Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Just a walk to the library and bank

Sometimes it's hard to walk along the same streets and take different photos. :)

Sometimes, not as much.

Light Play


Light Play 2


Black people


Patterns 1


Patterns 2


Patterns 3


Patterns 4


Bjorn

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Playland

It had probably been a decade (or more) since I'd been there, but since we had a company event and entry was free, Michelle and I went to check it out.

Love the old wooden coaster (no photos though, too busy having fun :) ).

But on the swings I had a better chance to take a few photos.

The small swing:

I wouldn't normally go on that, but it was fun.

We said "we're not doing that" when we saw "Atmosphere" (at least I think that's what it's called), but soon enough, we were in the line-up.

That's _really_ high up there... hmmm

We kept seeing Adil walking around while we were either on rides or in line for rides. So I thought I'd get a photo.


Soon we were on the ride and man, it was wayyyy up there:


So much fun though!


It felt like flying. We were way up there!


In the end, it was loats of fun


I didn't get too many photos on other rides, too busy having fun (or holding on!)

:)

Bjorn

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Dualsporting north of Squamish

Bill and I got out for the first time this year. The weather was cool and it was supposed to rain "less than a millimetre".

I had to test some new bags and settings. Right at the start of the ride, my shock preload adjuster broke, with it set to max. Not ideal, the bike would be too stiff, but what are you going to do. Also I didn't have the correct connector for the gopro video camera, so that stayed in the bag. Video next time.

Instead of heading into the Elaho valley we took Squamish river.

The Squamish River stretch is much smaller and less travelled than the Elaho.


And there is still a lot of water coming down everywhere (with the washouts to go along with it)

Beautiful


Bill had been in there and said that we could get up to the clouds. Though the "road" got a bit narrow. After almost breaking off a mirror (twice) I said "enough". Here is Bill ahead of me on the way back down...

Yeah, I know, I couldn't see him either. It was just a touch tight.

We did find another way up, and man it was worth it!

On the other side of that mountain is Pemberton


The happy riders

Aside: The moisture on my visor is not from rain by the way. That's from the branches hitting me in the helmet on the way out just before :D


We kept taking off-shoots to see if we could get higher. This road looked very promising until we saw the washout. But then again, the water was only 2 or 3 feet deep, with some sections looking shallower and rideable.


I went across first, got a bit wet, but kept moving. Bill was ready to assist and helped me get the bike positioned for the second bit of water.

Here is Bill setting up for the second bit of water I looked on. He didn't need any help :)


If you look carefully you'll see my track, to the right was the safest (i.e. shallowest) place to cross.

Unfortunately, shortly after the road was blocked by a very large tree and we got to do the water crossing again.

Then the rain started and we were in for a wet ride all the way back. One milimetre turned into many. It was a fun ride back and we didn't really need to back off. Just kept a nice steady pace and after the 80 km trip back found some lunch.

It was a great day dualsporting and I can't wait to do it again soon. My new waterproof luggage did great and is ready for the long road trip in August :D

Hope you had a great weekend as well.

Bjorn

P.S.: We attracted some odd people at lunch. Here is one exchange Bill had:

Some guy: Great bikes. So that KTM, how big is the motor?
Bill: 620
(note that is says so with big numbers on the side)
Some guy: So who makes that KTM.
Bill: Umm, KTM?!
Some guy: Oh, so they make them?
(I just shook my head :D )

Saturday, July 14, 2012

New West Pier park

From last weekend. I missed the opening, but it turned out very nice.

Predictable


On the way in


Bridges


Riverside


Watching the train


Barge at sunset


On the way out


I have a few more images that may make it into another post :)

Bjorn

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Howe Sound

After a bit of '2-up' off-roading on a hazy Sunday afternoon.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Monday, July 2, 2012

Some days it's wet

What cha gunna do?





Thanks to Michelle for being the spotter once again :)

Bjorn

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Canada Day 2012

My day started quite slow (maybe one too many beer with Jerry the night before ;) ).

But in the end I decided that I would try to ride to Granville Island on the roadbike to hook up with Pete.

They had bike valet all set-up so I didn't need to bring a lock (thanks to Pete for letting me know). Love bike valet!

Granville Island on Canada day is a very busy place.



Pete didn't really believe he'd see me there, so he was a touch surprised (though that doesn't really account for his face ;) )

Monica, Travis and J-Phu are the other folks... and a bit of my nose.

We ran into Horace and Felicia as well, just by accident(the photo didn't really turn out, so I won't post it :) ). Thousands of people, and there they were just walking towards us.

This girl was quite a character and she demonstrated how she makes custom t-shirts by spinning them and spraying colours at them.


It was 4.30 in the afternoon and people were still streaming into Granville Island. Crazy


Pete and I decided to get tattoos


The girls didn't think they wanted that on their face, so they got their hands done. Bad-ass-fist-pump-C-Day-photo


Well, we know who wears the dress and who wears the pants, don't we?!


I had a go as well ... regal, no? ;)



On the way home, we stopped at Pete, Mon & Trav's community garden. Here is Travis pointing out where Michelle can come to get some spinach next time she's at Felicia's


Such a nice way to spend an afternoon!

Then it was time for me to ride back to New Westminster. 20 km, mostly uphill and a headwind the entire way (of course). Did I mention I had one too many beer yesterday? I could have taken the skytrain or bus (I had a faresaver with me) but I thought "screw it, tough it out". So I did.

Great day, great people and in the end even great weather.

Happy Canada Day!

Bjorn

Downtown

Last weekend I got a ride downtown with Michelle (bought some new headphones, but that's another story) and walked around for a while to take some photos.

I hadn't been in Vancouver to do a photowalk for a while, it was fun but also very muggy. Which I didn't like :)

Robson street was closed at the art gallery and they had a jazz band playing.

Robson photographer


Scotia-theater patterns


Old and new


Pixelated


Art?


Art!


Happy Canada Day!

Bjorn