Don't worry, be happy......

No photos today, I'm getting bad at this :) I went for a short ride today, last night my watch strap broke so I rode to Broadway Ave. to get a new pin put in it. I was going to bring my camera, but I locked the Burley up a little ways from the jewelery store so I had to walk, I didn't feel like packing it with me. I went for an interview this morning at Hitatchi Industries Canada, Ltd. and I felt it went pretty good, if I get hired I will be making nose cones for wind turbines, I think that would be pretty cool and given my current interest/obsession with wind power I think it's a good match for me. I should know later this week or next week if I got the job or not. I'm going for a ride tomorrow with Julian and Leo and will bring the camera along this time. Check in tomorrow for more, until then ride safe and have fun.

It's raining, it's pouring.....

I tryed to do a post yesterday, but honestly I didn't have time to do it. Right around lunch time I decided to take the Burley up to the Lawson Heights library. I didn't take my camera with me (sorry no photos) because it looked very much like it was going to rain. I managed to find a book called "$mart Power" which is very interesting, it's all about alternative power for your house, transportation, etc. I seen the book in Rand McNally today so it is out there if anyone is interested in it. It did start raining last night and it is still raining today. Hopefully by Thursday it will dry up and be nice because I want to go riding on Thursday. Anyway not much else to say, stay tuned for more stuff later this week. Until then, ride safe and have fun...

Sunny Sunday

This is inside the parkade that I took photo's from the other day.

Third Ave. downtown on Sunday, not many cars around.

Well I went for a short ride today, just cause it was so nice out. I rode up to that parkade again, just for a work out. It was really nice out today about 15 degrees out, it is supposed to be like this for the next few days so hopefully I will be riding a bit. Check back again soon for more, ride safe and have fun.

The fairing is taking shape..sort of......

My acrylic sheet from Home Depot.

I went yesterday to Home Depot and I found the acrylic sheet (above) on sale for $20. So I bought it and a few boxes of stove bolts and nuts. I've been wondering how to attach the sock to the fairing, I'd prefer snaps so you can take it off to get on the bike, but I didn't know where to get them. Home Depot sells bolt on snaps that you can bolt on one side and attach somehow to the fabric. First I want to get the fairing on though. I might start on this next week if I have time. I'll probably post again on Monday, so check back then. Ride safe and have fun.

It's a bird!, It's a plane!!, It's......just my bike:)

Here are several photo's that I took off a parkade downtown, eight stories up.

Tina and I were downtown yesterday and I seen this parkade that was very high and a thought popped into my head, "Hey, I could ride my bike up there." I was headed to the library today and it's on the same street as the parkade so I rode my bike up 16 levels to the top and then hauled my camera out to take some photos of downtown Saskatoon. The ride down was even better although my back brake still isn't working as well as it should so it was a little scary in spots. I recently read an article in National Geographic call "After the Oil" and it was regarding the whole theory of "Peak Oil" and what we are going to do when we run out of oil or it gets so expensive nobody can afford it. They talked a lot about solar panels and wind generators and that interested me so I got a stack of books at the Library about solor and wind power, I'm going to look through them later. I think that if I got a house I would at least try the wind power, possibly solar too, perhaps in small scale just to cut the gas bill down in the winter time. Also today I took my car to the bank to get some money, on the way back from the bank I went down the back alley which is one of the most traveled back alleys in Saskatoon and for a few moments I thought I was Neil Armstrong piloting the Lunar Rover, I've never seen potholes that big, and you can't avoid them because they cover the entire surface of the road. The city claims it's fixing all the holes but I think they need to work a little harder at it. Also I found some flexiglass at Home Depot, they sell it in sheets that are perfect for what I need, so as soon as I get that I can start on the fairing. I probably won't post tomorrow because I have to leave for work early, but check in on Saturday, until then, ride safe and have fun !!!!

Tuesday, one day closer to Friday..............

I decided to hold off on the photos for a bit, there are only so many photos you can take of dead grass and dirty snow, the snow it melting fast though. Today I took the bike downtown to meet Leo for an early lunch, my first ride where I just jumped on the bike with a t-shirt, light jacket and a pair of pants on and rode away. Nothing cycling specific, it was actually a very enjoyable 10km ride, and I used it as practice for bike commuting this summer. I was going to go to Home Depot and look for some flexiglass and a few hose brackets to use for my fairing. Last night at work I found some strips of thin aluminum and steel that I took home to use for brackets, they are thin enough that I can cut them with my tinsnips and then bend them with pliers and a hammer. I would like to get a rivet gun to rivet the fairing to the brackets, but I may bolt them to it depending on how much a rivet gun cost. Anyway tomorrow Tina is home and we will be busy so I won't have time to post tomorrow, but check back on Thursday. Until then, ride safe and have fun.

Blue Skies

Looking down at the river valley and huge house in Riverside Estates.

Look at that beautiful blue sky.

I actually didn't ride to Cranberry Flats today, I figured that it would be much to muddy out there, so I decided to ride around Riverside Estates, which is a subdivision close to Cranberry Flats that is full of really big houses. I've been looking at the velomobiling site and think that these are pretty cool, they are also extremely expensive, about $10,000Canadian is the average price for these bikes. I got to thinking that I could convert my Burley into something of a velomobile very easily. I want to first add a fairing, so I have to find some flexiglass to make a fairing out of, then I want to add some sort of nylon sock that I could attach from the fairing to the back of the seat. Look for something in the next few weeks as I get started on this project. Ride safe and have fun..

140th Post !!

Sunset on the river

My spiffy clean car. :)

My brother Matt, probably texting his girlfriend.

Saturday morning my brother Matt came to the city, he had to pick his car up in Loreburn and drive it back to Alberta where he lives. We all went to Loreburn anyway because Tina and I had some things in my parents house that we had to get out of there. Mom and Dad just sold their house so we took the table, buffet and Tina's old bed, also there was some boxes of my childhood things that we need to pack up and take out. I didn't go riding all weekend, I'll probably go out tomorrow for a bit, but today Tina and I decided it was car cleaning day. I've decided to sell my car now to pay off some debts I'm going to buy Tina's old car off her instead so I have something in case I need to drive somewhere. My car needed some intensive cleaning since I haven't washed it in months and it really, really needed to have the inside cleaned out. So we spent most of the afternoon cleaning my car and both Tina's new and old car. I almost don't want to get rid of mine now it looks so nice, but I want to go to school in August so I need to seriously clean up some debts I have. We went to my friend Julian's house later in the afternoon but he was out riding so we visited with his wife for a while which was nice. After that we came home and Tina made supper while I tackled the mountain of laundry that we have in the corner of the bedroom. It seems like the laundry accumulates very fast. I'm still on evening shifts at work for this week, hopefully next week I'll be back to day shift. Anyway check in tomorrow, I'll try to take some interesting photos on my ride, Saskatchewan in the spring isn't too photogenic though, just dead grass and mud. :) Ride safe and have fun...

Thanks for making me so popular :)

I may have mentioned this before, but the reason behind the small ad at the top of the Blog is so that I can see how many hits I get. Google Adsense tracks how many hits I get on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. For the month of March I logged 1063 hits and I just wanted to thank everyone for coming to read my little bits of wisdom (of lack of) every once and a while. The 1063 hits is a milestone for me, most months I've logged 750-800 hits so over a thousand hits is really something. I haven't been blogging too much lately because I've been on evening shift and it's hard to find time to get things done in the middle of the day sometimes. After April 10th I will be back on dayshift and I should be posting again on a regular basis. Ride safe and have fun....

Beautiful Day..

Heading West on Grasswoods Road.

The train tracks beside Highway 11

It was a nice day out today, very sunny but a little cold, around 1C. I decided to go for a small ride so I headed out of town on Highway 11, thankfully the shoulder had dried up a lot yesterday so I didn't get nearly as wet. I headed towards the Grasswoods ESSO and when I got there I turned onto Grasswoods Road and headed west. I turned onto Clarence Ave. to head back into the city and they've built a huge overpass over the train tracks there, it is really quite high, I managed to set a top speed record for this year so far coming down the other side of the overpass, I hit 47.5kmph. Overall I road for 22kms today. I didn't post yesterday because I had to take Tina's car to the shop and I took her out for lunch. I will only be on evening shift at work for a few more weeks, when it's over I will move back to dayshift again. :) I won't be posting tomorrow because I have to work early, but check back on Saturday, until then ride safe and have fun.

Heading away, out of town...

Riding out towards Clavet on the highway.

The divided highway ends here, so I gave the Burley a rest on the sign.

I finally got off my butt and went for a ride, I decided to head out of town on the highway because the shoulders on the highway are dryer. I still got pretty wet heading out of town, even with the slicks and the fenders. I road out towards Clavet for about 45mins and then turned around after I got to the point where the road goes to single lane from divided. I then headed back with a bit of a tailwind and I got back to the city in about 25mins. The bike seems to work good now and I'm done playing with it. :) Today was my second day of night shift and it's really wearing on my because I don't ever get to see Tina, that and I just don't like it. Since yesterday at lunch I've seen her for about 10mins, and now I won't see her until I get home at 1:00am. Very frustrating because I'm also bored senseless and there is nobody to talk to all day, or do anything with. Hopefully I'll be done this shift soon (fingers crossed). Anyway I probably won't go riding tomorrow, I've got to take Tina's car to the shop and get it looked at. So ride safe and have fun....

No photos today

Well I decided not to go riding today, it is extremely wet out right now and I would be soak to the skin by the time I got home. I may go out of town riding tomorrow, I'm thinking of heading out on the highway towards Yorkton and maybe circling back into town on some backroads. This is the new time that I will be posting now, I'm working nights and I have to go to work pretty soon (I hate it) so I will try and post every day around this time. Check in tomorrow for more. Ride safe and have fun.

Me and my snazzy new shorts.

This is how it was today, it was really ugly out.

I wanted to do some cycling but the weather didn't work in my favor, it was windy and raining out most the day, the streets are all wet (as you can see above) and even with the fenders I don't want all my new components dirty. Instead Tina and I went to Canadian Tire to get some stuff for her car. Then we went to Petland to look at the animals (I want a kitty) but they really didn't have too many animals there. We can't have a pet because we live in an apartment, but I really want a cat. I've decided to take the computer course at SIAST (Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science), I was thinking of going to University, but I don't think I can handle the tuition at University. The course at SIAST is only $3300 a year plus books, and it is a two year course. Plus I think that computer technology would be a fun thing to take and I would probably do good at it. Anyway not much to say besides that, I might go riding tomorrow if it doesn't snow, but it probably will. Ride safe and have fun.

Tina got a new car!

Well we test drove it and Tina decided she wanted it, so she bought this very nice (but a little dirty in the photo) GrandAm GT.

I had a post all written up last night, I was just about to press the publish button when the computer froze, I was frustrated to say the least. By that point it was so late that I wanted to go to bed so I didn't rewrite it. Basically it was just about my bike, I found out that the stock freewheel has bitten the dust, when I coast the chain backlashes. I took it to the bike shop and found that just buying a new hub would be about the same cost as fixing the freewheel. So I got a Shimano XT rear hub and then I relaced it to my rear wheel. The XT freewheel is like butter compared to the stock hub I took off, I got the new hub all laced up now and I dished the wheel a lot better then last time, so I had to readjust my brake arms so the brakes didn't rub. I'm also going to nightshift (4:00pm-12:30am) at work starting next week, so I will have most of the day off and Tina will be working most days, I really won't have much to do all day so I will probably go riding, I'll be in pretty good shape this summer from all the riding. Ride safe and have fun.......

A few more photos

Beautiful lake in the sun.

A squirrel by my parents place in Nordegg.

The church in Nordegg.

Tina filled out a credit application on a car tonight. We went to look at a 2003 GrandAm GT. Tina wanted a four door GT and we haven't seen one for a long time, but tonight we seen two, a silver 2001 and the white 2003 Tina is interested in. I found out today that my Burley has a wrecked freewheel, so I have to get that looked into on Saturday. I finally think that I found what is causing the troubles with my shifting, the high gear limit screw on the rear derailer was screwed out way too far (whoops!) so the chain was shifting off the inside of the small cog on the front. I fixed that and it seems to shift fine now, we'll see on the next ride. Until tomorrow, ride safe and have fun.

More Photos

A small lodge we came across, it was on the shore of a lake (which was frozen).

Driving back to Nordegg from Lake Louise, the setting sun shining on the mountain sides.

The sun was very bright all day, made for some really nice photos

Tina and I on the lookout platform at the gorge by Nordegg (see previous post).

Lake Louise, too bad it was frozen over.

The chalet at Lake Louise

Tina's real engagement ring, I just picked it up yesterday.

A close up of a Whiskey Jack, he was really tame and I walked right up to him to take the photo.

The fake engagement ring

Nordegg cemetery, in sepia coloring.

I went to have coffee (okay, icecream) with Leo and Julian at the Dairy Queen tonight. I decided to take my bike, so I got in 7.5kms of riding. The roads are drying up fast, it was even thawing tonight, but there was a really cold wind. I'm still having problems with my shifter, by the time I got home I didn't feel like dealing with it, so that is a project for tomorrow. Anyway, check in tomorrow for more, until then ride safe and have fun.....

Some photo's from our trip

Beautiful mountains

A big horned sheep, I was probably 15 feet away when I took this photo

A gorge by my parent's place

We recreated my proposal because we didn't take photo's when the real thing happened.

I wanted to put a lot more photos on here tonight, but Blogger is acting up like it occasionally does and it isn't going to work. Anyway I got some of the good photo's I took up here today. I actually went for a ride today, only 6kms but still a ride. I wanted to test the Burley out, I just installed the speed struts and I wanted to see how the 9 speed system was going to work. I found out that I have some issues with cable tension that led to skipping in the lower gears, I adjusted the cable some more and hopefully it won't skip. The trigger shifters are beautiful, they shift like butter and the whole drivetrain is really quiet now. The bike is wayyy faster now with the slick tires on, I hit 30kmph several times just riding along. Anyway hopefully the site will be working better tomorrow and I can get the rest of the photos up here. Ride safe and have fun.

First post from out of province and some surprises!

View from my parent's cabin in Nordegg. I took this on Friday.

Tina and I in front of the Black Stump restaurant in Rocky Mountain House.

Well this is the first post that I've made out of province. I could only upload two photo's tonight, I had many more that I wanted to but on here but it is just too slow with my parent's dialup internet. I will be posting a lot more when we get back to Saskatoon, either Monday night or Tuesday sometime. Friday we drove to Red Deer and we stopped in at Bentley Alberta at the Bentley Cycle and trading post (you can check out the website HERE) to get some seat struts for my Burley and a spare idler pulley. Grant Patton at Bentley Cycle has a really great bunch of different bikes so if your in the area I highly recommend the drive to Bentley to check it out. Today we went back to Rocky Mountain House again, we were supposed to go exploring out west of Nordegg, but the snow kind of put a halt to that plan, so we went back to Rocky Mountain House again to do some shopping. Tina didn't know this, but for a long time I've been planning on proposing, I wanted to keep it a surprise and went to great lengths so that she didn't find out. I had decided that this was the weekend to propose to her because we were on a trip and I thought that it would be more memorable that way. I had the ring and everything, but really wasn't sure how I was going to do it. Well we ate at the Black Stump restaurant on Friday and since the food was so excellent that day we decided to eat there again today. I decided to propose at the restaurant, I wasn't really sure how I was going to do it. They had these napkins rolled up with a band around them, this gave me an idea to surprise her, so while she wasn't looking I slipped the ring into my napkin and then switched my napkin with her's. Then I waited until our meal came and she started to open here napkin. I did achieve my goal of catching her completely off guard, she was so stunned she didn't answer me for a while after I asked if she wanted to marry me. She finally said yes and made several comments about how "sneaky" I am :) I actually couldn't get the ring I wanted in time for the weekend so the jeweler gave me a ring that was close in design with a cubic zirconia in it, so on Tuesday we will have to go and get the real ring. Anyway it's getting late, I probably won't post again until Monday or Tuesday, so until then ride safe and have fun!!!

One more day left till our trip!!

New houses at the new Willows subdivision.

Lawson Civic Center and Rusty MacDonald Library.

'Slapping up houses at the Willows.

The Hospital Home Lottery House, $700,000, really nice!

Sorry for the subpar photo's tonight, it really wasn't a great day for photo taking today, cloudy and it looks like it was going to snow soon. I really wish I had my camera this morning, I could have shown everyone the most beautiful sunrise that I've ever seen. The whole sky was red, I left for work early so I was able to enjoy it longer, by the time I got to work the sun had risen. Tina and I went to the Library (see photo above) and then went to look at the Willows subdivision, some really nice houses there, they are slapping them up all over the place and they seem to be selling pretty good. I really don't know who is buying them, they are very expensive, but obviously there are some rich people in Saskatoon. Anyway there will be no post tomorrow because we will be travelling to Alberta tomorrow, we will be getting there very late as it is a 9 hour drive. I will probably post Friday night or Saturday. Ride safe and have fun. Check back soon.

Let's get personal

I was thinking the other day (something I try to do at least once a day) and I realized that most of my post on here are about things that I do or rides I go on, very few of them deal with me. As most of you know I've been looking around for a different job for a while now. Having only high school education makes it difficult to find something that pays close to what I make now at my current job which I've been at since shortly after I finished high school. I don't really get much satisfaction from my job, I'm looking for something that is more challenging and something that offers a better future. For almost the last year I've been job searching and the other day I finally came to the realization that I won't find anything (at least in Saskatchewan) that comes close to my current job without some sort of higher education. My problem with going to school is an ongoing debt problem that is mostly of my own making, due to my current wage I can't get much for a student loan and with my current debts that makes school out of the question. I've decided that instead of talking about going to school and about how I hate my job, that I should really do something about it. I've decided to postpone my ParisBrestParis attempt until a later date. I'm still going to follow through with my riding plans for this summer but I think that I will focus on local Brevets in the mean time. I need all the money I can get right now to pay off debts and save money for school. I've made a goal of attending school in 2 years at the most. Hopefully I will be ready in another year. As much as I like riding I think that I should shift my focus to other more important things in the next few years. What could be more important then cycling? The quick answer is that there are many things that are more important to me then cycling, it is something that has changed my life immensely for the better, and I enjoy it as a hobby very much, but I find that a lot of other things are more important. My future, my girlfriend, family, and friends. I really find the blog helpful for setting goals for myself, because I feel that after telling everyone on here I have to live up to my statements. :) Anyway I have been going on the treadmill lately and haven't taken any photo's or anything. I'm really going to make that up to all of you on Thursday when Tina and I go to Nordegg, Alberta to visit my parents for the weekend. Tina and I both took Friday and Monday off so it will be a enjoyable time for both of us. I may go out and take some photo's tomorrow, so check back then, in the mean time, ride safe and have fun!