June 1st (Afternoon)
· Fluids Intake
o Morning: 1 bottle of Gatorade, 1 bottle of water, 1 cup of coffee
o Afternoon: 1 bottle of water
· Food Intake
o Morning: 2 pieces of multi grain toast with peanut butter (no butter), 1 small bag of Sun Chips, 1 banana
o Afternoon: 1-1/2 tuna sandwiches, 1 piece of sesame seed toast with peanut butter (no butter)
His name is Brian.
Let me back up here. Back on the 6th and 7th of May, I noticed a biker behind me as I left Juniper in the mornings. Also, on the 13th of May I noticed a biker that ripped up the trail going down into Peterson’s creek, and then I followed him up the other side (noting that he walked the same sections I did). I also caught up with him right at Rose Hill that same day and followed him most of the way into Juniper. And, more recently, on the 31st of May I finally stopped on my way out of Juniper to talk with him briefly, learned that he commutes to TRU, and then I left.
Today, as I rode down into Peterson’s creek (which was still pretty tricky and I missed the same switchbacks and the steepest section just before the second one), I noticed him riding up the other side. As I started at the bottom, I noted the time as he was just cresting the top (I wanted to see how far I was behind him this time). I had a decent climb up. I say “decent” simply due to the distance made, I feel anything but decent as I climb that nasty hill! With about 1/4 of the climb left, I noticed a jogger and her yappy dog coming up behind me, so I figured I’d better get moving so I didn’t get passed by her! As I started the final stretch (which about 1/2 way up used to be my 4th stop), another biker came over the top, stopped and waited for me. Well, now the pressure was on! With a jogger hot behind me and a biker waiting for me to get out of the way, I pushed harder than I normally do. I made the stretch, but seriously felt like puking at the top! Ugghh...
However, as I came to the Frolek’s fence, the biker was there. So, again we stopped and chatted for a while, and this time I actually introduced myself and found out that he rides the same trails to Juniper (across Frolek’s land) as I normally do. So, we rode together home. It was fun, I discovered I was as fast or faster on the flats and hills, but he definitely was faster/better on the technical and downhill portions. He showed me two bypass trails that I hadn’t seen or tried before, so that was neat. The one trail is just after Frolek’s land where the dozer wrecked the transition from the road to single-track (where I have to clamber up the 8’ sand cliff now to get to the trail). The bypass is a bit further down the road, and is a hefty climb back up, so I’m not sure if I like it better (other than the bonus of being able to stay on the bike). As it is a new trail just being developed, it’s still pretty grassy and sandy, but ride-able at least! And the second bypass is at the final hill on the pipeline section at Rose Hill (the climb I’ve never made). The bypass trail heads south, with a bit of climbing (but doable climbing) and then switches back and heads north again, dropping right at where the pipeline trail intersects Rose Hill road. It was a really neat trail, though, narrow and right along the side of the hill (meaning if you got too close to the edge and fell off, you’d slide a good 10+ feet ‘till stopping and then would have a hefty hike back up!).
So that was fun to have some company on this ride. I learned that he has been riding for about 15 years, but just started commuting a few months ago and just started commuting via the trails for about a month. I guess he does a yearly ride with his buddies for about 5 days through the Chilcotin mountains, towing a trailer with gear. He said last year he was very ill prepared and paid for it dearly, so this year he started commuting as a training process for this year’s ride. It was neat to be able to keep up with him, but I noticed he often preferred to spin in an easy gear where I liked to crank it up a bit faster in a harder gear. So I’m sure if he chose the same gearing as I was, he would’ve been just as fast on the flats and climbs. I’m sure we’ll meet up a few times in the future now as well, so we’ll probably have a few rides together yet.
June 2nd (Morning)
· Fluids Intake
o Evening Before: 1 bottle of Gatorade, 1 glass of milk
o Morning Of: Nothing
· Food Intake
o Evening Before: Chicken, peas and potatoes, 1 toasted English muffin with peanut butter (no margarine)
o Morning Of: Nothing
Another successful trail ride out of Juniper! I made the two steeps again, the down-and-up switchback and the two trail dips, so that was sweet! I felt like I was hitting some good speeds on the double-track again since the rains left me a few sand piles that slowed me down. Now that I know the sand locations and can mostly avoid them, I’m getting my speed back up again. Also, with the front rotor having the extra power, I’m able to really let it go on the final downhill portion where I normally held back not trusting my ability to slow down enough for the corners.
Coming through Kenna Cartwright park, something possessed me to attempt the Kinnikinick trial today. I’m not sure what evil forces conspired against me, but my bike violently turned and lurched up the trail and there was nothing I could do to stop it... :) Anyways, enough of the dramatics. I did the trail and it was pretty brutal and it was pretty fun, all at the same time. Two climbs stymied me and made me walk, but the last 3/4’s of the trail I did make. Basically, the difference between this trail and the Reservoir trail is that the Reservoir trial winds its way up the side of Mt. Dufferin. Kinnikinick, on the other hand, basically goes straight up and over. And as such, it has about 6 very steep sections of trail to conquer. As I only failed two, I felt pretty good about myself! Plus, my time in the end was about 2 minutes shorter than my average time when I take the Reservoir. Will I do this trail every day? Not sure yet, maybe! It was a neat trail for sure, and climbing a steep, narrow trail is good for my control and endurance that I need on the Peterson Creek trail, so we’ll see if those evil forces grab me again another morning...
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