October 8th (Morning)

The weather warmed up this morning for the last ride of the week… A beautiful 13°! I had the leather gloves and jacket off by the pipeline section today, and could’ve done it sooner but I was just trying to collaborate an existing stop rather than add a new one if that makes any sense whatsoever…

Aneeeeeeways… Coming out of Juniper I noticed a rather large coyote run across the trail just ahead of me. His tail was so bushy, I really wonder if it isn’t maybe foxes I’m seeing and not coyotes? Anyways, it was creepy how he disappeared into relatively no bushes… By the time I got to that section of the trail, he was gone. And there wasn’t much to hide behind, but he’s pretty good for camouflage I guess.

I ended up walking the 2nd to last climb on the pipeline section at Rose Hill… No, I didn’t run out of gas… No, I didn’t loose traction… No, my line was good (lots of room to wander on this climb). Yep, you guessed it… THE STUPID CHAIN FELL OFF AGAIN!!! Yes, shifting to the granny gear and the chain hops off… Thankfully, this has only been happening about once a week lately, but it is SOOOO frustrating! I have the stop set, and 9 times out of 10 it works perfectly. So what is it about that 10th time that makes it hop off? A bump in the trail maybe? The planets aligned? Whatever it is, it is annoying and obviously it will always be at the worse time (if I’m hitting granny gear, I need it and I need it fast). Tempting enough for me to consider a chain stop or something… Jeepers! Anyways, so on a hill that I have made 100% of the time for the past few months, there I was walking to the top…

I rode the “cliff” again just before Frolek’s gate and ended up wandering a bit too far right this time and thought I was going to be eating a mouthful of dirt for a moment! Thankfully, I just let the bike go and it rolled over the bumps (rougher than normal on this line) and I came out still rubber side down… As I stopped to open the gate, a buck was standing just 20 feet on the other side. He watched me for a minute ‘till I started to open the gate then ran down a basically sheer drop… Those animals are incredible what they can climb and descend at speeds!!!

At the single-track stretch, I came across another fallen tree. This one was too big for me to even budge, so I had to pick my way around and over it with my bike on my shoulder. Unfortunately, this is probably as far from any road as I get on my trails!!! And Brian doesn’t ride up here (so he won’t be by anytime soon with his chainsaw). As such, I think I will have to hike up here with my hand saw and/or axe to remove it. Maybe the kids are in for a bit of a long hike this weekend? Maybe we could make a picnic out of it or something? We’ll have to see… Either way, I have to get up here and get rid of it as this is my regular morning route and I don’t wish to find another trail… Unless I want to attempt riding up the gulley trails??? Yeah right…

As I headed up to the beginning of the Billy Minor Trail that heads down into Peterson’s Creek, I decided to try a new trail that runs parallel to my usual one, only 10 feet lower down the hill. It was a fun trail, actually, except at the end where there is a massive tree which decided to stick one of it’s roots right across our trail… Jeepers! So, unless I can maybe get enough speed to bunny hop this (I will need about 1-1/2 feet of air, which I cannot do yet) I don’t think I will be able to clear it. There is a spot on the left that I could pop the front wheel over, but I’m pretty sure my crank will hit, let alone the pedals. On the right, there’s another spot that would be good for clearance, but it’s right beside the tree, meaning my handlebar will hit the trunk… Hmmmm… Sounds like a new challenge???

This morning I grabbed a pair of old safety glasses I have down in my workshop. They’re clear, but shaped like regular sports sunglasses. I haven’t tried them yet because they’re in rough shape (scratches). But, I figured I just can’t wear my yellow tint glasses anymore on my morning rides (too dark), but I still need something. They were great! They didn’t fog up once, so I wore them the whole way (normally I keep pulling my other ones off during the climbs, and putting them back on before a downhill because they fog up so bad unless I’m going 15km/h or more). So, other than the scratches (maybe I can repair them somehow?), these clear glasses will be perfect for my darker rides. Awesome! There’s another $15-25 I don’t have to spend now… Oh, and I also packaged up the gloves I had ordered from MEC and Corrie is going to mail them back today. They are too cold, too small and the padding they do have actually cause me more pain/discomfort than my current gloves which have no padding at all! So, I requested an exchange instead for a CTR Skull Cap. It has received some good reviews for being warm even in minus temperatures, so I think this might be my cold weather answer for brain freeze and it should keep my ears from freezing off! Hopefully it comes soon...