Order One For Me

Monday Morning Weigh In X-64

I finally got off that -62 plateau. 65 miles with B'Ridge this week and a new recorded top speed of 53.4kph on the bridge to Mission Marsh. I made a run there on Sunday and it was another perfect day. The deer were all over including a large buck with an impressive set of antlers. Nothing like a clear, windy fall day with the leaves crunching under the tires and the geese honking overhead and that smell of fall in the air. Even after two hours on skates I wanted to keep riding.
I've had B'Ridge just over a month now and logged 193 miles.

Taking Advantage of a Great Day

After work I rode over to Staples to make some copies for the rink, then back to work to organize everything and off to the PA Arena for 2pm. After 3 hours of scouting out the kids things started to fall into place as the extra goalie we had decided against playing in net and the extra skater decided to pack it in until he gets a bit older. Only one coach to start the day but the others dragged their butts in eventually.
I jumped on B'Ridge at 5:20 and headed home. I noticed the wind had died down and the sun was still warm so I quickly changed and headed north, through the college and up to the university. I tried a bit of off road riding and had some fun along the river at LU. I wound my way through PA and ended up climbing the hill to the bluffs. There are some trails up there but the sun was getting low and the ground was really wet and muddy.
I zipped down the hill and into Boulevard and tried a few trails behind the LPH. I came across a couple who could not find their pair of 8 year old girls and tried to help but they must have found them. I headed for home and arrived at about 7:45. I put in 30 km and really enjoyed the evening and especially the sprint home.

Monday Morning Weigh-In X-62

Two weeks off and nothing gained, bonus! I logged more than 70 miles this week and about 85% of them in just two days. This is the first time my legs have felt a bit sore the day after all summer. After being gone 2 weeks I hoped work would have changed somehow, no luck there. While off I had an idea to start helping people new to computers with finding and using some of the free software I've come across, maybe on a paid basis. I've thrown a few names around in my head but nothing has really hit me as THE One. PC Coach, Computer Tutor...these have probably been done a hundred times. It will come to me eventually but names aside I think the idea might just be a good one.

Long Rides, Back on Track

After a week of cool wet weather combined with being away I decided to put in some long rides to try and get my weekly mileage back on track. Saturday I left at about 4:30 and headed west on Oliver Road planning to reverse one of my earlier routes. I got to Mapleward Road and kept on going to Twin City Crossroads and then south to Rosslyn Road. Turning back to the west with the wind finally at my back and kept a nice pace of about 24kph all the way to town. A total of 42km in about 2 1/2 hours.
Sunday I headed over to Boulevard and rode in the Terry Fox. The event is definitely a great cause but not meant for bikes. It's just "go" and the mass of walkers, joggers, runners, bladers and the occasional biker head off on the trail for the dam which bottles everybody up. The first lap was slow and I spent most of my time in the grass avoiding the crowd. It's too bad they can't have everybody on the trail going in the same direction as many pedestrians not in the event made a congested trail that much more confusing as they wandered about against the flow. I managed 7 laps in a 2 hour ride and then headed for Delaney arena to make sure the roof hadn't fallen in. For the day another 51 km. The cyclometer is a blessing.

The Ugly American

After another visit to Duluth I'm really sort of of po'd by the attitude there. Canadians are not 100% responsible for the things that they have there but you have to admit that the millions we have spent there over the last 25 years or so must have been a major source of the funds required to build the infrastructure upgrades, the waterfront, the malls etc. Go ahead and whip out your colourful (yes I spelt it right on purpose) Canuck cash and see what kind of reaction you get. You might as well rob the kid's Monopoly game and try to go on a shopping spree with that.
Not only do they not accept it, when you ask they turn their noses up about it. I'd love to see the merchants in Thunder Bay tell the few Yanks that will come here now that their not so mighty greenback is teetering, "sorry we can't take that". At least we would be polite about it. Too bad our economy won't allow us to be picky about the cash we get.
Note: the bank in Miller Mall charged 10% to exchange, you get a better rate at Ryden's

Which Would Be Worse

Which would be worse, trying to climb this or trying to descend?
Stelvio Pass Road
Height - 2757 meters
Location - in the Italian Alps, near Bormio and Sulden, 75 km from Bolzano, close to Swiss border. (The road connects the Valtellina with the upper Adige valley and Merano)
Claim to fame - "the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps, and the second highest in the Alps, after the Col de l'Iseran (2770 m)"

Monday Morning Weigh-In X-62

Well I held with only 50 miles on the bike this week but for vacation I guess that will do. I finally found an inexpensive cyclometer so keeping track of kms should be much easier. I did a 10km ride Monday out at the Feller's but the weather has been a bit lousy. I got B'Ridge up to 50.7km/hour on one of the hills on 591 and she is very stable even when flying. The season is winding down and soon I'll be riding the e-bike in front of the tv which I'm not really looking forward to. Mom had some great rice crackers last time out and I picked up a couple of packs, only 80 cal in 10 and they are really crunchy so I love 'em.

Tuesday Afternoon on Mountain Road

The best day weather-wise in our first week off was Tuesday the 4th. With the fun and excitement of another hockey registration looming I decided B'Ridge needed to get out. I headed over to Petrie's to see if our cards were ready and then headed West on Victoria Ave. I thought of heading through Northwood and up to LU but turned south on Mountdale and crossed the tracks and into Westfort, over the James St. bridge and out Chippewa Road to Mountain Road. I took the 15th Side Road back to 61 and then the Chippewa exit and back to Gore St. and Kingsway. Approximately 2 and a half hours and 18 miles. I can't wait to get a cyclometer to track all this.

A Little Off the Road

As the first week of our holiday slipped by we made a quick trip to Flatland Harbour to visit the folks and took Brandyn with us. I took B'Ridge in the back of the truck just in case the weather was dry enough for a ride, and after a great lunch and 3 full hours without rain! I headed out. I had mapped out a plan the night before and was hoping to ride for 3 hours or so. I headed back up Margaret St. and then took the Sturgeon Bay Road which meant an immediate climb and then the longest and steepest decent I've made all year. Both of the hills that had me walking on my ride out earlier in August were on the menu today but first I got to go down them. The climb out was much worse than either of them, especially around Mink Mountain. That one seemed to go on forever. I would crest a portion and another would appear. After realizing that Marin put a 'granny' gear on for just this reason I got my second wind and was good for the rest of the ride.
I made the 10.6km back to Walker Road (generously named) and headed south. After a km or so the gravel road narrowed, and then narrowed again and again until I found myself negotiating two rock filled ruts through the bush. My only fear was hitting a sharp rock with 60 lbs. in the tires, my weight on the frame and picking up a flat 5km from nowhere. I finally turned back to face the waiting hills after a fallen birch blocked the trail. B'Ridge and I climbed the hills and arrived back after about 2hrs and 45 min.

Monday Morning Weigh-In X-62

A good week except for a lack of biking as B'Ridge went in for a scheduled tuneup and I had to spend 2 evenings at LMHA registrations. I got in 47 miles this week. Hopefully our vacation will allow enough riding to hold off the pounds of being ...on vacation.

Never Say Never

I bought something I never thought I'd wear today, lycra biking shorts. They feel very strange until your butt hits the saddle. I was looking at more comfortable saddles and Farzum suggested trying shorts first. So I bit the bullet and tried on a couple pair, man did they feel weird! I know what a sausage feels like from the inside. Once the butt gets on the bike everything that feels weird is secondary as the padding makes things much more comfy and keeps you in one place. I took a ride to Boulevard Lake and met Sal for a lap around the lake and then rode home. Felt pretty good, sort of like wearing a glove when you golf, it just seems to feel right.