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...

CVT’s Mobile Support Team

My friend CVT is training for the New York marathon next month. He took up running in March. This weekend he was visiting, along with another friend from the Edmonton area, and was planning to do a 28km run on Sunday morning. CVT has never run 28km before – though he did do a Half-marathon earlier this summer. Terry and I decided to tag along for inspiration (or consternation), encouragement and heckling…

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

From Left to Right: Terry, CVT, and me with spatula for extra encouragement (and possibly splinting)!


CVT and Terry around 6Km?


Me and Terry around 7Km – taken by CVT who was running backwards!


Me and CVT at about 8Km


CVT at 17Km – the dude is a running machine with a heart like an Ox.

He had started out running 10 minutes, the walking one... then it was more like running 20... then thirty... by this point he had more or less given up on the walking and was just running!


In the home stretch – CVT and Terry at about 26Km


CVT and Terry at 28Km!


Grand total: 28.2Km in just over three hours.


CVT and his Mobile Support Unit.

If only we could go to New York with him! Ah well, he’ll do fine and there’ll be no shortage of folks cheering him on.

Way to go CVT, you are an inspiration to us all!

Yuba Mundo

On Thursday I picked up a Yuba Mundo…. I know what you’re thinking; “ANOTHER BIKE!?” But seriously… this is the first new bike I’ve bought in… uh… over four years…? And I did drop one from the stable last year; the Cannondale Cross Bike that I stripped of parts to set Amanda up with a Soma Double Cross…

Though I’ve been eyeing up cargo utility bikes for years I wasn’t exactly in the market for one – but I kind of stumbled into a sweet deal on a barely used one at a price we just couldn’t refuse…

Anyway I took it out to get groceries on Friday… just to try it out… You know how it is… Considering I only needed a few things it was totally overkill.

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

The new cargo utility mule.


In the end I bought more than I really planned on getting… just to try out loading it up a bit! Unfortunately loading it up with so damn much stuff on just one side seriously affected the handling… I’m going to have to get another bag or bin of some sort for the other side for future hauls… More on the Yuba later…

Hmmmmm… How to hitch up the Bike Train to this beast…?

CVT's New Ride

In August my pal CVT from Edmonton was in town for a visit and while he was here we wandered into a couple bike stores just to have a look...

He walked out of the Bike Doctor with a Cannondale System Six...!?


We went for a ride out valley road that evening and he just kept riding away from me... (show off...)


Instead of painting the shed the next day... or building bookshelves... we went for another ride... Amanda may have not been too pleased, but just look at the smile on that dudes face! And that, my friends, is why I LOVE bicycles...

Bikes=Good Times!!