A Night Off Photo Journey

When in the middle of a night rotation and you get a night off. A swell thing to do would be to tour around with your camera some would say... Loving my new camera, giggity giggity.

Sugar Snow Blues

One that had a bit of promise as I arrived, wait no I did not want to do this again. With Kent cancelling a meet up I almost left but figured I drove pretty much all the way. 

It was a top of the valley start by End of the World. I headed eastward with plans on riding Ray Gun and Silver Fox down and then playing with my lady Victoria and the Groat Road Rollercoaster. I entered RayGun and was soon slapped around by the shitty conditions. I dropped the RayGun out of this section and just took Six Shooter down most likely at an alarming slow speed. The entrance to Silver Fox seemed decent so I started riding and realized it was much worse than Six Shooter was. Very loose sugar snow had me at whits end and I climbed out via the stairs.

I thought Edmonton was full of hard as fuck fat bikers? Where are they? 

I guess I should have stayed and done my part and tried to ride it but the thought felt futile. Also no I am not hard as fuck as I wanted no part of that shit singletrack tonight.

It was a ride into the dark where I lost all sense of mojo where I cowered and rode home with zero energy. A shitty end to a shitty ride.

Could be the last ride this set off unfortunately kids...

new gloves, north face not meant for riding but still hundred times better than m.e.c winter ride gloves

A Big Fat Sigh

I really didn't want Winter this year, yet it showed up with a fury when I was working and I had no happy thoughts about fat biking through the snow for another umpteen months. It did take me a bit of time work up to a ride this set off. This set off started Thursday and when coming off days the energy levels are quite a bit higher. The motivation in breaking out the fat bike for the first ride of the season was nowhere to be found though.

It was Capilano to start and I ignored all the good stuff and started riding up the hill towards the Capilano bridge. I ignored the trails and took the paved loop around and soon crossed the river where I rode up Low Class and Higher Education where the loose sloppy snow threw me around like I was on some sort of strong narcotic. I could not stay on the trails one bit and it was more awkward than a white rapper with a speech impediment.

So it was off to the streets...

Bored and cold I had no destination in mind. It was only -10 and I couldn't help to dread the colder weather that will be here soon enough.Things got real depressing as I approached the Northlands gates and I though I had enough and was a about to turn back.

I pushed through and rode around the old Coliseum which is a very sketchy area now. I left and followed the LRT tracks and the ride became a bit enjoyable. The ridiculous tires ate everything up as I was riding through very loose ankle deep snow on the unplowed roads. Fat bikes are ridiculous.

The highlight was finding a park I have never been before and I would assume not a lot of people know about it. It is pretty much wide open valley views. There are trails leading down but I wussed out as they were steep. By request of the community I will keep the details to get there private with respect to the community. Cause you know... Lonebiker will have people there in droves. "Right interns," I turn my head and ask...

Crickets.. 

The ride ended uneventfully on Ada boulevard.. I kinda liked the fat bike in the end and I know it will be my main weapon against becoming a Swift basement trainer guy. 

*shudders..

Beer Friday. Unibroue, À Tout le Monde Ale (Megadeth brew)

 I swear this one has been sitting in my den for well over a year, we were a bit scared to review it for the reason that it looked a bit intimidating. With Megadeath partnering with Unibroue brewery we were left with a dry hopping technique that ended up being low on the alcohol scale and sits around 4.5% in the end.  So not sure what I was intimidated about, the scary picture maybe?

I'll be honest, I love hard music as much as the next guy but I cannot for the life of me name one Megadeth song...

Yes I know. I'll wait for everyone who is getting up to leave to get up and leave. I suck.

  ;

To the Megadeth purists, I am truly sorry. The song... not too shabby. The beer did come from Dave Mustain and Unibroue brewmaster Jerry Vietz. I believe Unibrioue has been on here years ago and a quick check on the archives confirmed that, the brewery is in Chambly, Quebec and was started in nineteen ninety.

it poured a nice bold gold with a bit of an out of control head which was clearly the beer pourers fault. After he was fired and the position replaced we got our photo with a fine looking one and a half fingered head, smells of yeast and dark fruits came through and made me a bit trepid with anticipation as I had a feeling this one might blow the socks off of me right in front of the whole beer review team. 

We sipped and it delivered on strong tastes. Dark fruit is the underlying underbelly of this tasty beer. The mouthfeel of this one is quite swell making one want to enjoy this beer for a long time which was shown with short sips with an exaggerated mouth hold on the beer. Bready yeast and herbs and fresh cut grass at an upscale golf resort seem to round it out.

Very enjoyable.

This beer gets 4.5 suds out of 5.

Happy Snow Day

 

Last Call

I am really getting sick of having to put away my bike for a week to go back to work. How long has this been now? 

Years and years... 

Sigh... Anyways, a common last ride of the set from old school Mill Creek with some flirting in the valley with the likes of Dirty Mattress, Gnome and Old Timers. I crossed the Millenial wonder bridge and looped around to the Low Level where I crossed back... Whoops..

I lied, I did not ride Old Timers. The plan was too after crossing the Low Level but I had the work blues and wanted to get home to start sulking. 

A shout out to the veterans today and the valley was busy with people off work and enjoying their lives. Kinda like what life should be like.

Science Park Short

Don't think I got over the Lonebiker minimum 8kms to call it an actual ride... gasp! (but I got pictures.)

So here we are. It was almost a ride that didn't happen but I pushed through to get there. The Science Park does not have a history of awesome rides as I always thought it lacked decent trails. Some people out there love it and think it is the best in the city. So I rode more open minded today and did see the appeal a bit.

The main issue for me always has been lack of flow and I did deal with that today, or trails that twist and turn with a proper purpose than suddenly its an insane forty foot climb that juts out of nowhere or other trails that lead nowhere. I do understand if you spent some time there you could make it work fine and after today's little experience maybe I will. 

I did a loop around the whole thing and enjoyed the descent by the highway in the dark. The area is a tad greasy so I was a bit on edge as I rolled through the dark trails hoping I was all alone.