Tuesday 19 September 2017

Seven for Seven



Last week was a perfect 5 commutes on the bike.  This week I'm up to two already, though I got a bit wet on the way home.

If the weather holds I'm aiming for three weeks with the car parked!






Wednesday 13 September 2017

A Glorious Morning


The ride to work -
fifteen minutes of
morning mist, 
warming sun, 
cool air,
filling my lungs
before the day begins.





Sunday 10 September 2017

Triumph Triples and Vulcan Bombers: Singing British Induction

I took a 360 video of our ride down the Forks of the Credit today.  

The video bit came out OK, but what was interesting was how well the microphone picked up the 955cc Triumph triple cylinder engine.  

Since it was out of the wind you get a front row seat to the mighty motor and its strange sonorous ways:


I've heard induction roar on a bike before, the Concours made a big whoosh, but the Tiger almost sings as it breaths.  It must be a British engineering thing.  Vulcan bombers used to howl when their air induction reached a certain point as well:



Why just make it work when you can make it sing?

Saturday 9 September 2017

Haliburton Highlands Fall Colours

With the weather beginning to turn we're in for a Canadian treat:  Fall Colours.  I think I'm going to aim for a couple of days out Haliburton way in October for a last big ride and a chance to soak up the colours.

Last time up that way I did Highway 60 through Algonquin Park.  This time I'm going to stitch together another route that is as different as possible.



Algonquin does a colour report that I'll keep an eye on and see if we can time a couple of days up that way when the colours are peaking.  Discover Muskoka does one too.  Last year we went up to the Kawarthas for Thanksgiving (early October in Canada): 







...and it was right before the colours changed.  Only the somac was in full colour.  I'll see if I can time it a bit better this time around at sync it up with a big last ride before the snows come.

Autumn on the Canadian Shield is a beautiful thing.

Wednesday 6 September 2017

Waiting for it to Heat Up

It was a 6° morning, so I waited for an hour or so until the sun warmed it up to double digits.  The goal was to enjoy some curves on the last weekend before it's back to work.


I pushed north to Grand Valley and got a quick coffee at Brewed Awakenings before pushing on up past Shelburne and onto River Road out of Horning's Mills.  Finally, here were the twisty roads I'd been looking for.  South Western Ontario is a patchwork of tediously straight roads.  The exception is the Niagara Escarpment and this is one of the closest pieces of it.

Playing with vanishing point electrical lines













South out of Terra Nova Public House after a quick (and fantastic) bowl of hand made fish soup, I pushed south down the spine of the escarpment into Mono Cliffs and Hockley Valley.

By this point it was early afternoon and a warm, 22° late summer day.  Leaving the escarpment I pushed back across the barren desert of straight roads.