Originally Posted by
joeyduck
I have a nice ride home. Just a saddle bag, no panniers. I had a decent head wind and my westerly portion I managed to average 28.1 km/h for 4.1 km, that made me happy. Then I puttered over the river and cranked up the hill. Chased a group and blew past them, I timed the pass right so I took the right lane in front of a slow semi and they took the bike lane. I made sure to ring my bell as to not scare the crap out of them. Then one of the riders shoaled me at a stop light. Seriously I just burned you up a hill, how do you think passing me at a stop light at the top is a good idea?
Then almost home I was stopped in a round about as a guy come down the hill looking peeved at me for stopping to let a mom and her son cross. Then he proceeds to pass me and another car with oncoming traffic. I understand why some people have bad views of cyclists.
Otherwise 11.5 km averaging a bit over 25 km/h hour. Faster than with panniers and my son, but not a lot faster.
Sounds like a nice ride!
I did about 31km riding home; took the Cypress route up & over from Kits, then North Arm Trail to Cambie, then down to 63rd Ave (unsure of name of this route if it has one) over to Ontario, down to Kent. I ducked south on Kerr to the river and checked out the trail there I saw on Google Maps and inquired about here earlier. It was decent; moderate packed gravel with a few loose gravel sections only a few metres long each. A few photos attached.
The scenery was nice, but because of the loose gravel sections I didn't want to get distracted by it and end up losing control of my bike. Also, there were LOADS of bugs that I had to try not to eat. All in all, I'll probably stay on Kent where it's quiet but paved, and I can ride faster.
Before I knew it I was in Burnaby, where the gravel got a bit looser but not horrible. Was still maintaining ~28-33km/h on the moderately packed gravel from Kerr into Burnaby, and about 25-28 km/h once it got looser in Burnaby.
I did get lost following a trail along the river past Byrne Road trying to link up with a route into New Westminster. Ended up with a sketchy ride for ~500m along very loose gravel that dead ended without warning at a small creek. Had to ride back and consult Google Maps to get me out of that pickle; fortunately it wasn't far to pavement, and I was able to get there without having to backtrack all the way to byrne. I'm tellin' ya though, once I hit that pavement again I felt weightless! Pushing 40km/h on the flat paved road steady for a few kms, which is pretty good for me.
UNFORTUNATELY, my Garmin was acting up, and while it tracked my distance, only showed me a straight line from my starting point to my house. I posted about that issue
here.