Post #180!!!

Lakewood Park, very nice, this is actually the first time I've ridden through it.

Sunset photos in Diefenbaker Park

You can see the lights from Gordie Howe Bowl in this photo.

Lakewood park.

Not much to write today. I will be leaving for Red Deer on June 11 to start training, I spend a week in Red Deer and then I will be going to Calgary for training the following week. Apparently by June 29 I will be ready to go out in the field. That will be nice because then I can start getting bonuses. It finally stopped raining so I got to go for a short ride tonight. I went for a ride through Lakewood park, Tina and I drove past it last night and I've never been to that part of town before on the bike, so I decided to ride over there. The streets are nice for riding because that area isn't too old, so the streets are not full of potholes and things, very nice. Anyway check in soon, ride safe and have fun.

Saskatoon Marathon

The tallest and smallest runner, or pretty close to it. :)

Just an idea of how it was today, that is the tip of my umbrella in the top of the photo.

This woman ran most of the race with heavy work gloves on, she took them off for the final leg.

Here is Julian talking with a local recumbent rider, he followed the last runner on his bike so that everyone would know who when the last runner went through the checkpoints.

Broadway Bridge with the Bessborough in the background.

This guy looks pretty happy after just slogging up that steep hill. Many of the runners when they saw my camera would smile. I was hoping to get some photos of the pain on their faces, but instead they all look happy to be running 42kms in the rain. :)

Some more runners coming up the Broadway hill.

Julian wanted me to take a picture of this guy, he should win the best headdress of the marathon for the purple touque.

This woman put on a happy face too. :)

These guys looked totally drenched, but happy.

The start of the race, here are the runners coming past my checkpoint on 8th Street.

Very unusual sunset on Saturday night.

Runners rounding the corner at the top of the Broadway Bridge.

This guy doesn't look happy.

This guy was one of the faster runners, you can see he is really motoring along.

I went out with Julian today and we volunteered for the Saskatoon Marathon. It really wasn't a nice day, it rained constantly and it was pretty windy too. I really felt sorry for the runners, some of them looked like they had taken a dive into a swimming pool. Anyway not much else to say besides that, didn't go biking because of the horrible weather. Ride safe, enjoy the photos, and have fun.

Good News

In case anyone was wondering what happened with my new job (I was frankly starting to worry myself) there were some problems with my medical that had to be approved. Nothing really bad, I just mentioned my skin allergy and carpal tunnel syndrome and the company doctor had to determine if I was fit to work for their company. Thankfully everything checked out good and I will be starting soon. On Monday I will be giving my two weeks notice at Hitachi. Though I won't be riding while I'm working, I will be taking my computer (it's a laptop) and camera along for sure, so hopefully I can post if I get internet access in my motel room. Really my little blurb at the top of the page doesn't really pertain to this blog anymore, it's still focused on my riding and recumbent, but I also want it to encompass other aspects of my life as well. Truth be told it's become almost an enjoyable habit writing in here every other day, most of the time I really like it. So look for some photos from the oil field, hopefully of the truck I'm driving and some of the things I will be doing. I will also be doing a lot of traveling so hopefully I will be able to share some nice photos of that with anyone who reads this. Today I actually don't have any photos, it was misty out all day so I didn't take my camera with me. This morning I met Julian for breakfast at a coffee shop by his house, after that I rode home for lunch, I made pancakes for lunch and Tina came home because she works close by today. After lunch I talked to various people on the phone for quite a while and then I headed downtown to go to the library, it had actually cleared up a bit so I had an enjoyable ride. While at the library I had two people ask me about my bike, this has become very common. There are two types of people that ask, people who don't bike and are wondering what the heck it is, and people who do bike and are looking into a recumbent for themselves. The latter group surprises me, I didn't know so many people in Saskatoon were interested in getting a recumbent, apparently the internet helps because anyone can see pictures of recumbents on the internet. When I got home I had a shower and then when Tina came home we went out to a bridal shower that a friend of her's from work was having, we stayed there until around nine, had a good meal and a drink and then we drove around to look at a few houses and things. I probably won't post till Sunday now, check back then for more, ride safe and have fun.

Got my seat!

Sask Cres., "tunnel of trees"

Looking down the river towards the Saskatoon Rowing Club, notice the kayaks out on the water.

For our centennial the City marked signs on the street indicating where the city limits were in 1906.

I finally got my replacement seat from Burley, I got it and right away went to work replacing the old one with this one. Obviously the break in the last seat effected it a lot, as this one is noticeable stiffer and doesn't creak at all. I went for a short ride today to test it out. I just rode around by the exhibition area. Hopefully I will go for a longer ride tomorrow, got to see if I can con Leo into going somewhere for the day. :) Ride safe and have fun.

Fixed my bike today

My new shorts I got yesterday, I really like them, Tina thinks the colors are funny though.

A small park by Market Mall.

"First Base," the ball diamond by Market Mall.

I just went for a short ride today to work out the fixing I did on my bike. The bottom bracket on my bike gave up on my the other day, the bearings on the driveside fell apart. The bearings had gotten loose in the frame a long time ago and I tightened them up, apparently they were loose for too long so that really didn't last too long after that. I didn't get my seat yet for my bike. Check back tomorrow for more, ride safe and have fun.

Rainy Day

There were rumors floating around that a local shop had a tadpole trike for sale, so today Julian and I decided to go take it for a test ride. It turns out that the shop did have a tadpole trike there, but it was just getting serviced, and the owner had picked it up before we got there. So we went to Nutana Cafe for lunch instead, after that Julian had some things to do, I headed out to Confederation to go to Walmart. I hate the Walmart by my house, too busy, and I bought some new shorts. After that I just head home. It is pretty warm out still, but it has been raining off and on all day too. My new seat still hasn't come yet, hopefully tomorrow. Until then, ride safe and have fun.

Bikes on Broadway

Some more geese down along the river bank.

The Broadway Roastery, where we met this morning for coffee.

These following photos are of the Cat 4 Crit race along Broadway.

Today was really nice, I'm not sure how warm, but as I'm writing this it is 11:20pm and it is still 20 degrees Celsius outside right now, the A/C and fans are cranked up, but it's still too warm for me. I guess I like colder weather, a lot of times on the prairies I find that it gets too hot in the summer months. Today we met at the Broadway Roastery for coffee before venturing out for the day. We then head up Broadway a few blocks to check out the racing action. The Cat 4 riders were just finishing up and the women were getting ready to go, I managed to snap a few photos of the Cat 4's racing around, I find that to be the most interesting category because a lot of the riders aren't that experienced yet and everyone seems to be using a different technique. After watching the racing a bit we headed out to Wanaskewin Heritage Park for lunch, we had a good lunch and after that I headed home because Tina and I had plans for later in the afternoon. I just want to thank the Regina riders who came up and shared their time with us this weekend, it's always great to meet new people, make new friends and share some beautiful Saskatoon riding with fellow cyclist. Ride safe and have fun, check in tomorrow for more.

Riding around

I'm not sure what everyone is looking at, but it must be pretty interesting. :)

Spadina Cres.

We did some riding on singletrack trail, the recumbent worked pretty well actually.

The Delta Bessborough at dusk.

The Delta Bessborough in the daytime.

Everyone tying their bikes up at the Western development Museum.

Riding back from Cranberry Flats.

Some Canadian Geese along the Meewasin trail.

Leaving the Broadway Cafe in the morning.

Finally a fellow recumbent rider to ride with.

The view from Cranberry Flats lookout

Making plans.

All the bikes lined up and ready to go.

Every year the Saskatoon Cycling Club puts on an event on May long weekend. This year it was named Sask Bikeapalooza, basically it runs in conjunction with the Bikes on Broadway provincial stage race and people from Saskatoon and Regina come out and do some rides around Saskatoon. I decided to rest up yesterday so I didn't go riding. Today I joined up with the group of riders (there were four riders from Regina and three from Saskatoon) at the Broadway Cafe. After a good breakfast we headed out to the Western development Museum, some of the group stayed at the museum and the rest of us headed to Cranberry Flats for a little ride. It was very cold this morning, but by the time we got to Cranberry Flats it had warmed up a lot and the sun came out. We wandered around Cranberry Flats for a while and then headed back to the museum for lunch. In the photos you might notice another recumbent rider, one of the riders from Saskatoon rides a recumbent regularly and he joined in for the weekend as one of the unofficial guides for our small group, Leo being the other one. After lunch we headed north to Lawson Heights and checked out some sights up there and then tried to ride down some single track trail. Tomorrow we will be doing some riding too, so look back tomorrow for more. Ride safe and have fun.

Here's what happened.

A nice sunset on the way home.

Just after Hanna, Alberta there is this valley you have to drive through.

My new tomato plants I just bought today.

I didn't go to Nordegg on Thursday night, it turns out that the company I was supposed to go for the interview at, bought me a motel room in Red Deer for the night. The company was actually BJ Services which is one of the largest oil well servicing companies in the world. I'm pretty excited to say the least. Oh, I guess I should mention that I did get the job, I will be starting in a few weeks, it pays very well which is the main thing for me right now, and there are a lot of opportunities for advancing as well. I will be driving a nitrogen pumper truck, which is used to pump nitrogen down oil wells. Friday after the interview I had to get a drug screening test and go for a medical. After that I met up with my friend Steve who just moved to Red Deer from Halifax, Nova Scotia. We had coffee for a while and then I headed home after that. I will be going riding tomorrow with Leo, so check back then for photo's. Ride safe and have fun.