Dashing through the snow.........

Leo preparing to unhitch the bikes.

A construction crane on the new condo complex along Spadina Cres.

Saskatoon City Hospital in the early morning fog.

Well the flash on my new toy doesn't work, I was a little upset about that, so I took it back to the store this morning. The salesman told me that they would give me a new camera when they get some more in, apparently I got the last one. They were nice enough to let me keep this one until a new one comes into the store. I rarely use the flash anyway, but for the price of the camera I would expect that it would all work good. I phoned up my friend Leo this morning and we arranged to go for a ride today, I managed to put on almost 17 kms, it was pretty tough going in a lot of places because of the deeper snow. Leo was going along pretty good on his mountain bike, but on the recumbent there isn't as good of weight distribution, so I struggled in a few spots. I found that leaning forward over the handlebars shifted more of my weight forward so the bike went through the snow a little better. It is still very foggy as you can see by the photo's at the top of the page, hopefully it will burn off soon so that we can see some sun. We will be away again until January 2nd, since both Tina and I have to be back working on the 3rd, so I will be putting the blog on hiatus until the 3rd of January. Until then ride safe and have fun.

70th POST!!

First picture from the new camera

I got my Pentax *ist DL today, I'm very happy with it so far, however there is way to many features and a instruction manual an inch thick to go with it, so it will be a while until I have it figured out enough to take good photo's with it. I thought the above photo was not too bad, it is kind of reddish, but it was very foggy and the lights look red when the reflect off the fog. I also have a problem with the flash not working, I have to take it back tomorrow and have them check it out. It has auto focus, but after using Mom's all manual film SLR I think that I like the manual controls better. It snowed like crazy today and I was unable to go for a ride, hopefully tomorrow will spell better weather. Until then, ride safe and have fun.

I'm back!

Well I am back until Friday, and I will be doing a little riding. Santa (and other people too, THANKS!) was very good to me, and my new camera will now become a reality. Also I left my other digital and all our film camera's at Tina's parent's house, so there will probably be no photo's this week, unless I get the new camera and get it figured out. I want to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season, I missed that in my last post. I got a lot of nice comments in my last post and I want to direct everyone to a blog of one of the people who left comments, here is the link:

www.thebentneedle.blogspot.com

This fellow is an avid cross stitcher, which I think is very cool and unconventional (and people who know me know how I like anything unconventional). His blog was also very interesting to read, I'm going to have to keep an eye on it now. Anyway I will be keeping this up until Friday when I will be taking another hiatus for New Years, then in the new year I will set the computer back to zero and attempt to rack up as many miles as my free time allows. Also I will be posting from a new city sometime in late January or early February, just before Christmas I got a call from an oil well service company in Alberta. So I will be moving to Red Deer, Alberta. First I have to get my Class 1A learners license so that they can train me in Red Deer for the actually Class 1A drivers license. I'm excited about the new job it offers a substantial wage increase as well as a chance to advance into a supervisor position which is something that I have been interested in at my current work place but have been turned down so many times that I've nearly given up applying for these positions. I will be working 15 days and getting 6 off, I will be going back to Saskatoon on my 6 days off but I'm on call the rest of the time so I may be able to explore Red Deer by bike during my working days. Anyway check in tomorrow for more, and as always, ride safe and have fun.

I reached my goal

Another sunset picture.

Sunset on the river.

"Share the Road" sign on Spadina Cres.

University Bridge backlit by the late afternoon sun.

The intersection at 8th Street where I cross, it was pretty busy today because it was around 4:30pm when I left, almost rush hour.

I finally reached my goal of 1000kms before Christmas today, I got 1001kms on the Burley. It was nice and warm today too, actually a little too warm as the snow and ice was melting and making a real mess of the bike. I went downtown and then rode on the Meewasin trail for a little ways. It was a pretty good ride except for the muddy bike. I went to Planet Carwash and hosed the bike off for $1 then I lubed the chain to get it ready for riding in the New Year. This will probably be the last post until January, however we are back in town after Christmas so I may write some more after Christmas and possibly go riding a little before New Years. Check back again soon. Ride safe and have fun.

I reached my goal

Another sunset picture.

Sunset on the river.

"Share the Road" sign on Spadina Cres.

University Bridge backlit by the late afternoon sun.

The intersection at 8th Street where I cross, it was pretty busy today because it was around 4:30pm when I left, almost rush hour.

I finally reached my goal of 1000kms before Christmas today, I got 1001kms on the Burley. It was nice and warm today too, actually a little too warm as the snow and ice was melting and making a real big mess of the bike. I went downtown and then rode on the Meewasin trail for a little ways. It was a pretty good ride except for the muddy bike. I went to Planet Carwash and hosed the bike off for $1 then I lubed the chain to get it ready for riding in the New Year. This will probably be the last post until January, however we are back in town after Christmas so I may write some more after Christmas and possibly go riding a little before New Years. Check back again soon. Ride safe and have fun.

Hmmm...It's nice out today.

Heading downtown from Lawson Heights I managed to snap this photo of the setting sun reflecting off the river water.

I managed to get up to the north end of the city today, here is the Meewasin Trail up in the park in Lawson Heights.

An in the cockpit view of the Meewasin Trail north of the University. There is a little snowplow that plows it all winter, so most the time it is pretty nice to ride on.

The Weir in the winter time, there is a lot of ice buildup around it right now.

Well I'm very close to my goal of 1000kms after today. It warmed up to about +1 Celsius and I got off work early today, everything conspired to make it a very enjoyable ride. I managed to get in just over 21kms, mostly on the Meewasin Trail because the streets were much too icy. I realize that people may have been getting bored with photos of the same thing over and over again, I would like to vary the scenery too, but with the really cold weather I don't feel comfortable riding outside of the downtown area, you never know when you might get a flat or something. Today I did manage to get out of the downtown area, hence the different scenery in the photos. After supper today I went to look at my friend's new Dahon Speed TR, it is a pretty cool little bike, I have a Dahon Piccolo and even though I rarely ride it, I still like to know that it is there when I leave town for the weekend, I can just throw it in the trunk and have a bike to ride anywhere. Julian's bike is many steps above mine however, it has Sram Dual Drive, Magura hydraulic rim brakes, a Thudbuster seatpost and Cane Creek bar ends, it is pretty nice. Obviously while looking at it I got ideas for the Burley, the best thing I think would be the hydraulic brakes, I'm constantly having issues with the brakes on the Burley, the long cable seems to suck all the power out of the braking system, and the pads don't seem to work well with the rims, I think that as long as I got a hydraulic line long enough the Magura brakes would work awesome. As for the Dual Drive, it is really cool, but I can't see how it would be any better then my current system, so I will leave it alone for now. Check back tomorrow for more, and remember to ride safe and have fun.

Did go riding today!

The same old park picture, I'm trying to perfect it. :)

Broadway Bridge with Christmas decorations all up.

I did go riding tonight, I managed to get in 10.5kms even though it was quite cold out. My main purpose for going out tonight was to scout out some places to take pictures with the film camera later, I'm experimenting with the film SLR and trying to figure things out. I am going to get a Pentax digital SLR after Christmas, so after New Years you will hopefully be enjoying some much better pictures then I currently have on here. The streets are much better now then earlier in the week and it is a lot easier to ride. I finally got the rear shifter cable to work properly by taking the entire thing apart, cleaning it and then spraying oil into the cable housings. My rear brake cable is still too gummed up to work properly. I will definitely be riding the next few days because I have to get up to my goal of 1000kms before Christmas. Ride safe and have fun.....

Didn't go riding today!

Well I didn't go for a ride today, it was supposed to be warm today, but it turns out that it wasn't really. Tina actually had to go for an interview today, and she got the job! I'm so happy for her, she starts training tomorrow. She is working until Friday now so we will be going home then instead of Wednesday, so I defiantly will be able to get in my 1000kms before Christmas. It is supposed to be warmer tomorrow so I will be heading out probably.

Running errands

Looking across the river at Saskatoon downtown.

Another sunset photo.

I took this on my ride today, this is 12th St which is still pretty snowy.

I finally got a sunset picture, not a really great one, but at least it is better then

I did go for a ride today, it wasn't too cold, but I didn't dress up nearly enough. I decided to go to the library and get some camera books. I spent about an hour there and then headed home. I managed to get 10kms in on my ride and it was all in the daytime hours. I am almost to my goal of hitting 1000kms before Christmas. So ride safe and have fun, check back tomorrow for more.

Another cold ride

Victoria Bridge, they finally blocked it off with barriers at the ends of it.

There are more 'bergs on the river now as it is getting colder.

A little idea of what the streets are like to ride on.

I managed to get out for a ride today. It was still very cold out but the roads have clear up a bit today so I decided to give it a go. It wasn't too bad, I was cruising through some really deep snow downtown in the park and there was what appeared to be a big drift of snow, it was in fact a lump of ice, I sped up to go through it and managed to get the Burley airborne, which felt very strange when it landed, and surprised me a bit. My rear brake and shifter cable are still rusted up and won't work, so I don't have a rear derailer or a rear brake. Anyway I probably won't be riding until Sunday. So ride safe and have fun.

Pure Insanity

Heading north towards the CPRail train bridge on the Meewasin Valley trail.

Here is a quick shot that I took while I was passing through a parking lot at the University, look at all that snow!

Well I did it! I finally managed to get the Burley out for a ride, first one since Sunday, that is sad. Tonight I managed to cover a little over 10kms, it was very cold (-19 Celsius) because we had a wicked wind coming in from the north. I spent my entire ride in one gear because I did something stupid, when I took the bike to the car was I apparently got some water in the cable housings, because after sitting in our storage room since the weekend, I took it out today and neither the front brake or front derailer work properly. I guess the cables corroded when they dried out and they no longer slid good in the casings, so now I'm stuck with one gear. The Burley worked really well tonight in spite of the lack of shifting and it got me thinking about the ultimate winter bike, something I mentioned in the previous post. So I want everyone to head over to:

www.velomobiling.net

This is an entire site dedicated to the a little known super bike called the velomobile, after looking at the site and all the info I could see myself getting one of these if I had the money and room to put it. I probably won't update this much over the weekend because we have company for the weekend and I have to finish my Christmas shopping :( So ride safe and have fun.

And more photos..........

Vimy Memorial bandstand.

Took this high resolution picture tonight, I used the digital camera to kind of set the photo up for the film camera.

I was unable to go riding again tonight, so I did a little picture taking instead. I finally figured out how to get the camera level by adjusting the legs on the tripod. I feel bad because my blog recently hasn't had any posts about biking, but it simply isn't safe to be out cycling on the streets right now. I was thinking that maybe a trike with high ground clearance and large volume tires would be the thing to have, however you still only have one drive wheel, even on a delta trike because of the differential on the back, so traction would definitely be an issue still. As for my Burley it isn't too safe to be out on in the deep snow that is covering ice. I'll see how it is tomorrow, and maybe I can head out. Ride safe and have fun.

Taking some more photos

I took a few photo's of our back alley, just to show everyone how much snow we are currently getting.

I think that I will quit predicting whether I will be going on a ride the next day or not. Whenever I do that we seem to have really bad weather the next day. Today around noon it really started snowing hard, by the time I was finished work there was quite a lot of snow on the ground. I went to the store tonight to have my film developed and by the time I started walking home my tracks were already filled in with snow, there is about 6" of snow on the ground now. Anyway I guess that I will be spending a few days on the treadmill until the weather clears up. I got my film back tonight and the pictures turned out really good, I just have to find out a way to keep the camera level. Anyway check in tomorrow, I will at least take some more photo's to put on here. So ride safe and have fun

Taking some photo's

Redline Harley Davidson on 1st Ave. I took this from the top of a parkade across the street.

Back alley pictures.

Today I didn't go for a ride, I decided to go on a photo taking spree instead. Tina and I went out in the car and I took my Mom's SLR film camera along too. I wanted to take some trial photo's with the film camera so that I can figure out how to work it, I shot a full roll of film with it that I will get taken in tomorrow to get developed. I also took some photos with the digital camera on high resolution setting, so today everyone gets nice photos. :) I really see how much nicer digital is then film after tonight, with a digital camera I could be already looking at my photo's, now I have to wait until tomorrow and then pay to have them developed to see how good or bad they are. Also the digital camera seems to be better for just taking fast shots of something. I can't wait until I save up enough to get my new digital. I will probably go for a ride tomorrow, so until then, ride safe and have fun.

I still don't know what's happening, but I like it!

The Burley got treated to a nice bath at Planet Carwash today, then I rubbed it all down with a rag, here it is drying in the sun, even the chain is clean now.

My new Cateye mirror, my last mirror completely broke off in the cold, I like this one better anyway, it stays adjusted and it has a wider angle of view, also it hasn't vibrated since I got it.

Sask Ave. South in the day time, there are some really nice houses down here, like the one on the left.

This guy followed me all down the road until I turned, he even stopped to take a photo of me when I took one of him, I will say that he has good tastes in bikes!

A farmer made a welcoming message with his hay bales.

Pulling into Grasswoods.

My bike got pretty dirty today

Because there was ice on the roads where they lived, Leo and Julian opted out of riding to Grasswoods, I however was fine, I actually covered the 6 kms in about 15 mins and was 30mins early. We had a wonderful lunch buffet and talked for a while. After that I decided to head home a different route along Grasswoods road, kind of the scenic route through the country. I was going to turn at Clarence Ave. and head back to the city, but the +6 Celsius weather was too good to pass up, so I kept going towards the river, I managed to do 28 kms and my grand total since I got a computer for the bike is at 934kms, not bad but I plan on covering that in a few days next summer. I got the bike pretty dirty today and had to go to Planet Carwash to wash the bike off, it is now sparkling clean and ready to get lubed up for riding again. Hopefully I will be out tomorrow night, so check back tomorrow. Until then ride safe, and have fun.

What the heck is going on?

A small side street that doesn't get much traffic, there is still some snow on it.

14th St. You can see that all the snow is mostly gone, just water and ice left.

There is a saying in Saskatchewan, "If you don't like the weather, then wait five minutes" how true that is. From the really cold weather at the beginning of the week to yesterday's 6 degrees it has been a roller coaster of a ride. Today I left and it was pretty nice out, around 1 Celsius, however it soon started to rain! and I didn't go to far, only 7 kms because I hate cycling in rain. They need to make little windshield wipers for people with glasses, cause it gets really annoying when you can't see anything in the rain. I avoided back alleys on the way home, they were very icy and the first one I ventured down I could barely stand on the ice let alone ride on it, so I stuck to the main streets. Tomorrow Leo, Julian and I are supposed to cycle out to Grasswoods for brunch, they have a smorg at the Smittys out there, of course I will take the camera along and capture all the sights, so be sure to check in tomorrow for that. Until then, ride safe and have fun.

Nothing much happening.

My latest gadget, Swiss Army Soldier, the original Swiss Army knife.

First off I would like to shamelessly plug my parents motel and home, if you would like to live the small town life and make a decent living too, all the while owning your own business and large house for very little, then this is a deal for you.

Check out the site at: http://saskhouses.com/listing.php?id=4258


Obviously I didn't post yesterday, it snowed a great deal and I felt that it was unsafe to be out riding, plus I spent most of the evening helping our landlord seal plastic over our windows to keep them from sweating. Today it warmed up to a balmy 6 Celsius, and then it rained, so no riding tonight either, the roads are just a mess, mud and slush everywhere, I didn't feel like going out and getting sprayed with mud and muck from passing cars. I purchased a Swiss Army knife today, I used to have a Ken Onion Leek folding knife, which was very nice and had assisted opening. Then recently I somehow lost it. I really didn't realize how much I use a pocket knife up until that point, but I've missed it dearly since then for various household tasks. So today I replaced it with the above Swiss Army knife, it was the only one with an aluminum handle and it was only $25 so if I lose it or break it then I won't cry as much as a $90 folding knife. I like it because it is very well built, nice and light and it had multiply tools which always come in handy for a cyclist. The blade seems strong and sharp, I will have to dress it up a bit to get a proper edge on it, but I think it will be a good knife. A lot of people think of folding knives as weapons (or any knife for that matter) I however have never thought this way, next to the hammer the knife is probably the oldest TOOL known to man, people always need to cut something and it is the perfect tool for that. Due to gun control a lot more people seem to be getting stabbed or threatened with knives lately, so if you carry a folding knife with you people think your a criminal or something, I've had people give me weird looks when I take my knife out to help them cut a bag open or something. The fact of the matter is, everyone should carry a pocketknife of some sort, it can save your life, you could cut you seatbelt off to get out of a burning car for instance, or survive in the woods for a few weeks, it's all about being prepared. I should be riding tomorrow unless the weather takes a turn for the worst again. So until then, ride safe and have fun.

I'm not bitter, really I'm not!

South Sask Ave. very nice treelined streets.

More of the Meewasin Trail.

The Meewasin Trail as it winds under Broadway Bridge.

Well, I'd just like to say a few things. To the woman in the silver Pontiac Grand Prix, I really sorry for slowing you down, I hope I didn't detain so much that you were unable to go grocery shopping, pick your kids up or cruise through the drive through at Wendys. Thanks so much for honking your horn at me several times to let me know how much I inconvenienced you. Also I'd like to send out a message to the middle age man who was shouting sarcastic insults at me as he walked into the bar with his friends. If you were drunk, I understand that, I just feel sorry for the fact that you are so narrow-minded that you think I'm weird. I'm really just trying to stay in shape so I don't look like you when I'm in my 50's, maybe instead of insulting me you should praise me for looking after myself and staying healthy. Okay, now I'm finished venting :) tonight's ride wasn't all bad, it warmed up a bit tonight and I was able to get in a 12.4km ride. It started off pretty bad through as I got a flat tire before I even left my apartment. I've been having problems with the 20" front tire, this is the second flat I've had on it, it appears this one went flat when the tube was somehow pinched. There also appears to be considerable wear all along the inside of the tube (where the hole was) it almost looks like the tube was spinning inside the tire. It is partly my fault, I'm having an awful time finding 20" tubes with a presta valve, and the only ones the bike shops have are for really thin tires that are used on the front of racing wheelchairs. These work fine with the narrower slick tires, but with the snow tires on I think the tube is stretching too much to fill the higher volume tire. I'm going to try and find larger tubes tomorrow so that hopefully I can fix this problem. Until then, ride safe and have fun.

All about the clothes

Well I didn't go for a ride tonight, instead I decided to run on our treadmill a bit, I ran for 16 mins and only managed to cover 1.6kms (I'm an awful runner). It says that I burned 102 calories, so hopefully that helps me a little. I'd like to thank everyone that takes the time to email or leave a comment, it is really nice, in the past two days I've had two people email me with pictures of their bikes and comments, I really love to see other people's bikes so by all means if you feel the need to show it off, send me a photo. I actually got the idea for tonight's post from someone who emailed me today, they were wondering about winter clothing and what I usually wore on a really cold night ride. I thought it would be interesting to kind of go through what keeps me warm out there. First of all you have to layer, sure you can just put a whole bunch of warm clothing on and call it good, but you will likely be sweating like crazy when you get home. I like to start off my layering with something that wicks sweat, so I usually put on my full length cycling tights and a long sleeve jersey, this helps to wick the sweat away from you body. Next I usually cover my jersey with just a regular T-shirt, this helps to cut down on the wind blowing on my chest. For my lower body I have ski pants, these are really warm and if you wear too much under them your legs will be way too hot, so I usually just put the ski pants on directly over my tights. If you can find ski pants with a drawstring waist and articulated knees you are in business and much more comfortable. For socks I use the same principle as everywhere else, I first put on cycling socks and then I cover these with my wool Wigwam socks. Up top I usually just wear the T-shirt and jersey, then I cover these with my Thinsulate winter parka, which is light enough to move in but still keeps me very warm. For around my face and neck fleece is king, I have an open-face fleece balaclava that I put on under my helmet, and then I wrap a fleece scarf around me. As for gloves I just wear a pair of fleece gloves, my hands never get cold in them. I find that my clothes work really well in this weather, but as time progresses I keep finetuning everything, eventually I want to get heated socks and maybe some better face coverings. I will likely be out riding tomorrow night, it is supposed to warm up tomorrow a lot. Until then dress warm, ride safe and have fun.

Winter Wonderland

Ice on the river.

Christmas decorations on University Bridge.

Part of the Meewasin Trail going through Kiwanis Park.

Yep, it was cold out! and snowing too. :)

A really cool gingerbread house at the Festival of Trees.

Tina, her friend and I went to the Festival of Trees at the exhibition grounds tonight, here is the center piece of all the Christmas trees.

Vital Stats for tonight's ride.

Temp: -20C/-7F (for our American friends)

Total distance: 10.65kms

Total time: 45mins

Avg speed: 13.9kmph

Top speed: 25.7kmph

Other people out riding: 1 (crazy guy!)

Other people outside and not in a car or riding a bike: 3


Well tonight was quite the ride, my coldest to date and also the snowiest. Right off the bat I managed to have my foot come unclipped when I was pulling back on the pedal, and my foot swung backwards and I hit my ankle on the idler pulley of the Burley, this hurt a great deal and still does, I also have a large bruise there. After the cold numbed my ankle :) the ride was quite pleasant, there were very few cars on the road and the ones out there were giving me a lot of room. I went for a physical today and my doctor told me that I should lose 2 inches off my waist in order to have a healthy body. People don't realize that just because you exercise doesn't mean that you can't get overweight and have health problems associated with it. Obviously I'm going to try and eat better from now on and get a lot of exercise, hopefully I can have those 2 inches off by next fall. Well I don't know if I will go riding tomorrow or not, I may just wimp out and go on our treadmill instead. Until then, ride safe and have fun