Camping by Beaver Pond

In the morning, the beaver pond was thinly frozen. Yet, a family of ducks was cruising along.

In the evening the day before, Leo and I watched a resident beaver swimming far side of the pond. It was too dark to take a video.
This is the tent I bought in May, 1974, just before ACC trip to the Long Beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Jane Smith led the trip. I wonder where she is.

Wow, it's dark. It was really dark in the forest, though all the trees were bare without leaves. In

this forest there were hardly any evergreens.

Picnic Table by Beaver Pond, Colony Farm

To Vernon

The last time when I flew to Vernon may be 3, 4 years ago. Jack flew his C-172 with bigger engine of O-360, 180 hp. Bruce worked as a co-pilot. I was a rear seat passenger.

The main purpose of the trip was for Jack to check out a wrecked C-180.

The pieces of the airplane were piled up at the corner of the airport. They didn't give me any appetite to rebuild.

A couple of months later, I was surprised to find the whole things in his shop. He was over 80 years old, still had a mental energy to challenge. I was really impressed.

Unfortunately he passed away before the project became complete.

This time I flew myself. Around Harrison Lake the cloud cover appeared, and by Hope I was on top. I had to climb to 9,5oo' to clear the clouds. As always, anxieties occupied me; was the Interiors clear or not. At least I had plenty of fuel even to come back if the destination weather was not favourable. It turned out clouds disappeared all of a sudden and I was greeted with sunny weather.

Minnekhada High Knoll Stroll

Trail in the park

Partington Creek

Only a few salmon swimming. Most are dead.

From High Knoll, towards Pitt River

From High Knoll; Old Farms

Fall

Remembrance Day, Windy Day

Video from Sperling Overpass

Spawning Salmon At Stony Creek

Salmon spawning at Stony Creek.

Happiness Is.....

Happiness is to ride a bike.
Most of pending works on NWT were done, like 7 speed cassette change, and its shifter cable renewed with end to end outer. The result is awesome. A light touch on shifter lever does the job; it's heavenly.
Now, Nishiki MTB given to me is converted from knobby to narrow rims with Tioga's City Slickers. The shifter is changed to 8 sp. to match the cog set which came with the hub. Its cable routing was also done end to end outer. Shifting is even better than NWT. Even though it's the heaviest bike among assortments at 16 kg, climbing capability is something to watch. Today with a pair of Ortliebes, it went up Lakes Bike path from Lougheed to Sperling rather easily!
It was after picnic lunch at my favourite Still's Mouth.

Tofino; Ride and Fly

Click Here: Video; MapMyRide aerial view
Actual flight was on Sep. 20/11.
It's boring to watch the whole thing; the beginning, middle at Tofino and landing at Pitt Meadows are enough.

Turezure......

Is the summer gone?

The autumn may be here already. It arrives with rain in this northern country.

I've learned the existence of "dhammapada" today. I've reserved a copy with BPL.

Latest Steed

It came with 26X1.9 knobby tires. Yet, it was surprising fast, no comparison with Vision which had narrow tire, front and back.
I was riding since around May. Leo was a good company with Nishiki ride.
Then recently the storage in the basement was broken in. Much of my stuff was pulled out into corridors. Obviously I had to put them back in. In the process, I found City Slicker of Tioga and rims with good hub. There used to be two City Slickers, but one of them had been installed onto Vision. I replemished one missing City Slicker from MEC yesterday.
I was installing the tire to the rear rim, and noticed one spoke and rim tape were missing. So, I decided to go to a LBS and went to bed. In my drowsing mode, I thought I might have a tape and spoke. Sure enough, in the morning I found them in the bike parts box. The tape was for 700, and had to be shortened with my stapler method.
The test ride was to Lin Chinese Cuisine Restaurant, which I saw the closed door yesterday after 20km ride. Apparently they only closed on Tuesday.
Following a gentleman's idea I met at Taiwan Noodles last week, I ordered shau long pou. It was good and economical at $4.50 as the gentleman's partner told me.
On the return, I stopped at the newly located Steveston Marine and bought Canada West Topo SD. The return trip was done with this data. I didn't see any short come from City Map.
From Kitsulano, the next destination was set to McGill BPL where I copied Fathead MTB route. That copy excited me so much that I ended up buying BC Mag at the Cole, Lougheed Mall.
BTW, Nishiki now has a rear rack I found with the help of burglar. My next overnight trip will be done with this bike.
It's also funny the rear can be 9 or 8 cogs, of course useable gears are limited. Currently I'm running with Jun's old 8 cogs with the original 7 speed shifter! On the same token, I rode Vision's 9 speed cogs yesterday!!

Switching Blog Sites

As of August 2011 I changed the providers from Shaw to Telus. This included TV and telephone.

So, 'amane@shaw.net' died, so did 'shu@oshika.com', as I didn't link the new current address to it.

The thought behind was it would be a good opportunity to get rid of spams I kept receiving, and also that timely cut loose of a few rotten relations.

Why I Ride a Bicycle

I don't know about you.

But, to me life here in this world is a long and tortuous chore.

I know it eventually ends, yet on daily bases it seems unending; no sight of the final exit.

Often I wonder why there aren't many crazy people realizing the similar state of affairs.

Me?

The bicycle is a happiness machine. It keeps me sane.

The car? It's the opposite. I think it makes people mad. Richard Ballantine called the highway is a sanctioned mad house.