The things you do when you don’t have a functioning vehicle.
(Yes those are nordic skis and poles strapped to the bikes – it worked quite well)
Tag: bikes
So apparently it’s largely uphill along the highway from Canmore to Banff. Only 700 metres gain over 25km or so. Gradual enough to make you think it’s flat, and that you’re just really unfit – until you turn around and go the other way.
Despite the cool temperatures on Thursday (it was around minus 13oC at 11am, I don’t know that it got much warmer), we went Banff-wards by bike – largely to go and see the new Warren Miller movie (Children of Winter, much better than other Warren Miller movies I’ve seen in recent years).
Friday morning brought fresh snow to telemark in, and then the homeward-bound cycle (with the added bonus of a brand new balaclava, which led to much more warmness).
Breaking the fixie out of confinement, I took it for a ride along the river and through the streets of Melbourne. Going back to riding fixed wheel was fun. Though I forgot I have to look out for snakes rather than bears, and at one point clipped the tail of a brown snake who was happily wriggling across the bike path.
Categories
the bike ride
The Surly LHT went out for a test ride today, from town back to the farm – a distance of just 45km which seems much further psychologically, but realistically is fairly similar in length to most other segments of 45 kilometres, and so didn’t take much more than two hours, even with my loaded panniers on and an unpleasant headwind.
In the end I got distracted with the riding and did not take many photos. Well, not only distracted with the riding, I also developed a gripping fear of getting catheads (or caltrops, or whatever you want to call them) stuck in my tyres, so I couldn’t leave the road to prop my bike up anywhere, as anywhere that wasn’t road probably had catheads. Not that the road was free of suspicion either. But the reason I was so anxious not to get a puncture is all due to the war of the wills I’m currently engaged in with my cantilever breaks, which I’m learning to hate with a vengeance. Yes I KNOW they’re simple. So simple that the relatively obvious act of un-doing them so you can get the wheel off, or re-connecting them so you have brakes again, seems almost impossibly for me and invariably ends with me wanting to kick them in frustration, but instead I just glare and beg a passer-by to help me.
So all photos were taken while standing over the bike, or while holding the bike with my spare hand. Combined with a fixed 50mm lens to shoot with, photo opportunities were rather limited.
I rode with both front and rear panniers on for the first time, plus the handlebar bag which is really really handy, and I’m not sure why I as so keen on avoiding getting one previously. Probably the fact they tend to look quite dorky, and my bikes have always been far too fashionable to stand bearing such a thing.
“I’VE HAD IT WITH YOUR ATTEMPTS TO GET THESE MOTHER F**KING BIKES ON THIS MOTHER F**CKING PLANE (without paying the relevant fees which we are levying even though you thought that because you’d bought your tickets from Air New Zealand you would only have to follow their baggage rules)” the Calgary Air Canada employee yelled at us, hurling a stapler at Alex’s head.
He went on to threaten us with overweight fees of $100 per bag for our two bags which were underweight by 500grams, and overweight by 800grams respectively. This was right after we’d killed his puppy, and stolen his favourite lampshade.
Thankfully we managed to make it into the departure lounge section of the airport, after running a gauntlet past other Air Canada employees, who all hurled either abuse, excrement, or particularly vicious glares of disdain at us.
It was almost enough to make us wish we’d gone to Vancouver with Greyhound – even with the evident risks of beheading and spontaneous bus combustion.