2022 Rides - Week Seven

 This was supposed to be Winter Bike to Work week here in Saskatoon. Coudn't have been a worse week for it. After melting and raining and turning everything into slush - which people walked and rode through... and then it all froze solid - leaving a nightmare of wildly uneven and CrAzY slippery pathways everywhere. Also there has been so much snow that, the city can't keep up with removing it from roads and just piles it on the side - so there really isn't any shoulder anywhere to ride out of the main flow of traffic... yeah... 

Monday I was out doing some errands...

Hard to tell... but it is frozen SOLID, wildly uneven, and super slippery!? 

More of the same. 

Where they have done some clearing on the road... they do stupid stuff like this - blocking access to pathways!? 

Tuesday I just did a short ride around the loop to the south bridges. 

I haven't been able to look out for birds this past week and my eyes are generally locked on the pathway a few metres in front of me to try and discern which of the frozen lumps and bumps and channels and trenches are going to kick my tire this way or that... but I did spot this Common Goldeneye from the pedestrian/cycling bridge UNDER the road bridge (so there is rarely any snow accumulation there!) 

Grand Trunk Bridge

As part of the Winter Bike to Work week, there is a scavenger hunt... and, unbelievable, THIS is one of the items - it's a shopping cart taken from... one of the larger retail stores... likely be one of the homeless people that had been living along the riverbank to transport their meagre worldly goods around. For sometime it was wired to one of these poles, presumably to dissuade a casual passerby from taking off with it. It remained in place once it started snowing and the snow crews just cleared a path around it and now it's frozen in the snow and ice... 

It snowed Monday night.. not enough to fill in and level out the uneven surface of the paths... just enough to HIDE the surface and make it harder to read!? 

In the evening I went out for a walk to meet Amanda, who was walking home from one of the yoga classes she teaches. I spotted three snowshoe hares in the park! Can you see them!? 

Wednesday I didn't ride anywhere. it was cold and awful. Stragely the forecast suggested it was going to be warmer on Thursday and Saturday it was going to be above 0°C!? 

I stayed home and did some reorganizing and created a new Art Space in our living room. 

I did walk a bit - to go meet Keiran - who was walking home late from school in the dark (having stayed for a game and Pom performance) 

On the less busy streets it's often easier to walk in the roadway than on the awful sidewalks... 

Also CRAZY FULL MOON! 

By Thursday most of the pathways had enough new snow that riding wasn't terrible. It was a little bit warmer... 

Still took singletrack where I could, though... 

Spotted a coyote and a bajillion magpies in the field north of the university. 

Maybe not a bajillion... But a LOT of magpies. 

No, really, there were a LOT of them all over!? 

Some alleyways were a bit treacherous! 

I gave riding a miss on Friday. It never reached the forecast -18.... I think the warmest it got was -20°C with the -32 windchill... and got colder again in the evening.... but STILL they were forecasting +4 for the next day!? 

Saturday I was out and about again. It DID acutally warm up to above freezing. Nearly a 40° change in temperature!? How does that even work!? Regardless... I went for a longer ride and it was quite enjoyable. 

Saw a HUGE flock of birds - likely Bohemian Waxwings. 

So many of them! 

Corvids having a picnic lunch on the tiver. Wasn't entirely sure if they were Crows or Ravens... They did look BIG!?

Also spotted someone out on the river in a canoe!? 

Didn't go out Sunday. It was cold again. And that was the week... 

Looking cold the fist few days this coming week... I may just hibernate the next couple days..