2022 Rides - Week 25/26

Well... Monday, last week, as I was getting ready to do the Week 25 post, we had some major computer problems... and weren't sorted until the end of the week. Then the card reader died - for the good camera and the remote transfer ability doesn't work with OS... Ugh... Fucking computers... 

So now i'm feeling behind and more than a little overwhelmed... 

Approaching halfway through the year. My original goal was to do 6000Km - and I broke that down to 100Km per week for 52 weeks + 8 weeks of doing a bonus 100Km through July and August to make 6000. That being said, at the end of week 26, I should have beed at 2600Km... Starting Week 25 I was only at 2200! 

Things were not looking good on Monday... 

It was kind of like the Cloud Delivery Service suddenly discovered all the rain we should have gotten last year in the back of their warehouse and said "fuck it! Ship it ALL! NOW!"

There was some flooding around the city - luckily our area was fine, but holy moly it was coming down HARD and for quite some time...

Tuesday and Wednesday  I didn't really go out again as well. It was threatening to rain again most of the day and still very wet everywhere (and MOST of my routes involve some gravel surfaces which would would have just been MUD - or at least that's the excuse I made for myself)

(I was also just trying to finish up volume one of the Birbs of Sasktachetoon 2022 Sketchbook) 

I did haul Keiran to and from school all that week.... for... REASONS... (it's a long story) so it wasn't like I didn't leave the house at all... but I also wasn't getting Kilometres done to meet a goal of 200 in a week (need to do about 30Km/day...) 

Me, waiting in a no parking zone, apparently... 

The tandem - which I've MOSTLY used this year to haul Keiran around to places!? 

Thursday I did a short loop of the South Bridges and the Circle Drive Bridge 

Was confounded by roadwork. the next road over was ALSO closed!? How is anyone supposed to get to anywhere in this city... Eventually I cut through and alleyway that lead to a dead end, cut through a playground to another alley and ended up where I wanted to get to. 

Back onto the Meewasin Trail 

bebe goslings and parents near the south bridges. 

Oh! Looks who is back up on the wire!

These are Double-Crested Cormorants - I often see them on these cables going across the river every summer, but had not seen them here so far (or since!) 

Had the good camera so I stopped and took a bunch of pictures. 

Four different people stopped to ask me what they were?! 

Others have posted surprise when I mention them here, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in the middle of the bald-ass prairie... but here they are... 

Dropped Kerian off for their last day of school on Friday. Yay! 

Basically did the same ride as the day before..

There are SO MANY wild roses everywhere. They've been out and smelling up the place ever since all the lillacs stopped blooming. 

Clouds threatening rain. 

There WAS a lot of rain this week... 

Saturday I hauled Keiran to a friends in Massey Place - not the furthest place to get to, nor the worst, but a significant ride (10Km round trip - twice - once to drop off and again to pick up later). I'd planned to go for a longer ride in between, but got distracted and started watching Ted Lasso with Amanda - to take a break before heading out for a ride. During that first episode it started POURING rain! There was hail and thunder... luckily it let up a bit before I had to go pick up Keiran... 

Sunday I went for a ride south and a little bit east of town.  A bit further east that I normally go when heading south on the east side of the river. 

Wetlands were looking... well... wet and recharged after all the rain. Teh small ones at least. Gave me hope that we might see water in the Chappell Marsh Conservation area... 

rode east and then south to the summer road bordering the north edge of CFD Dundurn. I was a little worried, as it is a summer road and not properly gravelled, that it might be just miles of MUD... I was even more concerned when immediately turning onto it I was faced with this!

It turned out to be the only really wet and muddy section of the 4-5Km stretch I rode. 

Having gone further east I was able to take a side detour up another summer road. Some maps show it as a road... but from the north, if you ride down in you encounter a permanent barrier stating that the road is closed. I was curious how far I could get up the road from the south before encountering a road closed barrier. 

Instead I encountered a MUD barrier that I did not feel inclined to explore further... 

I DID make it to the large wetland that the road has to bend around. 

Lots of birds there. I'll have to come back some time when I have more time! 

Cedar Waxwings... 

I ended that week having done 160Km

Monday morning I went out for an early, but relatively short ride... 

It was the first day the Night Oven Bakery was open in it's new location - which is a bit closer and much easier to get to! 

I brought home all sorts of goodies for the family. 

Afterwards I went out for a ride to the Chappell Marsh. 

Up the hill 

Furniture abandoned in the ditch. 

Startled a deer out of the ditch near the marsh (which also startled ME!) 

Despite ALL THE RAIN of the last week, the Chappell Marsh Conservation Area was still looking mighty dry... 

Red-Winged Black Bird... 

Saw some baby grebes. 

Riding home. 

After I got home I went out for a ride with Keiran to do a BUNCH of errands. Teh last of which was to stop at the bike doctor and pick up the new saddle Amanda had ordered. 

While I was there I spotted this Norco, full-suspention e-bike.

E-bikes are all the rage around here! Gerald, the sales manager, told me they were just flying out the door - often couples coming in and buying TWO of them... the crasy thing is they START around $5000 - which is more then the most expensive bike I own - which, when I used to mention how much it was, people gasp and say stuff like "FOR A BICYCLE!?" Yet no one seems to blink an eye at the price of these e-bikes... I guess they're cheaper than actual motor bikes, don't need to be licensed and registered and don't need to be filled with gas... 

But SWEET JIMINY!? 

Ruesday the 28th I did a loop down to the South Bridges and then back up to Chief Mistawasis Bridge and east to the Swale. 

Stopped at this little pond that usually has LOADS of birds... today it seemed like it had more INSECTS, so I didn't stay long. 

Zooming past all the new houses .

Did make a stop at the other large wetland... took more pictures of cute baby grebes... but because of computer troubles, can't access them... so all you get for the rest of this post is phone photos... 

Wednesday I rode downtown with Amanda to drop off the computer to see if the tech peoples at the shop could revive it. then she went off to work and I rode up the the Circle Drive Bridge and then back down to London Drugs on 8th to look for a few things we forgot to get on Saturday... this is the only picture I have. Not sure what I was taking a picture of...? Clouds...?  

Hauled Keiran downtown on Tursday for an appointment. Saw lots of Canada geese and their goslings that are looking less and less like goslings. 

Later in the day I made a quick rip to Broadway for groceries and then back downtwon to pick up the computer... which is working... and has the new OS... but they had to wipe the hard drive and so we'd have to reinstall everything from our backup drive, which SHOULD have been easy.... it SHOULD have been... 

On 1 July 2022, Canada Day, I did another short ride out to Chappell Marsh. Wanted to avoid the trails downtown as they would be FULL of Canada Day revellers - and not a small number of Cancel Canada Day not-so-revellers... There were others out on some of these roads. 

Crops are looking good! 

That's it for Canada Day... mostly more of the same... 

Saturday, 2 July 2022, I actually rode the tandem with AMANDA!? We rode out to a more distant neighbourhood, requiring some not-so-bike-friendly roads to be ridden, to pic up Keiran's dance photos. No pics were taken... 

Finally, Sunday, 3 July 2022, I went for a longer ride South and West of the city again. 

roads were relatively dry. 

If you look REALLY CLOSE you can see paddlers on the river. 

It was a nice day, not too hot. breezy and cool. 

lots of washboardy roads... 

LOADS of wild roses - and bees! 

Canola

Not something I see every day (or EVER!?) out on a country road!? Empty alcohol containers? Loads - I mean this is the province that elected a premier with DUI convictions and killed someone in a car collision... First time I've seen needles, though!? 

If you look REALLY CLOSE there's actually another cyclist coming towards me!? I hardly EVER encounter anyone else out on these summer roads - but today I saw a cyclist and TWO different trucks!?

dirt. 

I was going to turn north at this intersection and head back... but this road was calling to me... So I went south and my ride ended up being a bit longer than I'd initially intended. 

Cows! (they're there... in the distance...) 

Tire on a fence...? 

Tower. 

North parts of Chappel Marsh - across the road from the Conservation area... it still has some water! 

as does this little pond... but it's pretty shallow... 

And that's it... 

This is getting to be a bit much. I don't know if I'm going to keep up with the weekly posts. Maybe I just need to edit more and not post so much in them. Or do a commentary free photo dump.. 

Ended Week 26 at 2560Km... only 40Km off where I should be... So If I manage 200+Km a week for the next 8 weeks. I could do 100Km a week for the remainder of the year and hit my 6000Km goal. What I should probably do is keep up the 200Km weeks into the fall as there are always a few months, once the snow starts to fly, that even 100Km a week seems like a bit much...