Here is a shot of the ride, we rolled for 8hrs and 29 minutes.
There was six of use that left Cadence shortly after 9AM. To my disappointment Erik was not one of the six, my plan B for the day was to join him on the short loop if I had to fall off, as he had some other commitments for the day. So as we left Bowness and headed north I was trying to come up with a new plan B, and the best I could come up with was to finish the full route, the B would just mean alone. On our way out we met Dallas who was joining the ride also, up until that point I enjoyed the fact that the pace was manageable and quiet enjoyable, and it actually stayed that way all the way to Water Valley Saloon, about 3 plus hours in (must add I wasn't the pace setter, but comfortably sitting behind). The pace turned around at the saloon, were the few orders we had took a long long time! We filled up on drinks and headed out again.
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| A second group ride on bike also had a pit stop. |
At this point Dallas turned to home duties and took short way back, I thought a bit about joining him as my shoulder was in bad shape, but then who am I kidding, hanging on to Dallas on his sprint to make it home in time for cooking duties... hmmm not so much. So long loop it was. Now it ride was just pedal and pedal some more. Just like any long ride it sort of becomes a blur for me. I'm not sure how people remember so many details about places they go, all I remember is quiet time, just me and my bike, with no worries in the world. We did some great climbing up to a point just before hgwy 40, which I do recall as it rewarded us with some fun fun downhill, nice wet soft sections that made it extra fun on the corners. On the bottom we regrouped and then back to pedaling... and it felt like we were going up a lot, so I lost a few of the guys and figured this is looking like plan B. But we regrouped again and everyone seem to be ok with keeping the group together, and that made me happy, I probably would still be out there pedaling if I had to go to plan B.
Besides for the shoulder issue, I hadn't really hit a low point, I just didn't have the power to go any faster up hill than I did, but I was enjoying the ride, then at about 160 or so km, I really thought this is it. I was ready to be done, and was happy when someone had agreed that we were taking the shortest way home, whatever that meant. Then we got to a stop and some discussion around a "wild cat hills" came up. Very timely since I was sure I had zero left in the legs. Craig made the selling point "when will you ever get to do such awesome climb when you're this tired??" and Keith who had suffered the last little while took off, in the direction of the hills! So off we went, and what an awesome hill to ride when you're at your lowest, I thought I had to come off the bike at one point, but manage to use my weight to get the pedal to go down, and somehow managed to get up, and all of a sudden I felt a little more energized, just by the fact that we did the climb, completing the ride the way it should be completed. So thanks Craig! We all appreciated that after the fact.
We stopped in Cochrane for some drinks and fuel, and again I had to let the boys go on the climb out of the town, but made it up and from there its just a breeze. Since I moved to Calgary I've not been so happy to see COP, it looked so great in the distance, still enough snow to ski on.
When I got to my house I felt the best I have in a long time, it reminded me why I love this, it's that feeling.
Looking forward to next year!
happy riding,
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| The troop, still having fun. |
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