June 9th (Afternoon)
· Fluids Intake
o Morning: 1 bottle of Gatorade, 1 cup of coffee, 1 bottle of water
o Afternoon: 1 bottle of water
· Food Intake
o Morning: 2 pieces of rye toast with peanut butter, 1 banana
o Afternoon: 2 grilled chicken Ranch Snack Wraps (from McDonald’s), 2 buns with butter and peanut butter
Today’s ride wasn’t that great really. It had rained all day. I knew it was going to be a brute when the “walking” path that the city has built alongside the Merritt highway (around the construction) was extremely tough to climb. I was digging down about 2 inches into the mud, pushing and spinning nearly the entire way up the hill. By the time I got to the top, I was riding 3.5” tires!!! Too bad they didn’t have any grip though... So, for about 1/2 the way down Springhill I was pelted by flying mud and debris, trying to keep wide of parked cars so I didn’t leave mud splattered on them.
At the bottom of Springhill, I decided to try and find a trail that Brian has talked about at the on ramp. Apparently he rides from there into Peterson’s creek (rather than up to Berwick and back down). So, I crossed Summit and found a trail that basically just took me around some small hills, over a couple fallen trees, only to land me right back at Summit again... Arrggg... So, not seeing any other trail (and not wanting to ride down the on ramp to suddenly get stuck on the highway if I missed this trail), I turned around and headed back up Summit to Berwick as I usually do. Another 5 minutes of time and energy wasted, so my ride is already taking a turn for the worse...
Heading down into Peterson’s Creek was very sketchy. My brakes are in bad need of better adjustment, but I’m basically at the limit of what I can do with the rear as the pads are pretty much gone. The front brakes did OK, but I ended up walking the entire section between the two nasty switchbacks due to my confidence that was dropping faster than an anvil through a powdered snow bank. Going up the other side wasn’t bad, but I only made it up to my usual spot just before the sandy switchback instead of the distance I had done the two days prior. I did, however, still make it to the top with only 3 stops, so that was good. Frolek’s land is pretty basic, as the roads and trails are pretty much the same every day. I did hit one puddle a bit off center, not realizing how deep it really was. As such, I ended up trying to ride along the side of the puddle, and with the slick mud, the bike slid fast down to the middle, just about tossing me right off! I had a decent run through the pipeline section at Rose Hill, so that was good.
From Rose Hill to Juniper I took the main trail again, as I was pretty late already for Taryn’s soccer practice. Once into Juniper, I decided to take the road down into Valleyview and discovered that I really do NOT like this new rear tire for fast street riding. Every corner I leaned into made the back squirm and wobble something nasty! Very unsettling at 60km/h to say the least. The tire pressure is down a bit, so maybe that contributes to this feel. Either way, I was not impressed with it at all.
June 10th (Morning)
· Fluids Intake
o Evening Before: 1 glass of Gatorade, 1 glass of water, 1 glass of milk
o Morning Of: Nothing
· Food Intake
o Evening Before: 2 grilled hamburger patties on white toast, 1 piece of white cake
o Morning Of: Nothing
Well, it rained all day yesterday and, will wonders never cease, it rained again all night! Ok, I really hate being a whiner about the weather, but I’m just getting a little tired of being wet and muddy all the time lately! Granted, I am trying to think about the houses, possibly lives, as well as money saved due to the fact that the forest fires are being held at bay so far by this weather. So that is a good thing for sure. Plus, as soon as the rain stops, the temperatures will start to soar and then I’ll have to complain about the heat, so really I try to just suck it up. But I am growing weary of this depressing weather to say the least... And frustrated at the clueless people still watering their lawns! Seriously!!! I yelled at someone’s house (yes, no one was there, but I yelled anyways) for them to turn off their dumb sprinklers... Unbelievable...
Anyways, this morning’s ride was pretty good. Another 63 minute effort (exactly the same as the last two days). I didn’t feel great, but still didn’t feel bad either so that’s bonus. The trails were slick and muddy for sure, and the brakes loved to howl! I missed the same climb at the pipeline section at Rose Hill. I tried dropping it to the granny gear in the middle of the climb, but with that kind of torque and pressure on the drive train, it wouldn’t drop down for me and I had to stop. Going down into Peterson’s Creek was fun, but not 100% controlled as I would’ve liked as my brakes are still not where they should be (see post about yesterday’s ride). I did make the sandy switchback, slowly and with my inside foot down, but didn’t have to stop or get off the bike! Going up the other side of the creek was another story altogether. The first half was per normal, but the second half I fell over twice when my back tire slid out sideways in a gulley. As it was fishtailing, I tried to hang on as long as I could to attempt to power through it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to keep it going twice and, due to the mud packed around my shoes, I couldn’t unclip at the last second and went over. Luckily both times I fell towards the high side of the trail, rather than falling down and over the edge! Still, I was frustrated to say the least. Even at the top I couldn’t keep the bike in a straight line and slipped many times, once having to put my foot down and walk a bit. Arrggg... As I have set my bike up for dry conditions (expecting the weather to be dry like it always is this time of year, I have compromised on wet condition performance and I’m paying for it... Still, I will not spend the money to set it up for wet conditions, only to see the rain go away and then go back to my dry weather tires!
The rest of the ride on the streets was not bad. I had one lady come up behind me as I waited at a light and honk her horn. I looked at her, as she fumbled through her playlist on her iPod with headphones in her ears, and she just looked up at me and mouthed “What are you doing?” Assuming she meant why was I on my bike in the middle of the road, I told her to take a Driver’s Ed course and pedalled off in disbelief... Seriously, some of these rednecks need some serious education on the rules of the road. Here she is honking at me to get off the road while she’s fumbling with her iPod and has headphones over her ears??? Really??? Also, going up Hugh Allan I had a couple mini vans cut it really close as they passed me. What’s really annoying about this, is I’m in a bike lane that’s about 3 feet wide! However, as cars are coming down the hill, these people figure they’d rather crowd close to me in my bike lane than get within 4 feet of the center line be close to oncoming traffic I suppose? It actually reminded me of the Canada's Worst Driver show. They have a drill where the driver’s have to take a van at about 40 km/h between two Styrofoam pillars (which really only have about a foot of clearance on both sides of the van). As such, almost every driver simply plows into the right side pillar. The host stated that a bad driver will always attempt to put themselves directly in the middle, rather than the van itself, and therefore they will consistently hit the objects on the passenger side. Therefore, as these two “worst drivers” in their mini vans came up Hugh Allan, they saw a lane between me and the oncoming traffic, and then tried to put themselves (the driver) right in the middle, meaning they had ample space on the left of their vehicle, but a tight two foot gap on the right, between me and them. The road is so wide right there, why any vehicle needs to crowd me is simply unbelievable. I mean, I have buses and dump trucks pass me that leave me a comfortable space and yet they’re still in their lane! The common driver’s ineptness in this country will never cease to amaze me.
Anyways, here’s me signing off finally! I will try to get into a better mood before my ride home this afternoon...
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