October 26th (Morning)

Another chilly morning (0°), but still a really good ride. I forgot to mention this in yesterday morning’s post, but I picked up a box of toe warmers from Costco (pack of 30 for $14). They are just little packs that stick on the your socks. Yesterday I had them positioned slightly wrong, meaning they kept the middle/top of my foot (and two middle toes) warm, but the others were pretty cold! This morning, however, I found a better way to place them and kept most of my toes fairly warm, at least not freezing! Even with the toe covers and the warmers, I still think anything -5° or colder will be tough without something better.

The light is still working great. I am thinking, though, that I am going to try and rig something up that will allow me to mount it on my helmet for next week probably. That way I can compare the conditions and see which setup I like best. The handlebar mount is still good for the majority of situations, but in the single-track it’s tough to see around the corners while the light is pointed the wrong way…

Physically I felt OK today, not 100%, but I still got a really good time in the end. The scary coyote wasn’t at Rose Hill to freak me out, so that was nice!

The ride was really pretty good, but in the second half (from Peterson’s Creek to work) I was really wishing for warmer gloves. If it gets much colder, I’m thinking the $20 gloves from Costco will be my best option. They will most likely be too warm for any rides above freezing, but I can deal with gloves that are “too” warm right now…

Oh, I saw the crazy golden retriever and his owner again this morning, this time on the trail between the trailer park and Pineview. Again, the owner saw me before his dog did (which is impressive, most owners only see me after their dogs raise the alarm). As I came closer, he backed off of the trail and actually grabbed onto his dog! Well, I guess everyone can learn… Hah! Anyways, I thanked him and continued on to work.

October 25th (Afternoon)

I believe that today might have been the chilliest ride home (7°) since the spring! Overcast, and high humidity in the air. Still, it was a really good ride. The cooler temperature just meant that the Peterson’s Creek trails were not so crowded…

The ride down into the creek was good, and the creek crossing was not too bad. I did fumble it a bit at the beginning and while going over the root at the other side, but still managed to pull through. I didn’t make the climb out the east bank, though… Oh, and the creek is back to normal again so I have no idea what made it so high for a few days. Maybe it was beaver dams or something… Who knows!

I made the climb right up to middle of the bypass trail where I have to hike-a-bike over a bit of a “cliff” to continue on. The crazy thing is that I saw bike tracks going up and over! I can’t be sure the tracks were going up the cliff, and not down, but either way it was pretty crazy I think! I highly doubt I’ll be climbing over this in many, many years…

At the top, I cleared the rock wall and then continued along the single-track. However, stepping out of my usual “comfort zone”, I continued along Frolek’s upper road past the gulley trail I usually take down. I continued along the upper road (the views are astounding!) until I met up with the road the connects the upper and lower roads and followed that down. It was a bit longer than usual, and more climbing, but fun. I think I will ride this way on Wednesday or maybe Friday and then see if I can continue right up to the microwave tower! Some day I have to make my way up there just to say I have done it…

At the Rose Hill pipeline section, at the last hill… wait for it… drum roll please… I MADE THE LAST CLIMB FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!! Yes, I was stoked! For the first time yet (in over 8 months), I finally managed to get everything lined up, kept the bike straight, had the energy/power, and climbed up and over the dumb hill! I let out a whoop and a holler at the top, I was so excited! Granted, I couldn’t catch my breath ‘till I was well into Juniper after that… Hah!

Anyways, it was a historic day to be sure! Now we’ll have to see if I can start making this a couple times a week finally?

October 25th (Morning)

Pretty good ride this morning. Physically I felt good, but at 1° I was rather cold at first. I finally started to become more comfortable around Rose Hill and Frolek’s land.

The bike did good, no missed shifts and the brakes were pretty solid. The front squeeled a bit on one downhill, but no where else. It also started rubbing again near the top of the Peterson Creek climb (west side). I actually dismantled the caliper entirely this weekend. I cleaned it out ‘till it was sparkling, re-greased everything and even replaced both brake cables. However, it still starts to rub again? What is going on? I suppose the magnet that holds the pads to the piston could be getting weaker? From what I’ve seen on other disc brake set ups, the pads are on a spring that pull them back after the lever has been released. My brakes, though, don’t have that spring. Instead, they’re held in place magnetically. I suppose that if that magnet starts losing it’s strength, the pads would stop retracting fully. Anyways, I’m not going to worry about it too much right now unless it gets substantially worse. The way I see it, a rubbing brake pad means a better workout whereas a pad that doesn’t engage at all means a long time off due to broken bones… Hah!

The light was good again this morning, I’m getting to where I can manage the switch as I’m riding with my gloves, so I don’t have to stop any more. As I came out of Juniper, however, I had a bit of a scare with a coyote. I’m not sure what his (her?) problem was, but near the end, right where the trail runs parallel with Rose Hill road for about 100 feet, a coyote just off the trail in the bushes (maybe 20-30 feet away if my “sound” distance estimation is anywhere close) suddenly barked and growled at me. It was closer than any coyote has been yet, and it really made me jump (remember, it’s whisper quiet all morning, so the sudden noise is rather jarring!). But what really had me unsettled was the fact that the coyote wasn’t just howling and yipping like the ones I’ve heard before. This one howled a bit here and there, but it mostly barked and growled at me! Yes, growl… snarl… whatever you call the noise, this coyote was NOT pleased with me being there. At first, I thought about getting off the bike so I could point the light towards the noise. Thinking, however, that doing so might make the coyote feel more threatened, I continued on. I did try talking to it, kind of like I’d talk to a dog. Does a coyote respond like a wild dog would? Who knows. Either way, it stayed where it was and I rode by. As I continued on past Rose Hill road, it still was barking here and there but eventually I couldn’t hear it any longer. I wonder if it was injured? Most coyotes run away when I’ve gotten that close. But being right next to the road, it’s possible it got hit by a car or something, and was laying in the bushes wounded and therefore letting me know not to get any closer. Whatever the case was, I got the message!

At the end of the ride, as I came out and into Pineview, I came up behind a guy walking his Golden Retriever (only it was darker in colour, more red like fur). The guy saw me first, and as he didn’t grab his dog I figured it was fine. As I got closer, the dog saw me and turned and lunged towards me, barking and snarling (bad morning, I guess, maybe I didn’t shower? ). I hit the brakes and got ready to stop, but the owner managed to call him off. Still, as I started to ride by (dumb owner still didn’t get the message yet and never grabbed his dog), the dog again started to lunge at me, chasing me. I yelled at the dog, and then unclipped my foot and was just about to give the dog a taste of my heel across his jaw when it decided to back off (meanwhile, of course, the owner is yelling uselessly). I’ve not yet been that close to having to kick a dog, but owner there or not, I would gladly give any dog a mouth full of cleat if they’re that aggressive. I find it hard to believe that this dog hasn’t shown any similar signs of aggression before, so why the owner didn’t see fit to control his dog at the beginning is beyond me. But, at least it ended without incident! Hopefully next time the owner will grab his dog before anything happens, and hopefully next time it isn’t me riding by!

October 22nd (Afternoon)

So, two rides home with my new rear tire (see October 20th (Afternoon)) and now two record setting times and average speeds. Wow, does the lesser rolling resistance really account for that much? To actually knock almost 3 minutes off of my 45 minute ride? I guess we’ll see if I’m consistently faster next week. If so, I’m going to have to run down and buy another one for the front, cause that’s awesome!

The ride down to the creek was great. Fun, fast and the brakes weren’t too bad. The front brake is still dragging (noticeable on slow, uphill climbs), but it still grabs good. In fact, I took the pads out this weekend and they still have a lot of life left in them. So is it possible that I found a miracle pad? Longer lasting, quiet AND grabby? Seems unlikely that a pad containing all these characteristics would exist, but I think I found it!

The creek was still really high and I’m not sure why. Seems strange for a creek to increase by this much at this time of year. I could see maybe if it was high for a day or less that maybe it was a beaver dam that broke or something, but to last a day and a half (maybe more, I haven’t seen it since) is strange.

How much longer can I blame the camera or lighting on blurry shots? Obviously I need some help here… However, it still shows how high the creek really is right now. Check out this post to compare.

The rest of the ride was, well, fast. However, I didn’t do any standing or sprinting, but just felt fast on every section. The climbs where I typically stand, I managed good or better-than-average speeds and yet stayed seated. Again, I made a record distance (record by 6 inches or so at the most, but still a record) up the final hill at Rose Hill. I WILL beat this dumb hill SOON.

Anyways, it was a great ride and I hope to do some major overhaulling of the brakes and do some deep cleaning this weekend, so I’m looking forward to Monday’s ride already!

October 22nd (Morning)

Another good ride with the new light. It is a bit crazy how every stick and bush suddenly becomes 2-3 times larger with the shadows it casts. As I came down the first section in Juniper, a stick with some branches on it was laying across the trail. And I mean a stick. Like a little stick, easily bunny-hop-able (I’m making up words now), or even just ride over it. However, with the light, it seemed about the size of a small log, causing me to lock up the brakes, skid the tires and try to avoid this obvious death trap! Hah! Well, I guess when they say riding at night takes some getting used to, this is what they mean!

Anyways, it was a very warm 9° this morning, which was great but at the same time a bit annoying as I’m decked out now for cool weather and am not ready for a sudden jump like this! I did shed the gloves and the jacket by about 1/2 the ride, and even my new skull cap and pants were getting a bit too warm…

Physically I felt really good this morning. I guess I’ve had my share of slow and lazy rides this week, it only makes sense that I should get a good one again. I had a great pace through Juniper and Rose Hill. Oh, on the bypass trail at the end of the pipeline section at Rose Hill, I came around a corner only to run smack through a HUGE, slimy pile of dog CRAP. Yes, it ticks me off to no end! PEOPLE, REMOVE YOUR DOG’S FREAKIN’ CRAP OFF THE TRAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is that really too much to ask of you prissy “I’m too good for that” retards??? Yeah, I do NOT like having to clean THAT off of the wheels, frame, shoes, shorts, and wherever else it decides to get flung when it should be so easily removed by the dumb dog owners in the first place!!!

Ok, rant over. I’m better now! I had to ride this morning with my old, yellow tinted sunglasses. Yesterday, coming home, I shoved my clear glasses into my jacket pocket and this morning they were not there! Maybe they fell out at home somewhere (although I looked), but more than likely they’re on the trail! Oops. However, with the light, the yellow tint was not too bad. They still fogged up pretty bad, but they were OK for light. I will have to see if I can pick up some more clear glasses this weekend.

I have to get to work now, so until next time!

October 21st (Afternoon)

Today felt like an off day technically. I didn’t feel very confident on the narrow Peterson Creek trails, nor was I feeling all that fast. That being said, I managed my fastest time yet and my highest average speed!!! How did that happen???

Anyways, it was a bit warmer (16°), but with the sun being behind the hills now when I leave, it makes for a cooler ride really. Leaving work, going down Howe and then across Summit something just didn’t feel quite right. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was exactly. Was it the new tire? No, I don’t think so. The ride down into the creek bottom was really good, actually. The brakes weren’t that great as compared to the last week or two, but they were still quiet and had decent power. Peterson’s Creek was probably 2x as full as it normally is, not sure what that was about! We didn’t get any rain, so I wonder if the city diverts some water into the creek somewhere? A bit strange…

Well, coming out of the creek I didn’t make it over the root but instead slipped out. Can I blame that on the new tire? Well, my old tire did the same thing when my positioning was off, so I can’t say it’s worse than before! I attempted the climb up the straight, steep section and made it about an average distance. I gave up not due to lack of traction (I’ve never had traction issues here before, and the new tire was no different) but because of a lack of energy! Hah!

At the top, however, the rear tire did feel very soft. I stopped and decided to pull the wheel off entirely, thinking that part of the issue I was feeling on the streets was likely due to a loose axle. Sure enough, the axle was more than loose, so I tightened that up, then pumped the tire up as well (it was sitting close to 20psi). I put it all back together, then started riding but right away it felt soft again. I thought for sure I had a flat, so again I pulled the wheel out, and then dug out the spare tube and tools. However, after about 5 minutes, I noticed the tire was still about the same as it was when I stopped so I decided to just try pumping it up again. Again, the tire was about 20psi, so I pumped it up close to 40psi. Did I not pump it up right before? I have no idea what I did wrong, but it seemed to be OK so, again, I put the wheel back on and then continued on.

Shortly after this was the narrow, winding trail to the rock “wall”. I was rather unsteady on this trail, riding too close to the edge. I didn’t get enough speed, and so I didn’t make it over the wall. After this, still feeling unsteady, I decided to ride down to the Frolek’s lower road right away rather than across the single-track and any of the gulley trails. It was a fun ride down (new trail) and I did enjoy the old fire road across Frolek’s land like I used to ride!

Once I got to Juniper, I took the lookout trail again and suddenly found where this new tire absolutely blows the old one out of the water. The lookout trail is a bit of hardpack with loose sand on top. I was flying faster than before, hitting the corners with much better speeds and the tire held on without slipping at all. Very impressive!

So, for some reason while I felt “unsteady” today, I ended up with a great time and average speed. Was it the new tire? Must be the couple of hundred grams less in weight and the lower rolling resistance… I can’t wait ‘till I can get another one for the front!!! Hah!

Radar Speed Sign

I keep forgetting to post about this, so I’ll just throw in a quick post for it alone (I know, I’m a dork! ).

On Tuesday, the city put up a portable Radar speed sign on Summit drive, just by the Baptist church as I come over the top of the final climb. There was a car in front of me, but no one else around. So, once the car past the sign, I watched the sign, and sure enough, it picked me up! Hah!

I increased my speed coming down the hill, and then decreased it and the sign updated accordingly, cool! The good thing is that I compared the sign number to my computer and my computer is bang on, sweet! So now I know that I can trust the speeds my computer gives me.

Anyways, not an earth-shattering story by any means, but I thought it was cool nonetheless. I never did get going over the speed limit, so it didn’t flash at me to tell me to slow down… I hit 49km/h by the time I past it, and the speed limit there is 50km/h.