2022 Rides - Week Two

While it has warmed up slightly on Sunday (windchill around -30, instead of the -40s it had been the previous two weeks), Mondays windchills were up into the -20s, so I went out for a slightly longer ride in the late afternoon - doing the 20Km figure-eight loop of the Circle Drive and Gordie Howe Bridges. 

Saw some Common Goldeneyes. 

First Mallards I spotted so far this year. 

Whatever these guys were under the Grand Trunk Bridge. 

Whare ARE these guys!? 

The extreme cold has meant in some places the river is almost entirely frozen over... almost... still wouldn't go walking on it or anything. (This is the Gordie Howe and Grand Trunk Railroad bridges - at the south end of the loop) 

View from the north end of the loop. 

Today I was thankful for the city crews that go out and plough the Meewasin Trail - there has been significant accumulation of snow on the east side between the Circle and CPR Bridges. Most places it would be between axel deep and top of the wheel deep. Here it was piled up to waist-height! 

Rocking the Surly Purple Karate Monkey! (still haven't put on Ice Spikers... because... laziness - and not that much actual ICE on the trails just yet... )

The last bit of the loop I was treated to a gorgeous sunset over parts of downtown. 

I rode through campus to see if Amanda was ready to come home. She was not. AREB meeting the next day and still have files to review.... 

University Bridge and downtown. 

From just south of the University bridge. 

Broadway Bridge. 

Despite it being totally warm (all the way up to -4°C) I didn't go out Tuesday... I got working on stuff at home and didn't want to stop. 

Went out for a longer ride on Wednesday - doing a number of errands... nothing special here... just a spot I don't normally take a picture of (sometimes I feel like all I do is take pictures of the same damned things ALL THE TIME!?) 

Like this... the Grand Trunk Bridge... how many pictures have you seen of this!? 

(and a large black bird beneath it - can you see it? I think it was a Crow - which aren't common over winter - most gather into big flocks and fly south. Ravens overwinter... but I haven't seen any lately.) 

Rode 26Km. Not a bad distance for the second week of January. Riding after a cold snap like we expereinced (I think it was 3 full weeks of whidchills in the -40s!?) Everything seems so much easier. 

Didn't go out Thursday. I think it was snowing. 

Friday I met Amanda downtown for an appointment and we rode home together. 

So much snow. 

The roads are just awful and full of that awful mix of snow and sand... I've heard it referred to as "Brown Sugar" or "Road Mousse" or "Snand" (Snow+Sand). 

It sucks and just eats any forward momentum you have on most bikes. It's tolerable on fat tires...

Luckily the multiuse paths get cleared pretty quickly these days - along with artierial roads... side streets... not so much... 

On Saturday, because Amanda was doing an online yoga workshop, I hauled Keiran to their tap class. Usually they just walk, but there was no way I was going to walk that far through all that fresh snow (it's 3.5 Km!?), so I hauled them on the Big Fat Dummy, and then rode around an adjacent neighborhood, because it was really nice out.  

Needs to be better coordination between clearing paths and clearing roads - or just paying a bit closer attention to what they're doing at intersections when clearing the roads AFTER the pathway has been cleared... 

I rode around the Montgomery neighbourhood as it is pretty quite and has a lot of trees. 

I spotted a LOT of pirds, but most were distant and not identifiable. 

Also, I just had my phone and it doesn't zoom at all - which the pocket-cannon-point-and-shoot DOES.... maybe I'll be back to carrying that with me ALONG with the phone now. 

there was a HUGE flock flying this way and that over the neighbourhood. This was as close as I got to it - they'd all alighted in a tree in the backyard behind a house - I was in the front street (and a little anxious about someone coming out and asking why I was taking pictures of their house!)

if you look close, below the flock, just to the right and slightly below the center of the picture, there is a REALLY BIG BIRD - not really sure what it was!? Maybe a raven or a hawk?!

On my way back to pick up Keiran, just down the street from the big flock I spotted this guy - which I readily identified! 

Though apparently couldn't take a very good picture of!? 

(It's a Merlin!) 

I did go out for a short ride over to Broadway with Amanda on Sunday to get groceries... but didn't take any pictures. 

That's it for this week - again, a wee bit shy of the 100Km goal (73.5Km - maybe that's a bit more than a wee bit shy...)

It's warmish again today and threatening to snow overnight, AGAIN... Maybe I should get out for a ride before the dump!