Talk about motivation!

Huge Savings

Don't miss out on our Christmas bike Blowout sale. Check it out here. Don't see what you are looking for? We have most of our 2012 bikes in stock and on display!

Scott Bikes are here

We are very excited to announce Velorution is now carrying Scott Bicycles!

Come on in and check them out!

Let it snow already!!

this looks like fun

What will come next, This looks like a tone of fun, might have to get the cross bike out and go terrorize downtown!

Who will join us!

I've got one on the way, what about you?

I have a Salsa Mukluk on its way, it would sure be nice to have a few friends out there!!
Look for a review soon, I plan on riding it through the fall and get some good winter shredding in.
I wouldn't want to be the only one ripping single track all winter so it will be at the store, come on by and check it out. We will be nice and even let you take it out.

Looks like fun eh!!

this looks like fun

Looks easy enough to build. So who has a big empty basement?

holly jumpin, for real!!!

Look how much fun you can have on a Trek Fuel Ex

I have been riding one of these for the past month or so and can say that it is truly awesome. Hope you enjoy the video!

Now this is real cross racing!

Watch more video of Highlighted Video on cyclingdirt.org

flipping amazing

Who said bicycles don't have power?

Lets see if these guys can get it done!!

Gets me excited, under two weeks to go until the tour starts.

This is my kind of race!

Any takers, I might look into this one for next year, looks like a blast!
Not sure what is up with the link but make it full screen and you're golden




Watch more video of Highlighted Video on cyclingdirt.org

check it out!

200 Km Brevet!!

Don't miss out on the 200km Brevet. We meet at the store at 8am and ride out to the island, around and back. Don't think you are up for the whole distance. Check out the Sault Cycling Club tour .
See you all there!

Thursday night MTB ride! Andre gets a new bike

Wow what a great ride, OK last week it was raining so you guys are off the hook. This week we had a great group of riders out, About 20 MTB riders came out to enjoy the night. We rode the crystal which by the way is in great condition.

If you didn't make it out this week I expect to see you there next friday.
Forgot my camera but a few people took pics so i will try and steal them.

Andre has a hard time holding on to bikes, he started the season on a 29er marlin, sold it after one ride, so we had to get him a new bike right? well here it is,

best part is it is a store demo so come on in and give it a try!

Easy Rider May 27th

Come one, come all to the first Sault Cycling Club Easy Rider. This is going to be a ride around the Hub trail, it's almost done so lets check it out, Very social Ride, casual clothing encouraged!
This is a no drop ride, (that means you will not be left behind)
Meet at Algoma Bicycles 360 queen st
Bring some cashola we may stop for a bevy at the end!

Anyone who shows up looking like this guy gets a prize!

Killer Video

Like I said with the post below, MTB riding is awsome right now, so get out there and rip it. To get you in the mood check out this video, make some time for it.

Visit cyclingdirt.org for more videos

MTB RIDING!!!!!

Well I said I would look into it and I did, sorry for not posting right away but we have been too busy shredding single track.
so here is the report, The pinder is bone dry, Crystal is mostly dry, the only wet section is just before Squishitown, the double track is torn up from a bulldozer but will work in nicely. The Red Pine is pretty good for the most part, the only really wet section is just after The Holiday single track, I had to do a little hike a bike around the water. Not to say it isn't ridable but it was cold and I was feeling soft.  Here are some pics.

Greg and Chuck out of the first single track!

Chuck after his first Chuck of the year, Way to go you didn't disapoint.

This is what Shredding single track is all about!

The falls are pretty crazy right now!

until next time Keep the rubber side down!!

Hub Trail

Check out the trail beside the Hub Trail, Thanks to Jeremiah for the great trail.

Looks like fun!!

Shop News and new Bikes

I have really been slacking because There are already some km's on this bike but I haven't shown it around yet.
So without further adieu, Here is the new road rocket. 

'

Not Bad Eh. Come on by and check it out or take it for a spin.

Demo Bikes are in

That's right we have demo's again

Meet the KHS XCT-536

These are 5.5" travel full suspension Bikes for you to demo, (come in to ask for details)

Velorution does Boyne Highlands

So I know we have not posted in a bit but to tell you the truth it has been busy, And no I have not checked out hiawatha yet, although I have talked to people over the last week about it, maybe tomorrow night, but this weekend for sure.
Anyway Had a great Road ride on Good Friday out to Searchmont, the wind on the way back was a little stiff though. Saturday we decided to go spend the night in Petoskey with Carrie and T. You know a night of beverage drinking and a full day of riding on Sunday. We met up with some friends from the area and decided to check out Boyne Highlands. I had never been but have heard great things. It didn't disappoint, great rolly terrain and killer single track, You know what the best part was... NO SNOW!!

T on the trail telling me how it should be done.

Ngaire Ripping up the single track, good thing it was moist out or the forest might have been on fire!

Oh yah, Bob got a new bike it is a Serendipity Cycles 69er single speed with split dropouts for a belt. I must say I was having some serious bike envy.
All in all great day of ridding, but what day isn't.

Road ridin!!!

Well, can't say the weater is good this weekend but at least got out for a road ride with Scooter on Thursday. Roads could use a little work but i just figure it like we get to ride Roubaix. With that i will leave you with a little video. And hopefully we stop feeling sorry for ourselves, it could be alot worse.

Enjoy the show, I am going to scout out hiawatha this weekend I will keep you posted, after South Carolina I just have a hankering for singletrack.

South Carolina

Getting chased by dogs, getting lost in the woods, climbing hills for an hour at a time, drinking barley flavored beverages. and meeting a bunch of new people. Who could ask for more


So we are back, Brent and I made the 17hr drive down to Seneca SC for 7 days of riding in the sun. Can't say we didn't get good weather as it was between 20-30 degrees every day. We got our jump start on the cycling tan lines early this year. Ha ha.
The drive down went smoothly, we had access to the house we were staying at on Saturday, so we stayed in Grenville SC on the Friday night, great town, even checked out how much apartments are going for, could you imagine 10 months of warm weather riding, it's pretty tempting!

the house we stayed at. there were 15 of us. it was great meeting all the new people that were into riding.

Post ride beverages on the front doorstep.

It was great, most days we had a good group of us that rode. 

Day 1

we arrived at the house and headed out for a ride at Issaqueena trails that were about 25km from the house, awesome riding, close to what we have here, all single track with punchy climbs. Felt great to be in shorts and short sleeves. Ran into Damien in the parking lot and he showed us a couple of loops. thanks a bunch!

Day 2

made the drive to  Dupont forest for a full day of riding. we had a group of 10. everyone at about the same fittness level. Really cool trails and so many to check out, started off with a river crossing which you had to take off your shoes for. Everything went smoothly, we were told to bring extra socks for grip on the slick rock, Didn't need them on the way across. 

We kind of wandered around the trails until we ran into David a local who took us under his wing and showed us around for what ended up being a 4 hour mtb ride.

When i say the river crossing went smoothly, i meant the first time, on the way back Brian was crossing and next thing you know he was down, the water was flowing fast and the rock was slick as ice, not to mention how cold the water was. 

Now my turn, started crossing, all is good, even kept my socks on this time, until all of a sudden I'm surfing this slickrock, bike hits the water and starts pulling me down the river, i was just along for the ride but not sure where i was going to stop. We got some good video of it, I will post as soon as i get it from Bob.

you can see how fast the water is around Damien's legs!

Picture of our group at Dupont

 Almost lost her!

Bob loving life!

Some cool waterfalls in the background

Post ride Refreshments. Hammer Recoverite in the bottle and Carb replacements in the cans!

Day 3

More mountain biking in Issaqueena with Brent, we woke up had some coffee and rode our bikes to the trails, 25km ride there, some of the other people from the house were out already so we decided to try and get lost and maybe bump into them. Success we hit them about an hour into our ride, The K-Man was fighting the affects of his barley beverages from the night before, it was pretty funny watching him suffer.

Day 4

Decided to do an easy road ride around Seneca and Clemson, we put in 70km with Bob and Trevor and decided to round it out to 100km on our own. It was a great day winding our way around the back roads.

Only one bad turn, totally my fault. Look that road to the right looks awesome!! lets take it, it's got to take us somewhere. Down and down the hill we go into some town (i should say Shanty town) which i'm not sure had a name. The road looped us around and we had to the main road we came in on. No escape, we looked left, there was a dog coming after us, we looked straight, there was a dog we looked right dog, we quickly sized them up and decided the oldest least in shape one was to the right and went that way. 

When we came into this shanty town there was no one out, but a couple guys in a front yard, Trying to be nice I nodded and said hello, they looked at me like they had not seen a newcomer in years, thank god I was with a group, otherwise i might have ended up locked up in a basement or in the bottom of a well.

Almost at the top of the hill we descended we got chased by another dog, I wasn't too worried because i had the most jump left in my legs. ha ha suckers.

typical South Carolina Road.

 just another teaser.

Bob and the K-Man

KHS chillin on university campus.

Day 5

OH Pisgah

What can I say, Pisgah National park, open up any mtb magazine and there is bound to be an article about riding in Pisgah. We had a good group again and checked in at the Hub bike shop at the entrance to the forest, got a map and directions, not that they helped. rode some fun stuff of the bat, then wanted to check out some of the higher stuff so we climbed an access road for about 45min. (that's the longest mtb climb I have ever done) hit some super fun singletrack and bamm, we're not quite sure where we are. Oh well we have 5.5 hours before it gets dark, Right?

we found ourselves on a hiking trail that also made for great mtb riding, couple creek crossings but still didn't know where we were.

Finally after some navigation and some kind of new tangled device called a gps we found the top of the road we started on. everyone was pretty happy to be back and decided to ride the road to the trucks. But wait, look there is the black mountain trail, I have heard such great things. 10-15min of straight down hill, who wants in. 

There were only a couple of us brave souls.  Brent, Tanya (who is my new hero)i will tell you why later, Brian, his wife Claudia, and Mike from Tall Tree Cycle in ottawa.

Well so far not too much down hill, the part I blanked on was that there was about an hour hike a bike to get to the top. Oops. You will be happy to know that we didn't have to spend the night but i though we would. that 5.5 hours of daylight over the day dwindled to about 30min left as we started our decent. 

Was it worth it? I think so the down hill was burly to start and the turned super fast with some huge berms that were a blast to ride.

some navigation with the map? we had it under control the whole time!

We don't look lost at all right?

Big Trevor ripping the water crossing

Mike from tall tree Cycles

This is where people were starting to feel it a bit

found this place in the middle of the woods, i think i may have heard some banjos as well.

one more crossing, I was the foolish one on the right trying to ride it, ended with wet feet.

On the way up black mtn, the views were worth it for sure

Tanya on her way down black mtn, notice she doesn't have any gears( that's why she is my hero)
and a rigid fork to boot, I love my single speed but on this ride i think i may have hung myself.
Props to you Tanya!!

Mike ripping it

There he is our very own K-man (nice bike can't wait to throw a leg over it)

Day 6

Blue ridge parkway 

I was looking forward to this all week, even got a little nervous in the morning. Ride went something like this 

Parked in a church parking lot to get changed got in trouble because a lady that lived across the street didn't like the look of our buts.

Started riding, or should i say climbing. rode up hill for about 50min to get to the park way, has a snack and kept it going 

What goes up must come down, i forgot to mention that the climb was something like 4000 vertical feet.

The way down was like the roads in the Tours fast with huge hairpin turns. woo hooo!!!!

Stopped at the Hub bike shop again and replenished some nutrients and rode the 30km back to the car. 

Got changed in the church parking lot hoping I don't get shot by the lady across the street.

top of the parkway

K-man and i riding, if the road looks perfect it's because it is!

our road group infront of the waterfalls

Eleveation

Nice switch back!

time for a little tunnel.

Day 7

Legs were getting pretty cooked so we decided to ride the trails at Issaqueena again, ended up putting in 80km on the mtb. what a way to end off the week, there was only one bummer though.   We had to come back!

Cuba the last Chapter

We are finally home to a fresh snowfall after 3 weeks of 30 degree weather.  It feels so nice to get the long johns back on after spending a month in shorts :(   I did not want to show off my tanned legs anyways.  For the last week in Cuba, Mark and I decided to do a bit of solo trekking and went our separate ways before joining back in Havana for a last night of rum and Motecristo #5s.  I really wanted to put in some big miles and Mark was keen on checking out the music scene.  By this time in the trip, we were both getting quite comfortable moving about without worries of food, lodging and security despite our language barrier. 

 

I managed three 160 km rides in a row and managed to get somewhat fit and almost back down to my pre-trip aero profile.  This last stretch around the south east shore of the country was very much out there in the boonies on a desolate, very hilly road suitable for mountain bikes.  Despite the isolation, I had absolutely no difficulty getting what I needed in food, water or shelter.  The scenery was out of this world as the road was often nothing more than a rough path on a boulder beach with the waves crashing on the rocky seashore and jagged limestone mountains rising straight up on the other side. 

 

All in all it was a great trip.  What I learned was that in Cuba, you can pretty well ride a bike anywhere you want and never worry for your safety or suffering from hypothermia.  I also learned that you can always find something to eat, a very comfortable place to stay and safe drinking water anywhere in the country.  It's also very cheap with the average cost of a double room with private wash room and air conditioning between $25-$30, beer for a buck anywhere you go and a pint of rum for not much more.  Not that nice cyclists need the last two items.  Also in every place we stayed, you could get shrimp, lobster, pork or chicken meal with all the trimmings for $10 or less.   

 

On my last day, I flew from Santiago to Havana, about 900 km for $100 which, in my mind was much better than spending the night on a bus for $60.  I also found a nice helpful young man to donate my bike to which, for him was like having someone giving him a car.  He was very happy and promised to write to let me know about his new ride.  It's a good excuse to get another bike since I own a bike shop.  Next year, it's a trip to the west of the Island in the Pinar Del Rio province for 2 weeks.  Anyone interested?

My Cuban Mechanic 

 

Andre

Another happy customer

Doesn't she look happy to be on her new bike?

 Kids buy back program

(bring back any kids bike you buy at Velorution for a trade in value or store credit)

Spring like Weekend

I know what you are thinking and you're right it isn't the weekend any more, but if you have been following this blog you know I am always a day or two behind.
Any way it was a productive weekend, Saturday the power and phone were out here at the shop so not much happened other than some cleaning, sorry if you tried to call and didn't get through.
Saturday night was another story, went out with Gord and Brent!

Preferred Parking at Coch's Corner.

Sunday was an awesome day, for some reason if felt like someone hit me in the head with a piece of lumber. 

couldn't have anything to do with the night before. I decided you know it it's a good day when the only decision you have to make is ski or bike. That was the question, the bike ride won out on the ski as I am getting a serious ich to get out.

Rode out to hiawatha to check our how many people were out skiing, (not as many as I thought)

and then the lines out to groscap.

Had to stop by the shop for pre ride COFFEE.

No ride is complete with out.

The Trek 29er on the shores of groscap.

Couldn't have spent the weekend any better. For those of you that know Brent make sure to ask him how the ride was on Sunday!