Following my January post and in the spirit of recounting my year month by month as something to do while resting a virus away, here’s February 2025: a surprisingly frigid month after a relatively mild and dry January. In fact, overnight on the 31st of January into Feb 1st the snowline dropped quite low, and I set about on the 1st of February, which was a Saturday, to find out.
I took the Bombadil and headed over to the north shore. It didn’t take a lot of climbing before I reached some patchy snow. I made my way up Fisherman’s Trail along the Seymour river and didn’t have a real plan for how far I was going to go, I’d base it on the conditions and how I was feeling. It was stunningly beautiful, but the snow was also packing into my fenders. I rode up to the midvalley lookout, then up the Hydraulic creek connector and back on the paved parkway – which felt more like a XC skiing groomer today. As soon as I was back down the hill a bit the snow subsided, and I spent a little bit of time in the oldest corner of the cemetery along my route, reading the old headstones and reflecting on how they, too, are slowly being reclaimed by nature.
The next morning, Sunday Feb 2nd, we woke up to snow in the city as well. A decent amount of it! We went for a walk with Leia, who loves the snow, and ran into a friend who had some personal stuff and needed someone to take her dog, Archie, for a bit. So he came home with us, and Leia was a bit confused. We kept Archie a few days, over which time it remained consistently well below freezing, so the sidewalks and roads became rather treacherous to walk. I managed one ride over these few days, just a short one to run some errands on the old Raleigh. It is fitted with “all weather” Schwalbe tires that have siping similar to automotive winter tires .. but they aren’t super effective on this rather icy surface.
The new wheels for my Stooge were ready though, and I was able to pick them up so I could go play in the snow on the 3″ knobby Surly tires I had been hoarding in my bin for a while. This was now February 8th that I set out on the Stooge, again not really sure where or how far I would go. The icy streets in our neighbourhood had me thinking it would be a very short ride, but I pushed on to north Vancouver where I found the snow was a lot better. I pushed onwards and upwards, climbing alongside “the cut” of Hwy 1 which leads to “the upper levels” stretch of the highway.
I was really impressed with the Dirt Wizard tires in the snow – I didn’t realize how slick things actually were until I tried to walk a section and realized it was a lot easier to ride than walk. Soon I will learn how brutally slow they are on pavement, but this day, they were the ideal choice. I took some pretty steep sections and had no issue with control! I worked my way through different forested areas westward, occasionally getting into some hike-a-bike, and picked up a couple beers from Beva Brewing to take up the hill to Murdo Frazer. I was delighted to find the pond frozen over, and enjoyed a beer in the tranquil spot which felt extra silent today.
I made my way home with some haste after a last-minute coordination to meet an adoptive dog being fostered nearby named Sunshine. We had been a one-dog household for about 7 months now, though with regular guests, and we starting to dip our toes in the idea of adopting a second dog. The thing was, though, Leia was 12 years old now and she’s a bit fussy about other dogs – and easily upset by small aggressions such as resource guarding. So it had to be a good fit – we weren’t going to jeopardize Leia’s happiness in her golden years.
We met Sunny around 4:15pm on Saturday. By 8pm we had arranged to take her home with us the next morning. It was clear to me basically straight-away that Sunny would be a great addition to our household. Her first day is detailed in my blog post here.
The next few days were largely spent with Sunny and Leia, getting acquainted with the new arrangement and following up on some of Sunny’s medical appointments as she had both dental work and kidney stones dealt with shortly before coming to us. Luckily our spontaneity did not backfire, and she has proven to be a loyal and gentle companion of Leia’s.
As of February 13th, the cold weather had been constant for nearly two weeks now, but warmer temps were on the way. I realized that meant that Trout Lake would be thawing soon and if I wanted to see it in its frozen glory, I better get over there. It didn’t disappoint! I went to an area that I knew was flooded and was visually quite interesting, and it was pretty awesome. The ice was plenty thick to support my weight, though I only walked around on areas I knew weren’t deep.
I looped around the lake and settled in on the benches that were flooded before becoming ice, and watched with some serious concern as two folks went out skating on the pretty thin ice. One of them actually fell through the ice in a shallow area… and still decided to head out into the middle of the lake!
Back home, Sunny was continuing to settle in well in her first month with us. She was already a favourite among the dog park regulars. Her and Leia got along well, didn’t really play or even interact that much but were both totally comfortable around one another. Sunny was also a great ‘helper’ when working on bikes.
Now the 15th of February, the snow has been turning to slush with the past couple days’ temperatures so I headed back out on the fat tire’d Stooge. With much of the roads now free of snow, I became acutely aware how slow these tires actually are. My heart rate was spiking just trying to over-take a jogger! No doubt they were great in the mud and snow, though.
Some Sunny silliness, and an update on the frozen marshland at Trout Lake – still partially frozen but thawing quickly. This was February 16th.
I also made some further upgrades to the Bike Friday – dynamo lighting was all wired up, I had a cool old titanium Jones bar from Tay and some matching blue Ergon grips. It was feeling pretty dialled in as an all-weather commuter and it rode great. I commuted on it twice over this week, including an extended route home one of the days, so this added up to over 60km of riding for the week alone.
Along came the weekend of the 22nd/23rd, and it poured with rain on Saturday so I stayed off the bike. A couple friends were riding the Seymour valley that day though and came back with tales of a mudslide along Fisherman’s – and I decided on Sunday, when the weather was much improved, to go check it out. At the last fork in the trail there was a sign indicating what to expect; but it wasn’t exactly stopping anyone. A runner came through with muddy feet – I had to go get mine muddy too.
I marvelled at how lusciously green everything was compared to the snow covered scene I witness a couple weeks earlier. I even wandered off-trail a bit to soak it all in. I had the big saddle bag mounted but it was empty – I was going to swing by a pal’s afterwards to pick up some beers they were holding for me.
I reached the mud slide, which was located just a few hundred feet before where the trail had significantly washed out a couple years ago. It was quite a spectacle, but indeed passable – though not without getting pretty muddy.
I reached the marsh at the start of Spur 4, which was still mostly frozen, and decided to keep going all the way up the valley – another 7km each way or so. The weather continued to improve with the sun now shining, which is a bit unusual for the valley – you can generally count on it being wetter up there than in the city.
The first half is gravel access road, but then there is about 2km of trail at the north end that is the highlight of the route (as I’ve surely said before), and highlight among the highlight is the Rainbow Creek loop. Appearing prehistoric, this moss- and lichen-covered area is home to some very old Sitka spruce.
I made my way out the 12km long parkway, then across north Vancouver and into Stanley Park – where I rode through some trails, visited an old tree, had a beer by the pond while watching ducks, then eventually across town to pick up a couple cases of beer – that barely fit and weighed a ton!
In the end I rode over 70km on this loop! https://www.strava.com/activities/13710099557
The next day Sunny and I went for a big walk over to the PNE grounds. She has proven to be snuggly and curious and pretty chill until she gets the zoomies. Her and Leia continue to become more comfortable around each other – Leia would get up and leave if she laid too close initially, but the trust has been building. Sunny is clearly very respectful of Leia.
I got some more rides in on the Bike Friday in the last week of February – a sun-soaked commute with parkbagging afterwards as well as the first TCR of the 2025 season with my slack pals. Somehow the only photo I got from parkbagging was of my food and beer haul en route.
The last day of February coincided with the last Friday of the month, which meant it was Critical Mass. I decided to go this time, along with my pal Graham. It was the smallest CM I’ve been to yet and as a result it was the most uncomfortable. Both Graham and I needed to calm our nerves afterwards and chose to do so by enjoying a beer at the top of a playground climbing structure. Always a good move as long as it’s after dark and there are no children!
So that’s a wrap on February 2025! I ended up riding 361 km for the month, which given the first two weeks’ weather and being a short month, I was pleasantly surprised by. That 70.5 km ride certainly helped, but also I had pretty good consistency, with 3-4 active days per week on average.
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