After a string of horribly cold and rainy days here in Calgary, I finally had the chance to take my bike out again in sunny weather.

Yet another shot from Prince’s Island Park.

This street light falls just short of being higher than the tall buildings of downtown Calgary (at least it would appear with my camera angle).

Olympic Plaza was the venue for the medal ceremonies of the Calgary Olympics. I was tempted to bike through the shallow water, but that would probably end badly with me getting soaked.

Around City Hall are several expensive statues and structures. However, all I seem to focus on the plant life!

This lion is quite a hard worker. It seems to be holding up the flag poles with only its nose and guarding the doors to the building 24/7! The old City Hall building is in the background, attached to the much larger expanded part.

The “Trees” sculture on Stephen Avenue actually serve the functional purpose of reducing wind gusts between the buildings.

Even the strongest U-Locks are apparently useless on Stephen Avenue downtown. There was nearly a dozen locks perfectly intact on these bike racks.

EDIT: Apparently these locks are actually left by regular commuters to reserve a spot, as Joe tells me in the comments.

A dramatic sky and construction shot, one of many in downtown.

While driving by a construction site on my way home, I noticed this sign. Security on-site? So who’s on duty? Let me give you a closer look.

The tough and mean Canada Geese guard this future something with all their power! Good choice though. These birds are capable of bringing down planes!

It was a nice night tonight. Not much traffic, which makes for a safer ride on city streets.

After being home in Saint John recently, I realized how much I missed being able to bike around. So I began looking for a bike. Although I was open to spending what I needed to for a good bike, I didn’t need to break the bank to meet my city road and trail needs.

Following recommendations and some research, I went to Bow Cycle in Bowness, a local bike store in Calgary. I had tried Canadian Tire, but their selection, service and quality is all bad. I was initially considering The Bike Shop downtown as well, but I have little use for a store that wastes my time by having me fill out out a bike needs survey only to have it ignored.

The model I ended up is the Bownesian, which is basically a Kona Dew with a special paint job for Bow Cycle only.

Appropriately so, Calgary’s beautiful Bow River is in the background of this hybrid bicycle. It cost about $449. I have already installed many accessories including two water bottle holders, night lights, seat bag and more.

I wasted no time in outfitting my new toy with accessories, including this computer! It tells me lots of things such as current speed, distance, etc. To the left, you see the bell which came with the bike, as well as a night light.

Today was my first chance to take this thing for a real spin. I started in Silverthorne Park which runs right next to the Bow River. Many of my photos in Calgary so far have been taken here.

I wasn’t really sure where I was going so I went through the park and followed the river which leads into many other parks. Finally, I see tall buildings, and know I’m downtown.

Prince’s Island Park has plenty of wonderful vistas.

Just to the left of Prince’s Island Park are many skyscrapers under construction.

I found my way back home, mainly thanks to my BlackBerry GPS since the only way I’ve known to get downtown thus far is by train. It will take a bit of time to learn the best and safest roads to take by bike. The one shown here, at 6-7 lanes, is an example of a less than ideal biking road.

Having said that, while taking side streets, I’ve discovered that based on the flat terrain and my biking speed, it should take about the same amount of time to bike as it would to take the train, 30 minutes or so. About half of this time with the train, 15 minutes, is spent simply walking to Brentwood Station.