June 4th (Afternoon)
· Fluids Intake
o Morning: 1 bottle of Gatorade, 1 bottle of water, 1 cup of coffee
o Afternoon: 1 large coke (from McDonald’s)
· Food Intake
o Morning: 2 pieces of multi grain toast with peanut butter (no butter)
o Afternoon: 6” roasted chicken sub from Sub Way
Well, food wise I was OK today, but that large Coke was a bad idea... It did not sit well with me at first, but about 15 minutes into my ride I started to feel better again. However, it was pouring when I left! My first ride in heavy rain. And, man, going down Hugh Allan and Springhill I was trying to slow down because at 60 km/h those rain drops really hurt! They felt like light to medium hail actually, depending on my speed and the size of the drop itself. Crazy! But, once I got to Peterson’s Creek (completely soaked through and through), the rain stopped. Well, it didn’t actually stop, it was just moving East faster than I was so it out ran me thank goodness! The rest of the ride was dry as far as no rain.
Heading down into Peterson’s Creek was not too bad, but still really tricky with the rocks and gulley’s. I missed the same two switchbacks, but at least rode in between them (with my foot down for most of the section). The ride back up was a good one, as I made pretty good distances on my climbs, and still only stopped three times so that is awesome that I have been able to do that so consistently now. The rest of the ride was really good, actually, and I felt pretty decent in all, which is good for a Friday. I took the bypass around the final climb at Rose Hill, and then the main trail into Juniper as I had to be home as quick as possible (Taryn’s Ballet recital at Sagebrush theatre tonight).
June 7th (Morning)
· Fluids Intake
o Evening Before: 1/2 bottle of Mike’s Hard Lemonade, 1 glass of juice, 1 glass of water
o Morning Of: Nothing
· Food Intake
o Evening Before: 3 pieces of pizza, 2 pieces of watermelon
o Morning Of: Nothing
Well, I have officially completed a milestone today! One of my goals for this summer was to ride the whole way to work from home and I did so this morning. NO BUS! I have been thinking about this for about a week or two lately, and made the choice this weekend between buying another month’s worth of bus tickets (I used my last one on Friday) or a new back tire... So, I chose the tire... :)
The new tire, a WTB Weirwolf 2.1. A bit on the narrower side, but a good fast and grippy tire for loose and dry conditions.
For anyone out there that does routine jogging, hiking, walking or biking, I urge you to try your regular route backwards! It was awesome, like a brand new trail with a bunch of “Deja Vu’s” all over the place. :) It was so much fun to ride my usual route the opposite direction, and wasn’t that bad for climbing. There are definitely more ups than downs going West, but it wasn’t bad. I missed one of the climbs on the Rose Hill pipeline trails, but I realized at the top I was in the third gear still, so I’m sure I’ll be able to make that one with the right gearing soon. Going down into Peterson’s creek on the West side is a blast. The trail is not technical at all, but really fun and fast the whole way down. The one sandy switchback did foil me and I had to put my foot down and didn’t quite make it around the corner. But, with some work, this will be accomplished.
Then came the east side... Uggghh... Well, I walked probably 1/2 the way up if not more, there is really no “easy” section of this trail (as I have noticed coming down, it’s tough!). I did make it up past the first two switchbacks which wasn’t easy. The trail is fairly steep there, the turns are really tight, and the gulley’s and rocks are tough to manoeuvre to say the least. So being able to make that section was awesome. But I came up to the switchback that I rarely make coming down and, to no surprise, I didn’t make it up either. I pushed my bike all the way up ‘till the sandy sections and rode from there (with all the rain, these sections actually are rather easy as far as traction and stability).
The climb up Springhill is long, but not extremely tough. A decent spin in the three easier gears on the back for the whole way. And then I climbed Hugh Allan again, and this was not bad either. The final stretch was a brute, especially being tired from the riding up to this point, but still not horrible.
All in all, the ride was really quite fun and it was exciting to be able to pass this milestone this early in the summer. It took me 1 hour of riding time, about 1 hour and ten minutes total time, meaning that I got to work about 20 minutes early. So, as I was budgeting about 1-1/2 hours, this was great news for sure.
Now my next milestone, conquer Peterson’s Creek (east side)! I will now set a goal of conquering the west side as well, but I’m thinking not ‘till next summer at least... That will be a brute of a climb mixed in with some good technical riding for sure.
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