Friday October 13. 7:00 AM
I hopped on my mountain bike today and rode some of the trails off Svoboda Road in West Arm Provincial Park then on to Mountain Station to ride the Fat Tire Festival XC course. It’s a good 40 minute climb from my place to the trail head. The weather was cool and clear. I am struck by the number of deciduous trees in the forests. The colours on the hillsides are incredible. I started on Logjam which is a twisty flowing XC trail through Pine Beetle killed pine forest. This trail outlets onto Svoboda Traverse then onto Short Svoboda and finishes on Squeeler, a fast flowing non technical trail. Back onto the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rails
to trails to Mountain station Then up Honey to Oso Express to Shasta then down Expresso onto Boneyard then home for a hot bath and something to eat. This is a terrific route and I can ride quite a bit of it.
Saturday October 14 8:00 AM
Its very cool this morning. I have decided to run to Troup along the BNSF rails to trails. This old rail bed features 3 terrific trestles along the route. The first part of my run involves a very steep climb to the trail head along local streets. I think it climbs about 800’. On the trail you loose all that elevation in the next 6 km’s to Troup Landing. There’s a terrific sandy beach here and a creek that empties into the lake. It’s a great place to swim mid run either formal or informal (swimsuit or au natural). Lots of bear sign as they have come down from the sub alpine to polish off the last of the berries in order to fatten up for hibernation. I ran back adding some Fartlek intervals on the uphill grade.
Saturday October 14 3:00 PM
After some chores and a trip to the dump I grabbed my new Fenn Mako Millennium Surfski for a paddle towards Taghum. This new boat is TWICE as tippy as my XT. It’s a lot to handle and I am constantly weight adjusting and bracing. However I am slowly becoming more confident and can finally put some power in my stroke. It’s a beautiful boat 21’ long and 17” wide the widest point. Its about 1 km faster than my XT which means I can better keep up to Mat, Neville and Rich the local “Surfski” community.
The day was beautiful. The water like glass. In fact the water was quite a bit warmer than the air temperature. I went about 5 km’s on the north side of the lake then turned and returned on the south side. Very serene and beautiful.
Sunday October 15 9:00AM
Decided to road ride to Salmo, about 50 km’s south of Nelson. A light rain was falling and the temperature hovered around eight degrees. The start of the ride features a long climb out of town for about 11 km’s then rolls, twists and flows to Salmo, a small forestry/ranch town near the US border. Lots of colour in the hills on this route. Trees are in fabulous fall display. Unlike the coast one gets the sense of the different seasons. Chased by one fairly quick dog, this hound also chased me on the return trip. It was uneventful on the return trip except for the 70 kph descent back into Nelson.
I have been steadily finishing off parts of the house. I have plumbed the basement and installed a washer and dryer. Fixed the furnace ductwork and cleaned 105 years of accumulated coal dust from every niche, crevice and ledge. Virginia and I have decided to restore the house to its original condition so in the guest bedroom I stripped about layers of wallpaper off to expose the original plaster which was in poor condition with 100’s of cracks and parts falling off. I sanded and expanded all the cracks, replastered the holes and filled the cracks. I taped and filled all the corners and after 85 hours of restoration painted the walls and ceiling. I am very happy with the result. The room has flair and personality and is a long way from the typical drywall box we are used to. Hmmm, one room down and 4 to go upstairs, I should be finished in about 3 years.
I hopped on my mountain bike today and rode some of the trails off Svoboda Road in West Arm Provincial Park then on to Mountain Station to ride the Fat Tire Festival XC course. It’s a good 40 minute climb from my place to the trail head. The weather was cool and clear. I am struck by the number of deciduous trees in the forests. The colours on the hillsides are incredible. I started on Logjam which is a twisty flowing XC trail through Pine Beetle killed pine forest. This trail outlets onto Svoboda Traverse then onto Short Svoboda and finishes on Squeeler, a fast flowing non technical trail. Back onto the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rails
to trails to Mountain station Then up Honey to Oso Express to Shasta then down Expresso onto Boneyard then home for a hot bath and something to eat. This is a terrific route and I can ride quite a bit of it.
Saturday October 14 8:00 AM
Its very cool this morning. I have decided to run to Troup along the BNSF rails to trails. This old rail bed features 3 terrific trestles along the route. The first part of my run involves a very steep climb to the trail head along local streets. I think it climbs about 800’. On the trail you loose all that elevation in the next 6 km’s to Troup Landing. There’s a terrific sandy beach here and a creek that empties into the lake. It’s a great place to swim mid run either formal or informal (swimsuit or au natural). Lots of bear sign as they have come down from the sub alpine to polish off the last of the berries in order to fatten up for hibernation. I ran back adding some Fartlek intervals on the uphill grade.
Saturday October 14 3:00 PM
After some chores and a trip to the dump I grabbed my new Fenn Mako Millennium Surfski for a paddle towards Taghum. This new boat is TWICE as tippy as my XT. It’s a lot to handle and I am constantly weight adjusting and bracing. However I am slowly becoming more confident and can finally put some power in my stroke. It’s a beautiful boat 21’ long and 17” wide the widest point. Its about 1 km faster than my XT which means I can better keep up to Mat, Neville and Rich the local “Surfski” community.
The day was beautiful. The water like glass. In fact the water was quite a bit warmer than the air temperature. I went about 5 km’s on the north side of the lake then turned and returned on the south side. Very serene and beautiful.
Sunday October 15 9:00AM
Decided to road ride to Salmo, about 50 km’s south of Nelson. A light rain was falling and the temperature hovered around eight degrees. The start of the ride features a long climb out of town for about 11 km’s then rolls, twists and flows to Salmo, a small forestry/ranch town near the US border. Lots of colour in the hills on this route. Trees are in fabulous fall display. Unlike the coast one gets the sense of the different seasons. Chased by one fairly quick dog, this hound also chased me on the return trip. It was uneventful on the return trip except for the 70 kph descent back into Nelson.
I have been steadily finishing off parts of the house. I have plumbed the basement and installed a washer and dryer. Fixed the furnace ductwork and cleaned 105 years of accumulated coal dust from every niche, crevice and ledge. Virginia and I have decided to restore the house to its original condition so in the guest bedroom I stripped about layers of wallpaper off to expose the original plaster which was in poor condition with 100’s of cracks and parts falling off. I sanded and expanded all the cracks, replastered the holes and filled the cracks. I taped and filled all the corners and after 85 hours of restoration painted the walls and ceiling. I am very happy with the result. The room has flair and personality and is a long way from the typical drywall box we are used to. Hmmm, one room down and 4 to go upstairs, I should be finished in about 3 years.
posted by Bill at 9:50 AM
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