Category: cycling

cycling Khardung Pass, Ladakh

On By Rick McIn best bike rides, cycling, travel, travel India

Cycle high, sleep low. The best way to acclimatize to altitude. 🙂

Khardongla Pass mountain bike - 4 of 16

… Khardung La is 5,359m (17,582ft) … The summit signs incorrectly claim that its elevation is in the vicinity of 5,602m and that it is the world’s highest motorable pass. …

Still … it’s bloody high.

Normally cold and windy, on September 14th when we were there it was sunny and mild. The Gods are smiling on me of late.

It’s 39km from the Pass back to Leh. Entirely down hill! 🙂

Khardongla Pass mountain bike - 14 of 16

Dangerous? Nah! They have safety precautions in place.

Khardongla Pass mountain bike - 8 of 16

Summer Holidays is the company that pioneered downhill mountain biking out of Leh.

My day trip only cost about $25. No fancy support vehicle. They pile the bikes on a jeep.

Khardongla Pass mountain bike - 1 of 16

It takes about 2 hours to drive up the mountain on switchbacks.

Khardongla Pass mountain bike - 6 of 16

There are plenty of slow downs as vehicles inch past one another.

Khardongla Pass mountain bike - 7 of 16

Landslides and washouts are common. Heavy machinery (driven by men) and small hammers (driven by women) make repairs.

Khardongla Pass mountain bike - 9 of 16

Khardongla Pass mountain bike - 10 of 16

Glorious.

Khardongla Pass mountain bike - 11 of 16

Khardongla Pass mountain bike - 12 of 16

Khardongla Pass mountain bike - 15 of 16

Khardongla Pass mountain bike - 16 of 16

Khardongla Pass mountain bike - 5 of 16

cycling Parksville parks & trails

On By Rick McIn cyclingLeave a comment

Over the years I’ve been exploring trails near Englishman river. Those within riding distance of my parent’s place.

A good half day is getting dropped at Englishman River Falls Provincial Park. Cycling back via quiet back roads and trails.

click for larger version
click for larger version

The Missing Link was too technical for me. But I proceeded anyway, with caution, until I happened upon a dog on the trail. 
 IMG_3533 It was a bear. The first I’d ever seen near Parksville.

Bear aware, I did the right thing. Looked around for mama. Happily, there was no mother bear. Unhappily the young one sprinted out of sight before I could snap a photo.

IMG_3535

 

One time I needed to haul my bike up from the river, lift it over this railing.

IMG_3488

These are some fantastic trails. This is temperate rain forest. But the best you find randomly dispersed. There’s a master plan, but cycling trails are not all connected.

Best case scenario the local train tracks will be converted to trail some day. Everything else linked.

In the meantime, the Englishman River Regional Park is recommended.  Very few people as road access is limited. You’ll find me in there most days.

4637829986_9b3fbfe504_z

TBRT-ERRP-map_Page_2

 

cycling Fisherman’s Trail, Vancouver

On By Rick McIn cyclingLeave a comment

When I visit Rockin’ Ronnie in North Vancouver, we invariably hit his favourite bike trail.

IMG_3464

This time we were surprised to see that much of Fisherman’s Trail, which runs along Seymour River in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve, had been turned into a road. Work crews needed this kind of access to replace a bridge that had washed out.

lower_seymour_-_mike_meyers_069

Still, we enjoyed the (much easier) ride. And won’t be giving up on Fisherman’s anytime soon.

IMG_3468

farewell Carbondale, CO

On By Rick McIn cycling, friends, hiking, travelLeave a comment

Thanks Brion and Betsy for hosting. I had a great time hiking and biking out of your mountain town.

Nepal restaurant

We met in Nepal 2013 trekking the Manaslu Circuit.

Since then they’ve added a new hiker to the family. 🙂

Julius hiking

lowest tide of the year – Parksville

On By Rick McIn cycling, McCharles family, travelLeave a comment

Parksville is famous for some of Canada’s lowest tides. I cycled out to Rathtrevor Beach to wade the lowest tide of the year. It’s way, way out there.

High Divide Loop - 1

AND … I believe these are the Brandt geese I’m always hearing about, but have never seen. Until now. 🙂

High Divide Loop - 2

gain TIME in your life

On By Rick McIn cycling, happiness, health & fitness, philosophy, travelLeave a comment

🙂

Jed’s radical choice to quit his job and ride his bike across the world is a perfect challenge to the rest of us to get out of the routine and make some scary decisions. …

Click PLAY or watch it on Vimeo.

Ron Shewchuk conquering cancer – again

On By Rick McIn cycling, health & fitnessLeave a comment

Funds raised through The Ride to Conquer Cancer will support life-saving research and enhancements to care at the BC Cancer Agency, bringing hope to cancer patients in B.C. and beyond. …

donate HERE

Click PLAY or watch Ron’s plea on YouTube.

my bike was stolen

On By Rick McIn cycling, government, health & fitness, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I bought a new Hybrid at MEC. Within a week it was stolen.

Ghost Panamao X 3 Bicycle (Unisex) – CAD$725 (US$582)

Using the wifi at McDonald’s at 3611 17th-AVE SW Calgary, I’d locked it to a tree close to the busy road. Seemed a good idea at the time. Who’d cut that lock? It’s such a busy spot.

Police told me that homeless guys tend to hang out at McDonald’s. There were a number the night I was there.

Though seemingly hopeless, I filed an online Police report next day. I wanted the cops to know what bike was targeted where.

Immediately I got a phone call. They’d recovered my bike. Wow!

Actually, they called before seeing my report. A new Ghost (unusual brand) was spotted outside a Mac’s convenience store with no lock. The police took it when no owner could be located. (No doubt the thief fled the scene when he saw them.)

Knowing that only MEC sold Ghost, they stopped by the store to ask the manager about that particular serial number. He gave them my phone number.

I love the Calgary police now. 🙂

When I met the police to collect my bike those partners told me that they pick up about one stolen bike a week.

Thieves try to “change the appearance” of stolen bikes. In my case they took off the hybrid wheels and put on a pretty good set of (stolen) mountain bike wheels. They added two small lights. And took off my bell.

But a Ghost bike is pretty conspicuous. There aren’t many of them around yet.

I decided to buy a replacement set of Hybrid wheels. And put the mountain bike wheels on one of my mountain bikes. All in all, I’m pretty happy how things worked out.

And I’ll be much more careful with my good bike in future.

bait bike

Bait bikes won’t be coming to Calgary any time soon, according to city police, who now say there has been no progress on such a program since last summer when they were dealing with a spike in bicycle thefts.

It was nine months ago that Sgt. Katrina O’Reilly told Metro several departments within the police service were working on an in-house version of a program similar to those in other jurisdictions, which see GPS tracking devices hidden inside bicycles placed in public areas as “bait” for would-be thieves. …

Sgt. Katrina O’Reilly told Metro last summer there had been a “tremendous increase” in the number of bikes being stolen in break-and-enters, rather than from an outdoor rack or off the street. …

Bait bike idea shelved by Calgary police, cyclists frustrated with mass thefts