Bike bums...

Yesterday was Selena's last class of her summer course (though she still has a final paper to write). I needed to go downtown on an errand. I've been  hearing that there is a Buritto Boyz, a favourite of mine from Toronto, in Hamilton. My knee has seems pretty much back to normal. I've long wanted to check out more of the Hamilton waterfront trail. I've been harassing Selena now-and-again that she should ride her bike to the University -- it's faster than the bus! -- but she has declined for all sorts of crazy reasons: snow, rain, sweat, heavy bags, the mountain, and silly trivia like that. So, why not take this last chance of the year to combine all these things! I started plotting... a route. Here it is....

McMaster - Downtown - Waterfront - Mountain at EveryTrail

We biked first to the University. We left a bit later than expected due to last minute misplacing of things that needed to be found. Selena's class started at 11. We left at 10:15. It takes the bus almost exactly 1 hour to get from here to the University (including one transfer downtown), so she'd have been late if we took the bus. We arrived and, a bit to our surprise because we did not ride very fast, found we still had 10 minutes to spare -- it had only taken about 35 minutes.

Admittedly there was sweat. But anyhow, Selena had time to cool of a bit. I got to finally see her office desk a the University, after all this time. In fact I got to sit at it for 3 hours and do my own thing there while she went to class. (I'd brought my laptop; I had stuff to do.)

After class we headed downtown. We mess up the planned route a bit, somehow mistaking Main St for King St and getting a little confused. But it all worked out. Unfortunately the GPS signal got lost on the errand, and I didn't notice until we were waiting for our order at Burrito Boyz -- hence the straight line across downtown on the map to when the GPS regained its fix.

And finally, with burritos: to the waterfront! We had a pretty relaxing lunch sitting in a secluded spot by the lake. Alas, the Hamilton Buritto Boyz (at least this time) does not match up to the venerable Toronto (Adelaide St) shop; this is to say the burritos were okay, but not spectacular as every single one of the Toronto ones I've had over the years has been. But that's okay! It made for a good picnic anyhow.

After a while, we kept on around the waterfront, discovering (as suspected) you can go under the highway on the trail over to Cootes Paradise. From there it's basically a straight line back to the mountain. The Chedoke stairs are "bike-friendly". They have a groved ramp along side the steps which you can push your bike up, so you don't haver to carry it. So, 289 steps later -- with a few breaks on landings along the way -- we were in the home stretch.

In closing, I have asked Selena what she would like to say about her bum. She says, "HURTS!" That is all. But she did it. 30 km is a pretty good distance for not having biked much for quite a while. It's a pretty long distance for most people, period. But we need to continue to build up the bum stamina for the summer! And we will. Oh, we will....

And when we got back, we found this little fellow had bloomed in the front garden... to welcome us home.

A Bit of a Bike

Here's a map/profile of my bike ride yesterday. It was getting rather late in the day by the time I was able to get started. I expected it to be dark by the time I got home, but amazingly thanks to the extra long summer days, and pushing and my not-entirely-in-shape-self (to say the least), and my load being a bit lighter (lack of backpack), there was still a sliver of sun above the horizon when I got to the top of the mountain... which was glorious.

Toronto to Hamilton Lakeshore at EveryTrail


Here's my original ride, the other way, some weeks ago. That map is reasonably accurate, but that profile is all messed up due to my GPS tracker not being on the whole time, and so I had to fix up the map manually. It was my first attempt, and took me about 6 hours. The return trip above, was 5 hours. (I wasn't in Toronto all of this time, I had left my bike there and just went to pick it up and ride back this weekend.)

Here was my dinner break/knee rest... there is a little beach to the left, that appears to be made up 100% of zebra muscle shells.... which are also scattered all over, as seen beneath by bike...

Emeth loses a couple of wiggly wheels

Due to the lovely weather, and the sudden whim of Istra, the kids' bikes went back into commission this week. The kids have been riding (in coats, boots, and mits) to and from school most days this week. After school today, I offered to raise Emeth's seat for him, as it looks like his legs are getting a bit cramped on his little red machine -- surprisingly he agreed. (He often resists.) We took the tools over to the park, so he could test out the changes. After raising the seat, I also tightened up the training wheel that had been wobbling loose for quite a while.

Em has been adamantly opposed to the idea of riding with two wheels every time it's been mentioned to him. He admires Istra on two wheels, but insists he wants to keep his training wheels forever. I keep mentioning it to him in various ways, to get him increasingly used to the idea. He's told me a few times he will maybe try two wheels when he is five. That's getting closer, but is still three months away. Anyhow, while fiddling with the training wheels, I again suggested I could take the training wheels off for him to try out two wheels if he wants to. To my surprised he said: "Okay." I was surprised! He then quickly added, "But I may to put them back on." Okay! I assured him that we'd put them back on any time he wanted to.

But to my further surprise....



So, the training wheels are off for good, now. Hurray! After a half hour of buzzing around, he was even able to start himself without a down slope. He is super excited to be riding two wheels now. He just suggested, as I am typing this, that maybe he should go out and practice some more. (But, alas, he's going to have to wait until tomorrow, it being completely dark out...)

At long last, we're all two wheeler's here now. A landmark day for this cycling family.

(And Emeth's really going to need a bit bigger bike by summertime.)