Author: gfox (old content)

Ambitious Difference

Yesterday was yard work day. Sox’s dad was down for a visit, so we enlisted him to help us rework the back yard. The goals were pretty ambitious. There was a lot of clean up to do, new flower beds to create, a new fence to install, and the apple tree needed a good pruning.

With a lot of hard work out in the rain, we managed to get almost everything done. The remaining things to do Sox and I can handle on our own. I am pretty amazed with how it has all turned out. The back yard is now divided with a dog side, and a people side. This is going to allow us to let Sprout roam around without fear of doggie ‘landmines’. The new/clean flower bed look great, and if we stay on top of the weeds, will look great for a long time. The trimming made such a huge difference to the look and feel of the yard. Throughout the day I made 4 trips to the municipal yard, and each time my truck was full to capacity.

My only disappointment was that we didn’t get to the ivy patch. By myself, this will take another day’s work, and probably another 3 truck loads of crap to the yard.

Read on for the before and after pics.

Before



The back bed.



The back corner.



The back side yard.



The back walkway.

After



The back bed.



Cleaned up flower bed.



The new fence.



The back walkway.

Rockland Bicycles

Bike to work week is done, and my office managed 100% participation for the whole week. I think that is pretty good for a crew of 13 people. Over the week I modified my route to and from work looking for a more optimal route. I managed to find some good ones out there. Rockland is a fun road to cycle on.

My distance totals are:
Mon: 16 Km
Tues: 17.5 Km
Weds: 18.5 Km
Thurs: 19 Km
Fri: 22 Km
Total: 93 Km

As Jen pointed out newbie cyclists can be a bit of a hazard for vehicles. I know I saw many scary scenarios out there. Things that scared me while riding this week were:

  1. People on those electric bikes that are technically bicycles, but look more like scooters. Most people I have seen drive these things erratically so that nobody knows how to deal with them. I hate these things and think they should be banned from existance.
  2. People opening car doors. This happend at least three times this week where someone was getting into their vehicle and looked down the street to check for traffic, then opened their door right in front of me. Hello? Maybe wait the extra .5 seconds for me to pass safely?
  3. motorcycles. I had at least 2 motorcycles come up right beside me then roar off from the light. Yeah, thanks! Also, to the guy who tried to peel off the line, but actually stalled instead: you rock! 🙂 I hope that your restart followed by mashing the gas and nearly hitting me made up for how inadewuate you are.
  4. 4 way stoppers not following the rules. I know people are trying to be nice to cyclists, but come one. Make eye contact and don’t sit there waiting for me to go. I won’t.
  5. pedestrians not looking for cars or cyclists when crossing side streets. I saw one lady almost get clipped by a car turning right because she didn’t look and practically stepped out in front of it.
  6. trying to overtake me on a sharp downhill corner. To the fucker this morning that tried to pass me as we were approaching the train overpass before the Johnson St bridge: you are a complete moron. The speed limit is 30 Km/H. I was doing 40 Km/H, and you were trying to pass me? What for? So you can get in line on the bridge? Use your head.

Participation Week

Bike to Work Week is upon us again, and there is more pressure than ever to ride every day this week. The office I work in has had 100% participation several years in a row, and has won many prizes because of this.

Sox and I have juggled our daycare drop offs for Sprout to allow me to ride every day. For this week only, while I ride, Sox drives to daycare and does the drop off. She then grabs her bike that was conveniently stashed there on the weekend, and rides to work, so that she can get in her Bike to Work Week ride. Very ingenious of us. It just takes longer to get to work for Sox.

Thanks babe. I appreciate your help in this. The ride this morning was quite pleasant too. Warm weather has descended on Victoria making riding in shorts the standard.

Canmore Bail

Another thing I should mention is that last weekend I decided to not do that Canmore 24 Hours of Adrenaline. There are lots of factors involved in that decision. I haven’t really felt like doing the race for the past few months, so getting myself out to ride always involved guilting myself. That isn’t fun.

A couple of my teammates also had to bail (for other reasons), and they were part of the reason I signed up in the first place. Without them I would have been racing with a bunch of relative strangers, and that is not why I signed up.

I have other vacation plans around the race timeframe, so by not going I can free up more time for camping.

Lastly, by not going I will save probably close to $500 for travel, camping, and racing expenses.

I feel crappy for bailing, but in my heart I know I wasn’t committed to doing the race. I did get out for rides recently though, and that is a good thing.