Riding Home
Taken by Kathy Drouin on August 2, 2009.
Canola fields are plentiful on this route, and are now looking healthy, after a rough start to the year.

This past weekend, Kathy and I decided to try actually taking our bikes on a short tour. I've been commuting by bike off and on for years - pretty much every warm day this year and last - and have been wanting to do some longer rides. Since it was our first attempt, we went for a destination that wasn't too ambitious - Gibbons, where we found a nice-looking B&B in our price range.

The weather forecast was looking decent - if a bit hot, so we set off Saturday morning with lots of water. Steph loaned us a cooler bag that attached to the top of my rack, and kept our supply ice-cold all day. The riding started well. We'd plotted a route made of almost entirely dedicated bike paths to the north-east edge of the city, and it was flat too. The wind from the north-west even pushed us a bit on the eastern stretches. The sprawling mass that is Edmonton seems to go on forever sometimes, so we were thankful when we got to Fort Road and into a more rural setting.