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…
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