Rosie had a checklist of dos and don’ts from the dentist after having her wisdom teeth out. Don’t: eat anything tasty or drink anything fun, rinse for 24 hours, poke your gums with your tongue, sneeze, etc. Do relax and take things easy. Ollie was torn between making sure she followed all the rules and wanting to go for a bike ride… So he hatched a genius plan and hired Rosie an e-bike at the weekend.
Rosie does not like cycling off-road, there are too many rocks and roots to bump into and it is much easier to fall off. She wanted to cycle along the “trail-way” to Seymour Lake, which is a drinking water reservoir holding up to 32 billion litres of water for people in Vancouver. There is a paved road all the way to the lake, which is only open to pedestrians and cyclists. Despite this, Ollie still tricked her into a detour onto a “gravel path” near the start, which turned out to have some suspiciously large lumps of gravel on it. After much complaining and getting off and walking, we took a shortcut back onto the road.
Road cycling isn’t very pleasant in Canada as there aren’t any quiet country lanes to take. You often see people riding along the highway as there are no other routes to take. The trail-way was therefore pretty busy with all types of cyclists, it was quite a strange experience!
By the end of the day, Rosie was shocked to find that her bum hurt quite a lot (she used to be fine on her commute to work back in the UK). But it was nothing compared to Ollie’s legs after racing to keep up with her on the hills. At full power, the electric bike was actually quite scary, almost like you were on a motor bike. We are not sure if we’re totally sold on them though, as it was very heavy and hard to cycle once the battery was flat.
We’ve had some good COVID news earlier in the week. The BC government announced the roadmap back to normality, starting with being allowed to meet up in small groups inside again from now on. Rosie was able to have a beer with some friends on Wednesday, but they did make her climb 853m up a mountain to do so. What is wrong with these Vancouver people!? Sea level pubs are just as good!
Roaming Rollie 
Glad to see that you have finally had some fair-weather-cycling. Very fitting now Rosie is exploring the world of e-biking. All you need now is a floppy hat and a basket for the front. At least there was plenty to drink after all that hard work!
I am surprised at Ollie’s photography skills. That photo of Rosie with her bike is lovely … And even better you have documented her cheating!
LikeLike
Mumnana wonders if Rosie has extended her employment beyond 6 months at Vancouver Rail.(and particularly enjoyed the invisible bicycle from a couple of weeks ago)
Real bicycles are more painful. Saw a seat like a hammock with shock absorbers on TV…..
LikeLike
Oh yes, I have! Until the end of this year so far, but I think I will stay up until our visas expire in February. I can’t imagine how that hammock seat would work. It seems like the opposite of the Brooks leather saddles that Dad likes.
LikeLike
And a puppy to go in my basket! I think Ollie even surprised himself with that photo. It was with my long lens cos I was taking a picture of a bird, he had to basically climb into a bush to get far enough away.
LikeLike
I agree, that was a lovely photo of Rosie and her bike…I’m confused though, was the video Rosie? I thought the purple t-shirt was Ollie, but I’m not sure as I had to keep pausing it to check, but Ollie was wearing the purple t-shirt? Impressive speed, whoever it was!!
Also I’m intrigued to know what goes on in those odd little green tents….bouncy play tents?!!
LikeLike
Thanks! The video is Ollie, he wanted a go on the e-bike to zoom up the hill! We were both wearing purple t-shirts confusingly.
I was wondering the same thing about the green tents… they must be for one stage of the salmon-hatching process. I can’t find anything via Google!
LikeLike