Blog

Ontario Gravel Bike Races & Events 2024

Published 12.31.2023
File under: Cycling, Events & Races

A list of gravel bike events and races which take place in the province of Ontario in 2024.

The Problem of “Luxury” Apartments

Published 12.19.2023
File under: Community, Housing, Municipal

A simplistic, often-repeated diagnosis of Ontario’s housing problem is that it is a supply-side issue, with the conclusion being that the province needs to remove red tape to allow developers to build more housing units. Mostly absent from most of these discussions is the type and quality of housing needed.

2023 Cannonball 300 bikepacking route in Brantford, Ontario, Canada

My Bike Touring Setup (2023)

Published 12.03.2023
File under: Bike Touring, Cycling

In 2023 I made some major upgrades to my bike touring setup, including a new steel bike.

Review: 2021 Jamis Renegade S3

Published 12.03.2023
File under: Bike Touring, Cycling, Reviews

5,000km review: the Jamis Renegade S3 mid-range steel gravel bike.

Moving Towards a Car-Free Downtown Guelph

Published 11.26.2023
File under: Community, Cycling, Urban Planning

In 2020, Guelph mayor Cam Guthrie indicated 1 that part of his vision for the long-term future of downtown Guelph includes a car-free zone. Car-free urban cores are the logical next-step for North American cities to take in terms of the future of urban development, but progress has been slow. Major changes, such as a […]

Route Review: The Cannonball 300

Published 06.20.2023
File under: Bike Touring, Cycling, Routes

The Cannonball 300 is a roughly 300km gravel and road loop around the Greater Hamilton, Lake Erie and Niagara regions of Southern Ontario. Taking its name from a bicycle model once produced in Thorold, Ontario, it’s a great way to explore the eastern portion of Southern Ontario’s Lake Erie coastline, and has ample overnight destinations […]

A view of Lake Huron from the Goderich coast.

Route Review: Guelph to Goderich (G2G)

Published 06.18.2023
File under: Bike Touring, Cycling, Routes

The Guelph-to-Goderich rail trail is about 130km of hard-packed gravel, with minimal elevation/hill climbing and mostly sheltered from traffic. I’ve biked this trail in its entirety from Guelph all the way to Goderich twice, enjoying it both times, once in perfect, warm weather, and once in cold rain. Overall Ratings Route Map The G2G trail […]

Vim Cheatsheet & Basic .vimrc Setup

Published 06.16.2023
File under: Tech

A list of helpful everyday Vim commands. I have also included my current .vimrc file at time of writing (note, I primarily work in JavaScript, SCSS/PostCSS, Python, and PHP building web applications).

2010 Giant Rapid 3 Hybrid Dropbar Conversion

Converting a Hybrid Bike to a Road Bike

Published 06.09.2023
File under: Conversions, Cycling

This post outlines the conversion of a 2010 Giant Rapid 3 hybrid bike into a “road bike”. Fortunately, the Rapid frame geometry is almost identical to the Giant Defy endurance road bike’s geometry, so this hybrid bike is well-suited to this type of a conversion.

My Bike Touring Setup (2022)

Published 04.10.2023
File under: Bike Touring, Cycling

2022 was the second year I went on any multi-day trips on a bike. This post outlines the gear I used on these trips, in hopes in might be useful to someone.

My Bike Touring Setup (2021)

Published 04.07.2023
File under: Bike Touring, Cycling

2021 was the first year I went on any multi-day trips on a bike. This post outlines the gear I used on these first trips, in hopes in might be useful to someone. This was my first year touring—I started by using the bike I already owned, and buying cheap items I thought I might need.