Saturday, February 28, 2009
Woodlot Snow Ride 2009! (Feb. 28, 2009)
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Back in the mountains. (Feb. 21 & 22, 2009)
Doug at the powerlines.
Doug riding Toadstool.
Sunday I follow up an amazing Woodlot ride with another, this time with two other riding buddies: Cory and Jordan. I decide to take them on the same ride that I went on the previous day. It had rained a little bit over night but it wasnt enough to penetrate the trees so the trail conditions were still perfect. After making our way down Crazy Carpenter and Toadstool we decided to switch things up a bit and ride Hoots instead of Heckle and Jeckle. We cruised our way down Hoots and then made our way back up to Shotgun to round out the ride.
Myself at the powerlines.
Jordan at the powerlines.
Cory at the powerlines.
Trans Canada Trail (Feb. 15, 2009)
Fortunately I had come prepared for any mechanical failure. I really did not feel like walking for five and a half kilometers back to my parents so out came the tools. I removed the old tube and used my Leatherman to cut out a section of the old tube to use a reinforcing material where the sidewall had blown out. I wrapped the new tube with the piece of old tube and then used zap straps (zip ties) around the tire and rim to prevent the tear from bulging out. Voila, some trailside McGyvering and I was on my way back home , at a careful speed, in time to get changed and head out to the 'Nucks game.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Hayward Lake with Manda (Feb. 7, 2009)
Amanda riding the now rideable snowy stretch on the west side of Hayward Lake.
The plan of course was to complete the 17.5km course by no later than 3:30 pm. A late start and a casual bike ride pace meant that we would have to alter the game plan, so we decided to ride the 7.5km to the Stave dam and have our lunch and then ride back the same way for a total of 15km (still not a bad ride just to get some fresh air). The weather was nice when we were standing in the sun, but the wind was really chilly once we were riding (sorry Manda).
This is a poorly taken picture of a Peregrine falcon we saw perched near the trail side.
As I said earlier the wind was quite cold so the best way for us to keep warm was to keep up the pace and this is what we did for the last 4.5km back to parking lot. We were also trying to ride the last section fast because we came across a couple who had an ailing german shepherd and we were hoping that if we came across a BC Hydro worker that we could get them to drive down the trail and help the people get their dog back to the parking lot. Unfortunately we didn't come across anyone, I hope they got the old hound out ok.
15 chilly kilometers down and a warm car sure felt nice. Unfortunately next weekend is Valentine's day and I would be unwise to take off riding so I may have to delay my adventures for another week.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Bicyclese Mark II (part I)
Hayward Lake Loop (Jan. 31, 2009)
I parked at the same parking lot as last time, on the west side of the Ruskin Dam and headed out on my bicycling mission. There was a lot less snow this time around thanks to the week of warmer weather (five degrees) and rain, which had also left the trail very wet. There was still one section of trail, approximately a kilometer and a half, that was still snow-covered, and unfortunately the warmer weather had left this section now slushy and unrideable. After trudging through the slush I got back onto solid ground and was pedaling on with much more speed than last week thanks to the lack of ice that had coated almost the entire forested portion of the trail, (which was the majority of the loop).
This was my view to the right at km 13. Tree graveyard with its tombstones sticking out of the ice.