In my first three weeks in Victoria - it will be three weeks on Friday - I have been out riding about 8 times including one leisurely Sunday when I rode down to James Bay to see some houses for rent, and a couple of mail runs. I have had a couple of 30 k+ rides and a 51 k ride too.
My Canon G3 digital camera and Sony desktop computer stayed in Winnipeg with Claire. I got a Canon Powershot 410 before moving. I bought it at Shopper's Drugs. It runs on 2 AA batteries. It didn't have a DC adapter and I didn't want to use battery power while the camera was transferring files to the computer over a USB connection. The Canon adapter is expensive and it would have been a special order - which I wasn't going to wait for. A card reader was a less expensive and quicker option. It works to transfer the .JPG files from the camera card to the computer. It seems to be a simple and faster way to move images - plug the card into the reader, and the reader into the USB port, and copy the image files on the card to a new folder or file on my computer. From there I can crop and compress images with MS Photo Editor and attach them to emails or upload them here. I couldn't install the Canon image management software on my Pentium MMX Toshiba, under Win 98SE. The Canon software, which I had been running on the Sony before I gave the computer to Claire, had useful features for organizing files and getting thumbnail views, but I think there is nothing special about that. I can probably get the same functions in Photoshop - it's a question of finding something that works on this machine, or waiting to get settled in and getting a more powerful home computer. Meanwhile I can shoot, save and send so it's all working.
Yesterday Colleen called. She was about the only person I knew in Victoria before I moved and she had agreed to take my forwarded mail. Canada Post wouldn't let me rent a Victoria box from Winnipeg. She lives near Oak Bay, she had to leave for a squash game by 6:15. She gave me directions involving riding downtown on Douglas or Blanshard, then riding on Fort and turning on Oak Bay Road.
I road on Blanshard - a major arterial road, in a diamond lane for cyclists. On Fort, another major artery, the diamond lane is actually between the curb lane - which is for parking - and the 2 middle lanes. I was able to ride major routes without getting pinched by traffic.
The hills in the east end of Victoria are murder though. I am spending a lot of time on the middle ring, and shifting a lot. I think the rear shift cable was pinched on the trip because the shifts at 3-4-5 on the back cassette sometimes just hang. But I got another 15 k and my third ride in 4 days.
The next few days are forecast for rain and I should start looking at houses for rent.
It's Sunday night. I arrived in Victoria Friday night and I have managed to clean up my bike and to ride Saturday and today. The weather was good - sunny and 10 degrees. I didn't find my odometer/computer yesterday, and I didn't get a precise record of my distance. I found it today and to my relief it worked after the sending unit and wires had been exposed to wind and spray for 2,500 kilometers.
On Friday March 10, 2006, I arrived in Victoria on the BC Ferry, The Queen of Vancouver. I arrived in Victoria at about 5:30 PM. I didn't take pictures. I called Claire from the ferry terminal in Vancouver and wish her a happy 21st birthday.
Today, Thursday March 9, 2006 I crossed into British Columbia through the Yellowhead Pass, on the Yellowhead Highway, on the boundary of Jasper National Park:
The move was rescheduled, and the movers came on Friday March 3, 2006. The house was packed. I had set aside things to bring with me in the car - some cooking utensils, some plates and bowls to be able to start housekeeping in Victoria, a couple of suits, a supply of clean shirts, some casual clothes. I had set aside one bike, supplies for bike maintenance, helmet, shoes etc to be able to start cycling on arrival.
