August Update

Well, I’ve been riding again fairly consistently. I’m feeling better, and starting to get back into the swing of things. I’ve been enjoying a bit more exploring lately, finding some different routes, and even had a fun ride to work down from Lac Le Juene Provincial Park! We camped up there for a weekend, arriving on a Thursday evening, so I rode in on Friday. It only took me about 45 minutes, and it was quite an enjoyable ride. Although it would’ve been much more fun on my dream road bike, the Trek Madone 3 Series! There is still the one hill coming out of the East side of Peterson’s Creek that I cannot make. I’m about 15 feet away from making it, but I just run completely out of gas, traction and will power… Some day, maybe? However, there is one shorter hill near Rose Hill Road that I only made it up about 3 times last year. This year, I’ve made it all BUT 3 times! It is cool to see the progress for sure!

I found myself exploring a bit on a ride into work just last week. Not sure what came over me, but I decided to look for some more trails as I was leaving Juniper, which caused me to ride to the top of Coldwater! That was a decent climb to start me off in the morning! Only, I got to the top, quickly realized that the trails were all going the wrong way (back east above Juniper, rather than west towards work), so I decided to abort and rode all the way back down again… And then, when I got to the end of the Peterson’s Creek trails, I decided to continue on with my exploring and followed the Tom Moore trail up rather than cutting over to Summit drive. I ended up coming out up on Pinnacles street, which is the highest point in Sahali!

The next day I paid for the extra climbing, even that ride home. But I recovered soon enough, and then just this week, Monday, I decided to again explore some more and rode up to the top of Pinnacles/Chancellor to where the Peterson’s Creek trails actually start. This was a good little climb, that I will probably do more just to get a bit more of a work out on my rides home (although not too often, yet, as Tuesday morning I felt the effects!). On this ride, I attempted to find another trail across Peterson’s Creek. However, I ended up on two dead end trails. I did find the beginning of Peterson’s Creek, though, which also marked the end of the line for my trails though. It was a stagnant, mosquito-breeding, slime filled pond, which was directed down about 50 feet of a 10 foot wide canal and then down the canyon. The other side showed no signs of trails whatsoever that I could see.

But, I have at least been finding some new trails that I can add to my route to shake things up. Next up? Find more trails above the east side of Peterson’s Creek, and maybe end up coming down into Juniper from above!

I have been taking some pictures lately, so I will post them here for you to enjoy.

The end of the line – And the beginning of Peterson’s Creek park. Wanna go for a swim?

 

The canal leading down from the pond into Peterson’s Creek canyon.

 

This isn’t a great shot, as it didn’t capture the depth of the canyon as I was hoping. But this section is deep, rocky and very steep. I wouldn’t want to slide off the trail up here, not sure if I’d stop ‘till I landed in the creek at the bottom!!!

 

This is a neat new spot that I have found just off of my trail on the East side of the Peterson’s Creek canyon. Very nice to sit here for a few minutes in the morning, soaking in the view and spending some much needed quiet time with my bible!

 

I also tried a panoramic shot of the view… It turned out not too bad! On the left is where I come out of Peterson’s Creek and up to Summit. On the right is where I come from Juniper. In the middle is downtown Kamloops, Batchelor, and Westside.

Enough already! I’m back… Again… Finally…

So I finally got back on the bike this morning and rode to work! It was pretty tough, really, as it has been about 2-1/2 MONTHS that I have missed! Ouch!

The overtime at work isn't really going away, I'm just needing to stop. I've been putting in way too many hours at work and I simply need to get away! I was starting at 7am and often going until 9pm day after day, and then throwing in 10 hour Saturdays too. Not fun. And frankly I'm sick of it. I'm sick of work, I'm sick and getting fatter every day, I'm sick of being grumpy and I'm very tired of not seeing my family!

So I'm saying enough already and I'm going to do what I enjoy doing again, riding!

Well, at least I remember enjoying it before... this morning's ride felt a lot like hard work! Hah! No, it was indeed fun. I picked up a new front wheel last week as mine was shot from me over tightening the axle too many times. And wouldn't you know it, but I still had to work to make it up the hills! ;) Seriously, though, the wheel was good but unless I'm going to spend a few hundred dollars on a new wheel, any noticeable difference will be somewhat negligible.

The trails were quiet and the weather was warm. Cloudy, yet sort of muggy actually. And weeds! Tons of weeds! It has been a wet spring and summer and it shows in the amazing overgrown trails! It was a constant "slap slap slap" on my legs the whole way! I'm really not looking forward to when these guys die and become hard and sharp... my legs are going to be rather ripped up in no time! Oh, and another side effect of all the rain is that Peterson's creek has been very high for a while. Its back to normal right now, but the West bank has eroded away and the creek IA no longer passable by riding through it (at least not at my current skill level, but you never know!). So that's not much fun, trying to hop across wet, slippery rocks with hard, plastic biking shoes!!!

And the work on the Tom Moore trail continues. They have added more railing and even built a wooden boardwalk over one of the sandier sections.

Not that the upsets me, but I think it is a big waste of money. Did people really have that much difficulty getting through this section? I find that hard to believe! Why not build me a bridge over the creek at the bottom? Hah! The attached picture shows their current progress. That little drop was actually a bit tricky coming up with little to no momentum! My front wheel just dropped off like a rock and my bike just stopped dead.

Anyways hopefully I can continue riding from now until the snow flies!

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Is riding again n my near future?

Mirror, mirror on the wall... will I even ride at all?

I don't even want to think about how long it has been since my last ride (although I could look it up easily enough). Since my last ride many things have happened. My daughter finished school. My parents moved back from Mexico. The entire mid-west Canada and the USA is flooded, while at the same time fires raged out of control in Northern Alberta. Bin Laden was killed. Boston won the Stanley Cup (and thus Vancouver lost it).

Overtime at work hasn't gotten any better. In fact, it may have even gotten somewhat worse!

But, I've had enough. Starting next week, I think I'm going to ride again. If even only for one or two days a week. I need to. I have to. If I don't start riding again, not only will I get fat and lazy again, but I'll also get fat and lazy again. You know what I mean?

So, yeah, here's me coming out and making a bold proclamation that I will ride! Overtime schmovertime....

Please let this stand true...

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Bushes, flowers and fences are popping up everywhere…

Well, it’s been a long time since I last posted here. 1-1/2 weeks actually. So, OK, that’s not that long I guess. But it feels like I haven’t posted in ages, partly because of how much has been going on lately. With so much soccer lately (Levi, Taryn AND Corrie, both games and practices), not to mention all the overtime at work, it’s a wonder I’ve been still able to get any rides in at all. But, I have managed a decent amount of riding without bailing for the car too often, yet! The weather seems to have FINALLY turned a corner and is getting warmer. This week I’ve been shorts-only, with the jacket sporadically. The sun has been out almost as much as it wasn’t, which is a big deal recently! As such, the trails and surrounding landscape is starting to change. The Saskatoon berry bushes are suddenly in full flower mode, finally adding some much needed colour (albeit white, but something different than brown and gray at least). It won’t be long ‘till the berries start coming for sure. And now, this week the Balsamroot plants are sprouting as well.

The sun was actually too bright, as this picture didn’t actually pick up the white very well. “Imagine if you will….” Yeah, these bushes are nothing BUT white in reality, boo on cell phone cameras!!!

 

These balsamroot plants suddenly sprouted up within a few days all over the West bank of Peterson’s Creek. Last year it was only the west side as well, I wonder what is wrong with the east side?

But, new, natural vegetation isn’t the only thing “springing” up around my trails lately. Yesterday I came shooting off of Summit Drive onto my Peterson Creek trails when suddenly there was a fence in front of me. Yes, a fence!!! And it wasn’t just a quick little job, either, but a nice, cedar wood fence that looks really great. Except it’s across my fun little section of single track….

Turns out that this trail is not a “designated trail” by the city, and actually interferes with private land. So what? The land is the side of a CLIFF. What are the homeowners doing with that land? NOTHING!!! Well, that’s not true, one homeowner faithfully waters the weeds during the summer…

Boo!!! Now I have to ride a wide section down (and then climb back up). And, this “designated” trail is nothing more than a dried up old creek bed of gravel, rock and shale. Nothing hard packed about it in the least, meaning I can’t just “let ‘er rip”, but instead have to slowly make my way down, only to climb back up to the main trail at the end. And it’s a rather steep climb to boot. Yep, this makes me very happy…

Anyways, in the end it’s no big deal. I still get to ride the vast majority of my great trails, so for that I will be happy! Now if they actually cut off Peterson’s Creek altogether, well then that would be another storey altogether…

Oh, and I’ve seen my first bear already this year! Last year I didn’t see any bears (although I saw countless signs of their activity) until the end of the season, and even then it was a mile away. This one was in the Aberdeen Glen Village (trailer park) at the top of Howe, just before I ride into Pineview. He was meandering down the hillside on the south side of the street and stopped to let me ride by before he continued on across the street. That was polite of him! More than I can say for most pedestrians that simply walk in front of me while looking right at me the entire time!!! Anyways, as soon as I saw the bear, my stupid side of my brain wanted to stop, and started arguing with the smart side of my brain which wanted to just keep going. The stupid side won, but by the time I turned around, grabbed my phone and tried to get the camera going, the bear was gone. Oh well, maybe the stupid side will win the argument sooner next time…

As for riding, it’s been going really good. I feel much stronger this year, and much more balanced. I’m making obstacles consistently, where I would only be successful the odd time last year. I’m also making most of the climbs, especially the final one at Rose Hill. I’m now starting to make that climb more often than not, so that is really cool!!! However, I don’t think I have the stamina again like I did last year. After two or three rides, I’m becoming quite exhausted. Hopefully that stamina will come back soon. I am starting to focus on eating better (and less) as well, so that should play a part in being tired and being able to recover. But over all, I’ve been seeing much improvements already. My average times and speeds rival my records from last year, so that is really encouraging to see.

Anyways, I need to get back to work now so I will sign off and hopefully post again within a week or less this time, instead of waiting this long… Sayonara!!!

A rare week off

So I now have a car. Yes, I now have a choice to ride to work or drive. It is an odd feeling to be sure. Last year, I sold my car to buy the bike, if you remember, and as such no matter what I was riding. Bad weather? Too bad. Windy? So what. Feeling tired? Suck it up. I did get sick in the beginning and therefore ended up taking the bus and had Corrie pick me up, but that was such a pain in the butt that I had to be basically dying for me to choose that convoluted option. But now, I have a car. Oh boy, so now the test comes! Will I still ride regularly? We bought it mainly for Tuesday nights when Corrie and Taryn both have soccer at the same time, on opposite ends of town. In order to make sure they both get to both games, we forked out the $600 for a 1992 Cavalier Z24:

Actually, this is not an entirely bad car! The 3.1L is punchy, it has aluminum rims, nice molding and the body is in decent shape (a bit of bubble rust on the rear fender and passenger door). Other than that, it starts well and seems to run well so for the money, it is a perfect 2nd car for us right now. Corrie has already mastered the 5 speed, so we’re laughing now!

But, back to biking, the point of this blog. We bought the car almost two weeks ago. We bought it on a Wednesday, and I still rode my bike on Thursday and Friday. But then on Monday, it was cold, wet and with Levi’s soccer that evening being my “excuse” (riding home is a tight, although doable, time frame) I drove the car. Then, on Tuesday I drove again. Actually, Tuesday will be my driving day with the soccer in the evening and it allows me to still get 2 hours of overtime in yet. But then Wednesday came, and I was now coming down with the flu. So I drove… And I was still sick on Thursday… And Friday… And before I knew it, the entire week had gone by without me so much as looking at my bike!!!

However, what this week made me realize is that I enjoy riding. Sure, the convenience of the car can’t be beat. I can get to work in 15 minutes! I can go for lunch… I can pick stuff up on my way home, whether it’s on my way or not… And, I have a “sporty” little 5 speed that is fun to drive. But then the other driver’s on the road can so quickly sour a nice, enjoyable drive. And they do so often, and multiple times within that short 15 minutes. And I don’t get to enjoy the sun, air and quiet of the trails. I yearned for the trails. I longed for the bike! And that week was too long… I’m not finally back on the bike and loving it! Had this been last year, I remember a point at which I knew if I still had a car, I would’ve quickly given up the riding and this new adventure would’ve gone the way of so many other good ideas I’ve had. But, I was forced to ride then. Now I want to ride. And it makes all the difference.

Sure, I’m going to drive this year. Every Tuesday at least, and most likely the odd Saturday as well (if I’m working the weekends). Maybe when the weather is extremely nasty. Maybe if I’m sick. But the fact is, driving will be the filler, the rides will be the norm. Not the other way around.

It’s pretty cool to know now that I have managed to solidify this habit into my life. This year, with the option of driving, it leaves me open for fun weekend rides now! Maybe even a race or two that Dave and I are actually talking about… Suddenly, this bike is starting to be more of a “toy” than a “tool”. And that’s the way it should be.

Oh, I almost forgot! I pilfered the rear derailleur off of an old Rocky Mountain bike that I bought earlier for $50. It is a newer model Shimano XT, just a step up from the used LX I put on last year which was a step or so up from the Altus that I put on after the original Acera was wrecked because I didn't know how to bunny hop... Yes, you read this right, I'm onto rear derailleur #4! And honestly? When adjusted properly, I can't tell the difference between the Altus bottom feeder and now the XT. They say a rear derailleur is often more eye candy than functional, and I would agree. It makes sense that most bikes will have a good rear derailleur, while crappy front derailleur, crank, chain, etc. It's the rear derailleur that most bikers look at and falsly consider as being a sign of whether or not the bike itself is "good". I can say now that, while I know there are advantages in the higher end models (quicker shifting, longer lasting, better functionality in poor conditions) the price for upgrading the derailleur hardly seems worth it now. Glad I hardly spent any money on my upgrades!!!



Update on the new tire… And a bit of wisdom learned and shared.

First of all, the new rear tire, Larsen TT I mentioned in my post yesterday, is a slam dunk it would seem already in just three rides. First of all, I had record speeds, record stops (or lack thereof) and a record time coming home yesterday! Fluke? Maybe, we’ll see… But I did make it up the final hill at Rose Hill for the first time yet this season! I only made this climb maybe 3 or 4 times last year, so that is huge! And the tire gripped nicely all the way up, allowing me to focus on my direction and energy and not worry about traction. So that was sweet! And I beat my times and speeds by some decent margins, so that’s cool! This morning, again I was impressed. Although no records were beat this morning for time or speeds, it was my first time making the entire trip with NO STOPS! The one stop that I kept making was trying to climb out of Peterson’s Creek up the rocky, tricky west bank. This morning, I climbed right out with no issues. Again, the new tire hooked up and didn’t spin out on the rocks or roots, even though it was wet from just coming through the creek. Nice!

Ok, but what I really wanted to post about was front shock maintenance. I learned a valuable lesson yesterday. I know, most of you reading this will most likely go, yeah duh, Scott… But all I have to say to you is, where were you to give me this info before? Exactly. So leave me alone.

Anyways, when I got the bike, I asked the owner at Taboo what I needed to do for fork maintenance. He told me just to add a bit of oil along the top of the seals now and then. Ok, not sure why, but whatever, I can do that! My bike just came with your run-of-the-mill fork, an RST Gila. In fact, I can’t even find my exact fork online, so that link is to the fork a step above mine (I don’t have any lockout ability). At first, it was a fine fork I thought. A bit “clangy” over slight drops, or if I lifted the front wheel when it became fully extended. But other than that, no big deal. Eventually, near the end of the season, it started to lose it’s “compressibility” as I call it. It took all I had just to get the dumb thing to compress more than an inch. Brutal! I started thinking I was lugging around a 6 pound fork for nothing, and that a rigid fork might suit me better…

Then, this weekend, I put some oil on the seals again. Something I hadn’t done in quite some time. Well, on my ride home, suddenly I had a full three inches of travel! I was actually wondering if I might bottom this thing out!!!

So, yeah, turns out that oil trick is needed. It makes sense, now that I think about it. The rubber seals are rubbing on the aluminum stanchions, so the friction (especially with dust and heat in the mix) needs to be well lubricated. Before, when I would oil this frequently, I often wiped off the oil later because of the black rings it would leave! Hah! I guess better to learn about these things on a cheap fork, right?

Those oil lines are a GOOD thing, don’t wipe them off!

Well, there you have it. If you have a suspension fork, oil the seals!!! And don’t wipe off the oil from the fork, leave it there!