Annual Report on Kanata South Pathways Deterioration, Spring 2024
Another year has gone by and it is time to report again on the deterioration of the Bridlewood and Glen Cairn pathways in Kanata.
Bridlewood
Glen Cairn
Previous Reports
Showing posts with label Glen Cairn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glen Cairn. Show all posts
2024-05-04
2023-04-29
Annual Report on Kanata South Pathways Deterioration, Spring 2023
Another year has gone by and it is time to report again on the deterioration of the Bridlewood and Glen Cairn pathways in Kanata.
Bridlewood
Glen Cairn
2022-06-30
2012-02-09
Winter Bike Final Modifications & Mid Season Review
When I first bought my new winter bike in October I wrote "It's a bit small for me, but was about the largest they had in stock and with some adjustments to the handlebar and seat height I have it set up about the same as my mountain bike, which should be fine as my winter riding is usually confined to under 20 km rides around the neighbourhood."
That worked, but I still wanted a more comfortable riding stance so I started looking at changing the stem to raise the handlebars. After receiving some advice I decided to go with as straight a stem as possible to move the handlebars closer to the seat so that I could raise them enough and straighten out my stance without running out of cable which would incur more work and expense.
I found a replacement stem at Niagara Cycle in Niagara Falls, NY for $15 plus about $20 shipping. That added to the price of the bike, but well worth it I thought.
Overall the new winter bike has been a great improvement over the old $100 Supercycle I used the previous two years. The 20 year old Shimano Exage 400 derailleur and shifters work as well as the shifters on our good bikes. And, of course, I still love those Schwalbe Ice Spikers, they ride through a layer of water on top of ice like it's dry pavement.
I'm hoping to get at least double the two years I got on the old Supercycle and I'm babying this bike to achieve that. After every ride it gets well cleaned and wiped down, especially the rims. The rear rim on the old Supercycle started to rust after a few weeks but both rims on this bike seem to be of a different, non-chrome metal and, as long as I wipe them clean after every ride, they resist the rust. I use a heavy grease on the drive-train because of the slush and winter muck and have already done a mid-winter cleaning with the MEC chain cleaner.
In recent days with low temperatures and puddles along the side of the road the cables have been icing up and I've had to stop and remove ice mid-ride, then bring the bike in to thaw after to get rid of any water that might refreeze and cause problems.
So far this winter, from December 14 to February 8, I have put 427 kilometres on the winter bike and I am aiming for at least 50 km a week.
I actually did some trail riding on it around the Old Quarry trails in December as I had put my MTB away for the season but the trails were frozen and still rideable. But most of my winter riding has been on the paths and local roads in Bridlewood and Glen Cairn. Over the previous two days, in two one hour rides I did 33.4 km, at an average speed of 16.0 km/hr and a maximum speed of 28.3 km/hr.
The map below of those two rides (including overlaps) gives a good idea of the typical routes I ride on the winter bike.
2010-02-08
Winter Biking
Well, I have actually got into the winter biking thing and pedalled over 230 km since December on the winter bike with the studded tires.
Most of my riding is around the communities of Bridlewood and Glen Cairn on the neighbourhood collector roads which are usually always clear. Lately due to the lack of snow even the side streets have been easily rideable.
The cold has been somewhat of a challenge, as biking adds about an extra 15 km/hr wind chill, so my rides have typically been limited to 15-20 kilometres.
I have to say that I am quite pleased and somewhat surprised at how well the cheap Supercycle performs, even the gears are shifting well despite the cold and slush, although I have been bringing the bike inside every week or so to clean and lube. I've been using pretty heavy lube - lithium grease and chain saw bar oil, which I am pretty sure would get the bike clogged up with gunk from the trails in the summer, but it seems to help protect from the salt and slush in the winter.
The studded tires are also fantastic. When I first started riding them I would look for every piece of ice I could to test them on. The other day I was over on some new subdivision roads where they have not been working in the winter and found lots of ice to tool around on and it was like riding on bare pavement.
The only problem with the cheap bike is the lack of suspension on some of the hard packed walking trails that are not cleared (gravel rather than pavement underneath) and even though they don't look so bad you can really feel the bumpiness without suspension so I don't usually last very long on those sections.
The actual forest trails are much smoother than that, and due to the recent trail conditions I was actually able to ride a few times on the Old Quarry Trail where the snow is packed enough that I just rode along top without sinking in, and wide enough I could ride alongside the ski tracks where there were any. Even people walking the trails are not sinking in. Other trail users seemed more amused than anything and I often stopped to chat with them. One asked me if I was patrolling the trail, probably because I had my yellow reflective vest on that I wear to be certain to be seen in traffic.
I am still looking forward to the new biking season and getting out on the good bikes but the winter bike is at least keeping me pedalling and it will be something to ride in the spring until they stop dumping bike-killing salt on the roads and paths.
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