Another winter weekend...

... to make sure we really appreciate spring when it arrives!

Quick trip to Sylvan Lake on Friday to pick up Toby the dog. Steve got him self a nice little spot to enjoy life after work!

Saturday group ride was a small group of Alana and my self, with a coffee hello from Erik who stopped by only to say hello and have a nice ride. He had already got in his hours and was on his way home. So the "group" headed for a city ride due to a bit of time restrictions. It was good, a pace different than other Saturdays, and on a crummy day we still got a good 3 hours in on the bike. It still beats any hours spent on the trainer in the basement.

Today was the March Crazy ride or something like that. But with the forecast not so great, it got canceled, and to day I caved in as well on the "don't change your plans due to Calgary forecast".
I called a Toby and I day. I decided to unpack winter gear, not to confuse anyone to think that my life is organized by seasons, it was only a mental unpacking required. Ventured out to Barrier Lake and something tells me it was my lucky day. Sunshine, blue skies and perfect day to be outside, though at the same time the inside of my head wondered if this was the case in town as well, and was I missing out on the Ride of the Year?

Started at Barrier Lake with sunshine and blue sky! :)



Toby was happy to see the ride being postponed!



yeah!! is that sign of a real bike trail!!?? :)

...... the "real bike trail" quickly was gone.....



Finished Jewels and on to trek Prairie View up and back down on the other side

 

Closer to the top it was ice all around, while the sun was out it was a nice view.

At the top I realized my glasses were gone!!... turned around and went down just passed the photo above and found them in the snow like this... not only did they fall off my vest hook, I also stepped on them and both arms came off... but free glasses are not always crap, the arms are designed to come off on impact and so they did... easy fix. Thanks to the optometrist from Fernie many years ago...



At the top, sun hiding.

 Came back into town and still foggy and overcast so I'm assuming I didn't miss out on a great ride today.

Looking forward to next weekend and hopefully some spring rides!!

happy riding :)

Quick road trip..

..to Sylvan Lake. Steve has his retirement house here and was coming down so Toby put his paw out and caught a ride down. Now just waiting for the two boys. Cute town.
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

New friend...

...and hopefully best friend by the time we arrive in Portugal....

and what's up with the snow!

Happy riding!

stick with the plan...

...someone said... Calgary weather forecast should not stop any plans you might have to get out... and second day in a row with snowfall warning we head out for a ride and it turns out to be the best ride of the year... well beside the hurt...


Craig and Alana both rode strong and I was just happy we had a coffee stop in Cochrane.

A banana bread and a mocha helped, it even had a nice flower on it to cheer me up! Then we hit a little bit of single track and that cheered me up even more :)
I'm not used to big miles and my eating after the ride doesn't seem to cover the calories, who thought I'd need to train eating as well. Can't listen to the body saying it's full when it really needs more, so keep stuffing my head with some more. So today I suffered and was hungry almost off the start from yesterdays ride. Now, after the ride, I had some snack and feel full, but I'm sure it didn't cover what I need. So I'll have a few more snacks before bedtime.... some say its the perks we get...
Thanks Craig for getting us out!

happy riding!

Love for the ride...

...is slowly coming back!

After a week of fixing bleeding bodies, doing CPR, putting out fires and skidding around in the mud in a truck I was ready to ride a bike! Strathmore was fun but a week was a bit heavy on the nose, so I'm happy to be back home and getting back on the bike. Same plan as last week, easy Friday with goal for Saturday ride to hang on!! And with the forecast calling for 20cm of snow I really had no choice but to go as who knows the when the next good day or riding will be.



We did pretty much the same loop as my first time out with the group, this time a much smaller group but still strong! the start as always was a race to hang out, but different than last time, I seem to recover on the flats today. And that was the case through the ride. Not to say it was an easy ride, race pace for me, but the voice in my head was nice and calm, and seem to enjoy the ride! :) It was what they call a no drop ride, I like to call it a catch and release ride... catch them.. let them go...catch them... and so on... which is nice. Rather than a two hour hard, loose them and fall into my own pace for the next two hours, I kept a good hard pace for the whole ride. I enjoyed it so much, specially the weather since we all thought snow, I ended up doing a little extra loop downtown after the ride. Great feeling, and this is the ride I'll have to keep reminding my self of when those rough days come around, as we all know, they will come around again...

Portugal is about a month away... so one good day will need to grow to 9 good days..

happy riding!

Ouch...

Weather finally picked up this week, with a few nice days during the week. I decided to skip swimming and ride to work, it felt great riding in to work in the morning and I hope this means I can park the truck more from now on!
Weekend looked great as well, so I took it fairly easy on Friday with a little hike out in Bragg Creek to let dogs run out some energy, while I could save up some for my second attempt on the Calgary group Sat cross ride. Since my memory from the last one, even though I try hard to forget, is the voice in my head saying "keep on pedaling, keep on pedaling" I figured Saturday wouldn't be any different since not much have changed in my bike fitness, but I set my goal for the day to just hang on.....
Goal quickly had to be modified after I lost the wheels of the group for the second time, after leaving Bragg Creek to do 66 down to the gate... the voice in my head didn't help this time...actually the voice wasn't as friendly this time.. I definitely have a lot of work to do!!
So the new plan was go to 55km, turn,  wait at coffee shop with a coffee and muffin... so that I did. Though the group was not coming back, I later learned that it was a good thing they dropped me :)
Though it's hard, I'm glad the Saturday group ride is there, it gets you out and for the time I'm able to hang out, it pushes me that extra bit I wouldn't do on my own....

Sunday I went out with Lisa and her friend. I learned a nice new route to ride. The ride it self, planned E2 pace, again felt hard to me. Another wake up call on all the work I have in front of me. Though I know one day I'll enjoy the rides again!
It's always hard, specially mentally to get started and get the specific activity fitness back.

A week of work related training in Strathmore will put a bit of a breaker on my the bike, though brought it and hope to get it out. This place is as flat as anything, so that's nice, but the smell!! what is that..?? I can't imagine what it would be like in the summer.



Toby is visiting in Fort McMurray while I'm in Strathmore. I'm sure he is doing good with Sporty and Sequoia and his old favorite trails. But he wasn't sure about the drive up, it took him a few different positions in Meredith's car before he got comfy...

miss you buddy!

happy riding....

Weekend in Waterton...

 What can I say!? By far (of the very few) the best back country weekend! Thanks Christine and Troy for letting me hang out and getting another taste. At this time I'm guessing this is it for this winter but I can not wait until next year to get back there again!
Waterton had tons of snow, up covering windows on the houses in town and in the mountains even more. The weather was funny, giving me the scare with a bit of a cold morning Sunday but as soon as we got further in and got our gear on it was perfect for having fun going up and coming down. I had to give up trying to keep up with the Misseghers but did what I could, though going down almost hurt more at the end. Legs not used to this, but the mind was laughing and smiling the whole time!
Now I'm gona have to switch my mind and trying to get the smile and laughs back while sitting on the bike, not easy after this weekend, but with only a bit over a month until Portugal I better get my legs moving in circles....

happy riding!



Christine ripping it down on the board!

 

Me, not quiet ripping it, but getting down...

 

Getting ready to skin accross lake and try the other side for the rest of the day..

Quiet house!

House is empty again, well, I'm left with two dogs for the week :) But I had a great visit and wish we could do this more often. I do miss Fort McMurray for those reason, the easy access to friends who loves to get out, regardless of weather and other things in life. Thanks for the visit and hope we can do it again soon! And even though we survived the cold, next time I'm sure it'll be warmer and even possible time to get on the dirt trails with our two wheels!

Happy work week!

Snow shoe and a very cold ski...

Monday was shopping day for some, so Ken and I took dog duty. Packed up the truck and went to Bragg Creek for a quick snow shoe. As we got close to town the snow was coming down pretty heavy, and it didn't stop until after the shoe. A few inches of fresh snow made for a great shoe! We figured it would be great to get out again today for a ski. And true that!
Not a track in the snow from anyone, fresh snow everywhere, a few inches and if it wasn't for the temperature of well below -20 and a little wind, we could have played all day. What a difference from some days out there, where you can't even find parking. So nice and quiet, dogs loved it and of course had as wait a few times while they did their little run away game!
And to top of the day, a great mocha at the local cafe in town! I like weekday outings...but work comes in the way most of the time..

Happy cold day! (March is here... spring right?..)