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: