2022 Rides - Week Three

 

AGAIN!? 

Weather was up and down all week. melting one day. Windchills in the -30s (or -40s!?) the next... 

I didn't get out much this week. 

did go for a bit of a ride on Friday. 

That is all for now. 

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! 

January 2022 Rides - Part One

I was a bit more active on this blog last year. It was a lot of fun posting pictures  of my bicycle rambles. The only downside was that I only got around to it about once a month... and by then it was a bit of an ordeal to add context and commentary to the pictures... or I simply forgot where I was and when, exactly...? 

I have decided to do two things this year. 

#1 - Ride 6000Km. I almost rode that much in 2021 (5679Km) - which was 2000Km MORE than I'd rode the previous year (2020) and 1000Km than I rode in 2019. 6000Km in 2022 means riding an average of 100Km/week throughout the year, plus an extra 100Km/week through 8 weeks in the summer. Doable... if I don't slack off in the winter. 

#2 Post pictures of said rides WEEKLY! I thought I'd try and set aside a little time every Sunday to post pictures I took from the weeks rambles and hopefully add some commentary to go with them. 

I actually took the first two days of the year off and didn't leave the house. The previous week had been BRUTALLY cold (windchills reaching -40°C and below!). It was actually MARGINALLY warmer on the Sunday (or maybe the Saturday?), but I needed a break.

I mostly stayed at home and watched birds at the bird feeders. 

...and took some pictures of them. 

Messy little fiends... 

I also started drawing and painting pictures of them... but that's a story for another blog:

Tim's Art Blog: Birbs of Saskatchetoon - Chickadee

Headed out riding again on the 3rd... and it was back into the Deep Freeze! 

Down at the end of the next block they had been digging up the road all week. Water main break? Seems absurd to be doing that since they spent all of last summer putting a brand new one in - blocking off all out streets!? 

Id waited to the late afternoon, hoping it'd get a bit warmer, but I waited too long and by the time I went out a winter storm had whipped up. So muc blowing snow, I coudln't see downtown from Gabriel Dumont Park!? 

By the time I was rolling home, it was getting a bit dark! 

The next day was also bitterly cold, but I needed to get some air (and groceries)!

Spotted some ducks on the river (Common Golden Eye?) 

And my first Magpie of the year  - Later, closer to Preston Crossing (and the grocery store I was headed to), I spotted a gang of about two dozen of them frollicking about in the trees. It was much too exposed and cold to get my phone/camera out  - and they were not staying in any one place long enough to bother...

The day after the snow storm everything was pretty and covered with fresh while snow and frost. 

Pretty. but COLD. 

Up at the Circle Drive bridge where I crossed. 

Looking downtown from Circle Drive bridge. 

The next morning I had to head out for an appointment. I was clear - but cold - and there was so much fog coming off the river, it was just magical. I could have spent all morning taking pictures... but then I'd probably have no fingers anymore - it was painful just stopping to take these! 

When I got home I checked the weather and discovered why... -49 windchill!? 

The next day.... Again with the -49 Windchill!? Decided I should probably just stay indoors as well... 

I do want to keep at the riding and NOT slack off in the colder months... but I also want to be reasonable about this and NOT go out riding in -40 (or below) weather if I REALLY don't HAVE to!? 

Friday I ventured outside again - making a trip to pick up a parcel from UPS (because their driver couldn't be bothered to knock the previous week... when ALL of us were at home...) 

Saturday I made a quick trip downtown to the library. 

I'm not sure if it was warming up... or I'm just getting used to the cold. 

Woke up this morning to see the green bars on Environment Canada's website indicating that a Weather Warning had been lifted - gone was the EXTREME COLD WEATHER WARNING - it had warmed all the way up to -27°C (with a windchill of a balmy -36!).

Of course, I didn't get out for a ride until somewhat later in the day. 

Strava still insisted on calling in an "Afternoon Ride", even though it was getting pretty dark 

New phone takes pretty good pics in low light. 

That's it for this first full week of 2022. 

I managed to ride 65.6Km. A bit shorter than the planned 100Km/week... but considering how cold it's been.... I'm okay with this. it's and AVERAGE of 100Km/week. I'll catch up as we get closer to spring! 

December Rides: Part Two

Just a few last pictures I took in December... 

Around the 18th...? Or 20th...? Amanda got me a phone. She's been hounding me for years to get one and carry it with me when I go out for rides. It was kind of an early birthday present (my birthday isn't until February - ALMOST made it to 50 without one of these!) 

I have to admit, it's been handy having it and the pictures it takes aren't terrible... The zoom is garbage but for wide shots or pics up close it's not too bad, so I've pretty much given up on carrying my little Cannon Powershot with me when I go out... 

The rest of these were all taken with the new phone.