Not much FUN in my Quest for fun!

Not much FUN in my Quest for Fun!
Sunday was our yearly dog club race. A large turnout this year with the milder temperatures. My dogs like the colder temperatures to run so we were not as fast as we normally. But we were fast enough for second place. It was me who really slowed down the the team at one spot. I had a shoe lace come undone and I lost a shoe. I had to stop the dogs and go back and retrieve my shoe and retie it. We had a dinner afterwards in a town called Oakbank where we gave out awards. I got a special award for my shoe that I  lost.  The dogs had to stay in the vehicles while us humans ate. The award came with a bag of dog treats and some sample food for the dogs. Some out of town people left early because of the heavy snow that was starting.

Bigger snowbanks to deal with.

          Monday we woke up to more snow ( 10 cm) and lots of wind. Not very good conditions for travel. We will have bigger snowbanks to deal with this extra snow and winds. A friend of mine took this great couple of pictures that shows how bad it can get is the more open areas. Luckily Monday was a holiday for us so it was a good day to do some clean up duties around the shop.

Getting ready for some clean-up.

Our award for our race.

 I had another video link sent to me. It's about Lindsay Gauld who I talked about in a previous Blog. It shows me in my Quest. Listen to the sounds when they first met me in the video.  It was shot by another winter cyclist who rode the whole distance that morning with him to the celebration.
The rest of the week I spent driving to work as I finally got a cold that everyone else around me had. No riding the Quest this week.  The female Husky was nice to me and let me use her couch this week. Rest, work, and more rest this week. No Fun in the Quest!!!

SLOW DOWN!

SLOW DOWN!

That’s the lesson I learned this week. It was almost a painful one. The weather warmed up early in the week. The high temperature was -2 on Monday and Tuesday. The high temperatures softened the snow and made for messy roads. I had to go to the center of Winnipeg for an evening meeting on Tuesday. It was on the trip home that it happened. I had the SH_T scared out of me.  My legs were feeling great. I think my legs have started to become Velomobile legs. I was really picking up speed when it happened. I hit a patch of soft, mushy snow. In a fraction of a second it threw the Quest left across the street towards the only parked car on the whole street. I pulled on the brakes hard. I was going too fast. At the last second I managed to steer into the snow bank instead of the parked car. The Quest went part way up the snow bank before it stopped. I was lucky there were no cars coming towards me. I climbed out and checked the Quest. No damage except my pride.

          The problem was caused by speed. I was going too fast for the road conditions. I was going too fast for my headlight. I didn’t see the soft snow.  When I uploaded the Garmin when I got home I could see on the map my little detour. I was doing 49.9 kph when I lost control of the Quest. I am going to ride a little safer for the next while.

Hybrid Bike?

         

Friday was the Winter Bike to Work Day. It’s a day that we try to encourage cyclists to try winter cycling. Several “pit stops” were set up along commuting route to the downtown. Free hot coffee was given out, and Donuts. Of course I start work too early to get a free coffee. But for those who did ride the free coffee was welcomed. The morning temperature was    -20C.  I was warm in my Quest with the Tour Cap.  In the afternoon there was a group ride from the University of Winnipeg in the down town to the Forks. Part of the route was on the Assiboine River.  I met the group on the river and rode with them to the forks of the two rivers.

 

Some of the winter cyclists arriving along the river trail.

After the ride the winter cyclists had a chance to cook some hot dogs over a wood fire and some warming spirits to drink.

 Along the trail are some warming shelters that have been designed and built as part of a contest. Function appears not to be a requirement. I took a few pictures of some of them. I think I got my picture taken quite a few times and got asked lots of questions about the Quest. I took it easy on the way home in the dark this time...

A shelter along the trail.

Sunday we go to a dog sled race, but that's for next weeks Blog...

And another weird shelter.

And still another shelter.

More Winter Fun with My Quest!

More Winter Fun with My Quest!

Winnipeg Winter Cyclists Gathering.

Part of the group gathering to ride.

Last Saturday was a special day for winter cyclists in Winnipeg. It warmed up to about -24 C.  A couple hundred of us gathered near the center of the city. We gathered near the forks of two rivers that meet there. The special day was to celebrate a local cyclist Linsay Gauld. The occasion was to celebrate his One Millionth  KM.  We met him a few km west of the forks and rode with him leading the group. I rode on the ice trail but most cyclists with the fat bike tires rode on the snow with him. We had a ceremony to celebrate his One Millionth km. and presented him with a plaque. He started riding and recording his mileage back in 1965.  In 1972 he was part of the Canadian Olympic Cycling Team. He was owner of Olympic Cycle up to his retirement a few years ago. Since he sold the bike shop, he worked part time as a bike courier and continues to race. The link to a video shows us riding with him on the river and interviews him for television. Lindsay is 64 years old.

              After-wards I had coffee near by with some of the recumbent riders. We then went for a ride on the 10 km of ice trails that run from one river to the other. It was lots of fun riding along around the surprised skaters. The bell came in very handy.  More coffee and some hot food followed before the trip home.

I took the Quest to work Monday and it warmed up some more. I received an email  from Ray at Blue Velo about a possible defective part on my Quest XS. I left at home and Took it apart Tuesday night to find out I have the bad part on mine. It's a bracket for the rear swing arm. I sent off the pictures of it to Ray at Blue Velo and the new part is now on order. I put it back together and got to take it to work on Friday. It's much warmer now but we got more snow while I had the Quest apart. (5 cm. only) Next week we have our Winter Bike to Work Day on Friday. Something else to report on then...

Defective rear swing arm bracket.

The Up and Down Week.

THE UP and DOWN Week!

Sunday started off with a high temperature of -15C.  A perfect temperature for the dog sled race. We took the truck and dogs to a small village about 150 km north of us. My oldest female dog has not been interested in pulling   the sled lately and lets the younger dogs do all the work. We raced without her this time and went faster. The class was a 3 dog class and we got second with just 2 dogs. Our first win!

The eager start.

2nd place.

Monday warmed up to -10C and made the salt on the streets start to work. I came home with a dirty Quest. I spent more time that day cleaning than riding. Tuesday I had to do overtime at work so I drove the truck.

Wednesday I had to pick up a parcel at the post office. A box that left the Netherlands last Wednesday arrived this Wednesday. It was large and very light. "Da Hood" was in. And just in time too.

"Da Hood"

I was very impressed with Sinner Bikes. Their service was fast and the emails were promptly answered.
The Tour Cap was well finished and fit the Quest perfect. The next morning (Thursday) when I went to work, it got a good test. The wind came strongly from the north. The temperature dropped a lot. A frostbite warning was issued. That means your skin will freeze in less than 10 minutes. I was nice and warm in my Quest with the tour cap on.

 

Frostbite in 10 Minutes or less!

Friday morning temperature

Friday the cold temperatures were back. I took out the video camera and mounted it on the quest. I took a ride around my local area but the battery didn't last very long in the cold. The picture got very cloudy in a short time. 
 So here it is my first video. I hope it works. For my readers in the Netherlands you can see what snowbanks we have. It's hare for cars to see me when I enter the roads. Until next week Have Fun...

The Coldest Week of the Year (So Far.)

The Coldest Week of the Year (So Far.)

The week started off really cold. As far as records go this week of January is always the coldest week of the year on average. This is how my morning ride started. I dressed for it and used goggles instead of my glasses and I was warm. Half way to work I switched from summer gloves to mitts. The return trip was a "warm" -24 when I rode home. I got a call from a friend who told me my picture of my Quest was used on the national Weather Network that afternoon. That was the picture I used in last weeks blog. So I sat down and watched weather for an hour because they always repeat for a couple of hours and got to see my Quest on TV. The weather reporter thought it was a good picture to show the cold weather we have been having, It shows a snow drift in the background, and the blowing snow. My caption used was "Lots of room at the bike rack." She thought that was funny.

Tuesday's Temperature was better :)

       
  The rest of the week stayed cold until Thursday when it started to warm up and snow. The forecast was for 5 to 10 cm. of snow so I took the truck Thursday. Even if had not snowed I would not have rode as the icy roads were getting very rough. The best way to describe the roads would be to compare it to cobblestones on a road that had every 5th one missing. I hope with the warmer weather they will get the roads cleaner so I can ride again next week.

Our bad roads just before the snow came again.

Leaving for work in the Morning

The picture on the left shows how traffic has worn the ice down to the pavement except in the curb lane where I have to ride. Very rough!!!The ice berms that are left are very hard and make for a difficult ride when you have three wheels. I took the picture from inside my work van.

 

As seen on the Weather Network

 I got an email from Sinner Bikes that my Tour Cap has been shipped. With this cold weather I could really use it.This winter will be a good test for it. I can't hardly wait until it gets here.

For My Readers in the Netherlands

For my readers in the Netherlands:
      It seems like most of the blogs I read are written in the Netherlands. Very good blogs. This week most of them wrote about their winter. Here in my part of Canada it seems that is all I can write about. Because our winter lasts longer and gets colder we have learned to adapt. As Matthijs Leegwater wrote in one of his blogs as far as I could translate, the cold could freeze pipes and make much work. In our part of Canada our pipes are well protected from freezing. Of course we spend more money on heating our homes and buildings. So this week I want to talk about how we prepare for winter driving. When it starts to freeze in early October we prepare the wife's car for winter. The tires get changed to winter tires. These tires are a special rubber and tread that grip the ice and snow better. They stop the car in a much shorter distance.

Winter tire for wife.

Snow Brush

Battery jumper cables

We also put a shovel and a snow brush in her car. Now please comment if I'm wrong but I don't think snow brushes are that common in the Netherlands. Here every car has at least one in the winter. One end is used to brush the snow off the car and the other end has a plastic scraper on it. On most mornings you would use the scraper to scrape the frost or ice off your glass. Very important if the car is not in a garage. We also carry a set of battery jumper cables in case of a dead battery in the cold winter weather. Batteries loose much of their strength in the cold so sometimes they can be good to have. 

 

 

Lots of room at the bike rack today.

Of course I have all this in my old truck. Now that I have the Quest, my old truck does not get used very often. My old truck gets parked outside all the time. If I need to use it I plug it in. All our cars and trucks have an electric heater to heat the motor's coolant up. It makes for better starting when it's cold out. The Quest and the wife's car stay warm in the garage.  And the Quest needs no snow brush or battery jumper cables.  The only problem I have so far with winter riding is the high snow banks. The snow banks are so high, cars have a hard time to see the Quest. I have to be very careful entering a street. I am having fun riding the Quest, but Monday's forecast is for -35C low temperatures so that might be a test for me as well as the Quest.  Maybe I need a Tour Cap...

Blizzard = Bad Weather for Riding My Quest Velomobiel!

Snowed in Bike path.

The week started out good and went down hill from there. I had got a new video camera for a Christmas gift and had planned to shoot some video this week on the way home from work.
          Monday was busy at work and I had to work late. It was too dark to shoot video.
         Tuesday morning brought fresh snow and lots of wind. The weather forecast was 2 to 4 cm. more snow and a strong wind. I took my old truck instead of the Quest.
          Wednesday was clear skies and windy. I didn't get far though the snow drifts and had to turn back.
           Thursday was really mild and windy, but no snow clearing yet! I stopped on the way home with my truck and took a picture of the bike path.
There was only one bike track and he was pushing it.

Friday's forcast.

       And Friday's commute I canceled as the forecast  was for our first Blizzard of the year. In the city the conditions were still passable and it wasn't until the evening that the wind really picked up and the roads started to drift over. Friday was a good night to stay in and catch up on my blog reading.
      
This Saturday morning the wind calmed down and we woke up to 20 cm of fresh snow that was drifted all over my driveway and street. As far as Blizzards go this one was short and not that much snow. Out came my snow blower and snow shovels. One drift was too high for my big snow blower so I had brake it down with a shovel first. After a bit of work I could get my truck out if I had to. (no work, it's Saturday)  But if the roads ever get snowed over I have alternate transportation. There will be some cold clear weather after this blizzard next week. By Tuesday they should have the bike paths cleared I hope and I can get out with the Quest. I did take the Quest out of the shop just to take a picture or two in the driveway.

My alternate transportation.

Picture of drift in driveway after Blizzard.