A nice respite from the past week of heavy rains today, with some welcome sunshine and dry roads. Winters in the valleys of this part of BC are a widely varying mix of longer periods of moderate but wet weather interspersed with shorter periods of cooler temps and the odd few days of ice and snow here and there. Fortunately after every bout of ice and snow, those longer periods of rainy weather wash everything away in short order, and do a good job of cleaning the roads of sand and salt residue, so when we get a combination of moderate and dry weather...it's Winter riding time, and today was such a day.
Just put the Valk up on the jack yesterday and started stripping her down to do a tire change and rear end service (posting this pic because, after all...this is a Valkyrie site) ... and today's ride would be on the Wing
A high of 6 degrees Celcius today so a little brisk especially on the old "naked" Wing. When I got this bike earlier this year I stripped the bags and shield off...I'm thinkin' the next ride with below 10 C temps I might put it back on as I'm maybe not as tough as I used to be. Regardless, even though it was cold wind, it always feels good to be out in it doing what I like to do
View from the road coming down our little mountain subdivision this AM
Riding through the farmlands
Harrison Lake looking pretty calm. Had a nice walk along the shore and a hot bowl of Chicken soup at little restaurant in the village.
This picture of Harrison Lake was taken New Years Day. With this past Christmas an odd one as we were unable to get together with our daughters and their families who both live in more Northern parts of the Province, the Mrs and I had a rather quiet time over the holidays. Looking so forward to 2021 as I'm sure many were, I convinced myself that this year would be the perfect year to finally committ to taking that New Years Day Polar Bear plunge in the lake that I've talked about every end of the year for the past couple of decades. So with a couple good hot cups of coffee in my belly we headed down just before noon so I could do the deed. To make a long story short, with the temperature hovering right around freezing and the lake looking especially uninviting...I wimped out once again. I think I'm well past the point where the Mrs, our kids, the neighbours, the gal at the produce market, etc, etc who I try to convince every year that this is definitely THE year, don't even come close to believing my pre-New Years Day bravado any more. Oh well, there's always 2022 for me to prove 'em all wrong
Very cool!
Great pics, what a paradise it looks like up there!
Have you tried Wim Hof breathing techniques? They'll help you take the plunge, and you can work up cold tolerance by ending hot showers with a cold shower for 30 seconds. In warmer months I take cold showers exclusively, we don't use heat and our place is always cold in the winter (usually 57 to 63 F in the house) so I end showers with cold now for a minute or two. It helps a lot when riding in colder weather, I haven't used a jacket yet this year, just my leather vest with some layering underneath. I don't get sick.
Actually I want to set up an ice bath using a chest freezer and ozone filtering, won't happen here due to the association though.
I use a hybrid of Buteyko and Wim Hof breathing for an hour every morning after waking. It's a game changer.
edit: 56 degrees in the house this morning, thank God for hot coffee
