In curious if anyone else has had a run in with this guy. I just had my second one..

The last time was over a year ago, I was riding down bank street in the Glebe on garbage day, and when I went around the garbage truck. (There was lots room, and I was traveling at the same speed as the cars, he began to berate me about . The right lane is mine and I should stay out of the left lane that's just for cars ...

Then today ... He is in the left lane stopped at a light, and when he saw me approaching up the hill at Sun y side, he pulled over from a stop and right up to he curb to block me from getting by .... So I dismounted my bike walked around him.. to his honks and hollers . And continued my ride. The. He just dove beside me bitching ..

I was stuck with the asshole for 10 blocks last year.. I offered to pull over and call the cops to have a discussion with them but he didn't wanna do that.

My Strava streak for riding on the roads of Ottawa, is 146 weeks...

I've never had a worse driver to deal with . I figure I can t be alone .

Don't want to know who he is, but am considering a police report. If there are others .... It would be even more compelling

I went to assess the damage of my winter bike (it's that time of year) and realized it's probably beyond reasonable repair. The front while doesn't turn - both rotate and steer! The chain is rusted into one piece, etc.

Where would be a good place to source a sub-$500 entry level hybrid or mountain bike that I can fit with studded tires? Is re-Cycles the place? I don't mind spending closer to $1000, but it seems asinine to buy a new bike for this purpose, given the condition of our winter roads.

Hi all, I’ve been thinking of heading out to the trans Canada trail that goes from the watts creek pathway to Timm Rd in Kanata. This trail got severely damaged during the Canada Day flood. Wondering if it is back to normal now?

Cars were parked in Laurier bike lanes roughly every 3-4 blocks. In a few cases, they let passengers out into the bike lane and door prizes were around 10 meters from happening. I also had a gentlemen turn right from WB at the new Laurier/Elgin intersection on a red in front of me (I had green). I am hopeful for that new design, but some drivers are oblivious.

Surprising no one.

I did find it interesting that compliance with laws went up with better infrastructure for bikers.

Sharing in the hopes of a bike miracle. My bike was stolen from my backyard in Centretown last night. It's a pink & white Fiore Modena with Velo Orange granny handlebar and black hand grips. White brake line casing and black rear wheel rack. There's a tear in the seat cushion.

But you can detour as shown.
There were signs up but I had to ignore them and see what was going on 😅

We have a couple low-pressure, slow-pace sorta things going on this Sunday to wind down as we near the end of the season. Parts jumble sale @ re-Cycles 11-3 then a chill pace night ride & after party at Retro Rides. Hope to see ya there!

Taken from our backyard around 10 pm in vanier area.

Full cycle isn’t doing winter bike storage this year, any other suggestions?

The single biggest finding is that people are afraid of being squished by cars.
“The study concludes that people want to ride but are afraid to. It broke the respondents up into groups, and even 60.6% of "strong and fearless/enthused and confident" riders said a physically separated bike lane would encourage them to ride more.
The Study (links are below the highlights)

Obviously not everyone can just use a bike all the time in Ottawa, but studies like this do make me wonder what people would be willing to replace a car trip with a bike for, and what would be needed for them to do so. I know some people just wouldn't, but my suspicion is a fair number of people would like to do so, if we had improved and consistent biking infrastructure.

I have the luxury of being able to bike to work, I dislike doing it in poor weather, and I probably would not if the workplace didn't have a secure access controlled lockup for the bikes. With traffic and parking costs, I would take transit if I don't want to take the bike.

Outside of the commute, I have about a 7~10km radius from my house where if the weather is pleasant, I can bike to do errands/shopping trips much faster than relying on public transit schedules. My largest annoyance is when the lockup options at the shops are poor. (Shoutout to costco for actually having decent hitching posts.) This has turned out to be surprisingly easy to do, but my area has half-decent bike lanes, not great, but better than nothing. Biking takes longer than using the car too, but not enough to be significant at these distances.

So what barriers exist for you? What do you wish you could ditch the car for if you could? What improvement to infrastructure would work for your day to day.

Stolen from our locked shed in Carlington last night; the lock is now missing. It’s a well used white Marin Alp.

Since the election has quietly brought up bike lanes again, kind of interesting to see how this became so divisive the last time around. (And in light of how at the provincial level, they've stalled 27 bike projects in Ottawa now as well)

So with the days being shorter, how many of you have started biking into the night (or early in the morning)?

I have been doing some night time rides, and it's a bit exhilarating and scary at the same time. Sometimes the paths are dead quiet, and there are no car noises whatsoever, just the hum of the bike tires. However with no street lighting, vision ahead is reduced so I find myself travelling at slower speeds so I don't smash into something with the tires. I certainly appreciate knowing most of the routes since I can avoid known potholes/bad road sections without necessarily seeing them well in advance.

Biking on roads is also different, I don't think I'd want to do it in busy traffic at night. Even with a good tail light and wearing high vis, I don't trust motorists to actually see me if they're distracted and at night the risk is probably higher.

Anyway, been fun discovering more of the city after dark, anyone else enjoy night rides? Is it a preference thing, or just the commute forces you to ride in the dark?

https://health-infobase.canada.ca/datalab/bicycling-infrastructure.html?city=Ottawa

I thought this was a really neat tool to see what the muncipality says exists, vs the common standard says exists. In Ottawa, the city claims 170 km of bike infrastructure per 100k residents, but if you apply the common classification, it drops to about 117km per 100k.

You can select other cities as well (including Gatineau). I hope they update the datasets though, the NCR was last done in 2018.

So as my form of protest to the bike lane removal saga in both provinces surrounding the NCR and Anti-Bike Lane/Pro-Car Legislation created by one province and hurting NCR projects, I decided to treat myself and buy/build up a new commuter for myself. I'm not big into other forms of protest, but I can definitely just bike more to show support.

I have to thank r/bikecommuting , r/bikewrench , and r/bicycling for the help in making some of the decisions.

I spent most of this year building up my own endurance, practicing navigating to my workplace on the weekends, biking either in the morning or in the afternoon on weekdays, to the point where the 20k ride to work is nothing. I'm in better shape, not stuck in traffic, and generally just happier all around. Now I have a dedicated commuter/shopping bike to augment what I was already doing.

I'm pretty pleased with the end result for the bike. Trek FX Sport in Aluminum (as I am budget conscious and this is a commuter), Trek Fenders and MIK rack, Ortlieb Sport Rollers, Topeak aero saddlebag + Amazon special frame bag (for when I am riding without the Ortliebs but still want a spare tube and basic maintenance kit), a bell, a Giant HL800 light for when it is a little dark out, Trek Line Elite pedals, a nice contrasting water bottle, and a specialized water bottle holder (because I like the design). Also, a kickstand because of this thread.

And since this is Ottawa, feel free to 🔥roast🔥 my setup 😄.

Via this video on preparing for winter biking, I found this nifty tool:

https://shifter.info/bike-rideable-days/

Using the same inputs that he punched in for Calgary, the tool claims there are 336 rideable days in Ottawa:

https://imgur.com/a/uYwJbL4

How many days per year do you bike in Ottawa? 😄

Hey everyone!

Not sure if sharing group rides is allowed here, but figured I'd give it a shot!

I've noticed a lot of the organized group rides around Ottawa tend to start downtown or in Gatineau, so I thought it would be fun to get something going in the south end for a change.

I'm organizing a free Halloween inspired night ride on Wednesday, October 28th and would love to get some local cyclists together!

We'll be riding from Leitrim Station to Osgoode and back along the Osgoode Trail. The entire route follows a dedicated multi-use pathway, so there's no riding alongside vehicle traffic, which makes it a great option for a night ride! There are a few road crossings, but otherwise it's all trail.

The trail is relatively flat with compact pressure dust, so gravel bikes are recommended, but road bikes with suitable tires are welcome too.

Ride details:

• Date: Wednesday, October 28th (rain date October 29th)
• Time: Meet at 6:45pm, roll out at 7:00
• Location: Leitrim Station (free parking available)
• Distance: 38km at approximately 25-28km/h (~1h45m)
• Front and rear lights required!

It's intended to be a social ride, not a race, with some regrouping stops along the way. Anyone comfortable maintaining around the 25-28km/h pace is welcome!

There's plenty of parking at Leitrim Station, but you can also ride in via the Osgoode Link and Sawmill Creek pathways which connect to the rest of the city's main bike paths.

I've created events on both Strava and Facebook with the full details and route:

• Strava Event
• Facebook Event

Hope to see some of you out there!

So I recently discovered this law in LA, and I think it would be great to have here.

  A person shall not do or attempt to do any of the following:

• Physically assault or attempt to physically assault a Bicyclist because of, in whole or in part, the Bicyclist’s status as a Bicyclist.
• Threaten to physically injure a Bicyclist because of, in whole or in part, the Bicyclist’s status as a Bicyclist.
• Intentionally injure, attempt to injure, or threaten to physically injure, either by words, vehicle, or other object, a Bicyclist because of, in whole or in part, the Bicyclist’s status as a Bicyclist.
• Intentionally distract or attempt to distract a Bicyclist because of, in whole or in part, the Bicyclist’s status as a Bicyclist.
• Intentionally force or attempt to force a Bicyclist off a street for purposes unrelated to public safety.

What I think is genius about this, is that it doesn't rely on the police. You can sue them in civil court, for 1000USD. Have a witness or a camera filming of the incident? Basically 1000 dollars guaranteed. Cops don't need to be involved, all happens on the civil side.

And some of the clauses are amazing too, 'distracting' bikes includes honking or yelling at bikers for the 'crime' of biking.

Since the police refuse to do anything, I think this would be a great deterrent. Maybe up the payout to 2000 CAD.

The reasons they created the law are great too:
After public hearings and receipt of testimony, the City Council finds and declares:

• That the City of Los Angeles wants to encourage people to ride bicycles rather than drive motor vehicles in order to lessen traffic congestion and improve air quality;
• That harassment of bicyclists on the basis of their status as bicyclists exists in the City of Los Angeles;
• That existing criminal and civil laws do not effectively prevent the unlawful harassment of bicyclists because of their status as bicyclists;
• That riding a bicycle on City streets poses hazards to bicyclists, and that these hazards are amplified by the actions of persons who deliberately harass and endanger bicyclists because of their status as bicyclists; and
•  That because people have a right to ride a bicycle in the City of Los Angeles and should be able to do so safely on City streets, it is against the public policy of the City of Los Angeles to harass a bicyclist upon the basis of the person’s status as a bicyclist.

Full details of the law https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/los_angeles/latest/lamc/0-0-0-284828