Bikepacking The Bitterroot Loop 2.0

Last year, I rode the Bitterroot Loop solo and upon my return, my brother was intrigued by the adventure and decided we wanted to give it a go too. So, here we are again.

The only change from last year to now was we decided to go a few weeks earlier to make sure we could traverse through the Taft Tunnel (it closes at the end of September) and avoid the beginning of hunting season in the area. Avoiding going up and over the tunnel was also on the agenda as that fireroad climb is brutal (mostly a hike-a-bike actually).

Please enjoy our little photo essay and leave us a comment if you have any questions.

Brompton X Via Rail Adventure

Instead of attending the infuriating bike industry trade show in Las Vegas this Fall, we decided a fun-focused trip was in order and since Nadia had never seen the changing forest colours in Eastern Canada it was decided we'd head out east for a little vacation time.

A plan was hatched to visit Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City - with train trips in between cities to maximize our landscape viewing potential. And the only thing better then a train trip is a train trip with Brompton folding bikes!

So, without further rambling on, please enjoy this short photo essay.

2016 Calgary Cargo Bike Championship

Last year we hosted Calgary's first ever cargo bike meetup, which was good fun and saw a pretty solid turn out but something was lacking and many at that meetup were asking - " Why don't we host a cargo bike race?" To which we replied: Sure!

So here we are: one year later and Calgary's Cargo Bike Championship went down under glorious sunshine and pretty hot weather for us, around 30c degrees.

Bikepacking the Powderface Trail

Friend: Hey! I was looking at the map and it looks like a 2-day/1-night bikeovernight from Calgary along the Powderface Trail and back again would be fun.

Me: Whoa. Ya. Could be fun. In between the crazy elevation gains and complete lack of services for 100+kms.

Friend: Exactly!

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Fast forward a couple of years and we finally rode it. Starting at the shop, we headed out during a very hot afternoon with a light breeze pushing us towards the mountains. Our route would take us:

Calgary -> Bragg Creek
Bragg Creek -> West Bragg Creek trails -> Station Flats
Station Flats -> Rainy Pass
Rainy Pass -> Powderface Trail
Powderface Trail -> Sibbald Area
Sibbald -> Calgary

The BikeBike Passport Rides - Chestermere Lake

This ride is part of our "BikeBike Passport" rides around Calgary. Complete all the rides earn a special BikeBike prize. 

All rides are mostly off-street/pathway and are of varying lengths/difficulty level to accommodate all of you that love adventures.

The longer routes do require some level of route finding/navigating as Calgary does not yet have very good (well, barely any actually) route finding system. We've attached links to Map My Ride routes to make it really easy to use your smartphone. 

Other rides in the series - 

* Fish Creek Loop

* Bow River Explorer

* Pathway 100km 

Distance: 75kms

Difficulty Level: Medium-Hard
Ride Time: 3-5 hours

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/548628853

2016 Winterpalooza Photobooth

Finally! We had nice weather for the photobooth. Sun shining, not much wind, and temperatures above zero brought out a lot of Calgary's winter cycling tribe. It was great to see all the different bikes and styles people are using to enjoy winter cycling in our city.

Bravo!

Thanks to everyone that helped make this a success:

Andrew Sterling - Photographer
Kim Fisher - City of Calgary
Gerald Butler - Open Streets Calgary
Good Earth - Hot Chocolate/Coffee
Cyclepalooza
BikeCalgary

Link to the web album HERE. Feel free to save and share your photo.