June Critical Mass

Once again, Critical Mass is upon us!

There was an even smaller turnout of 10 this time.  I suppose as it is the Summer time, many people are away on holidays.  It is a smaller centre that I live in, so we won't ever get the numbers that big cities do.

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I noticed this new bag on one of the rider's bikes.  She says it is made with recycled tires.  What a wonderful way of recycling stuff, and it looks like the bag holds a lot too.

I finally got around to decorating my bike for the ride.  I rushed over to the local Dollar Store just before it and bought some stuff to put on my bike.  I like the Go Green sign I found there!

When I first got the bike I had a bad habit of 'chipping' the paint with my lock..I'm more careful now, but to help me feel better, I put stickers over them.  I also put other stickers to balance the other stickers on my bike and to personalize it.

Above: I took the group on the Heritage trail which is near where I live.  There were some hills which got some of the riders off guard and they had to walk up it.  If you know there are there, you can build momentum before you start going up so you can make it up all the way without getting off your bike.  It's a nice ride in that trail and if I am going to park, it's much more fun biking on the trail to there then going on the road.

By the Via Train station, we picked up a bike tourer.  He had taken the train from Jasper because he got sick a few days ago while touring.  He was biking from Winnipeg. It turns out that he knows a few people on our ride.  He came with us to the restaurant we like to frequent after the ride.  He has a custom Surly Long Haul Trucker with a nice Brook's saddle!  Recently, I saw another custom one that someone just bought at Ruckus Bike shop in town , also with a Brook's saddle.  I think they must be good touring bikes, the one I saw at shop had more spokes then normal and 27 speeds which is better for going up Mountain passes.

All in all, a great evening of riding and socializing!  I got to skip July's Critical Mass because I'm on my own adventure, but I will be sure NOT to miss the one in August.

Decorating my bike for Critical Mass helped me complete yet another event in LGRB Summer Games.  I've never had so much fun participating in an event.  Thanks again to Dottie and Trisha for organizing it!