Back in 2014 I gave up my car. It was mainly due to very limited cash flow, but also desire to be more eco-friendly. While I was still living in Toronto, getting around was not an issue. Public transit, cycling and walking worked just fine, and in many case it
Continue readingTag: cycling
A Grumpy Hobbit: Going Green – Transportation
Back in 2014 I gave up my car. It was mainly due to very limited cash flow, but also desire to be more eco-friendly. While I was still living in Toronto, getting around was not an issue. Public transit, cycling and walking worked just fine, and in …
Continue readingA Grumpy Hobbit: Going Green – Transportation
Back in 2014 I gave up my car. It was mainly due to very limited cash flow, but also desire to be more eco-friendly. While I was still living in Toronto, getting around was not an issue. Public transit, cycling and walking worked just fine, and in …
Continue readingcmkl: Castelli Secondapelle bike gloves – barely there
Slick, and tight-fitting, they do indeed feel like a second skin. But that ‘minimalist’ thing gives them a tight timeline for staying comfortable.
Continue readingcmkl: Ten thousand clicks
This morning was a pretty normal pre-work trip up to Champlain lookout. Except that I rode my 10,000th kilometre for the year on it.
Continue readingcmkl: Jerseys – for when you need to keep your shirt on
A lot gets said about jerseys. They’re part totem, part equipment. So there’s more lore, superstition and custom around them than most other bits of bike kit. I will explain a bit about what I think about jerseys which should explain what I’m reviewing and what I’m not, then I’ll
Continue readingcmkl: Bike gloves – hide the liver spots
Wherein I review all the warm weather, fingerless gloves I’ve ever used and wrecked. Including some I hope I don’t wreck for a long, long time.
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Achievement and Death and Stuff
First, a bit about boredom: “Boredom may lead you to anything. After all, boredom even sets one to sticking gold pins into people…one may choose what is contrary to one’s own interest…one’s own fancy, however wild it may be…desire what is injurious to himself, what is stupid, very stupid –
Continue readingcmkl: I was one of Matt Moore’s jerks the other day
Wherein I counter-rant about Matt Moore’s rant about cyclists on ottawacitizen.com
Continue readingcmkl: Worn and torn
I have worn out my tires. In six months
Continue readingcmkl: New threshold of power
Wherein I brag about achieving a five per cent boost in functional threshold power over six months training. Did you nod off there briefly? It’s okay. I get that a lot.
Continue readingcmkl: Bibshorts: MAMIL sausage
Wherein I compare the comfort and usefulness of the various bib shorts I’ve used
Continue readingcmkl: Ottawa Granfondo: that was a ride
Wherein I describe riding 235km over about eight hours and learn that I should never ride in a peloton.
Continue readingcmkl: Base layers: the old man and the undershirt
Part two of a series on my search for the perfect all-day cycling kit. Base layers.
Continue readingcmkl: Between a sofa and a plank: the search for the bike saddle of my dreams
Aka mister goldilocks goes to the bike store. Again.
Continue readingcmkl: Trans-Outaouais Terror
Sure the maps all say there’s a road there. And so what if there’s no Google Street View? How bad could it be? I’ve got wide tires and disc brakes. That should be fine, right? Right. So off I went. It wasn’t supposed to be all that hard. But there
Continue readingcmkl: Sunday was pretty good too
End to end, 5:22, moving time: 5:17. Not as speedy as Saturday, but still much faster than my 5:45 target. I have the wind to thank for a bit of it, but I do believe the training has been working. I wouldn’t have actually stopped at all if my power
Continue readingcmkl: Trouble is how to repeat that
This is my only mid-ride photo from the first half of the Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour. The tl;dr is that I killed it. The wind was favourable for sure. I was aiming to cut 20 minutes off my last year’s time and crack the six hour mark. I told my
Continue readingcmkl: Podium
Admittedly a small field, but I came in second in my age group today in Lap the Gats. I am thrilled. Apparently there’s this thing on the internet called “humble bragging”? I’m just going to brag brag. I was seventh overall in a field of 165 riders in this charity
Continue readingcmkl: The quest for good goo: Clif savoury gels – Margherita pizza in a tube
I have been struggling with in-saddle nutrition of late. Whatever other goals you may have for weight maintenance, loss or gain, “eating while biking” after you get past a certain time or distance is all about avoiding that sudden onset of fatigue or exhaustion known as “bonking.” Not that kind
Continue reading