike, just a sport check mountain-type bike that has like 21 speeds or something. Two questions:
1) Should I even try to attempt this given my bike and experience?
2) If yes, how long do you think it would take me?
I feel like I'm in pretty good shape (I run a handful of Spartan type races each year for reference) but I rarely bike long distances. Any thoughts would be helpful.
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I can comment on this. I was in a similar situation a few years ago.
You're a farther South than me, but you should be able to access the Bow River path from Douglasdale quite easily.
I ride in from Riverbend to Downtown almost every day in the summer. This year will be my 3rd year. I think its just over 15km for me, one way.
My first year I had a mountain bike, probably similar to yours. I rode in a few times then I bought a used commuter/hybrid bike off Kijiji. What a difference. Way way way easier and faster. Looking back, the mountain bike sucked. Too heavy. Tires are too slow and fat. Not ideal.
Its a great ride as you can follow the Bow River path all the way if you want. No cars! Last year the Beaver Dam Flats area in Ogden/Millican/Lynnwood opened back up and you can just follow the path all the way through Inglewood past the bird sanctuary, past the weir, past Fort Calgary, East Village, and all the way into Eau Claire.
If you want to shorten it up, just stay on 9th ave all the way into Downtown from Inglewood instead of staying on the path after the bird sanctuary.
Its a beautiful ride in. One day last year I saw a coyote, deer and a bald eagle all in the same morning. And there's always pelicans hanging out just north of Carburn Park on the Bow.
YOU CAN DO IT!