September 30th (Morning)

Another beautiful morning, sunny and clear skies and a brisk 7°. I remembered the toe covers and leather gloves this morning, so my fingers and toes were kept just above being frozen! I left pretty late this morning, and thankfully I still felt pretty good physically so I was able to push pretty hard. I didn’t catch up to Brian this morning (so I really must’ve been late!). However, I did ride down the 8’ “cliff” that Dave rode on Saturday!!! This is the cliff that was made by the logging crews just on this side of Frolek’s gate, where the single-track from the Rose Hill pipe-line section exits. I’ve been thinking about trying it all week, but each morning I’ve been riding with Brian at this section. I don’t know, I guess if I wiped out I didn’t want anyone there to watch so I never attempted it ‘till this morning. It was awesome, and not nearly as bad as I had figured it would be. With the proper weight transfer, the bike pretty much just rolls along and goes where it needs to go! I will be riding this again a few times for sure. Man I’ve come a long way from my first ever ride where I didn’t even ride down the first hill past Rose Hill road!!!

The rest of the ride was pretty good, with decent speeds and a good pace. I didn’t break any time records this morning, but I was faster than my average by a few minutes and just 1 minute longer than my fastest time yet so that was cool. I didn’t make the the 90° corner/dip/rocky section of single-track 100% (I had to stop and dab, but then I did ride the rest). I managed the creek crossing again, very smoothly too so this is great to get so many successful runs together through this portion this week!

I finally took off the jacket sleeves after the creek crossing before climbing up out of the valley. Other than that one morning at 2°, this is the longest I’ve kept my jacket on during my morning rides.

I felt pretty good for the rest of the ride, and as such I did manage a couple of sprinting/cranking efforts on Summit Drive and Howe Road and even at the end down Copperhead drive. Good ride!

September 29th (Afternoon)

A bit of a different ride today. Ok, a LOT of a different ride today! I phoned a guy about a couple of derailleurs that he was selling for $5 (Deore LX rear, and I couldn’t tell what the front was). As I’m hoping to get my Balance bike up and running again, this was a deal that was too good to pass up so I set up a time to go and pick them up. Unfortunately, he lived on the North Shore (NOT on my way at all). When I told Corrie this, she said she had to go to her consignment store so we decided that we would meet there instead of me riding home.

So, I decided to ride through Kenna Cartwright park instead of taking the streets down and around and it was a blast! I figured I had a bit more time than I needed, so I took my time through the park and zig-zagged my way over and down. I entered the park near the end of Copperhead drive, but instead of following the power line east, I found a trail that took me directly south over the hill. Coming down the other side, I turned off and onto the Doc Findlay loop (upper ridge) and took this trail east. I have only ridden this trail once, and that was with Corrie when we rode through the park together. It is a really fun piece of single-track that traverses along the south side of Mount Dufferin. Once this trail joined up with the Red Fox, I took that piece of double-track down a bit further ‘till it met up with the lower Doc Findlay trail which I took around ‘till the infamous Kinnikinnick trail. I say “infamous” because during my short few weeks of riding from TRU to work I took this trail 4 or 5 times and it was brutally steep in a few places. Well, going down it is a blast! The steep sections were not as bad as I remembered.

I really wish I had stopped to take some pictures, but here’s a screenshot of a map of the Kenna Cartwright park. The arrows are the directions I went, notice how I did manage to find the most indirect route down! It was pretty fun!

At the bottom of the Kinnikinnick trail, where it intersected the Reservoir road, the trail kept going (although not marked, so not an “official” park trail). It was pretty sketchy in sections as it is not very well travelled, but it hooked up to the Sage trail that dropped down fast and straight into some City yard (they keep all their trucks, street work equipment, etc.). Well, coming down I did ride through a 20’ opening in a fence, but as there was no gate I thought nothing of it. However, it soon became apparent that I had managed to find my way inside the yard! It was all gated and fenced with no one within range to help me figure out how to exit the place!!!

As I rode in circles, I discovered a road where they either train the rookies how to paint street lines, or they calibrate their equipment. Either way it was pretty funny to see the entire road covered with white and yellow lines, dashed and solid! I really wish I had stopped to take a picture, but at the time I was a bit worried that I was wasting so much time being stuck in this yard that I was going to be late! I also rode by three or four old WWII bunkers. I didn’t know it at the time, but as you can see on the map this was an old WWII Navy yard. Now the barbaric barbed/razor wire that’s coiled up in the bushes off of the Resevoir trail makes sense! Again, I now really wish I had stopped to take some pictures, but alas I didn’t!

I finally found my way out of the yard and onto the street where I rode down to Hillside and then rode down Hillside ‘till the bridge across the river. From there, I rode up Tranquille ‘till I got to the North Hills mall to meet Corrie. It was fun, but a lot of work to keep my speeds up as high as I could on Tranquille (slight uphill too). The road is a bit narrow, with lots of parked cars on the right (in other words, watch for sudden opening doors in front of me!) and lots of traffic on my left. Thankfully I was able to go fast enough to stay with the same group of 5 or 6 cars and it wasn’t too bad in the end. I wouldn’t want to commute through city traffic like this every day, but once in a blue moon is OK!

September 29th (Morning)

After two oddly warm mornings, this morning was back to a fall-type temperature of 8°. Almost a perfect temperature for the ride in for sure! I can wear my jacket (minus the zip-off sleeves) and a long-sleeve jersey and it’s perfect. My fingers and toes were a bit cold at the end, so I guess I should’ve worn the toe covers and leather gloves! The skies were gorgeous, clear and sunny.

I left rather late this morning and thankfully I was feeling good physically right away so I was able to push harder than normal through Juniper. I caught up to Brian again this morning, but being as I left so late I didn’t catch him ‘till the end of the pipeline section at Rose Hill. We ended up stopping at Frolek’s gate and talking about trail making possibilities to get from the gate to the single-track that takes us to the pipeline section. Since the logging group destroyed the beautiful transition that was there waaaaay back when in April!!! We talked about where we could cut another trail across the hill and how to work it back and connect it to the existing trail network. It would be a fun experience, for sure. So if he decides to come out and go at it, I’ll have to be sure to come out with him. In fact, Corrie and the kids would probably really enjoy it as well (the hiking and being outside) so we could even make it a bit of a family outing I would think? I will most likely meet up with him again this week one morning, so I’ll have to arrange something if it works for Corrie?

The rest of the ride was really good. I didn’t make the dip/90° corner/rocky section of single-track this morning, but I did make the creek crossing and the technical climb up the west bank quite smoothly again, so that was pretty cool. All in all, I felt really good this morning so I managed a few sprinting/cranking efforts both on Summit and on Howe. This morning I had two less-than-ideal run-in’s with motorists, though. As I was standing and cranking up the hill at the end of Summit (trying to make the green), a little red focus hatchback came from the opposite direction, wanting to turn left and head down the old Merritt highway. Had he turned when he got into the intersection, all would’ve been fine. However, being the nervous/cautious/oblivious (you fill in the adjective here) driver that he obviously was, he waited ‘till I was IN the intersection to finally turn, right in front of me!!! Sure, I’m only going about 30km/h right there (it’s uphill, man!), but seriously. If you’re going to wait, then WAIT. If you want to go in front of me, then GO (when you still have time). But don’t try to do both!!! As such, I had to lay on the brakes and swerve behind him, completely losing any and all momentum I had gained with the standing efforts. Oh to have a fog horn!!! And then, after I made it through that intersection and started climbing up to the top of Hugh Allan, a car came behind me and passed me within about two feet of my left arm! He has an entire lane to drive in, and I was riding on the right hand side of my lane (not a bike lane, a CAR lane) and yet he chooses to cuddle up next to me? Sheesh! But, on a positive note, the amount of these occurrences since I’ve been taking this new route are VERY rare, so I just took a deep breath and continued on…

I’m going to check out a used front and rear derailleur today some guy is selling on Kijiji. He doesn’t seem to know much about them (like tube diameter for the front, or what speed(s) the rear is for) so I’m just going to take a look. From the picture, I can see that the rear is a Deore LX, so not bad. I figure if they worked, I might be able to use them on my old Balance frame. Then, with the Truvativ crank I have on my Cannondale (I’d have to put the original Shimano crank back on the Cannondale as it doesn’t fit on the Balance), I could build the Balance back up as a complete bike. Maybe I could set it up as my winter commuter or something, with some studded tires. I’d be OK with that for sure! Only thing is whether or not I could get that drop out bent back perfectly as I think it is slightly tweaked right now… Anyways, hopefully these derailleurs work (he only wants $5 for both), as that would be much cheaper than I was planning on spending to get that bike going again. Then I could even have a “spare” bike for those days the Cannondale decides to break a spoke or something… Not that that ever happens…

September 28th (Afternoon)

Another warm ride today (26°) which was pretty cool. I had to do some on-trail adjustments to the brakes again by the bottom of the Billy Minor trail. I barely made it up and over the root on the east bank as instead of clicking the finger shifter on the left (to go to the small ring on the front), I instead clicked the finger shifter on the right (down one harder cog on the back)! So, instead of my usual 1-2 gear combo, I went through the creek in 2-3… Hah! Oops… Anyways, even after stopping and shifting to the right gears I still didn’t make the climb out again. Man, I haven’t made this little climb again after 3 successful attempts last week. What’s going on???

At the top of Peterson’s Creek valley, I cleared the rock wall again with one of my better efforts where I had enough momentum to carry me 85% of the way and only had to pedal the last 15%. By allowing my momentum to carry me over, it ensures that I don’t smash my pedals on the rock which is a good thing!

I came down the first gulley trail and then decided to try a new trail down another gulley that I haven’t ridden on yet. I’ve noticed it as I ride by it a few times, and I figured that I knew where it came out below, so I thought what the heck? I walked the first 20 feet as it was quiet steep and rocky, and I had stopped at the top to survey the trail and couldn’t get back on in time (I will ride it 100% tomorrow though). It was a fun little trail. Not quite as fun and fast as the first gulley trail, but sort of in between it and the other gulley trail I normally take. It’s more open, has a couple of flatter sections, and then a couple of steeper sections too. Mixed into that are two spots with very large and ugly rocks that require some precision lines! Maybe I’ll try snapping some pictures of it tomorrow?

Other than that, the ride home was good. Physically I felt pretty good. Not top notch, but good enough to get a few sprints in across Juniper in the big gears. I caught up to two women jogging at the end of Juniper and when I said “Hi” the one lady about had a heart attack! I guess I need to yell much further back, but sheesh! A little high strung maybe???

September 28th (Morning)

The weather is actually getting warmer, this morning was 20°! I was curious when the last time was that I rode in 20° in the morning, only to discover that I haven’t ridden in weather this warm yet!!! Granted, in July there were a couple of mornings at 19°, but mostly 17° was as warm as it got. No wonder I was sweating so much this morning… And it’s the end of September?

The ride was pretty good. I met up with Brian again this morning about 1/2 way through Juniper. We rode together again ‘till my climb up to the single-track where we split ways. Riding with Brian is cool, but a slower pace (he loves his granny gear!). In the end, my ride was about 2-3 minutes longer than normal, but whatever!

The weather was a bit odd. I left the house and there was heavy cloud cover, and rain both in the valley to the north and towards Rose Hill (west). However, Juniper itself was dry. As we came out of Juniper, it started drizzling a bit on us about ‘till the end of the pipeline section but that was about it. Later, as I rode up to the Peterson’s Creek valley, it actually looked like the clouds were breaking up and there was a pocket of blue sky over the city. However, that “pocket” has since been enclosed… Looks like we’re in for some more rain today!

I managed another NO STOP ride this morning! This is awesome! I made the single-track portion with a bit of difficulty. I did unclip for a second, but regained my balance and kept riding, so I say that doesn’t count as I never actually stopped… The creek crossing and the climb up the west bank was really good. Controlled, perfect speed/momentum, and almost an easy climb out of the creek. Pretty sweet!

I had to shed the gloves as I started climbing up the Tom Moore trail. Now that I see that this was the warmest morning this year, it makes sense! The only problem with doing that is that I don’t have anything absorbent to wipe the sweat off of my face…

Anyways, I’m loving how good the bike is riding lately. Everyone I ride with makes me realize that I have a very low rolling resistance bike, a bike that loves to keep any momentum you give to it! It seems like whenever I’m riding with anyone else I’m constantly on the brakes to keep from gaining speed and pulling away from the other rider. I didn’t notice that much with Rob in Yellowstone, though, so I’m not sure what it is exactly. The differences that I can see attributing to this would be that Rob and I both have hardtails (everyone I ride with here in Kamloops are on full suspension rigs), and both of our tires are medium width, where Brian, Phil and even Dave all have super wide downhill tires. The tires are probably the biggest factor, as wider, heavier and beefier tires would be slower for sure. Glad I’ve noticed this now, as I’ve always wanted to buy some big, fat tires. Now I will think twice and probably stick with something between 2.1 and 2.3 to keep the rolling resistance down.

September 27th (Afternoon)

Some crazy winds and some crazy warmth… 27° today for the ride home! And absolutely brutal winds. Thankfully the winds were mostly from a south direction, meaning they only affected me on a couple of sections of the ride rather than going against me the whole way home.

I didn’t feel top notch today, but not horrible. I tried some sprinting up Hugh Allan, but petered out pretty quick. The trails down into Peterson’s Creek were really good, the brakes were tuned in nicely finally! Still can’t wait for those pads to get here though. At the bottom, I made it through the creek, but had some trouble getting over the root and suddenly found myself bouncing off a rock and leaning way too far to the left (creek side). Suddenly, the bike went down somehow (no idea what on earth I did) and before I knew it I was standing in the creek leaning against a  fallen tree that was laying across the banks, with my bike laying sideways on the bank! Other than a bloody knee, there was no damage and I shook my head in bewilderment and picked up the bike and headed up to where a hiker was standing watching me… The hiker looked at me and asked if I had just tried to ride across the fallen tree! Hah! Yeah, not quite although that would’ve been a better story as to why I wiped out for sure!

Feeling a sense of needing to make up for such a blunder, I pushed up the straight, steep climb out of the valley and made it about 10 feet further than I have done yet! It was awesome!!! At the top, I even cleared the rock wall with “ease”. I put “ease” in quotation marks because right now it’s more just luck of the draw it seems…

The rest of the ride was good, par for the course in most areas. I’m really enjoying the gulley trail and getting good speeds down it. I think I saw another gulley trail today that maybe I will attempt tomorrow? Why not have a multitude of options for how to get home, eh? Unless it kills me…

September 27th (Morning)

Suddenly the weather warmed up this weekend, and I rode into work in a warm 16° and sunshine! Crazy, when you consider just last week I was freeing my toes off at 2°!

The ride was really good. Physically, I felt really good. So obviously my extra ride this week hasn’t affected me yet, but I’ll withhold complete judgement from that ‘till this week is over entirely…

I met up with Brian at Frolek’s gate (east side) this morning. I haven’t seen him on these trails in months, which I had assumed was just due to my new route that I’ve been taking. However, it turns out he had some back problems this summer which put him out for about 2-3 months! He also just had 2 weeks of vacation, so this was his first ride in a very long time. Guess that explains why I haven’t seen him in such a while! We rode together along Frolek’s road ‘till I split off to climb up to my single-track and he continued on. He is definitely not into riding fast, and tends to spin in the granny gear a lot! No biggie, I still made it to work in good time. But I for sure enjoy cranking out some better speeds here than granny gears will give me!!!

I made this ride with NO STOPS again! That’s the third time now, I believe? I made the tricky section of single-track on Frolek’s land (not without some difficulty, but I managed to hold on and push through it). I also made the creek crossing, and the climb up the other side, so that was great!

I didn’t do much for sprinting this morning, just a bit at the beginning of Howe road. But if I feel this good coming home, I forsee some good sprinting today! Plus, Taryn has soccer tonight so I will probably have to hurry anyways to make it there in time. Hopefully I will have the energy to punch it!!!

September 26th (Saturday ride)

I very rarely get to go out on a “just for fun” ride, but today I actually did! Dave and Esther were coming over for supper and a hockey game tonight, so I got Corrie to drop me off at Dave’s first and then Dave and I rode my regular route through to Juniper.

We left from Dave’s place in Dufferin, so we took my old route through the city (basically) ‘till the entrance into Peterson’s Creek just below Berwick. From there, we rode some new (to me) trails along the top of the west side of the valley ‘till we met up with my usual route down Billy Minor Trail South. It was awesome to ride a few new trails, even if it was quick and short. The best part was that we came up on a bit of a tough, steep climb and I managed to muscle it up and over while Dave had to push! Wow, I never thought I’d see the day where I made a climb that Dave didn’t… Granted, I didn’t see what happened, nor did we say anything, so maybe he had a chain malfunction or something… On our way over the top and heading over to the Tom Moore trail, I heard a loud cracking noise and looked over to see the top half of a dead tree crash down into the valley. The winds were crazy right then, so it was no surprise. But made me realize we had to be pretty alert to falling trees to be sure!

We made the ride down and into the creek, and I managed to make it through the creek and over the first root, but again I didn’t make the dumb climb up the east bank!!! Dave had to dab over the root, but he did make the climb, so that was cool. I decided to attempt the long, straight and steep climb and both Dave and I made it roughly about the same distance. He said he has seen guys make this climb before, so it is doable! It was cool to see Dave make it the same distance that I usually do… Granted, if he did this climb every day he’d probably make it before I could…

At the top, we actually met up with Heidi and Matt from church as they were hiking with their dog. We talked for a bit, then kept going. Dave was in front, and I think the rock wall caught him a bit off guard as he didn’t make it (but I know he’d clear this thing in a heartbeat with his 2nd or maybe 3rd try). As such, I stopped behind him and so didn’t even try it. As we were getting back on and riding, another tree came crashing down behind us! Well, a ways behind us, but still. I was starting to get a bit nervous for sure!

We rode up and took both of the gulley trails down. Dave liked the first trail, and right after that we had to stop to clear a smaller tree that had fallen across. We continued on and across Frolek’s land. After we had hiked up to the trail that takes us around to the pipeline section at Rose Hill, Dave made a comment about the little hike-a-bike section being fun going down. I told him I’d never even tried it (it’s a freakin’ cliff, Dave!) so of course, he turns around, drops his saddle, and off he goes over and down!!! Crazy! Ashamedly, I did not try it… I seriously do not know if I have the skill for that… Uff da! But now, I have to do it before the year is out. I wonder if there is a section somewhere I could practice first to build my confidence before attempting something like that?

The pipeline section was fun, met a female biker as she was coming the other way. The final hill I made into the sand pocket, but that was it. Dave made it about the same distance as well, before he spun out and lost all momentum. Again, a bit confirming for me to know that my toughest two climbs indeed are tough if the climbing machine struggled on them! Granted, he seemed to be a bit off on this ride, so I’m not sure if maybe it was just a bad day for him or what.

Anyways, good ride, and it was cool to finally ride with Dave on these trails. He says he’d like to do it again someday, only with more time so he can take me up to some of the Sticks and Bones and Upper PC trails which would be pretty sweet!

September 24th (Afternoon)

So the huge, greasy Costco burger and extremely unhealthy fries with a coke didn’t seem to affect me too much… At least I don’t think it did… Not yet anyways! Still, not a good idea to do THAT more than once a month or so, hah!

The ride was pretty good. Very overcast, and quite windy. The wind was really only a factor riding on Copperhead from work, and on the Juniper main trails. thankfully. Everywhere else I was facing in more of an easterly direction and the wind was mainly coming from the south.

Going down into Peterson’s Creek, I again had to tweak the brakes a bit. These brakes are adjusted better if I use the Allan key adjustment from the inside of the calliper (the cable adjustment does very little). Which means I have to take my pack off, dig around for my Allan key set and then adjust it. Every time I do this on the trail, I start dreaming and wishing for some Avid BB7’s…

I did make the section through the creek and up and over the first root, but I actually got too much speed heading to the climb up the east bank and bounced over the rocks and roots too fast and ended up taking the completely wrong line… I attempted the straight and steep climb out of the valley, though (instead of the bypass trail) and made it pretty far. About as far as my current record distance, if not a foot or two farther. So that was cool! With some more strength and conditioning for climbs like this, I should be able to pull this off someday! At the top, I did manage to clear the rock wall again, although this time I hit my right pedal pretty hard. I can’t seem to mentally get this figured out. I know what I’m supposed to do, but when the time comes I can’t get over the fact that everything is telling me that what I know I should do will actually work! I’m not a physics major by any means, but the whole section just seems so improbable when I’m approaching it… And yet, I have managed to make it over 4 times now!

I took both the gulley trails down, which were really good. The first trail was fast and it is getting to be so much fun. The second trail wasn’t as much fun, but I did make it without dabbing at all. At the bottom, my thighs were burning pretty bad! It is crazy how going down these trails is working completely different leg muscles than I’ve worked on for the entire summer…

Going through Juniper wasn’t too bad. I wasn’t able to get a lot of good speed due to the winds in my face, but I still managed a decent little jump at the trailhead to the look out trail, and sprinted it again up to the top (that is so much fun!).

I hope to ride these trails home again tomorrow with Dave, so hopefully the weather cooperates!

September 24th (Morning)

Another warm morning of 9°. I did get the toe covers in the mail yesterday from MEC, so I tried them this morning even though the weather was not bad. Yesterday was 9°, and without the toe covers my toes were cold and took a bit to warm up, but they weren’t that bad (when compared against the 2° day of Wednesday morning!). This morning, however, with the covers my toes were fine! Nice and warm. I hope these things work well when the temperature drops again, though! I might have to consider buying new shoes too, or at least winter booties I guess?

The ride was good, the sun was out so the light was plentiful (no headlight or taillight needed). I did feel a bit low in the energy department today, but not too bad overall. Nothing like Wednesday’s ride home, that was for sure! I had an interesting encounter with a dear right at the logged-out section that breaks up the single-track across Frolek’s land (where the second gulley trailhead is). I have seen a doe here quite a few times (I even considered calling this “Doe Valley” because of how many times I’ve seen one here). Today, she was standing right by the trail, actually at the fork between my traversing trail and the gully trail down. I continued riding towards her, expecting her to bolt away. However, she just walked slowly around me as I rode by her, less than 10 feet away! She was on alert for sure, but I think she was being a bit too curious and trying to figure me out. Kind of cool, as long as she doesn’t go postal on me suddenly…

I didn’t make the technical curve/dip today. This is just such a bizarre section, where I need momentum, yet momentum can also be my enemy. I come around the corner and up the hill leaning the wrong direction (due to gravity, can’t do much about that), which throws me off balance for making the section. It’s a strange corner, one that I can only seem to make every 3 or 4 tries…

However, I came down into Peterson’s Creek with some good speed, and made it through the creek and up the bank on the other side, so that was awesome! The climb up out of the valley was “routine”. As my legs were a bit lacking in energy today, it was good to get about 2/3 of the way up and realize my body had simply gone into “auto-pilot” even though my mind seemed to be elsewhere… Hah!

I might go riding with Dave this weekend, so show him my trails I take home. Hopefully we can work it out to do that, should be fun to see him make (or not make) some of the climbs that I am challenged by so much!

September 23rd (Afternoon)

A really good ride home! It was fun and fast going down into Peterson’s Creek, and I made it through the creek, over the first root on the other side AND I made the climb out of the east bank!!! Finally, I managed to make both of these sections in the same effort! Unfortunately, my effort up the bypass trail going out of the valley wasn’t so great… But after that, once I got to the top, I came up to the rock wall with a good rate of speed (faster than I have before). My mind tried telling my body to hit the brakes, that I wasn’t going to make it, but I managed to stubbornly push on and I cleared the wall easily! With the extra speed I managed, I was able to keep the pedals level ‘till my front wheel was well over the top, at which point I only had to pedal about 1/2 a crank to get the rear wheel to come up and over. Best clear on this section yet!

Physically I felt pretty good today. I took both of the gulley trails down and the first one was really good, faster in most sections than I typically am there. The second trail was not bad, but that one isn’t as fun! The mini rock garden was a bit tough and I had to dab a bit to keep from going over the bars… I’d really be interested in trying this section with a decent front suspension as compared to my cheap spring type fork. Maybe the big bumps would be soaked up better?

The pipeline section at Rose Hill was really good. The last hill I thought I just might make it! I did make it the furthest yet, so that was very sweet. But that is a tough, tough hill. I’ve heard that Phil has made it, but I haven’t seen anyone actually do it. Maybe if I ride here with Dave this weekend I’ll see him make it! He seems to be the climbing king…

The trails through to Juniper were good and fast. I got some really good air at the beginning of the the look out trail (where it forks off of the main road), and then sprinted the single-track up to the top. Awesome fun!

Oh, I just about forgot. As I was coming to the trailer park up in Pineview/Aberdeen, there were a bunch of kids sitting on their bikes on top of a little dirt hill. They have made themselves some jumps and what not and they seem to be hanging out on this hill every day. Anyways, as I rode up and past them today, one of the kids yells out at me “Hey, mister! I dare you to come try this jump!”. I looked up at him and just said, “Sorry, I’ll leave that kind of fun up to you guys.” He put his hands up and said, "Come on, I dare you!” Hah! Maybe that works on other 15 year olds, but I simply told him “Kid, I’m way too old to be swayed by peer pressure!” and continued riding.

Sorry, but there’s just no way I’m going to attempt jumping right now. The likelihood of me making the jump without breaking me or the bike is very slim… 220 pounds on an entry level bike (with fragile spokes I might add!) landing a jump is just not a good combination. And if this kid so insistently “dares” me to jump it, you can bet that it isn’t a little 2 foot jump!!! So, I will rest in being the “boring old guy” for now. Maybe after a few years of riding when I’m more well balanced on two wheels I’ll give that sort of thing a try. But for now, for me, cross country is where I’m at and I will stick with the 2 or 3 spots on my trails that I manage to get a bit of air now and then and be satisfied with that… And not risk breaking something I can’t afford to repair…

September 23rd (Morning)

Very overcast this morning which resulted in a pretty dim/dark start to the ride! This morning was one of the first rides where the light I ordered (hasn’t come yet) would’ve been a big help. I did use my Radbot blinky, though, and no one honked in anger at me so I don’t think it’s too bright…

The temperature was a warmer 9°, meaning that I was able to shed the sleeves off my jacket and the leather gloves about 1/2 way through the ride. By the end, I probably should’ve dropped the jacket entirely, but it was still a bit chilly at speed so maybe it was good to keep it on.

As I was leaving Juniper, a deer bounded out beside me and “bounced” along side me for a few seconds before veering off in front of me (about 20 feet in front) and running off into the bushes. It was pretty neat to watch her bounce so effortlessly through the bushes, all four legs in unison, and getting about 3-4 feet of air (plus some good hang time) with each bounce. And quiet! She didn’t make a sound. Crazy…

As I crossed Rose Hill road, heading down into the pipeline section, I could hear some coyotes ahead of me. By the sound, I figured they were somewhere on Frolek’s land, but I wasn’t sure. At the last valley of the pipeline section, I met up with two hikers and two dogs (one of the dogs I think was my Weimaraner “friend”, but it was too dark to be sure). I made a comment about the coyotes, and they said they had decided to turn back as there were too many coyotes and they didn’t want to risk anything. So, I got to Frolek’s land, and sure enough, by the noise they were right on my road, just below the climb between the upper and lower roads! As I got closer, and their yipping/yapping was pretty loud, I actually got a bit nervous. Typically coyotes are pretty skittish with humans, but in a pack are they still skittish? Or will I look like a good meal??? So, I yelled “Hey!” and was answered by maybe 2 or 3 coyotes. I continued riding closer, and then hollered again, “I’m coming through, just letting you all know!” and I was answered again, but by maybe only one this time. I came around the corner where I anticipated them to be, and saw a couple running through the bushes, but none of them on the road or coming towards me. And they had all quieted down by then. As I rode through and started the climb, I thanked them for allowing me to pass in peace and quiet!!! Hah!

The rest of the ride was good and uneventful. I felt better this morning physically than I did on yesterday’s ride home, so that was really good. I didn’t make the rocky/curve/dip section of single-track again (2nd fail in a row I think?), and just about made the climb up out of Peterson’s Creek on the west bank (spun out on a rock at the crest). So it was a “so-so” ride, and I was happy with it in the end.

September 22nd (Afternoon)

Bad ride, bad!!! No cookie!!!

Yep, this was one of my infamous, can’t-see-it-comin’ bad rides. I felt slow, heavy, lazy. My legs seemed to hurt on every little incline… And this is my way home, which is 75% downhill!!!

Anyways, enough of the dramatics. The ride was a pretty lousy effort. Enough to make me a bit grumpy in the evening (oops, sorry family). I did, however, finally make it through Peterson’s Creek and over the first root, only to NOT make the steep climb right after that… Hopefully the stars will soon align and I can make BOTH of these sections soon!

I decided to take the “easy” bypass trail rather than the straight, steep climb out of the valley, but even that effort landed me about 20 feet short of the usual distance. Arrggg… And as I came up to the rock wall at the top, I completely bailed, didn’t even attempt it! With the ride going like it was already, I did not have the confidence to make it and chickened out.

The entire ride was tough. The climbs across the Rose Hill pipeline section were tough, and the sections through the Juniper trails where I’ve been cranking out the big gear combos I sat and spun lazily. I guess a day like this is bound to happen with this much riding, but I did NOT enjoy it at all. Hopefully tomorrow morning will be better.

September 22nd (Morning)

Chilliest ride of the year yet at 2°. Uff da! At least the sun was out, which made it seem not so bad… Actually, in reality it wasn’t that bad. At first, I was quite chilly. But once the blood got pumping, I didn’t do too bad. I did find my leather driving gloves this morning and wore them over top of my regular biking gloves and that seemed to do the trick. While my fingers were a bit on the chilly side, they did not freeze like yesterday morning. So I think that will be my trick for these next few weeks. The jacket did well, and I kept it zipped up just under my chin which helped a lot with the cold wind. I might consider buying a beanie with ear covering of some sort, as my head and ears were pretty cold. Especially at the end of the ride with the sweat and then wind… A bit of brain freeze… My toes, however, froze solid!! The good news is that I got an email from MEC this morning stating that they were shipped yesterday. I checked Canada Post, and they should be here tomorrow, so hopefully they help as much as the leather gloves helped my fingers!

On the climb connecting Frolek’s lower and upper roads, I decided to get off and walk/run the hill instead. Not because I was too tired, but because I needed to get the blood flowing to my feet! It did work, as by the time I got to the top my feet were warming up a bit. And by keeping a fast walk/run pace up the hill, it wasn’t a rest at all (just so my head doesn’t get to thinking that this is the easy way out and try to convince myself to do this later when I DON’T need to warm up my toes!). I managed to keep my heart rate right around 92% or so, about where it normally is when I ride this hill.

The rest of the ride was really good, minus the noisy rear brakes. I guess with all the bears I’ve been seeing lately, noisy brakes aren’t a bad thing in the mornings! I stopped again at the top of the Peterson Creek valley and did some jumping jacks to warm up my toes again… What a beautiful morning, though! With the crisp, cool air, blue skies and sun coming over the hills, it looked pretty cool!

I finally made it through the creek this morning (after two failed attempts this week already), but didn’t make the technical climb up the other side. After that, the climb up out of the valley went well and the rest of the ride was pretty good. I had a decent time of 59 minutes, but I have a feeling that time will be getting longer as the temperatures get colder. I don’t feel like going as fast down the hills as normal, due to the wind chill factor now! Hah! But, then again, I tend to go harder/faster up the hills as I am trying to warm up so maybe it will all balance out in the end…

September 21st (Afternoon)

I actually wore my jacket for an afternoon ride! I’m not sure when I did that last, probably last April… Uff da! However, I was able to shed it by Peterson’s Creek.

I took it somewhat easy today. Not too much sprinting or cranking out the big gears except in a few spots. The ride down into Peterson’s Creek was annoying as the brakes were VERY loud and squealing the whole way down. Twice I stopped to try and tweak them a bit, but it didn’t do much. It is mainly the rear brakes, where the pads are pretty much shot. I did order two new pairs of pads off of eBay this weekend, so I do hope they get here real soon! Not sure how much longer these pads will last… eBay had a pretty good deal. Two pairs with shipping for $35. Considering I pay $25 for one pair here, I thought that was a decent deal. And they are higher quality pads. I should get some longer life out of these ones, and they will apparently be somewhat quieter and even have more bite. Anything to help these brakes is a good investment in my opinion! If I do have an extra couple hundred bucks between now and next spring, I am definitely throwing it at new brakes…

Physically I felt pretty good today, but technically it was not a great effort. Once again, I spun out on the first root coming up out of Peterson’s Creek and had to dab. Then I couldn’t make the short steep climb after that (third time not so lucky I guess). I decided to attempt the bypass trail today, and even that I failed at, not even making it within 10 feet of my usual stopping point! At the top of Peterson’s Creek, I came up and over the rock wall and attempted to back pedal quickly to make the last part of the wall without smashing my pedal (like I did the two times I have made this section). In doing so, however, I lost momentum and had to put my foot down to make the rest… Frustrating day to be sure!

Instead of riding all the way up to the first gulley trail, I instead found another trail that connected me from Frolek’s upper road to my single-track below. It was a fun little piece of winding single-track, and had my brakes been in better working order (and quieter), I would’ve probably enjoyed it more. Hey, at least I ventured out off my beaten path!

Taryn’s ballet was today, and after which Corrie had a bunch of stuff to do. So I had decided to meet them down in Valleyview and therefore took Frolek’s road down the hill (after the gate, where I normally follow the trails to Rose hill’s pipeline section). I’d never taken this road down, so it was good to see where it went. Not a great ride, as it is still a road after all… But not bad. After that, I hooked up with Rose Hill road and took it town into Valleyview, getting a top speed of 68 km/h. It’s been a while since I’ve had this bike going at those speeds, I had forgotten what a rush that was!

September 21st (Morning)

Wow, a very cold ride this morning! 4° makes me wishing for some much better riding gear all of a sudden. About 15 minutes into the ride and my legs and arms were finally warmed up and OK. My fingers and toes never warmed up, they only got colder… I have the toe covers coming (on backorder) from MEC, which should be soon. However, the gloves I bought from MEC are even colder than the ones I already have! I guess that’s what I get for just going on reviews and online descriptions… Not that they’re a complete waste, because I will need new gloves next season I’m sure. But for now, what to wear? I might have to put on some actual winter gloves for now, and hope they have the grip I need for control. I’ll have to figure something out soon!

The ride was really good, however. I was wondering if I would be hurting this morning after the sprinting effort I had on my way home last night. However, I felt good and still had a pretty good ride. I did try to take it easier this morning so I don’t end up with another ride like last Friday morning where I felt dead! I did manage to make the section of single-track on the rocky/curve/dip (I really have no idea what to call that section), but then I completely failed the creek crossing. Not sure why, but two days in a row I suddenly have struggled to even make it into and through the creek, let alone the technical little climb up the bank. Luckily for me, the water is really low meaning that I can dab in the middle of the creek on dry ground!

As I said earlier, my order from MEC came last night. I now have a new bite valve (thank goodness) that even twists on and off. So, if this one also starts to leak like my last two, I can shut it right off. I also ordered a quick connect that I installed in the middle of the water tube. This will now allow me to quickly pull the water bag out of the pack without having to thread the tube through all the little hooks and loops so I can fill it easily. What a great little item! Hopefully it doesn’t start leaking…

Along with a couple of spare tubes, a patch kit and and a chain cleaner, I also got this taillight (the Radbot 1000). This thing is BRIGHT! Wow… With two flash modes and one steady mode, this thing will for sure help ensure that I am seen by motorists on dimly lit morning rides. According to some of the guys on the MTBR forums, it was one of the best lights I could’ve picked.

It doesn’t look too bad or dorky, but for it’s purpose it’s worth it obviously!

 

Obviously you can’t completely get the brightness from a photo, but this thing rocks! Corrie says it’s annoyingly bright, which I guess is a good thing for what I need it to do.

 

Now for my headlight. I do hope it comes soon! This morning’s ride was a bit on the dim side for a few minutes until the sun finally came out…

September 20th (Afternoon)

Crazy FAST ride this afternoon! Taryn has her soccer on Monday nights at 6pm. We are supposed to be a her soccer 10 minutes early, and it’s a 15 minute drive. That means we need to leave the house at 5:35 at the latest. Normally my ride takes me anywhere from 45-50 minutes, and I don’t leave work ‘till 4:45 typically. So, as I left the office today I knew I was going to have to push hard to make it in time to change and help get the kids ready and loaded up in the truck!

The temperature was still a brisk 11° (and still no jacket), but I was able to warm up pretty fast. I did some sprinting up the Hugh Allan hill, and then the Summit Drive just past the Merritt highway intersection. Coming down into Peterson’s Creek was good and fast, with the two sand pockets still being pretty wet and therefore a bit easier to navigate. I made the crossing through the creek, but again I spun out on the root trying to get out up the first bank! Even so, I did make the short, steep climb up the second bank for only the second time to date (two times in a row now). So what gives? Suddenly I can’t make the first section but I can make the second? Jeepers, time to get these ducks in a row!!!

I attempted the long, steep climb again versus trying the bypass trail. I’m liking the challenge this way gives me, even if I can’t see myself making the whole way in maybe 4 or 5 years… It’s still fun to try and see how far I can make it every time.

I made it to the top of the first gulley trail about 5 minutes faster than normal, so I knew I was on my way to a fast time. By the time I got down to Frolek’s lower road, I was cruising pretty good. I made a rather poor distance up the final hill at the Rose Hill pipeline section, but then the trail going into Juniper was FAST. I basically sprinted the entire section, landing me at home in a record 41 minutes, and a best average speed of 20.6km/h! A typically good and fast ride is around 44 minutes and 19km/h, so this was awesome!

So, yeah, I made it in time and didn’t make Taryn late for soccer… Plus, my stuff from MEC was there, so I got to play with some new toys after we came back from her game…