John Harvey Photo

September 2019

Go to Slide Show Smaller Images Night Activities!


Bike the Night!

Claira Praguery Food Truck Ice CreamNara Praguery Food Truck Ice Cream
First time for me - we decided to try out the Bike the Night event, organized by Bikehub.  The ride starts at Sunset Beach downtown and goes around False Creek, past Granville Island then over the Burrard Street Bridge and back to the West End.  Our plan was to exit the ride at Granville Island so we could take the short walk home.


Getting to Sunset Beach in the West End was a bit tricky.  Plan A would be to ride over the Burrard Street Bridge, but the bridge is tall and we would probably arrive with tired kids.  Plan B was to start at Granville Island and take the bike ferry over to the downtown side and then ride along the seawall to the park.  We rode Plan B.

Staging Area
 
Queuing At The Start Of Ride
After an ice cream fuel up, we got in line on Beach Avenue for the start of the ride.  We think the ride got started a few minutes late (7:45 was advertised, but there was a distant speech at the front of the line that we didn't hear).  The ride started very slowly as packed queue slowly expanded to riding speed.  The first few hundred meters was less than walking pace.


Vancouver House Over Beach Avenue
We started on Beach Avenue and rode under the Burrard Street Bridge.  Beach Avenue is only one lane each way and pretty quite most days so this didn't seem that much different from a regular ride.  When we got to the Granville Street Bridge, we turned up under it and let out onto Pacific Street - one of the major routes downtown.

Biking Under Granville Street Bridge

Once we were on Pacific Street, we rode down the hill into Yaletown.  We had all of the East bound lanes so suddenly there was a lot of space between bikes.  The police blocked all of the intersections so we kept riding, even if the light was red.  There were volunteers and lots of people ringing bike bells as we rode past people watching us.

Entering Yaletown On Pacific StreetThe Arc From Pacific Street

Biking Under Downtown Cambie BridgesAquilini Centre South With Rogers Arena
 
Canada Flag On BCPlace
Once you ride past BC Place, the tall buildings start to thin out.  There aren't any tall buildings on the ocean side (there may be a park there some day) and the skytrain and causeways block building on the city side. 

Passing Science World
 
Hold Up In Olympic Village
The skyline gets busy again once we rode into the Olympic Village.  We had our only real bunch up on Olympic Village.  Our bike path would make the village an Island so they had to stop us from time to time to let cars get through.

Quebec Street Into Olympic Village
 
  Under Cambie Street Bridge
The last leg of the ride for us was along 6th Ave.  Again, no tall buildings (steep slope on the left, railway tracks on the right) so it feels quiet.  We got off 6ths on the access road for Granville Island and rode down to Granville Island.

Turning Onto Lameys Mill Road
  At this point, we got off the ride so we could walk home.  The kids had a great time and wished we had gone all the way.  Maybe next year!

Taekwondo Belt Testing

Claira Nara Doing First FormsDoing Ax Kicks
The kids have been taking Taekwondo for about a year and it's time for them to do their belt testing to move up.  The kids are in a dojo with multiple locations but the testing is centralized - all kids from all classes test at the same time.  Being a kids program, the youngest kids are maybe 5 years old but the oldest are teens.  The test has multiple phases - fitness, trivia, poomse, blocking and board breaking.  They get a total score out of of 100, but basically all kids passed.


The part the kids liked the most was the board breaking.  The sound of breaking the board is intense and you get two pieces of wood to take home!

Nara Breaking BoardClaira Breaking Board
Both kids did really well - congratulations!

Cross Country Race

 Kids CheeringClaira Launching From Start Line
The kids school has an active cross country program - run mostly by volunteer parents.  The kids come to school three days a week and run laps around the school.  The coaches teach them how to launch, how to pass and how to keep running.  There are 4 after school meets and then a city wide meet up at the end.  The whole thing lasts about two months before the weather gets too cold and dark.


 The race days start with the grade sevens, then the kindergarten + grade 1's and then each grade after that.  Both Nara and Claira race.  Even though the after school meets are just a fraction of the schools in city of Vancouver, there is often 50+ kids from the same grade on the start line.
 
Claira Rounding The PondClaira Running Into Finish Area
 
Nara Launching From Start LineNara Starting Race
As the grades go up, the course gets a little longer.  We were running at Vanier Park which has a reasonable sized pond that the kids run around.  The course has some up and down hill which is probably makes it more interesting to run.


Nara Rounding PondNara Finishing Race
When the kids get to the end, they get ribbon.  The first 15 (or so) kids get "placer" ribbons with what number they got.  The rest of the kids get participation ribbons.  It's amazing the variety in ability in kids running - some are clearly gifted at running and some putting 110% into the race.


Funny thing happened on this race day - a beaver left the big pond and had to cross the race course to get to a different pond.  It was a Canadian moment watching the kids run around the beaver.

Beaver Blocking Race CourseBeaver In Pond

 


Claira Rounding The Pond
Person: Claira
Tags: cross country, running
Biking Under Downtown Cambie Bridges
Altitude: 21m (68 feet)
Location: Go To...
Nara Finishing Race
Person: Nara
Tags: cross country, running
Claira Breaking Board
Person: Claira
Tags: Taekwondo
Nara Starting Race
Person: Nara
Tags: cross country, running
Kids Cheering
Under Cambie Street Bridge
Altitude: 9m (29 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: biking, bridge, underneath
Nara Breaking Board
Person: Nara
Tags: Taekwondo
Hold Up In Olympic Village
Altitude: 22m (72 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: biking, night, Olympic Village, Vancouver
Doing Ax Kicks
Person: Claira, Nara
Tags: Taekwondo
Canada Flag On BCPlace
Altitude: 30m (98 feet)
Location: Go To...
The Arc From Pacific Street
Altitude: 31m (101 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: biking, building, Vancouver
Vancouver House Over Beach Avenue
Location: Go To...
Tags: biking, building, Vancouver
Nara Launching From Start Line
Person: Nara
Tags: cross country, running
Claira Nara Doing First Forms
Person: Claira, Nara
Tags: Taekwondo
Aquilini Centre South With Rogers Arena
Queuing At The Start Of Ride
Altitude: 36m (118 feet)
Location: Go To...
Passing Science World
Location: Go To...
Tags: biking, night, Science World, Vancouver
Turning Onto Lameys Mill Road
Altitude: 18m (59 feet)
Location: Go To...
Biking Under Granville Street Bridge
Location: Go To...
Tags: biking, bridge, underneath
Beaver In Pond
Species: Castor canadensis (American Beaver)
Entering Yaletown On Pacific Street
Altitude: 20m (65 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: biking, night, Vancouver, Yaletown
Nara Rounding Pond
Person: Nara
Tags: cross country, running
Beaver Blocking Race Course
Claira Running Into Finish Area
Person: Claira
Tags: cross country, running
Nara Praguery Food Truck Ice Cream
Person: Nara
Altitude: 7m (22 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: ice cream
Claira Praguery Food Truck Ice Cream
Person: Claira
Altitude: 7m (22 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: ice cream
Quebec Street Into Olympic Village
Location: Go To...
Tags: biking, night, Olympic Village, Vancouver
Staging Area
Altitude: 6m (19 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: crowd, Vancouver
Claira Launching From Start Line
Person: Claira
Tags: cross country, running
Tags: biking(8), running(7), cross country(7), Vancouver(7), Taekwondo(4), night(4)
People: Nara(8), Claira(7)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2023 to 2005 > September 2019

Leave a Comment

Some HTML allowed: <b>, <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>, but most isn't.  Text length is limited.  comments from first time authors will be reviewed before being posted. comments with swearing or painfully poor spelling will probably be rejected.


Last Modified Sunday, January 22nd, 2023 at 00:05:47 Edit
Copyright and Contact Information.