Riding LAST Weekend

I've been meaning to write this post since last Sunday, but got a new camera this week, and have been messing around with it all week.
Last Saturday was a nice sunny day, so I obviously had non-outside stuff to do. I can't remember what - I guess I should have written this earlier. I went for a ride to Mill Bay in the late afternoon. I was going to ride down to the ferry terminal, and continue until the road meets the highway, but saw a "Beech Access" sign I haadn't seen before and spent a while taking photos. It soon started to get dark, so I came back the way I went.

Sunday was dull and rainy, the day of the first Experience Cycling Club ride.
It was a good fun though. We met at the parking lot at 10:30 and split into two groups:
Mike, Trevor, Kevin, and Dave and Alyssa from Victoria headed off on the south side of the mountain, while Tara, Kurt, Jamie, Roland and Jen (from Victoria), and me rode up the fire road. We rode up some Emma's Express and rode Why be a Roadie, and up the road to Field of Dreams, and straight to the top. Kurt led us down Rocky Ridge and Blueberry Pancakes to Chicken Run 1 and 2, then Fluid and Resurrection. At the very end of Resurrection there's a little jump with a bit of an upward-sloping landing. I landed a bit front-wheel-first, and rode home with a broken spoke and wobbly front wheel.
I really should have written this earlier - it would have been more interesting!

Pics here.

a good weekend of riding

Saturday morning I rode on the road in the morning, and then went riding with Ted in the afternoon.
We went up Tzouhalem for a couple of hours. We rode up the fire road and came down Showtime, the end of Chicken Run 3 (I guess we should have gone right instead of left...), Fluid, and Resurrection.We had a good ride, and decided that we could both ride the end of the "Zig-Zag" woodwork, but it was a bit wet today, so we'll have to do it in the summer.
By then Ted will have his Cove STD, and me my Trek Remedy of course.

I went riding with Hilary today. We took Ben for a bit of a run and ended up at a decked area on the "golf course". We rode up a bit higher from that and came out just above Toxic Tea Cup, and rode down Tea Cup and Resurrection.
Back at the parking lot we ran into Bill, Bruce, and another man (whose name I've forgotten), and then Gail and Linda rolled up. I guess it's been the first nice sunny riding dat since all the snow. The parking lot was full, and most cars had bike racks on.
We headed back up and look the lower old M/L and came accross two lost hikers, and rode with them three-quarters of the way to the cross, then came back a bit and did the beginning of Chicken Run 2, and then attempted Chicken Run 1 backwards, which meant we ended up walking half of it. Riding it backwards meant that one of the bridges that is usually uphill was downhill, so we both rode it.
We then rode up the usual fire road (I told you it was!) to the top, and then along a bit to the top with a better view. While we were there, a guy on a downhill bike with dual-crowns road up without a helmet, and then sat on a stump and started meditating/praying.
We left and rode back down to Field of Dreams, which we rode backwards, and then onto Finality. I must have gone left when I should have stayed right, because I think we were trying to ride backwards along Twist and Shout. We ended up at the bottom of Little Dipper somewhere, and rode the Y Connector, and Why Be A Roadie, School's Out, Tea Cup and Resurrection.
Hilary drove home, while I rode along the Viewpoint Trail and down the Providence Farm Trail.

Two things to be learnt from this weekend:
Don't let me lead - I always go the wrong way.
Riding trails backwards isn't reccommended.

I've noticed my riding is definitely getting better. I did a few things this weekend that I haven't done before. I'm getting more confident on bridges, and the woodwork doesn't look as scary as it used to. I spend more time in the air, and have started jumping over roots rather than smashing into them. I'm getting much faster on singletrack too.
(Ted took that one)

Ta-Da!!

My new bike is ready to roll.
It's been on the rack in my apartment for about a month now, but has had bits missing (wheels, brakes). Dale and Brian got it all sorted yesterday.
It's not new. It says Lemond on it, but apparently the frame was custom built for a cyclocross racer, whose name I've forgotten. I bought the bike without wheels, and had some wheels built up - Open Pro rims on 105 back, XT front hubs. It's got a double, which I'm a bit worried about. It'll be fine on shorter rides, but over the 100 km mark I think I'm going to be wanting lower gears for long hills.
Brian brought it round to work last night, so as soon as I got home I went riding. As soon as I got on it, it started to rain.
I was going to ride along Lakes, Herd, Bell McKinnon to Crofton, and back along Osbourne, but by the time I'd gotten to Bell McKinnon (stopping twice to lower my saddle) I'd had two "close calls" with drivers that didn't dim their lights for me. One opened his window to yell "Fucking watch where you're going!" after I'd wandered towards the middle of the road while blinded by his headlights. Not my fault - all I can do is brake and hope I'm going straight.
Anyway, I rode the other way along Bell McKinnon and decided to cross the road and rode Drinkwater to Somenos, and went straight accross at the roundabout (not sure what that road's called).
Loved the bike. Sooo fast and easy compared to Jake and the mountain bike. I had no trouble making it up the hills with the bigger gears, but can't see liking them after riding for six hours. So smooth! The gear shifts are very slow though - delayed about 17 seconds sometimes (I counted). It seems to fit well, except the brifters must be in the wrong place, as my hands start to hurt instantly. It's got even less standover than Jake, and (a lot) more toe overlap, but it's smaller, so that's to be expected.
And it's got no fenders yet, so ...

Project 365

It's not long after one starts browsing Flickr that "Project 365" pops up.
Let me explain - take (and post) a picture everyday, for 365 days.
From there, everything is flexible, and everyone creates their own rules. Lots of people do 365 days of self portraits. Others will give themselves other restrictions, such as using only their fisheye lens, or taking their photo for the day before they do anything else in the morning.

I thought this was an excellent idea, but didn't think I could follow through - but I've changed my mind. If I have said (online) that I will do this, I can't say to myself that I won't bother today.

This project serves several purposes. Hopefully, having to take at lease one good, postable picture a day will help to make me better at taking pictures. You get better from doing, and this forces me to do. It will also act as a semi-blog in pictures. Each day's picture will give a clue as to what went on on that day. This will also push me to take photos when it seems like there is nothing to take photos of.

My rules:
The pictures don't all have to be different. I'm a bit of a perfectionist about my photos, and have never taken one I'm happy with. I intend to re-visit photos I'm not happy with to see if I can do a better job the second (or third, or fourth) time around.
Each day's picture will be posted the morning after, before I go to work.
They don't all have to be good, because let's face it - they aren't all going to be.
I will post at least one picture of me every month.
If I do miss a day for some reason - it doesn't matter. I'll carry on.
It will actually be Project 334, as I'm starting on February 1st and it seems to make sense I should end (and start again) at the new year, as a journal book would.
The rules must change - as I think all rules should.
The pictures will not all be posted here - they will be on my Flickr photostream:
HERE - and all viewable in the PROJECT 365 set.

So here we go...
February 1st
1/334 - Knitting in Starbucks (because nowhere else is open late on a Sunday, except Timmy's - but their seats are too hard) with Hilary.


That's Hilary in the picture, knitting her "traffic cone" skirt.
I hate the (lack of) low light performance of this camera - grainy starting at ISO 400, and very mushy at wide apertures.