Cycling Thread 2

[Northendzone]

Started the process of cleaning up the fat bike and getting ready to get the summer bikes out.

There is something very satisfying about degreasing the chain and the jockey wheels

[wwkayaker]

I’m not very familiar with the bike paths in Calgary. I have a single speed bike that I want to tour around on. Is riding this bike around the city reasonable? I’m not adverse to the old hike a bike method up the odd incline.

[Fuzz]

Oh ya, no problem. The river pathways go a long distance. Where do you live? You can ride the Nose creek pathway from Beddington all the way around to Bowness with no real hills.

[wwkayaker]

I live in Shaganappi. I’m kind of familiar with the Bow River pathways and they will be the most frequent routes for me. From walking my dog, I found some paved trails by the River Park in the SW. I assume these trails go the Glenmore Reservoir and along the Elbow River. I would explore these area too.

[Fuzz]

OK, ya you will obviously have a big hill to get to the river. There is a nice loop that goes around the reservoir, but it does have a few hills. Nothing to long.

[wwkayaker]

Yeah, I thought the biggest hill would be from my place to the river and back. After this isolation period ends, that hill will be good for my belly.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by wwkayaker

I live in Shaganappi. I’m kind of familiar with the Bow River pathways and they will be the most frequent routes for me. From walking my dog, I found some paved trails by the River Park in the SW. I assume these trails go the Glenmore Reservoir and along the Elbow River. I would explore these area too.

And from Glennore resivoir you can head South a long the greenway all the way to fish creek then east to the bow river and back downtown. It’s a 50-60k loop of pathway

[wwkayaker]

https://maps.calgary.ca/PathwaysandBikeways/

I was looking at the map in this link. I tried clicking on the coloured paths but no info comes up for me. Are the green and pink lines major bike routes?

[Northendzone]

^ the map does not show up great on my iPad., but, yes, the green is the mattaway path that runs around most of the city.

The pink appears to the the bow and elbow river pathways

I’d suggest the red are neighborhood pathways

[Fuzz]

Google Maps set to cycling is a pretty good way of checking stuff out:


https://www.google.com/maps/@51.0645.../data=!5m1!1e3


You can use it for route finding as well.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by wwkayaker

https://maps.calgary.ca/PathwaysandBikeways/

I was looking at the map in this link. I tried clicking on the coloured paths but no info comes up for me. Are the green and pink lines major bike routes?

Should also warn you that within the last few years the City of Calgary took to drawing a yellow line down the middle of some sidewalks and then calling them "multi-use pathways" (aka MUPS) or bike paths. So just be aware that some areas are sketchy like that.


Also that the city has a habit of making some bike pathways to dead-end areas where you're riding along and suddenly the official path ends. Your choices are to either turnaround or navigate on the streets to your next connection. So this is why it's handy to plan a little ahead as well as have your smartphone with city map on it. Google Maps does have a layer you can enable for Cycling however it definitely has errors or missed segments on it (I'm looking at within 3km of my area right now and see several missed paths).

[Bigtime]

Based on how busy the pathways have become I've started routing my commutes home via 20th Avenue. Crazy times when the roads are more comfortable to take than the paths.

[Northendzone]

managed to get the summer bike collection in the garage. installed pedals and aired up tires. found out that my commuter bike shifts like a potato. Was going to drop in new cables and try and tune it up myslef, but i have decided to call the bike shop first and see how much of a wait it is.

did manage to get my thunderbolt out for a 30k ride that involved about 50m of singletrack.

i typically ride the bike path that runs parallel to stoney trail and historically there have been very few people on it; however, noticed in the past few weeks it is busier. noticed they built a nice little connector over some swamp behind copperfield.

It all makes for a relatively easy 20 to 30k ride.

was reading on the weekend about "the road to nepal". When it gets a little warmer, i may suggest that to the wife as she seems to want to log some more km's this year.

[stone hands]

I'm doing some repairs myself - I posted a while ago(thanks for all the replies!) about my rear mech hanger being stripped, i ordered a new one and it should be getting here any day now. My wife just went on a ride yesterday and I am dying with jealousy. Are any bike stores open? We both got pretty large tax returns and have aging bikes, I'm thinking about supporting some local businesses by getting 2 new roadbikes. I want to do a less aggressive setup on my old bike and put some fatter tires on it maybe to make commuting on it nicer

[Kybosh]

I'm trying to ride on the roads as much as possible right now as the pathways are a total gong show with pedestrians, dogs and everything else not obeying social distancing. The roads are frankly safer in many regards right now.

[bossy22]

Originally Posted by stone hands

I'm doing some repairs myself - I posted a while ago(thanks for all the replies!) about my rear mech hanger being stripped, i ordered a new one and it should be getting here any day now. My wife just went on a ride yesterday and I am dying with jealousy. Are any bike stores open? We both got pretty large tax returns and have aging bikes, I'm thinking about supporting some local businesses by getting 2 new roadbikes. I want to do a less aggressive setup on my old bike and put some fatter tires on it maybe to make commuting on it nicer

I believe all of the stores are doing online sales now. I think you can call and setup test rides and such.


Big hill cycle just opened in Cochrane last week. Crappy timing for them. https://bighillcycle.com

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

was reading on the weekend about "the road to nepal". When it gets a little warmer, i may suggest that to the wife as she seems to want to log some more km's this year.

I'm heading out to do Nepal this afternoon. I'll report back on the conditions.

The paths have been a mess with people. Fish Creek felt like a busy Saturday last week and it was only Tuesday. I can only imagine how busy it was yesterday.

Yesterday I hit the highway to avoid the people and it was great. East of the city on 22x has been cleaned and the super wide shoulders make for nice, flat riding. I haven't tried the canal path from 52nd to Chestermere yet but I imagine it'll be crowded.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

managed to get the summer bike collection in the garage. installed pedals and aired up tires. found out that my commuter bike shifts like a potato. Was going to drop in new cables and try and tune it up myslef, but i have decided to call the bike shop first and see how much of a wait it is.

was reading on the weekend about "the road to nepal". When it gets a little warmer, i may suggest that to the wife as she seems to want to log some more km's this year.

For Cables if desperate just oil-lube the crap out of them (but not shifters). That'll often get you rolling again but you will need to get the cables/housings redone fairly soon. Quite a few bike shops around would be happy to have some business... and are happy to do online bookings.


Road to Nepal has a few variations so check out the paved road options on a map first. Just be aware some sections don't have much/any shoulder and there are no services out there. Please report back your experiences!!



Another option is the Horse Creek road loop just NW of Cochrane. relatively peaceful roads through the gorgeous foothills and farmlands. Can either do it from Cochrane for closer to 100km loop start west end of Calgary.

[KTrain]

Nepal from the Granary Road side (both really) still had a lot of gravel on the shoulders today so you're basically riding the white line the entire time. I wouldn't ride it for a few weeks or more if your wife isn't comfortable with that. Hopefully they give it a sweep soon.

It was a gorgeous day for a ride though. Wish we had more time out there.

[Ryan Coke]

Got out for my first outdoor ride of the year today, awesome day.

I recommend horse creek road, and either you can keep going north for a long ways or do the loop with Grande Valley. That area has become my main go to. Today I went NE of Cochrane though.