Cycling in Canada

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Going to assume Gatineau is rated high because of Gatineau Hills and its surroundings. Difficult to imagine a city better for cycling than Vancouver.

The problem with that line of thinking is that they say that 80% of the ranking is based on the following:
A city’s Network Score comes from PeopleForBikes’ Bicycle Network Analysis, or BNA. The BNA is a data analysis tool that measures the quality and connectivity of a city’s bicycle network. A bicycle network is defined as the system of paths, trails and streets that someone riding a bike can use to access everyday destinations, just like a road network serves vehicles or a sidewalk network serves pedestrians.

So less of a recreational focus and more on a day to day living focus. Again, not being a homer, but Vancouver really is on another level just on being able to bike every in dedicated bike lanes (much to the chagrin of many car drivers).

Plus, while the bike trails in the Gats are nice (at least the few that are still open), Vancouver kind of has some nice recreational trails too.

None the less, good for all these cities and fingers crossed for things to get better.

[jamincan]

My experience is that cycling networks are one thing where the details matter a whole lot. Sharrows are often included in a bike network despite the fact that they are laughable infrastructure at best and harmful at worst. Networks often look impressive until you examine them and realize they are good at getting you almost where you want to go, but never quite all the way, and almost always dump you into traffic at the point where cyclists need protection the most. Signage on off-street "networks" is often non-existent to the point that you practically need a London-taxi level of knowledge to actually use them to get anywhere. Intersections are often a crap-shoot with ill-conceived transitions -> two-way lane on one side on this side of the road leading to painted lanes on both sides. A busy trail might face stop signs on every cross street despite carrying hundreds of times the traffic of those cross streets. You get the gist.

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by jamincan

My experience is that cycling networks are one thing where the details matter a whole lot. Sharrows are often included in a bike network despite the fact that they are laughable infrastructure at best and harmful at worst. ...

Sharrows aren't bad, when done properly, though as you say, signage can often be challenging. One thing that Vancouver does very well is on the sharrow streets (very low traffic), the street signs have been updated to indicate that it is a bike designated street. SO even if you miss the signage of an upcoming intersection between two designated bike routes, you'll see intersecting street signs. with the bike symbol.

Vancouver also does well is aligning the traffic flow along the axis of these designated bikes roads by having the stops for pretty much all non-arterial cross roads. Finally, Vancouver has done very well of having physically separated bike routes when the traffic becomes heavier and the concrete divider is required.

Unfortunately Vancouver also has some major misses. This is a famous bike death trap that "encourages" te crossing of 6 lanes of high speed traffic ... even though there is a controlled intersection about 50 m away.

[Airboy]

So here we go from an epic weekend.
Saturday a mixed surface ride , 87kms west of Edmonton. The Sunday a ride up the Highwood Pass. Canada's highest paved roads. 2 days before it is open for vehicles. The line of cars parked before the gate was 1.5 kms back on both sides. It was longer when we came off the climb 2 hours later. But it was nice to see every style of bike and rider up there. Just having an ebike pass on the last pitch 12% grade was tough. But I kicked his ass on the way down. I hit 85kph off the top. If it weren't for a head wind coming down I may have hit 100kph.

+1400 meters of climbing over 140kms.

Saturday the Glory Hills and Chicakoo Park.

[IMG]3Ch by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/[/url], on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]2Ch by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/[/url], on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]1Ch by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/[/url], on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]4Ch by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/[/url], on Flickr[/IMG]

And Sunday on highway 40.

[IMG]5HW by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/[/url], on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]3HW by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/[/url], on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]2HW by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/[/url], on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]1HW by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/[/url], on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]4HW by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/[/url], on Flickr[/IMG]

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by Airboy

...
The Sunday a ride up the Highwood Pass. Canada's highest paved roads. 2 days before it is open for vehicles. The line of cars parked before the gate was 1.5 kms back on both sides
...

Having done that ride many times over the year, I can honestly say it truly defines the word epic. Have you ever done it end to end (basically drop off and pick up)? The ride down the "backside" always feels so much more remote. A friend mine did it a couple weekends ago and say a momma bear + cubs at the pass sign .... and some dumbasses trying to get too close for selfies.

Looks like it was a great day for the ride!

Did you park at the gate (or 1 km back ) or did you park further away (Fortress, Eau Claire??) as your first picture looks like it's before grizzly creek

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by shreddog

Having done that ride many times over the year, I can honestly say it truly defines the word epic. Have you ever done it end to end (basically drop off and pick up)? The ride down the "backside" always feels so much more remote. A friend mine did it a couple weekends ago and say a momma bear + cubs at the pass sign .... and some dumbasses trying to get too close for selfies.

Looks like it was a great day for the ride!

Did you park at the gate (or 1 km back ) or did you park further away (Fortress, Eau Claire??) as your first picture looks like it's before grizzly creek

Friend did it from the south on Friday and a couple of guys I know did gate to gate and back yesterday. I haven't done the gate to gate yet. If I hadn't ridden hard the day before I would have done it. That last pitch up fried me though especially with a head wind.

Parked at Fortress. Never park at the gate. Last time I did it I stayed in the Village. With all the ebikes I saw up there I am going to get the wife an ebike so she can enjoy the ride with me and maybe tow me up that last bit.

[Acajack]

Ottawa's Michael Woods has landed the "maillot à pois" (polka-dot?) at the Tour de France, which means he's the best hill-climber in the competition.

It's the second-most prestigious maillot after the yellow one which goes to the overall leader.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Ottawa's Michael Woods has landed the "maillot à pois" (polka-dot?) at the Tour de France, which means he's the best hill-climber in the competition.

It's the second-most prestigious maillot after the yellow one which goes to the overall leader.

Yeah, the polka-dot jersey. Impressive, though it's a bit of a mind-bender how you can be the leading mountain climber and still be 55 minutes down in the general classification for the yellow jersey (worn by the winner of the previous day's race and then at the end by the ultimate winner of the whole thing).

To be honest, I only pay attention to the 21 individual winners and the overall standings. And in the case of the Tour, the drama involving how the French riders will do. The last French winner was Bernard Hinault in 1985, and he and Laurent Fignon (winner in 1983 and 1984) were arguably the last great French cyclists. The lack of winners in almost forty years sticks in the national craw, and it's not helped by all the British success between 2012 and 2018 (or indeed Lance Armstrong's dominance in the previous decade).

Guillaume Martin is currently in second place, but he's 4 minutes behind Tadej Pogacar, which may be an insurmountable deficit unless Martin has an amazing day in the Pyrenees tomorrow or next week.

[jamincan]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Yeah, the polka-dot jersey. Impressive, though it's a bit of a mind-bender how you can be the leading mountain climber and still be 55 minutes down in the general classification for the yellow jersey (worn by the winner of the previous day's race and then at the end by the ultimate winner of the whole thing).

To be honest, I only pay attention to the 21 individual winners and the overall standings. And in the case of the Tour, the drama involving how the French riders will do. The last French winner was Bernard Hinault in 1985, and he and Laurent Fignon (winner in 1983 and 1984) were arguably the last great French cyclists. The lack of winners in almost forty years sticks in the national craw, and it's not helped by all the British success between 2012 and 2018 (or indeed Lance Armstrong's dominance in the previous decade).

Guillaume Martin is currently in second place, but he's 4 minutes behind Tadej Pogacar, which may be an insurmountable deficit unless Martin has an amazing day in the Pyrenees tomorrow or next week.

The only reason he's able to get the jersey is because he's 55 min down. If not for that, those going for the GC wouldn't let him get away in the break, and he wouldn't get the points. That's been true for ages and why most people don't care about the mountain classification and only really follow the GC and pts classification.

No one really believes Woods would beat Pogocar in the mountains if they went head-to-head.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by jamincan

The only reason he's able to get the jersey is because he's 55 min down. If not for that, those going for the GC wouldn't let him get away in the break, and he wouldn't get the points. That's been true for ages and why most people don't care about the mountain classification and only really follow the GC and pts classification.

No one really believes Woods would beat Pogocar in the mountains if they went head-to-head.

Yeah, you're right, I didn't put two and two together. I'm one of those "most people" who never pays any attention to the polka-dot jersey, so I've never noticed that the mountains winner is rarely anywhere near the final podium. Add to that the fact that the GC winner has to be an exceptional climber, and I've always just assumed that great climber means GC contender + polka-dot jersey without ever looking very closely at the results.

It's still cool to see a Canadian get some cycling recognition, though. It doesn't happen often. I have fond memories of Ryder Hesjedal's Giro win in 2012. Was really exciting.

[Acajack]

The French actually pay quite a bit of attention to the maillot à pois, probably due to what Rousseau said about them not having a Tour winner in 35 years.

French racers have been more successful when it comes to the maillot à pois, most notably the extremely popular (in spite of a doping scandal) Richard Virenque who really dominated that aspect of the Tour a couple of years ago into the first part of the 2000s.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by Acajack

The French actually pay quite a bit of attention to the maillot à pois, probably due to what Rousseau said about them not having a Tour winner in 35 years.

French racers have been more successful when it comes to the maillot à pois, most notably the extremely popular (in spite of a doping scandal) Richard Virenque who really dominated that aspect of the Tour a couple of years ago into the first part of the 2000s.

I used to watch the tour during that time and really wanted virenque to win just one of those years. Then I found out with everyone else a he was also a doper. After that I was like FFS, I’m out. Can’t bother with this shit anymore. Thought I’d get back into cycling but never did. My friend and I even got cycling jerseys and had old shitty road bikes we used to tear down and rebuild for no reason and always ended up with a couple extra pieces lying around that didn’t affect the bike anyway. Also did becel ride for heart twice imagining we were racing around on the roads of France. Now all I know is Ryder was a contender one year but then got injured and I can maybe name half of the winners since Lance but no other cyclist.

[Acajack]

It's still surprisingly common for French cycling fans to say that Virenque was framed and that he wasn't guilty of doping.

[jamincan]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Yeah, you're right, I didn't put two and two together. I'm one of those "most people" who never pays any attention to the polka-dot jersey, so I've never noticed that the mountains winner is rarely anywhere near the final podium. Add to that the fact that the GC winner has to be an exceptional climber, and I've always just assumed that great climber means GC contender + polka-dot jersey without ever looking very closely at the results.

It's still cool to see a Canadian get some cycling recognition, though. It doesn't happen often. I have fond memories of Ryder Hesjedal's Giro win in 2012. Was really exciting.

Don't get me wrong, I love Woods; I think it's not unrealistic that if he were going for the GC in a Grand Tour, he'd probably have a good shot at top 5. Pogocar right now is at another level from everyone else, though, which is an entirely different story. For what it's worth, my favourite win from Woods was Stage 17 of the 2018 Vuelta - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7DENJFVDVA.

[Airboy]

Micheal Woods -Israel Start Up. Currently 30, 6’19”
Hugo Houle -Astana Currently 85, 23’45”
Guillaume Boivin currently Israel Start Up currently 122, 28’19”

147 riders still in.


And the one I am watching Lochan Morten (Aus) on the self supported TdF ride. he is currently 600km ahead of the peloton and is riding a 500km day. Hes riding the transfer routes as well.

[Airboy]

Also to watch for next year.

letape by tour de France coming to Canada next year. Location has not been confirmed. But a guy I ride with has been promoting the US one and may be involved with the Canadian one as well. The flag was originally over eastern Canada but is now over Edmonton.

/https://www.letapebytourdefrance.com/

[Airboy]

https://www.letapecanada.com/

Letape is under the umbrella of the Tour de France.

This event is official. coming to YEG in 2022.

The event is a recreational race. course is not mapped yet but from what I here could be a good tough long ride.

[Nashe]

I invested in a pair of SPD-51 clipless cycling shoes last Friday. Have been forcing myself to wear them for even my daily commutes this week to get used to and confident with out and in at every intersection. A pain, but trying to work on some muscle memory... my pedals are Deore single-sided (flat/SPD) so there is an extra step (flipping them 1/4 turn to the right side).

Only wipeout so far was an embarrassing one where I came out of my building and threw a leg over my bike... and slipped and fell even before putting a foot on a pedal. Got two nice leg scrapes for that, as well. Quite embarassing. Probably should have gotten recessed-clip MTB type shoes instead of road type for the learning curve, but I do most of my miles on road anyway, so figured I'd better get used to it!

[jamincan]

Originally Posted by Vorkuta

I invested in a pair of SPD-51 clipless cycling shoes last Friday. Have been forcing myself to wear them for even my daily commutes this week to get used to and confident with out and in at every intersection. A pain, but trying to work on some muscle memory... my pedals are Deore single-sided (flat/SPD) so there is an extra step (flipping them 1/4 turn to the right side).

Only wipeout so far was an embarrassing one where I came out of my building and threw a leg over my bike... and slipped and fell even before putting a foot on a pedal. Got two nice leg scrapes for that, as well. Quite embarassing. Probably should have gotten recessed-clip MTB type shoes instead of road type for the learning curve, but I do most of my miles on road anyway, so figured I'd better get used to it!

A lot of people starting with clipless pedals buy the single-sided pedals because they don't want to commit to clipless, but I have never seen it work out satisfactorily due to the extra difficulty they create when clipping in.

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by jamincan

A lot of people starting with clipless pedals buy the single-sided pedals because they don't want to commit to clipless, but I have never seen it work out satisfactorily due to the extra difficulty they create when clipping in.

I get that. I had the pedals first (came with the gravel bike) and I admit that even after buying the road shoes I figured "hmmm... now I have options... I can just jump on in regular sneakers for short, informal rides") but I'm coming around to double-sided... though I'm practicing no-look flip-forward maneuvers and am slowly getting it. I'm kinda wondering why hard-bottom road shoes have to be so slick... why not have "grippy" material in the arch groove just in case? And that heel pad has less surface area than the hooves of a fawn. I think it's just a matter of continually using them until I get used to them.