May 28th (Afternoon)
· Fluids Intake
o Morning: 1 bottle of Gatorade, 1 bottle of water, 1 cup of coffee
o Afternoon: 1-1/2 bottles of water
· Food Intake
o Morning: 2 pieces of multi grain toast with butter and peanut butter, 1 banana, 2 vanilla Oreo’s
o Afternoon: 1 macaroni and beef casserole, 1 bag of Dorito’s, 1 orange
Today was really good, actually. Lots of slick mud going up the temporary road beside the old Merrit highway as I go to connect to Springhill, but I made it and sprayed a bunch of mud all the way back down! The way down into Peterson’s creek was my best since the rain tore it up, I made it all the way to the troublesome switchbacks, but still walked the section between them. However, going back up the other side I made good distances up to the first two stops, and then actually made it all the way up on the final stretch, making my total number of stops down to 3 finally! I was stoked about that accomplishment for sure, and then just about got knocked back over the edge by an excited, overly friendly German Shepherd at the top! I still say it was only 3 stops anyways... :)
I took the regular route across Frolek’s land today rather than going to the upper trails. Dave says the “Sticks and Bones” trail up top is basically gone now from the logging, so it’s no wonder why I missed it before. I’ll probably go up there again next week just to see and try out some more trails and have a bit of exploring fun, rather than my typical “all business” ride home. Can I really say my ride is “all business”? Not really, I still have fun whatever I do!
Due to the rain ripping up the pipeline hills trail at Rose Hill, I missed the final two hills again. Hopefully these trails will get improved soon with the hikers/bikers and more rain, but until then, it looks like I have a bit of work cut out for me for sure!
May 31st (Morning)
· Fluids Intake
o Evening Before: 1 glass of milk, 2 glasses of water, 1 glass of Iced Tea
o Morning Of: Nothing
· Food Intake
o Evening Before: 1 piece of pizza, 1 piece of white toast with margarine and peanut butter (I had a bigger lunch, so not much for supper)
o Morning Of: Nothing
This weekend I sanded down my front rotor and pads, and even took a drill bit and hand chamfered the vent holes (as per a tip I read online for helping to eliminate brake noise and howls). I took the bike up to the top of Omineca and rode it back down, trying to break in the rotor again (in an attempt to eliminate the “jerky” stops due to a sticky section of the rotor). However, by the time I made it back to the house, they weren’t yet broken in and I could already feel the sticky spot again. I took it down another few hills but as the rotor broke in more and more, the jerkiness returned. I may have to take it to the bike shop and get their advice/thoughts as to what I’m doing wrong.
Anyways, in spite of this, my ride this morning was great. I felt really good right from the start. At the trailhead coming out of Juniper, I saw the same biker that I had seen before, so this time I stopped and talked with him for a minute. It turns out he works at TRU and rides to/from work as well, so that’s cool! If I get to know him a bit, I’ll have to ride with him to TRU soon and then ride the rest of the way to work. This would mean my goal of riding the entire way would be realized, am I ready for that yet? I don’t really know for sure! :) I guess if I rode with him, we would probably split ways after the Peterson Creek trail and I would take Springhill up to work. Hmmm.... It would mean no more Kenna Cartwright park, though, and I am enjoying those trails! As I left, another mountain biker pulled up as well and started talking to him, so I’m not sure if they ride together as well, or what. But it would be fun for a bunch of us to ride together for sure.
As my front brake still isn’t fully broken in yet and I don’t have full power, I decided to walk the two steeps coming out of Juniper. However, the more I walk these the dumber I feel as they are looking easier and easier. Tomorrow I will ride both, I WILL! I did, however, make the down-and-up switchback easily, so that was cool! I just picked my line and let it go and it was fine. Unfortunately, the second dip in the trail got me a bit off balance and I had a bit of a fight with a fallen tree which decided to throw one of its branches out at me at the last minute to grab my arm... :( If it tries that again, I will break the thing off, it doesn’t know who it’s messing with here!!!
I made good time (19 minutes) to Lansdowne, and a really good time (32.5 minutes) from TRU to work (my previous best was 33.5 minutes set last Wednesday). Dana was talking about a few bears they’ve seen in their backyard, so I was for sure looking out every where trying to keep my eyes open for any chance encounter I might have! Apparently some ignorant hiker has been rumoured to be leaving piles of dog food around on the trails “to attract the deer”... Yeah, OK! Another candidate for a Darwinian award soon I’m sure. So, armed with this new information, every little noise behind me made me whip my head around! I was a bit jumpy for sure, but I still contend that the “chance” encounter with the elusive black bear still beats the “guaranteed” encounter I had every morning with some angry or distracted motorist... I did, however, just about run over a little chipmunk. He had a stash of seeds on a little flat rock and was enjoying his breakfast and either didn’t care about me or didn’t dare risk losing his stash, and as such he didn’t move until the last second (about when I actually saw him and told him that if he valued his little life he’d best get moving). Luckily for him, he ran to the left (if he’d chosen the right, I would’ve most likely run him over). I did avoid his breakfast platter, so it was still there for him whenever he probably ventured back to it.
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