Archive for the ‘onbike’ Category
duckies!
a fresh batch of baby duckies is taking to the pond near campus. as I approached to take some photos, I was surprised to be warned off by one of the geese - I thought the mama duck might be upset, but a goose?
made it!
Craig rides to the top of the hill coming out of Cochrane on the way back to Calgary. What a beautiful day for a ride!
reflection bench
a bench along the pathway at one end of the duck pond near campus. this pond is now the home to nearly a dozen resident ducks, and many other birds have moved back into the trees surrounding it. campus sounds alive again.
golden morning
I’m not sure what these are (cinquefoil?) but they just blossommed en masse on the bluffs overlooking the Bow River. Lots of bright yellow spread along the pathway.
1900km in Bowmont
at the west end of the Bowmont pathway system, in Silver Springs.
I’m trying the Manfrotto Super Clamp on the handlebars again, this time with my little Fujifilm point and shoot camera - I’m not sure that camera will survive much vibration though…
rest stop
we went for an epic 11km ride around our community today, and wound up taking a break at the far southwest corner of Tuscany, on a bluff overlooking the Bow River valley.
serenity pond
I stopped at the duck pond near campus to cool down, and wound up spending a few minutes enjoying the calmness of the pond, with ducks and songbirds moving into the area.
fogvalley
the community of bowness, and canada olympic park, obscured by the first real fog of the season.
benched
I stopped at The Bench™ for a few minutes on the ride home this evening. Definitely my favourite thinking spot (in #yyc, anyway)
COP and boxcars
Canada Olympic Park, with the last remnants of the snow still hanging on. Note the angle of the flag on top of the hill. That was headwind, the whole way to campus…
cochrane
I rode out to Cochrane again today to take on The Hill™ - it almost won this time.
This is the lumber mill on the east end of Cochrane. Little Known Fact About D’Arcy #231: I briefly worked for one of the housing construction companies that built some of the giant houses along the river - the same company that built our own much-less-giant house.
rust and green
the valley is turning green - buds on all of the trees and bushes, and rusty brown beginning to disappear.1600km
I’m 2 weeks ahead of my pace from 2008, but I still need to pour it on to build up endurance for the Ride to Conquer Cancer.
1500km
passed the 1500km mark in silver springs, along the bowmont area, overlooking the bow river valley and the rocky mountains.
rainday
the first rain of the year! w00t!
The Hill™
I made it up the big hill coming out of Cochrane toward Calgary - without stopping, or dying. It’s the longest hill I’ve climbed - 2km of 7% grade.springing
spring has just started to arrive in the city - the poplars are budding, grass starting to turn green. It’s going to turn green really quickly, though…bowmont in early spring
a stretch of the Bowmont Natural Pathway system, along Silver Springs. The grass is starting to turn green, and buds are forming on the brush. Spring is going to happen quickly.
rings
a small pond beside the “bike path” through the construction zone at Stoney Trail and Tuscany Boulevard, with concentric rings visible through the ice.
birds
they sounded like seagulls, but looked like terns or something. I can’t seem to remember squat from my zoology undergrad days. I’ll just call them “birds” and be done with it.
There were many ponds along my route, but these birds - hundreds of them - were only found on this one.1200km
I hit 1200km while I was on the short path beside VRRI, between the research park and main campus.
scenic route
I had to stop here to de-ice my bike. The ice was several mm thick all over the cables, gears, chain, pedals, tires, spokes, me, my shoes, my glasses, my helmet, handlebars, hands… I was down to 1 gear, and no brakes. But I made it home 
arch over the rocks
a strong chinook wind formed a distinctive arch over western Calgary, with the Rocky Mountains visible behind it.
bearspaw
I took a ride out through Bearspaw after work today. Google’s map is wrong - the road it claims to go north across 1A was never built. So I settled for exploring the roads on the south side of 1A, overlooking the river and bearspaw dam.
