American Nations

I started to follow Tyler Cowen’s Marginal Revolutions blog last year in my effort to understand modern economics.  Professor Cowen mentioned American Nations as a part explanation for support for the candidacy of Donald Trump among disenfranchised American working class and middle class voters in the 2016 American elections.

I found a copy in the Oak Bay Branch of Greater Victoria Public Library.  It was catalogued as children’s nonfiction.  If it is a children’s book, the children in Oak Bay must be precocious.  BC is the province which evolved its brand from the Supernatural tourism slogan to the current Best Place theme.  Garrison Keilor said in his NPR broadcasts and books. “Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average”.  This book must have been acquired to help Oak Bay teens complete school papers – a short codicil to other histories of the United States.

The full title is American nations : a history of the eleven rival regional cultures of North America. Colin Woodard is a serious journalist and writer of explanatory nonfiction. American Nations presents a usefully condensed view of American history, tracking the European settlement of different parts of North America by distinctive groups. It tracks and cites a body of ideas that reframes the themes of striving and triumph in American history as taught in civics classes and in popular writing.

 

Continue reading ‘American Nations’ »

2016 Rides

This was 2016:

2016

DateWhoBikeKmTrip
1355.12016 Year to date
16-09-18FX58.3Downtown, Lochside to Royal Oak, Beaver & Elk Lake trail, Oldfield/Seabrook to East Saanich Road into Saanichton, Wallace and Amity and across the Pat Bay; Lochside Trail and back from there by the Trail. Mixed Cloud, mainly sunny but a few scattered showers; Windy
16-09-11FX56.9Downtown. Goose to Interurban, Interurban Route to Lochside, Lochside back to downtown. Sunny after 10 AM, moderate breeze, 18 degrees C.
16-09-05FX53.7Downtown, Lochside to Royal Oak, Beaver & Elk Lake trail, Oldfield/Seabrook to East Saanich Road, Mount Newton X-Road to Lochside Trail and back from there by the Trail. Cloudy, cool, a few spritzes of rain.
16-08-210Camping, Salmon Arm
16-08-07FX42.9Blue Bridge, E & N to Goose, Goose to Swing Bridge, Lochside to Cordova Bay (Matticks). Overcast, a couiple of short misty showers.
16-08-07KA0Check old Cat Eye Velo 2; replace battery and reset to zero
16-07-31FX57.6Blue Bridge, Goose to Atkins, E & N to Jacklin to Jenkins to Glen Lake Road to Happy Valley Road to Metchosin Road to Old Island Highway to Juan de Fuca Rec Center; E & N & through downtown. Cloudy at first, then sunny with brisk winds.
16-07-240Camping in Duncan
16-07-17FX60.4Blue Bridge, E & N to Jacklin, Jacklin to Goose, Goose to Lombard. Sunny. some cloud. Light Wind
16-07-160Replace battery in Cat Eye. Reset
16-07-10FX79.2Estimated distance. Reset odometer after glitch during first 10 K. Johnson Street Bridge, E & N to Goose, Goose to Interurban, Interurban to Lochside Through Sidney to Resthaven Park; back by Lochside. Cloudy at first. Mixed sun and cloud. Moderate breeze - headwind and quartering adverse on return. Ouchy in my own driveway on arriving home.
16-07-03FX54.9Sunny and windy. Lochside to Lochside Park, Dooley to Martindale, Lochside to Island View (Michell's Farm); Lochside to downtown, Fort to Vancouver, Richardson & McNeill to Windsor Park; McNeill, Richardson & Cook to Dallas.
16-06-26FX72.2Goose to Interurban; Interurban Route to Lochside; Through Sidney to Resthaven Park; back by Lochside. Sunny and hot.
16-06-19FX67.2Lochside to Royal Oak; Royal Oak to Park; BeaveLake to W. Saanich, back to Park; Lakeside trail to Oldfield; Oldfield-Seabrook-E. Saanich Rd-Wallace-Pat NBay Overpass. Back to Lochside; Tulista Park (Sidney). Then home. Mixed sun and cloud, windy.
16-06-16FX26.3Lochside, across Royal Oak, past McMinn Park.
16-06-12FX71.2Lochside to Royal Oak; Royal Oak to West Saanich Road. West Saanich to Wallace. Held up at two points for cycling leg of Victoria Triathalon (See Route). Wallace to Lochside (near Cy Hampson). Sidney, back by Lochside. Held up by street festival on Harbour Road. Mainly cloudy, around 16-18 C. Windy.
16-06-07FX31.2Lochside to Cordova Bay (Mattick's).
16-06-05FX65.8Lochside to Royal Oak; Royal Oak to Park; Lakeside trail to Oldfield; Oldfield-Seabrook-E. Saanich Rd-Mt. Newton X Rd. (First time on Oldfield for years). Back to Lochside; Tulista Park (Sidney) and return by trail. Hot. Traffic hold ups where the road was closed for Russ Hayes races around the legislative grounds (See: Race Web site).
16-05-31FX32.1E & N to Admirals Way, back to Tyee. Lochside trail to Royal Oak. Clear warm day. Windy. Short sleeves day
16-05-29FX65.4E & N, Atkins to Jacklin, E & N and Goose to Swing Bridge, Lochside to Royal Oak, Royal Oak to Elk Lake. Around Lake, return by Lochside.
16-05-24FX23.1New ride. E & N to Highway 1. Sunny evening after a cloudy day.
16-05-22FX60.7Goose to Rocky Point Rd. , Lombard; Metchosin. Sunny, with clouds. Windy
16-05-17FX24.3Lochside to Royal Oak. Windy, cool. The counter was at >2,400 at 7:20 pm.
16-05-15FX41.9Lochside to Island View (Michell's). Cloudy, cool. Counter at 885 at 2:45 PM.
16-05-10FX31.1Lochside to Cordova Bay (Mattick's). Counter was 2600 + at 7:20.
16-05-08FX53.9Lochside to Cy Hampson, North Saanich. It started cloudy and changed to sunny and windy. Wind from the south - i.e. headwind on the return leg. The counter was at 650 at 1:40.
16-05-05FX24.4Lochside to Royal Oak. The counter was at 2,220 at 6:30 pm.
16-04-30FX45.8Goose to Luxton Fairground
16-04-25FX24.6Lochside to Royal Oak, at cycle commuter rush hour. The counter at the end of Harbour Road was at 1400 for the day when I was outbound, over 2000 on the return.
16-04-23FX41.7Lochside to Island View (Michell's)
16-04-20FX24.2Lochside to Royal Oak. Starting at 6 is too late - sun at low angle. Insects at eye level. I need new sunglasses that can adjust to low light.
16-04-17FX31.4Lochside to Cordova Bay (Mattick's)
16-04-10FX32.7Lochside to Lochside Park (Mattick's +)
16-04-03FXRe-calibrate Cat Eye. No ride. I had to get to the airport to fly to Abbotsford (and drive to Chilliwack) (work).

Camping 2016

Last year, I had noticed that the adhesive seam tape used by the manufacture to seal the seams of my tent’s fly was degrading and flaking off. I resealed the seams with a product that smells like plastic model cement and sticks to skin like crazy glue.

I have used a Therm-a-Rest “Original” or Classic mattress since the 1980’s. For front country camping I have also used it with a second mattress a closed cell pad – an old blue Airolite by “World Famous” sold by United Army Surplus in Winnipeg.  Like a yoga mat but thicker. This kind of mattress is still on market.  I tried a Therm-a-Rest RidgeRest (the model that MEC was carrying last year), and found it to be thin and uncomfortable – an slippery to that I was sliding downhill when my tent was pitched on uneven ground.

The inflatable air mattress is back with products including Therm-a-Rest’s BaseCampAF and NeoAir Camper and others, Eureka, Big Agnes and house brands.  An electric pump that runs off automobile current is good for front country camping (a battery powered electric is an option for backcountry but that gadget may not be worth its weight requirements). Inflating a mattress to the point that it is bouncy is not necessary.  A mattress should be firm enough to keep objects under the tent from being noticeable, but soft enough to settle in. So, a new mattress was in order.

I have a Primus Omnifuel, a pressurize burner stove that burns white gas (“coleman” fuel) and special mixed gases  in pressure cans.  It is light, but needs to be managed carefully.  The Wikipedia on portable stoves goes into the history of the gadget.  The original Primus was a burner attached to fuel source.  In the US, Coleman made stove like that too. The military version was the G.I. Pocket Stove.  It was a standard design, before MSR and others introduced pressured burner stoves with the fuel bottle separate from the burner. There are modern pressurized cartridge stoves made up of a burner that screws directly on the pressurized cannister.

The standard camp stove for front country camping was the two burner Coleman that used white gas.  There are still several white gas lanterns and stoves on the market.  The 1 pound stubby Coleman propane cylinder has become common as a power source for lanterns and stoves by Coleman and others.  The cylinders are two heavy for back packing but can be used if there is space and a way of transporting them – such as a car for front country camping.  The small cylinders are not refillable and should not thrown into garbage or left laying around. I find that they are not stable.  I had a Coleman product made up of base ring to held a propane cylinder, and a burner that screwed directly on the propane cylinder.    The gas cylinders have a dimpled metal base and plastic rings glued to the dimples.  Shoving that into the stove base does not create a safe connection.  The cylinder would not line up, or the glue bond would fail. Putting a pot or kettle on a heavy metal burner on top of the cylinder puts the center of mass high.  And the burner had no wind screen. I decided to get a two burner – flat, stable, with a lid that tips up and create a wind screen.

The Holy or the Broken

Malcolm Gladwell recorded a podcast about creativity, contrasting artists who revise and refine with artists who appear to produce their work whole.  It was Episode 7 in his Revisionist History series, published July 27, 2016. He illustrated his big idea with references to Elvis Costello’s revisions to The Deportee’s Club and the development of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah by Cohen, by John Cale, by Jeff Buckley before it became a pop standard and a secular hymn.

Gladwell mentioned the fact that the song was an obscure song from 1984 until 2001, and the variations introduced by Cale and Buckley, but passed over the uses of the Buckley cover on MTV and in television, the use of the Cale cover in the movie Shrek, the Rufus Wainright cover (for the Shrek soundtrack recording), the k.d. Lang cover and her 2010 Winter Olympic Concert, and the singing contest show television performances on The Voice and X Factor. The information is on Wikipedia in the entry Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen song).

Gladwell cites his sources on the Episode Web page, usually including books available from one of his sponsors.

One of his sources was Alan Light’s 2012 book The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah”, which is also the a principal source for the Wikipedia entry. As the title implies, Light explores the tension between the religious exclamation and the biblical allusions, and the vivid, graphic memories of love experienced in sex acts.  Light comes close to saying that Cohen followed the Quebecois pattern of using the name of sacred objects as  obscenities.

Addendum: if you can get through the paywall, David Remnick’s October 2016 biographical article in the New Yorker on Cohen at 82 is worthwhile

Islands Folk Festival, 2016

I camped at the Islands Folk Festival in Duncan BC. It was my first visit to this festival.

The festival is held at Providence Farm, a former convent of the Sisters of St. Ann, once a boarding school, now an organic farm. It accomodates a crowd of a about 2,000 (sometimes vaguely stated as a few thousand) comfortably. Site Map. There is trailer camping in the “Upper Field”, and tent camping on a treed hill – no parking spots or access roads.  There are a few wheelbarrows available for tent campers to move gear from the vehicle-accessible areas into the camp.  The tent area has shade and some shelter from the wind.

The main stage concert on Friday July 22 was opened by Matthew and Jill Barber, who performed songs from their new album.  They have a few original songs, but the album’s theme is songs that they have known and admired.  They did a cover of Ian Tyson’s Summer Wages, introduced with a story about summer jobs planting trees.  They shifted the emphasis away from the possessive angst of “… never leave your woman alone when your friends are out to steal her” to the reflective:

“… The dreams of the seasons are all spilled down on the floor”

“So I’ll work on them towboats in my slippery city shoes
Which I swore I would never do again
Through the grey fogbound straits where the cedars stand waiting
I’ll be far off and gone like summer wages”

They covered The Song of the French Partisan, citing Leonard Cohen as their main influence, joining Cohen, Buffy St. Marie and other artists.  Ironically, Joan Baez, already an apostle of non-violent resistance, covered this song of armed resistance in her 1972 album Come From the Shadows. They also cover Neil Young’s Comes a Time, referring to the time their parents lived in Winnipeg.

Oysterband played a double slot – nearly two hours.  They performed, as they do in other concert performances, songs from a vast repertoire, written and polished in a 4o year career.  I don’t miss a chance to see them when they come to BC. They have change their performing company.  John Jones, Alan Prosser and Ian Telfer are still performing.  Veterans Lee Partis and Ray Cooper (Chopper) left in 2007 and 2012 respectively.

I was impressed by the arrangements and ensemble work of Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project, at their concert in the daytime Spirit Stage venue. The busy and versatile Moira Smiley was with Jayme Stone and the project for this festival.

2015 Rides

This is was 2015 in a table, using the TablePress Plugin.

DateBikeKmAlt.Trip
102.0Early in the year, walks, not logged
2015-03-0710.2Beaver & Elk Lake
2015-03-148.6Clover Point, Cook Street Village
2015-04-1110.2Beaver & Elk Lake
2015-04-1810.2Beaver & Elk Lake
2015-04-19Y24.9Lochside to Royal Oak
2015-05-0210.2Beaver & Elk Lake
2015-05-03Y30.5Lochside to Cordova Bay Rd (Mattick's Farm)
2015-05-0910.2Beaver & Elk Lake
2015-05-10Y40.9Central Saanichstan - Lochside to Island View (Michell's Farm)
2015-05-168.1Ramble downtown
2015-05-18Y52.9North Saanichstan - Lochside to Cy Hampson Park
2015-05-2310.2Beaver & Elk Lake
2015-05-24Y56.0North Saanichstan - Lochside to Cy Hampson Park, side trip to Hunt Valley
2015-06-07Y42.3Central Saanichstan - Lochside to Island View (Michell's Farm), with slight detours
2015-06-133.9Short Beaver & Elk Lake
2015-06-14Y41.1Central Saanichstan - Lochside to Island View (Michell's Farm)
2015-06-206.0Downtown walkabout
2015-06-21Y53.9North Saanichstan - Lochside to Cy Hampson Park
2015-06-28Y31.5Lochside to Cordova Bay Rd (Mattick's Farm)
2015-07-01Y60.0North Saanichstan, Lochside to Tulista Park, Sidney
2015-07-05Y31.5Lochside to Cordova Bay Rd (Mattick's Farm)
2015-07-09FX8.5Trek Store to Home and, short tuning
2015-07-11FX41.3Central Saanichstan - Lochside to Island View (Michell's Farm)
2015-07-12FX31.5Lochside to Cordova Bay Rd (Mattick's Farm)
2015-07-19No ride Vancouver Festival
2015-08-02FX41.6Central Saanichstan - Lochside to Island View (Michell's Farm)
2015-08-03FX36.6Dallas, Richmond to Oak Bay, Beach, Arbutus to Shelbourne; back by Lochside
2015-08-09FX52.0North Saanichstan - Lochside to Cy Hampson Park
2015-08-16Salmon Arm, no ride
2015-08-23Weather, no ride
2015-08-26No ride rain
2015-08-30Weather, ill, no ride
2015-09-05FX31.9Lochside to Cordova Bay Rd (Mattick's Farm)
2015-09-07FX43.6Central Saanichstan - Lochside to Saanich Historical Artifacts museum - past Island View (Michell's Farm)
2015-09-13FX59.7North Saanichstan, Lochside to Tulista Park, Sidney
2015-09-27FX31.5Lochside to Cordova Bay Rd (Mattick's Farm)
2015-10-04FX41.8Central Saanichstan - Lochside to Island View (Michell's Farm)
2015-10-11
885.5189.8

2014 Log

2014

DatePartyBikeKmAlt.Trip
14-01-0410.2Elk & Beaver. Cloud.
14-01-11Rain
14-01-1810.2Elk & Beaver. Mist, Cloud.
14-01-2510.2Elk & Beaver. Fog
14-02-0110.2Elk & Beaver
14-02-0810.2Elk & Beaver. Cold. Ice on Lakes
14-02-1510.2
14-02-220Rain
14-03-0810.2Lake high, bridge and path se of bridge under water
14-03-1510.2
14-03-2210.2
14-03-2910.2
14-04-0510.2
14-04-1210.2Sunny, clear, many fishers on shore and in boats
14-04-1910.2
14-04-2610.2
14-05-0310.2
14-05-1010.2
14-05-11Y34.6 Quadra to Bay, across the Gorge again by Selkirk Trestle, Galloping Goose to Old Island, back by Goose, Admirals, Gorge, Selkirk, Tyee, Blue Bridge.
14-05-11Reboot. Replaced battery in Cat Eye. Messed up reseting wheel diameter. Elastic in old (2003?) Sugoi shorts gone, so need to shop.
14-05-12Y17.7Dallas, Beach, Foul Bay, McNeil to Oak Bay Marina. Doubtful about new MEC brand shorts - but being back in the saddle is a change.
14-05-18Y31.9Goose, Lochside Trail to Cordova Bay Road.
14-05-24Y37.7Goose Trail, to Veterans' Parkway. Sat AM. Busy on trail and roads. Many road crossings required stops. Road rash - skinned knee. First aid question: put a bandage on an oozing scrape?
14-05-3110.2The usual
14-06-07Y34.7Dallas, Beach, Gordon Head, Arbutus, Grandview, Tyndal, Feltham. Came out on Shelburne - mistake. Sat AM traffic to the malls was heavy. Back by way of Cedar Hill Road, Quadra, Beacon Hill Park. The sun brought out the dandelions, a day of yardwork followed.
14-06-08Y40.1Dallas, Beach, Gordon Head, Arbutus, Grandview, Tyndal, Kenmore, Shelburne through Mt. Douglas, Royal Oak to Lochside, out to Cordova Bay Road, back by trails.
14-07-05*34Wellington Crescent, Assiniboine Park, Assiniboine Forest, Harte Trail, Moray Bridge, Woodhaven, Sturgeon Road, path along Sharpe & Silver, St. Matthews. * Mike, Me
14-07-06*35.8Wolseley, Assiniboine, Juba Way, Scotia, Settlers' Bridge, Gateway, Louise, downtown, Westminster, Wolseley. * Mike, me
14-07-1210.2The usual
14-07-2610.2
14-08-0110.2
14-08-03Y33.1Dallas, Fairfield, Foul Bay, Cordova Bay, U Vic, Gordon Head. Back by Cedar Hill and Quadra.
14-08-0910.2
14-08-10Y41.6Goose, Lochside Trail to Ocean View (Michell's Farm)
14-08-1610.2
14-08-17Y41.7Goose, Lochside Trail to Ocean View (Michell's Farm)
14-08-2310.2
14-08-24Y43.9Goose, Lochside Trail to Ocean View (Michell's Farm), side on return to Market on Yates
14-08-3010.2
14-09-0610.2The usual
14-09-1310.2The usual
14-09-2010.2The usual
14-09-2710.2
14-10-0410.2
14-10-110Rain
14-10-1810.2
14-10-250Rain
14-11-0110.2The usual
14-11-0810.2
14-11-2210.1
14-11-290
14-12-0610.2
201-03-0110.2
Totals426.8356.9

4 Years of IT, WordPress

I made some IT changes in the past few years.  I bought a used HP desktop in 2011 – a 64 bit machine-  and put Windows 8 Developer edition (free at the time) on it.  I have stayed with Windows 8 – using the desktop interface. I have an iPad – a gift when I was sick.  But I tried to I stay out of the Apple universe except for iTunes and an iPod to play podcasts and music.

I tried out different browsers and by last year had gone back to Firefox – I was on the Nightly releases for 64 bit machines – which seemed to work fine.  I never liked or understood MS Internet Explorer.  I started to use Chrome when I moved to an Android smart (or is it a super) phone last summer. I chose to submit to Google rather than Apple or MS. Privacy is hard.

At work, we have had an IT “refresh” last week (finally) and moved to Windows 7 Enterprise for workstation OS and MS Office 2010 for tools. Goodbye to Vista.  MS had a good idea – an OS with security, but a slow and difficult program. MS is still selling desktop Office to enterprise buyers, but it is pushing the cloud-based licensing model for the “365” product for consumer buyers. Eventually we will all be tenant-serfs in someone’s better IT world.

I had kept up with Movable Type updates, but MT stopped providing updates to old purchasers (and a shrinking user and support community) so I made the switch to WordPress.

The Movable Type editor has 2 screensto compose entries as a body and an extended entry.  The MT export and the WP import put the 2 part entries into single entries.  “Pages” and tags did not convert. Links to photos and other “assets” in entries may point to addresses in my old MT static directory, but they work. Good enough.

2013 Log

2013 (no rides)

DateBikeKmAlt.Trip
13-12-2510.4Elk & Beaver. AM. Light cloud. Some added distance trying to get angle to get photos of birds. GPS was showing the intervals from post to post along the posted trail correctly.
13-12-2110.1Elk & Beaver. AM. Cloud, mist & drizzle. The GPS seemed to add distance at the south end of the lake at the beginning and end of the walk, reasonable intervals. Final distance computed as 10.6, which is not right
13-12-14No walk, in transit from Halifax, all day
13-12-07Flying to Toronto
13-11-3010.1Elk & Beaver. Drizzle, rain. GPS reading after walk from parking lot was 140 m; this seems high. Final GPS distance 10.5, which is high.
13-11-2310.1Elk Beaver. GPS final reading 10.6. (AAWAS on !?)
13-11-1610.1Elk & Beaver. GPS added .5 before I started moving, GPS read almost 10.5 total.
13-11-1110.1Elk & Beaver. GPS added .1 in the first .5 at the south end, and .2 in the last .2 km at the southwest end of the lake. GPS read almost 10.4 total.
13-11-0910.4Elk & Beaver. Reloaded GPS was defaulted to Garmin normal, read 10.9 which is high, even with an extra trip from the parking lot to the lake.
13-11-0310.1Elk & Beaver. Sunny, cool. GPS seemed ok at south east, lost distance on the north and west trails, which are closer to the hills around the lake. Final reading just under 9.9. Went home, downloaded Garmin updates.
13-10-2610.1Elk & Beaver, GPS seemed to lose some distance in the first few km on the south and east. GPS distance recorded 9.9.
13-10-1910.1Elk & Beaver. Sunny, GPS measured 9.6
13-10-1310.1Elk & Beaver
13-09-2110.1Elk & Beaver, misty GPS measured 9.7
13-09-1410.1Elk & Beaver, misty GPS measured 9.8
13-09-0710.1Elk & Beaver, misty GPS measured 9.9
13-08-3110.1Elk & Beaver; distance 10.2? ; MA = 5.5
13-08-2410.1Elk & Beaver; distance 9.9? ; MA = 5.7
13-08-1710.3Elk & Beaver MA = 6.0
13-08-10Edmonton FMF
13-08-0310.1Elk & Beaver. No GPS
13-07-2710.1Elk & Beaver. No GPS
13-07-2010.1Elk & Beaver
13-07-1310.1Elk & Beaver
13-07-0610.1Elk & Beaver. GPS 10.3? A couple of side moves.
13-06-2910.1Elk & Beaver. GPS 10.0? Did not wait to start after resetting.
13-06-2210.1Elk & Beaver. Used WAAS/EGNOS setting on GPS instead of Garmin Normal. Reading 10.1.
13-06-1510.1Elk & Beaver, GPS distance 10.0
13-06-0810.1Elk & Beaver, GPS distance 9.8
13-06-0110.1Elk & Beaver. Cloudy. GPS normal again
13-05-2510.1Elk & Beaver
13-05-247.9Witty's Lagoon
13-05-1110.1Elk & Beaver. GPS distance 9.9?
13-04-2810.1Elk & Beaver. GPS distance 10.1
13-04-1410.1Elk & Beaver
13-03-2910.1Elk & Beaver. GPS calculated 10.2
13-03-234.6West, Broadway, Kitsilano to St. James Hall
13-03-1610.1Elk & Beaver. Water high - flooded path near outlet bridge. GPS again understating distance.
13-02-2310.1Elk & Beaver
13-02-1610.1Elk & Beaver
13-02-0910.1Elk & Beaver
13-02-0210.1Elk & Beaver. Lakes still high. Bridge closed but paths not flooded. GPS reporting 10.1, normal again. MA 5.8
13-01-1910.1Elk & Beaver. Cloudy. Temp. 0. GPS calculated 9.67 k.
13-01-1210.1Elk & Beaver. Temp. 0. GPS calculated 9.6 k. Water high enough to flood the bridge at the outlet into the Colquitz River.
13-01-0110.1Elk & Beaver. Cloud.

2012 Log

DateBikeKmAlt.Trip
12-01-01VCKC New Year' Day Paddle. Voyageur. Craigflower River.
12-01-0610.1Elk & Beaver. Cloud, light rain.
12-02-0410.1Elk & Beaver
12-04-0610.1Elk & Beaver. Sunny - around 10 degrees. Moving average 5.6.
12-04-07Last year I started to ride in March a few weeks after going home, within weeks after my stroke. On the first ride in March, I had a moment of instability at the Saanich Road crossing on the Lochside related to disengaging the clips to stop for traffic. It was momentary and did not deter me from riding. In early May I perceived some dizziness while walking - carrying something heavy.I became concerned that I was not managing my balance and that low blood pressure due to medications was affecting my balance. I spent time walking until I was sure I could maintain pace over distance. I started driving and got used to velocity and traffic. I have goals to get back on the bike this year.
12-04-07Dragon Boat - open practice
12-04-08Y33.9Goose-Lochside to Lochside Park (fastball fields and soccer pitches beside the Cordova Bay Golf club near the Matttick's farm mall). Cloudy. Wind from the north and east. Detour at the end of the Johnson Street Bridge for the construction site of the new bridge.
12-04-10Dragon Boat Team, first practice
12-04-12Dragon Boat Team practice - rain and cold.
12-04-1410.1Elk & Beaver.Moving average 5.6. Today the GPS calculated 10.1 km distance as did last summer. It has shown 9.9 though the winter.
12-04-22Y39.6Downtown to the Sussex, then on the Goose-Lochside to Michell's farm at Ocean View. AM. Sunny, light cloud. Congested. Skaters, dogwalkers, family groups with little ones wobbling about. Preoccuped/focussed soccer parents filling the lot at the pitches out at the golf course. The distance is not precise. I put a new battery in the odometer, which reset it to miles and reset the wheel circumference. I had to reconstruct/estimate the distance, taking the downtown side trips and the bridge detour into account.
12-04-22Dragon Boat - open practice
12-05-06Y63.5Goose-Lochside to Sidney. Sunny. Sunday AM and early PM. Detours downtown at the start due to the Navy parade for the Battle of the Atlantic. Side trip down Hunt|Welch and Martindale.
12-05-13Y65.6Goose to Sooke, past Rocky Point Road, past the Free Range Chicken signs. Sunny, warm.
12-05-19Y53.1Sunny, clouds in the distance. Coastal route to Mt Douglas, Royal Oak, across to Beaver Lake, on the trail by the lakes, the shoulder of the Pat Bay Highway and Elk Lake Rd back to Royal Oak, then on the trails - Lochside and Goose - back in.
12-05-26The rides are going well. The rides on the dedicated trails involve passing between posts every time the trail crosses a road or transitions between sections shared with cars and the dedicated sections. I have always seen the posts but, with a few exceptions never consciously tried to aim for a particular line or path. This year - it must be a post stroke "deficit" - I am edgy about the line but working through the nerves.
12-05-26Dragon Boat: GRPC Gorge Sprints
12-05-27Y54.4Sunny, turning to cloud around noon. Strong south wind. Coastal type of trip to Mt Douglas then by Royal Oak to Lochside and out to the Saanich museum, and back.
12-06-03KA29.6Cloudy with a threat of rain. Around 15 degrees C. Windy. Out to U Vic and Gordon Head by Cordova Bay Road, back by Cedar Hill and Cook. Some hills. The bike is set up nicely but SPD pedals are not meant for stop and go in traffic.
12-07-07Dragon Boat: Nanaimo Festival
12-07-2810.1Elk & Beaver. MA 5.5
12-08-0410.1Elk & Beaver. MA 5.5
12-08-0610.2Elk & Beaver. MA 5.6
12-08-1110.1Elk & Beaver, MA 5.6
12-08-18Dragon Boat: Victoria Festival
12-08-2510.1Elk & Beaver, MA 5.7
12-09-0110.1Elk & Beaver. The GPS calculated 9.9 for what I know is a 10k + route. This happens some days.
12-09-0810.3Elk & Beaver MA 5.5. GPS Normal.
12-09-1510.3Elk & Beaver MA 5.6
12-09-2210.2Elk Beaver MA 5.9
12-09-2910.1Elk & Beaver MA 5.8
12-10-075.3Winnipeg: Sunstone Coffee to Teresa's House
12-10-2010.1Elk & Beaver. GPS calculated 9.8
12-10-270Rain
12-10-2810.1Elk & Beaver Cloudy, but not raining. Rowers out on Elk Lake
12-11-0410.1Elk & Beaver; First day of standard time. GPS calculated 8.9
12-11-1110.1Elk & Beaver; Cool,cloudy, some drizzle. GPS calculated 9.8
12-11-1710.3Elk & Beaver; Cool,cloudy, some drizzle.
12-11-2410.1Elk &Beaver
12-12-0810.1Elk & Beaver cloud. GPS calculated 9.8. MA 5.7
12-12-2110.1Elk & Beaver. Cloud. MA 5.8. GPS=9.9
12-12-30Y12.5Around Elk & Beaver. Started at Hamsterly Beach (north end of Elk), wet muddy trails to south end, Elk Lake Road and shoulder of 17 north to start.
12-12-3010.1Elk & Beaver. Cloud. GPS= 9.8?
352.2238.4