Tag: cycling

I’d been wanting to combine an excursion to downtown Abbotsford with a road cycling training ride for a while. Before I committed to executing the ride, I made sure to scout out the route beforehand to look for obstacles, challenges, problems, etc.

Marshall Road has a nice 2-way dedicated bike lane, but I did have challenges with Amazon delivery vehicles blocking it, and it ends right as the downtown area really starts in earnest. By the time I got to the area with the most interesting shops and businesses, I was walking my bike (in bike shoes). On the positive side, I rode along Gladys Road without having any cars to contend with and noticed some bunny rabbits that ran alongside me (instead of perpendicularly away from me) as I rode.

I had scouted out where I was going to park my bike and what I was going to eat when I reached my destination, so 2 weeks later all I had to do was make sure I was prepared. I packed my Salomon hydration pack with a U-Lock and sandals to walk around in. Of course, I also filled the hydration bladder with water and electrolyte powder.

One of the things that had annoyed me on my initial scouting ride is there seemed to be no way nicely cross Highway 11 – Sumas Way. On this attempt, I turned North after the Marshall Bike lanes ended and thought the map was showing me a secret trail. That ended up being a dead end, so I used the bridge over Old Yale.

After that, I had a pretty easy way into the downtown core, and I parked and locked my bike under the supervision of 3 upstanding Abbotsford citizens.

I grabbed lunch and a milkshake at BRGR BRGR.

I took the time to do a little shopping at the Spruce Collective – I grabbed an Abbotsford keychain, a magnetic poetry kit and some post-cards (I’ve taken up post-card writing as a little hobby – old school correspondence for the win!).

The ride home was tedious, not only because I crossed Hwy 11 the hard way (dismounting and crossing a multi-lane roadway as a pedestrian), but also because it was a net uphill, and my hydration supply had gotten luke warm in the summer heat.

Still, I’m proud of the accomplishment, and had a nice little excursion.

I think I had the best bike ride (or at least best solo bike ride) of my life this weekend. I had the idea of riding home from church in Chilliwack – Google said there were good bike routes, so I saved one to my phone, but more on that later.

In anticipation of another triathlon training season, I decided to update my road cycling shoes. The cleats were worn down and the velcro straps were coming apart, in spite of multiple gluings.

And so I bought a pair of new bike shoes, and they had a feature called a Boa, which I was not familiar with. There’s a little dial that essentially tightens some wires that act as light laces. I was a little concerned that the wires could break and then what happens to the shoe, but they come with a lifetime warranty, and it looks like they’ll be pretty good for on and off during transitions and triathlon. And what’s nice is I can even tighten them as I ride. I found I was riding along, and I thought I could use a little bit more responsiveness out of the shoe and some tightening. So I just was able to, while I was riding along, reach down, turn the little wheel, and the shoe got tighter.

I also tested using my Shokz OpenSwim Pro’s . I had turn by turn navigation in my ear while still being able to hear cars and the rest of the environment. So I got cues as I went along. Once I was on the on country roads, I turned on the music.

The ride was just perfect. It’s the kind of thing I always wanted to do, ever since we moved to BC: doing something outdoorsy while fitting it into the rest of my lifestyle (between the kids getting tutored and going to church). The weather was beautiful. The ride was flat. I used technology to not get lost and stay motivated. I noted that much of the ride did have signs to designate the roads as part of a bike route, and in the busiest parts of Chilliwack, there were dedicated bike lanes.

I need to find more routes like this, and ideally add mountain bike rides that are of an appropriate level for me – not just flat gravel (e.g. dyke trails) nor single track on the side of a mountain where I could break my neck.