Sunday, May 19, 2013

Bike Ride to St. Jacobs

Today Hai and I took the bikes out for a ride to St. Jacobs, Ontario. It was a great warm day, so we took the scenic route as often as possible.

The Farmer's Market is not open yet, but the round trip was more than worth it: we did more than 240km, out of which 50km were on the highway, on the way back! Even if, technically, this was the second time I hoped on the highway on the bike, I do consider today to have been my first taste of how it feels to ride on the highway.


Here are a few of the highlights of the ride:

  • a bike can accelerate from a stop a lot faster than an average car (more torque per less mass)
  • keep the distance from the rider in front of you safe, but narrow: otherwise it's an open invitation for cars to get in between
  • when separated from fellow riders (a car got in between, lost a light etc) switch from "group riding" mindset to "lone rider" mindset
  • when changing gears, fully and quickly engage the clutch, change and release – quick and smooth
  • the bike loves to be in 5th gear on the highway

For extra details, there is also a more interactive map of our ride to St. Jacobs.

The previous ride was a bit more than 100km long, this one quite a bit more than 200km, so you can only imagine how much I'm looking forward to the next one! :D