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This is a series of helpful tips from Ian Hill to help you become a better cyclist. Future episodes will appear here.

Durham Cycling Event Post – please sign up and reserve your room

Your stay will be at Endaayaan – Tkanónsote Residence, 156 Albert Street, Kingston Ontario.

Price per night is $129 CAD plus taxes for a 2 bedroom unit. Check in time is 3 pm. Check out time is 11 am.

Parking is available at Tindall Field. Monday – Friday 8 am – 4 pm parking is paid for through the HONK mobile app. $3 per hour, $10 for day.

Parking is free evenings and weekends.

Click here to see who is coming!

At this time we are not collecting payment or credit card information. You will be required to pay for your room upon check in.

You may cancel up to 24 hours prior to arrival.

Please reach out to event.reservations@queens.ca should you have any questions.

June 27-29 2025

Picturesque Brockville

Join us for some fabulous cycling in the Brockville area on our Summer Weekend Adventure. 3 totally different rides will be offered. From the 40 km Thousand Islands Parkway tour on Friday afternoon to the Historic Merrickville Saturday route to the Sunday circle route into farmland. We will be staying at St. Lawrence College residence. Each suite has 2 rooms and a washroom to share. You will be allowed to bring your bikes up to the rooms. Prices are very reasonable,  You can also book a double room if you would like your privacy. Please sign up using the form below and book directly with the college. We will work to arrange your roommates if required. Spouses are also invited, there are great restaurants, shopping and attractions in the Brockville and Gananoque areas, all just a short drive away. Rooms for this weekend are selling quickly and space is limited so book your rooms as quickly as possible, our promo code expires May 26. Get your partner together and book the suite, or sign up and let us assign you to a suite.

Click Here to sign up and book a suite with St. Lawrence College

Click here to see who is coming.

The DCC Executive is considering organizing a winter cycling trip to the Algarve in southern Portugal in February 2023. It would be timed to coincide with the 2023 edition of the Tour of the Algarve (a.k.a. “the Volta”) professional bike race. This is a 5 day event which attracts top UCI World Tour teams. Previous winners include Geraint Thomas, Primos Roglic and Tadej Pojacar. The trip would last for two weeks (although individuals could choose a shorter duration of 10 days or 1 week) starting about a week ahead of the Volta and ending a couple of days after it. This would allow participants to get over jet lag, ride some gradually longer/harder routes in the varied terrain of the Algarve before the Voltar and then ride out to see the race at different locations. The dates would potentially be February 8 to February 22, 2023 with the race being from the 15th to 19th inclusive. There would also be time for some sightseeing by car within the 2 weeks.

Home base for the trip could be the “village” of Alvor, on the coast just west of the city of Portimao. Ithas many things going for it, including a 5km long beach with cliffs to walk at one end and a river estuary with mountain views to walk at the other end, an old town with numerous restaurants, cafes and bars (including one where a “pint” costs 1 euro!), lots of self-catering or hotel accommodation and numerous nearby cycling routes to beaches, castles, traditional villages and the coastal mountains. It is only 30 km to the highest point in the Algarve – Foia at 900 m. above sea level. The easiest way to travel to and from the Algarve is to fly Air Transat direct from Toronto to Faro Airport – roughly a 7 hour flight. Faro is about a 45 minute drive east of Alvor. There are other options involving flying to Lisbon which is about a 3 hour drive from the Algarve. Air fare is about $1,000 to $1,500 depending on route and/or options selected. Air Transat will transport a bicycle for $75 each way (you might need to rent a bike box on top of that). There are also local bicycle stores that will rent decent road bikes for about $250 – $300 for 12 days. Local travel would likely be by rental car (rates being very reasonable as it will be the low season) but buses and trains are available between some
locations.

Accommodation would be either self-catered apartments/villas or hotels. Again, because it will be low season, rates are quite reasonable. For example, a two bedroom apartment comfortably sleeping four could be around $900 for two weeks including bed linens, towels and all utilities. More spacious villas or
full service hotels would naturally be more expensive. We hope this brief description of our idea will peak your interest. There are several members of the club/Executive who’ve spent a fair bit of time visiting/cycling in the Algarve in the winter months in the past few years. These include President Kathy N, VP Rob B, ex-President Sharon W and ex-Secretary Eric W. They’d no doubt wax lyrical about the joys of cycling in the Algarve if you asked them any questions you have. If you are interested, please go to the web site and let us know so we can gauge whether it will be worth pursuing the idea. Details will be finalized in the fall once the Volta dates are known and airline schedules are available.

Click here to see updated list of interested members
Click Here to see who is on the list of interested members.

GROUP RIDING

By now I am sure that most of you have heard about our Tuesday night crash a few weeks ago which unfortunately resulted in some of the riders sustaining injuries.

WHAT HAPPENED – Our group was doing a spirited echelon on Hwy 2 east of Newcastle and the word went out, “Keep it around 40kph”. When riders checked their speed wheels touched and the result was a number of riders going down.

WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM THIS? – The key to riding in a group whether it be a social pace line, pace line or echelon is to maintain a steady constant effort, speed has absolutely nothing to do with it. That effort will increase when climbing and it is up to the strongest riders to keep the group together and not go charging ahead. On gradual descents the leaders should not quit pedalling, those behind are already on their brakes, so keep pedaling with light effort. AND, because you are not looking at speed you can place your full attention to the bikes in front of you.

SPEED on your GPS/ Bike Computer – When I ask riders who are buying computers what they want it for nearly everyone has the same answer, “I want to see how fast I am going”, I have never had anyone say “I want to see how slow I am going” yet that’s when they should be looking at their computer, not when they are going fast. If I ask what’s the benefit of knowing your speed most have no answer, some have a pre-conceived number as to what their maximum speed should be and brake when they reach that number. That number too means nothing, there are some bikes that are unstable at 35kph and others comfortable at twice that speed. The key is to descend at a speed that you feel comfortable with on your bike and forget whatever number that corresponds to, DON’T LOOK AT THE SPEED.

MY GPS DISPLAY – Of the 3 pages on my GPS none display speed, front and centre at the top of the page is Heart Rate, ideally it would be Power but power meters are expensive, heart rate is the next best thing. The other items on my main page are Cadence, Distance, Time and % Grade. Yes, when I am struggling up that hill with my heart rate way up I want to how steep it is, and I don’t really want to know how slow I am going, all I know is that it’s slow enough for me to look at my computer. When I stop or download my GPS at the end of the ride it displays Maximum Speed, Average Speed etc. and all the details I don’t need to know when I’m on the bike.

IN SHORT – At the DCC kick off I mentioned that speed was Irrelevant. I’d like to add to that, “Checking your speed is not only Irrelevant it’s a Detriment, forget about it, ENJOY YOUR RIDE”.

Glyn