2022 Rides - Week Eleven

 After the wipe out on Sunday and knowing it was all going to be awful and ice until we had a few days of melting... I basically didn't ride anywhere for the first few days of the week (I did walk a few places!). 

Geese returning - There were lots out on the ice and on the island under the south bridges - where many make nests. 

Lots out just wandering on the ice. 

Spotted another Blue Jay! 

Some of the trails (and streets) were just awful to ride on... 

This stuff is no fun at all - it's somewhere between ice and slush - not strong enough to support you riding on top of, but a lot more work to push through than looser, wetter slush. 

And it was everywhere... 

Geese under the Broadway Bridge. 

Still Geese under the Broadway Bridge. 

Gulls have returned. There were a PILE of them on the island just south of the weir... got excited thinking I'd be able to add them to the Birbs of Saskatchetoon Sketchbook... Then reading up on Gulls in Saskatchewan, I discovered there are TWENTY THREE different species of Gulls that have been identified in Saskatchewan!? And most of them all look very, VERY similar -  no way they could be identified from THIS distance!? Sure, there are some that are far more common than others. These are very likely Ring-Billed Gulls... but I can't say for certain, so... 

More Geese in field North of Campus 

Same as above. 

Friday I'd planned to go for a longer ride, but ended up going for a 2.5 hour WALK with a friend and his dogs... and didn't take ANY pictures for some reason... (largely because I'd forgotten my small camera at home and the phone just felt to unwieldy to pull out and snap pictures with... 

Saturday I was out doing errands and that meant a lot of street riding. The streets were in a LOT better shape than last week, or even earlier this week. But there was some pretty wide variation in the state of the streets. Some were still covered in ice and deeply rutted in spots 

Ruts. 

Some were mostly clear of ice, but very, very wet. These were not the largest puddles I saw - or RODE THROUGH! 

Others were (almost) completely dry... 

Again had intentions to go for a longer ride on Sunday... but woke up to freezing rain, which is the least fun sort of weather to ride in.... 

By late afternoon the rain wasn't coming down so hard so I decided to go for a ride. two blocks from my house the rain totally stopped and the wind died down and I had a lovely ride. 

I headed out north towards the Circle Drive Bridge and planned to do the figure eight loop back to the south bridges 

There was still a fair bit of ice on the trails... but it was starting to clear. 

And water... 

SO MUCH WATER!? 

Lots of signs that beavers have woken from their winter slumber with a mad-ass case of the munchies. 

Still more water. 

Pairs of Geese everywhere. 

I'd actually brought along field glasses to try and identify what type of Gull had returned... but there were no gulls to be seen along the river!? Where had they all gone!? 

I did see my first Richardson Ground Squirrel of the season. 

MORE ice. 

smooth ice with water on top of it - which is SUPER slippery!? 

More Geese. 

As I got back to the Sentaor Buckwold/Idylwyld Freeway Bridge, the middle of my figure-eight loop, I finally saw some gulls - but they were way up in the sky flying BACK the way I'd come!? Then my camera battery died... Then is started raining in earnest again and i was getting wet and cold and I decided it was the universe suggesting maybe calling it a day...