Month: August 2012

Cycling with Just Food Ottawa on a Hot Summer Day

August 28, 2012 Hansonthebike 3

Reading Time: 6 minutesChecking out community gardens on excellent bike tour by Just Food Ottawa I never knew so many cyclists would be interested in food and community gardens. Gardening, food and cycling, three of my long term favourites. Last Sunday, after a failed attempt a year before, I finally made it to the Just Food community garden tour. “Just Food’s mission is to work towards a vibrant, just and sustainable food system in the Ottawa region. Just Food is a grassroots, non-profit organization that includes staff, volunteers, community partners, members and funders“, says their website. Both my grandfathers in Holland grew vegetables [Read more…]

A Balancing Act Along the Ottawa River

August 22, 2012 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 3 minutesJust when you figured out that cycling is really a weird balancing act (technically as well as politically), you discover that other people are in the act of balancing too. So we cycled out to Remic Rapids last weekend to watch the International Stone Balancing Festival. Calling it a festival was probably a bit of a stretch, but balancing it is for sure. Says the website of the of the Balanced Art World International in its manifesto: – We consider the practice to place stones in balance an artistic expression; – We choose mainly natural environments, accompanied by silence as [Read more…]

Destination Prince Edward County, Ontario

August 14, 2012 Hansonthebike 6

Reading Time: 6 minutesIn terms of cycling, Canada is a hidden gem. In terms of wine, even more so. Tell your relatives back in Holland that you toured Canadian wine country on a bicycle, and they think you are kidding them. Canada: that is polar bears, RV rental in the Rockies, hard working farmers and Dutch Reformed Christians. The folks in Europe don’t associate Canada with wine and cycling. Yet, just 250 km (for my US readers, that is 150 miles)  outside of Ottawa, the second coldest capital in the world, you’ll find a place called Prince Edward County, a place so unknown [Read more…]

Post Velo-City event in Ottawa

August 7, 2012 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 2 minutesIn 1643 John Owen wrote : If the mountaine will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will goe to the mountaine“. It is a phrase I remembered when we were putting a post Velo-City event in Ottawa together. Velo-City is a large four day bicycle conference and I am sure most of you have heard about it, so I won’t go too much into detail. Apparently, there were about 600 professionals in Vancouver, where the event was held earlier this year. Every even year, the European Cycling Associaition organises the event outside Europe, every odd year somewhere in Europe: last year it [Read more…]