Well, we're off tomorrow... On our bikes... Heading for Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta (near Edmonton)... 1800km, approximately... Just a bit crazy... But, not as crazy as my big brother who is going to ride all the way to Newfoundland with a few friends. And I thought big brothers were supposed to be smart! ;)
Our first stop is Mission. Doesn't sound like we're really getting anywhere, but I think it's about 55km. The rest of the group will meet us there Sunday morning to ride to Hope. After that, the fun (aka hills) begins!
I will update this as much as I can as we go.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
May - cont...
Hello again. Here's a bit more on my May adventures. Dan & I headed up to Birken for the long weekend. It was sure nice to get amazing weather! We did a couple of rides, but mostly we just relaxed. Since we were up for a few days, we took The Cat up with us. We left the door open to see what she'd do. She did some tentative exploring. Since she's an indoor/balcony cat, this was probably a bit of an overload on her kitty senses. I imagine there is a lot of stuff she's never seen or smelled around there.
This was on the window sill on the cabin. We didn't see it until we were leaving, so I hope we haven't scared away the parents.
The next adventure is going to be our bike ride across BC... We leave on Saturday and hope to be in Fort Saskatchewan (near Edmonton) around 25/26 June. We're heading out with my brother, his partner, and (I think) 3 other people. We will have a support vehicle for most of the way to Alberta. (Yehhhh!! No 60lb panniers while going over mountains!!) At first I thought it would be cheating to dump my bags in the truck, now I'm happy to have it coming with us. Here is my brother's blog for the trip: http://2008canadacycletrip.blogspot.com/.
This was on the window sill on the cabin. We didn't see it until we were leaving, so I hope we haven't scared away the parents. The next adventure is going to be our bike ride across BC... We leave on Saturday and hope to be in Fort Saskatchewan (near Edmonton) around 25/26 June. We're heading out with my brother, his partner, and (I think) 3 other people. We will have a support vehicle for most of the way to Alberta. (Yehhhh!! No 60lb panniers while going over mountains!!) At first I thought it would be cheating to dump my bags in the truck, now I'm happy to have it coming with us. Here is my brother's blog for the trip: http://2008canadacycletrip.blogspot.com/.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
May Sunshine!
It's finally here! Sunshine! I'm a wee bit behind in my stories. Maybe I'll do a few short entries so that it's not one really looooong entry that gets a bit boring to read after a while...
So, my last entry was a month ago. Lots has happened since then. Dan & I spent 5 days in Courtenay at the beginning of May. We took the bikes and did some riding around. We've been looking at possibly buying a place over there, so we wanted to get a better idea of exactly where we'd like to buy. After about 50km of riding around town, we've got it figured out. Definitely makes it easier when you can narrow the search to a specific area. We also did a ride out in the country. It was a bit longer than I'd expected - we got a bit lost. But, a very friendly local gave us directions back to town. I knew there was a different way back from the way we'd come, but it was further out than I'd expected. I'm glad she stopped - guess we had that "we're lost" look about us...
Since we were there for more than a weekend, we decided to camp at Kin Beach instead of burdening friends & family. It's a great place - not too far from the military base. We had one day of rain which we spent most of in the tent. Glad to know that my tent is water proof... We didn't think we'd need to string a tarp up (who expects rain on the west coast...??), so it was just the tent between us and the wet.
On the Sunday, we did a 30km run around Comox. That was the same day as the Vancouver marathon. We had 4 friends running their very first marathon, and we weren't there to see it! We did the long run in support of them. Luckily, the weather was beautiful for running! The route I'd figured out was great - along the Dyke, through Comox, along a couple of beaches, and through farm land. A little bit of everything - including hills, both up and down. We finished off our run with a dip in the hot tub and pool at the Aquatic Centre. (It was also a chance to shower since there weren't facilities at the campsite.)
As I found out in the days following this run, it's not smart to go from doing less than 10k for months to a 30k run... Well, I did have that 18k on Sun Run day two weeks before the big run. Even though I felt great during the run, my body started to complain afterwards. I could barely walk up stairs for about 5 days. I had to do one step at a time for a couple of days. Took me forever to get up to our place (3rd floor, no elevator...). And the hamstring I've been working so hard on all year... Well, it's acting up again. :( Guess I've learned. I'm feeling fairly good again and am out doing runs 2-3 times a week. They're shorter - nothing over an hour or so. I'll work up to the longer distance slowly this time...
Okay, that's getting a bit long. That was pretty much our trip to the Island. I'll add more May stories in the next couple of days.
Oh yeah... Here's a typical Courtenay picture... (Well, I suppose it could be any small town, but Lucky always reminds me of the Comox Valley.)
So, my last entry was a month ago. Lots has happened since then. Dan & I spent 5 days in Courtenay at the beginning of May. We took the bikes and did some riding around. We've been looking at possibly buying a place over there, so we wanted to get a better idea of exactly where we'd like to buy. After about 50km of riding around town, we've got it figured out. Definitely makes it easier when you can narrow the search to a specific area. We also did a ride out in the country. It was a bit longer than I'd expected - we got a bit lost. But, a very friendly local gave us directions back to town. I knew there was a different way back from the way we'd come, but it was further out than I'd expected. I'm glad she stopped - guess we had that "we're lost" look about us...
Since we were there for more than a weekend, we decided to camp at Kin Beach instead of burdening friends & family. It's a great place - not too far from the military base. We had one day of rain which we spent most of in the tent. Glad to know that my tent is water proof... We didn't think we'd need to string a tarp up (who expects rain on the west coast...??), so it was just the tent between us and the wet.
On the Sunday, we did a 30km run around Comox. That was the same day as the Vancouver marathon. We had 4 friends running their very first marathon, and we weren't there to see it! We did the long run in support of them. Luckily, the weather was beautiful for running! The route I'd figured out was great - along the Dyke, through Comox, along a couple of beaches, and through farm land. A little bit of everything - including hills, both up and down. We finished off our run with a dip in the hot tub and pool at the Aquatic Centre. (It was also a chance to shower since there weren't facilities at the campsite.)
As I found out in the days following this run, it's not smart to go from doing less than 10k for months to a 30k run... Well, I did have that 18k on Sun Run day two weeks before the big run. Even though I felt great during the run, my body started to complain afterwards. I could barely walk up stairs for about 5 days. I had to do one step at a time for a couple of days. Took me forever to get up to our place (3rd floor, no elevator...). And the hamstring I've been working so hard on all year... Well, it's acting up again. :( Guess I've learned. I'm feeling fairly good again and am out doing runs 2-3 times a week. They're shorter - nothing over an hour or so. I'll work up to the longer distance slowly this time...
Okay, that's getting a bit long. That was pretty much our trip to the Island. I'll add more May stories in the next couple of days.
Oh yeah... Here's a typical Courtenay picture... (Well, I suppose it could be any small town, but Lucky always reminds me of the Comox Valley.)
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