Yet Another Route

Here's another ride. If you want flats around here you go to Richmond or Delta, which for me means going over the top of Vancouver. Then it's flat like Saskatchewan, or flatter, since you're on the delta for the Fraser River. There're no great routes going north-south in Vancouver, so I often end up on rather busy streets. Here's the map.

Drooling into the Blanket Spread Over My Lap Can't Be Far Behind

Last weekend while cleaning up for Marc's play dates, I realized I couldn't find my new cheque books, the ones we need because the cheque format is changing. After spending significant time searching -- eventually everything was clean but I kept looking -- Angela said, "Are you sure you weren't supposed to go pick them up at the credit union?" A quick call confirmed that they'd been waiting for me at the branch since December. Doh!

Feminist Conspiracy Theories

My sister Diane says blogs are a feminist conspiracy to get men to communicate. I like that. It reminds my of how when laptops first came out, men suddenly wanted to take minutes at meetings, because it meant they got to use the cool technology. Now that laptops are everyday, men have gone back to avoiding taking minutes.

Them Old Bones Did Something They've Never Done Before

I found a new two-hour workout, but this one is a different from the others: 55 minutes of continuous climb. I don't think I've done that since perhaps my trip from Banff to Jasper about 25 years ago.
The climb was to the parking lot for the ski area at Mt. Seymour -- about 1,023 metres above sea level. The 55 minutes started at about 120 metres above sea level. There's quite a bit of uphill just to get to the entrance to the park.
Coming back down took 14 minutes, with a top speed of 64 kph.
I probably could have gone a bit faster, but I was too scared. One thing I've really noticed about me relatively new bike is that it feels way more stable on the downhills. I used to always buy the cheapest bike a bike store would sell. I now have a Surly Cross-Check, which is a cyclocross frame because I mostly commute.
Here's the Google map. These maps are most interesting to look at in hybrid mode.

Them Old Bones

Today I did my "Three Laps of Stanley Park" workout. I take it easy down to the park, then try to do three laps at the same speed, or ideally faster each lap. Two weeks ago I did the classic silly trick of burning up the first lap and then having nothing left for lap three. Today I still did the first lap a bit faster than the other two, but at least the third lap was faster than the second.

Unfortunately, I'm paying the price. My knee is sore -- actually the back of the knee. I discovered on the weekend that it's the digging I'm doing in the yard that wrecks it. I'm doing a lot of digging these days as we remodel the garden. Unfortunately, once the digging wrecks my knee, the cycling aggravates it. Maybe I need to stop pretending I'm 25.

The ride in the park is great for variety. It's up and down and has almost no straight bits. I find it a challenge to put together the lessons I'm learning about spinning the pedals in the park environment. I can spin when it's a longer flat stretch, but it's harder when you're constantly rolling up and down.

We're already into the time of year when an afternoon, even a weekday afternoon, means lots of tourist traffic. Today it was worth waiting for the afternoon, as it was sunny and 15 degrees or so.

I'm almost used to all the new views in the park. Last year's windstorms really changed the face of the park. Maybe that's why there were so many tourists wandering on the road: many parts of the seawall are closed, so people can't walk around the park like they used to.

There's no Google map for the route today. At least not yet. The road around the park is too twisty to map in the amount of time I have.

Irritants from the Lower Mainland

People who live in the Lower Mainland (Vancouver, etc.) can be irritants, and this post aims to prove it.

Last Friday we had our first asparagus of the year out of our own garden. We'd already finished off the first rhubarb crisp of the year from our garden. Yesterday we left a rhubarb pie with Karen and Brad. The tulips have died off already, as have the cherry blossoms.

Of course, people in the rest of Canada haven't been mowing their lawn for the past two months, either...

Another Bike Route

Here's another two-hour bike route. This one has some parts that go through a lot of traffic but none of it is particularly conflictive. The hills are near the start and end, with some nice long flat bits to practice spinning in the middle. There are some great views once you get out past Burnaby and into the valley. Yesterday Mount Baker, the big volcano in Washington State, was quite clearly looming over the Fraser Valley.

Here's the Google map of the route.

Yesterday I was still averaging over 33 kph when I got to the top of the big hill about 15 minutes from the end. Around Ottawa I used to often do rides at 33+ kph, but since coming to Vancouver I haven't been able to go that fast. It must be the hills.

Sunday on the Beach

Sunday we went to Sunset Beach in downtown Vancouver. Marc still fits in his trailer, but just barely. The headwind on the way to the beach was quite cold, despite the bright sun. It's nice to have urban beaches; if only it were warm enough to enjoy them more than a few weekends per year.