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!