We'd just like to let our friends in Libya know that our thoughts are with them and that we hope they are safe.
Let's hope Gadaffi leaves ASAP, so that the slaughter stops.
For the real news of what's happening in Libya, go to:
http://www.libyafeb17.com/
Warning....very graphic material on some of the videos.
Monday, February 21, 2011
323 kms in one day
Report at the bottom.
The computer time at the bottom flashes when it goes over 10 hours. So that should read 15:41. The average speed of 21.8 stopped at 10 hours too.
Warming up after the rain, in roadside shrine.
Same as above
Strange tree plantation
10km from Esmeraldas....not lookin' too bad for wear.
Esmeraldas river the next day. This is Ecuador's oil port. Lot's of tankers waiting their turn, to keep the wheels of our global economy greased. At least until empire collapse, climate change, overpopulation etc take care of that.
A self-indulgent blog entry here. I had thought about breaking my previous record for kms cycled in one day, which was 277km. So at midnight Friday, I set out under a full moon. Gradual uphill of 800m? vertical over 50km to the top of the pass. Then downhill in the rain for 20min and a total of about 75 "free" kms DH. Through Santo Domingo and Quininde, past the pineapples, cocoa, palm oil trees to Esmeraldas on the coast at 6:30pm....sunset. Whew...just made it. 323kms 15:40 peddaling time. 18.5 hours total for an average of just under 20 kph. Took the first hotel with a chinese food restraunt beside it and flopped out till 6 am. Then rode to the beach...a further 4 km and rode around town. Got on the 8:20 bus and 6 hours later I was dropped off just below Quito and whizzed downhill for 35km to get home by 4pm Sunday. I feel great today. It's the bus that killed me. The seats are made for little people and someone had pissed on my seat, which I didn't notice for about an hour (cycle short padding gradually soaked it up) and as the bus was packed, there was no other seat. yuk. So it only takes the bus 1/3 of the time it takes me to get to the Pacific.
The computer time at the bottom flashes when it goes over 10 hours. So that should read 15:41. The average speed of 21.8 stopped at 10 hours too.
Warming up after the rain, in roadside shrine.
Same as above
Strange tree plantation
10km from Esmeraldas....not lookin' too bad for wear.
Esmeraldas river the next day. This is Ecuador's oil port. Lot's of tankers waiting their turn, to keep the wheels of our global economy greased. At least until empire collapse, climate change, overpopulation etc take care of that.
A self-indulgent blog entry here. I had thought about breaking my previous record for kms cycled in one day, which was 277km. So at midnight Friday, I set out under a full moon. Gradual uphill of 800m? vertical over 50km to the top of the pass. Then downhill in the rain for 20min and a total of about 75 "free" kms DH. Through Santo Domingo and Quininde, past the pineapples, cocoa, palm oil trees to Esmeraldas on the coast at 6:30pm....sunset. Whew...just made it. 323kms 15:40 peddaling time. 18.5 hours total for an average of just under 20 kph. Took the first hotel with a chinese food restraunt beside it and flopped out till 6 am. Then rode to the beach...a further 4 km and rode around town. Got on the 8:20 bus and 6 hours later I was dropped off just below Quito and whizzed downhill for 35km to get home by 4pm Sunday. I feel great today. It's the bus that killed me. The seats are made for little people and someone had pissed on my seat, which I didn't notice for about an hour (cycle short padding gradually soaked it up) and as the bus was packed, there was no other seat. yuk. So it only takes the bus 1/3 of the time it takes me to get to the Pacific.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Getting carried away with the soap bar
Leave the kid alone in the bathroom for a few minutes and this is what you get!
Run, bike, hike, swing, visit, pee pee, poo poo
Thee latest family photo.
Still flying at 40
Do her feet ever touch the ground? And that's going uphill!
Swinging above Quito! Weeeeeee! On a ridge separating Quito from the valley we live in.
180 degrees from the above photo....is where we live....at the bottom left of the old volcano Ilalo.
Cotopaxi
Adam cruised thru on his way from the beach to Colombia.
The treehouse out front. Ramon really can hammer in the nails and even start them on his own. There will be more metal than wood in that treehouse soon!
Chocolate poo. Actually that is chocolate cake on her face....the vegan recipe with lots of avacodo in it.
Cyclists Karin and Martin from Holland...on their way south from Alaska.
The pee part of the blog. "Forbidden to pee here...don't be a pig!"
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Cycle Touring to the Amazon....starring Ramon
This little bike trip exceeded expectations, as I wasn't sure if Ramon was old enuf to hang on! Bumps, rain and humid heat, couldn't knock him off his perch! Bussed up to 4000m and biked down to a muggy 280m at Lago Agrio in the Amazon. 223km in 4 days.
Papallacta, just below the 4000m pass. Looks a bit like Swiss countryside no?
A swim in a river every day, kept him happy. Along with many popsicle stops.
Dye is injected into the eggs, b/f birth. Cute...but not sure I'd want to munch on one.
The active Reventador volcano to the right at 3562m
Gotta keep baby doggy happy too.
Ramon on the oil pipeline that paralleled the road the whole distance, which of course is the only reason the road exists...and our entire industrialized culture for that matter. Pumps b/t 1-6 metres per second!
Landslide at 7pm the previous evening. We got there at 9am. They still had a few hours work ahead of them, so I walked the bike thru the mud, with some help. Vehicles started coming by a few hours later. Ah...the many advantages of a carbohydrate burning machine :)
Boy is he gonna be shocked if he does the same thing in a Canadian river one day!
Many bridges have been washed out recently, hence the large number of Bailey bridges. The tractor/trailer can't make the tight corner on the new bridge....but our trailer can!!!!!!!!
He loves to stop and watch machines at work.
View from our hotel window.
They were refilling the pool...which was perfect for Ramon at waist deep.
Tilapia
San Rafael falls. Highest in Ecuador at 130m. I thought this was it...but as the next pic shows...a few more metres into the bush....
1 hour return hike at the end of a hard cycling day...well for dad...then I had to carry him back up!
The next morning...the cloud on the left is where the falls are.
A smoking Reventador as seen on the other side. Very lucky to view this, as they get 6 metres of rain a year here.
Ramon always wants to use the camera now.
I can never get enuf of this view. The flat horizon of the world's biggest jungle, stretching out to the Atlantic; a mere 5,000km or so away. Too much to fathom.
Yup...the little man can eat and drink and ride at the same time.
We must have had over a hundred photos taken of us during the 4 days. No cyclists in these parts, let alone a 4 year old on a tag along. Everyone is a photographer these days, with cameras in their cell phones.
Sorry mom...don't know the name of the black and yellow bird that makes these nests.
Another sandy Amazon tributary.
Cooling his heels after a hard day of pedalling.
And finally some rain to cool us off on the last morning.
Got in at 9ish and took the 6.5 hour bus back home. I can see more of these trips happening in the future.
Papallacta, just below the 4000m pass. Looks a bit like Swiss countryside no?
A swim in a river every day, kept him happy. Along with many popsicle stops.
Dye is injected into the eggs, b/f birth. Cute...but not sure I'd want to munch on one.
The active Reventador volcano to the right at 3562m
Gotta keep baby doggy happy too.
Ramon on the oil pipeline that paralleled the road the whole distance, which of course is the only reason the road exists...and our entire industrialized culture for that matter. Pumps b/t 1-6 metres per second!
Landslide at 7pm the previous evening. We got there at 9am. They still had a few hours work ahead of them, so I walked the bike thru the mud, with some help. Vehicles started coming by a few hours later. Ah...the many advantages of a carbohydrate burning machine :)
Boy is he gonna be shocked if he does the same thing in a Canadian river one day!
Many bridges have been washed out recently, hence the large number of Bailey bridges. The tractor/trailer can't make the tight corner on the new bridge....but our trailer can!!!!!!!!
He loves to stop and watch machines at work.
View from our hotel window.
They were refilling the pool...which was perfect for Ramon at waist deep.
Tilapia
San Rafael falls. Highest in Ecuador at 130m. I thought this was it...but as the next pic shows...a few more metres into the bush....
1 hour return hike at the end of a hard cycling day...well for dad...then I had to carry him back up!
The next morning...the cloud on the left is where the falls are.
A smoking Reventador as seen on the other side. Very lucky to view this, as they get 6 metres of rain a year here.
Ramon always wants to use the camera now.
I can never get enuf of this view. The flat horizon of the world's biggest jungle, stretching out to the Atlantic; a mere 5,000km or so away. Too much to fathom.
Yup...the little man can eat and drink and ride at the same time.
We must have had over a hundred photos taken of us during the 4 days. No cyclists in these parts, let alone a 4 year old on a tag along. Everyone is a photographer these days, with cameras in their cell phones.
Sorry mom...don't know the name of the black and yellow bird that makes these nests.
Another sandy Amazon tributary.
Cooling his heels after a hard day of pedalling.
And finally some rain to cool us off on the last morning.
Got in at 9ish and took the 6.5 hour bus back home. I can see more of these trips happening in the future.
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