Calgary Wandrers hoping to cycle every road, pathway in the city

The Calgary Wandrers are competing to see who can bike the most city pathways and streets. Members of the cycling group call the love of biking a 'lifestyle.'

Members of a local group called the Calgary Wandrers are competing to see who can cycle the most city streets and pathways.

The cyclists are tracking their kilometres on the Wandrer website.

Retiree David Schamber, who’s been cycling for 50 years, is at the top of the leaderboard.

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“My percentage is at 92, depending on updates,” he said. “I was at 93 per cent and kicked back down.”

He says the challenge is that more roads and pathways are built in Calgary every year, making it hard to keep up.

“I feel good, I’m healthy,” he said. “I’m 73 years of age and I can still do 100 kilometres on a good day.”

Schamber says though the group doesn’t ride together, they do meet up quarterly to socialize and compare notes on the distances they’ve travelled.

“We’re not racers but this is how we express ourselves – with our bikes,” he said.

Inderpreet Kang works in business services at Suncor Energy, and says he got heavily into cycling when he moved to Calgary from Fort McMurray, Alta.

Now, he commutes year-round on two wheels and has ridden on 49 per cent of the city’s roads and paths.

“Calgary has about 8,500 kilometres where you can take your bike, and this is all set in stone with the Open Street Map, and the Wandrer app is linked to that,” he said. “So, I have done close to 4,400 kilometres.”

Kang says he’s biked all his life.

“I grew up in India and biked, and then when I moved to Canada, I did not see a lot of people bike – and then I moved to Calgary and I just fell in love with the bike trails,” he said. “It’s not about the exercise, I think it’s a lifestyle.”

Kang says the Calgary Wandrers all share the same passion for exploring their city on two wheels.

“We all are from different walks of life and totally different people,” he said. “We have this passion for chasing new roads, but there’s a common goal to bike and encourage others to bike as well.”

Bow Cycle owner John Franzky has ridden 55.5 per cent of the city, and says he finds it addictive to chase down new roads he’s never ridden on.

“I was a Pac-Man guy as a kid,” he said. “When you’re riding around with your phone in the hand, chasing the red new roads to ride, it literally is like playing Pac-Man.”

“The last day I didn’t ride was Christmas Day of 2022,” he said. “I think I’m getting close to 1,200 days straight.”

Ron McMahon, an IT consultant, has covered 85 per cent of Calgary streets and 98 per cent of the pathway system.

He says commuting on a bicycle to and from work is a benefit to his physical and mental health.

“Sitting in traffic is nothing but stress,” he said. “Cycling back home is nothing but relief, because not only are you able to work out the stress of the day and the job of whatever happened during the day, you get home and you’ve done your exercise. You don’t have to have a gym membership, you don’t have to go somewhere to run on a treadmill.”