Take the Lane

Don Pavey's trip almost over

Here's another post from Don Pavey, Tour de Grand organizer, about his Tour du Canada trip, which wraps up tomorrow. This was sent today from Nova Scotia:
"Well the trip is almost done.This afternoon we board the ferry for Newfoundland - lard tundering it is just too hard to believe, boy!

"Over the last two days we completed the Cabot Trail with its very long and steep mountains - first French Mountain and then North Mountain. On North I realized that I can balance my bike at 4 km. per hour going uphill. Most of us had to stop part way up to get our heart rates down. Once at the top, the downhill was equally challenging because of the switch backs requiring a speed of 30 kph. When your bike is doing close to 70 kph. the brake pads got a good workout to be able to make the corners. The other thing I remembered from my last time doing the Trail was the need to stop from time to time to let the rims cool down. Too hot rims cause blowouts.Yikes. . .

"The camping is finally over and I no longer have to crawl around on the ground in my tent. I am concerned that Air Canada my ban my sleeping bag due to Hazardous Products rules. It may also knock out the sniffer dog. . .
"Well gang off to the ferry boat for the 14 hour trip to Argentia Newfoundland sitting/dozing in recliner chairs where the forecast tomorrow is 90% chance of rain with winds from the south at 55 kph - since we are heading north that will be a good thing. I have all my rain gear with me so I can arrive at Signal Hill in St. John's not looking like a drowned rat.

"My trip across Canada is almost history and I look forward to being home. Bye for now. Don"

Died on a ride, #9

Seven-year-old Victoria Jones was killed in Toronto yesterday while riding her bike in a crosswalk, just before 1 p.m.
A van belonging to a construction company stopped to let her older brother by, but the driver apparently didn't notice Victoria, according to the report on TheStar.com. She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The driver stayed at the scene, and no charges have been laid yet. Various news reports suggested the driver had been talking on a cellphone. The little girl was described by her grandmother and mother as a "girly-girl" who loved art, dress-up, fancy things and soccer.

What's your dream trip?

I said recently that the Tour du Canada is my dream trip. Frank Xavier responded that such a trip would be a nightmare, and offered that a trip through Europe, with its bicycle-friendly environments, would be his dream.
I really do think that the coast-to-coast trip in Canada would be a dream trip . . . well, parts of it.
I have driven most of the country, taken the train for some of it and cycled wee bits of it.
I have ridden along one section of Superior, and around Ottawa and along the bike lines in Montreal. I thought I would melt my brakes coming down the hill into Saskatchewan River Crossing in the Rockies.
If I was healthy enough and could set the time aside to do it, I think a tour of Canada would be the experience of a lifetime . . . if you could edit out some parts, such as much of the Prairies. I can stare at a Prairie sky for hours, but days? Not so much.
It made me wonder what your dream trip would be. P.E.I.? The Netherlands? China? Tell me about your dream trip...

Tour du Canada is the dream trip

Cambridge lawyer Don Pavey has spent the past couple of months riding my dream trip. Tour du Canada is an organized, cross-country bicycling tour, from West to East. There are three dozen cyclists from Canada and other nations, riding through the heat and rain. They left Vancouver on June 24  and will arrive in St.John's, Nfld. on  Sept. 1.
Pavey has been sending e-missives home, when he can find an internet connection, and they've been circulated among some family, friends and members of the cycling community. I thought I'd excerpt a few, to show you what you could have been doing this summer...

From June 27: "The trip has been more difficult than I thought it would be.  Biking for three days in cool wet rain with lots of traffic on the Trans Canada Highway.  Yesterday we started into the interior and away from the busy road.  The biking is fun but the camping may do me in. Last night little sleep due to the pulp and paper mill nearby working all night with the sounds of huge saws. Have to pickup ear plugs today."

From July 13: "In Regina for our rest day. We have biked almost 2,000 km. with two provinces behind us.  In a week we will be in Kenora, Ontario and the long ride across Ontario. Weather has improved and it is now hot (30 degrees) and sunny. Going tonight to the CFL football game at Taylor Field. I have had four flat tires and am becoming adapt at changing the tire . . . We all have great tans with some strange tanlines."

Undated, from Kenora,  Ont.: "It were a tough six days boy I tells you that. The first day had a head wind that just about blew us off our bikes. We gather in groups of six or so riders and ride in what is called a pace line. All the riders in a single file behind each other. The front rider rides at about 25 km. per hour if he or she is able for 2 km. and then pulls to the side and the second rider moves up. The first rider drops to the back of the line. The energy expanded riding into the wind is huge but for the rest of the riders being able to ride in the draft of the riders ahead makes for much easier riding. We do this for 40 km. or so with each bike wheel about one foot from the one in front between breaks. You don't get to stretch, scratch your nose, massage your butt or do anything else which would break your concentration. Occasionally someone ( ok that would be me) calls 'bum break' and we all slow down and stop and get a brief break. We have one rider who rides about 30 - 35 kph and we told him yesterday that we would like him to pull us all the way to Newfoundland. Fortunately yesterday he got a flat tire and we got an extra break."

Tobermory, Aug. 4: "This morning I was up at 4:45 a.m. since we were galley crew and had to prepare breakfast for the group, load the truck with all the hockey bags, the stove, the bike table and the tables so that the truck could try to make the 9:00 a.m ferry and then pedal ourselves to the ferry - 40 km. away - never biked so fast averaging 27 kph along the very crummy roads of northern Ontario. My amazing bike continues to perform remarkable putting up with the pounding hour after hour after hour. Generally any secondary road in Canada and some of the major roads are in a bad state . . . Most drivers are very considerate and move well over to pass. There are however some .... holes who think that their vehicle has some absolute right to push on past."

Aug. 12, Hull, Que.: This entry recapped the birth of his second grandchild on Aug. 6. Due to being in Ontario on a rest day, he was able to drive to Oakville to cradle his new grandson in his arms. Spending time with his grandchildren made the end of the trip look even sweeter: "I am now so anxious to get done on September 1st and get home. We have now completed 5 provinces and something like 5,400 km. . . . The bike continues to perform well with its new chain, new back tires but the same old driver - NOT so lively and quick. We try to get 100 km. done by noon and then finish off the rest in the afternoon."

Aug. 17, Quebec City: "Getting ready for the hills of the Gaspe and then the mountains on the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton. Yesterday was a ride in the rain along the amazing bike lanes along the highway. Quebec is so far ahead of the rest of Canada in terms of cycling. There are bike lanes everywhere and the motorists are very respectful of cyclists because I guess there are so many of them . . . We continue to have lots of laughs and as I said before the people have made this trip special. I doubt I will see many of them again but I am sure as I look at my pictures in the future it will bring back of a flood of memories of the individuals I have had the privilege of getting to know over the last two months."

Aug. 24, near Moncton: Everyone is very weary not just from the biking but also the camping. Crawling around on the ground is getting tiresome. It is great however to be with a group of people who help keep the spirits up. Humour is the key to doing this thing. . . The highways in New Brunswick have been pretty good but if they graded down the steep hills it would be better. It is amazing how important the quality of the road surface is to riding. Potholes are to be avoided, soft asphalt slows you down and having a shoulder to ride on makes it easier to handle all the transport trucks . . ."
(With a week left in the ride, Pavey summed up):  "It has been an amazing experience - once in a lifetime - and to my family I could not have done this without your encouragement and love. I am not sure I would recommend the trip at least not with the camping aspect but it makes it affordable for most people and provides the opportunity to see all of Canada from the seat of a bike. We have a diverse and amazing country and I have had the opportunity to see all of it. So until I finish, farewell for now and thank you."

You can see photos from this year's Tour at www.tourducanada.com 

 

 

Let's send a message

The provincial election campaign has not officially begun, but the unofficial campaign is in full swing.
What would you, a cyclist in Ontario, like to ask of the would-be MPPs of Ontario?
Re-draft the Highway Traffic Act. Mandatory cycling sensitivity training for motorists? Designated funds for lanes-trails development? So many politicians talk about "green solutions" and here we are, riding around on some of the greenest solutions they could imagine.
What do you think should be the cycling issues of this provincial election? Leave a comment or e-mail me at bbean@therecord.com. I'll bundle up the lot and send the package to the party leaders.

Helmet marketing opportunity

It took a couple of outings to help me fully understand this equation:
Airy open helmet plus receding hairline equals unusual sunburn patterns on scalp.
It would have helped to remember to put some sunscreen on my forehead. As it was, after two days on the road, I came home looking, as my partner said, like Darth Maul.
So this is the marketing opportunity. For all those guys out there who are shaving their heads, helmets with air holes matching the shapes of their favourite logos. Couple of sunny days without suncreen, and they can etch a Nike swoosh, a Habs logo or the Specialized "S" on their domes. You read it here first. We'll talk about the skin cancer later...

MS bike event a success

A whole lot of heroes were back at their jobs and neighbourhoods today, after two days of hard riding in Southern Ontario.
The Multiple Sclerosis Bike Tour from Brampton to Waterloo (and return) used to be advertised as a 150-kilometre ride, but the route has grown (read groan) with the years and clocks out at about 95 km each way (my odometer read 97 and 99, but that included some backtracking).
About 450 riders turned out to churn up and down the Halton Hills and the glacial deposits in Wellington County and Waterloo Region, many of them wondering how it could be that they had uphills and headwinds both going to Waterloo and going back to Brampton. Does the landscape really evolve that quickly?
The goal was to raise $350,000. They raised $370,000. Especially impressive were the 10 or so who stood on stage Saturday night to be acknowledged for raising $5,000 or more for the tour. Amongst them, they accounted for about $80,000 of the total.

Vote for the worst road

Just a reminder that the website for the Ontario Municipal Roads Coalition's Worst Roads Campaign is active today at www.worstroads.ca.
Every town, township, county, region and city in Ontario is listed. All you have to do is go to website and vote.
Cyclists should make themselves heard, because they are our roads, too. Last year, only 5,000 voters clicked in to the site. I'll bet there are 5,000 cyclists in Ontario who could make their views known.
The site allows you to ask to have your vote and comments sent to the mayor of the relevant municipality. Do it! Politicians can be surprisingly responsive to public clamour . . . motorists get a lot of attention because they make a lot of noise. Cyclists are generally just too darn polite. Let's make some noise.
 

Too long in the saddle

After the first day of the MS Bike Tour from Brampton to Waterloo, I am reminded of one of the great truths of cycling: after eight hours on the road, no saddle is perfect.
After experimenting with a new saddle, I decided to stick with my 27-year-old Brooks leather saddle for this two-day, 180-kilometre charity ride. After all, we are used to each other.
I didn't ride sweep today, but was in the second-last position, encouraging riders who were drifting to the back of the pack. It made for a slow day of stops and starts, and, with an 8:30 a.m. start and a 4:40 p.m. finish, a lot of riding time.
Any saddle can be a good one after a three- or four-hour ride, but right now, I'm thinking about standing on the pedals for the return to Brampton tomorrow.

Pass me the broom

I've offered to be sweep on the MS Bike Tour from Brampton to Waterloo tomorrow.
Sweep is not an envied position for the people who volunteer to be tour leaders on these events.
As a tour leader, we're supposed to know a little bit about first aid, a little bit about bicycle mechanics and a little bit about human behaviour, so we can offer aid and advice to other riders along the way.
The sweep position is the last pair of tour leaders on the course, more like "tour followers" than tour leaders. We encourage the slowest of the riders, and sometimes, when fatigue or weather get the better of them, try to convince them to swallow their pride and take one of the sag wagons to the next checkpoint.
If you like to ride fast, sweep is not the position for you. One year, my partner and I were behind two 20-something female riders who wanted to stop at every corner store and antique shop along the way. We, of course, had to stop as well. After they realized we were not going to ride on without them, they derisively referred to us as "our new best friends." We felt a bit under-appreciated.
The better memories dominate: getting a spare tire for the rider who had a flat within sight of the finish line at the University of Guelph and who wanted to fix his tire so he could ride in; helping a first-time rider by pushing her up that last long grade in Mississauga. And because we are the last riders on the course, the volunteers at the checkpoints are SO glad to see us, because it means they can dump the remaining sports drinks, pack up the tables and head in after a long day outdoors.
For those reasons, and for others, I volunteer often to ride sweep. So if you see a pair of cyclists all by themselves late in the day tomorrow between Brampton and Waterloo, we're not stragglers . . . we're riding sweep.