Still burning up

Looking up river from the scenic lookout at Cranberry Flats.

A long CNRail train we had to wait for when we returned to the city.

The Saskatoon Police where having their driver training at the Exibition Grounds. Leo and I could hear the squealing tires a pretty good distance.

Down at the beach at Cranberry Flats.

A sandy trail leading to nowhere.

My skin was still burning this morning so before I headed out I slathered myself in SPF45 sunblock. Leo and I met Julian for breakfast at a coffee shop by his house. Around lunch time we headed out on a ride. It was very nice today too, around 20-23 degrees. Cranberry Flats is a shorter ride for me, about 17kms both ways, we got out there and then explored around a bit before heading back to the city. When we got back in the city we went to a local bike shop so that Leo could get his cracking rear rim looked at. At the shop they had a 2006 Catrike Pocket in yellow, I made the mistake of sitting on it and now I'm trying to figure out how I can russle up $2500. Short of robbing a bank I think I will have to wait for a long time to save that much up. I will be blogging again either on Saturday or Sunday, so check in for more then. Ride safe and have fun.

Ahhh! I turned into a lobster...

A small section of rapids just downstream of the ferry, look at that sky, it is so beautiful.

My fearless cycling companion Leo, taking a breather on the ferry.

It's not to far to the other bank of the river, it takes about 5mins to cross.

A very appropriate road sign, right next to the Clarkboro cemetery.

A railroad bridge just south of the ferry.

The ferry operator getting ready to unload a car.

My Burley and Leo's touring bike, this time they are taking a ride.

The Clarkboro ferry crossing the South Saskatchewan river.

As my title might suggest, I got really sunburnt today, the same thing happens every spring. I go out on the first nice day and forget to put on sunblock, next thing you know I look like a giant tomato. It only happens once a season, I learn fast after that and carry my sunblock with me. Today was beautiful, around 20 degrees, with a crisp blue skies above and little to no wind, perfect for cycling. Leo and I decided to head out to Aberdeen. To get to Aberdeen you have to ride to the town of Warman which is just north of Saskatoon, then ride down to the river and cross on the Clarkboro ferry, after that you have to ride about 11kms on a gravel grid road and then you are in Aberdeen. After that it is 25-30kms back to Saskatoon. All together I put on 94kms of riding, after we got back to the city with both rode to Julian's house to visit him, I think that he is really not liking his cast now, and I don't blame him with all the nice weather we are getting, he can't go riding or do any yardwork. We visited at his house for a while and then we both went home for supper. I was a great ride and a nice way to start off the season. I think we will be riding tomorrow too, so check back tomorrow for more photos. Ride safe and have fun until then.

My Last Day of Work!!!

Diefenbaker Park, it's really starting to bud out and look nice.

No it isn't ancient Mayan ruins :) it is the sled hill in Diefenbaker Park, they terraced the back of it to keep the dirt from eroding.

Doing a little mountain biking here, down the trail to Gabriel Dumont Park.

The gravel pathway through Gabriel Dumont Park.

I know it's spring, the Canadian geese are back to the river again.

I'm posting this after work because Blogger was being annoying earlier, I tried to upload my photos for probably 30 mins this afternoon, finally I had to give up and go to work. It was beautiful out today, around 20 degrees Celsius and a little warm breeze. I went to the James Wood Library branch by our place to take some magazines back and then I got some more. After that I decided to make a ride out of it and head over to Diefenbaker Park and Gabriel Dumont Park. Overall I managed to do just a little over 20kms of riding today, I'm now at over 1700kms since I got the bike in September. I hoped to have more on it by now, but I'm doing not bad, I put 400kms on in the last few weeks. I like riding through Gabriel Dumont Park for a reason, when I first moved to the city after high school I was on night shift like I am now. I would watch movies everyday and not do much else, by spring time I had gained a fair amount of weight and I was getting sick of watching movies all the time. I had been think of buying a bike for a while so I bought Bicycling Magazine's Buyer's Guide. In there I spotted the Trek 4300 Disc, which was a entry level mountain bike that Trek had just came out with that year. I fell in love with it, but I was a little put off by the $600 price. I went to a few bike shops and noticed that most the mountain bikes were pretty expensive. I then went to a Trek dealer and they had a 4300 in stock in my size. I test rode it and loved it, so I bought it. Gabriel Dumont Park was very close to my apartment at the time, about 6 kms away, so everyday I would ride over there and ride down the pathway through the park. Generally I would come home totally pooped and be tired for the rest of the day. Eventually I got in better shape though and I lost some weight too, then I moved on to a road bike and several other mountain bikes. Now a ride through the park is just a slight detour on my daily ride which is a lot longer now then it used to be in those days. Today was my last day of work, my boss walked me out a hour early with pay which was his parting gift to me, it was pretty nice of him. I think I will miss all the great people I've worked with in my 4 1/2 years at CNH, I'm sure there will be some good people at my new place too. I was excited and kind of scared too, I've been with CNH since high school and it was my first real full time job, it's been a long time and it is a big change to leave now. But, as they say, life must go on.....Tomorrow I'm going riding with Leo, we will even be going on a ferry ride, bet you didn't think they had ferries on the prairies? Well they do, and I will take some photos to put on here tomorrow, so check back in tomorrow for details. Until then, ride safe, and have fun too!

Just cruising around

We went out in Tina's old car looking at houses so I took a photo of Tina in the car.

This is my friend Julian with the results of his broken wrist. Get better soon, we need you out riding again! :)

A small creek by Brightwater Reservoir.

Some of you may have noticed that I'm not blogging everyday, I would have liked to, but more important things (like Tina and riding around) have somewhat shortened the amount of time I have for blogging. Tina and I went to Loreburn on Sunday to take the rest of the things out of my parents house, then when we got home we went around in the car to look at some houses. I may look at buying a house if the new job goes good, we'll see how it is. I've been riding around today too, I went to Zellers to get some new work boots, then I went to look at another house today and I stopped off at Julian's house on the way back to see how he was doing. I have to go to work now, so ride safe and have fun.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well today is officially Earth Day, I went on google.com today to look for something and they had the GOOGLE part covered with solar panels and a wind turbine was standing beside it, that was pretty cool. I feel I've been doing my part, we have been doing less driving. Now I just mainly drive to work, otherwise I take my bike everywhere now, or walk to the grocery store and other places that are close by. I was actually rode to the store to get Tina some eggs with the Burley, I actually met a fellow recumbent rider, we stopped and talked for a while about our bikes and stuff. It turns out he is a president of a local bike club, I'll have to go on some rides with them. Anyway I must go, so ride safe and have fun.

Yesterday's Ride

A small creek winding through the hills at Wanuskewin.

Julian and Leo waiting (again) for me, at the base of Victoria Bridge.

Wanusekewin Heritage Park

I went for a short bike ride today (about 1/2 hour) mainly because it was so nice out. Yesterday I didn't get time to blog so here is everything that happened yesterday. We headed out at 10:00am (by "we" I mean Julian, Leo and I) on our way to Wanusekewin Park for lunch. We were going into a very slight headwind all the way to Wanusekewin, and then we got there around 12:00pm for lunch, Julian and I had Jumbo hotdogs (yummm!) and around 1:00 we headed back with a nice tailwind. Apparently after Julian and I seperated on the way home he had a nasty spill on his bike and ended up breaking his wrist, he did manage to get home with a broken wrist (he's pretty tough:) and he got a cast on it at the hospital. He hopes to be going on short rides again soon, hope you get better soon! I also got a call back from Hitachi Canada offering me a job, so yesterday I gave my 1 weeks notice at work and I'm done next Wednesday, I start at Hitachi on May 1 and I very excited about it. Anyway I got to go to work now, so ride safe, please, and have fun!

Just Photos today!

Circle Drive Bridge, it was kind of cloudy out when I started out riding. I was going to go for a longer ride today but didn't have time so I rode to Lawson Heights Library instead to bring some books back.

The new park, River Landing, it's taking shape pretty well.

The Meewasin Trail along Spadina Cres, check back tomorrow for more, ride safe and have fun.

Rising Waters

Our official engagement photo.

Water flowing over the highway just east of Porcupine Plain.

Someones house trailer which is probably floating, notice the truck in the foreground, the water is up to the doors.

The main road leading into the small town of Somme.

The main road leading into the town of Weekes.

I actually tried to post from Tina's parents house but Blogger was acting up as usually and none of the photos would load. They got a lot of flooding around Porcupine Plain as you can see from the photos above, pretty crazy. We actually went to Tina's parents place Thursday after she was done work, we took Tina's new car and it worked well, it averaged 31MPG for the whole trip, which is good when gas is $1.09/liter. Gas is supposed to climb even higher this summer, I've heard $1.30/liter and $1.50, the first number is probably closer to what it will actually get too. Then in the fall they will lower it down to $1.09 and everyone will go on about how cheap the gas is again, it's kind of funny, every year they slowly raise the price and nobody seems to notice. I really don't know how so many people can drive around trucks these days, I think a lot of them will be trying to sell them this summer if gas gets really high, just like last summer. The way I think of it is, if you need to haul something get a minivan, they have almost the same volume of cargo space as a 1/2ton truck and you still get around 30mpg with it. People are going to have to wise up and realize how much gas they are wasting with their big truck or SUV. If you want a 4X4 there are a lot of little SUVs now that are good on gas and probably better 4x4's then the big ones. Anyway I'm done ranting now, we came back to Saskatoon late last night after a nice visit for Easter with Tina's family, I'm still on night shift for some reason and probably will be till the end of the month, so I got to sleep in this morning. Tina and I may go for a little bike ride this afternoon before I go to work. I'll probably post something tomorrow, so check back then, ride safe and have fun.......

150th Post !!!!!

Some flooding in the fields along Valley Rd.

Yes it was blowing hard, here are "waves" in a water covered field.

Julian riding ahead of me down valley road

The only significant hill for miles around.

Two "cool dudes" aka Julian and Leo resting at the top of the hill (above)

I got out for a good ride today, 55kms, out on Valley Rd. towards Pike Lake and then back into Saskatoon on Highway 7. Julian, Leo and I left Saskatoon at 10:30am and headed out on Valley Rd., the wind was aweful and it looked like it was going to rain. When we got to the Pike Lake highway that goes out to Highway 7 it was blowing like crazy and it started raining, it rained for a little while until we stopped at Cory Park for lunch and then after lunch it was nice again and the sun came out (still windy though). We went back to the city and stopped at the bike shop so Leo could pick up some tires, they had a lime green Catrike Road in there and I checked that out, $3000...that's a lot of money, nice bike though. Anyway I may post though the weekend, if not, check back on Monday for more, until then ride safe and may the wind be at your back. Have fun too. :)

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....