Dialling in the winter gear

Every year, it seems to take a few rides to get used to riding in the cold weather. Not so much the being out in it, but the dressing properly. After a few rides, usually your gear is sorted, and you can adjust up and down, to be fairly spot on with the varying temperatures, all being cold.

This past Saturday, I took an hour and a half, to start to process. It was -23C when I left my house, and from what I remembered, I had my best selection of gear to ride in the cold, be as mobile as possible, and not overheat. For folks who don't ride in extreme cold conditions, it's far easier and more common to over-dress, and over heat than it is to under-dress. Of course once you over heat, and start sweating, then the cold can get dangerous.

With two base layers of good wool, a thin polar-fleece jacket and a wind breaker, my torso was perfect. For the legs, a thing pair of tights worn under my favorite manpris did the job. For my head, I tried something new. A thin balaclava, with my skiing helmet and goggles. Worked great. For it's intended purpose, my ski helmet would offer sufficient protection in a wipe out, and without tons of air vents and a fleece liner with earflaps, it's warm! My hands were another story. They were feeling pretty cold after 1 1/2 hrs outside, but when I stepped into our warm house, freak! I just wanted to cut them off they hurt so bad. Felt like a baby, but it was painful. Just the day before I had a pair of pogies in my hand an opted not to buy them. Now I'm wondering if they might help out.

The fact that I stop and take pictures doesn't help the hands out much either. It was my right hand, the shutter-triggering hand, that felt the coldest while out riding.

I think that once I can figure out something to keep the hands warm and toasty, I should be good to go. Winter cycling is my favorite type of cycling and I'm not sure why. I don't even like cold weather much. But there's something about the quite stillness and isolation that seems to be magnified in the cold of winter. Rides seam more epic, even though I go less distance. Somehow, 6 miles from home feels like exploring some far reaches of an uninhabited land. It's invigorating.
I'm trying to find places that I've ridden by before, but never really noticed. Exploring more deeply my own backyard you could say.
One great revelation of this exploring is the canal system, and the long culverts that are now dry and trekkable. These are really cool to walk through. This one is right under highway #1. Semis, cars and trucks were passing over-head. I couldn't hear them, they didn't know I was there. It made for a great place for a little break. Next time, I'm bringing a small stove with me and I'm going to make a cup of coffee. Micro-touring, and my good man Chris has coined it.
It's so great to get away, slow down, and enjoy what nobody else notices or can even see. Little things can have such a profound effect on life. Even in the cold.

P.S.- As a side; I write affectionately of the cold weather from here, a room overlooking the thirteenth hole of a beautiful golf course in Phoenix Arizona. Maybe the memory of the pain of cold has quickly faded. :)

Cheers.

From Yesterday

From a crazy and fun fashion shoot yesterday.More will be up soon on my photoblog.

Old Man Winter

Monday brought a nice mid morning bike ride with light rain. Tuesday morning brought a dump of snow and windchill temps of -18C.

I guess this is indeed where I live. And, for the next several months, this will be the scene.

Eagle Lake

This morning I got back into the early morning routine again. After a few days in Montana, and then a Joe McNally 2day photography seminar, it was time to get back to work. 4:30am, down to the computer to work on pictures.

This morning all the cylinders were firing at 100% and I was able to bang out a whole lot of my to-do list before most people were even out of bed. As a reward, I gave myself a nice mid morning 10 mile bike ride. Being mid November, and the fact that we have no snow yet, I figured I had better get out there and enjoy the warm weather while it lasts. And by 'while it lasts', I mean today. We have a winter storm warning for tonight. Up to 10cm of snow expected.

I decided to head out on a ride that I hand't done in full for a year or so. Eagle Lake. There is a great little double track gravel path all the way, and, it crosses over the river too. I did a fashion shoot on the other side of the lake this summer, and wanted to kind of figure out the geography of the entire lake. I went as far as the crossing and then turned around. Here are some pictures of the trip.

Rode the bike paths out of town

found this location that might be good for a photo-shoot

the start of the path to eagle lake

all along the trail there are picnic tables. kind of nice

rear fender on for the mud. I was surprised how much of a difference this made

here is where the trail crosses the lake

even 5 miles out with no vehicle access, punks do their thing

I rode about a 1/4 of the way across, just to check it out

a thin layer of ice has started to form

go anywhere do anything friend

On the way back there was a fork in the road, this way dead ended

back on the right path, on the way home

Mid morning rides area always sweet. Somehow it feel like I'm getting away with something.

Cheers.

Xtra recycling

After cleaning the basement, and doing some re-organizing of my creative space (the basement is where I edit photos, blog, and mess around with different studio lighting equipment) I needed to get out for some fresh air.

We had been saving up our corrugated cardboard for a while to take to the local recycling facility. Feeling the need for a little ride in the nice warm weather we're having, might as well do some chores at the same time huh?

The Xtracycle is such and enabler. Prior to having it, I'd most likely have to drive a car to the recycling yard. Now, a large (this time light) load isn't an issue. Having this bike around is so handy, and gets me out on the bike more. I love that about it.

Getting rid of stuff

This past weekend we made some great advances towards de-cluttering our lives. First thing Saturday morning my wife and I headed down to the basement to start going through all of our stuff that was stowed away in boxes.

The very thought of that, stuff sitting in closed boxes bugs me. How long do I leave it in there before I surrender to the fact that indeed, I don't use this stuff. Rarely do I think about most of it, and even rarer still is when I actually use it. For some reason, I've been believing that there was good reason to stick stuff into boxes, stack the boxes is some far off, hard-to-reach corner of the basement, and then leave it. Seriously? What's up with that? Crazy.

We rid old collectibles (anyone have use for an 1852 printing of Noah Webster's work, the dictionary? - still trying to rationalize why I need this incredible book in my basement) old decorations and stuff that meant something to us at one time, but now simply bother me, as I have to move them around to access other junk in the basement.

It all started when we first moved from Strathmore to Rockyford several years ago. Moving will do that to you. Especially when you move to a smaller house. Even while in Rockyford, I was continually chipping away at my collection of worldly possessions. 5 pick-up loads in a year! That's a lot of stuff. That was just the start.

After moving back to Strathmore, we again did some major purging so we wouldn't have to just move stuff and stick it back into hiding, and I would say that compared to most (always a terrible measuring device - other people) we don't have that much junk we don't use. But to me, still too much. We had two food dehydrators. We've only ever had one going at a time. Why have two?

Since making the switch to a mac computer, I thought I should keep my PC desktop and laptop just incase I need them for some obscure business software I couldn't live without. A year now and the need for such software hasn't arisen. After I remove the personal information, I'll have two decent computers in need of a good home. Even on my mac, I'm becoming ruthless at keeping the desktop clean. I'll try out new programs, but if I don't use them actively, I uninstall. All my image files I'm working on are stored in multiple hard drives (took about a year to figure a fast, secure means of processing my digital work) and it keeps my computer free and clean. When I need to find something on it, there is no scrolling through useless or misplaced electronic information. I know where stuff is, and I can access it very fast when I need to. All that is a result of conscious sifting, and removing.

Whether it be electronic data, or cheap junk at walmart, we seem to be so given to consumerism. The idea seems to spread that just because we can have something, we should. Widget this, doodad that. All these things that we don't need, but since we can "afford" them (and I quote un-quote afford, because if you aren't paying cash, you probably can't "afford" it), and they were offered to us, we should indeed purchase them, take them home, and then stick them in boxes in our basement, or store it in a folder on our computers.

I've been calling it minimalism as of late, but it's more than that. While I do love the minimalist aesthetic, and the ideals, it also has a lot to do with attitude. Contentment. Being happy with what you have, and not want want want more. I used to think of contentment as settling. After fighting it out with junk in my basement, I now view contentment as a superior train of thought, and one that I now seek out with passion.

I'm trying to work my way to 100 personal items. Not sure I'll ever get there, but that is the goal. Not just for the sake of making a particular goal, but rather simply because the more stuff I'm getting rid of, the clearer my mind is, the less time I waste organizing junk, and the more liberated I feel.

To have less to worry about and fret over is a good thing isn't it? Then own less and ride a bike. See?!