Critical Mass- The Community Garden Tour Edition

Despite still being under the weather with a cold last night, I joined the first Critical Mass of 2012.

Spring has sprung!

Spring has finally sprung!  There are a lot of people biking now.  There may still be snow ground, but it has definately warmed up.  It must also be close to Easter as I have a chocolate egg craving.

I took Baxter out yesterday today for a ride.  I wanted to test the tablet.  I think the photos taken from the camera work ok for the blog. I probably won't type lots on my trip, but it will work!

I do admit that it's not as easy as posting on my computer!

A tab for me, please

I so apologize for my lack of posting. I had a miserable cold all last week and didn't feel like doing anything!  I don't know how I managed to work through it.

I still was feeling rather crappy this weekend, but I ended up buying a new toy which I've been wanting for a while.  It's a tablet!  My first.  I am so excited!

I couldn't get myself to buy an Ipad as I want money in the bank for the bike tour, but I wanted a tablet to check email and update blog while travelling.  After months of researching what best suits me, I decided to get a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 Plus.  The size is nice, as it will fit nicely in the handlebar bag when I leave the bike.

So I admit, I've been playing around with it and tweaking it for my use.  No motivation still to post here today (but here I am posting!)  It's like Spring here, nice and warm.  So I have been using Baxter and Big Red now and putting away the Beater Bike, Floyd.  I was going to get a new drive train for Big Red the Rocky Mountain, but I've been told to wait to do that closer to my trip.  Might as well get my money's worth of the current one.

I really need to get photos of Spring riding as it's so good, but I'm even too lazy to go out and ride now.  Snowshoeing is good in the mountains still, but not my cup of tea!

Scary Friday Follow-up

Today, the taxi driver who almost hit me the other day, came through work.  He asked if I had recovered from that scare, to which I replied that I had.  I asked him if he would have seen me if I was wearing a reflective vest along with all the lights that I already had on my bike.  He said that he wouldn't have as he was very tired.  In fact, he still wouldn't have seen me he said, if I had blinking lights ALL over my bike!

I'm still debating whether or not to wear one, as I do have one laying around.  I will use it when I am bike touring along the Pacific Coast when it is foggy.  I want to find a good Winter jacket that's warm and is reflective.  It will be great for riding and walking with, yet look not too bad on me.  For the other seasons I have my lime green Marmot jacket which I really like wearing as it fits so well on me.

I guess this teaches me to be really careful in the early hours as many drivers will be tired and not paying attention!  It is good that I got some feedback though.  I don't know what can be done so that people aren't driving when they are so tired.

Image: graur codrin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My Click-Stand

I received the Click-Stand for Big Red on Thursday.  It was custom made for the Rocky Mountain by a guy in Washington State.

Scary Friday

Just some of my bike lights that I use every morning

This morning, I had a close call with a car.  I was biking along the main route that ride every morning.  As I go to work pretty early, there isn't much traffic on the road.  It was good going today as it was above zero and roads were bare.

Birchleg Fun

Top door was used when snow was high.

**Updated March 10th.  I've finally posted Nowell's awesome trip report, it explains where the name 'Birchleg' came from...quite interesting!  Anyways, go to http://caledoniaramblers.ca/trip-report-march-4/ to view the trip report and to view a ton more photos taken by me and Nowell.

This past Sunday, six of us went snowshoeing on the Birchleg trail by Huble Farm.  There was a Son's of Norway Ski Event going on at the same time, but they welcomed us to join them.  We started at Huble Farm, which is an old homestead.  We snowshoed for 9 kms, which took us about 5 hours.  A few of the people on our snowshoe trip were able to bail out half way.  The rest of use did the whole route one way.  (The skiers rode both ways)

Bicycling the Pacific Coast- the Book

I've been chatting with a bicyclist from Reno about my upcoming Pacific Coast Adventure.  One book that he recommended was 'Bicycling the Pacific Coast', by Vicky Spring and Tom Kirkendall.  Even though my biking buddy has bought the necessary Adventure Cycling Association maps, I might just buy this book also.

I've seen it on sale at Amazon.ca.  Before buying it there though, I checked to see if our local library has a copy.  It does!  I borrowed it yesterday and will take a look at it this weekend to see if it's worth buying.  I only need a small section of the book, but maybe I'll do the other parts at a later date.  It was published in 2005, so the information in it might not be as accurate as the maps my friend has.  But it would be a good supplement.  The state of Oregon also has a very detailed Oregon Coast Biking map with all the state parks listed on it.

On a related note, I recently ordered my custom made Click-Stand (portable bike stand that holds up a lot of weight), and it's on it's way to me!  I was unsure about measuring the irregular Hexagon Top bar on Big Red (Rocky Mountain bike), but I just emailed the company about it along with a photo and the owner gave me instructions on how to measure it properly.  I can't wait to see what it's like!  Hopefully, it'll work for me.  It was not cheap, but considering how I've already bent 2 kickstands in 3 yrs, this was a good investment.  A guy in Washington State custom makes them, they only fit for the bike you measured.  I found out about it through others that were using it on Tour De Jasper.