June 30th (Afternoon)
Call me crazy, but both the ride into work this morning and home this afternoon I felt like pushing it and going much faster in most spots than I normally do. I’m not sure what that’s all about, maybe just because of my week off or maybe I’m just enjoying this more. Anyways, it was a fun ride to be sure. One thing I couldn’t figure out, though, is why the wind has it out for me so bad. I mean, yesterday afternoon it was pushing against me as I rode down Hugh Allan (wind was blowing west). Then, this morning it again was pushing against me as I rode up Hugh Allan (now it was blowing east). But then this afternoon, I turn to go down Hugh Allan and, yup! It’s pushing against me again (blowing west again)! What gives?
Anyways, the good thing is that it did eventually calm down and the Springhill section was good and fast and then I really didn’t notice the wind after that. Heading down into Peterson’s creek was pretty good. I went faster than normal, even a bit out of control on a few spots where I thought I was going to bite it, but luckily I didn’t! It was fun, though. I made the entire way down without getting off the bike. I did have my foot out at the two nasty switchbacks and the section between them, however. About 1/4 of the way down, I saw some horse manure... Say WHAT?!? Ok, I’m all for sharing the trail. I mean, if I see someone on a horse, I will gladly stop, dismount and move over. But, seriously, if I meet up with a horse on this section of the trail going down into Peterson’s creek, I’m sorry, but there is nowhere for me to go! Seriously, there’s hardly room for two bikers to pass each other, let alone a 1000lb animal with prey mentality and spooking tendencies! Yikes... I do hope I don’t ever meet up with that nut... :) Anyways, heading back up the other side was really good. I made good distance on all four riding stretches (still 3 usual stops, although an extra stop at the beginning where I lost a bit of control and tried riding up the cliff on my right hand side...). No distance record breaking efforts, but good efforts nonetheless. Through Frolek’s land is where I felt that I was pushing it harder than I normally do, making the corners a bit faster and cresting the hills in a gear or two higher.
I still missed the final two hills at the Rose Hill pipeline section, and then continued along the pipeline section through to Juniper. That section I really noticed extra speed, as my legs were burning not from muscles but from the slapping, grabbing, scraping weeds! Which now contain yellow, purple, light purple, dark purple and white flowers! I still despise them regardless of how many colours they try to throw at me... In fact, I just about went over the bars when a weed got stuck in my pedal and just about stopped me dead before it ripped out of the ground at the last second... Seriously! These things are of the devil...
July 1st (Morning)
HAPPY CANADA DAY!
We took a vote at ACS and decided we wanted the Canada Day holiday on Friday rather than Thursday so we could have a long weekend. Makes much more sense to me I think! So this morning’s ride, the parts where I rode on the streets, were much quieter than usual.
It was a bit chilly this morning, actually. Only about 11°! What’s with that? Cloudy, but no wind. I made all the hills at the Rose Hill pipeline section again! Coming down into Peterson’s Creek, I passed some fresh bear scat again about half the way down. I didn’t know the bears would come up that high? So, I stopped right away at the sandy switchback and just scanned the valley below, seeing if the bear was still hanging around. Of course, from then on I was pretty skittish at every corner! Hah! I decided to finally try the trail heading up out of Peterson’s Creek on the north side of the highway for once, just so I would know for sure which trail I preferred. At first, it was so much more fun! Winding around along the creek valley bottom, crossing over a bridge, skipping right through the creek at one point. It was pretty neat, and I started thinking, yep! I’ll do this trail often! But then the climb started up along the north side of the highway. At first, no big deal. It was a longer climb than normal, but a rideable one at least. And then the last section came, and it was pretty steep with a VERY deep gulley right down the middle. Deep enough that if I slid into it, I was guaranteed to bend a rim or worse! So, I ended up walking it. Probably did as much walking on this section as my regular route, only I had to ride more ups!
The final section up Springhill and then Hugh Allan was actually really good. I felt strong and faster, even making it up the entire 2nd half of Springhill in 3rd where I have always been in 2nd before. And I didn’t feel like I was grinding it out in 3rd either. In fact, had I not actually seen that I was in third, I probably wouldn’t have noticed as I felt like I was spinning normally. Cool!
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