Half Way to 3000km

After a great, but hectic weekend in Vancouver, I skipped a week of biking.  That wasn't the plan, but that's what happened.

Got back into things with a half day Tuesday (took the train home), and extra long ride Wed. Night (Thanks Calvin!) and a full ride Thurs.  A full day is just over 34km.

Hit the 1500km biking through Britannia Thursday night on the way home from work.  1500km is the halfway mark for 2013.  Course Mid Sept is not the halfway mark for the 2013 Calendar.

As long as I make the 1800km by the end of Sept I'll be at the rate I need hit 3000km before 2014, and I've done it before, so it's doable.

Next goal is 1600km by Monday.

- Peace

1400km with Kendra

Last weekend I took Sarah out to UBC and hit the 1400km and it felt good.  Last year I hit the 900km mark in Vancouver while taking Sarah out to UBC.

Last year's goal was 2500km so that left me with 1600km to do after Vancouver.  This year's goal is 3000km, so that leaves me with 1600km to do after Vancouver.


Bonus: I got to take my Vancouver 100km mark shot with Kendra.  Just like last year.

- Peace

1300km & Four Flats

Hit the 1200km mark on Friday.  Did 30km on Sunday, biking to & from an Ingress meet up.  Just under 40 km on Monday biking to work, biking for Ingress and home.  So was feeling good about hitting 1300 km on Tuesday.

Went to get the bike out of the shed on Tues morning and the back tire was flat!  Not happy.  Took the car to work.  Came home, had to run some errands, watched Under the Dome...  Didn't get to changing the tire until it was way too dark.  Decided not ride.

This morning got up early to take a longer way to work, should be 26km instead of 17 km.  Got ~750m from home and the back tire blew out.  Most have screwed up the change in the dark.  Ok not too far from home, walked home switched the tire again and headed off to take the normal ride to work.  Got just north of Fish Creek (< 3km) and realized I was ridding on my rim.  No blow out, just a slow leak.  Two flats in one morning!

Called Sarah, as she was at home, and had her pick me up and take me to work.  High Fives for Daughters Who Can Drive!  Came home made sure to switch the tire with plenty of light and not rushing.  Got the tube in, inflated it.  Bounced the tire lightly, and it blew out.  Fourth flat in a day, and I didn't even get the last one on the bike!  Many words were spoken.  Ok mostly one one word repeated.

Checked the tube and this one had blown out right opposite the valve.  Checked the tire, no damage to the tire nothing to cause a blow out.  Wondered if I was over in flatting the tubes.  Checked the tire, was hard to find the print in the pattern of the tire but it was there, 120 PSI.  What?  I'd been doing 100 PSI since I switched back to these tires after the flood. Under inflating tires will give you the same types of flats as I was getting when I thought I had been screwing up the change up.  So I changed the tube again, and pumped it up to 120 PSI.

Went for a 21 km ride as I need 20.6 km to get to the 1300km mark.  And what a difference.  I've been feeling good about rides where I've hit 19 km/h as my average.  Well I averaged 21.9 km/h tonight!  What a blast!

Ok now to see if I can hit 1400km this weekend while in BC.  BTW bounus points if you can figure out why hitting 1400km this weekend is a big deal.

- Peace

Good News, Bad News at 1200km

Good News: hit the 1200 km mark by Fish Creek Friday Evening.

Bad News: I should have it the 1200km mark on Wed while the riding home from work.  On my way to work I stripped my left crank, so there was no ride from work on Wed.  I use a longer than standard crank, so PedalHead had to order a new crank. While enjoying the challenge of single track in Fish Creek, it doesn't rack up the KM like commuting.

Good News: PedalHead got me a new crank in two days. So after the Ride in the Park to hit the 1200km mark, was able to get the commuter from PedalHead and I’m back in business.

- Peace

Photos on Display at the House in Kensington

Three of my photos are on display at the House Coffee Sanctuary in Kensington for the month of Aug.  They are 36" x 24" canvas prints.  So if you were looking for something unique to decorate your place with, this is your chance.

Meredith Lorfing & Jason Ho are also showing pieces.  So stop in, have a coffee and enjoy some local art.

 - Peace

1100km & a Closing Window

Hit 1100km on the way to work this morning. Still haven't hit my groove yet, and need to soon. If I can make 2100km by the end of Sept then I'll have just 300km to do for each of Oct, Nov & Dec for 3000km by years end. That's doable but the window is closing.

 - Peace

My Grand Father 1918 - 2013

One of my earliest memories of my grand father was making paper airplanes with our cousins at his home on the family farm in Nova Scotia. After we'd made planes he explained how air plane wings work to create lift by slowing down the air flow over the wing decreasing air pressure over the wing and thus creating lift from below.   It was heady stuff, I think I was four or five.

My Grand father was a pilot in WWII with the RAF so he knew a thing or two about planes.  He also knew how to tell a story.  We grew up hear about the fun stories from his time in the military.

Like the time he got a group of soldiers off base for the night, by marching them out the front gate announcing to the guard that they were a work detail and flashing a laundry ticket at proof.

Or the time he had delivered a plane to Italy during what would have been harvest time, and there were ripe grapes beside the make shift air field.  So he emptied the ammo compartment for one of his guns and filled it with grapes.  Returning to Egypt with fresh grapes made him quite popular for a couple of weeks.

As we got older the more serious stories were shared, such as the fact that the first two weeks you where on the front, no one wanted to know you.  New pilots only had a 50% chance of surviving the fist two weeks.

My grandfather came to talk to my grade 11 Honours History class on the Battle of El Alamein. He held the students full attention for the entire period. Afterwords a number expressed to me their surprise at how cool my grandfather was.

In the 80s the Nova Scotia Government wanted to find a way to automate blueberry harvesting.  And asked the farmers to try a prototype.  The prototype mimicked the way people rake blueberries lifting forward from the ground.  But the machine couldn't avoid rocks and logs the way people do and would get caught.  So my grand father proposed that they reverse the motion so the it would roll over obstacles.  The engineers told Grampy that it wouldn't work.  So he built his own working prototype to prove that it would.

My Grampy: RAF fighter pilot, farmer, inventor, story teller, father & Grand Father.

See you on the other side Grampy.

- Peace

Dear Mr. Watterson, trailer for the Calvin & Hobbes Documentary/Fan Letter.

Dear Mr. Watterson, while labelled a documentary, this is clearly the fan letter that Calvin and Hobbes deserves.

Out Nov 15, so I'm adding it to my Christmas list now.

 via Paste.

- Peace

1000 km on Elbow Drive

The good news is I hit 1000km on the way home from work last night.  The bad news is I'm still not in a rhythm of biking most days.  Flat tires, floods, life, tons of excuses...

- Peace