May 6th (Afternoon)
Well, I got a “freebie” today. No riding home! Instead, I met Corrie, Helen and the kids down at Wal-Mart after work. We went out for supper to White Spot for a Mother’s Day early celebration. So, I had a very quick 7 minute ride ALL downhill, hah! I thought about riding the trail beside Hillside down (I should’ve, really, I’m sure it would’ve been pretty fun). But, my pride got in the way when I was waiting at the light and some car pulled up beside me in my lane trying to crowd me out... So, naturally, I had to beat him/her to the bottom of the hill! Which I did... Not hard with speed limits in effect! :) Anyways, obviously with a ride that short there’s not much to tell.
May 7th (Morning)
Another good ride this morning in the end. I still absolutely love the trail network coming out of Juniper. I made the second steep again. From the top to where I hook up with the singletrack, there are two trees that have fallen across the trail. Normally, I have to get off and walk around them as the grass off the trail is aptly named “Clump Grass” which means every “clump” is big enough to stop any bike going less than 10 clicks. But, I’ve been slowly wearing down an alternate trail around these trees, and so today I was able to stay on the bike the whole way around the first one (just had to put my foot down at one point), and 1/2 the way around the second. If I had a chainsaw, I would go out and remedy the issue all together, but for now this will have to do! The last two days I’ve noticed a biker behind me as I’ve been riding down Qu’Appelle. He has followed me both times of onto the dirt paths, and this morning as I stopped on my side trail to let me saddle down a bit for the steeps, he rode by on the main path. I may have to ask him if he’s commuting or just riding for fun one of these days. Maybe we can ride into work together or something?
TRU to work was nice and sunny, which made the 3° cooler temperature not feel too bad. I feel that my cadence was much smoother and faster these last two mornings which is a good sign. Same 28 minutes still, but I have a feeling that this will be a time that will be hard to really make any drastic improvements on. Until I start getting my speed up at 10km/h or higher for the entire way up Hillside, I have a feeling that 28 minutes will be my consistent time. I’ve been thinking lately about when I might try riding the entire route. I don’t think this will be something I will try for at least another few weeks or a month, considering how sore I’ve been feeling this week with just the TRU stretch. But I think that if I can make it from Home to the Berwick in about 45 minutes, I should be able to make it to work in another 35-45 minutes meaning only 1-1/2 hours of riding. That would mean leaving around 6:30 which isn’t that bad.
I’m thinking about taking a bit of our tax refund this weekend and picking up some SPD shoes. I will have to go out on Saturday and practice for sure, and I have a feeling that there will be a few crashes (well, “fall overs” more likely) coming in the next couple of weeks. But, the benefits for just climbing alone will be worth the break in period. And bunny hopping will become easier as well of course.
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