September 15th (Afternoon)

The skies threatened rain the whole ride, but nothing came of it so that was good! The temperature was a perfect 20° and cloudy. A bit warm with my long sleeve shirt, but overall not bad.

The ride was excellent! I have decided to stand and push the big gears more often, trying to work more muscle so I can make the long, steep climbs that I just can’t seem to make. So, I pushed 3-7 going up the Summit hill and felt pretty good! Going down into Peterson’s Creek was good and fast, yet controlled. I made it through the creek and over the first root but then couldn’t make the climb after the second root… (hence why I want to build more muscle for climbs like these). I then decided to try the long, straight climb up out of the valley rather than the by-pass trail I always take. It was pretty good! VERY tough, but I did make it a very good, long distance (best yet of my 3 or 4 tries this way). I just about made the rock wall section too. In fact, I think I did make it, but bailed when I should’ve stood and cranked the last bit. I only put a foot down and kept going, so that’s only 1/2 a stop, right?

Coming through the Juniper trail was VERY fast. I stood and cranked 3-8 for most of it, getting great speeds. I then took off of the main trail and up to the look out trail and stood and cranked that climb too! I was getting into a groove I suppose…

In the end, I sure feel it more than most rides, but my time was a great 44 minutes and I had a really good average speed of 19.5km/h! Very happy with this ride, but we’ll see if I pay for it tomorrow or not…