Tyler's Trailway

It has been far too long since I've actually posted, there has been some changes in my life, new career path, winter has been filled with Curling and Hockey and Spinning, not so much biking outside.   Am I concerned going into 2019, not at all, I have pushed harder this off season to make sure I hit the ground running again, or I guess biking. What goals do I have for 2019, well mainly to be out on the bike in the forest or on the road.  I have some personal goals, to get faster, more endurance and have more fun.  All of which are more than achievable. Looking at the bike schedule, I'm going out and trying a couple road races / rides this year, based out of Creemore, nothing crazy, 60 and 100km tours.  More to get out and see whether I like it or just stick to the forest / morning road rides.  Sometimes it is just nice to get out on the bike and ride, no reason or training, but just to be out and enjoying everything. I will be trying this year to ride with Liesje more, ei

Another successful year in the books, and with the wrap of 2018 festivities comes many various and random beers given as gifts and or purchased at the local LCBO.   The holiday season is great for that, stuff you would never see the other 364 days of the year.   Such as the Belhaven Scottish Ale.   I personally have not seen it, or I really haven’t looked for it, but I was gifted it and during New Year’s festivities consumed 1.   Yes, only 1, because it was a mixer pack, and there was only 1 in the case.   Belhaven Brewery is a United Kingdom based brewery from Dunbar.   If you are like me and have never been there, I can only imagine how nice it is.     Check out their website at:   https://www.belhaven.co.uk/ One of the beers in the mixer pack was Belhaven Scottish Ale.   Now whether you can buy just a single at the LCBO or not I’m not 100% sure, but that being said, it comes in the holiday mixer pack.   As you can tell by the below photo, it pours a nice hazel colour

As we move closer and closer to the holiday season, the selection at the local LCBO becomes better and better.   Now if you don’t live in Ontario, well then you probably don’t know what the LCBO is… It is a great place that you can purchase your alcohol needs, whether it is beer, wine, spirits etc.   Shameless LCBO plug checked off the list… Luckily for me, having dinner at a friends’ place recently allowed me to try Junction Road Brewing’s Black Lager.   With a name like Black Lager, you would assume that it is a Black Lager, and well you would be correct…. It is a black lager… It would be funny though if when you poured out the black lager that it was red or clearer, that would really mess with your perspective.   But I digress, The Junction Road Brewery Black Lager was just that a Black Lager. As you can tell by the photo in the post, well the Black Lager pours Black, surprise surprise.   That being said, it poured out a nice dark beer with a beige head.   But you ca

With having a now over 1 year old little girl, the time has come for her to be on the bike with me, maybe not so much on single track, but just on gravel rides.  I have used the pull behind trailer with her in it, and that worked awesome, but with the recommendation from another rider about a Weeride carrier, I had to check it out.  Really, anything to do with bikes I have to research.... Its an obsession I think... I have looked around at other carriers, just trying to see what options are out there before Liesje (pronounced Alicia, but without the A) gets onto a Balance Bike.  A couple came up, the Weeride , as well as the Macride child seat. I ended up choosing the Weeride, solely based on other recommendations.  Word of mouth is probably one of the best sales features out there, plus the internet... There's a lot of stuff on the internet..  I have read alot on the Macride, and all the reviews I have read have been positive as well. Installation was fairly straight forwar

It's been a little while since I've done a beer review, and after having a glass of Black Oak Brewing Company's Nut Brown Ale, I decided that it was a great opportunity to share my thoughts, feelings and insight.... Well mainly thoughts, but hey its a start.   Like any beer review it is all based on personal preferences, so like any local craft brewery, go out and try them.  You may find ones you really like, but also it supports local businesses.  Now that my public service announcement is finished, I guess I should probably write about the beer itself.... Can't really call it a beer review unless you talk about beer.  As you can tell I'm just really dragging this all on, like a bad joke that goes on and on and on...   Luckily for me, and I guess whoever is reading this, is that I ended up snapping a photo of the beer, as well as a glass with the deliciousness in it.  As you can tell, the appearance is a reddish brown body, with the remain

Well if you hadn't heard of the Sausage Suit ITT, I can give you a very brief synopsis.... It is a 15+km lap of singletrack, with no mass start.  Riders are released every 30 seconds by the most energetic start you can imagine.  With Janet calling down the time for you, "5, 4, 3, 2, Go!",  you are ready to hit the trails for 1 or 2 laps of the most fun you can legally have on a bike.. Dan Marshall from Substance Projects hosts the event at Dufferin Forest, which is our home trails, so that does give some of us a bit of an advantage.  But like always at the end of the day, it is meant to be a fun day on your bike in the forest. We lucked out with weather, it wasn't snowing!  It was bloody cold hovering around 8 degrees or so.  But with that being said, it was the perfect temperature to ride in.  There was no set start order, so you strategically placed yourself on when and who you wanted to start around.  In our little grouping, Colin from #teamcolin,

It has been too long since I've done a beer review.  That's not saying I have stopped drinking beer altogether, just curbed it slightly to focus on biking.    That being said, when I do grab a beer, I've become picky, and wanting to try new ones, and recently at Redline Brewery, I picked up a can of Wide Open Modern Pils.   First off, if you have never been to the brewery / brew pub in Barrie, it is worth the trip.  The food is delicious, and the beer selection, well it is all in house beer, so you know it is going to be good.  Also, the nice thing is, after you have tried a couple different ones on a flight, you can go to the store and buy cans, which I did with the Wide Open.  http://www.redlinebrewhouse.com/the-beers/wide-open/ From Redline's website: There is a reason the classics are held in high regard. Sometimes we need to make a small change in order to move forward and build on what has come before us. This thinking lead to the creation of

Crank the Shield - Sault Ste Marie Superfly Racing, Algoma Highlands Conservacy, Agawa Canyon Tour Train, Outspoken Brewing, Stokley Creek Lodge, Searchmont Resort, Tourism Northern Ontario, Sneaky Socks, Velorution and Sault Ste Marie.  Without the people and the companies behind Crank the Shiels - SSM (Sault Ste Marie) than this past weekend would have not happened.  Without Sean and his countless volunteers, I don't think anyone can say thank you enough.  Usually I leave the thank yous to the end, but in this instance, they all need to be thanked and thanked and thanked. What was Crank the Shield - SSM, well it was a 3 day mountain bike point to point adventure in the Algoma region of Ontario.  Did it dissapoint? Not at all! Lets take a look back at our Journey.  Months and months ago on a winter ride, Chris and I had a chat about Crank, and decided we could do it as a tag team.  The idea of doing it tag team was mainly to provide a second challenge for both of us.  We had

Some folks may have heard of this loop, some may not, but all should add this to their bucket-list.  The Simcoe County Loop Trail is a 160+km Trail around Simcoe County.  I must say what the county has done to promote cycling is truly amazing.  The Simcoe County Loop trail is mainly gravel based, or paved rail trail, so overall not a lot of elevation gain, but there is some so don't kid yourself. For our 2-day ride, we decided to start and finish in downtown Barrie.  Mark and I were on our fat bikes with gear, Chris was on his plus bike.  If I were to have one criticism on the whole trip would be finding a parking spot for an overnight stay.  Luckily for us, Chris knows the guys at Tilemaster so we were able to leave our cars there overnight. With overcast and drizzly sky, we unloaded our bikes from the vehicles, and loaded them up with gear for a couple days of biking.  For 2 days of biking, it is much easier to pack everything, as you really only need limited clothing