Candy Cranks

I love spontaneous adventures, so when my boyfriend and I decided last-minute to go on a four-day bike trip through Prince Edward county last week I was stoked to get on the road and see what happened.

We left Thursday (July 29) and came home Sunday (Aug 1). We biked 400km all together, spent 2 hours total on the GO train (to get 60km or so out of the city), camped three places, drank a bunch of beer, swam in the lake, saw a Great Blue Heron and a deer (!), got lots of great exercise and fresh air and had a blast!

Before the trip we both decided to buy the Salsa Bell Lap handlebar to replace our current set ups. We love it! It has a short top so you don’t have to reach too far, ergonomic drops for comfort, and flares out slightly in the drops. It makes you feel like you a lot of control when going downhill, and when touring those downhills can be good breaks from the constant pedaling.

It got really hot some days, and we’d go through litres and litres of water. We used Nuun hydration tablets (its an electrolyte thing, you add a tablet to your bottle of water instead of buying gatorade) and of course had to get the occasional popsicle.

Here’s a link to our route on Bikely. We followed the waterfront trail as much as possible, it has less traffic than the secondary roads and signs indicating it’s a cycling route.

I’m completely recovered from the trip except for lots of itchy mosquito bites. Can’t wait to do more riding and camping!

Check out my flickr for all 300+ pics!

we took the Via train to Montreal a couple weeks ago… this is what happened to my boyfriend’s bike when we checked our bikes in…

the report said that instead of putting the bike on the baggage car, they leaned it against the car and then backed into it with their baggage truck!

still trying to sort out compensation from them. and the whole purpose of our trip was ruined, as we went there to ride around. i hate to say it, but should have rented a car. you can’t trust others with your beloved bikes.

the fork and headset were damaged beyond repair. the frame is probably destroyed too, the seatstays are scraped and bent. the handlebars and stem were bent, brake lever snapped off. the cranks appear to be ok, but we’re not sure. the rear wheel seems to be the only thing that came out without damage, amazingly.

I volunteer with a local program called Wenches with Wrenches.  We teach women only bike mechanic workshops at the local Community Bicycle Network space. There’s four weeks worth of classes: 1) Bike fit and parts of the bike 2) Flat fix 3) Brakes 4) Drivetrain.

It’s a super empowering space to be in, with 15+ women all teaching eachother how to fix their own bikes (it’s all run by volunteers). Here’s a pic from the flat fix class last week:

Jane was teaching a class for her first time ever but she did great!

For some participants this is the first time they’ve ever taken their wheel off their bike! This week we did brakes and helped every single girl there adjust their brakes and some even replaced their brake pads! Between the 6 or so volunteers there we managed to figure everything out, even though none of us are professional bike mechanics.

Cycling is fun, and knowing how to make your bike safe and fit right makes it even more enjoyable. I think we’ll end this month’s session with a fun Wenches Bike Tour around town with our newly tuned-up bikes!

…by Kathleen from Toronto Canada.
my tumblr … my twitter … my flickr …

Ed @ Liberty Street Cyclery fixin’ up my mountain bike as I begin my first season with it.

This…

plus this…

will make my 2010 touring wheelset.

36 spokes with 3-cross lacing pattern.  700×28C tyres.  AND I’m going to build them myself!

while the US got google cycling maps today, us here in Toronto got Ride the City. At least it’s something.

The thing I find with these mapping programs though is they don’t route you through any streets where you may be biking the “wrong” way on a one-way street.

…So my question is: how often does your cycling route make you bike the “wrong” way on one way streets? Myself, it happens many many times a day and I feel safer doing that than biking on main arterial routes. I’d love to hear how other folks around the world view this issue.

Here in Toronto we have a group called Critical Sass who likes to shake it up and cheer on people who ride in Critical Mass.  Recently, Dandyhorse asked to have us for a photoshoot to appear in their next issue!  Check out some of the group shots, plus what we look like at Critical Mass.  Can’t wait for warmer weather so we can have those big crowd turnouts again.

Here’s one of our cheers for you:

Three rights make a left, but two wrongs don’t make a right

Just ignore the cops and keep riding your bike!

They might get kinda hostile, but we don’t have to fight.

Two wheels take the lane, it’s the law, it’s our right!

Wear lights, and bells, and act with class.

Only run a red if your ass is in the mass.

Slow it at the front, and speed it at the back.

Keep all this in mind to keep the mass on track.

Bicycles don’t care about your gender, race, or class.

And all ages are welcome to join in the mass.

So here’s our story’s moral, we hope you’ll teach and learn:

All vehicles are equal, just signal when you turn!

Last fall I started getting into mountain biking:

That’s me with a great borrowed bike: a Marin Pine Mountain hardtail. Now I need to get my own bike as the spring race season is only a couple months away. Do any mountain biking chicks out there have advice on a good option for a womens specific recreational level hardtail?

Normally in Toronto this time of year we’d be dealing with mountainous snow banks, black ice, and wind chills to -30 Celsius. Thanks to El Nino cyclists in this city have been treated to a relatively mild and dry winter so far.

Last weekend some friends and I took advantage of the weather to go on an approx 50km ride from Toronto to Port Credit. We were even able to travel on the cycling paths that get no winter maintenance. They were clear and dry. I even took out my road bike which rarely sees winter roads.

Kathleen & Chris

Alan

Chrissy

This is my first post on Candy Cranks and I look forward to sharing lots about cycling in Toronto with all of you!