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!