Latin (tem-pu̇s-ˈfü-git): Time Flies
On the bike ride in to day I noticed seven semi-trailers around the MTS Center. The trailers contain the gear for Cirque du Soleil who have brought their Delerium show to Winnipeg. Apparently the IBM box has a “restricted view” for this show, so there may be some free tickets with a bad view to be had. I’ve seen two Cirque shows in Las Vegas, and they are unbelievably good.
UPDATE: I’ve got tickets!
Technorati Tags: circus, Cirque du Soleir, Las Vegas, Delerium
We’ve been summer residents for over 23 years and this is the first time I’ve explored Tunnel Island and it’s almost in the heart of Kenora.
This is some of the best hiking and biking in the area, very similar to the Minaki trails only more technical and difficult. I rode two basic loop, one to the east of the trail head road and one to the west. I posted a route map here.
The east loop took about 1hr with lots of stops to get over fallen trees that we too big to hop, at least for me, and some un-ridable sections, again for me anyway. This photo is at a spot called the Voyageur Lookout on a high spot on the island looking over the Winnipeg River.
The east loop took about 1.5 hrs and was even more challenging. This must be where all the local hard core riders come out to play. Part way around this loop I fell and whacked the camera pretty hard, but it still seems to be working OK.
The trail provides some excellent views of the Norman Dam, a railway bridge and the Winnipeg River system. There are also bald eagles nesting on the island which are visible from the trails.
It was a great ride on a very hot day. It definitely rates a return visit.
Yesterday, we went by boat to Timber Island in Whitefish Bay on Lake of the Woods to track down the geocache called Kanchenjunga placed by my friend Adam. It was a sunny day with near calm winds, which made the 58.6 km boat trip quite enjoyable. You can read about more about that part of the adventure here.
The photo is the new bridge construction in downtown Sioux Narrows which is replacing a rather historic old wooden bridge which was the world’s longest single span wooden bridge. Click the photo for a few more details on my Flickr site.
After checking out the various gift shops in town and gassing up the boat for the return trip we headed out to find one more cache. Then it was up Long Bay to the main track for the trip back home. Our friends Ken & Linda retired to Sioux Narrows several years ago and we’d been to their place just once by car. So, as were heading up Long Bay I’m on the lookout for what I can remember about the front of their house. The main feature I remembered was the large double doors on the lower level that opened onto Ken’s enormous and well equipped workshop. As we boat by house that fits the description and notice two folks sitting on the dock we decide to turn around and check it out. Sure enough, this was the right place and we spent a little time catching up on what had been happening in each other’s lives.
After the visit, it was 6:30pm and a 2hr trip to get back home. The weather was still good and the trip back always seems longer that going out and our rear ends were a little sore from all the sitting. Probably why today we broke down and bought boat seats with back rests for the boat.
It was a great day on the lake as always and the tan is a little deeper after all the wind and sun.
A while back I started commuting by bike to work on a regular basis. My route from my house takes me down some residential streets to a paved path to some more residential streets and then onto a major route into the downtown core. So, first thing in the morning I’m not too challenged for the first few kilometers and by the time I’m fully awake, I’m ready for the traffic. Actually, I enjoy riding in the traffic and I’ve yet to have a serious incident. Oh, I’ve been yelled at a couple of times (not my fault), and been cut off a couple of times, not unexpectedly because if you’re paying attention to your situation you can usually see it coming, and I’ve never been “doored”, the thing I’m most concerned about.
But, today on the way home I discovered that there are other kinds of hazards out there beyond, traffic, pot holes and pedestrians with dogs on long near invisible leashes. There are bees! Thankfully, this encounter was on the bike path and not on the road in rush hour traffic. Suddenly, I hear and feel a thwack on a bug hitting my helmet and then going between the helmet visor and just above my sunglasses, instantly followed by quite a painful sting!
Wow, talk about a surprise. I’m frantically wiping whatever it is out from under the helmet while coming to a panic stop. I really didn’t want to get stung a second time. It left a really nice red welt and hours later it’s still stinging quite a bit. It’s been a very long time since I’ve been stung like this, however it’s starting to settle down and I’m sure that by tomorrow it will be gone, I hope.
A friend, Daniel Nemetchek, landed a fifth place finish in the first stage of the Monumental Memorial race in Beatrice Nebraska on Saturday May 27th. Way to go Daniel! It must have been quite the finish with the winner taking it by 1 second, and then 12 riders crossing in the next second.
This photo is from the second stage and the good looking guy in the red shorts is Daniel, so un-officially, this would look like a fourth place in the second stage.
No wonder nobody can keep up with him when we ride at Maah Daah Hey.
Today was my first experience with cycling to work and it went very well.
Last night it took a little planning to get the required gear, including the laptop, into a backpack and to decide what kind of clothes can be rolled up and still look OK at the office. The good thing was I didn’t forget anything and I think I looked presentable.
The ride was about 20 minutes and there were no major problems. I’m used to riding in the traffic so that wasn’t an issue, but it was a little heavier than usual at rush hour. One slowdown was getting behind a slower biker and being trapped between the curb lane traffic and the guy ahead. As traffic pulled away from a light I was able to slip into the lane and get around the guy and back up to speed.
Here at IBM there is a bike cage compound under a surveillance camera and people lock the bike inside the cage so I hope it will still be there when I head out for home tonight. There is a small change and shower room on the 3rd floor and I had it to myself. If there were more the two guys at the same time, it would be very close quarters. The ride end-to-end took longer that the car, probably close to 1 hour home to desk by the time I locked up the bike, showered and changed etc.
So all in all it’s been a good experience and I think I’ll make it a regular option for traveling into the office. I hope it doesn’t rain on the way home, it’s looking a little dark out there right now and the forecast is 60% for showers.
My dad always told me that I couldn’t get married on a summer weekend because it would mess up going to the lake, so we got married in December. December is a great time of year and people generally don’t have better things to do. But that message didn’t get out to the extended family on Shirley’s side so we spend a good part of a lovely +25C sunny Saturday in a basement hall attending a wedding. A very nice wedding, and the bride and groom were lovely and it was all very nice. (I’ll finish this later, company has
arrived!)
So, I hope nobody missed us too much, but we bailed before the speeches began and we heard later that there was dancing and games and the party went on for most of the afternoon. With the great weather and the desire to be outside Shirley and I went off Geocaching. We’ve had lots of fun with this high-tech hide and seek game and as BigDadoo and Hot Mamma we’ve found several caches over the past couple of years. This afternoon we focused on some caches along the Red River. We found two in St. Vital Park, Frogtastically Green, You’re Invited and TikiHut. In fact, the picture is the “Tiki Hut”. This is where the cache is hidden, in the base of the birdhouse behind that latch and swing updoor. Some people are so clever and this is definitively one of the more creative caches we’ve found to date.
While we were in the area we also saw the power of the river and river bank erosion at work on this tree where the trunk has been split in two from the bottom up.
Mandi & Scott looking very fashionable and getting ready for a ride. They’ve been gone for hours and it’s very dark now. I wonder where they are? They should have logged 50+ km by now.
UPDATE: Part of the delay was caused by running into a truck!
