Frozen Bikephoto by Joasso, Creative Commons
Today I saw a nice on-line piece about cycling in winter in Canada. Apparently, a number of municipalities are promoting winter cycling as a transportation alternative and are doing things like clearing bikepaths of snow and promoting safe riding. The City of Toronto did a Bike Winter Festival recently, and has good tips and links on its website for winter cyclists. The enthusiast quoted in the article talks about how winter cycling is like cross-country skiing and mountain biking all in one. Of course, cycling in Toronto is tropical compared to Ottawa: I have not ridden recently due to the extreme cold and slushiness here but will probably start again later this week as I saw some cyclists out today.
Even though it was -20C as I walked in to work, I saw a flock of about twenty robins sitting on a snowbank near the river, pecking at the snow. I don't think I have ever seen robins so early in the year so perhaps Spring is really not far away!
5 comments:
All very good tips, however, they have never seen the Dunrobin Road! LOL...I will consider the high clip fender and sturier front tire for my spring rides though.
I can't believe (no, I'm not calling you a liar) Robins, my gosh, poor wee things, maybe they were blown off course from somewhere warmer, I really hope they will make the harsh weather still to come.
I would have not believed my eyes if I had seen just one but since there was a whole group I stood and watched them for a while. They were singing away, which was nice, but there is not much in the way of food anywhere for them. I called the Wild Bird Centre and they told me there have been other reports of robins but mine was the first flock of them.
Oh, those poor robins! They did jump the gun although the ground hog in NJ said that spring is just a few weeks away - not buying it!
I made the mistake of calling my mother in Toronto to tell her about the robins and now we are both deeply concerned about them. Although I put out birdseed at home I think robins are looking for worms. Maybe they can head back south for a while.
Many of f my favorite rides are in the winter surrounded or through heavy snow.
FUN!!
20 below? a little less fun ;)
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