Monday, August 29, 2011

Flowers from Landscaper

I got to decorate my bicycle riding home from work today.  The landscapers young son (with their permission) gave me some nice flowers!  Sorry for so so photo..taken on cell.


Sunday, August 28, 2011

Geocaching where mountain bikes roam

Melanie makes it to the top of UNBC hill
This past Saturday, I joined up with Melanie and Peter (Geocognita) and completed a series of caches near UNBC.  We had 40 more to complete!

I'm all ready to do some more geocaching, bring it on!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

My blog on a Woman's Blog list

I just noticed that my blog is listed on a Woman's Bike Blog list from Spokane.  This is pretty cool!

Click here to see the comprehensive list.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Tires, lights, and something to sit on

Lights
When I was at MEC recently, I bought some bike lights.  I got some cheap ones for the front and they seem bright enough to be seen.  I usually use my headlamp, but I put these on the front forks and am using just them right now for the front lights..  I'll see how long they'll last!  I taped down the buttons though so they don't fall off, as one did.   I put it back on and it still works.  Maybe it was a waste of my $8, but I just couldn't resist.  According to reviews at the MEC website they were a waste of money.  I've always wanted lights for the forks, I wonder if there are better ones out there as I have no room for a light on the handlebars.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Day 14 - Hedley to Manning Park East Gate

Similkameen River
Squirrel and Bunny's Excellent Adventures:

When I last posted, we had biked from Penticton to Hedley.

After staying at a campsite near Hedley for the night, it was time to head on.  First we would be biking a fairly easy 35 kms or so on a highway that follows the old railway that used to connect Hedley to Princeton, so there would be no hills, so to speak.  One thing nice about leaving early in the morning is that there isn't much for headwinds yet.  They seemed to start at around 10 am or so each day.  It was also cooler in the mornings which also made for easier riding. That seems to be a mantra of bike touring, leave early!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

2012 ideas- West Coast


My original idea to go down the West Coast by bike is still with me.  I instead chose to ride with Jim in BC this year as it was nice to ride with someone, rather then riding alone.

Even though I haven't returned to work yet and I just returned from my big adventure, I've already been thinking of what to do next.  I have a passport that I haven't been using, so maybe I'll go down the West Coast, or part of it.  I was thinking of California, but in the Summer that would be really hot.  I could do the above one or even better, ride down the Oregon Coast.

Is anyone out there possibly interested in doing it next Summer?  I thought that I'd mention that now as there is a lot of time to find someone to ride with.  I'll repost this throughout the coming year.  I met people from Seattle at the Vancouver train station who had ridden from Seattle to Vancouver, so it sounds feasible.

Just ideas right now....

*Febuary 2012 update- I have found a rider to ride with.  But, I will still invite anyone else who may be interested in doing this trip to leave a message below and I will get back to you.

More biking/geocaching adventures...



Things are slowly returning to normal.  Well, sort of.  I don't go back to work until tomorrow.  I've been enjoying my holidays.  After returning home, I crashed for a few days.  Then I wanted to bike again!  Seriously, I so wanted to bike.  I biked out of town on Friday and yesterday I joined my geocaching friends and did some geocaching with my bike.  We found 16 caches yesterday in a series of them, but have to return to find more of them.  We just didn't have the time to find all of them in one day. I am glad I brought 2 bottles of water as I needed it.  My friend's only had 1 each and soon ran out.  I learned from the bike tour, carry LOTS of water!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Penticton to Hedley - a bit of a write up

Ok, here's a bit more of a write up on the trip between Penticton and Hedley,

We stayed in Penticton with Vern, who was one of the cooks on Tour De Jasper.  The day before, we weren't sure if we were going to be staying with him that night, or if we'd have to find a campsite.  As we had left late that day, we weren't arriving into Penticton until 7:30-8:30 ish at the earliest.

Last post incorrect title

I guess I'm still recovering from bus lag.  I posted the title of the previous article as Princeton to Hedley, when it was supposed to be Penticton to Hedley.  Sorry about that! I've since corrected it.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Day 13 - Penticton to Hedley


Now that I have access to photo uploading again, I've uploaded a few photos from the Bike tour.
Up above is a map of route we took from Vernon to Penticton.  The green bubbles represents the overnights we had.  The average distance between each of the bubbles is just over 100 kms.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Biking around Vancouver- Every bike's dream


I'm at the end of my 2011 bike adventure, well the touring part anyways.

We decided to stop biking at Chillwack as there was no quick easy way into Vancouver.  We were pretty close though.  I heard that the local bike clubs are working on trails to connect all the way from the outskirts to downtown Vancouver.  I can hardly wait!
Bicycle at Cultus Lake
I have spent the last few days exploring the City by bicycle.  And what exciting exploration I've been having!  I have been all over the city from the North Vancouver, across Lion's Gate Bridge a few times, riding around the Seawall, biking with friends to Chinatown, biking over to Granville Island, and up to MEC on Broadway and to my favourite Bird food shop also on Broadway.  I've been really racking up the miles.  I think I'll be keeping my biking metabolism up for a while.  I'm going to write to the City of Vancouver to let them know how much I love the bike routes/paths.  It makes riding downtown feel safer for a rider who is not used to riding in a big city.

Squirt enjoys the ride on the Seabus

Granville Island Farmer's Market
As you can see, I will need a new kickstand.  This one couldn't handle the weight. I want to get a Click Stand kickstand   ( http://www.click-stand.com )and it's only $10 or so more then the one I have been using. This one is better suited for touring.

Today I biked over to MEC so I could do an interview with friend for a bike article that she's doing.  She couldn't believe that I biked all the way there from North Vancouver.

I biked with my Sister-in-law after she finished work

Biking the Seawall
I'm showing Squirt the sights of Vancouver
I've been researching about packing the bike in a bike box.  It seems the boxes that Amtrak sells are a nice size and I don't even have to take the pedals off.  (the attendant looked at my bike that I had brought in.)

Here's a few photos that another bike blogger took when he packed his bike up with those boxes:

This shows the box all ready for travel. You can see how big it is.

Bike in Amtrak Box

I'm sure it'll work out.  I like this option, not as much work.  I just need a way to bring box home after trip as it might be worth keeping to use when I go to Vancouver next time.

Friday, August 5, 2011

End of the road

We are in Cultus Lake which is near Chilliwack. We have decided to stay here until Sunday. There doesn't seem to be safe or legal route that isn't out of the way.
Jim's daughter will drive us into Vancouver. I've biked pretty far, almost 1400 kms, would you believe? I'm pretty close to Vancouver that I can almost smell the salt!

I'm going to ship as much as possible to home by Greyhound when I can. It will cost $$$$, but it will be nice to have to drag around too much.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

In Bridal Falls

I'm in Bridal Falls which is about 130 kms West approx from the East Gate part of Manning Park where we stayed last night. I had lunch at Mcd'S in Hope. Had large sized BM meal w shake to give me some much needed energy which I was sorely lacking.

Yesterday it was a tough 97 kms going up 2 serious hills and a few more not so serious.. There is NO hill too big that I can't conquer! Damn those passes! ;)

I could have made it to Chilliwack but too tired! Only 15 kms away darn! Tomorrow we either ride to Chilliwack or to Cultus Lake for a much needed rest before our final leg to Vancouver on Sat.
Very $$$$$ camping here at $22 /per person!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Summer Riding Continued...

Bridge in Kelowna
The continuing adventures of Squirrel and Bunny:

We left at about 10 am after a hearty breakfast at Lucianne's.

Summer Riding

Today we biked 145 kms from Vernon to Penticton. We had Breakfast at Lucianne's. He is the father of the Tour De Jasper Organizer. He put my bike in his van to get it to his house on the hills. After a big breakfast we left late at 10Ish.
More to come......

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