Friday, August 9, 2019

August Rides - Part One

I know. I said fortnightly. This is not Fortnightly. It's only the first week. But it was a busy week, so....

I did ride on the first (Thursday). But I didn't take any pics.



On Friday I went out for a ride and passed some Caraganas and the seeds were pop-pop-popping in the sun.



More Caraganas.



Beautiful cloudless sky.



Saturday I headed out for a ride, determined to do about 50Km. I'd started thinking I'd do one of my extended loops around the cities multi-use trails and cycle tracks.. but as I got to the south bridge, I decided it's been too long since I rolled out of the city and decided to ride south east of town.



Danger!



Big Black Bird fears no danger!



Horsies!

Probably the very ones that leave poo all along the trail...

 

Bright, sunny, not too windy...

 

Apparently it HAS been a long time since I've been out this way, as they've gone and built a fence right around the Chief Whitecap Dog Park.



So many of these rules just not observed...



Heading East from the south end of Chief Whitecap Park - along side the Riverside Golf and Country Club.



Field along Range Road 3055. Turning yellow already! Feels like summer's already drawing to a close...



Took a side trip up a lane that ended at the river. So many people out on the river - kayakers, canoers, people just floating along on giant inflatable rafts.

Gave me an idea for our anniversary next weekend.



Signs at every intersection.



Sky. Fields.



Turned around when I got to Highway 219. Looked like there must have been a collision at the intersection there... and fire! Looks like splatters of molten metal of some sort...?



Roadside flowers.

 

Instead of heading straight back I decided to follow this bend and see where it would lead me (I had a pretty good idea, but I'd never been down that way, so...)



More flowers.

So... back at the beginning of June, I was at 114.4 Kg (that's about 250lbs!) I adopted a Keto diet and was doing pretty good with the weight loss, and, by the end of June, had lost 10Kg!! (about 22 lbs). Over July... things kind of plateaued and stayed about the same... Which was pretty disappointing as I'd done a lot more riding in July... but I wasn't so strict with the bean counting. There weren't any "treat days" or anything... just a lot of days where I blew my carb targets by having a homemade quesadilla or a Vega protein bar...



But in the last week of July and the first week of August, I started with the bean counting again and managed to get myself under 100Kg. Woo!! That's 15Kg I've lost (33lbs). If I could keep this up for another month and get to 90Kg - or below - I'd be a happy camper... or... happy cyclist.



So, on Sunday, I treated myself to a donut from Darkside Donuts!

Mmmmmm... so delicious...



Not to rest on my laurels, I planned another 50Km ride on Sunday - this time heading Southwest of town!



Can a picture get more Saskatchewany? field of Canola and a Potash mine in the background!?



Another road I'll have to explore on a future ride...



Some REALLY loose gravel on this one little section!



Back to ungravelled dirt. Wish I could find more out-of-the-way tracks like this.

 

Not sure if this was deliberately knocked off or blown off in a recent storm...?

 

Onwards!



Pasture



bit of pavement.



Back onto gravel and heading down a BIG HILL

 

Phone lines.

 

Huge hawk swooping back and forth across the road.

 

Distant cattle

 

Not so distant cattle.

 

Monday I just rode to Home Despot to pick up a new ladder.

 

Some new pedestrian and CYCLIST specific infrastructure I'd heard had been installed! Unfortunately, they haven't turned it ON yet!?



Will have to check this out!



Went on a couple evening rides through the week - having spent days at home waiting for a UPS truck to deliver a parcel... only to have them sneak up and leave a "We Missed You" notice on the mailbox without even bothering to knock on the door!!! Anyway, spotted a Heron at the edge of the river one evening.



Lots of flying things... birds.. biplanes...

 

Cormorant...?

 

hawk...?

 

Just hanging out.... over the middle of the road.

 

Another hawk?

 

Weir at dusk.

 That's about it for now. Got big plans for the weekend, so check back soon!

3 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed seeing the area around which you live,some great photos.

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  2. Yep, canola and potash, very Saskatchewan! That was my biggest impression of the province.

    Reminds me of a semi-amusing story: After I got back from The Big Tour in 2011, I went to see someone do a presentation of their bike tour. They had a slideshow, and when they got to the very obvious canola field pic (somewhere in the middle of the continent), they said they were not sure of the plants in the field but thought it might be sunflower seeds.

    I could not stop myself from commenting: "If it was sunflower seeds...you'd see SUNFLOWERS." I don't think I went over well with them. Oh well. :/

    -Shawn
    https://urbanadventureleague.wordpress.com/

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