September 20th (Morning)

The ride started out as a brisk but good ride. The temperature was a cooler 12°, but I opted to go with no jacket this morning (as I’ve lugged that thing around for the past two weeks of similar weather and not needed it). It was overcast, but not too bad. By the time I got into the trails out of Juniper, I was warmed up enough so the weather was just absolutely perfect. Unfortunately, I didn’t pay attention to when I left the house and ended up leaving about 10 minutes late! It was weird not seeing any people at all the bus stops… I started wondering at first if I was riding on a Sunday or something, then I realized how late I was… Oops!

Physically I really felt pretty good. I kept a good sprint/stand-and-grind pace going through Juniper up ‘till where the trails starts climbing a bit. The climb up the road that connects Frolek’s upper and lower roads actually was pretty good. Still a lot of pain by the top, but I felt good and fast, so it was a good day for sure! There was a small-ish tree that had fallen across the single-track that I had to stop and move out of the way. I didn’t make the dip/rocky-corner that I made a couple of times last week. I had to dab once as my rear wheel hit a rock and knocked me off balance and killed my momentum. I still made the ride without walking through that section, but the dab officially cost me the “No Stops” goal. In the end, I didn’t even come close to making it through and up the bank at Peterson’s Creek, so not a big deal anyways!

By the time I got to Hugh Allan, the wind picked up and it started to rain/drizzle a bit. The temperature started to drop a bit too (ended up being about 2° cooler when I got to work than when I started). Of course, as I had left my jacket, today was the day that I actually could’ve used it! The climb on Howe was pretty tough with the head wind, and my arms were in a lot of pain due to the cold wind/rain. Nasty! At least it didn’t snow…

Well, I survived the ride and the forecast says it SHOULD be sunnier this week, so we’ll see. I do hope so! Oh, and my order from MEC came in today (Corrie phoned and told me). So that means I’ll get some warmer gloves, a taillight (as I’m borderline illegal right now in the mornings without anything) and a new bite valve. The bite valve I am VERY excited about as mine is a constant drip down my right knee… VERY annoying!