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Riding Rail Trails is not Mountain Biking. I'm Doing this Forum thing Wrong.

5K views 43 replies 19 participants last post by  BlackCanoeDog 
#1 ·
Rail trails can be pretty straight, flat, and boring.

But today, that's just what I was craving. A steady and smooth ride. Just a few climbs. No traffic. Views of vast fields, and farms. I needed a slightly longer ride. Since (Canadian) Thanksgiving, all of my rides have been short, mostly just occasional commutes, as I've been wrapped up in school work. But today, I escaped, and pedaled for about 60 quiet kilometers.

It was fantastic. I'll take tractor crossings over busy intersections any day.





















 
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#5 ·
The lighting was great for this picture. I took another one just a few seconds later (I wanted to get my bike on the level ground), and the clouds took away the nice golden light.
 
#9 ·
Hahahaha. You seriously made me lol.

I've been working on a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering since September 2006, just after you joined. It's been a long and challenging road. I've picked up 12 months of related experience along the way through co-op. I have not taken the shortest road to the end, but if all goes well, I'll be wearing an iron ring this spring.
 
#16 ·
very good point. however, some may construe this as harassment with serious legal ramifications. you know what i mean... ;) careful...

student forever... i know a few of these... but he must be itching to get the first fat pay check so that he can burn some serious cash on toys...
 
#22 ·
Great pics! Looks like you covered some good distance on that ride. I recognize all of those places, I have done the hamilton to brantford a couple of times. I would do it more often but I hate the backtracking on long trails. I always want to go further but I dread the distance I have to return. BTW, you have a great bike for it
 
#31 ·
This is the first time I've gotten that far. I remember one time a few years ago I set out down the rail trail. I got bored after about 5km and turned around. You have to be in the right mood I suppose.
 
#27 ·
Your version mountain biking may be somebody else's version of a rail trail and vice-versa.

We only need to look at local course albion hills which is readily rideable on a cx bike. In fact there is a CX race going on there soon!

It is also funny that a lot of people actually do think of rail trails as mountain biking, so your joke isn't too far off the mark and therefor you might not be doing this mtb forum thing too wrong.
 
#30 ·
I've spent most of my weekends this year at the cottage and have found the rail trail in to Perth is a fun way to get to town on my single speed, about an hour and a half each way. Most of it is through the woods, and there are some rocky and gravelly sections to give it a bit of a challenge. It is much preferable to the road route, a long straight flat road that always ends up with a ride home into a headwind.
I rode some of the Hamilton to Caledonia trail about a year ago on my road bike, found it to be a different riding experience, more challenging than roading, lots less fun than mountain biking though!
We are fortunate to have some many riding options!!!.
 
#33 ·
BCD - the best stretch of rail trail close to us is from about Donald, through Kinmount and on to Lindsay - Matt and I roll that stretch into quite a few of our rides - it helps that we've found a great camp spot near Kinmount. The trail actually continues North from Donald to Haliburton - but as any one who did the first two years of Crank the Shield will tell you, that stretch isn't anything to get excited about.

Closer by us and even more fun - and sometimes requiring fat tires - check out some of the old ghost roads. Stone Road and Devil's Gap are just teasers. I'd like to try to pick up the Victoria Road one day, but considering it was deemed impassible back in the 30's there may not be much left
 
#35 ·
A little more rail trail this weekend.

Huh... Can't help but wonder what the story behind this one is.


Quiet roads through farm country.




Upgraded the pulleys on my 105 derailleur. The bushings in the stock ones were totally pooched. Installed some Tacx pulleys with sealed stainless steel bearings.

 
#42 ·
Seriously, if you stow too much weight that high on your bike, it would start to feel a little tippy when out of the saddle. I don't doubt that people have found good uses for such an item though in a touring scenario.
 
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