http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/training-day/201201/lebron-james-one-percent-work-commuters

Margaret and Jade

John and Kevin

In the forest

Proving we made it to Cambridge!

Unfortunately John O. didn’t make it this far, because of a torn tire and popped tube.  Warning – if you go to connect to this trail, do NOT take a bike on the hiking part that goes straight down to the river from that lot at the end of Wilson.  Instead cut through and continue on Mill Park Dr.  After that you can access the Grand River trail down near the creek.   But for us, we took what must be a new pedestrian/cyclist bridge over the highway.  I’m pretty sure it connects Doon Valley Dr. and Morningside Dr. (map here, but it doesn’t show the bridge – might be an old satellite photo).

Special thanks to Kevin (the hands-down km winner from the Freewheels project) for the ride home, so I could not have to make it a 60km day and be late for the children handoff with my wife

Thanks again to Ziggy’s for the quality bike, care, and experience.  Since Saturday we’ve done another family bike ride – this time almost 5k on the trails in and around our Eastbridge neighbourhood and the close part of RIM park.

David

I almost reverted to car at the last minute, but then my loving wife pointed out that I could be ambitious and take my bike to that Dr. appointment that I remembered just before heading out.

So after walking my bike and daughter to school, showing it off to all her friends, my riding went from Home to Work to Doctor’s (Kitchener – took Laurel Trail through Waterloo Park, and then took Park St. down behind hospital), to Pharmacy (Iron Horse trail and a little bit of street riding to Belgage), back up to Work, then partway home, then back to Work, then all the way home.

Total 1 hour 8 minutes of riding time, 23.77 km, bringing the project total up to 378 km!

Why did I go back to Work after partially going Home?  Because I lost my GPS unit for the Regional Study near the bike room… right near the end of the study period!  All the data would have been lost.  Luckily I had the foresight to attach my business card to it.  And it turned out another RIM employee who was on his way back to UW to return his unit, noticed it on the ground, so he just returned it anyway – so at least the data and the unit are safe, although I had planned to log a couple more trips before handing it back.  Oh well, good enough.

I’m having some trouble with my brakes – specifically the right rear pad is now squealing.  I’ve noticed for a few days that if I spin the rear wheel slowly, a very tiny warp in the rim is enough to cause it to slow or stop at that point in every rotation.  I think I’ve even felt it drag me a bit when I’m riding somewhere and noticing a slight energy drain.  For my final Ziggy’s check-up, I will ask them to show me how to adjust this, to even out the space with the left pad which seems to have plenty by comparison.

Looking forward to the group ride to Cambridge on Saturday!

D

I think the wind had turned a bit because it seemed that some of the time there was a decent headwind on the way home too  – but I was pretty pumped for some reason and pushed pretty hard.  I am pretty sure I set a new record:  12 minutes 42 seconds, which roughly matches the first time I timed myself by car.  Pretty amazing.  If I didn’t think I had met that goal before, I did now.  Up to 354 km total.

In other news, a cycling article from Ottawa:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/07092010/71/central-cycling-ottawa-five-tough-problems-five-other-easy-fixes.html

Riding under Lexington St. near Dearborn. Yes, I needed to duck.

Arrival at daycare

As you can see from the pictures, we finally achieved my final goal for the Freewheels project.

I am very happy.  My daughter was not so happy for most of the ride, as she didn’t like the fact that I insisted on closing the mesh, easily see-through cover over her for extra protection for this trip.  In the end, she enjoyed seeing the sights, like the forest we rode through, the Canada Geese, and some construction equipment in action.

Some of the trails to the east of Marsland Rd have horrible loose gravel that even a mountain bike would be lucky to get through, nevermind a road hybrid with a trailer.  I’ll be reporting that to the city/region.  I also went an extra km because I initially forgot my GPS for the regional bike study, and went back home to get it.

9.16 km.  36:33 travel time  (longer to avoid the major roads for most of the ride).  Total kms for the project up to 329 (but 6 more coming to get home tonight)

Yay!  We did it!