Luke, Nicole, Shawn and I joined the Critical Mass bike rally last night. It was the first time I'd joined such a ride and it was a blast. Here is the route that we took:
It was pretty fun causing havoc for Friday commuters. Some accepted the fact that they were going nowhere, many complained, a few tried to penetrate the masses of bikes and ended up being swarmed by cyclists and trapped. The parade of bikes was kilometres long. It was so cool to see the cyclists fan out when we'd get to an unblocked intersection to position themselves in front of the cars to hold the area open for the flood of bicycles (it's called corking). It was wonderful being able to ride on the road with no cars. We stopped in a few places to allow everyone to catch up. Once on the top of the Burrard Bridge and then again on the top of the Lions Gate bridge. We basically stopped traffic completely on the Lions Gate. We rode to the apex, stopped for a while and then turned around and rode back through Stanley Park and into the city. We even had the counterflow lane heading to the bridge along the causeway. :) It was so beautiful at the top of the bridge! The ocean was gold from the low sun and everyone was smiling. Even a few of the drivers got out to admire the view. They were so lucky to be stopped there!
There were thousands of bikes. It was so much fun. I especially liked it when someone would call out "We're not blocking traffic!" and everyone would shout back "WE ARE TRAFFIC!!" This week has been "bike to work week" and the weather was wonderful so the turnout was great. It is supposed to be even bigger next month since June is "bike month". I'm hoping to join that ride too. I left the group after Stanley Park when we got to Burrard. That was nearly 3 hours of riding and I was tired, hungry and had a pretty sore bum.
Showing posts with label cycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cycling. Show all posts
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Super weekend
A busy weekend and already it's nearly Wednesday! Had a cold last week but it didn't last long. Ran on Wednesday for 30 minutes with a stuffy heady, felt fine by Friday. Ran with Nicole around Stanley Park on Friday morning. We ran about 8 miles (1hr 20min) and it felt good.
Trying to cycle more now that the weather is getting better. Took my bike out of hibernation Saturday morning and cycled over to the farmer's market at Adanac and Victoria. Took the 10th Ave bike route and it took about 30 minutes. Coming home I took the Adanac bike route and then hooked up to the 7th Ave route. That took about 40 minutes... I think it might have been a bit longer that way and I was also pretty loaded down with goodies. So nice to have such nice routes to ride along.
The Vancouver cherry blossom festival is coming up and I came across this event. Can't wait!
Ran 13 miles on my own on Sunday. I ran the route out along the seawall to Spanish Banks, up to UBC and home along 16th Ave. I took 2 gels and not sure if it was the run on Friday, the bikeride the day before or maybe it was just an off day but I was pretty tired.
Using the goodies from the farmer's market I made a big Easter dinner. Made a double-crust apple pie first - it was so satisfying. We were given some lamb quite a while ago so I defrosted it the day before and roasted it with new potatoes, garlic, rosemary and dijon mustard and served it with mint pesto. It was so delicious! First time cooking lamb. We also had a salad with winter greens and roasted beets. Sauteed some mixed mushrooms with butter, garlic and sage to have on the side and also steamed some baby carrots - so sweet!
Monday morning woke up early and headed up to Whistler with Nicole to ski. I rented some awesome powder skis and with nearly a foot of new snow in the previous 24 hours they were so much fun. It was an amazing day. Cloud, sun, snow, wind... I love the new Symphony chair - takes you right up to the ridge we hiked doing the Musical Bumps a few years ago. We skied all day. My legs were so tired! You get good value for your tickets now that it is light out so long. We finally went in for food at the Roundhouse at 3:30 because we were starving and decided to download off the mountain to avoid the icy lower half of the mountain (so spoiled with the powder and awesome conditions at the top) and because we were so exhausted. See more photos here.
Spent all day today getting ready for our little mini holiday to Tofino and Ucluelet. Made a bunch of food to bring along for the first half of our trip in Ucluelet. We're going surfing on Thursday. I'm excited. Last time surfing was so fun. I think it'll be colder this time... Last week was the whale festival and I'm hoping to see some migrating gray whales while were there... I'll hopefully get a couple runs in and when we get home Nicole and I are going to do our longest run yet - 23 miles. Yikes! Then only 5 more weeks until the race!
Trying to cycle more now that the weather is getting better. Took my bike out of hibernation Saturday morning and cycled over to the farmer's market at Adanac and Victoria. Took the 10th Ave bike route and it took about 30 minutes. Coming home I took the Adanac bike route and then hooked up to the 7th Ave route. That took about 40 minutes... I think it might have been a bit longer that way and I was also pretty loaded down with goodies. So nice to have such nice routes to ride along.
The Vancouver cherry blossom festival is coming up and I came across this event. Can't wait!
Ran 13 miles on my own on Sunday. I ran the route out along the seawall to Spanish Banks, up to UBC and home along 16th Ave. I took 2 gels and not sure if it was the run on Friday, the bikeride the day before or maybe it was just an off day but I was pretty tired.
Using the goodies from the farmer's market I made a big Easter dinner. Made a double-crust apple pie first - it was so satisfying. We were given some lamb quite a while ago so I defrosted it the day before and roasted it with new potatoes, garlic, rosemary and dijon mustard and served it with mint pesto. It was so delicious! First time cooking lamb. We also had a salad with winter greens and roasted beets. Sauteed some mixed mushrooms with butter, garlic and sage to have on the side and also steamed some baby carrots - so sweet!
Monday morning woke up early and headed up to Whistler with Nicole to ski. I rented some awesome powder skis and with nearly a foot of new snow in the previous 24 hours they were so much fun. It was an amazing day. Cloud, sun, snow, wind... I love the new Symphony chair - takes you right up to the ridge we hiked doing the Musical Bumps a few years ago. We skied all day. My legs were so tired! You get good value for your tickets now that it is light out so long. We finally went in for food at the Roundhouse at 3:30 because we were starving and decided to download off the mountain to avoid the icy lower half of the mountain (so spoiled with the powder and awesome conditions at the top) and because we were so exhausted. See more photos here.
Spent all day today getting ready for our little mini holiday to Tofino and Ucluelet. Made a bunch of food to bring along for the first half of our trip in Ucluelet. We're going surfing on Thursday. I'm excited. Last time surfing was so fun. I think it'll be colder this time... Last week was the whale festival and I'm hoping to see some migrating gray whales while were there... I'll hopefully get a couple runs in and when we get home Nicole and I are going to do our longest run yet - 23 miles. Yikes! Then only 5 more weeks until the race!
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