Ice Cycle 2010

Today was Ice Cycle 2010 a winter bike parade which was part of the Saskatoon Winter Shines festival.

It was pretty cold…


When I got up and saw the Environment Canada forecast I wondered if there’d be much of a turn-out… Then I though again and realized there’s plenty enough nut-cases out there that think nothing of riding in -35°C…

I had to swap a tire and a little hub adjustment out in the (unheated) Bicycle Storage Facility, which was a little frosty on the fingers…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


Rolling out to Ice Cycle 2010 with the family. I don’t ride much with the kids once there’s a lot of snow and ice – gets a little sketchy with the bike-train… (we walk or bus when we can't ride...). The ride, however, started and finished at the Farmer's Market, which is just a couple block form our house – and the route of the ride was just through downtown which is relatively clear of ice and mostly level.


Yup… all the usual crazies… and then some!!


Gerald from the Bike Doctor chatting with a couple of Saskatoon’s Finest – who came along for the ride too!


Doctor Matt and his daughter Aura.


I think that’s Tom in the orange…

So many people wandered up to me and started chatting at me and it would take me a minute to recognize the voice – because everyone looks so different in their winter riding kit… When you ride with people enough you learn to recognize them by their kit… but I haven’t been riding with people much lately.

For example…


That’s Corey Neufeld (from The Better Good) under that mask!


No helmet... not even a toque! and no brakes…!! Yikes!!




I hears someone saying there was about 190 cyclists out... at this point I think I was in about the middle of the pack...




That’s Jamison in that funny hat – from the City of Saskatoon Infrastructure Services – transportation… making the city just a little more bicycle friendly!




Mr. Dixon


Stopped at a stop light.


Though sometime we didn’t have to…






Jan and Ken.


At the end of the ride there was Hot Chocolate and other stuff going on but we had to roll on to other activities later in the afternoon..






The three Browns on the bike train… or the “unschool not-so-bus” as we sometimes call it…

Big thanks to all the organizers! I hope this turns out to be an annual event!!

First ride of the New Year

Amanda and I rolled out to our friend Darrin's for a New Years get together.


It's a good 6-7Km to his house.

It was -33°C (with a windchill that made if feel closer to -40°C...).

I probably wasn't quite so well dressed as I could have been. I can't remember the last time I felt so cold. Oi!

Touring Camel

SSSSSHHHHHHHHH!

Don't tell Amanda! (I just finished her Xmas present - I know, cutting it a bit close, but that's how I roll!)



Happy Holidays everyone! Stay warm - for those of you residing in cooler climes (like me)... or... stay cool - for those in more tropical climes (so not me!). I hope you all have a joyful and prosperous new year, free of tire punctures (I said "hope", we can always HOPE!).

More Critters on Bikes

Here is the next batch of paintings in the “Critters on Bikes” series that I have been painting for Amanda…

Can you guess which month I started them in…?





Like the Others these are all itty-bitty... like 3.5x4" or so...

Yuba Again...

I've been having a lot of fun riding the Yuba around and looking for just about any excuse to do so. I noticed in a flyer that there was a "spend $200 get 250 airmiles" at safeway last weekend... Now I don't really care about airmiles all that much... or Safeway fro that matter... But Amanda does get excited about such things so I pointed it out to her and off I was sent to push teh limits of what we could haul!!!


Heading out in the snow.


Here's the cartload of stuff I bought and had to somehow load on to the bike... Now I'm thinking having two bags or boxes semi-permanently attached would be really handy when trying to load this up with large loads. I could have put one bag in each keeping it fairly balenced as I loaded it. Instead I had to load up the one side, holding the bike up with my leg. Then, once the Yuba bag was loaded up I turned it around and leaned it against the wall while I loaded up the Bob Bag and then strapped it on to the bike. In the end it didn't end up all that well balanced. It wasn't a huge deal for handling, but whenever I stopped I couldn't just use the kick stand - it would just tip over...


All loaded up.

I was going to type out the list of everything I got to give you an idea of how much exactly I was loaded up with.. but I'm too lazy... Let's just say there was at least 22 litres of apple juice and soymilk... Which is 22kg right there (almost 50lbs). Then there was bags and bags of frozen peas and corn and blueberries...


Back home...

Snow

This past week we've had a bit of snow... It's mostly gone now, but it was annoying, chilly, and wet, and I just wasn't ready to start walking of taking the bus, so I said "Snow be damned" and carried on as usual. Luckily it wasn't actually very icy when we had to head out...




It was a sign of things to come, however. I guess we best get ready for more of it pretty soon...

Damn....

(Click on the picture to see a larger version)

Time to dig out the boots and bus tickets... I don't the The Train is going to work out as a four season transport...