Cycling Thread 2

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by surferguy

Has anybody ever biked the kettle valley railroad in kelowna before. I’m specifically interested in the Myra canyon portion. I would like to take my and my wife’s ebikes. Mine is a cargo, hers is a step through cruiser. Any thoughts are welcome

Done it several times w/ the aging parents and when kids were small. As others mentioned, drive to the trailhead and ride from there. It's not the nicest gravel road to drive once you leave pavement just past Gallaghers Golf Course - if you can take an SUV or something w/ AWD that's best but certainly a lot of sedans and such up there. Go earlier - that parking lot gets busy. Take food/drink for during and AFTER the ride.

The ride itself is extremely easy to be honest. Some of the higher trestles can actually be avoided (there's a gravel bypass), but not all. To "fall off" the trail or trestle would take considerable effort and/or lack of skills. Lots of places to stop for rests and viewing. Realistically the first ~5-6km are the best, then turn around.

The trail can get fairly busy and many folks don't quite get the courtesy / self-awareness part since they're having fun and gawking... so be patient, give grace, use your bell, be prepared for REALLY slow areas if busy, and just enjoy the experience.
BTW - if your family allows, do the KVR with them, then explore the MTB trails down from the KVR on the west side of the canyon. Yeah easy to get lost but hey that's what trailforks is for (plus they have lots of maps)... only thing is the MTB trails are in Bear Country. I don't recommend those particular MTB trails for a gravel bike, although I gotta admit it was fun but it sure beat me up.



If you do enjoy road riding then look at doing the out-and-back along Lakeshore drive. Oh and the Knox Mountain hill climb.

[Wormius]

I used to do downtown to Bertram Park and the Knox Mtn climb on a daily basis back in the younger days. Flying down Knox was fun though, or you can keep going up into Magic Estates and then fly down Clifton Rd, which might be safer.

[Wormius]

Also, you could do the trail to Paul’s Tomb. The original Ogopogo statue is under water there, so if you go for a swim you might see it.

[RichieRich]

Outside has pretty much bought out nearly all outdoor-related media sites it seems... now includes Cycling news, CyclingTips, and Calgary's original startup of Pinkbike (now headoffice in Squamish).
https://www.velonews.com/news/road/w...utside-family/
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/letter...h-outside.html

[Hack&Lube]

With all the smoke in the air this week, I think cycling might be off the table for the sake of my lungs.

[FurnaceFace]

Had a discussion with a friend about how many watts bikers can sustain. I said I’d ask in here as I know some of you likely have those sorts of stats at hand.

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by FurnaceFace

Had a discussion with a friend about how many watts bikers can sustain. I said I’d ask in here as I know some of you likely have those sorts of stats at hand.

Depends on fitness and length of ride.
Casual bike 80- 100
Fitter rider 200 to 300 for like 20mins at a time
Pros 400 to 500 with peak sprints up to 14-1500 for only a dozen seconds

[wwkayaker]

I don’t have much to add to the wattage discussion aside from this video which I thought was pretty cool.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S4O5voOCqAQ

[Kybosh]

According to my Strava I average around 130W on most of my commutes at ~27 km/h. I don't have a power meter or anything but I'm definitely faster than 90-95% of the people I come across.

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by FurnaceFace

Had a discussion with a friend about how many watts bikers can sustain. I said I’d ask in here as I know some of you likely have those sorts of stats at hand.

If you're a subscriber to Strava and have a power meter, you can look at your Power Curve data under the Training tab on desktop. It will tell you average power over certain time periods in 6 weeks and the current year.

I'm probably in combustiblefuel's Fit Rider category. This year's rides I'm at 326W for 20 minutes and 269W for an hour.

[Icantwhisper]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

According to my Strava I average around 130W on most of my commutes at ~27 km/h. I don't have a power meter or anything but I'm definitely faster than 90-95% of the people I come across.

I found that Strava is surprisingly accurate for estimated wattage as long as your weight is correct and your not using a tailwind or fighting a headwind. I use a power meter but when I wasn't it was pretty accurate.

[Icantwhisper]

Originally Posted by combustiblefuel

Depends on fitness and length of ride.
Casual bike 80- 100
Fitter rider 200 to 300 for like 20mins at a time
Pros 400 to 500 with peak sprints up to 14-1500 for only a dozen seconds

Really depends on weight, I can hold close to 300 watts for an hour but I weight 180, guys I race against put out 230-250 watts but only weight 135-140, I know guys that are at 350 watts but weight 240. Little guys win on hilly races, bigger guys on the flats.
I thought Kristoff in his prime was over 2200watts in the sprint

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by Icantwhisper

Really depends on weight, I can hold close to 300 watts for an hour but I weight 180, guys I race against put out 230-250 watts but only weight 135-140, I know guys that are at 350 watts but weight 240. Little guys win on hilly races, bigger guys on the flats.
I thought Kristoff in his prime was over 2200watts in the sprint

Weight at times does play a factor. Not always the case tho .

Kristoff never hit 2200 watts In his career. His bests have always hovered around the 1500 watt mark.

[phaneuf_train]

I just moved from Tuscany to Evanston. Man, what a complete lack of cycling infrastructure in Evanston compared to Tuscany. Now I understand why I see almost zero cyclists here. Driving somewhere to go for a ride is not something I was thinking I was going to have to do.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by phaneuf_train

I just moved from Tuscany to Evanston. Man, what a complete lack of cycling infrastructure in Evanston compared to Tuscany. Now I understand why I see almost zero cyclists here. Driving somewhere to go for a ride is not something I was thinking I was going to have to do.

It’s not great, but I think you have a good connection to West Nose Creek pathway from there from, or do you just mean in and around Evanston?

[habernac]

Originally Posted by phaneuf_train

I just moved from Tuscany to Evanston. Man, what a complete lack of cycling infrastructure in Evanston compared to Tuscany. Now I understand why I see almost zero cyclists here. Driving somewhere to go for a ride is not something I was thinking I was going to have to do.

Get a gravel bike and head north, I'm out there all of the time. Some ok road stuff up there as well (more to the west).

[Northendzone]

Rode little elbow/big elbow today. Great day for it, but what a workout.

I did lots of pushing from 15k to 22k. After that it was lots of downhill. The worst sections were that long downhill single track after you turn off the fire road, and that uphill on the fire road seemed like it would never end.

My legs and hip flexors felts very tight today.

Strava says 43.08 km. 871 of elevation gain and 3 hrs 45m of moving time.

I can’t decide which way is better/easier - little to big or big to little.

[Ahuch]

Originally Posted by phaneuf_train

I just moved from Tuscany to Evanston. Man, what a complete lack of cycling infrastructure in Evanston compared to Tuscany. Now I understand why I see almost zero cyclists here. Driving somewhere to go for a ride is not something I was thinking I was going to have to do.

Developers getting away with murder as usual. Surprised you didn't check more into it before moving, though!

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

Rode little elbow/big elbow today. Great day for it, but what a workout.

I did lots of pushing from 15k to 22k. After that it was lots of downhill. The worst sections were that long downhill single track after you turn off the fire road, and that uphill on the fire road seemed like it would never end.

My legs and hip flexors felts very tight today.

Strava says 43.08 km. 871 of elevation gain and 3 hrs 45m of moving time.

I can’t decide which way is better/easier - little to big or big to little.

It's a great back country ride for sure. Most people prefer riding counterclockwise. Hope you enjoyed the mountain views and trails. Because it is rather remote definitely a good idea to do with at least 1 other person with adequate supplies (food, repair stuff, clothing) because I've seen major bike failures, legs bonking, blizzards, bugs, totally unprepared people, really really crappy bikes, etc...



Hopefully this year I'll take it on with my gravel bike because it's totally do-able.

[Northendzone]

^ I actually rode by myself ( saw several other solo riders) and I generally carry enough stuff to get out of most typical jams. A few years back I was riding in revelstoke at keystone standard basin and when we got to the hut, my rear hub melted down. Had to push my bike out 12k or so - although there was some downhill I could glide down.

I saw a rider on a gravel rig. Did not look comfortable - but it was a rougher section. A gravel rig would not be my choice of weapon for this ride, but that is me, and my mtn bike is my preferred ride.