Gravel

Last Monday (10 July 2017) there had been a thunderstorm overnight, so we decided to give the trails a miss and head out on for a ride on some gravel roads Southwest of town.



My Salsa Fargo which I bought off a friend earlier this year - with a fancy new rear rack and a trunk bag from Arkel which I picked up more recently.



I also got this "Take-a-Look" mirror in the mail the week before and was interested to try it out.



Heading out of town on our "Gravel Bikes". The Girl is riding the Kona Jake 24 we picked up for Finnegan to use as a road bike a couple of years ago. Finnegan's riding Amanda's old Soma Cross Bike which I have set up for gravel riding with some Clement 700x40 X'plor MSO tires.

 

The first part of the ride is pavement - heading out Spadina Crescent south towards Valley Road.



But once we cross Valley Road onto Township Road 362, it's all gravel. Loose, washboardy gravel.



So washboardy the kids were hugging the shoulder most of the time, which was at time soft and sandy, but still better than the washboard in the middle of the road.



Turning North onto Range Road 3062 we found it was in the process of being graded.



We stopped briefly at the Chappell Marsh Conservation Area for snacks and drinks and checking blood-sugar levels...



While we were there, we spotted a hawk floating in the air above us. It was being harassed by swarms of little birds - swallows and red-winged blackbirds - at least a half dozen of each! the Swallows were diving and nipping at it!



From there we headed east through Cedar Villa Estates and beyond. Clouds rolling from the west bringing another afternoon thunderstorm. I figured we'd easily be back before rain started falling... but we did bring along jackets - just in case!



We circled back to Township Road 362 and started heading east - back towards home on it. Rolled past another little wetland... with an old television dumped in it!? What is wrong with people!?



What set of pictures of a Saskatchewan countryside is complete without one of a dilapidated old abandoned building.



Heading back east we were turning into a pretty brutal headwind... Clouds rolling in from the west... but the wind on the ground was gusting to 40kph out of the east? I expected at least a bit of whining or complaining out of The Girl, but she just rode off into it. She had seen a deer cross the road just as we turned into the wind and was so excited about that that she barely noticed the headwind all the way home!?



Back hugging the shoulders again to avoid the loose, washboardy centre.



back on the pavement - the wind so strong at this point the kids couldn't even get some good speed up going down this hill.



Eventually we turned North to head back into town and the trees between the river and the road shielded us from the wind.



Over the weekend I'd done a fair bit of cleaning and organizing out in the garage (I've done even more since, but still have a long way to go!) and at least cleared enough space I could get a few of these new bikes hung up...