Cycling Thread 2

[Bigtime]

After a week down with covid I’ll be back on the commute tomorrow morning. I’ve heard we may have the ice jam at the Bow and Nose creek area again causing pathway flooding. I may do a recon ride this afternoon to check it out and the general conditions.

[cral12]

^jeez - good on yah, Bigtime. Down for a week with Covid as well, just hoping to get back fatbiking.

[Bigtime]

I did it! New record low temp for me, -34 when I headed out. Bike did surprisingly well, I kept to minimal shifting. Pathways are in nice shape, and riding hard packed side streets on studs is just great. No pathway flooding around the zoo either, so that’s nice.

[J pold]

I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike this week.

[Johnny199r]

Booked my first real cycling vacation set to depart next month.

27 days across Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. It's a supported bike trip, and one that I would describe a cross between a cycling and tourist trip. i can't wait!

This has also been my first winter of biking full time with no vehicle. I have been biking pretty much every day in Winnipeg including during storms (even to my indoor soccer games at night) and it's been great!

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

Booked my first real cycling vacation set to depart next month.

27 days across Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. It's a supported bike trip, and one that I would describe a cross between a cycling and tourist trip. i can't wait!

This has also been my first winter of biking full time with no vehicle. I have been biking pretty much every day in Winnipeg including during storms (even to my indoor soccer games at night) and it's been great!

Definitely on my bucket list. I know some not too serious riders who did this as a couple quite a few years back and had a wonderful time. They did something like 20-30km daily with touristy stops.

Approx what’s your cost going to be,”? Excluding flights? Would love a report back with some details eventually.

[Icantwhisper]

I wish people would learn to ride in a straight line, constantly having to cross over the fat bike tracks this morning that looked like a slalom course was very annoying

[RichieRich]

I wish people would learn to ride in a straight line despite the deep unplowed/furrowed snow between Edworthy and downtown this morning. Those narrow tires sure chopped things up, were squirrelly as hell, and I even witnessed several crashes. Good thing the fat bike tracks I followed were the most consistently straight and evenly packed.

Signed,
The other guy on a fatty, who was able to ride twice the speed of and straighter than every other cyclist on the path this morning.

Usually I ride the skinnier gravel tires but after yesterdays ride and extra snow it was obvious to me that the fat tires would be perfect this morning. And they were.

Actually I came here to complain about the very delayed and non existent path plowing/clearing this morning prior to 8am. Upon coming through Eau Claire area I was shocked to find full width immaculate clearing on all user paths. Disappointed that they didn’t run their sweep ONCE out to Crowchild, cross over, and once back to at least Ft Calgary/zoo crossover. That’s a far bigger issue that fat or skinny tires.

[Bigtime]

Wait, two replies and two accusations of "who the baddies are". So what is it? Fat bikes or skinny tires causing all the problems?

Also, who cares if the lines aren't straight. In conditions like this morning I'm just trying to stay on where I remember the pathway to be. Besides, runners/walkers are going to trample it all down and make it a miserable ride anyways.

[Icantwhisper]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Wait, two replies and two accusations of "who the baddies are". So what is it? Fat bikes or skinny tires causing all the problems?

Also, who cares if the lines aren't straight. In conditions like this morning I'm just trying to stay on where I remember the pathway to be. Besides, runners/walkers are going to trample it all down and make it a miserable ride anyways.

Me, otherwise it's just anarchy!!! In the south there was one other track in and if I didn't know better I'd swear they were drunk.
Also when I see fresh footprints of people who drag their feet

I'll admit this was one of maybe 5 days this year you would need a fat bike and it would be nice to have for today. (Got my workout in on skinny tires)

[RichieRich]

It’s all good… whatever ride you want is always the right answer. Usually works out. I’m very grateful to even have choices. If it wasn’t for the other riders and path users there would be zero snow clearing or very inconsistent like when I started year round bike commuting. That was back in the day when some dude literally dragged a V-shaped heavy sled behind his bike to self/plow a rough route in the paths. So long ago that a fat tire was about 2.0” and we raced mtb on 1.8” tires, or did road in 19mm cranked to 130psi.

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

Definitely on my bucket list. I know some not too serious riders who did this as a couple quite a few years back and had a wonderful time. They did something like 20-30km daily with touristy stops.

Approx what’s your cost going to be,”? Excluding flights? Would love a report back with some details eventually.

Here is the trip:

https://www.intrepidtravel.com/ca/vi...st-asia-143910

It was on sale for around $5400 when I booked, but I balled out and spent an additional $800 for my own room (bunking with a loud snorer for 3 weeks would make me lose my mind).

I'm getting there early and plan on doing a 3 day motorcycle ride of the Ha Giang Loop (mountain area near the Chinese border), a boat ride of Ha Long Bay near Hanoi and then a few extra days at the end of the trip in Southern Thailand exploring some islands.

I will definitely post a trip recap.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

Here is the trip:

https://www.intrepidtravel.com/ca/vi...st-asia-143910

It was on sale for around $5400 when I booked, but I balled out and spent an additional $800 for my own room (bunking with a loud snorer for 3 weeks would make me lose my mind).

I'm getting there early and plan on doing a 3 day motorcycle ride of the Ha Giang Loop (mountain area near the Chinese border), a boat ride of Ha Long Bay near Hanoi and then a few extra days at the end of the trip in Southern Thailand exploring some islands.

I will definitely post a trip recap.

My FOMO is high looking at the route and experiences and included activities. Should be spectacular. A pretty solid 70/d average too. A nice mix of riding and being a tourist. Great choice!
I really should plan on something like this (or Europe) for my next 5-yr age increment.

[Bigtime]

It was sketchy af early this morning. Lots of iced over puddles for you to break through, and then ice up your rims (which sucks when you have rim brakes). Fox Hollow hill was covered in a nice layer of sheer ice from melt all weekend. Glittery pathways abounded, good times.

[Icantwhisper]

Going to be an interesting week, had to walk down the bridge over Glenmore, sheer ice the whole way, will avoid tomorrow.

[J pold]

Beautiful ride this morning!

[RichieRich]

Thanks for the heads up on the icy stuff... helped me this morning to be a bit more aware. Still went sideways once (but stayed upright) coming out of the top of 53rd into HomeRoad. The rest was pretty good into downtown. Lots wet paths and growing puddles/lakes coming home so that'll make the morning interesting again.

[bossy22]

Does anyone know if there are bike rentals in Victoria? We are going there around Easter for a family trip, and I'd like to get a day in riding.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by bossy22

Does anyone know if there are bike rentals in Victoria? We are going there around Easter for a family trip, and I'd like to get a day in riding.

I believe there are several, but you'll have to probably approach a few different places (including bike shops) based on your location and what they provide. I've never ridden there so would really appreciate hearing back what you find out and do.



Found this online:
https://www.10adventures.com/road-biking/victoria/
https://north48bikes.com/bike-rentals

[Johnny199r]

Anyone else get foot pain with they clip in for a ride?

On the bottom of my right foot, a little above my arch on the right side, I get intense pain whenever I try to ride with my cycling shoes and go clipless. I tried adjusting every way possible and nothing helped.

I had to give up cycling clipless and have rode with flat pedals ever since, which is disappointing when trying to go for group rides or get my speed up.

I really don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on new pedals or shoes because that’s a lot of money, but secondly, it could just happen again.

It still annoys me.