Waterloo Region winning cyclists’ hearts
Waterloo Region’s unique web of cities, towns and natural spaces makes it Southern Ontario’s cycling destination
IS CYCLING really the new golf? Countless recent articles and thought pieces seem to think so. But talk to many of the passionate cyclists in Waterloo Region, and they’ll likely tell you cycling isn’t the new anything. It’s a centuries-old form of transportation, sport and fun that’s gaining momentum in a region poised to become a cycling hotbed thanks to our natural features,
>> cultural amenities and community enthusiasm.
“Cycling as the new golf is the overarching philosophy of what’s happening right now,” says Alain Francq, managing director for the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Waterloo and president of the Waterloo Cycling Club. “Though I wouldn’t necessarily make that comparison directly. The common thread is that all of these people like being outside, they all like being engaged in their community. It’s no longer standing on a golf green. Plus, it’s competitive and doesn’t take as long.”
Francq is as passionate an advocate for cycling as you could imagine. He not only talks the talk, but he also walks the walk — or rides the ride. He rides for leisure, and races in many of the local street cycling competitions.
There is a joke cyclists tell: While a car runs on money and makes you fat, a bicycle runs on fat and saves you money. Cycling can often become a political issue, but Francq is clear that his organization’s goal is simply to celebrate cycling in all of its forms. “I’m a driver too. I drive to work. It’s all about transportation choices… but I’d rather ride my bike.”
The club’s most popular program is a learn to ride program informally called “the cat’s meow.” “This is a doorway, teaching people how to be a better cyclist, a more informed cyclist. This is our raison d’être,” he says. “We show them what we call ‘the art of the ride.’ It’s how to share the road, how to
get fit, keep fit and be stronger and more confident. And people do get strong.”
The inclusive approach has helped the Waterloo Cycling Club get stronger. According to Francq the club has grown from 40 members five years ago, to close to 400 today.
“Cycling is a perfect reflection of everyone in this community. We have commuters, we have mountain bikers,” he says. “What’s nice about it is that you have police officers, students, high tech executives, moms and dads, and kids and plumbers, you have university employees. It’s this idea that cycling is the new vehicle.”
The Waterloo Cycling Club isn’t the only organization attracting enthusiastic cyclists. Cycle Waterloo organizes and promotes a robust roster of cycling events year-round.
The appropriately named Steaming Nostril race, now in its third year, attracts hundreds of riders of all ages and skills willing to brave late March weather for a ride around St. Jacobs. It offers a bike wash, food, prizes, and police support to ensure rider security.
When it comes to events, the rubber really meets the road in mid-June when Waterloo Region becomes the centre of the Southern Ontario cycling world.
The KW Classic offers local cyclists their first main event of the season on June 7. And it’s a doozy. Riders begin in Hawkesville, just north of St. Clements, and face a 11.3-kilometre route that includes a long climb up Hawkesville Hill. Over the crest cyclists can reach speeds of up to 70 kilometres an hour as they head downhill. Mercifully, the remainder of the course consists of rolling hills and flats along the scenic Conestogo River.
The following weekend, on June 14, Cambridge hosts the Tour de Grand. Established in 1998 to honour the formation of the City of Cambridge, the recreational cycling event offers nine routes, from 10 kilometres to 160 kilometres. Last year the family-friendly ride attracted close to 3,000 participants.
The Kitchener Twilight Grand Prix, happening on June 19, is a Canadian National Level Criterium event. Racers from elite professional teams as well as beginners will take on high-speed 1.1-kilometre loops through downtown Kitchener.
These events are just a taste of what is available to anyone looking to stretch their gears on a sunny afternoon. There are scores more official and informal gatherings across the region.
The diversity of the events also highlights some of the natural advantages our area has when it come to cycling. Sure, we may not have a concentration of cyclists like Toronto, but we have a web of connected cities, towns and natural spaces allowing for gruelling hills one weekend, leisurely urban riding the next, and a gritty downtown blitz the weekend after.
“That is the beauty and genius of the structure of our region,” says Francq. “There are the amazing things you can see when you are on our rural roads. It’s not just the roads and the weather, it’s the community. It’s the people on farms at the side of the road that will wave at you. It’s the horse and buggies that you have to carefully ride past. You’re not going to find that in other parts of the province. That’s what brings people back here.”
While just as beautiful as any country road, the region’s mountain biking destination, known as The Hydrocut, is anything but bucolic. Near University Ave. and Ira Needles Blvd., the 25-kilometre, uninterrupted, pure flowing single-track mountain bike trail attracts riders from across the province looking to test their will against its twists, turns and hills.
“The Hydrocut is not for the faint of heart,” says Carrie Mitchell, an assistant professor at the University of Waterloo’s School of Planning. “There are some challenging parts that require good mountain biking skills. When I enter it I feel like I am in another world, where time slows down and my senses are magnified. It’s my little taste of wilderness in the city.”
Mitchell first got into cycling while living in Vietnam. She bought a $25 bike from a market and it became her primary mode of transport. Her love of mountain biking >>
>> only developed in the past few years because of her father.
“He started mountain biking about a decade ago, and every year he would tell me I needed to try it. Finally I did, and I instantly fell in love,” she says. “My dad was the first person to tell me about The Hydrocut. When I told him I was moving to Waterloo he said we should try it out together.”
It proved to be a wonderful chance for some daughter-father bonding. Mitchell also sees it as an opportunity to expand her social circle.
“When you step into The Hydrocut you have an instant community,” she says. “I often chat with other bikers at resting spots. People are kind and excited to be there. I will probably join a group this year, through the Waterloo Cycling Club, as this is another way to meet like-minded people I wouldn’t otherwise meet in my daily life.”
While Mitchell would never call it ‘networking,’ she’ll admit cycling has reinforced relationships in her professional life as well.
“Mountain biking carved out a small community within my existing academic community. Last summer I cycled with friends from work a number of times,” she says. “They found out that I mountain bike after I came to work with a banged-up, bloody elbow.”
Not all of Mitchell’s cycling leaves her roughed up. Besides her high-end Trek Lush mountain bike, she also owns a fixed-gear Pashley Princess for commuting to work from her Seagram Loft and visiting friends around town. For Mitchell, cycling is as much about lifestyle, as it is adrenalin.
“One of the reasons I chose to research and teach at UW was because of Waterloo itself,” she says. “The planned LRT was a huge draw for me, as was the densification plans for Uptown. The biking trails throughout the city are fantastic.”
However, as an urban planning researcher, Mitchell thinks the region can do a better job in regards to promoting that same lifestyle.
“I am so happy to see the changes taking place in Waterloo,” she says. “We have a real opportunity here to put into practice, innovative, sustainable, transportation options. However, even though I have been cycling all my life, I still don’t want to cycle on King Street because drivers are moving too fast and often don’t notice cyclists. We need to create a culture where cycling is respected and valued.”
Creating this culture aligns with what Francq is trying to achieve at the Waterloo Cycling Club. Part of the “art of the ride,” is helping cyclists understand how they can ride safely on streets shared with cars. With so many new cyclists joining the ranks, it’s a key component in Francq’s vision, “to make Kitchener-Waterloo the No. 1 destination for cycling in Ontario.”
“More and more people have discretionary income and you can see them spending it on bicycles. They are looking for tourism,” says Francq. They’re looking for different types of terrain, different communities,
different events, different races, different food.”
Elmira resident Patrick Gleeson is looking for all of the above, and more, when he gets on his bike. The now-retired business owner began cycling to work in the 1970s. “Honestly, I just didn’t want to buy a second car,” he admits. Now he and his wife have made cycling a regular part of their lifestyle.
“We would ring up some of our friends who are retired and a group of us would go out for a ride,” Gleeson says. “I love seeing all the farms out in Woolwich and Wellesley townships. We have the Mennonite community, and you always see them out there, and I think it’s just so interesting.”
Gleeson and his crew also make a point of stopping for a bite to eat or a coffee in some of the smaller communities outside of Kitchener and Waterloo. “Out in Floradale there is a restaurant we go to there all the time. There is Anna Mae’s in Millbank. Down by the market there is Jack’s. Places like that.”
The Region of Waterloo also recently relaunched its Historic Countryside Tours for people like Gleeson who are looking for a relaxing, enlightening, active (and delicious) trip to the countryside. While the tours don’t have a suggested mode of transport, the region does encourage people to cycle.
It may seem counterintuitive, but folks like Gleeson represent the future of cycling in the region as much as Mitchell and Francq. Gleeson may not be street racing, or taking on The Hydrocut, but he, like much of his growing cohort of active retirees, keeps his cycling challenging. He and his wife have gone on cycling trips in Croatia and Italy. They’ve also begun taking advantage of local open data to plan their routes.
“There is this company out of Seattle that offers open data to people in different areas to input their routes. And it calculates information like kilometres, and the grade of the entire route,” he says.
Gleeson accesses the data on a website called Cycle Ontario. The site features suggested cycling tours, maps, distances and suggested stopping points for nearly every populated area of Ontario.
Suggested routes in Waterloo Region include a General Store Tour, a Woolwich Mountain Run and a 40-kilometre Elmira to Kissing Bridge loop through places like West Montrose, Winterbourne and Conestogo.
But for Gleeson, the experience is less about the destination than the journey.
“I just like being outside. It gives me another opportunity to be outside in the fresh air. By the end of the summer I have a tan,” he jokes.
But what about golf, the more traditionally popular outdoor retirement pastime?
“Most of the people have spouses,” he says of his group. “Usually you see more women than men, so women are very well represented in cycling. I think it has a lot more coed appeal.”