What is Howie's! 3D
​​Urban Exploro? 

Howie's! 3D Urban Exploro isn't a business. It's a personal project, by a guy named Howie. He's a friend of a friend. 

Speaking of friends, The Baron is Howie's extraordinary counterpart, always up for finding new routes and co-hosting group rides all summer long. It's a partnership that has never failed to entertain.

​In the old days you would leave your house on your bike with two dimes and a nickel in your pocket to go to the corner store to buy a bag of chips (the big bag) and end up being out exploring for hours. This is all about capturing the feeling of discovery and wonderment you had when you were 12, but with beers after. Being an adult has at least some benefits.

What kids in the 70's had in mind when they went out on bikes to get CHIPS

Unlike a lot of cycling related websites, Howie's! 3D Urban Exploro is not about high-performance, or really even medium-performance for that matter.

Howie, with help of friends, highlights fun places to ride in Ottawa you may not already know about.  This website aims to share novel insight on Ottawa's gravel pathways, grassy fields, hydro-roads, single-track and concrete ramps inside the Greenbelt.

We have curated some routes to share that we hope will inspire you. In particular, we consider "Howie's Roubaix", a 125km loop of the Greenbelt, to be our Urban-Cross masterpiece. 

Howie is also attempting to build Ottawa's raddest "Greenbelt Bike" by restoring and upgrading a couple of vintage MTBs. You can follow along to see how it turns out and you can take advantage of his research on the Interweb Time-Waster.

We also want to make sure that you keep things safe, so that's why we developed the MostlySafe philosophy. 

The 3 d's

Every so often Howie and friends jam our favorite segments  together into a ridiculously fun route.

​These rides focus on the 3-D's: 

1. Dicking around on bikes (for about 90mins-2hrs)
2. Drinking beers in Howie's backyard
3. Eating Doritos​ ​

3D Profiles and Elevations

Just because we are all about fun and novelty doesn't mean we don't appreciate having ridiculously detailed data about our athletic performance. That's why we use VeloViewer to show you all the details of our favourite Strava segments and routes.

​VeloViewer can be tried for free and only takes seconds to upload your last 25 Strava activities and to start exploring your data.

Just log-in using your Strava credentials. It's amazing!

Disclaimer regarding land use: We (Howie and any others that provide route-related content) don't claim to know that every single segment or route we highlight is 100% open to the public and therefore acceptable for use by cyclists, particularly at the time you may attempt it. We are attempting to only highlight places where others have ridden before as evidenced by well travelled paths, or previously recorded Strava activities. We request that riders obey posted speed-limits, no-trespassing signs and any other signage you may come across. Reading something here should not be construed as permission to break the law or violate the rights of property owners. We will remove any related content if we become aware of such a case. So be cool and use common sense, please.