Revved Shivering

Qualicum Beach

Last weekend Suede and I visited my mom in Nanaimo. Yoshi was pretty revved up and looking for some exercise so we took a quick trip up to Qualicum Beach to let him run around. And run he did! He had a great time romping on the beach, splashing in the water, and chasing after sticks.

Qualicum Beach

The rest of us did our best to avoid the wet hound, and stay warm. It was a little windy out, and that made it a little chilly right on the water. Yoshi kept playing until he was shivering he was so cold.

Qualicum Beach

After getting back to the car, we towelled down Yoshi, packed him in the car, and headed back to my moms. Yoshi was pretty knackered after that run.

Pics are here.

Block Efficient

brick by brick I build this site

Tonight I implemented a new block of functionality for muddylaces. Much like coreman.com I now have a block that will provide a link to previous years posts for this day. This will only be shown when there is a post to be displayed. It was a fun little exercise. My implementation isn’t the most efficient, but it works for now. If I had a lot more traffic, I would have to change things a little.

Friday Bounces

fountain in centenial park Vicrotia BC

Just got back from Friday night volleyball. I hadn’t played in a quite a while before joining this league, so I had forgotten just how much fun it really is. We play in a rec league so most of the people are just there to have some fun. Of course there are a few different pools, and each week teams move up and down between pools, so sometime we are matched against a team that really doesn’t want to be playing at our level. Oh well, c’est la vie, and thats the wal the volleyball bounces.

Still tonight was good. In our first match I got a couple of really good blocks which always makes one feel good. I guess overall I played pretty well. Beside the blocks I had a couple good spikes/hits, and more than a few good digs.

One that stands out was really quite funny. There was one hit by our team, but the ball went the wrong direction. I took off after it, managed to get a hit in and sent the ball in towards the net. As I was trying to slow down, I started to lose my balance. Problem was I was running out of gym to run in. I managed to make it through a doorway, stopped, then ran back into the gym and rejoined the game still in progress. 🙂 Good times.

Time for a shower, then time for bed.

Chilly Railing

blue sky and tree

Meeting at 10 am at the top of a mountain seemed like a good idea when I sent the email. It still seemed like a good idea when I got up this morning. I stopped being a good idea when I jumped out of my truck. It was chilly and windy at the top of Mt Tolmie, but the sun was out, and the sky was blue. Overall it was a nice day.

It took me a bit to get into taking pictures, and once my hands went numb it was all the more difficult. In the end though, I am pretty happy with my shots. I found a fly on a railing that captured my interest for a while. Then I started noticing the railing itself.

Flowers, trees, sky, flies. The makings of a good photo shoot.

Pics are here.

Automatic Mistakes

Don’t mess with someone if it works. I try to take that to heart.

This morning Suede and I entered our usual $starbucks for our Friday drinks. After ordering I noticed they had gotten a new espresso machine. It is one of the automatic machines that all the Barista needs to do is add beans to the top. The machine, grinds them, tamps them, then makes the espresso shot. The old machine the Barista measured out the epresso, tamped it themselves, then extracted the shot. More labour intensive for sure, and more prone to mistakes. I can see why they went to the new machine.

Unfortunately for me the Americano’s from these machines taste nothing like the ones from the labour intensive machines. The flavours are more watered down, and the drink isn’t as hot.

To top it off, Suede just MSN’d me to mention that the muffins we get from our usual Friday morning breakfast spot are not the ones we ordered. We asked for Raspberry, and we received Cranberry. Bad start to our Friday.

Approached Incredulously

Fort Rodd Hill Lighthouse

Last Saturday when I drove Suede to the airport, I experienced yet another instance of moronic driving. To be fair, it was an older gentleman driving, but still, his inattentiveness could have killed someone.

It was still early, and very dark out. As I approached the airport, the speed zone on the highway was 90 km/h. Of course I was doing something close to that, but I was in the left lane since the left turn lane was opening soon. As I was nearing the left turn lane, said gentleman moves over from the right lane to the left lane. No big deal, he was doing 80 km/h (maybe a bit less). I figured he was also going to the airport.

As I was slowing, the left turn lane opened, and I moved over into it. I expected the other driver to do the same. I was wrong. Halfway down the left turn lane (now that the lane marker line was solid) he puts his left turn signal on. Again I figured he would move over, and again I was wrong. As we approached the left run lane’s stop line, he hadn’t moved over. I left plenty of room in front of me so he could get over, but this guy stopped dead on the highway! Incredulously I watched this guy in the left lane of the highway, with his lef turn blinker on. If anyone came up on him at 90 km/h they wouldn’t have much time to change lanes or stop. I honked a few times, but there was no recognition. I honked longer, and he made a half hearted attempt a changing lanes. Now he was half inthe left turn lane, half on the highway.

Suede suggested I just move up to the sensor and trip the left turn light. As I crept forward, the guy also moved over a little more. Thankfully the left turn signal went green before anything bad could happen. I did everything I could to indicate to the other guy that they were wrong. Thankfully it was very early on a Saturday morning, and not many people were out driving yet. It could have been a very messy situation.

Suede Ticket

dreamy looking trees

Yay, Suede comes home tonight. As much as I (and out pets) missed her, I am glad she went away. It is too easy to take things for granted when they are always around. Having Suede gone for a week just drove home to me how much a part of me she is, and how much she completes my life. I am looking forward to seeing her tonight. Between now and 8:30 I have a few things to do. Dinner and a shower are only two of them. I think I will start with … watching TV a little. Yeah, thats the ticket 😉

normal looking trees

It’s All About the Ride – A Retrospective

a new perspective

Today Yoshi and I went for a spin at the dump. I was riding my hardtail, and since we were alone, I decided to do an old school ride. I wanted to ride the trails I rode when I first started mountain biking. The hardtail on old school, what a combination.

As I was riding I began to reflect on how I as a rider had changed. I first looked at my clothing. When I started riding, I was an all-cotton kind of person. I was in University and had not yet learned how awesome technical fibers were. Rain or shine I was out there in cotton everything (except socks, those were wool). My thought today was that I didn’t have a stitch of cotton on my. A smile crept across my face as I realized that was not quite true; I am sure that the stitching on some of my clothes was cotton.

The air was crisp. It had dipped below freezing last night, and the ground was still pretty solid. The sun was out though, and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. Years ago I would ride rain or shine. In fact I loved the rainy rides the best (even in the cotton). I would ride around the puddles at the beginning of the ride, but on the way back to the car I would purposely go through the middle soaking myself and my bike. Now, before agreeing to a ride I will consult the weather report. Puddles are to be avoided, and if I have to go through them, I do my best to go slowly. Times change, but riding is still riding.

I still remember my very first off road mountain bike ride. Again, I was in University, had no car, and had very little cash. A friend of mine, James Cox, told me he was heading out, and invited me. I thought what the hell, why not. My steed at the time was a Bauer Caurus. Alas I have no pictures of that pink and white monstrosity. 🙂 It was my commute to school bike and it served me well. James had no car either, so our plan was to ride out there, ride the trails, then ride home. No biggee. I forgot to mention I was just on the tail end of a bout with mono. Totally unprepared for mountain biking (never been before remember?), I headed out there. We got to the trails, rode around a bit, then stopped for a break. My rear tire was a little flat, so I went to pump it up. As I affixed the pump, the stem ripped free of the tube. I remember that sinking feeling. None of the three of us had a tube. Thankfully we were able to bum one off another rider. On the way home from the ride I bonked bad. I could barely pedal any more. I was tired, I couldn’t think straight. I told the other two to go on, and I slowly made my way back to my house. Once there I emptied the fridge of food, then fell asleep on the couch. I was sore for quite a few days, but I still remember that ride fondly.

Today I stopped by the same spot where the valve stem ripped out of the tube. I took a rest break and watched my dog run about sniffing things. It was quiet, peaceful … spectacular. I sat facing into the sun, and closed my eyes. I have ridden this trail system countless times, but todays ride was different. It was truly all about the ride. As I sat there I could hear the ground thawing around me. Tiny bubbles being released from their icy tombs. Yoshi found a stick and started chewing it while standing on a frozen puddle. I could hear the ice cracking under his feet. Carefree and having fun. It really was all about the ride.

From that first ride grew a passion. Some called it an obsession. I started to ride regularly, thanks in part to Mike. As our skills and fitness progressed, so did the adrenaline rush. That became why I rode. I wanted the next rush, I wanted to ride that rock face that I had never tried before. I wanted to jump higher than last time. I saw that hill that I had never made and tried and tried until I finally got it. Yet riding then was still about the ride. It was about getting out of the house, onto the trails, and out in nature. Blowing off steam that pent up while in school. I dedicated Sundays as my day off. Mike and I would usually ride Sunday mornings, then I would flake out back at home after a hot shower. That was my religion.

After a while it wasn’t enough. I started riding 2, 3, sometimes 4 times a week. Almost every time I went out I enjoyed it. Crashes happened, parts were broken, pieces wore out, yet I loved the sport. I couldn’t get enough of it. I got the dreaded upgrade-itis disease that every “real” mountain biker gets. I read the mags, I stayed on top of the news. I was a mountain biker. Yet, it was all about getting out there and having a good time. I was never into serious training, so riding had a very big social aspect to it. Friendships were formed out in the woods. Friendships were cemented over war stories on the ride home. Life was grand.

Soon I was out of University, and I had more free time, and more free cash. Riding was what I did during my time off. I got a new bike and riding took on a new meaning. It was about progression. For a while I lost why I was out there on the trails. I pushed myself to ride bigger, higher, faster, better, steeper, more. I started having bad rides where I didn’t have fun, and didn’t want to be there. Some rides I even cut short because I wasn’t having fun. I had lost. I started riding less. One November I had some worrying physical anomolies and my doctor told me I shouldn’t ride until they were sorted out. One month later I was cleard, but in December I had no time to ride. Christmas, holidays, travelling, food, drink. Two months off the bike, and when it was time to get on again, I hated it. My physcal condition was horrible, riding my bike was hard since I was so out of shape, and it just wasn’t fun. It wasn’t about the ride it was about riding how or what I used to be able to. I had lost the reason I was out there.

It is starting to come back to me now though. Days like today remind me that above all else I am a mountain biker. I may not ride as often as I used to. I may not ride as long as I used to. I may not ride as big, get the same adrenaline rush, feel the same push to get out on the trails as I used to. Now it is about the ride. These are the thoughts going through my head as I was riding with my dog on he old school trails, on my hardtail. It was a great ride. I sure have come a long way since my old cotton-wearing rigid bike riding days. And yet I feel like I am back where I started. I can’t wait to see what is in store.