Author: Sam B

Philosopher, feminist, parent, and cyclist! Co-founder of Fit Is a Feminist Issue, co-author of Fit at Mid-Life: A Feminist Fitness Journey, published by Greystone Books.
red bicycle leaning on a tree trunk Sam’s fall fitness routine
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Sam’s fall fitness routine

Sam B2 Comments

It’s back to school,  my 33rd year as a university professor.

Welcome to September!

We’re back at the gym in a more orderly,  scheduled fashion and I’m thinking about my fall fitness routine.

Here’s the plan:

Monday

The Herd’s Monday Morning Morning Coffee Crew on Zwift–5:55 am, easy riding, 45 minutes

Anti-gravity restorative yoga, 8-9 pm at Movati

Tuesday

Personal training, strength training, at Movati with Cody and Sarah–7-8 am

Aquafit, 530-630 pm, Movati or noon swim/skate on campus

Wednesday

Zwift training plan, 6 am, 45 minutes

Aquafit, 530-630 pm, Movati/noon swim/skate

Thursday

Personal training, strength training, at Movati with Cody and Sarah–7-8 am

Aquafit, 530-630 pm, Movati or noon swim/skate

Friday

Friday morning Herd ride, 7 am

Noon hour rec skate

Weekend

Day 1 Adventuring! Canoe camping, bike riding, dog hiking, etc.

Day 2, Rest! Or if no adventuring,  then either Zwift or a third strength workout

(Also, I ride my bike to work often, and I walk Cheddar a lot but they are short walks these days as he’s getting up there in years.)

Good morning Cheddar!

Reflections

🔴 I need to ride my bike more but I can’t ride weekdays come fall. It’s starting to get dark earlier in the evenings. So riding is going to be all about bike commuting + Zwifting + a long ride on the weekend.

🔴 The university pool and the rink are both open for rec skating and lane swimming over lunch. I plan to keep gear on campus and on the days I can’t make it to aquafit because of my work schedule or I can’t register (because the classes quickly fill up with online registration)

🔴 I know this looks like a lot but I definitely won’t get to do everything every week.  My work schedule starts early and often ends late.  The advantage of the 530 pm aquafit class is that it’s early enough I can still attend 7 pm events on campus.

🔴 How much do you plan your week? What’s your fitness week look like? I’m curious.

empty ice rink arena in istanbul turkiye
Photo by İrfan Simsar on Pexels.com

Update: Last night’s antigravity yoga did not end in a very peaceful fashion.  Just as we were all settled into cocoon shivasna, my favorite,  the fire alarm at the gym went off.  So loud,  so screamy.

Sam outside Movati
birthday balloons on the wall Top Ten in August 2026
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Top Ten in August 2026

Sam BLeave a comment
Nat’s 100 km did not go as planned
Sam and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Summer
Nat is thankful for Canadian Universal Healthcare
Bra Doping: The Tour de France Femmes’ Newest Body-Policing Problem
Menopause Ambassador?
Physical, Mental, Financial…
The “Menopause Gold Rush”: a boom for telehealth, still largely a bust for the rest of us

What happens why we try to keep trans people out of sport?

Nat’s reasons for riding

It’s a holiday Monday. RELAX

hello september screenshot September 1 is the academic January 1, What’s your resolution?
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September 1 is the academic January 1, What’s your resolution?

Sam BLeave a comment

Elan

I think I am signing up for my very first organized 5K run in later Sept, so I guess I had better start running.

Nat

For the first time in a long time, cycling in September! Not the commuting or utility cycling but the road bike adventure and fun kind of cycling.

Sam

Like Nat, cycling into the fall! To be clear, I usually do keep riding, but I drop the distances. This year I never got to any great distance so I’m going to keep going. My birthday bike ride at 62 km will be my longest ride of the year, so why can’t I keep adding distance as we move into the fall months?

Laura

I’m looking forward to the return of cooler weather to enable me to engage in more vigorous physical activity.  (I do not like summer’s heat and do not function well in it!)  One goal is to commence a daily vinyasa/power yoga practice on Labour Day.  September is also a great month to get back into a regular running habit.  But the running may need to wait this year as I am loath to take on activities right now that require spending time away from my senior dog.  Good running weather is also good walking weather, and walking is Shelby’s favourite thing to do.  So walking wins out these days.

Diane

I start back to work in September. Most of my shifts will be for lane swims. My resolution is to remember that it is okay to swim when I’m not actively lifeguarding, and get in for a short swim at least twice a week.

Cate

I have to be in Toronto for half of sept for work and it’s mostly air bnbs without access to gyms. My goal is to keep moving and eat well, and to actually use my running shoes and my yoga mat even when nomadic.

Tracy

I’m not teaching this fall so I’m feeling really relieved not to be doing a mad scramble of course prep. But in my head there is always going to be a reset in September, where I settle into more work-oriented routines and more structure. I’ve been working on it all summer. My fitness resolution for the fall is process-oriented: to continue my running training, two swims a week, two resistance training sessions a week, and two yoga classes a week. If I stick to the schedule I don’t need to think too hard about specific results and I know I will feel good.

Martha

I have always seen September as the start of the new year. I’m planning on renewing my swimming practice after Labour Day.

Nicole

I don’t really have September resolutions. More of the same. I’ve been going to a new small strength class a couple times a week with a coach I know from previous years and I’m enjoying it. September running is probably my favourite. I may be sentimental about it because I started running in the fall many years ago. I need to ensure I keep on my daily stretches (movement oriented in the morning and static in the evening, because my hips need extra love these days. I’ve added toe spreaders to wear around the house a few minutes at a time to address my worsening bunions. Hmm. Firmly in middle age fitness era.

Catherine

I’m also looking forward to cooler temps for fall cycling. Keeping it local, and cycling with friends sounds about my speed right now. I’m also happy that Friday night yoga classes are coming back, as those are a nice way to start off the weekend. In addition to my daily morning meditation, I want to add in some yoga or stretching or strength work. There are so many great short workouts– I just have to pick a couple to rotate through. Will be blogging about this.

Past posts

Sam: Back to school health and wellness resolutions

Nicole: September is the real “new year” – what does this mean for your routines?

Happy blog birthday!
birthday · blog · blogging · fitness

Happy blog birthday!

Sam BLeave a comment

We’re fourteen years old today.

I never know exactly which day to count, the day of our first actual post, after writing our bios, or the day we got all set up on WordPress.

Today is the latter.

Happy blog birthday to us!

Here is a photo from our recent blog BBQ. I think next year I’ll get us a birthday cake with 15 candles.

If you’re a blogger, even an occasional one,  save the date.  It’s Sunday,  August 22, 2027.

wooden letter tiles spelling goals on grid Sam, like Nat, is still struggling with cycling distance goals
cycling · fitness · goals · motivation

Sam, like Nat, is still struggling with cycling distance goals

Sam B4 Comments

I’ve had a blog post in my head all summer about summer cycling and distance goals. It’s called “Is 50 km my new 100 km?’

In past years when I’ve done the Tour de Guelph in June, I did the 100 km distance but this year I picked 50 km. It seemed the natural choice. Now, I said I did that because we were trying to attract first-time riders for whom 50 km would be a reasonable goal that early in the summer, but also at the end of June, the Tour de Guelph was only my second 50 km ride of the season. It felt like the right distance for me.

July was a hot mess of family tragedy and wildfire smoke.

See Sam’s summer movement plans go awry: Some problems … and Sam and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Summer.

This month I’m struggling to find the time to ride 200 km. I chose that distance for my Great Cycle Challenge, thinking it wouldn’t really be much of a struggle. I thought that even if bad things kept happening and all my plans went to hell, I’d still be able to manage 200 km in a month easily.

Not so easy, it turns out.

Want to make me feel better, donate here!

My friend, former graduate student, and twitchy spouse of Natalie, Michel rode 600 km in a weekend recently.  A weekend!  600 km!

Twelve years ago I rode 1300 km in August. I know, I know. Comparison is the thief of joy. but still.

Ten years ago I wrote, “What’s your favourite distance? I like 100 km because I can have a normal day after. Ride 100 km in the morning, done and dusted, and get on with the weekend. 160 km requires serious refueling and serious naps. Next thing I know it’s night and my Saturday is shot. How about you?” See here.

Now 100 km feels like a big challenge.

I’m not alone, I know. See Nat’s account of her recent 100 km ride.

So, I know I’m older. But I don’t think this is about age.

I know what I have to do to make long-distance riding comfortable and easy. I need to ride more.

In the years I found the bike rally’s 660 km easy, it’s because I was a) regularly bike commuting, b) doing 30-40 km training rides one or two nights a week, c) doing a long ride on Saturday, often more than 100 km, and sometimes a recovery ride on Sunday, and d) doing bike vacations where we rode bikes every day.

Now I’m just bike commuting and doing an occasional 25 km bike ride on the weekend. No wonder distance goals seem hard.

I’ve realized it’s also an issue with my word of the year, expand. Yes, I’ve been swimming and skating and all sorts of other things but the only thing that makes you a better cyclist really is time on the bike.

What’s my plan then?

Well, I’ve signed up for the half bike rally next summer to raise money for the Toronto PWA–I’m planning to ride from Kingston to Montreal. This event is important to me because the money raised goes to help people living with HIV/AIDS. People who need food, wellness care, peer support or just to be in a place that is welcoming and safe for them. You can donate here.

I’d like to do the full distance, Toronto to Montreal, in 2028.

At some point, I want to ride 200 km in a day. Maybe that’s a Fall 2028 goal when I’m on research leave.

In the meantime, I’m looking for people to ride with in Guelph.

I’m looking for destinations for winter riding that aren’t Florida or Arizona, to be clear, aren’t in the United States at all.

Here’s my past winter rides:

March 2022 Alton Illinois. See here and here and here.

January 2020 Mount Dora, Florida

January 2019 Clermont, Florida

2015 Arizona in February and South Carolina in March

February 2010 Arizona, see here.

But while Trump is in office, I’m not going to the United States. I need another plan!

My goal for 2026 is 2,500 km, and I’m at about 1,100. There are 18 weeks left in 2026. That’s 77 km a week to meet my goal. But the problem is that the mileage goal alone isn’t motivational. I like achieving the goal when I fill my life with riding.

See you out there!

A reminder for all of us who have had tough summers:

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Sam and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Summer

Sam B3 Comments

I’ve had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Summer. I’m not sure how to answer when I see people on campus or at work whom I haven’t seen all summer, and they ask about it. “How was your summer? Did you have any great vacation? Go anywhere fun?” In three words: Bad. No. No.

Those of you who know about my summer know about it. It involved all the bad things–illness, hospitalization, death (none of it mine)…and every time we made a plan to do something, it felt like another bad thing happened and got in the way. I’m not going to go into details. They are other peoples’ stories to tell, and reciting the list of bad things isn’t helping me either.

But I can’t stop the end of summer and ask for a do-over. September is almost here whether we like it or not.

I was visiting a friend recently who had also had a bad summer and she said she’s still waiting for the summer holidays.  I get that feeling but I’m also a realist who works at a university. September is unstoppable.

So what’s my strategy for starting the academic year when I feel like I need a holiday and a break from bad things?

First, I’m going to remind myself that summer wasn’t a total wash. We had fun in Nova Scotia with our folding bikes.

Here’s our ride between Lunenburg and Mahone Bay.

And one in Lawrencetown.

We also went camping, twice–once with our friend Susan and once with Sarah’s nephew Joachim.

And I got to ride in the Tour de Guelph, even if I haven’t done much other riding this summer. I liked our week at the family farm in Prince Edward County.

And the bloggers’ backyard BBQ was fun too.

And we had fun at a friend’s cottage for a weekend, swimming in Lake Huron and playing cards.

Second, I’m reminding myself that before all the bad things happened, we had fun in the spring–riding bikes in Point Pelee National Park in April and car camping at the Pinery with Cheddar in May.

Third, I’m also reminding myself that I have some great summer fun in the bank. We have had some very fun summers in recent years. I’ve been to Edinburgh, to Rome, and to Iceland. We’ve sailed boats and ridden bikes lots.

Fourth, I’m also looking forward to some of the travel from this summer that got bumped to next. See you in England in 2027, family and friends!

Fifth, I’m going to keep having fun and even taking some time off, even though it’s fall. Sarah and I have a bunch of weekends away planned, even another canoe camping trip in Algonquin where we’ll see my son Miles who is working at a resort in the park.

Sixth, I’m thinking I might go somewhere warm this winter and ride my bike!

What’s your strategy when summer disappoints? What do you do when the season you rely on for rest and relaxation, fun and adventure just doesn’t pull through? What do you do to cope?

beach umbrella by the seaside
Photo by Nayla Charo on Pexels.com
view of a road in autumn Fresh air and fresh thoughts about fall riding
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Fresh air and fresh thoughts about fall riding

Sam BLeave a comment

Even before our changing climate made summer riding intolerable and sometimes just plain dangerous, I’ve been a fan of riding bikes in the fall. Yes, I struggle with the lack of daylight in the evenings, but I love the fall colours, the fresh feel in the air, and the cooler temperatures.

If you’ve been thinking about buying a bike or starting a regular bike commute, do it now. Don’t wait until spring. Fall is better.

It used to be that my preference for fall riding was primarily a comfort preference. Nobody wants to ride up hills in 35-degree heat with bonus humidity if they don’t have to. But that’s not what summer riding looks like anymore. It’s not just hot. Now, at least here in Ontario, we have heat warnings that stretch on for days, air quality alerts that turn a ride into a genuine respiratory risk, and those strange orange-grey scary skies that mean somewhere, hundreds of kilometres away, forests are burning. I used to plan summer rides around traffic and daylight. Now I plan them around smoke alerts and the air quality index, the way I’d check for rain.

Fall gives us that freedom back, at least for a while. The air clears and the heat breaks. It’s not just that fall is pleasant, it’s that fall is safe for riding distances in a way summer increasingly isn’t. That’s a genuinely new reason to love this season, and not one I would have thought about five or ten years ago when summers were more livable.

So here’s what I think, whether you’re four years into commuting or you haven’t bought a bike yet- don’t let the bad summer air or the very hot days talk you out of riding this autumn. You don’t need to put off your riding resolutions until spring. Fall is short but it’s a great time to ride. We’ve got clear air, rideable temps, and good light in the mornings before the time change. It’s time to get the lights and go now, while the getting’s good, instead of waiting for a spring that leads into another steamy summer we’ll need fall to recover from.

Reasons to start riding in the fall
Looking ahead: The quiet season and the joys of fall riding
Tips for riding into the fall
I want to go fall riding!
There’s a certain chill to the air that makes my thoughts turn to autumn road bike rides, hot tubs, and back to school

aging · cycling · fitness · Guest Post

50 States! (Guest Post)

Sam B2 Comments

by Winnie

I got my first road bike when I was 51. It felt so great that I signed up for an AIDS ride from San Francisco to Los  Angeles that was to take place a year later. I trained hard and made it to LA, and as I held my bike overhead in celebration, I was thinking, “Well, I’ll never do that again!”


Got that wrong.


First I found myself doing another AIDS ride, this one 100 miles per day for 5 days. Yikes! Then a couple more. And some organized centuries.


Next major surprise: I decided I wanted to ride across the USA, and hoped my husband would join me. (He didn’t really want to all that much, but he agreed, so I let him choose the route. Fair trade, right?) We rode the Adventure Cycling route called Northern Tier, which is the longest of the organization’s cross country options. Anacortes, Washington to Boston. I only skipped a few spots, including the one where there was a hurricane looming off of Vermont, where we were headed. Yes, that was the one that actually caused some serious flooding right where we might have been. I rode 4200 miles in three months. This was in 2011, the year we turned 60.


By then I had figured out that I really did like touring, and fairly long distances, and I started thinking of places I might like to see by bike. We went to Europe and did some famous climbs, and some leisurely rides. We saw parts of northern Italy, Slovenia, France, England, and a bit of Spain . We were with friends in the French Pyrenees; we rode to lunch in Spain. Australia. New Zealand. And there was an infamous Costa Rica ride. I LOVE Costa Rica, but it’s not a cycling paradise if you’re not a fearless mountain biker. And Nova Scotia & St. Johns/Labrador (Newfoundland). Prince Edward Island. British Columbia. Even a very brief ride as part of our Galapagos tour, so Ecuador, I guess. And one bit at a time, I began to ride in various US states.


A few years back I realized it wouldn’t be that hard to ride in all 50 so I started keeping track. Hawaii is easy for me; we have relatives there and visit fairly frequently. Haleakala from the beach to the top – 36 miles, 10,000 feet, is not so simple, but I have done it a couple of times. We made a trip to Chicago & rode in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky. I rode the Southern Tier, and spent my 70th birthday in Suwannee state park in Florida. I was mostly on my own, and when Bruce joined me & we drove home together to  California, we stopped in Arkansas and Oklahoma & rode some miles.

Last fall I acknowledged that I had not treated Iowa very well. I had only ridden across a pedestrian bridge to Iowa when I was doing some work in Omaha (Nebraska), and gone around a few blocks. So last fall we took a train to Omaha and focused most of our riding on Iowa, then went on to Des Moines & rode some more. And all the other states – we generally had a relative, or a park we dreamed of visiting, or some attraction, so they happened.


But Alaska…


I don’t love cold. My daughter-in-law’s 50th birthday approached. She planned to celebrate by taking a cruise through the Inland Passage. I figured I could rent a bike at some of the stops & get Alaska done. In the summer of 2020. That was not meant to be.
It kept nagging at me, though, and we decided this summer was the time to do it. I did some research and found AlaskaBike. It’s a father & son bicycle touring outfit that takes you to places most tours don’t go, so you get a good look at the back country of the state. It has an amazing amount of back country. We learned that the population of Anchorage, the largest city, is about 300,000. The population of the entire state is about 700,000, less than San Francisco. And the size. Alaskans like to say that if you put Texas inside its borders, then another Texas, you’d still have room for another half-Texas. So we went. A few of my cycling friends joined us, and two other women, one of whom was actually riding in her 50th state, too.


Pictures speak louder than words. I don’t have any with bikes, but I really did ride about 125 miles of Alaskan roads!:


In the lobby of our first hotel. This enormous brown/grizzly bear was stuffed many years ago. Fortunately, we saw none of his descendants outdoors.
Canoe trip down the Maclaren River. Peaceful.
Spectacular views

Bio: I am a lifelong Californian. My mother and father were not born here but moved to the state as small children. I have two grown daughters and five wonderful grandchildren. I spent my working life working at, and eventually running, the family insurance business. My father had introduced many employee benefits – sabbatical starting in 1970, optional four-day work week in 1972, elimination of all official work time rules in 1974. Adults like to be treated as adults, and people tended to stay a long time, so it was a very pleasant working environment with key elements of trust and respect. I also served on a couple of independent school boards, one a strong academic school serving grades 6-12, one a school designed to start helping city kids who had suffered the ongoing effects of racism & poverty to find opportunities they might not as easily discover without support. I live at a Lifetime Care Community where I serve on the finance committee and chair the sustainability committee. I also plan to join the newly formed fitness committee. And for fun, I have ridden my bicycle across North America. Twice.

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Art and Health Together Again

Sam BLeave a comment

I’m a feminist scholar, a fitness blogger, and a dean of a college of arts. So naturally, I end up thinking about the ways in which art and health fit together.

See Is looking at art really the new running?

I’ve also love the idea of yoga in art musems, like yoga in the Louvre.

But this is definitely a first!

Lifting sculptures! Count me in.

The art of falling
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The art of falling

Sam B1 Comment

In the past month  two women in my family have fallen.  They didn’t hurt themselves seriously,  nothing broken,  but we’ve all been thinking a lot more about falling and how to fall well since those falls happened.

I’ve also been missing Aikido and the falling on mats, that’s part of martial arts training. It’s one of the things I love about Aikido.  When I was training regularly I thought it would be fun to offer seniors classes in Aikido that were focused on the falling part.

Lately classes on falling for seniors have been showing up in my social media newsfeeds and I want to share them here with you.

Here’s two examples:

I’m not sure about my future and falling on mats, but I still wish there were an Aikido for seniors class.