Halifax by Bike: Halifax Bike Week and Chester-Windsor-Halifax mini-tour

Another Bike Week has come and gone, and with it, summer has officially started --in my mind at least. Actually over the past three years or so, I've noticed that Halifax's official week dedicated to the bicycle has been the harbinger of warmer weather and sunny skies in Nova Scotia. With another bike lane being established in a high-use area --our new protected bike lane along University Blvd.-- and our existing lane along Windsor St. seeing sustained and growing usage, I'm feeling a surge in bicycle use by people looking to transit into the peninsula without relying on the automobile.

But if you stopped to ask me how my bike week turned out, sadly with moving to a new apartment and unpacking and trying to organize my life from a series of 40 boxes, I was unable to attend any events. To make up for this, I took three days to grind out a ride from Halifax to Chester, then Windsor, then back to Halifax, making a mini-tour of about 200km.

Roughly the Halifax-Chester-Windsor-Halifax Route

Overall this was an awesome idea, and was probably the best road trip I've done in the past several years! Not only did the distance feel perfect, I performed a lot better than I thought I would! Though a lot of this could be attributed to using the indomitable Defy 2 with an Axiom Flip-Flop seatpost rack on the back and Axiom's Paddywagon trunk-bag to haul a couple changes of clothes, ratty shoes, snacks and a good book.

In any case, with that 200km under my belt, I find I'm looking for a slightly longer route to try later this summer! With a couple friends around Moncton and Truro, I was thinking that linking up a route from Moncton-Amherst-Truro-Halifax would be a great challenge! Until then, I hope you guys enjoy some photos of my trip and the inns I stayed at during my ride!