The arrival of April brought with it a rapidly expanding variety of blooms, and it was now the season of me going for after-work rides to larger gardens just to appreciate them all. The earlier blooming cherry blossoms were at peak, so I made a few detours on my commutes to hit up the best streets. Made me wish we didn’t have so much street parking .. really ruins the beauty. Well, I have a grudge against street parking for many reasons, but I digress.
The days had grown quite a bit longer, too – something I don’t appreciate enough about spring as I sit here writing this on literal winter solstice day. While the weather is still cool and wet, the daylight hours are blissfully long and make longer after-work rides doable before sunset.
One example was April 4th, when I followed a route that Rob had been working on in North Van that started at McKay creek and went uphill from there, following some rather sneaky trails and connections that few know about. It wasn’t a hugely ambitious ride, but had plenty of adventure as well as a restful beer stop in some lovely chairs along Mosquito Creek.
April 5th and Aimée and I’s anniversary (number 15!!) so we went for a nice forest walk on Burnaby Mountain with the girls, followed by fancy dinner on the patio of Dachi. Super lucky that the weather was patio-friendly on this day.
The next day, Sunday April 6th, was looking to be real rainy all day. But committed to getting a ride in this weekend, I decided to put on the poncho and get out there anyway. At first it was just kind of novel and silly to be riding in the pouring rain, but I rode over to, and around, Deer Lake and it went from ‘character building’ to truly peaceful and beautiful. I was pretty much the only one around, and the lake has a profound beauty in the rain. The photo of my Bombadil on the dock, in what looks like a black and white photo, is one of my favourites.
A few days later I got out after work again, this time on the Stooge, to ride a little loop just other side of the bridge. The weather was iffy but warm enough to take a chance. The Stooge is running dual plus-size Rangers at this point, so it’s pretty efficient rolling on pavement. This route was pretty optimal for it, with a bit of everything. The last photo features Seymour river near its mouth into Burrard inlet; you can see how much rain has fallen recently here!
Some other things I had been getting up to.. always lots of dog cuddles, a beer in the orchard on the commute home, and the first ‘rains’ of cherry blossom petals has begun. I rode the Hillborne again, first time in a couple weeks, to Waterfront Park in north van.
April 12th brought a chance of pace from the two wheeled travel, and I went for a hike with some colleagues and one of our vendors from China who were in town for a visit. I suggested Whyte Lake since it’s moderate in difficulty, and since everyone was feeling ambitious enough we took a more technical route back from the lake – which none of us had done before, but thankfully it worked out well! I used to take Leia on this route (without the tougher detour) but it’s a little bit too much at her age now, I expect.
April 13th I was back on the bike, and going for a North Van explore with friends which included a sweet tree net! Rob had stumbled upon this previously when seeking out hidden routes; it was pretty well hidden despite being near a schoolground. We also stopped at Murdo Frazer pond, and the turtles were sunning themselves on a log.
Apparently not one for rest, after this action packed weekend I headed out for a ride after work on Monday, too. My route plan was a common one for me: to see where a trail I had passed numerous times went. It started out quite excellent, but I found out it was simply a shortcut to a rather hidden disc golf course, and my attempt to go thru and up to where I was headed was thwarted by increasingly hostile brambles. Still, I’m proud of myself for trying. I managed my way back onto the actual trail, and rode up to a nice little lookout near Richard Juryn trail – a great spot for a beer. On my way home I passed through the cemetery as I often do when rolling solo.
Now it’s mid April, and the frequency with which I rode to the Strathcona gardens has increased significantly – it’s so lovely in there with the spring foliage and variety of flowering plants. It’s not too far away – about 3 km each way from home – and near Luppolo Brewing so it works well as a place to have an after-work beer in a quiet and tranquil setting.
The early cherry blossoms, Akebono, which are lighter pink are now past their prime but the Kanzan blossoms, my fav and the bigger population in Vancouver, were now in full bloom. As well, the big magnolias were at their peak. My commute passes by many of these trees, which I appreciate – my commute route isn’t that nice otherwise, mostly on roads made too narrow by parked cars to be safely passed by cars, who tend to think they should have priority even though this is a bike street.
April 16th was Parkbagging after work, a big loop that took us from the far west reaches of Point Grey, all the way down to South Van, and home. It was over 40km for me – not bad for a weekday!
Some commute views, plus Sunny in the sun for good measure:
April 18th was Good Friday, and that meant it was a special edition of Coffee Outside / Camp Coffee Club. I organized a sub-group ride up to the Midvalley Lookout where coffee was hosted. I didn’t take much for pics, but we took a somewhat silly route up along the powerlines and then a MTB trail down to Fisherman’s, which was the more logical and direct option.
And the next day was Crescent 200, an event where the idea is to ride around the Shaughnessy park circle 200 times (or as many as you’d like). This was the second year, and it already brings out a big chunk of the local alt bike scene – and everyone tends to bring their weirdest bike. It was super fun.
A couple photos from the next week.. I took this night time photo of the Bombadil under some blossoms when I decided at around 9pm that I’d go try to find a biketag that was downtown, and I thought I knew where. Turned out I didn’t, and I spent quite a bit of time searching around – only to be beat to it by half an hour. It was a nice night for a ride, though!
I ended up getting a stomach bug overnight after that night ride, and was down and out for a couple days. I felt off but not quite sure what was going on when I got up extra-early to take the dogs out. When I went out the front doors, there was an eerie, sepia tint to the air and I saw water running down the street. It felt apocalyptic, especially as I was half-awake and feeling weird as it was. It was a building fire a block up from us and we lost three local businesses in it – most notably, Dayton Boots.
After resting a couple days I was feeling tentatively okay and was thinking of riding out to my dad’s. To test the theory that I was, in fact, recovered I rode the Seymour valley full loop – and added in a 150m technical hike-a-bike up to some old growth I was keen to find near the lake. In hindsight this was a bit silly, to tire my legs out like this (especially after not eating a lot for a couple days) before a big ride to my dad’s, but it was successful and lovely.
The hike to the old growth from the gravel access road wasn’t too far, but it was very awkward and tiring to carry a bike with – next time I’ll lock a wheel and stash it. I got so inspired by the several old trees up there that I went to visit the old growth Sikta nearby and also trudged around in the woods seeking out other old trees. Add to that some peaceful river-side time, and it was a really lovely day out in the woods.
The next day I headed for Chemainus on the Bombadil, a trip that I’ve already detailed both to and from here:
..and that pretty much wraps up the month. Another pretty active month, and looking back now I realize I took good advantage of the weather and the season. It was my biggest riding month, too – 728 km and 50 hours on the bike. I am surprised to say that May will exceed this by 100km and 9 hours.. clearly this is the best time of the year for riding bikes.
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