Cyclists- Let's see your ride

[dmcdam]

I finally bought my first new bike in 31 years an enduro MTB. A Giant Reign 2 specifically. It functions well as a downhiller but I can lock out the rear shock to make it decent for trail rides too. The blue trails here are a touch scary. The black trails are terrifying. If you want to set up an orthopedic practice move to Kelowna, between the ski hills and the trails it'll keep you busy.

In my mid 30's I lived in Squamish for 18months and did some great mountain biking. Riding with more experienced guys really pushed me beyond my comfort zone at times, and down some scary stuff. I got over confident at one point and went straight over the bars - fell about 30 feet down a trail on my face and shoulder. That taught me my place pretty quickly.

[Bosco]

Here’s my current fun ride. Also have my old hard tail mountain bike

[Bern]

In my mid 30's I lived in Squamish for 18months and did some great mountain biking. Riding with more experienced guys really pushed me beyond my comfort zone at times, and down some scary stuff. I got over confident at one point and went straight over the bars - fell about 30 feet down a trail on my face and shoulder. That taught me my place pretty quickly.

Did you go to the North Shore at all by DeepCove? The trails there are nuts, 12 foot high teeter-totters with sketchy bailouts

[dmcdam]

Did you go to the North Shore at all by DeepCove? The trails there are nuts, 12 foot high teeter-totters with sketchy bailouts

I never ventured down that way as there was so much to ride locally. People built some monster elevated stunts - thankfully all with bail out routes running parallel.

[jaybudhwani]

He probably did the Elora-Cataract and Caledon trails which are quite nice to ride, as are the Dundas to Brantford and Brantford to Port Dover trails. We often ride gravel up around Caledon area, starting from Terra Cotta, as there are so many gravel road options up that way, especially to the north west towards Belwood; throwing in a golf relationship, we often end up on the road that cuts through the Osprey North course. I’ve got a Giant cyclocross bike that I use for it, but it has great tire clearance where I’ve run tires as wide as 42’s.

More locally for me, Oakville has a really good trail system of crushed limestone that is nice option for when weather isn’t ideal or there’s a limited riding window. I’ve been able to make up a loop up to 60km where there’s very limited road riding required and no repeating of trail sections.

Any chance that 60k gravel route you speak of is tagged on strava? When I'm not on the road, would love to ride more trails without having to get in the car. Bought a new wheelset this off season specifically for that purpose.

[beeker]

Any chance that 60k gravel route you speak of is tagged on strava? When I'm not on the road, would love to ride more trails without having to get in the car. Bought a new wheelset this off season specifically for that purpose.

Here’s one where I gave a buddy a tour last year after he got his gravel bike; there’s some good sections a little west in Bronte Creek Park which we didn’t get to. It has a little bit of road to / from where I met him, but it’ll give you a sense of how they’re connected. I know some guys who’ve done over 100km by adding in some other sections.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6083772849

[Ignatius Reilly]

He probably did the Elora-Cataract and Caledon trails which are quite nice to ride, as are the Dundas to Brantford and Brantford to Port Dover trails. We often ride gravel up around Caledon area, starting from Terra Cotta, as there are so many gravel road options up that way, especially to the north west towards Belwood; throwing in a golf relationship, we often end up on the road that cuts through the Osprey North course. I’ve got a Giant cyclocross bike that I use for it, but it has great tire clearance where I’ve run tires as wide as 42’s.

More locally for me, Oakville has a really good trail system of crushed limestone that is nice option for when weather isn’t ideal or there’s a limited riding window. I’ve been able to make up a loop up to 60km where there’s very limited road riding required and no repeating of trail sections.

Yup - they started with the G2G Goderich to Guelph and then stitched the other two (Elora-Cataract and Caledon) onto that. Like others in this thread, my friend's wife has moved mostly onto rail trails out of fear of cars.

They took 3 days, stopping in Brussels and Elmira for overnights. 61km, 81km and 108 km to get a nice start on the season.

Taking a closer look at the pic they sent, they appear to have been on MTB. He bought some sort of small pack that sits on the rear fender for supplies. This is a massive improvement over when we did our earlier 3 day trips with toiletries, pjs, change of clothes and flip flops all stuffed into our jerseys along with rainwear, wallets, etc.

[Bosco]

Yup - they started with the G2G Goderich to Guelph and then stitched the other two (Elora-Cataract and Caledon) onto that. Like others in this thread, my friend's wife has moved mostly onto rail trails out of fear of cars.

They took 3 days, stopping in Brussels and Elmira for overnights. 61km, 81km and 108 km to get a nice start on the season.

Taking a closer look at the pic they sent, they appear to have been on MTB. He bought some sort of small pack that sits on the rear fender for supplies. This is a massive improvement over when we did our earlier 3 day trips with toiletries, pjs, change of clothes and flip flops all stuffed into our jerseys along with rainwear, wallets, etc.

That last bit - hardcore sir.

did I ever tell u about the close call I had riding Paris-Roubaix cobbles - car ahead of us stopped suddenly and right in a muddy patch on the slick stones - jammed on my brakes while keeping the bike upright- grazed the passenger side mirror with my hip and kept on going.
we always rode with a support car and stayed in comfy digs at night.
I can’t imagine having to carry all of my kit.

[jaybudhwani]

Here’s one where I gave a buddy a tour last year after he got his gravel bike; there’s some good sections a little west in Bronte Creek Park which we didn’t get to. It has a little bit of road to / from where I met him, but it’ll give you a sense of how they’re connected. I know some guys who’ve done over 100km by adding in some other sections.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6083772849

Much appreciated! Hopefully will give this a whirl soon if the weather ever cooperates.

[beeker]

Much appreciated! Hopefully will give this a whirl soon if the weather ever cooperates.

No problem. If you import it into your profile you can probably crop the start / end and have it start at Iroquois Shoreline Woods Park - there’s a small parking lot there off Joshuas Creek Drive, or additional parking at the plaza just up the road at Upper Middle. That’ll help get you familiar with them - it took me a number of rides to figure out how they all connect.

[beeker]

That last bit - hardcore sir.

did I ever tell u about the close call I had riding Paris-Roubaix cobbles - car ahead of us stopped suddenly and right in a muddy patch on the slick stones - jammed on my brakes while keeping the bike upright- grazed the passenger side mirror with my hip and kept on going.
we always rode with a support car and stayed in comfy digs at night.
I can’t imagine having to carry all of my kit.

Riding those cobbles must’ve been amazing and terrifying at the same time, especially in wet conditions. Some friends have done the Liege and Flanders Sportifs and really enjoyed doing those.

[mpare]

I know next to nothing about bikes, but the engineering displayed in this video fascinated me. It might be of interest to some of you as well, even though these bikes were designed for velodromes.

[ace in the hazard]

I know next to nothing about bikes, but the engineering displayed in this video fascinated me. It might be of interest to some of you as well, even though these bikes were designed for velodromes.

Great video Michael. I love the GCN guys...good mix of entertainment and info.

How is your knee rehab?

[mpare]

The knee is not perfect, but it hasn’t stopped me from playing. However, for the last two days I am experiencing awful flu like systems that has kept me in bed. I’ll take a Covid test tomorrow to determine if that’s the culprit.

Great video Michael. I love the GCN guys...good mix of entertainment and info.

How is your knee rehab?

[Fore Warned]

The knee is not perfect, but it hasn’t stopped me from playing. However, for the last two days I am experiencing awful flu like systems that has kept me in bed. I’ll take a Covid test tomorrow to determine if that’s the culprit.

Hope all is OK and you recover quickly.