Cycling Outside Waterloo Region

[Canard]

I thought I'd start a thread in here to discuss any kind of cycling you've done, issues, news, whatever - outside of Waterloo Region!  We have a great thread here for that:  Cycling In Waterloo Region

I'll start off!

1/3 - Saturday, June 17, 2017

Yesterday, my husband and I biked most of the Welland Canal.  We parked at the St. Catherines Museum, just off the Welland Canal Parkway, at Lock 3.  Heading South from there, there's a good climb for the first ~5 km or so, between Lock 3 and Lock 7.  It's probably the "roughest" part of the trail, and has some not-so-good sections:

   

...but seeing the locks in operation is so cool.  It's great being able to stop wherever and watch as the huge ships come through!

   

   

The trail starts to flatten out again, and stays that way for a good long while.  I always like seeing the Lift Bridges, too.

   

   

[Canard]

2/3 - Saturday, June 17, 2017

   

   

Neat railway crossings - I like the signage

   

Heading under the 406, just after the canal splits:

   

I think this is the best part, personally:

   

[Canard]

3/3 - Saturday, June 17, 2017

Here's a big rotating train bridge - I don't think it's in use any longer as this part of the canal is the "old one" that was replaced by the "new one" further East.

   

There is even a free Bike Ferry in Port Robinson that goes across the Canal!  We would have done it if there was a trail link on the other side, but there wasn't - it looks like it would really only be used by residents on the other side.

   

   

From this vantage point above Lock 4 (I think), I spotted these big new yellow devices... and started to ponder what they were... but I'll save that discovery for another thread!

   

One last photo.  This trail is a gem, and I can't wait to come back and do it again!

   

[kps]

Quick request for anyone posting geographical photos (which is most of them on WRC) to include EXIF location data if practical.

[clasher]

I like the Welland Canal trail, I've never done it end to end but I've ridden it from Thorold to St. Catharines, and part of it near Port Colborne where the giant abandoned Robin Hood mill is.

I'm in Lethbridge now and they've got a decent trail system around the river and a grid street system so getting around it easy. The climbs are fierce in the river valley. There's a couple big highways that cut the town in half so there are only a few good places to cross them. Worth bringing a bike if you're out here for work. There's also a lot of singletrack and an MTB park in the river valley.

[danbrotherston]

A driver intentionally caused a collision with cyclists in Guelph today.

http://guelph.ctvnews.ca/driver-charged-...-1.3470004

The facebook comments are truly something else.

[clasher]

I'm in Lethbridge for work and would highly recommend anyone coming out this way bring a bicycle, the river valley in the city has spectacular views and there is a decent trail network in the city, though the big (for Alberta) highways that criss-cross town do make for some choke points, traffic is generally more relaxed than in Ontario. I know drivers have to yield to pedestrians but it seems they all do it for me on a bike too, which is kinda dangerous since I don't know what the law here says about it.

Anyway, here are six pictures:

There's a lot of little paths like this along the river valley, locally known as the coulee this terrain is pretty neat.







This path was washed away in the floods a few years ago, the signs seem to indicate there was a boardwalk or something like that.




This is one of two roads that cross the river, and there is a really nice pedestrian/cyclist bridge beside the road one. This is looking west, the path up the hill is visible... it's quite a climb, there's another gravel path that goes to the university and the grade tops out at 12%. I needed all my low gears here.




Any fans of the Rural Alberta Advantage might know the song "Dethbridge in Lethbridge" and here's the bridge... it's massive in scale, 1.6km long and pretty tall. All old riveted ironwork too, quite the labourious undertaking BITD. There's a pile of trails running through the parklands between this bridge and the previous bridges. There's also a recreation of a historical whisky trading fort called "fort whoop-up" but it was closed when I went by.




Tons of singletrack type of trails running along the river too, this one was a tough climb on my road bike. There is also an MTB park (akin to the one on Trashmore) somewhere near the bridges.





I'm not sure when this happened but the land in the coulees isn't all that stable I guess. I saw another chunk across a valley that looked like it was ready to slide down.


My first time in Alberta and I gotta say it's pretty nice. The air here is a lot drier than southern Ontario and a lot windier. The heat isn't as bad either, even when it's in the high 20s it's more bearable. The wind is insane though, the highest gusts since I've been here were recorded at 115km/h. It's common for it to be 40-60km/h winds when they blowing, almost all out of the west. The rockies are visible from the west side of town, visibility is ridiculuous, often 80km when it's sunny out. The lack of smog is also quite noticeable.

[Canard]

That looks wonderful, thanks for sharing! Your first photo especially. That's just a dream. I found a bunch of trails in Newfoundland a couple of years ago when we were out there - I wasn't into cycling at the time, but now I would just love to go back and re-discover them on wheels. I agree with all your points about Alberta!

[timio]

I just completed a road trip with my wife from Vancouver through Calgary via the Trans Canada (for the most part). One thing that I noticed was that the bike routes are on the shoulders of the highway for the most part due to the complete lack of alternate routes through the mountains. So vehicles speeding by at ~110-120 pending on the limit come within a few feet of cyclists. I only had a few spots where I couldn't get over when approaching a cyclist, but even still, I don't think I would feel comfortable in that scenario.

But, I can say, it would be a beautiful ride and some of the downhills would be awesome (thinking specifically of Glacier National Park past Roger's Pass and Banff past Kicking Horse Pass).

[clasher]

I just completed a road trip with my wife from Vancouver through Calgary via the Trans Canada (for the most part).  One thing that I noticed was that the bike routes are on the shoulders of the highway for the most part due to the complete lack of alternate routes through the mountains.  So vehicles speeding by at ~110-120 pending on the limit come within a few feet of cyclists.  I only had a few spots where I couldn't get over when approaching a cyclist, but even still, I don't think I would feel comfortable in that scenario.

But, I can say, it would be a beautiful ride and some of the downhills would be awesome (thinking specifically of Glacier National Park past Roger's Pass and Banff past Kicking Horse Pass).

I hope to ride back to Calgary via the Crowsnest highway and up 93 to Lake Louise. I'm kind of dreading the main roads, they look pretty insane. There are a few gravel roads that criss-cross the mountains but I'm not on a bike that could handle days of difficult gravel and the climbing.

If I weren't working so much I think it would take a week or so to fully explore all the paths along the river here in Lethbridge, there are so many of them. There's also a large hiking only system of trails too.

[Canard]

Had a great day biking in Copenhagen!

https://twitter.com/canardiain/status/88...0201902080

I had looked up some info beforehand, and I'm glad I did: hand signals are different here, and so is turning left (significantly!).

Riding in rush-hour bike traffic was an experience I'll never forget - I had a massive grin on my face.

[plam]

Had a great day biking in Copenhagen!

https://twitter.com/canardiain/status/88...0201902080

I had looked up some info beforehand, and I'm glad I did: hand signals are different here, and so is turning left (significantly!).

Riding in rush-hour bike traffic was an experience I'll never forget - I had a massive grin on my face.

Yeah, there's some weird waving thing with the arm?

You can also experience rush-hour bike traffic in Montreal. I've been at stop lights with a crowd of 10 bicycles!

[tomh009]

Left arm out to turn left, right arm out to turn right!

[jamincan]

I've been in Copenhagen, but I never noticed a difference with the hand signals (mainly because I was walking everywhere).

[danbrotherston]

Left arm out to turn left, right arm out to turn right!

This is no different from here, except that many cyclists instead do that hand signal which is designed for car drivers who cannot reach their right window, but I always do hand gesture pointing where I'm going, you know, the one that naturally makes sense.