What a great day for a bike ride. Perfect fall equinox weather - sunny, but just a little bit crisp. The two Norms shrugged off the cooler weather opting to wear shorts!

Although there were different rides on offer, we all did the same ride - the Stickleback to Leechtown, although John Coyne added an extra couple of kilometres by riding from home. Norm L. arrived a little early and opted to leave 10 minutes ahead of the Peloton - and maintained that lead all the way to Leechtown, much to his surprise!

The sun is definitely on the move [OK, it is the earth not the sun] - but the sun was struggling to reach the bottom of the river valley so that the waters remained in the shadows, even on the return ride. On the trail, the dappled Goose made it challenging to see debris on the ground.

Shortly after reaching Leechtown, two young female riders came by, but didn't return - although the end of the trail is only 100m further on. The collective wisdom of the Peloton was that they were waiting for us to take off, just so they could catch up and pass us, thus lowering the self esteem of ageing members of the Peloton. And that is exactly what they did - less than 1 kilometre down the track, we let them pass us. Show offs!!

Everyone stayed at the Stickleback and enjoyed lunch on the sun-drenched patio - thanks for the snap Rusty.

Over lunch, a former Calgary resident from the oil patch shared his grudging admiration for the new premier of Alberta! There was bewilderment at VW's massive cover-up - the VW stock price has plunged by almost 30% as shareholders are very jittery over how the behemoth is going to pay all the fines, loss of sales in their diesel line of vehicles, pay out class action suits etc. etc. Several of the group had owned V-Dub campers in the past - that led to an exchange of stories from Norm T.,Doug and Norm L. That in turn lead to stories about Ellice Automotive - a shop worthy of a visit - one where the mechanics have greasy hands and the bills are smudged and crumpled. Ah, the old days! John shared his experiences of life as a young man in the north of the Island, when he had to be flown out for medical attention; on the return flight, the pilot was a tad hung over and so had to land on the edge of a lake to allow himself to recover - ah the good old days! John shared a more recent and sedate experiences on Quadra. Norm T regaled us with his visits to art studios on Quadra including that of a famous guitar maker - only in the Gulf Islands!

The server who was a little sassy, clearly had the measure of the group - she attributed that to having a younger brother and a father who told lousy jokes! Norm T's dirty joke will not be shared in the blog!!

There was a bit of a commotion when we were getting ready leave the Stickleback - a black bear and her cub were up the apple tree out front of the eatery enjoying their lunch!

We all headed home thankful for the exercise, the sunny weather, the wonderful environment and, of course, the superlative company!