2022 Rides - Week Six

Where did last week go!? 

I find the WHOOOOSHing noise these weeks make as they go flying by a little unsettling!

I didn't get out for a ride until late in the day and as it was about the time Amanda was leaving work, I rode out to meet her. 

Tuesday I didn't end up riding anywhere, but I did go for a few walks - to the pharmacy and out to meet Amanda when she was walking home from teaching yoga classes. 

Wednesday I also didn't get out until later and again, met Amanda as she was finishing work and coming home... but I went out early enough that I rode up to the Circle Drive Bridge first! 

From Circle Drive looking downtown. 

Waiting for Amanda. on the right is the Arts Tower, on the left is Place Riel Theatre - long closed (as a public theatre - I think the university still uses the facilities to show movies for classes or special events or just as a public lecture hall for speakers) - I spent many a Friday evening/Saturday morning in my younger years there for Midnight Movies... 

Riding home with Amanda

More riding home. 

More Amanda. 

Wednesday night it rained and the paths were absolutely treacherous.  Amanda took her bike to work, but walked most of the way there and home again. She also took these cleats to wear on her boots. There were many traffic collisions all over the province. It also got warm enough for a lot of the packed snow to melt and then it rained some more. 

And then it got cold again and all froze solid. No one left the house on Friday. (Except Keiran who walked to school). 

When I finally went out again on Saturday, this is what the trails were like. uneven frozen solid mess that was super slippery. It was a little like walking on scree in the mountains - totally uneven surface and occasionally throws you off balance when it starts to slide. This was totally uneven and you can slide... but instead of the scree moving, it was you just slipping on the ice... and scree is at least a BIT predictable, so you generally slid downhill... here you could slide it totally unpredictable, random directions!? 

Keeps you on your toes! 

And made for pretty slow-going, tense riding. 

And it was like that just about everywhere on the paved trails. 

inclines were a bit hair-raising. 

strangely, the non-paved singletrack was better to ride on... It was bumpier than usual, as people had been out walking on it when it was melting and loose and left lots of deep footprints... which then froze SOLID... but forsome reason, still has way better traction that the bumpy ice on the paved trail. 

Lots of Mallards on the west side of the river. 

Part of the large flock that had been hiding over on the east side of the river near the university earlier in the winter. 

More uneven ice. 

Sunday was much the same - but less sunny. 

Mallards again. 

An alley way near my folks place. large trucks had driven through slush and made deep grooves which then froze solid. This LOOKS like maybe it's snow, and those balls could be crushed or kicked/bumped out of teh way, but that it not the case! all frozen SOLID and stuck in place. 

I'd originally planned to do errands, but at my first stop realized I'd totally forgotten to bring a mask!? Usually I have TWO in my jacket pocket, but they must have fallen out at home... so I just went for a longer ride and decided to do the errands on Monday. South Bridge, looking downtown. Shadow of me on walkway under the bridge. 

There were sections of the trail on the east side that were still in pretty good shape. 

More good trail and a moon. 

There were other sections that were awful... It's supposed to snow this week. I hope it snows enough that it covers up all the ice and can be packed down into a smooth, ridable surface!