Maple Ridge? Where's that?

It's been a terrible week.

My wife has had a bad cold so I've had to pick up my daughters from school everyday this week except for Wednesday.

So that means I've had to take the car instead of the Vespa. *sigh*

On the day that I did take the Vespa, I drove around the city where I live, Maple Ridge, for a while. A lot of the riding I do is around this place. I do love nature and trees and big skies but I really like suburban and urban landscapes. I enjoy riding on nicely paved streets with lots of people around, lights to stop at and buildings to cruise past. Mind you, I like the urban setting of Vancouver more than the suburb of Maple Ridge but Maple RIidge does have the added benefit that there are a whole lot more trees than Vancouver.

Maple Ridge has around 60,000 people and is about 45 km east of Vancouver. The weather is pretty similar to Vancouver although it can be a couple degrees colder in winter and a couple degrees hotter in summer. There are plenty of parks close by and community facilities like a Leisure Centre (pool, etc,), ice rink, and lots of sports fields.

It's really famous for horses - in fact, its called the Horse Capital of Canada. I don't ride horses so I wouldn't know.



It does have a horse clock (which is what my Vespa is in front of) which is one of its most famous landmarks. It's nicknamed the Beast and the guy that built it won a contest to commemorate Maple Ridge's rural past. There was quite a bit of controversy because it has a striking resemblance to a Hasbro toy.

Every 15 minutes it moves around and rears up on its hind legs on the hour. It was originally powered by some dinky little computer like a Vic 20 or a Commodore 64 but that was replaced this year.

So that was my only ride this week- so far....

Oh, and my wife's better now. :-)