King Mountain

Monday - Jul 30 - Biking 77 km

Rode to work on the Mikado so I could do a longer ride on my way home. Stopped at Cliff's place to drop off the keys for House 1, and close off that burden for good. Left work around 17:00 and picked up a staple in my rear tire after a few km. Stopped and fixed this, then continued, crossing the Champlain bridge and then rode up the Gatineau Parkway to the top of King Mountain. I wanted to ride all the way to the lookout, but decided to turn around at King so I could be home before darkness set in. Traffic in the park was dead. I think I will try to ride up here on the weekdays more often. I am also suprised that my legs show no signs of soreness after the past few days of riding. Well, no pain is good news. I will keep on trucking with the training plan. Just over a month left to go.

Metric Century

Friday - Jul 27 - Biking 46 km

Rode to work... another nice sunny day. Rode home, then rode down to house 1 to install a smoke detector on the second floor. Locked it up for the final time. Rode down to Ilona's for a BBQ, some swimming, and some beer drinking with her and Amber. Rode home relatively early.

Saturday - Jul 28 - Biking 115 km

Rode out Cedarview road all the way to Century, through North Gower than out towards Burrits Rapids. Looped around via Malakoff. Was a light drizzle when I started, but the rain got steadily harder as I rode. It was very warm however, so I did not bother with rain gear. I stopped for a snack under some shelter at a church along Century road. Stopped for lunch along Malakoff, and donned my rain gear to escape the Mosquitos. Ate quickly in the rain and then continued. Rode through Richmond and paid a quick visit to Katie and her new baby Justin. The rain stopped while I was here, so I began to dry out as I rode home. Later in the evening I rode down to Irene's pub to see some bands.

Sunday - Jul 29 - Biking 46 km

Rode down to Westboro to get groceries. Rode later out to Canadian tire to look at ladders, then to the India food mart to pick up samosas, then to Home Hardware to get some keys cut. Rode out to my Aunt Hilda's place for a family reunion BBQ, and then home later in the evening.

Weeks Total: Biking 327 km
Year to Date: Biking 5188 km, Hiking 46 km, Paddling 88 km, Skating 129 km, Skiing 187 km

Final House Cleaning

Thursday - Jul 26 - Biking 42 km

Rode to work, rode home. Rode down to House 1 with the trailler to finish the clean up job, and then haul a full load of all the remaining junk out of there.

Sore knee

Tuesday - Jul 25 - Biking 36 km

Rode to work and back. My knee is bugging me when off the bike. It hurts in a different place than it used to though. It feels like a muscle problem rather than a tendon. Regardless, I am going to take tomorrow off the bike and rest.

House reversal.

Monday - Jul 23 - Biking 42 km

Rode to work from house 2. Beautiful sunny day. Rode home, ate dinner, and then biked to house 1 to work on the cleanup effort. Biked home around 22:00 with a very heavy trailler load of tools and other miscellaneous.

Moving

Friday - Jul 20 - Biking 39 km

Rode to work in an absolute downpour. Would probably not have ridden if not for; one, I need the mileage, and two, I needed to run some errands on the way home, and the bus is not too suitable when you need to make various stops. Very few others were riding. I encountered another cyclist at a downed tree over the Watt's creek pathway. Together we shoved it over to clear the road. Thankfully it had stopped raining for the ride home. Stopped at house 2 to pick up a screwdriver bit for my drill driver so I could disassemble my bed. Stopped at the India food mart and Loeb to pick up food to feed the crew for the move tomorrow.

Saturday - Jul 21 - Biking 11 km

Got up early and rode down to John's restaurant for a quick breakfast as all my dishes and cookware were packed in boxes. Rode to house 2, then to Tim Horton's to pick up donuts for the move crew. Rode back to house 2, then walked down to Discount to pick up the moving truck. The rest of the day was spent moving.

Sunday - Jul 22 - Biking 90 km

Got up early to return the truck, then decided, despite being really tired from yesterday, I would go for a long ride. Rode the Specialized around the Gatineau parkway loop in a beautiful sunny day with no wind. Continued through Hull and rode across the Alexandria bridge. I took the bike lane which was a big mistake as this has deteriated to the point of being unridable. Unfortunately, once you commit, there is no way back onto the road until you finish the crossing so I endured the teeth and bone chattering ride until mercifully I reached the other side. Rode out on the Rockcliffe parkway, expecting it to be closed to motor vehicles for Sunday, but unfortunately was not, with traffic being somewhat heavy. At the aviation museum, the parkway was closed to all traffic due to construction, and a sign indicated that Sunday Bikedays are cancelled until mid-August... nice to inform you of the fact at the end. Anyway, was getting tired here so I had a quick granola bar break and watched the planes take off, and then road home... home now being house 2.

Weeks Total: Biking 312 km
Year to Date: Biking 4861 km, Hiking 46 km, Paddling 88 km, Skating 129 km, Skiing 187 km

Rainy afternoon

Thursday - Jul 19 - Biking 39 km

Rode to work. Rode to house 2 in a light to moderate rainfall. After bringing in the recycling bin and collecting mail rode to house 1.

Garbage day.

Wednesday - Jul 18 - Biking 39 km

Rode to work in a beautiful day. Rode to house 2 to put out garbage and collect mail. Rode home to house 1 to pack.

Mentor Seminar

Monday - Jul 16 - Biking 39 km

Rode to work on the first really nice day in a while. i.e. No threatening storm clouds in the sky. Rode home, stopping by the new house to close the windows and remove the masking tape from the basement walls.

Tuesday - Jul 17 - Biking 55 km

Rode to the Brookstreet Hotel for a Mentor Graphics verification seminar. Rode home for a quick supper, then down to re-Cycles for a shift. Rode home.

More basement renovation.

Friday - Jul 13 - Biking 56 km

Bike to work in a downpour. Biked home in much nicer weather, stopping at The Healthiest Home for advice on how to get carpet glue off of a floor safely. They recommended a citrus based solvent. Rode to house 2 with a load of stuff, then to Home Depot to search for citrus based solvent. Found some called "Carpet Adhesive Remover" so bought a gallon. Rode back to house number 2 and spread this out on the floor. Probably should have bought 2 gallons, but managed to get a reasonable amount of the glue off of the floor. After a large clean up, rode back to house 1 around midnight.

Saturday - Jul 14 - Biking 14 km

Rode to house 2 and further prepped the floor by washing with TSP and then lots of water. Rode back home. Rode to Tom's for a housewarming of his new apartment.

Sunday - Jul 15 - Biking 63 km

Rode to house 2 to paint the floor. Hopefully one coat will suffice. As I could no longer access my tools on the other side of the basement, rode home, had lunch, then took the Specialized out for a spin around the Gatineau Parkway. Traffic was fairly heavy, but pretty much an even mix of cars and bicycles.

Weeks Total: Biking 311 km
Year to Date: Biking 4549 km, Hiking 46 km, Paddling 88 km, Skating 129 km, Skiing 187 km

Visit to the BORG

Thursday - Jul 12 - Biking 53 km

Rode to work. Rode home. Rode to new house. Rode to home depot.

Dropped hack saw blade.

Wednesday - July 11 - Biking 43 km

Rode to work. Rode back to house 1 with another big box saved from the dumpster. Rode to house 2 with a load of beer, dishes, bar clamps, and hacksaw. The blades were just tossed into the bottom of the trailler box. At one point I heard the metallic clanking of a blade bouncing down the road. I pulled over and went back to retrieve it. The blades were thin enough to slip underneath the trailler box ends. Rode back to house 1 after a few hours of work.

More house things.

Monday - Jul 9 - Biking 43 km

Rode to work in the morning. Then rode to house number 1. Over to house number 2 after supper to install a phone and perform some experiments in carpet glue removal.

Tuesday - Jul 10 - Biking 39 km

Rode to house number 2 in the morning to meet the gas fitter to remove the connection from the gas fireplace. Then rode to work, then back to house number 1.

House Closed

Friday - Jul 6 - Biking 55 km

Rode to work. Rode to the lawyer office to pick up my keys to the new house, and then over to the house to check out the new digs. Rode home, then down to the Dominion to hang out with Dave. Rode to Ilona's after for a swim, then home way to late.

Saturday - Jul 7 - Biking 16 km

Rode a full trailler load of bottles to the beer store for return. Got $10.20 for it all. Two more full trailler loads of beer and tools were carted over to the new house.

Sunday - Jul 8 - Biking 7 km

Rode a trailler full of close to 100 pounds of books over to the new house.

Weeks Total: Biking 273 km
Year to Date: Biking 4238 km, Hiking 46 km, Paddling 88 km, Skating 129 km, Skiing 187 km

Tiller, Lawyer, and Beer

Thursday - Jul 5 - Biking 54 km

Rode to work carrying back the broken tiller extension, plus the newly manufactured replacement part. This time I had bungee cords so carried the pair in a much safer manner. Left work and biked by the new house to make sure it was still there. It was but I could not see much as there was a huge moving truck parked directly in front obscuring the view. Rode to the lawyers office to sign a million papers and hand over my entire life savings expressed on a single sheet of paper. Rode home, discovering the house pretty much completely emptied... Emily has officially moved out. Felt somewhat depressed. Rode down to the Oak to meet Dave, Rob, Amber, Ilona, and a whole bunch of other people. Drank some beers and felt much better. Then rode home.

Tiller extension

Wednesday - Jul 4 - Biking 37 km

Rode to work. Rode home carrying a broken piece of wood which is the tiller extension for Igor's sailboat. I didn't have any bungy cords with me so just threaded it through the panier webbing. Since this oriented the board cross ways, I had to be careful with side clearance as it stuck out significantly on each side of my bike.

Norco Back on the Road

Tuesday - Jul 3 - Biking 52 km

Rode to work on the newly overhauled Norco. Chain slips a bit in a few of the gears, but that should hopefully break in a few days. On the way home I stopped at the bank to pick up the cheque for my house purchase. Stopped at home briefly for supper than rode to re-Cycles and back later in the evening.

Bike Derailler Explosion

Monday - Jul 2 - Biking 52 km

Went mountain biking with Rob. We rode out to Bruce pit, then across to Bell, then on towards Kanata to loop through to Shirley's Bay. At about the furthest point we could possibly be from home, Rob's rear derailler exploded in a bunch of broken pieces and twisted metal. He transformed his bike into a single speed and then limped off for a few km to catch a bus back. I continued on to Shirley's Bay and slalomed around a bunch of Army cadets running around in the woods.

Canada Day Weekend

Friday - Jun 29 - Biking 55 km

Rode to work again on the Mikado. Got stuck late waiting for the bank to call me so left at 18:00 and had to boot it downtown to meet Sharon for supper at 19:00. Had a wicked tail wind and rode the distance in just over 50 minutes, arriving 10 minutes early! Went for a midnight bike ride along the canal with Sharon.

Saturday - Jun 30 - Biking 34 km

Went riding around with Sharon for most of the day. Down the canal, back to my place, back to her place, down to the glebe to see a show at Irene's, back to her place, and then finally rode home by myself around 02:00.

Sunday - Jul 1 - Biking 66 km

Rode the Specialized clockwise around the Gatineau parkway loop. Rode to Ilona's for Canada day celebration, then to Karina and Jason's for more Canada celebration and house warming.

Weeks Total: Biking 259 km
Year to Date: Biking 3965 km, Hiking 46 km, Paddling 88 km, Skating 129 km, Skiing 187 km