e-Bike Turbo Vado, Off to the Post Office, Coast Chimes

Off to the Post Office

It's lovely living on a steep hill overlooking the ocean, until it comes time to ride a bike, or even walk! Especially on a hot day, like today. If it were not for my e-bike, I would definitely be loading up the car and driving.

It feels great to spare the globe a little in the CO2 department, to get some fresh air, a little exercise (yes, it is still some work, even on an e-bike!). But this bike is fully loaded, there is no doubt! I am so happy to have made the decision to invest in really great panniers. These Arkel Orca 45's certainly do the trick.

Now off to the post office. These Coast Chimes customers do not want to wait any longer than they have to!

Beach Stone Art

A Wonderful Secluded Feeling Beach,
Gibsons, BC, Canada
Perfect for Collecting a Few Beach Stones

It is such a joy to ride my new e-Bike, I have taken to exploring and discovering places not that far from home that amaze me. I had no idea! After living on the Sunshine Coast for nearly 30 years, how could all these jewels never been visited? I guess I never looked.

Best of all, especially one new beach is rich in just the type of beach stone I need for my work. Often I have spent hours just to find a few stones suitable to use as clappers, or strikers, for my large copper wind chimes. Well, this beach has a lot of them. What a treat!

The beach is down an extremely steep hill that normally would be challenging just to walk up, and I don't know if anyone could ride a bike up it. But it happily does not faze my new Specialized Turbo Vado, even loaded down with 30 pounds of stones. My Arkel Orca 45 panniers are certainly more than up to the task, as well: exceptional quality.

So happy exploring, happy beach combing days are here!

Natural Beach Stone and Cobalt Blue Glass
Wind Chime
by Coast Chimes

e-Bike Time, Specialized Turbo Vado

My Specialized Turbo Vado e-Bike
A Fun Way to Explore and Beach Comb

The Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada, is a very hilly (mountainous, in fact) place. While understanding how it makes ecological sense to bike, I personally started sweating just thinking of the hills here. So most often I walked, which was fine but limiting. To the post office and back carrying my shipments took a long time. 

I like technology, and suddenly got a serious urge for an e-bike. Never looking back! The steepest hills are suddenly easily conquered.

This recent acquisition has had an added bonus, in that I now enjoy checking out new places. It turns out some very fine places are not that far from my home. Yesterday, looking at Google Maps, I saw a little beach marked. Peddling over, I was absolutely astounded at this beautiful, secluded place. What charm! Even better is that when I walked along, I discovered this beach is perhaps the best I have so far found on the Coast for the type of stones I need for my beach stone wind chimes. My new Arkel panniers will get tested carrying home a few of these heavy stones.

Since getting my bike just a couple of months ago, I have already logged over 700 kilometres. I am sure our car has many fewer kilometres on its odometer. Not only is the bike an awful lot of fun, but it also feels good not to be burning all that fossil fuel.

New Beach Found, Thanks to e-Bike Exploring

Back from Holiday, Galloping Goose Trail, Vancouver Island

Galloping Goose Bike Trail
Vancouver Island Holiday

Enjoying a Peaceful Break

Specialized Turbo Vado
First Long Bike Trip

It's hard for me to take time off from making wind chimes and suncatchers: I love my work! It is especially hard at this time of year; as the USA and Eastern Canada thaw out, and people turn to decorating their outdoor space, and it gets busy here at Coast Chimes. But everyone needs a break. A bike trip proved ideal, especially on Vancouver Island which turns out to be very bike-friendly. From downtown Victoria to the Galloping Goose nature trail, bikes often get priority on Vancouver Island— very different from most of the Sunshine Coast! My new Specialized Turbo Vado performed flawlessly, and the Buzzrack Scorpion H2 car rack was a real treat to use.

We meandered, enjoyed nature, enjoyed the gorgeous weather, saw new things (Bouchart Gardens— worth it!), and also had some fine meals out.

Now back to it. I have a very long to-do list, starting with firing back up my website and Etsy, and immediately producing many sets of copper and brass chimes (I am definitely behind!). Oh! I'll still take time each day for a nice walk / bike ride— that's just he way I work.

Specialized Turbo Vado to the Post Office

Specialized Turbo Vado e-bike
Coast Chimes Orders Headed to the Post Office

Most often in the past, I would put an order inside my large backpack, and strap the others onto the outside, sometimes during the busy seasons also having to add a large garbage bag or two, and hike the kilometres to our local post office. It was easy if the car happened to be home to do the simple thing and drive.

These pretty spring days, it is a pleasure to use my new e-bike. We have many really steep hills here, and I never felt like using a regular bike much-- just too hard on my knees. The e-bike lets me choose just how much assistance I want. Loaded down, steep hill, I can get a lot of help, making even the steepest hill no problem at all. Pleasure riding, or on the flat areas, I can basically turn off the assistance and get some work out.

The only issue is all the narrow, twisting roads we have here, or narrow roads with high speed limits. If there happens to be a bike lane, it tends to be a fairly narrow strip, no barrier, full of sticks, stones, or worse, and also frequent uneven pavement. It seems biking is becoming ever more popular, and I hope everyone puts pressure on the government to improve this situation. I myself plan to advocate for improvements.

I feel great getting some exercise, not contributing to the traffic and air pollution with an ICE. Customers or Coast Chimes may appreciate that I constantly do all I can to reduce, reuse, recycle. Also, I design and build all my creations to last, unlike cheaper stuff often designed for a season or two and to be thrown away.