June 28th (Afternoon)
It was a warm 20°, which, in my opinion, is perfect riding weather. Warm, yet cool enough that with a bit of speed the wind cools you down very nicely. I had a decent ride down into Peterson’s Creek. I rode the first tough switchback and up ‘till the second one with a foot out periodically. I did have to stop at the second one, though. Going up the other side was pretty good. I made good distances each stretch, and still only had 3 stops. In fact, the last stretch was good, I didn’t have the normal, sometimes internally violent argument with myself to stop, I just rode. Cool!
About 1/2 the way up, I met up with a lady about in her early 40’s or so as she was filling a container with Saskatoon berries. We talked for a bit, and I grabbed a couple of berries. Now, my wife might scream sacrilege about this, but I don’t really like the taste of fresh-off-the-bush Saskatoon’s. In a pie? Amazing! With ice cream? Unbeatable! But off the bush? Ugghhh... :) But, I wonder how fast the nutrients would work through my system and how many would I need to eat to feel any type of energy from them on my ride? And how many shouldn’t I eat so I don’t get sick? I wonder if I should consider this. With the over abundance of these bushes on this trail through Peterson’s Creek, maybe I should think about this? There is one low hanging bush near the top that brushes over me as I ride by... I thought about that today, as the berry’s swished over my sweating neck and shoulder, I pity the poor person who decides to eat those specific berries! Unless it’s a bear, then whatever... :)
I stopped in Frolek’s land and tried cleaning up a section of the trail where they cut up a fallen tree. The branches and debris were very thick, and nearly impassable through there. So as much as I could do (or wanted to do is maybe more accurate of a statement), I kicked the majority of the debris off the road and then continued on.
On the pipeline section at Rose Hill, I stood in front of that fallen tree again, trying to see the best way around it, but the only passable way was up onto the bank about 10-15 feet off the trail to climb over the trunk. Oh well, hopefully I can get to work on this with someone this week/weekend?
I took the pipeline trail right into Juniper today. The weeds are seriously overtaking this trail! They’re about 3 feet high on average, growing upwards of 4-5 feet in places. Some sections of the trail are completely covered. The trail is still underneath then, but the weeds have grown up and over... And at speeds, they kind of hurt! Of course, now in addition to the existing yellow wild mustard, we have some purple flower/weed growing up as well. It’s like they’re trying to seduce me with their colours... It ain’t working! I do hate thee, weeds... But, hey, at least on muddy days my bike and my legs will get scrubbed clean by the time I get to Juniper... :)
June 29th (Morning)
A good morning, it is already 17° which means I might be in for a warm ride home this afternoon. Sunny, but overcast at the same time. Figure that one out... Anyways, the ride was really good. I felt like I had good energy, and was able to push through harder in many areas. In fact, my usual total time of 1:15 or 1:20 was only 1:10, so that was cool!
At the fallen tree by Rose Hill, I ported the bike up and over it, but got on right away and rode up the hill successfully. With no momentum from the usual downhill speed that I normally have there, it was tough but good to make it for sure. But, then I didn’t make the next hill, the hill I typically have trouble with anyways. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but it seems like the planets have to align for me to make all these hills in one ride!
Going down into Peterson’s Creek was pretty good. Faster than normal, and I made the sandy switchback. Again, my foot was out, but not down. I guess just for confidence. At the bottom, I made it through the first two switchbacks up the other side, but bailed on the straight section. The gulley there is getting deeper and wider every day, and very tough to ride up. I even had trouble with it coming down yesterday... But after that I rode probably 1/2 the hill the rest of the way. I met two hikers (one with three dogs) and another biker all coming down as I was going up, so a bit of a busy morning for this trail!
The stretch up Springhill and Hugh Allan were both pretty good. I was burning up Hugh Allan for sure, but kept pushing regardless. I don’t feel any worse now, but I feel like I rode harder than normal today. I was thinking about muscles “plateauing”. I wonder if that’s possible (or if that’s even a word)? I mean, if I ride the same trails with the same intensity every day, wouldn’t they get into a rut? For example, if I keep stopping at the same points going up out of Peterson’s Creek every day, am I training my muscles that they only have to be good enough to get me to those points? Just some thoughts I was having, and I’m not sure what to do to mix things up other than keep trying to push that extra 20 feet every time I can. Or a bigger gear. Or whatever, just something to make sure that they don’t get relaxed, eh?
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