Gone but not forgotten

Alas, a new job has meant a distinct time crunch and unfortunately my blog has become a victim of insufficient hours in the day. I will try to add any interesting tours I go on but sadly I am unable to keep up to date on a daily basis. Thanks to all my readers and commenters and fellow bloggers over the years for their interest!

Ride for Friday 4th/Saturday 5th September

Rode my bike into work fully loaded ready for an s24o outing. I picked up my food for the day at the Capital Health Farmer's Market, then bailed out of work fairly early and headed out on the BLT trail. I came off the trail onto the road for half a kilometre or so before hitting the off-road trail where the fun began. Almost straight away I hit a massive puddle which went up over my bottom bracket and hubs, even though I was riding towards the edge. My first option for a campsite didn't look too exciting, but my second struck me as much better, with access to the lake, a sleeping area and cooking area - almost as if someone had cleared it expressly! I decided to head down a little further to check if there were any better looking options down the trail, but the road wasn't much fun so I headed back and set up camp. After stuffing myself on goodies from the farmer's market during the day I turned out not to be all that hungry and turned in.

After a quiet evening's sleep, I was feeling a little more hungry and broke out the cooking equipment. Potatoes, snow peas, green peppers and garlic went down surprisingly well with a nice strong cup of coffee. After cleaning up I managed to fill the rest of my garbage bag with other garbage around the campsite, then put everything away and made sure I left no trace myself.

I outfitted my panniers with some ghetto pannier covers and set off again, stopping only to make the trail a bit happier and take some gratuitious photos.

When I got home I found I had brought a souvenir mud covering for my bike back with me.

Distance logged: 76.797km
Time: 310:41
Average speed: 14.8km/hr
Max speed: 53.8 km/hr
Temperature: 25C-18C, 20C-22C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 949.126km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.64
Monthly distance: 169.782km
Monthly cost per km: $0

Ride home for Thursday, 3 September

Distance logged: 11.610km
Time: 32:15
Average speed: 21.6km/hr
Max speed: 42.6 km/hr
Temperature:
Cumulative distance: 872.329km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.69
Monthly distance: 92.985km
Monthly cost per km: $0

Ride into work for Thursday, 3 September

Distance logged: 11.433km
Time: 29:19
Average speed: 23.4km/hr
Max speed: 52.8 km/hr
Temperature: 12C
Cumulative distance: 860.719km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.7
Monthly distance: 81.375km
Monthly cost per km: $0

Ride home for Wednesday, 2 September

A dull and unexciting ride home leavened by my rear derailleur cable snapping halfway up Col du Fairview. I made the rest of the way home with only the smallest ring at the back available, which meant a certain amount of walking was required...

Distance logged: 11.696km
Time: 35:15
Average speed: 19.9km/hr
Max speed: 43.8 km/hr
Temperature: 21C
Cumulative distance: 860.719km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.7
Monthly distance: 81.375km
Monthly cost per km: $0

Ride into work for Wednesday, 2nd September

Distance logged: 12.102km
Time: 34:41
Average speed: 20.9km/hr
Max speed: 61.9 km/hr
Temperature: 12C
Cumulative distance: 849.023km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.71
Monthly distance: 69.679km
Monthly cost per km: $0

Ride for Saturday, 29 August

Down to the Farmer's Market to do my shopping.

Distance logged: 29.876km
Time: 99:26
Average speed: 18km/hr
Max speed: 49.6 km/hr
Temperature: 14C-16C
Cumulative distance: 836.921km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.72
Monthly distance: 57.577km
Monthly cost per km: $0

Ride home and critical mass for Friday, 28 August

Nice ride around in some great weather, sadly my camera appears to be on its last legs and didn't take any pictures.

Distance logged: 27.701km
Time: 124:30
Average speed: 13.3km/hr
Max speed: 42.6 km/hr
Temperature:
Cumulative distance: 807.045km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.75
Monthly distance: 27.701km
Monthly cost per km: $0

Ride into work for Friday, 28 August

10C at the end of August? This doesn't bode well for winter...

Distance logged: 11.504km
Time: 30:57
Average speed: 22.3km/hr
Max speed: 55.9 km/hr
Temperature: 10C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 779.344km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.78
Monthly distance: 193.384km
Monthly cost per km: $3.13

Ride home for Thursday, 27 August

I could have sworn this was still supposed to be summer.

Distance logged: 11.955km
Time: 40:03
Average speed: 17.7km/hr
Max speed: 42.5 km/hr
Temperature: 18C
Cumulative distance: 767.840km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.79
Monthly distance: 181.880km
Monthly cost per km: $3.33

Ride into work for Thursday, 27 August

Distance logged: 14.308km
Time: 37:41
Average speed: 22.8km/hr
Max speed: 61.9 km/hr
Temperature: 14C
Cumulative distance: 755.885km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.8
Monthly distance: 169.925km
Monthly cost per km: $3.56

Ride home for Tuesday, 25 August

Distance logged: 11.037km
Time: 37:05
Average speed: 17.5km/hr
Max speed: 37.2 km/hr
Temperature: 23C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 741.577km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.82
Monthly distance: 155.617km
Monthly cost per km: $3.89

Ride into work for Tuesday, 25 August

Damp and cool ride in, hinting that fall is on its way...

Distance logged: 11.132km
Time: 34:23
Average speed: 19.4km/hr
Max speed: 53 km/hr
Temperature: 16C, misty
Cumulative distance: 730.540km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.83
Monthly distance: 144.580km
Monthly cost per km: $4.18

Ride home for Friday, 21 August

Picked up the new rear wheel for the hybrid; a DMR Revolver 6 pawl hub on a Sun Rhyno Lite 700c rim, with (at the urging of Chris, the mechanic down there) a 9 speed SRAM mountain cassette and chain. I was surprised to find the big ring on the cassette was the same size as a Shimano Megarange cog, and the 9 speeds smoothed out the differences between gears a surprising amount, considering I was only coming up from 7 speed. The 6 pawls in the hub click inordinately loudly but with a 5 year warranty the manufacturer certainly seems confident in their product!

Needless to say the ride home from the pub later was largely taken up with me fiddling about with the gears, and playing with the clicky clicky hub - it's loud enough to alert pedestrians quite nicely, which is a useful side-effect.

Distance logged: 18.173km
Time: 68:33
Average speed: 15.9km/hr
Max speed: 39.8 km/hr
Temperature: 19C
Cumulative distance: 719.408km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.84
Monthly distance: 133.448km
Monthly cost per km: $4.53

Ride into work for Friday, 21 August

Lisa, a nurse at the IWK caught up with me waiting for the lights at Joe Howe and Bayers and we had a brief chat about routing. She was heading up Mumford, on to Chebucto and up through Quinpool as she said it was the quickest route; I offered to take her my route in which would be as quick and away from all the traffic. She was a little dubious at first as to whether it could be as quick as going on the main roads but once we were on the back streets away from the traffic she agreed that it was way better than the route she was going to take! We had a nice conversation over 20 minutes or so as we rode in before she peeled off into the IWK and I continued on to Bethune. I recommended she pick up a copy of the bike map to see what other back street routes she might be able to use.

In other news, the Chester Spur was approved! This means eventually I should be able to get downtown from home almost entirely on rail trails, which would be great not having to climb Col du Fairview on a daily basis!

Distance logged: 11.111km
Time: 34:23
Average speed: 19.4km/hr
Max speed: 53.0 km/hr
Temperature: 18C
Cumulative distance: 701.235km
Cumulative cost per km: $0
Monthly distance: 115.275km
Monthly cost per km: $0