July 1st (Afternoon)
The ride home today was rather brutal. I felt very tired the entire way home. Strange, after feeling so good for the last couple of rides! Maybe I pushed it too hard on the “good days” and paid for it? I wonder if I need to start learning to reign it in slightly on a good day to keep reserves for the bad ones?
Anyways, going down into Peterson’s Creek was a bit hairy. Fast for the most part, and it started off really well. But at the first troublesome switchback I just about lost it. I skidded through the corner and started sliding over the edge, so I had to let the brakes completely off to regain control. However, as it is so steep right there, those short few seconds without brakes meant I picked up a lot of speed in a hurry and on the roughest section of this trail. I did manage to regain control again and was still vertical, so that was a bonus! Going up the other side was pretty good. I find that even when I’m tired, 4 out of 5 rides I’ll still be able to put in a good effort going up. I made it into the sandy switchback before stopping, and still made it to the top in 3 stops. I think the final two stops that I make are doable if I have the legs and lungs to make them, so I’ll keep inching away at the distance efforts.
Frolek’s land was uneventful, as was the pipeline section at Rose Hill. I debated about taking the bypass around the final hill, but decided against it in the end. So, I still missed the final two hills. I ended up taking the main trail into Juniper. Partly because I was tired, but mainly because I didn’t feel like getting beat up by the over-zealous weeds on the pipe line section!
Tomorrow we are taking off to Vancouver, so no riding ‘till Monday!
July 5th (Morning)
Well, it poured pretty hard yesterday all day, and then over night as well. As I left the house, Juniper was in a cloud, but as I rode out on the trails, the cloud gave way to blue skies and a hot sun for the rest of the ride. It was only 13°, but with the sun it felt much warmer. I found a new pair of Cannondale biking shorts this weekend while in Vancouver and they were pretty comfy! The chamois is pretty thick and plush compared to my worn out old shorts, but I didn’t even notice the seat this morning so that was a good thing! The shorts are also a bit longer and the lining with the chamois is not attached to the baggy shorts meaning they are much more comfortable and I don’t have to worry about flashing anyone behind me with plumber’s crack! :)
With all the wet weeds from the rain, the brakes howled loud enough to wake up the entire town I’m sure. They stopped once they dried off, but would howl again as soon as they got wet. I suppose that helps in scaring any bears away ahead of me! I missed the same hill at the pipeline section at Rose Hill again. Lost traction, and control, veering off into the bushes! Oops... Heading across Frolek’s was pretty good. That bear I believe is about 1/2 way across Frolek’s land now and heading east as far as I can tell. There was some very fresh scat there this morning (probably about an hour before I went through or less). If you go by the fresh “scale” of where he has left his deposits, then he came from the West entrance to Peterson’s Creek park last Monday and is now 1/2 way across Frolek’s land. I still haven’t seen him yet, which is good! Maybe he’ll head up and over the mountain now, going south. I’d prefer if he didn’t meander through into Juniper...
Going down into Peterson’s Creek was fun again, of course! That trail is a blast down. Not very technical, meaning you can let the speeds get going pretty good and still control it easily enough when required. Heading up was tough with the gulley’s getting worse every day it seems. I met Rob again as he was hiking down, and he informed me that the new purple flowers that suddenly sprung up all over in the Park were called "Mariposa Lilies". I guess they are rather rare, and really only last about a week. Which is true, as they're disappearing now about as fast as they suddenly appeared.
Wild Mariposa Lilies suddenly sprung up all over Peterson's Creek Park
The rest of the ride was good up Springhill and Hugh Allan. I made the second half of Springhill in 3rd again. However, at the end of Hugh Allan, my left knee was really acting up and in a lot of pain. It is acting up here at this spot every morning, so maybe I will have to start trying to spin faster rather than grind out the gears when I can. Right now, that usually means a lower speed, but I think if I can concentrate on keeping my cadence high I should be able to keep the same speeds but in a gear that is hopefully slightly better for my knee.
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