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!

Sunny skies, fresh legs and a clean bike… What a way to start the week!

Yes, this morning’s ride was almost a perfect start to the week. Drop the wind gusts at the top of the hills (especially on Summit and Howe), and it would’ve been batting 100! Still, I had a good ride regardless of the wind.

I picked up yet another new tire this weekend for the rear. My Rocket Ron was quickly running out of tread and fast becoming a slick, but I still loved that tire. Being a light tire, it did, however, start getting in my bad books by getting me two flats in two weeks. Not to mention a sidewall tear that developed about a week and a half ago… So, I had limped it along long enough and I went into Spoke ‘N Motion to pick up a new rear tire. Telling the salesperson about my experience with the Rocket Ron and that I wanted something similarly fast rolling, grippy and yet stronger than the Ronny (and under $65!), he directed me to either a Maxxis Crossmark or Larsen TT. I looked at both of these tires, and suddenly realized I had just completed a full circle from when I started riding. My bike originally came with Kenda Small Block Eight's when I bought it. I removed those within about a month of riding (April 19th, actually), claiming they weren’t grippy enough. Funny how my riding style has changed so much to the point where now I want those type of tires again! The fast rolling style of these tires are excellent. And grip is still suburb, so I’m not sure what I was smoking… Maybe I’ve just come to realize that traction has just as much to do with my position, speed and stance as it does the tires? Anyways, I ended up buying the Larsen TT and I tried it out this morning for the first time. I will reserve my official review ‘till next week when I’ve had a chance to completely try it out. For now, I didn’t notice it much. Which I think is good, considering I loved the Rocket Ron so much, and I hadn’t found a fault with the Ronny as far as speed and traction. That must mean this tire lived up to the one it is replacing, which is a good thing! I’ll see how it does on the way home with higher cornering speeds and the final hill at Rose Hill as far as traction.

Overall, the week was OK. I’m still struggling to get back into shape and my Wednesday rides were painful, to the point where I felt like I was at the end of a 5 hour ride before I started! So Thursday I actually wussed out and got Corrie to drive me to work (although I did ride back in the evening at least). Hopefully I’ll make a complete week this week, but we’ll see how it goes! I’m starting to eat better again, and making sure I’m taking in what’s good and that’s helping with me being tired and feeling bloated like I did a couple of weeks ago.

One more thing before I sign off. I picked up a new-to-me frame this weekend. I found an older Cannondale F2000 (CAD9) mountain bike frame on Kijiji for $50. It came with a Truvative Isoflow crank (still in really good condition) and the Cannondale Fatty Headshock (although mine is much older than that link). The frame was well used, but I couldn’t see any cracks and the stays seemed to run true still. It is an older frame, and unfortunately doesn’t have any setup for disc brakes at all. However, other than shifters, I have enough to get this going as a 2nd bike right away. I will probably set it up as a spare for now, and later maybe as more of a ‘cyclocross’ setup or winter bike. With the lighter frame and fork (as compared to my current Cannondale F8). As this frame was originally on Cannondale’s higher end hardtails (prices probably starting around $2500 and up for the complete bike), I think I should be able to get a pretty decent secondary ride set up for cheap. Anyways, when these Fatty’s first came out, I was in high school and drooled over them… So buying this may have been just as much a nostalgia purchase as it was a “need”…

With a bit of work, I will soon have my ‘spare’ bike, or maybe a winter setup? Either way, now when people come visit we can go riding together!

I will need to service the fork, but it does still work well, so it shouldn’t take too much to get this going and reliable again!

The teeth are still in pretty good shape, actually, so I maybe would even consider swapping this onto my bike this year? We’ll see how I like the original Shimano one I have on there now…

I’m tired… This is tuff.

Yep. One week into riding on my trails and I’m tired. Thursday I had Corrie come and pick me up from work because I was feeling sick. Friday it was all I could do to stay awake during the work day, and I ended up going home at 4:30 (yes, that is supposed to be my normal time to leave, but this is 3 hours earlier than my norm!).

So, a couple of things have come to light recently. One, riding these trails is so much tougher than riding the streets. Two, riding these trails is so much more FUN than riding the streets! And, three, I need to once again start monitoring my eating habits!

Yes, in the month of March I went from 218lbs, down to 216 briefly only to end at 220! Yikes… We’ve eaten out too much, I’ve midnight snacked way too often, and there’s been too many chocolates and candy laying around (thanks, Lauren, for the gift but really? ). Anyways, I guess I’m back to that now, which will probably be good as I’ll start getting more energy for riding and start feeling less tired.

I met up with Phil on Friday, actually. He’s been riding the trails since a week ago as well, and said this winter was the longest he’d been off his bike for quite some time. Good, I was starting to wonder if I was just a wuss by waiting this long! I saw him on the other side of Peterson’s Creek (he was going up, I was coming down). He had about a 5 minute lead on me, but now I had a goal. You know, motivation is a funny thing. I don’t particularly like riding with Phil too much (he’s too slow and I just like doing my own thing out there!), but having him ahead of me by about 5 minutes suddenly gives me jump to try and see how quickly I can erase that 5 minute gap, hah! So, as I was coming down the connector road between the upper and lower roads on Frolek’s land, I came cruising right up behind him. We talked a bit about the winter and what not, and then as we were riding and approaching the Rose Hill section, he asked how many times I’d made the last hill and if I was going to try it today. Well, of course, I said, I try it every day! So, he pulled over and let me go ahead and I started the roller coaster section of trail that I love so much. As soon as I started up the final hill, I knew that my legs didn’t have it in me this time. I still pushed and got up a good distance, but then I had to bail. I turned around to see where Phil was so I could get out of his way, and the putz waved at me from the bottom and turned and rode off on the bypass trial! Hah! Wuss… Just kidding…

Well, another week has past and it was  good one. Riding the trails again is so much FUN! I can’t wait ‘till I’m back in shape enough to start doing some exploring… Well, that along with getting off of work at a decent hour so that I have time to do so of course… Oh, my new phone I bought recently has a ‘Panorama’ feature on the camera that I tried today. Other than the image being pretty small, it worked not too bad. It’s about 2/3’s as big as it should’ve been, as it couldn’t focus on the final two shots (probably because my hands were shaking too much or something), but it still turned out kind of neat.

This shot was taken just near the top of the Peterson’s Creek ‘Billy Minor Trail South’, on the East side of the creek canyon. I’m looking north towards lower Sahali, and then Brock. I will work on my skills with this and I should be getting some neat shots this year!!!

On the trails again!

Yessiree, this morning was my first ride back on the trails and I am pumped! What a great ride this morning, oh how I’ve missed you dirt, rocks and sticks!!!
Last week was a pretty good week of riding all told. As I mentioned on my last post, I removed my studded tires and in doing so I think I was to blame for the two days of SNOW we ended up getting last week… Oops! The good news was that it was so warm, the snow was gone very shortly after it arrived.
With the regular tires back on, I quickly hit a good stride with consistently good times and average speeds all week. I felt good, and I really believed I was getting back into shape again… And then I rode my trails this morning, and boy was I wrong!!!
Yes, as surprising as it was to me, riding all the way downtown and climbing all the way up to work is actually easier than the couple of nasty climbs I have on the trails. The first climb up between the upper and lower roads on Frolek’s land about killed me. I stopped at the top, not only to remove my outer layer of gloves, but also just to catch my breath and to try not to puke… Yes, I was that beat! I couldn’t believe it, this hill had always been tough (usually where my heart rate tended to spike), but I had never been this rough afterwards… Yikes! I guess I still have some work to do to get into shape yet…
But, seriously, the trails were sweet, I just can’t say that enough! Very little mud, a bit soft and sandy in spots, and no snow whatsoever. A few trees, but someone did a bit of work in trying to clean them off the trail somewhat, so only one tree still requires me to ride quite a ways around it, but, hey, whatever! I’m on the dirt again, so I couldn’t care less…
This weekend, however, I was not in such good spirits. As I cleaned the bike and got to the back wheel, once again I found yet another broken spoke! After only 2-1/2 weeks of riding this season, and all streets at this point, once again I found myself back in this predicament. Last year, Taboo eventually replaced all the spokes on the drive side of my rear wheel with thicker gauge spokes (and the forth visit they finally did for free after I spent about $80 on my previous 3 visits). This spoke was now on the other side of the wheel.Again, still the stock spokes. I am NOT going through another season of this frustration. So, yesterday morning I left work at 11am and drove down to Spoke ‘N Motion. I’ve been very impressed with the salesman there, Greg, every time and rather unimpressed with Taboo so I figured I’d check there first. Thankfully, I did, and they suited me up with a new rear wheel! Sun Rims Single Track mated with a Shimano Deore freehub for only $86 after discount! Not only that, but they swapped over my freewheel and disc brake while I was there, sweet! With that price, I also picked up a new Maxxis Aspen front tire. I wanted something as fast rolling and grippy as the Rocket Ron I had on the back, but didn’t want to spend the $90 for another one of those! So far, so good with this set up of the Rocket Ron on the rear and Aspen on the front, very happy! I also picked up a new pair of liners to wear under my baggies. My ones from last year are still decent, but I wanted two so I could actually wash them a few times a week and they'd have time to dry between rides! Pretty nice Sugoi RC Pro liners, again, bought from Greg at Spoke 'N Motion!

The new front tire, a low tread, low rolling resistance, fast but grippy tire.

The new Sun Rims rear wheel. Not much better than the stock rim, but a great price and a strong wheel that should last me a riding season I would hope!

Riding is Fun… Streets are rather boring though…

Well, another week has passed and I’m still riding on the streets with no immediate end to this torture yet in sight… Ok, it’s not that bad, but I didn’t have that great of a week last week. Partly because I’m still not quite back into shape, partly because I’m working too much, and partly because there’s just not that much challenge about them, other than trying to go faster or harder than the last time… But did I not just mention I’m not quite back into shape yet? I have managed to be very consistent with my riding so far, though, so that will come very soon I’m hoping!

Last week went pretty well over all. I felt good, had some good rides, but then Friday I tanked. The ride in the morning I felt half dead and just wanted to stop and lay down and sleep… zzzzzzzzzz… Thankfully I didn’t, as that would’ve been rather awkward not to mention quite uncomfortable.

So, with my Friday rides turning out to be rather lackluster as they were, I drove to work on Saturday instead and took a full two days off this weekend from riding. I think that was a good move, as I felt really good this morning (Monday). I also cleaned and tuned up the drivetrain, put my regular tires back on (albeit I put the front one on backwards… Oops!), and pumped them up pretty high. All of that, combined with a decent rest, made for my best time and average speed this morning than I’ve done yet, so that was cool! Hillside drive felt good, actually, like I was spinning up easily. 10km/h on average, better than my usual 7-8 there, so I was happy about that for sure.

I put my regular tires back on this weekend, no more studs! Boy, am I ever liking these fat boys again! They look soooo much better, and they’re not even that fat, really, 2.35 inchers…

 

I picked up a new saddle this weekend, too. The stock Cannondale one sucked! This one is fairly stiff, a bit wider/longer with a deeper groove down the middle.

As you can see by the picture above, I also bought a new Specialized Riva MTN saddle this weekend. First of all, am I ever glad it turned out to be called “Riva”. When I was looking at the saddle this morning to look it up on line, I thought it was called “Diva”… It had me worried… Also, I paid $40, NOT $25 as it says on Specialized’s website… Dang, I hate website pricing! Anyways, the saddle was OK for it’s first ride. Stay tuned to next week’s post to see what I think of it after a full week (oh the suspense!). I think it’s better than the sucky stock Cannondale one, but still a bit on the painful side as it is pretty stiff really. However, the reviews online are pretty high, with many saying it takes a day or two to get used to it. If I don’t like it by the end of the week, though, Bicycle Cafe can have it back!

The weather was pretty nice last week, with the mornings hitting around 4° usually and with 11° highs for the most part. A lot of wind, which made for some tough rides, but in the end that means the trails are drying out and the snow is quickly receding! Granted, of course on the day I take off the studded tires, Pineview and Aberdeen are getting DUMPED on this morning… But, it’s supposed to be 10° today, so that will quickly disappear I’m sure. Hopefully I’ll be hitting the trails again within a week or so. The clerk at Bicycle Cafe said she tried riding up above Juniper on Saturday morning and said it was brutal, hardly even walkable. So, I will try to be patient!