During his youth and adult years, Ramsay was an keen cyclist. At age 16 he completed a 1400 km journey though the Canadian Rockies, much of it on a one-track logging road that subsequently became the Yellowhead Highway. Later on, during his European sabbaticals, he sought out bicycle routes used in the professional tour. Due to his own misjudgement, he was once taken off the Col du Galibier by ambulance in an advanced state of hypothermia.