Some recent rides

Last weekend I got out for a great ride with Brent.
We met in Lanark for breakfast, and then headed out with no particular destination.
Did the Calabogie run.
Through Burnstown.
Stopped at the little park on the Madawaska.

I love that river.

We took back roads towards Pembroke, and stopped at the Snake River.

It was swampy and quiet.
Lots of fish, frogs, birds etc.
Again...it smelled amazing...fresh and natural.

We bypassed Pembroke, and followed the river to Arnprior.
Stopped at a boat launch that seemed nice.

And from there...home!

Some tunes to break up the monotomy..

And now...this past week!

There were lots of nice days this week.
I rode to work 4 of 5 days.
Went out for little spins every night.

I left work at 1 on Friday, went out to Brent's and we went on a ride.
Up to Sharbot lake.
Along Hwy. 38 to the Wesport road.

Stopped along Wolf Lake.

It is a really curvy, fun road to ride on.

From Westport, we went to Perth, and then Brent went his way, and I headed to A&W in Carleton Place, and then home.

All in all, a great week of riding.
Just over 1000 km of sun and road.


al

Great ride on Friday, and the weekend.

I took a vacation day on Friday and hooked up with Brent.
It was perfect weather-wise.

Cool in the morning and then sunny and warm...not hot!... in the afternoon.

We met in Lanark for breakfast and headed up to Madoc on Hwy. 7.

Turned up 62 towards Brancroft, and then turned west and rode through Ormsby, Coe Hill and then to Apsley at Hwy 28.

North on 28 to Bancroft where  we gassed up, and then had lunch at a little park beside a river.

Right next to us was a large patch of poison ivy...

From Bancroft we rode to Combermere.
Of course we stopped at the the little waterfall park.

We met a nice guy out for a ride on his Victory motorcycle..

Nice bike!

From Combermere we went to Barry's Bay, and home through Wilno, Golden Lake, Douglas and Renfrew.

Was a 600 KM. day.
It felt great.

Saturday I did a few small rides around town.
If you have to go to the store...may as well go by bike!
It was sunny and hot all day.

Sunday we did a family day at the beach on the Long Sault Parkway.
Sunny and really hot.
It was easily 15 degrees cooler by the water.

We got there early, and staked out a large piece of prime real estate....grassy,  under a big tree for shade, picnic table...right in front of the beach.

We swam, BBQ'd...I only burned 2 fingers...

I took a nap that apparently involved loud snoring.
(I am not sure I believe the snoring part...could be a conspiracy on my family's part to wreck my self- esteem.)

In any event, it was a really nice day, and a great summer weekend.

Imagine...no rain and sun.


al

Important part of our heritage re-discovered!

I am of course referring to the "Hinterland Who's Who" videos from the 60's.

Remember this one ?

or this one ?

Ok...not really the last one.... this might not be an actual Hinterland video.

The point of this whole thing , is that it was thought that all of the old originals had been lost, until they found the original black and white "loon" one.

Remember these between Saturday morning cartoons?

My father always did a great impression of "The Mallard Duck..."

It never got "old."
Always good for a laugh.

I think he would have liked the crack spider.


al

Some small rides

Between shitty weather and life interfering, I have not been on any large, magnificent rides.

I did get out to Galetta to check out the new asphalt.
There is a huge chunk freshly paved from old 17 to past Fitzroy.

The road is like glass.
Nice riding.
I almost thought I was riding in the States... definately not Ottawa.

A representation of city of several Ottawa roads...

Kind of looks like Carling avenue....

and now.... the expected and much sought after.... musical interlude.

Really good riding music from Blackberry Smoke.
Some music just lends itself to riding,  better than others do.


we now return to your programming in progress...

I stopped at the little falls at the hydro facility in Galetta.

Just a nice spot.

Last night I rode out to Roger Stevens, and came back Dwyer Hill and Richmond.
It was sweltering in the city, but there were sections of forest area where it was so cool, I could have used a jacket. Refreshing !

And the smells.. there is a definite smell to "green".
The fields, the forests, the bogs....
Pity there is no such thing as a "smell a gram", so I could share the experience.

And tonight I did my front wheel bearings.
YAY !!!
It went pretty well with the exception of the 2 screws holding the axle on.
Spent 2 minutes trying to get them out, then hammered in a screw extractor and bob's your uncle....they were out.
Quick trip to Ottawa Fastener to get quality replacements...non Harley stainless.

Rides like a new bike!

If Friday is sunny, I am going to take the day off and ride.
My fingers are crossed!


al

haven't been posting much.... an explanation .... plus more.

 I have not been posting very much.
a couple of reasons....

I didn't want to post about something I have already done or posted about.
Considering that newer readers of the blog have no idea what rides I have blogged about in the past, it occured to me last night what a stupid idea that was.
I will return to regular updates.
Perhaps even some politically incorrect rants........

The 2nd reason is that since the Ohio trip, it has rained almost every time I have had free time for a big ride.
And not just rain...like torrential fricken downpours.
I have got out for some spins...but nothing worthy until this past weekend.

And now some pre-rant/tirade tunes.

More Blackberry Smoke.
Can't hear enough of this stuff.

Getting back to business :


I do not like to think of myself as a wimp but....
I cannot seem to wake up, look outside and see it pouring and say...
 "Fuck, ya! ....gonna be an epic ride!!"
I just can't.
So I say.......

I hate rain.

There.
I said it.
It is out in the open.

I hate it more than I hate ingrown hairs, hemorrhoids or ugly babies.
That my friends, is hate.


God-damned rain screwing up people's holidays...ruining weekends...getting people's nads wet when they ride, makin' the grass grow thus necessitating grass cutting..
Enough already.

It's July now.
Enough with April showers.
Bring on sunny .
A drought would be very cool right about now.

just sayin.

al

Back to normal and a ride.

Well, it has been a couple of weeks since Ohio, and I am back into routine.
I hadn't done any large rides since Ohio...just a few hours here and there.

The last little while there has been a lot of rain.
Rain and thunderstorms.
Just shitty.

That is exactly how I feel when I look outside and it is raining..


My back tire was nearly bald, so I ordered a tire and tube through J&P cycles in the US.
Even with delivery and duty, I still saved a 100 bucks.
And it took less than a week from ordering to show up on my front step.
Gotta love that !

Got it put on at Black's Corners Tires.
Still a great place, and they are busy as hell. Business is taking off for sure.
They noticed that one of my rear bearings was feeling kind of rough.

No big deal...I ordered in some bearings from Dream Cycle and started Friday afternoon.
4 hours later I still didn't have the old ones out.
New bearing removal tool I bought?
About as useful as balls on a nun.

Saturday am I took the wheel out to Brent's.
We ended smashing one out with a chisel, and knocking the other through, but there was one race left in.
I cut it out with a dremel.

The good news?
The new ones went in great.
I made my own bearing press with threaded rod, large stainless washers and nuts.
I used the old bearing as a protector.

Sunday I got out for a ride with Brent.
We went up to Sharbot lake, and turned off at Wagerville.
Tamworth to Tweed.

We stopped at a bunch of random small lakes and swampy areas.

From Tweed we crossed 17 and rode Flinton road to 41.

Stayed on till Renfrew, and then Burnstown, White Lake, Waba, Pakenham, Almonte and home.
Weather was beautiful...it did not rain, and it was just slightly cool, which our bikes like ...being air cooled.

Nothing major, but a respectable ride, all the same.



al