Welcome to my blog

If you enjoy finding a lot of different outlets for your creativity, then we may just be kindred spirits.
This blog is an outlet for my interest in miniatures, crochet, plastic canvas, and many other various arts and crafts.

I also love walking, taking digital photos, and most recently, have rediscovered an old love...bike riding! I purchased an amazing new bike, a comfy Townie by Electra this summer, and have been having a grand time exploring the area as though for the first time. It's like being a kid again!

If you enjoy any of these things too, pour a cup of coffee and tea, sit down, and join me.


Take care!
Kat

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Belated Bike Ride 23 (I forgot to blog about rides 23-26).

Hello,
It's a cold winter night in December and I just finished blogging about my Dad letting me order a new exercise bike for Christmas, when I realized I forgot to blog my last 4 bike rides.

So, here's the first missing ride, number 23, lol, aka, the bike ride from HELL, lol.


New back panniers
 The bike ride from hell started easily enough, in my yard, as I added my new panniers from Ebay.  I loved that they had two water bottle holders built right in, so I could carry three bottles with me.  It wasn't cold out but I put an extra sweater in the pannier, a book, and some bike tools.  What I SHOULD have added was mosquito repellent, and a lot of it...
 My asthma wasn't great that day and I had to walk up the first hill, pushing my bike ahead of me. I sat on that rock to catch my breath.


 The sun was already starting to get low so I decided I would only try a bit of the trail.  I haven't been on this section of the hub trail before and was eager to try it, but should have waited for a cooler day, and a day when my asthma wasn't so bad.
 This part of the hub trail goes through Fort Creek Conservation area, and its' a pretty area, with lots of walking trails besides the paved trail.  Lots of people take their dogs here.  I used to walk here a lot when I was younger, on my way to high school when I went to Bawating in 12th grade.  It wasn't really a short cut but it was prettier than taking the road.

 I crossed over the creek and onto the trail.

 There were steps leading up, which of course I didn't take, with my bike.  I stayed on the paved trail.


 The bridge was lovely but rickety; fun to ride over!

 There were a few people walking their dogs along the trail, and the leaves were starting to turn colors.

 There was another big hill (not pictured) that I had to push my bike up.  I had to stop to catch my breath and was SWARMED by mosquitoes, hundreds of mosquitoes. Maybe thousands.  I rode for another few kilometers and came to another, steeper hill.  I couldn't do it.  As soon as I stopped to push, the mosquitoes swarmed me.  I was wearing a light green shirt and couldn't see green when I looked down; only writhing insects.  It was horrible, so I looked for a way off the trail.

 I saw this open area and decided to follow it.  You can't tell from the photo but it was a pretty steep downward slope. I had to walk the bike because the ground part way down was loose gravel and I was skidding everywhere and almost fell.  So the mosquitoes got to feast again.
 When I finally got to the street, I had a choice; turn left or right.  I chose left.  Bad move.

 Turning left took me down a lovely street with pretty houses on one side, and trees on the other.  It was beautiful but I was exhausted, itchy, tired, and not breathing well.  I just wanted to get home.
 The sun was setting and it was cooling off a bit, thankfully, but I was still so exhausted I was considering knocking on someone's door and asking if I could use their phone to call my Dad to pick me up.  I really need to get a cell phone.
 I pressed on without begging for help, and came to the end of the road. It was a dead end.
 With train tracks and trees and nothing else.  I had to turn around and go back.
 So I went back and discovered if I would have turned right earlier, I would have been pretty close to People's Road, which was then only a 20 minute ride home, and downhill to boot!
 I flew down the hill, made the turn at the bottom, and then coasted down this road (above) without pedaling too much, thank God.
My bike at Tim Horton's
 I was only a few blocks from home when I (almost) passed this Tim Horton's.  I decided I deserved a pumpkin spice latte and a muffin. 

I made it home, had a bath, and applied calamine lotion to my many mosquito bites.  I will not be doing the Fort Creek portion of the hub trail until after I lose a significant amount of weight, and even then I'll make sure I go on a good asthma day...with plenty of  Deep Woods Off.

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