July 30th (Afternoon)

Well, today was a short ride, and I mean real short!

I left work, cut up through the trailer park and was just heading down Howe when I heard a metal ping. I wasn’t sure what it was at first, as it didn’t sound the same as something popping up and hitting a rim or the frame. Then I thought about the spoke that Taboo had installed last weekend (that I didn’t think looked quite right) and wondered if maybe it had snapped again? I looked down, and the back wheel was doing quite the jig back there! I stopped, but the new spoke was fine. However, another spoke had snapped this time!

What is going on? This time the spoke snapped at the hub (last time it broke at the rim/nipple end). Are these spokes just that cheap? So, I called Corrie and then coasted on down to Tim Horton’s to wait for her. I didn’t want to go any further, as the wheel definitely didn’t feel right around corners and what not, and I figured the rest of the spokes might all start breaking! I guess I still need to loose more weight… Actually, these spokes do have just under 2000 kilometres on them already… And they’ve taken a lot of abuse to say the least!

Anyways, while I was waiting for Corrie, I snapped some pictures of the Kamloops valley and all the smoke that poured in today. Maybe its a good thing I didn’t ride today, it was a bit tough to even breathe at some points!

Looking North out towards Rayleigh (although you can’t see it at all)

 

Looking over at Mt. Paul and Mt. Peter. At least you can see them now, at lunch time you couldn’t even see that far!

 

Looking a bit North-East out towards Harper. Juniper is on the right above the trees, but you wouldn’t know by this picture!\

 

Monday is a holiday, so I probably won’t be posting here again ‘till Tuesday (unless I go for a ride on Monday morning), so have a great long weekend for all of those that get one this week!

July 30th (Morning)

I met another mountain bike commuter this morning, only this time it was a female biker! I saw her ahead of me on Qu’Appelle going through the round-about while I was riding past the park. I caught up to her on the hill and we talked a bit about where we commute from/to, and what not. However, I was a bit late this morning, so once we hit the trails, I had to get moving so I said good bye and rode off. It is great how fast and hard I can ride when I’m motivated to not let someone catch me! That Juniper stretch was pretty fast…

Anyways, so what is that now? I’ve met Phil, Brian and now recently Jonathon. I’ve met another younger gentleman when I was coming down from Frolek’s upper road beside Rose Hill and he was going up (didn’t get his name, though). I also met one of the Dad’s of Taryn’s schoolmate (Darcy) who commutes on these trails (although I haven’t met him on the trails yet). And now this lady (also didn’t get her name). So my count is up to 6 commuters plus myself that at least ride from Juniper to Peterson’s Creek. I really wonder how many there are actually? It would be very interesting to just sit on the trail one morning for about an hour or so to see how many commuters ride the trails to work. Pretty impressive, Kamloops!

Well, once I got up to my single-track across Frolek’s land, I felt a bit tired. Mainly because I had pushed it so hard to make sure I stayed ahead of the lady I had met (although I never even saw her again, so she was a ways behind me). By the time I started my climb up from Peterson’s creek, I could feel myself slowing down a bit. However, in the end I had a record time of just under 59 minutes, so the speeds I got through Juniper were obviously pretty impressive! It was a fun ride, and my last morning ride now ‘till Tuesday as Monday is a holiday (BC Day here). Oh, but I can’t wear this shirt again that I did this morning, at least not on hot days. Rob bought be a soccer jersey when he was over in Europe or Israel or wherever his grand adventures have taken him. It is a really cool jersey, but never fit me (sorry, Rob, I was just too “round”!). Anyways, it now does fit me with the weight I’ve lost (), so I’ve worn it a few times riding. This morning, though, the name and number on the back as well as the advertising logos on the front just stuck to me like glue and didn’t breathe at all… Made for a bit of a warm ride!

July 29th (Afternoon)

Another really good ride. Nothing new to really report, actually. My time was pretty good again. I did see two bikers riding/walking up the east side of the Peterson’s Creek valley, but didn’t see them after that. I didn’t get a good look, but I think the rider in front was Phil and if so, he typically takes a friend or colleague with him on Thursdays or Fridays and goes up to Upper PC and the Sticks and Bones trails. Maybe I’ll follow him up there one day, but typically our paths do not cross at the right time or the right place to do so!

Going down into Peterson’s Creek was good and fast again, and back up was about average. I couldn’t make it up the bank, and then up the east side of the valley climb, I only made it about 1/2 the distance I did yesterday. The single-track from there was good. I didn’t feel as good and fast as yesterday, but I didn’t feel too bad I guess. I got some pretty good speeds coming down to Frolek’s lower road, though, so that was good. I also have been able to maintain some really good paces through the corners on Frolek’s lower road too, which is making it fun and easier on the climbing out of each corner. The last hill at Rose Hill pipeline section was tough, and I didn’t quite make it up to the sandy section this time. However, the pipeline section through to Juniper was a blast, and I got some really good speeds through there. I also discovered that the bears hanging out in that area obviously found a rabbit to enjoy… The piles of berries, seeds and fur that they’ve left on the trail now are rather disgusting…

July 29th (Morning)

A beautiful morning today! No fires behind me this time, as they managed to get the one fire put out and so Juniper and Barnhartvale were both spared thank goodness.

I think the temperature was around 15° or less this morning, as I felt rather chilly at first. I caught up to a group of 4 women jogging east, and while passing them another lady jogger came towards us. Shortly after that, I passed another female jogger and then another group of about 6 or 8 joggers (two males this time in the group) came towards me. At the end of the Juniper trail, I met up with a hiker and his dog, and even noticed another hiker up above the Rose Hill pipeline section. My goodness but it was busy! Not sure what was going on, but at least after that I didn’t see anyone else. I stopped at the tree that had fallen over the trail and it didn’t look too bad, so I grabbed an end and managed to wrestle it off of the trail, and then kicked the broken branches into the bush. Thankfully it was that easy and didn’t require a chainsaw this time!

Right after that, I came over the second peak and a rather good sized buck was standing in the valley below me. He just looked at me, straddling the trail. I reached for my phone to take a picture, but realized I had forgotten my phone at work… Of course! Anyways, I hollered at him, and started down the hill. I was probably about 1/2 the way down before he finally decided to take off… Not sure what I was going to do if he didn’t leave, but I had images of the psycho dear in the movie Are We There Yet?… Luckily this dear wasn’t so psycho…

The rest of the ride was really good. I still didn’t make it up the west bank of Peterson’s Creek, and I ended up dabbing a couple of times on the second sandy section on Tom Moore (but didn’t stop or get off, so that doesn’t officially count as a “stop” I say…)

The paved sections were good, and in the end I had another really good time of 60 minutes again and I feel really good. I think I’m finally starting to get comfortable on this bike, and starting to feel it well so that’s cool! Just in time for when I upgrade to my new 29er… Hah!!!

July 28th (Afternoon)

Today’s ride was a blast! It was warm (36° again), but on a bike it isn’t too bad. Especially considering that most of my ride is downhill on the way home (most of the ride), so I usually have a breeze that helps to cool me down.

Anyways, as soon as I hit the trailhead at Castle towers, I felt good. I came down the Tom Moore trail fast and yet controlled, making both the sandy sections as well as the boardwalk (without pin-balling between the railings this time). I cleared the creek at the bottom, but again I did not make the bank up the other side. As I started the climb up out of the valley, I saw Phil about 1/2 way up, right below the spot where everyone has to hike-a-bike over a little drop-off. I really wasn’t in the mood to ride with anyone today (he’s good on the technical stuff, but I just wanted to fly today and he tends to “slowly meander” a bit more than I like). So I stopped and waited for him to get going, which seemed to take him forever! Anyways, once he got going I continued on up the hill and made it all the way up to the drop-off, farther than I have done yet. And seeing as how I’ll never make it over the drop-off, it’s the furthest up this trail I ever will be able to go I’m sure. If I ever expect to make the entire climb, I will have to start going on the the long, straight, steep hill instead of this bypass, technical trail.

So, after the climb I managed some really fun and fast single-track sections. I’ve been trying to learn how to “pump” the bike with the terrain (push it down into the valleys, lift it up over the peaks, helping the bike over the terrain). With this technique, it is a much smoother ride and as for anything to do with speed (auto racing, motorbikes, biking) smooth is fast! It was a lot of fun, I even found myself getting some air time on a few dips and bumps. As I went through the logging section, I noticed Phil coming down from the upper Frolek’s road. I figured he was probably about 2 minutes behind me, so I turned it up and really pushed through the next single-track section and down to the lower Frolek’s road. I figured he’d gain on me here, as he downhills faster than I can, but all the way to the gate I never saw him. I even took my time hanging around at the gate, but he never showed up, so either he crashed or was having a rather slow day! It was hot after all…

Well, another tree has found it’s way across the trail. Again at the Rose Hill pipeline section. I walked around it, but it really killed my momentum for the final hill. However, I did make it a really good distance up again (to the sandy part before I spun out and lost traction). I took the pipeline trail into Juniper, and in the end had a good overall time and good speeds, so I was happy!

July 28th (Morning)

Even the mornings are starting to get warm now! 19° this morning, no wind and lots of sun. However, as I left the house the distinct wood-burning smell was very evident. Looking up into the hills above Juniper I could see the haze of forest fire smoke once again settling over the neighbourhood. This happened last year as well with all the wildfires that were hundreds of miles away, so I didn’t think anything of it and rode off. However, I later learned that Barnhartvale (the next neighbourhood to the east of Juniper) was put on 10 minute evacuation alert due to a fire that had started on the hills in between Barthartvale and Juniper. Luckily, we live on the west end of Juniper so a lot of tragedy and destruction would have to occur before we were in danger, but still, a bit too close to comfort I would say! We’ll hope the fire is contained quickly. One of Kamloop’s best trails (Rio) runs down the valleys through that area, so I know a lot of bikers, both local and and tourists, that would be extremely upset if this trail was wrecked…

A quick shot looking behind me about 1/2 way across Frolek's land. Noticing the smokey haze coming through the river valley.

A picture I grabbed from The Weather Network of the Kamloops fire this morning. Those lights up on the hill to the right of the fire is Juniper, where I live! Yikes!

Another picture from The Weather Network of the fire this morning. Glad they managed to contain this thing!

Anyways, the ride today was really good energy wise. I made a good ride time of 60 minutes (my best to date I think was 59-1/2 or something). However, my rear derailleur was causing me fits right away. Yesterday, around the pipeline section coming into Juniper, something happened to throw my derailleur out of wack that caused some horrible shifting issues. I, of course, forgot to deal with it last night and thus this morning, lo and behold, it hadn’t fixed itself yet! So, I stopped at the top of the hill at the end of Qu’Appelle and tried tuning it (adjuster barrel) so it was lined up properly (while the chain was on the 7th cog, 2nd up from the bottom). However, it didn’t do squat! So, I figured I’d just ride with this annoying issues as the chain wasn’t jumping, it just missed every other gear!
However, as I was about 1/2 way across the Juniper main trail, I tried pushing the chain up to the biggest (easiest) cog for a climb and promptly threw the chain right into the spokes. Now, Monday night I tested this and had the limiters set perfectly so this wouldn’t happen, so now I knew something was screwed up. I manually got the chain back down, climbed the rest of the hill, and then threw the bike upside down to get a better look at the derailleur. Thankfully, it was fine. What had happened as the housing had come dislodged at the entry port of the derailleur. The little plastic end clip on the housing had shattered and was gone, therefore the housing was stuck. Well, I couldn’t fix that, so I simply used the adjustment barrel again to try and line the derailleur up with the cog the best I could. Thankfully, this worked and the shifting was pretty good for the rest of the ride, with only a few issues on the higher gears (6, 7 and 8).
I made all the hills at Rose Hill, the climb up from Frolek’s lower road and the two sandy sections on the Tom Moore trail. So, all in all, a good ride. I even felt pretty good on the paved sections. Now, hopefully these fire fighters can get that fire under control so when I head home today I will have a home to go to…

July 27th (Afternoon)

We’re back into the hot weather now, still not as bad as it can be yet though! 36° today with no wind and lots of sun. The ride was pretty good and enjoyable, though. I had a blast cruising down into Peterson’s Creek. I did pump up both tires before I left to somewhere close to 37psi I think (the gauge on my pump isn’t very accurate). I liked the extra firmness, and yet still made the two sandy sections coming down Tom Moore, so that was really good.

Even though my speed coming down into the valley was good, at the same time I didn’t feel very “accurate” today. I think that’s the best way of describing it? I wasn’t picking the right lines when I needed to, rather I was slightly off a few times. As such, when I got to the wood walkway portion of Tom Moore, as soon as I hit it I didn’t feel right. I don’t know if you remember the picture I posted the first time I found this Tom Moore trail (see July 16th (Afternoon) post), but it’s actually a tricky section. With my 27-1/4” wide bars, I probably only have about just over a foot of room to spare between the railings. Going up is usually worse, as it’s a tough climb so I have to really concentrate on keeping the bars straight. Going down is usually not too bad if I keep a decent pace going through I don’t have any issues.

At least ‘till today. Today I got on this boardwalk and within about 5 feet, I managed to bounce off the right side railing. Well, once I hit that side, the railings started playing pinball with me and I couldn’t manage to get it under control, so I panicked and grabbed a fistful of brake. So, on a downhill, grabbing the front brake hard with a springy suspension and 230 pounds of flesh bearing down on it, sure enough the fork compressed, and my handlebar slid right underneath the railing (I managed to get my hand out of the way in time with minimal damage). So there I was, my bike stuck under this railing! I couldn’t slide the bike out sideways simply due to the way it was positioned and the amount of pressure the forks were putting on the handlebar, pushing it up under the railing. With the bar ends, it was really rather stuck! So, I pushed, jumped and hopped up and down on my front fork ‘till I finally managed to pop it loose! Wow… After looking around and not seeing anyone watching me and laughing, I continued on…

The rest of the ride was good, still can’t make the creek crossing yet and one stop up the hill on the other side.

I did meet up with another commuter again. He was on the lower Frolek’s road as I came down from the upper trails so we stopped at the gate and talked a bit. His name is Jonathan and he’s apparently been commuting for about 3 years now he said (downtown to Juniper). Another dual suspension rig!!! Seems like that’s all people can think about buying around here… I really don’t think I want to, though. That extra weight and potential energy losses on the climbs just isn’t worth it. Again, the descents he appeared faster, but the straightaways and climbs I gained a lot of ground on him. He did, however, mention that he was feeling pretty slow today, so maybe I caught him on an off day. Anyways, I’m still a believer in hard tails for these trails, especially after riding with three guys here now with duallies and noticing their slower climbing speeds. But, regardless, I think when the time comes to upgrade my rig, I will be testing both!

July 27th (Morning)

I did get my wheel back from Taboo Cycles last night thankfully. They hadn’t completed it by 4:45 when I showed up, but one of the kids Brad has working there grabbed it and finished it while I was waiting (the same one that asked me “What for?” when I went there for a flat handlebar). He managed to get the cog off, put the spoke on and got the axle/bearings back in (which, it turns out, didn’t need to be removed for the cogs to come off). He was busy discussing body armour with some overly concerned parents while trying to true my wheel (and as such, the wheel isn’t that great… I think I could’ve done a better job myself). Finally, when he finished (and did I mention they don’t seem to have A/C in the shop, and it was like 35° outside???), he hands me the wheel and I start walking off when he was like “Oh, I forgot your rim tape!” As he ran to the back, I also noticed he had forgotten the cogs!!! Yeah, smooth work, kid! I guess good help is hard to find… :) He finally finished the job and I was able to leave after about 30 minutes of hanging around.

Anyways, the ride this morning was good. I also replaced the rear derailleur cable last night (it was actually just about shredded and pulled right through the derailleur, as when I had replaced this derailleur I was too cheap to replace the cable as well). This morning, the shifting was smooth and instant, it was great! I even took out the pulleys last night and cleaned them up so everything was turning nice and smooth. I probably could’ve put some more air pressure in the tires as the back wheel felt squirmy again. Granted, with the low air pressure I did make both the sandy sections on the Tom Moore trail! :) I’ll have to see if I can make it just as easily tomorrow with higher tire pressure…

I made all the hills at Rose Hill, and for the first part this morning I was feeling not too bad really. The climb up to the upper Frolek’s road was tough, but it does seem to be getting better. I saw the same Doe again, this time she really didn’t seem to care that I was there. She bounded up the hill about 30 feet up the trail, but then just stood there and watched me ride by on the trail below. Going down into Peterson’s creek was good, but a bit faster than I was trying to do (brakes were still not entirely burned in from the cleaning and what not this weekend).

As I rode through the creek at the bottom and started up the other side, I lost control and tried to put my foot down. However, as the bank is steep, I couldn’t find a footing and started hopping around with my bike between me, just about flipping over backwards until I managed to grab a tree and pull myself back up straight… It would’ve been funny I’m sure to watch, but even a little fall like that on the rocks in the creek could’ve caused some nasty pain… So I’m glad I made it without injury.

The rest of the ride was good. As we’re taking some new software training at work this week, I didn’t take the Peak 2 Peak trail to Pineview and instead cut through the trailer park again. It was a bit of a slower time in the end for this route (63 minutes), but I did notice that I was hurting pretty good the last 15 minutes or so and thus I probably was dragging out the ride a lot longer than I should have.

July 26th (Morning)

No ride today… :(

I discovered a broken spoke on the rear wheel last night (Sunday night), and as all the bike shops were closed I thought I would try and fix it. However, as the spoke removal also required removal of the cog set, I did not have the required tools to do so. So, Corrie is bringing the wheel into Taboo and hopefully they can get it fixed and working for tomorrrow… I hope!

July 23rd (Afternoon) – Kenna Cartwright

Today was a great ride! Instead of riding home, I met Corrie at Dave and Esther’s (who watched the kids), and together the two of us went for about an hour, an hour and a half riding through the Kenna Cartwright park. We rode west, sort of traversing around the first hill up above KCC. Then we found the Power Line trail and took it back east. All of this was climbing, climbing, climbing! Corrie was more than pleased to find a Saskatoon berry bush just about to the top of our climb, so we stopped and she pretty much cleaned the entire bush void of any berries! Well, after that I will let the pictures do the talking… :)

 The view from the top of Power Line trail, looking down over Dufferin and Aberdeen. Not shown in the picture, but just to the left at the top we could see almost all of Juniper. A nice resting point from all the climbing we had to do just to get up here!

 

Looking North over Westsyde and Rayliegh… Amazing views in this park!

 

We had some fun descending and then, with just a bit more climbing, we found a really long and steep fire-road that took us over and down the North side of Mount Dufferin. This trail, Doc Findlay, has some of the most fun bits of single-track around.

 

I had to get a picture of this. The hill on the right is really quite a steep, long drop off. As such, Corrie lost control going over a root climbing this little section and, not feeling like heading down hill, she decided falling against the bank on her right was a better option. Nice choice! :)

 

As I rarely got far enough in front of Corrie to allow me time to stop and take a picture, here’s my only action shot of our ride. This is the end of the Doc Findlay loop single-track, a nice fast, swooping downhill section that empties out onto a bit of double-track to end the ride.

 

Well, it was a blast for sure! What a date! :) Hopefully we will be able to manage many more similar rides this summer. I may have pushed Corrie a bit too hard, but she managed fine! Next time, though, I think we’ll have to bring an actual camera as these photos from my phone aren’t so great…

July 23rd (Morning)

I had a disappointing start to my morning… I’ve managed to gain 2 pounds this week (I’m back up to 230 now). What’s with that? Obviously I’ve not been watching my food intake like I should be, and this obviously has a big effect. So, now I’m going to have to be back into the frame of mind of watching everything I eat again…

A nice 16° and sunshine. The ride was good, but almost started off on the wrong foot… I came up the first hill just out of Juniper and a Weimaraner came bounding up towards me, not looking too friendly. However, not having any bad experiences with dogs yet, I slowed down, stayed calm and talked to the dog. He turned, and ran back to his owners (two older ladies) who could not get him to come to them completely (stayed just out of their reach). As I pulled up to them, I stopped to ask what kind of dog this was (I had seen him before, on Frolek’s land, about 1 month ago and couldn’t figure it out). We talked for about 2 minutes, and the lady mentioned that the dog had been known to go after cyclists, and did he come after me? I told her no, he had just came up and then ran off (Note: You would think if this was the case, she would’ve grabbed him by this time, or even not trusted him off leash due to the amount of cyclists on this trail, but hey, I’m thinking way too much like common sense here ). Anyways, I said good bye and started to pedal off which obviously sparked the crazy retard (the dog) who barked, lunged and snapped at my leg, even leaving a small bite mark. The lady managed to grab him at that point, so I kept going not saying anything and not really computing what had just happened. Now that I think back on it, it kind of ticks me off. I mean, if she knows he’s bad with cyclists, why have him off leash on trails where cyclists are known to be in numbers? If he’s going to be off leash, why let him be that far away? Whatever, no harm done this time, except now I’ll probably have a bit more apprehension with the next dog, which is probably not a good thing when dealing with dogs like this one. Also, what if the next cyclist he encounters actually gets bit even worse? I suppose I should’ve stopped again and said something, but I’m just not bright enough in those situations to think of the right thing to do right away…

Check out the blood gushing from this gaping wound… Yeah, so like I said, it was a “small bite mark”, but a bit mark nonetheless and that still kind of makes me mad!

The rest of the ride was good. About half way across Frolek’s land, I came around a corner and chased a deer (who ran rather nonchalantly at first) along my trail till she finally decided she’d had enough and bounded away up the hillside. I made the hill down into Peterson’s Creek again, and through the creek, but couldn’t make it up the bank on the other side this morning. I did, however, proceed to make the climb up out of the valley, and even made it through both sandy sections (they were still slightly damp from the rain, meaning more control and traction). I felt pretty tired again, but still was able to keep up a decent pace I think. I took the trail at the end of Howe road again, not sure what to call this trail, maybe Two Peaks? Or how about my own little Peak 2 Peak trail? I like that… Anyways, it was fun. A bit muddy and some places was a tad torn up from the rain yesterday. Still some brute climbing on that trail, but I really enjoy it as a good end to my ride. Over all, a good time, same speeds as my other good days, so I’m glad for that on a Friday for sure. Another solid week of riding! Oh, and to top it all off, this afternoon Corrie and I are going for a ride around Kenna Cartwright park, so that will be an excellent way to finish off this week. Pictures and updates on that ride as soon as I can.

July 22nd (Afternoon)

Another really sweet ride! It poured and poured all morning, then rained all afternoon, but it was gorgeous, sunny and only 23° for my ride home so I was for sure counting my blessings on missing the earlier weather. The dirt road at the end of Copperhead was actually quite slick and muddy, and even a bit tough to push through at some points. However, by the time I rode down to the Peterson’s Creek trailhead off of Summit, the mud was more than gone off the tires…

Going down into Peterson’s Creek was quite fun. I’m getting to know this trail pretty well, now, so my speeds are definitely increasing quite a bit. With all the rain, the sandy sections were perfectly soft and yet not as loose and therefore I made it through them quite easily. Too bad they’ll probably be dry by tomorrow morning…

I made it to and through the crossing, but just about didn’t. With the rain, the creek was higher and a nice, little “ditch” had formed on the east side that just about tossed me head first into the creek…

After climbing up out of the valley (same stop-and-walk as always at the middle section), I managed some great speeds across the single-track. It was a blast! Met up with one hiker with two dogs. Actually, as I started coming up behind him, he stopped and it looked like he was going to take a bathroom break right on the trail! For a second, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but then I realized he was just taking off his shirt…

Again, I had a blast on the pipeline trails at Rose Hill, even making an awesome distance up the final hill (best yet!). In fact, I suddenly thought I was going to make the entire way until I hit a loose, sandy section (never made it this far before, so didn’t know what to expect). As soon as I hit that section, my back tire spun wildly and with no forward momentum, I had to stop or roll backwards!

I took the pipeline section into Juniper. The entire stretch into Juniper was crazy fast. In fact, for some reason I had some dorky day dream playing out in my mind of a redneck chasing me with his 4x4 and me trying to stay ahead of him… Don’t ask me why, it’s been a long summer of commuting and I could probably do this stretch of trail in my sleep, thus my mind tens to wander, ok? ANYWAYS, I pushed it very hard and fast through the entire stretch, trying to see just how fast I could take the corners, climb the hills, etc. It was great, and I had a record time and average speed in the end. Oh, no worries, the rednecks rolled their truck into one of the ravines and I left them there to think about their indiscretions…

Scott Scale competition?

Well, as the closest Scott bike dealer around is either Kelowna or Vancouver, I got to thinking about what bikes are sold in town and what those brands had for 29ers. Here’s my list so far, and I will have to do a lot of research to see which ones I would like the best.
Scott Scale 29er (approx $1700):

I think the better looking out of the three, but maybe a bit corny with my name being Scott and everything… Hard to find, though, and would probably have to drive at least 2-3 hours to even physically see the bike, let alone the time to take it for a ride and test it out sufficiently to be sure that it was a good fit for me. I am a master of convenience, so if it ain’t convenient, I most likely will go elsewhere… But I like this thing enough that I may decide it is worth it!



Specialized Stumpjumper Comp 29 (approx $1800)

This would definitely be my close second choice out of 29ers that I’ve seen to date. Componentry is basically the same between this and the Scale (Avid Elixers, Rock Shox Reba, maybe a bit better drive train, although it is SRAM which I’m not sure if I’m a fan or not really). The frame and geometry do still look pretty good, but what’s with the blah colour choice? I do like Specialized, though, and Spoke ‘N Motion deals them here in town, so I’d be able to test ride one for a day before I buy it which would be really good.




Trek (Gary Fisher) X-Caliber 29 (approx $1600)

Of course, I have to put a Trek in the mix! Being that Trek was my first ever ride in the world of mountain biking, and it was my original Trek 820 Antelope that got me hooked on this great sport! This is technically a Gary Fisher (although badged as a Trek), it has roughly the same components as the Scott Scale. It is a 30 speed!!! I didn’t even know they made 30 speeds yet… Jeepers, how hard would it be to tune THAT derailleur? Yikes! And what would I do with all those gears? I’d be wasting more time shifting than riding… Hah! I don’t mind the look, but I’m not crazy about it. Again, Spoke ‘N Motion deals with Trek here, so I’m sure they would get this in if they didn’t have it and I could test it out before buying.

I did look for Cannondale’s options (sold here by Taboo cycles, where I bought my bike, and I do tend to be loyal that way). However, they only have two options, really. The Trail SL 29'er 4 (approx. $1000) which isn’t bad, but I want my next bike to last me a while so I don’t want too much of an “entry level” bike. The next option is the Flash 29'er 3, but from what I can find online, it starts around $2500 so out of my league for sure (although it does have the Lefty fork which is kind of cool, kind of not…)
Any others I’m missing? I guess Rocky Mountain bikes are sold here, as are Kona I believe so those two brands might have some other offerings. Either way, if I can see it, ride it and buy it on a good closeout deal, I just can’t wait for it! Well, I can, seeing as how I have no money right now…

Edit: July 27th, 2010:
Rocky Mountain Vertex 29 (approx $1500 I think):

Ok here's Rocky Mountain's... A nice bike. I would like to replace the front rotor with one at least 185mm, but the fork (RS Tora) is apparently better than the RS Reba on the other three (less flexy). Good bike for the price. I'm not extremely crazy about the look (I don't like the way the top tube meets up at the seat tube below the seat stays), but a very capable bike for the price, and, again, Spoke 'N Motion deals with Rocky Mountain here in town.

July 22nd (Morning)

Today we’re supposed to get some showers, so I wasn’t surprised to wake up to a cloudy and dreary day. I was surprised, however, to bike down Qu’Appelle heading out of Juniper in almost darkness! The clouds were so thick, that even the street lights were on. People were driving with their headlights on, and it was 6:30am in the middle of summer. Kind of crazy…

Anyways, the ride was really good. I felt pretty tired today, but kept pushing a decent pace nonetheless. I made all the hills at Rose Hill and practiced more on my high speed cornering through Frolek’s land. I even made one corner fast enough that I was able to carry my momentum up and rode up a piece of single-track I have always only taken down (it cuts the road’s corner by about 20-30 feet). That was cool! The hill up from Frolek’s lower road was painful again, but not too bad. I read a piece of advice on climbing yesterday that seems to be doing wonders for me. It said while climbing steep hills, pull back and down on the handlebar. This is supposed to help weight both the front and back tires to the ground. Well, this morning I did that and had some really good, stable climbs so I’m a believer!

Coming down into Peterson’s Creek was awesome. I made the long steep hill down, made the technical section down the creek bank, crossed the creek and then even made the technical section back up the bank on the other side! It was awesome, first time and I was pumped!

And then, heading back up the Billy Minor South trail out of the valley, using the pull-back-and-down technique, I even made the climb out for the first time as well. Sweet! Unfortunately, I ended up bogging down in the sandy sections so I wasn’t 100% to the top… Oh well, I was still pretty excited about the effort today. The new technique obviously has some merit to it!

As I was riding along Summit, a BMX’er pulled out onto the road about a block and a half in front of me and it was great entertainment to watch this 20 something year old biker hunched on this little bike. Obviously, standing to pedal (you aren’t really meant to sit on those little things) he had a hilarious rhythm going up the hills as he pumped his bike side to side. Left --- Right --- Leeeeeeeeeeft --- Left --- Right --- Leeeeeeeeft. But, anyways, I’m all for commuting by bike regardless of what bike you’re on, at least he was riding! Plus, it took me the entire stretch of Summit drive (about 3 minutes of riding) ‘till I finally caught him, so that’s pretty impressive really. And I really only caught him because of the final down hill where I had the bigger gears to mash for speed and he just coasted.

I cut through the trailer park today instead of taking the trail as I felt a bit tired and I wanted to see what my time was (it seemed like another quick one this morning), and it was a record 59 minutes! Sweet!

July 21st (Afternoon)

Well, it was a good ride. Temperature said 30°, but with the cloud cover it didn’t feel that warm. The ride down into Peterson’s Creek was good, I dabbed on the first sandy section on Tom Moore, but was able to continue on and made it through the rest of it and the next one. Again, I didn’t make it up out of the creek, and of course stopped on the climb back up out of the valley. However, the ride after that was pretty good and I felt like I had some good speeds.

Well, for the last month or more the flowers on the hills have been numerous and plenty. Daisies, Lilies even something called “Butter and Eggs” that I hadn’t heard of before.

(Butter and Eggs, picture from www.bcadventure.com)

Anyways, I figured it would be neat once our anniversary came if I could bring home a handful of these flowers as a “these are the colours of my ride” type thing… Well, today I tried that. I had a little velcro strap, so any flowers I found I strapped them to my seat tube. Unfortunately, wildflower season appears to be over, as the flowers were suddenly few and far between! Oops… Well, I managed a small handful anyways.

But, in doing so, my ride took me about 1 hour and 20 minutes total time to get home and I stopped maybe 50 times… So, of course my stats are out of wack for this day, but whatever! In the end, it was still a good ride and enjoyable.

I found it: My next bike, the Scott Scale 29er

Yep, I’ve been thinking a lot about the next summer or two of commuting and wondering if I’ll be riding my entry level Cannondale F8 for years, with upgrades, or if I will be upgrading to something that will last me much longer. On one hand, I’m doing this for exercise, so part of me wonders why I feel the need to upgrade anything to make my rides easier? On the other hand, a nice, light and stiff hardtail with higher end components and a better suspension could really do wonders for this ride…
So, I’ve been sort of half-heartedly looking around at the different bikes out there around the $1500 mark. I wasn’t convinced that a full suspension was what I wanted, so I had a discussion with the guy at Spoke ‘N Motion. His suggestion was that a good fork was necessary for the trails I ride, but full suspension not so much. He did, however, push me into thinking about 29er's. Up ‘till now, I’ve seen the 29” wheel segment a “fad”, or maybe a bandwagon that people feel compelled to jump on to be “cool”, and therefore I’ve figured “No way, Jose!” However, his reasoning was that a good 29er hardtail would be just as good on the trails for me as a 26” full suspension. He said the downhills might not be as smooth or fast as a full suspension, but the gains I would receive on the flats, corners, climbs and technical sections would far out weigh any descending down sides. He also said that for my height, a 29” wheel set would be right up my ally.
So, in thinking about this, I started looking around and I have come across the bike I “need”: A Scott Scale 29!

For $1650 MSRP, this bike has a solid frame, fork, wheelset and hydraulic disc brake system. The drivetrain is a decent mix of XT and Deore, easily upgradable if those are ever not sufficient (I would love to have those on my bike now!). The 185mm rotor on the front means I’m already set up and ready to go. The only thing I would probably switch out, with my recent findings, is the riser bar to a flat bar with barends. Other than that, it is one sweet looking ride! Check out this recent review: http://www.feedthehabit.com/mountain-biking/2010-scott-scale-29er-quick-review-interbike-2009/
So, I think I have decided. I will only upgrade or add to my F8 as things break… Other than that, the pennies are going into my proverbial piggy bank in hopes that I can land one of these for next summer. Maybe I can find a decent end of season sale this fall?

Edit: July 27th, 2010:
Ok, so the Scott Scale 29 Carbon Fiber edition has been made and will soon be sold to us peasants!!!

This one in the image is the RC version that is like $6500 USD, but they are making a Pro version that should run closer to $2500 USD instead.

Here's a "sneak peak" review: http://www.feedthehabit.com/mountain-biking/2011-scott-scale-29-carbon/

So now here is the question, can I save upwards of $3000 and justify spending it on a bike??? Please say YES! Words fail to describe... :)

July 21st (Morning)

Happy Anniversary to me and my lovely wife! Today marks our 9th anniversary, and we’re still going strong. 4 kids later, along with a massive mortgage and some debt, we’re still in love and I can’t imagine a life without her. Love you, babe!

Anyways, this morning’s ride was really good. A cool 16°, but the sun was bright and hot with no clouds. The hill going up from the lower Frolek’s road was a killer again (in fact, my legs hurt going down this hill let alone going up!), but I made it and I felt even stronger by the top than I have the last two times I’ve ridden this. I kept riding up to the single-track I had found a few days earlier, rather than going across the flat, logged out and wrecked section that I really didn’t enjoy… From there, it is beautiful, winding, up and down single-track all the way ‘till Summit drive! I took the long, steep hill down without stopping (my 2nd successful attempt) and it was good. I wouldn’t mind some better traction on the rear, but it is very loose there so I don’t think that’s going to happen. The brakes were solid, though, and I came down at a good, controlled pace (faster than the 1st time). I made it through the creek, but dabbed coming up and then almost made the climb up the first stretch of the Billy Minor South trail. Physically, I could’ve made it, but my control was lacking and I failed to keep the bike going straight… Oh well!

Going up Tom Moore was pretty good, but for the first time going up I couldn’t make the sandy sections. I tried valiantly, but lost all traction and just couldn’t keep up any momentum. As I dismounted, though, I looked up and noticed a huge, modern glass house over looking the valley. Kind of a neat looking place, and I can’t imagine the view they must have from their million dollar abode!

This “house” looks more like an office building, but the view they must have would sure be something!

Anyways, the paved section up Summit, across Hugh Allan and up Howe was really a good stretch. In fact, I got to the top of Howe and it was only 7:32, which is about 5-10 minutes faster than I have done yet. So, I of course decided that there was no point in getting to work too early, so I took the fun, albeit somewhat indirect, trail that winds its way around the hill above the Costco and over into Pineview. It was a lot of fun again, but as I have only taken this once before, I had forgotten how much climbing there was! A good workout for sure, and worth every burning muscle I spent. I may even attempt this trail home some day?

July 20th (Afternoon)

No riding for me this morning (thus no post), as Corrie had to meet a lady about a lawn care job at 8am and so I stayed at home with the kids. Seeing as how the lady’s excuse for not watering/cutting was because she had two kids, Corrie figured showing up with 4 maybe wasn’t a nice thing to do… Hah! So, anyways, in order to avoid losing much time at work that I’d have to make up later, I got her to give me a ride to work. However, I brought the bike with of course and rode home. That’s the easy ride anyways!

The bike felt pretty solid again today, and I haven’t pumped up the tire since yesterday morning, so it’s suddenly holding air now. As this tube I’m now using is a Presta valve, I’m wondering if the stem is bad (it was losing air without me pushing the end down) and maybe I didn’t have it screwed in tight enough. Now, with the valve screwed in tight and a cap on it, I seemingly haven’t lost a pound of pressure, so that’s great.

I’m loving the wide, flat bar. The extra width really allows me to whip the bike around under me, and the climbs are actually getting more controlled the more I get used to it. Riding down into Peterson’s Creek on the Tom Moore trail was pretty good. I’m getting more and more used to this trail now, so I’m starting to know where I can let the speeds go a bit more. I even made it through the two sandy sections. My convoluted approach was to slow right down and spin through them, rather than hit them at speeds, have the front wheel whip side to side and make me dab in panic… We’ll see if that is a good approach or not! Another two stops coming up out of the creek, one at the beginning first hill, and another one on the long climb. After that, it was clear sailing down the single-track all the way to the Rose Hill pipeline section where I made an even longer stretch up that last climb. It’s getting there!

I took the pipeline section through into Juniper as well, meeting two cyclists and two hikers (I usually never see anyone on this trail) as well as I just about caught up with Phil even… The weeds are indeed subsiding a bit as they’re dying off and even starting to lay flat on the ground. Not sure if that’s wildlife using them to sleep in, or if it’s from rains or something. Either way, they’re getting easier to work through, so that’s a big bonus.

July 19th (Afternoon)

A “cool” 28° today! Actually, since the one week where we had some pretty warm temperatures, this summer has been very cool. Not sure when we’re going to pay for this…

Today’s ride was really good. I again took the new trails, cutting across Pineview and then up and through the trailer park and down Howe/Hugh Allan/Summit. The paved stretch is now even less of my ride, which is great. The other way, my original trails, I was 1/3 pavement, 2/3 dirt. Now, I’m probably 1/5 pavement, 4/5 dirt. That is awesome!

Going down into Peterson’s Creek was a bit better/faster today (second time down this trail). I still lost my edge in the two sandy sections. Funny how I can make it through them on the way up (with difficulty), but not down yet. I guess it must be a combination of speed and weight transfer. I again made it through the creek, but not up the other side. I finally worked my way up, climbing up the alternate trail to the top rather than the long, steep uphill. As I was making my way across Frolek’s land on the awesome single-track and came up to where I normally drop down onto the logging, nasty section, today I noticed a piece of single-track heading straight up and over. So, I took that trail only then to realize this was the trail Phil had taken me on my first ride this way! It was great, another few minutes of single-track, and I avoided the nasty logging section altogether.

The pipeline section across Rose Hill was good, although I still haven’t made it up the final hill yet (another decent effort today, though). And I took the pipeline section into Juniper as well. In fact, it almost seemed like the weeds have started to subside and retract from the trail, is this possible? Maybe they’re dying or maybe they’re just getting tired of being run over by bikes… Either way, it’s good news. The flat bar was still good, although I did notice that I use my bar ends way more with a flat bar, why would that be?

July 19th (Morning)

Well, all of last week I never really hit my “tired and lazy” day (or days). I thought I was going to, but never did… And I think I finally got it today! Yikes, that’s not a good way to start the week. I’m not sure why, but I felt tired all morning, and every hill burned pretty good.

I picked up a new Easton EA70 flat bar this weekend. I have been toying with the idea of going back to my “good old days” of flat bar biking, so I while Taryn was having her birthday party on Saturday, I took the boys around to various bike shops in town. The first shop I went to, I asked the kid if they had any flat bars and he sort of looked at me odd and said “For what?” Ha! Am I really that old? Anyways, I explained to him I ride XC and so he went looking, but couldn’t find anything. He told me if height was an issue, I could lower the stem (flip the spacers out from under the stem and put them above it instead) or even flip the stem upside down (tried that already, didn’t really notice much). The next store at least treated me like flat bars are a viable option (I know they are), but again they didn’t have any. Finally, Spoke ‘N Motion had two, both removed off of bikes that were replaced with risers! Because they were removed off of another bike, he gave the one to me for only $30. Just by glancing at it, I was surprised to see that it seemed as wide as my current riser bar already was. Typically, flat bars are narrower than risers due to strength issues. Anyways, I got it home and measured it and sure enough, the flat bar was almost 2” wider than my current riser (27-1/4” wide). Still narrower than some of the crazy 30”+ wide bars out there, but plenty wide in my opinion.

The new EA70 bar, even in colour-coordinated black, white and red! I know, I’m rather pathetic…

After installing the bar, I went to replace the tube in the back tire with my spare I carry around with me in my seat pack. Well, the air went out of the tire as fast as I could put it in! Yep, I had a nice 1/4” long crack in the brand new tube. By the looks of it, the tools in the pack must’ve rubbed against the tube enough to actually wear a hole in it… Glad I didn’t discover that on the trail! So, I pulled out my almost-10-year-old patch kit, and, of course, the glue was shot and wouldn’t hold a patch properly! Arrrgggg! So, finally, I grabbed an old tube I had hanging on the wall that had no existing patches and threw it on. It seemed to hold air, so far so good. While I had the back wheel apart, I decided to try flipping the tire around as well for better up and down hill traction.

So, back to the ride. Well, first of all the Juniper stretch was OK (slow and tired), and I did make all the hills at the Rose Hill pipeline section, so that’s a big plus for a “lazy” day. I made the tough little climb up from the lower Frolek’s road up to my new trails, but stopped at the top as my tire was really low. So, this tube is actually worse than the one I had in there now… Jeepers! After getting the air back up, I continued on, making the section through the logging portion (which is actually quite a feat). The single-track from there to the Billy Minor South trail was a blast, and the new wide flat bar was really actually quite good. I did notice that I scraped my hands on a few more bushes than normal, but the control was good and climbing was actually pretty stable. Granted, when I did start winding on a climb, I really had to reign it back in from getting too wild…

A bit of my new single-track, just before winding down into Peterson’s Creek. The forest of the dead it seems… This is the effect of the pine beetle all over this hillside.

Going down into Peterson’s Creek was good, I rode the long, steep straight hill that I haven’t done yet (up OR down), so that was cool. Not sure if I felt more confident, or what, but I saw the line and just went for it. That is probably the key for my riding, as soon as I start thinking about a portion of the trail too much, I usually bail…

Back up was tough and long. Basically it is a steady climb from the creek all the way up to the trailer park at the end of Howe Road. But, the ride up out of the creek was good, only one stop at the beginning. I rode through the trailer park rather than the cool trail around this morning.

Hopefully I can pick up a new patch kit and a couple new tubes here this week so I can get back to just riding without worrying about having to pump this tire up. Again, it was low by the time I got to work, so I should probably have to pump it up twice a ride…