Steve's Cycling Blog
Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining the second annual "Hold the Line" bike ride in Waterloo Region. For a nominal cost of $20, the 125 km route around geographical boundaries of Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge was available for cycling enthusiasts (a shorter 30 km ride was also available for less hard-core individuals). According to their … Continue reading Hold the Line – 2018
Another month has come and gone and we're right in the heart of summer. As I blogged about earlier in July, I don't do well in the heat. I sweat a lot (fellow cyclists have marvelled at the amount of sweat that drips from my helmet). However, I still managed a pretty good month of … Continue reading Cycling Update – July 2018
On many of my bike rides in warmer weather, I've observed that I sweat a lot more than the average person. In extreme heat (>30 degrees Celsius plus humidity), I can't keep enough fluids in me to keep up with the sweat. This has prompted me to do a little research into the physiology of exercising … Continue reading Cycling in Summer Heat
It's hard to believe 2018 is half over already. There's still a lot of warm weather ahead, and lots of long rides in the months to come! I thought I'd summarize my year to date with some of the online tools that I've blogged about. In June, I rode farther than I have in any … Continue reading Ride Summary – First Six Months of 2018
I'm sitting here in my warm house while 50 km/h winds (with 80 km/h gusts) shake the windows and walls. I'm all for winter cycling, but it's mid-April now and I don't feel like getting pelted with ice pellets at -2C in this kind of wind. Instead, I'm sitting at keyboard, writing and examining my … Continue reading April Cycling Update
I thought I'd post with my ride summary for 2018 so far. We've had a wide variety of weather conditions so far in 2018 - from -20C to +15C. Lots of snow. No snow. Rain. Sun. Fortunately, I'm equipped to ride in all of these conditions and I've been able to get out and ride … Continue reading Cycling – January/February 2018
In 2016, on my 50th birthday, I decided to do something a little different. I plotted out a route that wrote out a big 5 and 0. I rode after work and the weather looked like it might cooperate (it had been raining off and on all day). When I completed that ride, I coined … Continue reading Bicycalligraphy
Cyclists don't have to look very far to find discussions about how to deal with winter in Canada. There's considerable information online about how to train indoors over the winter. There's also a lot of people who will ride outdoors in just about any weather conditions. And there are obvious benefits to both options. I … Continue reading Winter Cycling – Indoors or Outdoors?
Last spring, I took a tour of some local trails the day after a huge rain event just north of here. The result was a cycling route that had a lot of turn-arounds because some trails were flooded. As some of my Waterloo Cycling Club friends will attest, I've been known to ride across fast-flowing … Continue reading Frozen water everywhere!
This past weekend, I've been out cycling a few times in temperatures as cold as -17C. That's just the air temperature. When you factor in wind, it feels much colder. On cold days like these, I tend to ride slower and I choose routes that are sheltered from the wind. But sometimes, the wind is … Continue reading What it’s really like to cycle at -17C
