April 28th (Afternoon)

April 28th (Afternoon)

Well, what blows East must eventually blow West I suppose around these parts. After two days of 30-50km/h head winds, today I got the same wind home but finally it was a tailwind! I'm not sure which hill it was (I'm assuming Hugh Allan), but somewhere I managed to hit 80km/h... Oops! I wasn't really paying attention to the computer (at those kind of speeds, I'm just hanging on and watching everything out in front of me). I tried taking a picture with my phone as "proof", but it is a bit blurry...

Down into Peterson's creek was really quite good (except I still missed the same two switchbacks, dang it). It was quite a bit faster, and yet not out of control at all. In fact, the brakes felt very grabby. I had adjusted them Monday night the best I've had them yet (using the business card on each side of the rotor trick). Boy, did they ever work! It might also have been due to the rain we've had this week which firmed up the trail a bit, giving the tires a lot more grip. Whatever it was, it was a very fun down! Going up was the same as ever, 4 stops, 1/3 walking.

The section through Frolek's land is totally wrecked, unfortunately. They have completely trashed the road and the trails with their big, bad bulldozer... I snapped some pictures to hopefully demonstrate this sacrilege.. :) The transistion to my trail at the end was completely dozed over, and I had to climb a 6' cliff that was falling away under my feet to get up onto it... ARRGGG! This used to be such a fun transistion... :(


I think they drove around a bit today with a truck or something, because there were some semi-smooth sections, but the same sections would often give way to about 3 inches of sand... Ugghh..

Like this corner... I did make it through it though! Took some grinding and pushing in a higher gear, but I didn't put a foot down (except for stopping for pictures). 

Here's the final section I have to ride (on crown land here). On the right, notice the trail? Yep, that's my trail... Now I have a bit of bike-on-the-shoulder climbing to do. The road goes down and that just means I must come back up, so that's not an option. I may start looking into options higher up at the beginning if I think I can handle the extra climbing... :) Maybe this weekend I'll go out on a bit of a ride to see what options I have?

The pipeline section was fun as usual, I tried getting my speed back up to what I used to do prior to my log/stick encounter, which worked well as I did make the 2nd to last peak. Still no luck on the final peak of course yet (1/2 way up or so). The stretch to Juniper was great fun!

After I made it to Juniper, I turned and headed down the hill to Valleyview as it was Taryn's practice. All in all, with the extra distance, it was still on 44 minutes riding time (2 minutes less than Monday's time as that ride was with the headwind).

April 27th (Aft) and April 28th (Morning)

April 27th (Afternoon)

As it is Tuesday, today was dog obedience class again so it is my “freebie” ride home as I get to ride downhill 90% of the way to the park. It was fun, but the winds were at it again. I managed to draft behind a semi truck for most of the flat section on Notre Dame, and the rest is steep downhills so the wind isn’t much of a factor as I’m usually tapping the brakes anyways trying not to run into the cars who are being good drivers and abiding by the speed limit laws... :) From downtown (Lansdowne street intersection all the way to the park), traffic was backed up at a standstill, so it was nice to be on a bike for sure! I was able to pass all the cars standing still and make it to the park in the same time in the end. Sweet! I waited for Corrie to come for about 5 minutes, so I just rode back and forth through the parking lot practicing bunny hops over speed bumps. Someone told me this skill might come in handy some day...

 

April 28th (Morning)

Well, no rain this morning but a chilly 6°. The trails were great again, this time I managed to stay on the trail... :) Anyways, my time was 1/2 a minute longer to the bus stop than yesterday, but I’m not sure why as I felt really good and, again, was in the 3:8 combo most of the way. And I felt pretty fast coming out of the trials at the last downhill section. But, the computer doesn’t lie!

 

From TRU to work I felt very tired today, worse than yesterday. Today I felt even lazy. I ended up hitting the granny gear going up Hillside. And my time was a minute longer than before, and my average speed was 1 km/h slower. I have been watching a trail that follows Hillside drive all the way up to the mall, so I think I’ll try that sometime soon. I doubt it will be easier really in the end, but I just like dirt better... :)

 

Corrie’s Mom and sister are coming this morning to help with the baby whenever he/she decides to make its grand entrance, so I hope the flights are good! It’s supposed to snow in Calgary today, so hopefully they leave the snow there. I really would rather not to have to ride through that again... :(

 

April 26th (Aft) and April 27th (Morning)

April 26th (Afternoon)

Well, after a really fun ride this morning, I had a very “grumpy” ride home... I felt fine, but the winds were howling again, and this time against me. Granted, they were only between 30 and 50 km/h, but still, it was a struggle to get any sort of decent speed going and to keep it going. The only fast section really was Springhill drive, where, for the most part, the hill blocked much of the wind for me so I was still able to get some decent speeds. But coming down Hugh Allan was brutal!

 

Going through Peterson’s creek was pretty normal. Speeds were the same and stops were the same, both up and down. I did, however, feel like I rode a bit further up on each stretch, so if I can continue pushing each of these sections a little bit each day, I will start seeing progress.

 

The section through Frolek’s land, usually a really fun and fast section, was also brutal. Not only because of the wind, but the roads have been completely destroyed by a bulldozer. I’m not sure what they’re doing, maybe making it wider for vehicles or just trying to smooth it out a bit. But what is normally about 5 minutes of fast, fun downhill track turned into about 10 minutes of a churned up, sandy mess. I was in 2:1 combo the whole way, pushing through the sand, bouncing down the road. The feeling was akin to riding along railway tracks, but throw in the surprise that every other “track” simply gives way underneath you and causes you to suddenly churn, heave and push through another sand pile. And then, to top it all off, they even went past the boundaries of land unto crown land, and for some reason suddenly dug away a portion of the hill where I take a trail to head towards the gas line hills. This meant that I had to dismount and climb up the 2 foot cliff now where I used to be able to smoothly transition from road to trail (and it was a really fun transition).  So, yes, by the time I got to the pipeline hills, I was grumpy.

 

The hills there were OK, but I didn’t make neither the last hill (as per normal), nor the second to the last hill (which I know I can make). This was partly due to the fact that I was much slower through this section than normal, as this was my first time through here since the derailleur episode.

 

The final stretch from Rose Hill to Juniper, another really fun section normally, wasn’t as fun as it normally was due to the wind! I really hate headwinds, but honestly, what biker doesn’t? I can normally average speeds in the mid 40’s through here, but I was lucky to even hit 40km/h let alone average there. So, yeah, once I got home I was not in a very good mood.

 

I tried looking into alternate routes, but nothing is really available that doesn’t add one additional, major climbs as well as lots of time overall. I will continue looking into this (Google Earth really is an indispensible tool for this to show the topography where Google maps simply shows aerial views or far away terrain views). Maybe I’ll try climbing a bit to find some other trails on Friday or some day when I have the time to explore. Although I’ve been told that the upper trails are pretty bad too (due to the logging/bulldozer).

 

April 27th (Morning)

Again, those trails coming down out of Juniper are so much fun. Tough, tight and technical single-track (pedals are hitting the hill on the left, but the tires are hanging off the edge on the right). There’s one section where I climb to the top of a little hill, turn 90° to the right, and then drop through a very short little ravine (about a 6 foot drop down and back up, nothing huge for sure). At the dip, someone has put two 2x6’s side by side to bridge the gap (about 4 feet long) and for some reason, today, I couldn’t help but watch the edge and, of course, barely made it over the 2x6’s without falling off them (no worries, it would’ve been about a 2’ drop max) and so I hit the trail on the other side way off course and slid off the trail completely. It was drizzly and wet, so the edge of the trail gave way pretty easy. But, I made the rest of the trail. And then there’s that double-track. Man, what a blast! I got onto Valleyview road about the same time I would normally be riding past that section, so the timing was perfect.

 

The rest of the ride was really good. I was in the big gear (3:8 combo) most of the way, and shaved off 1-1/2 minutes from this route already. Even though it was Tuesday, I felt like I had the energy of a Monday. This could be due to the fact that I had washed and oiled the bike the night before (I had forgotten to finish this on Sunday and paid for it on Monday).

 

I got off the bus again at TRU, but I didn’t feel nearly as good on this stretch. In fact, I felt very tired. But, I made the whole hill still in 28 minutes (same time as the last two!), and stayed in the middle ring the whole way. It was raining a bit, so I got a little wet, but it wasn’t pouring. They are calling for thunder showers for my way home tonight... Great...

 

April 26th (Morning)

April 26th (Morning)

This morning I took the trail network out of Juniper West. It was a blast! I even tried a slightly different path this morning which turned out to be some very tight and technical single-track, and it was pretty sweet! The rest of the trails down were basically double track. Very fast, so once I get more familiar with the terrain this is going to be a great wake up call for me in the mornings! The only issue I thought of this morning was that this is next to the dump and who visits dumps? Bears! Haha! Guess I should look into some bear spray?

These trails only ended up adding an extra 5 minutes to my ride at the most. I had budgeted for 10, so I was a bit early for the bus and started getting rather cold sitting and waiting all sweaty... :)

I got off the bus at TRU again. Stayed in the middle ring the whole way up! All in all I felt pretty good this morning, considering the ride up Juniper’s hill yesterday. Obviously, with that ride, I didn’t have my typical Monday morning speeds. It was 48 minutes of riding this morning. Compare that to my 42-46 minutes of afternoon riding and I’m getting a good hour and a half of riding time in each day, so that’s awesome!

Sunday Morning, April 25th

Well, seeing as how I had Friday off of riding due to my derailleur mishap, I figured I would go for a nice little ride this morning and try and find a cool trail coming out of Juniper down towards downtown. Don't get me wrong, I love coming down the Juniper hill and hitting speeds of 75km/h, but that just can't compare to a really fast and flowing singletrack or doubletrack in my opinion.

So, I left the house at 6:30am and headed up and out of Juniper. I know there's a network of trails down there, but I just am not sure how to get to them. At the top of Juniper is a very steep downhill/drop off that I'm a bit nervous to venture out on right now. So, I tried finding a trail that wasn't as much of a dropoff, and instead found a "slight narrow clearing" to ride down (which turned out to be pretty steep still). Anyways, I finally met up with some good trails and started riding.

However, I would appreciate it if Google Maps would update their satellite images! Because the trail/road I was expecting wasn't there... And I ended up going down through a really neat little valley section where there was dirt cliffs going up on both sides of the road. It was really neat looking. Unfortunately, this road goes right alongside the Valleyview dump and as such, there was garbage everywhere. But, on the flip side, it sure reminded me of riding in Mexico! Now I had the terrain similarities AND the garbage!

However, this trial eventually dead-ended at a gate into the dump and I had to turn around. On the way back up this hill, I did notice a small trail heading in the direction I wanted to go originally so I took it and it finally met up with the original track that I had scouted on Google Maps. This was a fast, curvy double track all the way down into Valleyview. What a blast! Once I'm comfortable with this trail, man is it going to be fun!

Oh, and just so you know I practiced my bunny hopping every 20 seconds... :)

It took me about 20 minutes from my house to Valleyview road. I came out just west of Vicars road, an intersection that normally takes me about 7minutes to get to on the paved streets. When I subtract about 5-7 minutes for backtracking and slow riding due to unfamiliar terrain, I would probably only have to leave the house about 10 minutes earlier.

Well, what goes down, no matter how much fun it was, must go back up... So, I figured I couldn't live in Juniper and be into biking without tackling the Juniper hill... And up I went.

And up...

And UP....

Ugggh... Granny gear was my best friend, and together we crested the top in about 20minutes, sweating profusely, breathing like the world just ran out of oxygen, but alive and smiling at my latest triumph! What a fun way to start a Sunday! Maybe I should take every Friday off... :)

Well, I'll report back in tomorrow!

April 22nd (Afternoon)

April 22nd (Afternoon)

Well, today’s ride was going pretty well, aside from the fact that I almost T-Boned a Crown Victoria pulling out of the Petro Canada on Rogers Way! It was like she looked right at me, and then still decided to pull out. So as I was sliding and skidding up towards her door, she looks out at me in surprise and mouths “Sorry!”... Alrighty then! I was going about 55km/h right there, so I will just assume she didn’t judge my speed properly. Hopefully the next biker she sees she’ll think twice!

Well, there was no wind, for or against. So that’s OK. I made it down into Peterson’s Creek pretty well, still missing those two darn switchbacks. Now I have to start worrying about it becoming habit, and mentally fighting the idea that “I just can’t make this one” as I come up to it. I really think I can, but so much of it is mental, and the first one that I come to that I typically get off at has a decent price to pay for failure, as the hill going off of the edge is pretty steep and long. Granted, by the time I stopped, I’d be at the lower part of the trail so that would be bonus! But, yeah, it’s tough to not focus on that edge, so I think my challenge there right now is mentally. The second one that I miss is tough simply because it’s so steep coming into it that I have a hard time controlling my speed and typically come in too fast and then have to bail. Fortunately there it’s an inside switchback, meaning that there is no cliff to worry about if I do miss!

Going up was the same as the last few times. 4 stops, about 1/3 of the way was spent walking. I’m not seeing much progress here, but again I’m thinking it’s starting to become more of a mental battle. As I continuously get off at the same spots every time, I start only setting my sights to those points, or just a bit farther, rather than trying to see if I can go much further. Granted, at those points I am burning pretty bad! But, still, a mental battle for sure.

Well, after that it was pretty good. They are doing some logging or something on Frolek’s land, and tore up the trail pretty good in one area. Time will tell how bad they’re going to make this section! As it is a road, I would assume they are going to fix it up soon. However, after Frolek’s land, I hit the peak/valley section before Rose Hill. I got much higher speeds coming off of the second peak, and was flying down into the valley when suddenly I noticed a log laying smack across my trial...

I hit the brakes hard but could tell that there was no way I was going to stop...

So I tried banking up the side of the trail, but there was nowhere to go...

So, at the last minute, I tried to bunny hop. I doubt that I got even 2” of air, and this was a decent size log with branches sticking out left and right...

What really happened was that I basically just plowed through the log in a cloud of dust, sticks and bark flying everywhere. As I was hitting the log, all I could think was “What will it feel like when one of these pieces jambs into my spokes and I take up flying lessons???” Fortunately, I came out of the dust cloud still rolling on my bike, so I cruised to the top of the hill, which is when I noticed that my chain would not stop hopping around the cogs. So I glanced down and saw the damage. Oops! The rear derailleur cage was flared out about one or two inches at the bottom. I looked it over, even tugged on it a bit. Yeah, there was no fixing this!

So I called Corrie, walked to Rose Hill Drive and she took me down to the bike shop. I grabbed another rear derailleur (the bike shop owner was awesome, he was like “I don’t even have this in inventory yet, just come by this weekend and we’ll settle it up.” Yep, there’s a reason why I’m so loyal to a place like this!) Anyways, I got home, had supper, then went to start the derailleur replacement when I also noticed that the dropout was bent as well. The frame was chipped a bit. Luckily, though, upon further inspection I couldn’t see any other damage (no missing spokes, the wheel still runs true, the frame is OK I’m pretty sure). However, as the bike shop was now closed, that just meant that I couldn’t ride today. So, Corrie’s going to take the bike in this morning and get them to look it over for any other damage. The derailleur was just a Shimano Acera, so if it isn’t too much, I think I’d like to upgrade maybe to an LX or something?

But, for now, I guess I get Friday off now! And money is already so tight, this isn’t something we’d planned on doing for sure. Hopefully the Juniper garage sale this next weekend helps us out a bunch! But, the fact is that this bike is my method for getting to work, so we have to repair it. I can’t just let it sit ‘till I get the $50 saved up! It’s too bad, really, because I was hoping my first purchase for this bike would’ve been biking shoes, or a new front rotor or something... :(

Well, as I won’t be riding ‘till Monday, have a great weekend!

April 21st (Aft) and April 22nd (Morning)

April 21st (Afternoon)

Wow, what a difference a bit of wind can make. I wrote on Monday afternoon about how much I hated the wind and how bad that ride was. Well, today the wind was on my side, and not against me, and what a difference it made! And at a time when I was motivationally challenged, it couldn’t have picked a better opportunity to lift me, both physically and in spirits! Thank you, Lord, for the little blessings! The wind was probably about 40-50kmh. I am guessing at this as it wasn’t ‘till I would hit about that speed when I would finally feel the wind on my face! I hit a record top speed of 77kmh and a record average speed of 24.2kmh! The ride was truly great. I had a blast. Wow, did I ever need that ride!

Peterson’s creek was pretty good, both down and up. I still missed 2 switchbacks as per usual, but I made the third one again, so my confidence is building for sure. Going up was the same with 4 stops overall and 1/3 of it walking. However, my last and final stop just before the top I suddenly heard “On yer left!” and sure enough, some biker passed me as he rode up to the top! Now I’m challenged for sure, as up ‘till today I have yet to see anyone actually riding this trail. Every biker I’ve seen going up has been pushing their bike! Granted, I have no idea if he had stopped or ridden the entire way, but seeing as he caught up to me, I’m assuming he did.

I also made the 2nd to last hill at Rose Hill (the third ‘hump’ of the ‘Four Hump Camel’, hah!) so that felt great. When I got to Juniper, it was almost 5:30 and Taryn’s soccer practice started at 5:30, so I just rode the Juniper hill down into Valleyview and the Valleyview road to the soccer field. This added about 2-1/2 kilometres or so to my ride, but I still made the entire ride in 42 minutes! Considering that my record time has been 41 minutes to home, that’s a pretty good time!

Also, as yesterday was a low for me motivation-wise, I did find a post on my favorite biking forums (MTBR.com) (http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=97174&highlight=perseverence) about biking success stories. Man, some of these guys have lost astronomical amounts of weight by cycling! It was actually quite inspiring for me. On that note, I did weigh myself the other morning and it showed 244.4, down about 2 pounds from two weeks ago. That is really good news as well, especially when you factor in the weight of the extra muscle gain, I have probably lost about 4 or 5 pounds so far in the first month, eh?

April 22nd (Morning)

This morning to Lansdowne was a slow 16minutes. I’m not sure why it was that slow, I didn’t feel horrible or anything, but I wasn’t in the bigger gears where I was on Monday for sure. Granted, this good be due to some fatigue that is probably setting in after a week of riding. Still, I’m OK with 15minutes right now, but not really happy with 16!

Anyways, I didn’t really want to, but I forced myself off of the bus at TRU! Man, that is one very.... long.... uphill.... Yikes! According to Google Maps, from what I can tell, it is about 200-300 metres of climbing. It took me 28minutes to get to work, and my average speed overall was 17.5kmh (normally I’m around 21-22). This added only about 3 kilometres to my ride, but all uphill kilometres! I did end up in the granny gear (1:3 combo) half way up Hillside, but the rest of the way from the mall to work was in 2:1 or higher. Funny thing was, as I passed the Aberdeen Mall bus stop, my bus pulled in behind me! The driver must figure I’m a bit loony... Hah!

I’m not sure if I will take this route every day? Is that smart? Or should I ride it 3 days a week or something? It was strenuous for sure, and I am feeling it now. But I do have a goal of riding from home all the way to work this summer, so I need to start from further back like this soon. Granted, I do have at least 5, maybe even 6 months left! I do love Kamloops for that!

Here's some pictures so you all can enjoy this hill with me, at least mentally... :) Courtesy of Google Maps Street View.

About 1/8th of the way up, near where I get onto Hillside drive:

About 1/3 of the way up, near Aberdeen mall:

Almost 1/2 way there! This is coming up to the Pacific Way intersection, legs are burning now!!!

After a short little 'flat' section, I get another hill on Copperhead drive, just past the Highway overpass:

Finally, the last hill, the driveway up to work. This one is generally not too bad, but it sure burned the legs today!

Of course, when I go home this way, it's a BLAST! :)

April 20th (Aft) and April 21st (Morning)

April 20th (Afternoon)

It was my dog obedience class today, so I had an ‘easy’ ride down paved streets to Pioneer Park downtown. I considered riding up above Peterson’s creek and then taking trails downtown, but Corrie and I decided it would be better for Duke to get to the class early and let him walk off some energy first. The ride was quick. For the most part it’s a really easy ride, with only a stretch on Notre Dame and then one down on Lorne St where I have to actually push a bit and work up a sweat. It’s about a 15minute ride, all in traffic. I have found that for the most part the traffic here is pretty decent with bikers. Most give decent space when passing and wait at intersections if I’m coming through. Sure, there are a few door knobs as well, but luckily it seems they are few and far between.

 

April 21st (Morning)

Well, I’m officially admitting it this morning. I am losing my motivation. I figured this would happen, it generally does with any type of consistent exercise that I try to get involved in. This is the exact reason why I sold my car. For sure right now if I still had my car, I’d be coming up with some very elaborate and well thought out excuses as to why I needed to drive. But, alas, I have forced myself into this, so now I just need to figure out how to get through this stage of my plan.

 

Was the ride bad this morning? No, it was average. Average times, average speeds. I didn’t feel amazing, but I didn’t feel bad. Just average. This could be due to a lack of motivation for sure. I didn’t push where I normally would, instead I just shifted down and spun faster. Monday morning was amazing! Monday afternoon was nasty!

 

What do people do when they hit motivational issues in something like this? I don’t feel I need verbal encouragement. Even physical encouragement isn’t going to do it (I mean, I see progress almost every day). Maybe a switch up of routes? But then again, I’m rather limited due to Peterson’s creek as far as what trails I actually do take home. I was originally planning on riding today from TRU, but I didn’t. I figured that it wasn’t a great idea while I was in this frame of mind, but I thought about it later and I’m wondering if that was exactly why I needed to take the TRU stop. Get a new route, obtain a new challenge and a new goal in my riding? So, tomorrow I will get off at the TRU stop. Hopefully my motivation-less mind doesn’t talk me out of it then too...

 

Anyways, this is nothing new really. This is the exact reason why so many things I start I tend to not finish (take a look in my side yard and see the ’91 Jetta sitting there). I lose motivation and I don’t know how to persevere through it. Today is Taryn’s soccer practice. The easy route would be paved streets all the way down. Granted, it’s still a hard ride in the end (Valleyview drive has a lot of ups and downs, even though they’re not of any great heights). Her practice is at 5:30, and the paved way would only take me 25 minutes. But the trails? Well, I really have so little motivation to hit the trails. Why? I really don’t know! If I do hit the trails, I was thinking maybe I would follow the road where I normally take a singletrack trail over to the “4 Hump Camel” section (hah!) at Rose Hill. If I followed the dirt road down, it would intersect with Rose Hill Road, and then I could take that down onto Valleyview Drive. Granted, I then get the worst of both worlds... The uphill at Peterson’s creek and the long up/down section that is Valleyview drive... But, it would be a short, new section of trail?

 

Well, enough moaning, I’m going to get to work finally.

April 19th (Aft) and April 20th (Morning)

April 19th (Afternoon)

BOOOO!!!!

 

I fought a strong headwind the whole way home and I don’t think I won! Every time I hit about 20kmh, it was like a brick wall... Uggghh... The fact that I have to work hard to go downhill is just not right! I had my worst yet recorded average speed of 17.7kmh and worst yet recorded high speed of 60kmh.

 

However, Peterson’s creek was actually pretty good. The new tires sprung whole new life into my braking experience! I never had any issues with the front tire skidding that I knew of, but with these tires the brakes gripped hard. I felt very much in control going down, with much less dragging of the rear wheel. I even made the third switchback (the one I kept making before, but only with my foot down). I was going to bail, as there was a huge piece of tumbleweed right on the corner, but at the last second, I saw a line on the inside, and managed to take it. In fact, even when the tumbleweed isn’t there, I will probably take that line again. The other two switchbacks that I consistently miss I still missed! I will get them yet!

 

Coming up out of Peterson’s was above average. Only 4 stops again, and 1/3 of it spent walking. I think the 4 stops will be pretty much my average for a while, or I might get that down to at least 3, as there are three very tough sections that I don’t see me making for a while. Very deep and sandy, steep and rocky, etc.

 

The peak/valley sections before Rose Hill were not that great (I need to give this section a name, maybe the 4 Hump Camel??? Hah!) With the strong headwinds, I couldn’t get the speed I needed, so I missed both the last and the second to last climbs. Well, I always miss the last one... But the other one I know I can make, but slipped a bit, lost any momentum I had built up coming down and then couldn’t gather enough power to get to the peak. Wind makes me grumpy! And we’re considering moving back to Saskatchewan some day... Yikes!

 

April 20th (Morning)

Nothing much new to report. Good ride, although I didn’t feel as good as yesterday. But the times were good, only 1 minute longer than yesterday and the speeds were above average. I got stuck behind a couple of cars coming down from Juniper, so I didn’t even break 70kmh today. Oh well, the brakes got a workout instead! Boy I’d love to try this hill someday on a road bike... :)

Peterson's Creek Trail Ratings

So we hiked around the bottom of Peterson’s creek this weekend as a family (with the dogs of course). Just along the bottom (there’s an entrance right from downtown), so nothing too hard. But I did stop and look at the map of the canyon and all the trails. Well, they had a rating system. Easy, Medium, Difficult, Very Difficult and Extremely Difficult. Well, my trails up and down were rated as “Very Difficult”... Yeah, no doubt!!! :) Glad to know that!

 

Anyways, it’s too bad that Kamloops doesn’t have this map online, as I’d like to check out where some of the other trails are. But, I guess I can always stop at the entrance and check things out. Maybe this summer when I’m in better shape and can ride on the weekends too I’ll test some of them out!

 

Actually, I was even thinking about riding trails from Juniper to Peterson’s creek, and then down to the Lansdowne bus stop. I’d probably have to leave about 20 minutes earlier, but could be fun to come the other way for once. Plus, it would be a fun chance to ride down into the canyon and not have to come back up! :)

April 19th (Morning)

Happy Birthday to Tim!

Yes, April is the month for birthdays it seems, as today Corrie’s older brother, Tim, is celebrating his 31st I think? Maybe 30th... Not sure... I have a hard enough time remembering how old I am, let alone brother-in-laws! :)

Anyways, this morning’s ride was really great! Made it to Lansdowne in 14minutes (previous best was 15) and then from Rogers Way to work in 12minutes (previous best was 13, set just last Thursday and Friday). All the way from the highway overpass to the bus stop, I was in 3:7 and 3:8 where I’m typically in 2:7 and 2:8, so that was great. My top speed down Juniper’s hill was 74kmh, which was really good actually as I was behind a trail of cars and actually had to tap my brakes on a couple of corners. My average speed was a record 23.4kmh, beating last Thursday’s record of 22.1kmh.

I did clean the bike up, fine tuned the brakes (no more dragging)  and derailleurs so the bike was running in top form this morning. I even spent the time scrubbing and oiling each link of the chain one by one, so I think that paid off a bit. That and the rest of the weekend. I did nothing this weekend but a bit of hiking (flat, no hills) so I feel that this resting really helps a lot. I made the Hugh Allan hill again in the middle ring, so I think I will ride this route one more time and then attempt from TRU. I’m trying to employ the Detroit Red Wings style of development. Keep kids in the minors longer than most, so they are fully developed and accel rapidly once they hit the NHL! :) So, yeah, I’m staying down in the ‘minors’ for at least one more day!

I’ve been having some traction issues coming down into Peterson’s creek as I believe I mentioned earlier, so I put on a couple of knobbier tires this weekend (a Kenda Kinetics 2.35 up front and an IRC Freedom Cross Trailbear 2.25 on the rear, both having very similar treads). I’ll post some pics here soon. Anyways, I cranked them up to about 55psi and all in all I didn’t notice much difference in the ride this morning (other than better times, hah!).  Obviously the rumbling at low speeds was noticeable, and the constant low hum was ever present! But as for more work? Didn’t really notice it, so hopefully on the way done the hill today they will help with better control and traction, maybe even through the sandy switchback that gets me every time!

Here's the IRC on the rear. It's an older tire that I'd bought off of eBay a while ago for my old bike. But the tread is still decent, and its a quality tire. I will probably replace this yet this summer as I'm sure dragging it down Peterson's creek every day will wear it right out!

Here's the Kenda on the front. I'm really becoming a fan of Kenda tires, and yet hadn't 

even heard of them when I bought this last year! I bought it also for my other bike, but as you can see it didn't see alot of use! Good directional tread (actually, this tread and the IRC's are extremely similar), so that will help against the rolling resistance that I was worried about.

April 16th (Afternoon)

Well, I figure I will write up a quick blog about Friday's ride today before I forget all about it! I don't think I'll be riding today or tomorrow as I do think that at this stage, muscle recovery is probably just as crucial in this process.

It is funny. I've had a few people ask me how much weight I've lost. Honestly, I haven't lost a pound yet. I joke about it and say "Man, you gotta slow the bus down before you can try putting it in reverse!" which is partly true. However, while I may not have noticed much in the way of weight loss, I have noticed a lot in muscle gain. At this point, I think that is more important. Yes, the pounds need to come off so that my power to weight ratio becomes much higher. But if I can conquer the majority of these hills at this weight by simply the muscle gain, then when and if the weight does recede, all the better! Anyways, just some thoughts on my physical progress.

Friday's ride was really good. Granted, going down into Peterson's creek wasn't that great as I felt a bit out of control at points. I did make the same switchbacks as normal, although putting my foot down at the one (and the wrong/outside foot at that which made it that much more difficult in the end). However, the brakes didn't feel as grabby and my speed was a bit higher coming into the corners than I was comfortable with, but all in all it was not horrible.

Going up the other side was pretty good though with a record of only 4 stops to catch my breath. I still walked probably close the average amount of about 1/3 of the hill, but was consoled with the fact that I saw another rider ahead walking it today as well while I was coming down the other side, so there! :) Actually, I met up with about 4 riders today (2 of them walking up hills, hah!), so obviously Friday afternoon is the day for biking!

The peaks/valleys at Rose Hill were a ton of fun. I hit higher speeds and switched down to 2:2 combo and made the 2nd to last hill (I made it on Monday as well in 2:3, but not on Thursday in 2:1 (lost traction), so I'm thinking that the gear ratio does also affect traction). I still have yet to make the last hill, but then again I can hardly walk that hill, so it may be a while for me to make it riding!

The stretch from Rose Hill to Juniper was very fast. Maybe a bit too fast as some of the rocks I try to avoid I couldn't hardly see this time... :) One of these days I know I'm going to get a pinch flat, or a bent rim. Then again, that might be a side benefit of riding 60psi too... I'm thinking about putting my more aggressive tires on this weekend, but keeping them at 60psi, and seeing if that is a decent compromise. The entire way down Peterson's creek it is all I can do to keep the back wheel from dragging, so I'm thinking a more aggressive tread will help with that. And, if the pressure is still high, it might not be too bad on the street still. We'll see how that goes!

Anyways, time to go give the bike the weekly scrub down, oil and adjusting! See you on Monday!

April 15th (Aft) and April 16th (Morning)

April 15th (Afternoon)

Today was an awesome 20° (the perfect temperature in my opinion), and slightly overcast with wind. A perfect day for riding as it is warm enough, but the overcast and wind help you cool down faster. Granted, pushing against the wind on the paved streets wasn’t too much fun, but that only lasted for a small portion of the ride.

I felt really good today, and the ride went pretty well. I decided to take Springhill right to the bottom and then ride up to the Peterson’s creek entrance (even though the first day I rode I felt like the ride up to the entrance was too long...). This time, I started riding up and suddenly I was there, hah! I guess that’s a sign of progress when the hill that was a bit brutal the first time wasn’t anything to sneeze at now! Hah! Anyways, taking this route shaved 3 minutes off of the overall ride, so that was cool!

The way down into Peterson’s creek was a good ride. I felt faster and yet still in control. I still missed 2-1/2 switchbacks in the middle (the 1/2 being that I had my foot down on the third switchback). However, as I did come around the one with my foot down, I think I finally saw that I will make it pretty soon. No smoking brakes today that I could smell, so my ‘feathering’ technique must be getting better. That and I think by going a bit faster and not having them clamped for so long helps quite a bit. The ride back up was painful as ever, but I did feel better and walked probably only 1/3 of the hill in all. I decided to actually tie my shoes tight today (I live in Canada where shoes are removed upon entering a house, so I have all my shoes loose to allow this quickly). This helped a lot as I wasn’t wasting any energy by my foot moving around in my shoe. A small thing, but something I had really overlooked for some reason. The rest of the ride was fun as usual. I didn’t make the 2nd to last hill at Rose Hill like I did on Monday. On Monday I was in a 2:3 combo and was able to power up it, but today I shifted down to 2:1 and lost traction? We’ll see about this afternoon if it’s a gearing issue or if the hill is just looser with more riding.

I took some pictures of the trail today with my phone, so I’ll attach them here:

The trail down into Peterson’s creek on the West side:

And back up the other (East) side: 

A really cool peak/valley section just before Rose Hill (there’s 4 valleys and 5 peaks in all):

April 16th (Morning)

Not much to report this morning different. My numbers were on par with yesterdays, so that’s neat! I did hit 74kmh down from Juniper today, so I’m not sure what I’m doing differently. Does saddle height also affect downhill speed? Possibly, as I can get more power to the wheel when starting.

The last 2 or 3 mornings, I have been a bit hesitant to 'want' to ride while getting ready. Not that I'm dreading it or anything, but just not excited to get out there. And then, I peddle up my driveway and the sun is bright, the air crisp and fresh, and I quickly remember how much I really am enjoying this every day! The ride was again beautiful this morning. Sunny, calm and 5°. I did make the Hugh Allan hill again in the middle ring (2:1 combo), but I don’t remember my legs burning as much yesterday! Is it because my brain forgot the pain, or maybe because I’m just more tired today? Not sure, but we’ll have to see how Monday is and then maybe on Tuesday or Wednesday I’ll start from TRU!

Well, just one more ride and then the weekend! I might head out tomorrow morning and see if I can find a trail that takes me down from Juniper so I can get some good singletrack riding in the morning as well. We’ll see, as I really did like the results of a complete weekend of rest last time, so I’m not sure yet if I will or not. Ok, if I’m not back before Monday, have a great weekend!

Peterson's Creek videos

Ok, I found a video that shows a bit of the canyon I ride through every day. This guy is riding further up the trail than where I typically enter, although I have ridden some of the same trails or nearby. But the terrain is pretty similar (but I don’t go nearly as fast yet, and he didn’t have any switchbacks to contend with!). Anyways, its at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKJFTffroas

 

Right around the 0:27 mark is where I join the trail sometimes, but I typically go up where he went down and traversed across the side. At 1:26 he goes left, and I think if he’d gone right instead that trail would eventually get me to the bottom. Also, at 1:40 I believe he crosses the trail that I usually do take, which leads me to the bottom eventually. The terrain is very similar to what I do ride, however, with just a bit less trees and more sand... Cool video though for sure! Now I need to go out and ride that trail, see where it goes if he had gone right!!!

 

There’s another video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-LeW50ujKQ) that is just a guy with a bad camera standing at a lookout point, but he’s pointing down into the valley (looking north) that I ride through. You can see the trails on both the left and right where I ride. Right at the beginning you can see a trail going down on the left which is where I descend, then again at 0:21. Then, at 0:32 he pans over to the east side and you can see my ‘up’ trail. Finally, at 0:35, you can see the trail where it crests the top. That’s where I get to traverse straight east, which is a pretty fast up and down trail. Not a great video, but shows a bit more of my ‘nemesis’!

April 14th (Aft) and April 15th (Morning)

April 14th (Afternoon)
Today was Taryn's first soccer practice! Corrie got here signed up in the 'big leagues' this year, so we're excited for her. They provide her with a jersey, shorts and socks so the team looks like a real team! And two of the girls Taryn already goes to school with, and another one she took ballet with, so Taryn was very excited!

Anyways, her soccer practice as at 5:30 in Valleyview (Marian school or something like that). So, as I still am trying to work 'till 5pm this week to make up for as much time as I can due to Levi being in the hospital, I took the streets all the way there (same as yesterday, Hillside to Notre Dame to Columbia which eventually runs into Valleyview which takes me right to the school).

The ride was, of course, fun and fast as is every street ride going in the 'down' direction around here! Top speed of 70kmh and an average of 32.5kmh. The distance was 14kms and I did it in 26 minutes. Once I hit downtown, it's then  basically flat, sort of rolling. So it is a workout still trying to keep the pace up. Especially at the end of Columbia where there is no bike lane! So if I just dawdle, I hold up traffic and I really don't feel like getting tangled up with an angry motorist... I think I know who would probably win... But, all in all the ride was really good and I still had enough energy to kick the ball around with Levi and Graedy while Taryn practiced, so that was good!

April 15th (Morning)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER ROB!!!

Yes, today is my big brother Rob's birthday, my one and only follower on this blog! Hah! Anyways, I hope your day is great! What's it feel like to be so old now???

Well, this morning's ride was my best yet! Record average speed of 22.1kmh (previous best on this route was 21.1kmh), record top speed of 75kmh (previous best on this route was 71kmh), fastest time to Lansdown of 15min (previous best was 15.5min) and fastest time to work at 13min (previous best was 13.5min). And, to top that all off, I made the entire Hugh Allan hill in the MIDDLE ring! I guess I know what that means! If I can do that again a few more times, I'm not getting enough of a workout! Hah! So I guess I'll be starting farther down the hill soon... :)

As for the 75kmh down the Juniper hill, I have no idea what I did differently to get the extra 4kmh's that I just couldn't get before. I've tried, and just could not get more than 71kmh. My seat was higher today, that might've been something. There was very little wind, and if anything it was against me so that wasn't a help. There was a little SUV that passed me right when I hit 55kmh, so maybe I was pulled a tiny bit right then, just enough to get the speed higher? Anyways, I'll have to see over the next few rides if this was just fluke or not...

Ok, I've gotta get back to work!

April 13th (Aft) and April 14th (Morning)

April 13th (Afternoon)
Today's ride took me downtown to Pioneer Park for my Tuesday Dog Obedience class with Duke. The ride was a quick 15minutes of riding time, but a long 10minute wait for a train!!! So, yes, I was late for the class...

From work, I took Hillside down to Notre Dame, which I then took across to Columbia, and then downtown to Pioneer Park. The ride was a lot of fun. Not too tough really, as it is pretty much all downhill with a little flat section on Notre Dame. High speed of 75kmh, although I was reminded that cyclists can get tickets too!!! Coming down Columbia, though, at that speed and then trying to stop was a bit surprising as my rotors heated up so much that my braking power was quite reduced! Yikes! Time for bigger rotors I guess!

April 14th (Morning)
This morning was awesome! 6° and sunny, no wind, no clouds, just perfect! The ride down Juniper hill I could only get 69kmh out of it today (max is 70°). Not sure what else to do to get any faster speeds out of this hill, I can't pedal any faster!!! Slick tires would help for sure, but I need the blocks for the dirt trails on the way home... Just not steep enough I guess.

I felt good today, with my average gear ratio probably being 2:7 which is pretty good for me. The ride up Hugh Allan was good, made it farther in the middle ring than before. Soon I should be able to make the whole hill in the bigger combo. I raised my seat by about 1", and felt like a giant! It was much better for power I felt, and it did help a little bit with the numb backside issues I've been having lately, but for sure it did not eliminate the issue at all! Hopefully that will go away with time, I've only been riding for a month or so, and I sort of just 'jumped' in rather than taking it slowly, so I would assume this might take a bit. I'm doing some research today on saddle adjustments (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html, this guy has a lot of good tips and info that I've tapped into already) to make sure mine is set properly, or to see what little changes I could do to help.

I have decided to start riding from TRU soon. Maybe next week? The #7 bus gets to the stop at the entrance to TRU off of Magill at about 7:25-7:30, so that should be enough time to ride up Hillside and get to work? Probably about 2x the distance, so it would make sense that it would be 2x the time! I might start that on Monday, or mid-next week we'll see how I end this week.

April 12th (Aft) and April 13th (Morning)

April 12th (Aft)
The afternoon ride home was pretty good in all. The ride to Peterson's creek is about 15-20 minutes on pavement with a couple decent little uphills in between. The steepest one being on Monarch (which connects Springhill to Gleneagles). I pushed it on this hill and made it up in the middle ring (2:1 combo). Going down into Peterson's creek wasn't as smooth as I would've liked it to be. I'm not sure if it was dustier/rockier than usual, or if I was just not comfortable. I only made the first two switchbacks, and then had to place my bike around the middle three, and then made the last two. This trail does see a lot of bikers going down and it is getting very torn up, so that might be making things that much looser. Irregardless, I did not ride as good as I think I could have.

However, going up the other side was a great improvement. I only walked maybe a quarter of the way. I did stop 6 times to catch my breath, but most of the time I jumped back on and kept riding again. I even made it half way around the deep, sandy switchback that I haven't even attempted yet. The ride from there to Rose Hill was pretty good, actually. I felt stronger and faster, and even powered up the second to last peak/valley combo just before Rose Hill (normally I walk the last two hills there) for the first time!

April 13th (Morning)
The morning ride was OK, but I was pushing a medium headwind the whole way to Lansdowne which added a minute to that stretch. The #7 bus broke down, so I took the #4 up to the Aberdeen Mall (actually got there about 5 minutes sooner than the #7 does anyways). I rode from the Aberdeen Mall and it was again, OK. I had to fight the same headwind hear as well, and it started raining. However I did make the entire ride in the middle ring (2:1 combo at the smallest, NO GRANNY GEAR for the first ride yet). This route added about 5-1/2 minutes to my ride. Not a bad idea if I'm looking to increase my ride more and more. Not a great route, as Hillside has no sidewalk going up on the right hand side, which means unless I can push a very fast pace, I have to ride up on the left hand side so I don't get run over... :)

All in all, both rides were pretty good. Again, I'm seeing little progress each day, so that is very encouraging. I keep feeling like I can be doing better, so I think that is good motivation to keep pushing more each day. My butt is not really sore as much as it just hurts??? I will see, as if this doesn't get better within a few weeks I'll have to check out the saddle angle/distance, and maybe even consider a different style?

April 12th - Morning

This morning was a great ride. A little bit cold coming down Juniper's hill (1° at 70kph is chilly!), but overall it was beautiful. The sun was out and by the time I got to work, I was actually getting to the point where I can see myself riding without my jacket soon!

I rested the weekend and I think that was a really good choice as I felt really good this morning. The ride to Lansdowne where I pick up the bus was good, but not amazing. I could've gone faster I think, but my legs were not quite ready yet I don't think. My speeds and time were on par with my other rides along this stretch to date.

However, the ride up Hugh Allan to work was my best time and speed yet. I kept it in the middle ring for 3/4's of the Hugh Allan hill (eventually dropping to 1:2 combo for the last steep section) and get a combo of 2:1 going up Kryczka (which is a first, usually I've been in the granny gear on this section). I shaved a minute off of this portion, which is cool. Hopefully that time will keep dropping, and those gears will keep rising!

For post workout nutrition, I had my usual bottle of Gatorade and peanut butter toast! I'm still feeling pretty good, so I really do think the weekend rest was a good idea. It is interesting, though, that my muscles don't get sore during the week, because I'm continually riding, but by Sunday after resting a day, they were quite sore and stiff!

Progress is being made, even if just a little, so that is encouraging. I am thinking that if I can start conquering the Hugh Allan hill consistently, and even if I can eventually do it in the middle ring, I will start getting off the bus sooner. Not sure yet where, maybe just at the other end of Rogers Way for now, but soon from TRU? Eventually, I'd like to ride the entire way from home, so I need to keep pushing these little goals a little at a time. If I can make the Hugh Allan hill consistently this week, maybe by Monday I'll start from the other end of Rogers Way.

Ok, 'till next time!

The Commute!

A variety of reasons has pushed me to commuting to work this spring/summer/fall in Kamloops. The first one being finances. I sold my car and paid off some bills that were piling up due to the Edmonton acreage still not selling. Also, without gas and insurance, I will save about $140 a month 0r so. Of course, I'm riding the bus a lot still, so that's $30 a month, so my actual net savings will be about $110 a month.

Another reason I decided to start commuting was physical. I've been fast getting into worse and worse shape every year. I'm now 32 years old, and I don't see my metabolism getting any better as I get older, so I can only hope to at least "plateau", but I know in reality I was heading down a road that would get worse and worse. I thought about signing up at a gym, but the cost was prohibitive, not to mention the time that I just don't want to take away from my family. I then considered running or biking in the mornings/weekends, but again, the time was just not there. With 3 kids (and one on the way any day now!), I cannot in good conscience leave my wife with them more than I have to do, so riding in the afternoons was not an option. I did sign up for floor hockey last summer, which helped, and was thinking about doing that again this year as well as soccer. However, again, the cost was prohibitive right now with our acreage issues and this helps only as long as I'm playing. It helped in helping keep things from getting worse, but as soon as the season was over, I started putting the weight back on.

I'm currently hovering around 250lbs at 6'2". I've been told that I am bigger than average anyways, even if I didn't have any fat, but I know I could stand to loose a lot of weight to become healthy again. I would like to be able to run and play with my kids and not be wiped out for days! I'd like to be able to go for bike rides or hikes with friends and be able to keep up!

Finally, I also know myself pretty well after 32 years. I knew that if I just simply bought a bike and said I'd start riding, that eventually I'd probably stop (so many excuses sound so good when needed). Therefore, I took a drastic measure and sold the car. Now, I didn't have any choice but to RIDE if I expected to get to work!

Where I live in Kamloops is at about 600 meters above sea level. Where I work is about 740 meters. And between home and work the elevation drops down to 400 meters before going back up. This means that the ride to work would be about a 340 meter climb! Not being in shape at all for something like that yet, I decided that I would ride downtown first and pick up a bus and take the bus up to about 680 meters or so.

This is working out perfectly, as I have a quick 15 minute ride in the morning to the bus that is mainly level, with little up and a huge downhill coming out of Juniper where I live (I'm hitting maximum speeds right now of about 71kph, and the gearing on my mountain bike is not high enough for much more). After the bus, I ride for about 15 more minutes straight up to work (no down, just up!). This gives me a really good workout in the morning so I am awake and alert, but not completely dead yet.

On the way home, I ride the whole way. I ride the street for about 15 minutes, then I get onto a trail that takes me right to our neighborhood of Juniper. This ride is a good mix of up and down (although going from 740 meters to 600 meters, the downs are obviously greater than the ups!) There is a small canyon called Peterson's creek in the middle that drops from 600 meters to 400 and then back up again. This 'little' canyon is currently my nemesis. It just about kills me everytime! My goal is to conquer this trail all the way up by fall.

The bike I bought was an entry level Cannondale F8 CO2 for $600 (http://www.cannondale.com/usa/usaeng/Products/Bikes/Mountain/Hardtail/CO2/Details/1293-0FS8-F8). I swaped the saddle for something more comfortable, added my 15 year old Control Stix bar ends that I've had since high school, and put a higher quality Truvativ crank and Wellgo aluminum pedals with clips. I did buy some Shimano clipless pedals, and am just waiting to save up enough for some shoes soon.

Here's a picture of my first ride on the new bike:

Anyways, that's my looooong intro, so I will hopefully be posting here regularly about my ride and how things are going. Enjoy!