There are many perks to biking to campus. Aside from the obvious health and environmental benefits of biking, the University of Ottawa has a bunch services to help with your commute. Here are a few things every campus biker should know about:   Bike Parking   One of my favorite things about biking to campus is how affordable it is. No need to pay for a parking pass, just roll in and find a bike rack. The University is committed to improving bike amenities on campus namely by providing more racks. If you are having a hard time finding a rack, you can contact to put in a request for a new rack. Biking doesn’t have to happen only when it’s nice out since there are a number of all-season bike racks around. Not keen on leaving your bike outside to face the harsh elements? Not a problem. Protected and indoor parking is available for your wheels (most of which are free but require a deposit). Bike Repair Stations Flat tires happen, we’ve all been there and they are a pa...

Tip of the hat to the uOttawa Gazette who recently published an article about some of the great services student should try out on campus . Of course one of the services featured was our very own Muggy Mondays, a volunteer initiative that serves free coffee to students who bring their own mug. Well we were so inspired by this article that we decided to pay tribute to it by listing our own 4 services students should try on campus.... sustainability style. 1. Muggy Mondays Of course this service was already covered in the Gazette article but I also wanted to mention the Fair Trade angle. Muggy Mondays strives to ensure that everything they offer that can be Fair Trade, is in fact Fair Trade. That means the coffee, the tea, the hot chocolate, and even the sugar. By the way, Muggy  Mondays prides themselves on their excellent coffee and only gets the best stuff, which is why they procure their coffee from Cafe Alt. Website 2. Free Store I mean the name basically speaks for ...

It's about that time of the year again, you know... when you start taking a serious look at hanging up your biking shoes for the season. The wind stings a bit too much, you have to second guess every puddle (potential patch of black ice), and your ride is creaking and cracking all the time. Well I wanted to pound out a quick post to tell you to not give up... you can extend your biking season with some perseverance and a couple of tips. My boss has a rule of thumb, once the temperature drops to -10ºC, no more riding for him. And that's totally reasonable I think. As for me, I have biked through the last three winters and only recorded four bails during that time (and no serious injuries). Riding in the late autumn season does take a certain level of prudence. I know that you might not go right until the winter season, but if you want to try to keep riding until the snow falls, here are a couple of things you can do. Puddles aren't just pud...

Every year, students in the ENV 1101 course go about conducting surveys and collecting a massive amount of data about sustainability related activities on campus (all part of the Community Service Learning program). And every year, the Office of Campus Sustainability (mostly just Merissa actually), compiles that data and analyzes the results. There are many fun tidbits that we siphon from the data, including that this years findings seem to indicate that cycling is on the rise at the University of Ottawa. In our surveys we ask the very simple question "do you bike to campus?" and offer a variety of possible answers. In 2011, the number of people that "occasionally bike" or "always bike" was 25%. This year that number has risen to 31%. The largest increase was in the number of people who "always bike" to campus (rising from 7% in 2011 to 19% in 2012). Granted that these are self reported numbers and granted that the surveys are conducted by...