The true...

...champ this weekend was definitely the only one i could convince to ride along to Hinton. I obviously would not have had the races i had or actually raced at all this weekend if it wasn't for him. He is such a trooper, never complains and escorted both Gabor and i safely through the pre-ride. He carefully watched the truck during both the short and long course for bears or other creatures that snuck around. So i had no choice but to dedicate one of the jerseys and the medal to my very best buddy on and off the trail, Toby!

Great but a hard weekend of racing. Hardcore had a great crew out and Cory did a fine job putting on a challenging course both days.
Back in Calgary with a perfect feeling of beat!

Happy Riding!

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Hinton weekend...

...with Toby and the bike.
Alberta provincial seem to maybe be a bit late as it seems like most people who would normally show to events are staying home. Though thought id get out if town and try something different.
Toby, Gabor and i pre-road last night the short course for today and it got approved by TToby ....nice single track that was soft on the paws !
Today we race short and tomorrow is marathon ....should be fun...beautiful blue sky and dry as can be!

Fueled up with some mcdonalds so should be all set ..

Happy Riding!

Sunday ride...

...in Canmore on a hot summer day!
Met up with the boys at a coffeshop in Canmore and it was already 18 degrees at ten am. Had a quick mocha and apple strudle..yammy ..and headed up to the nordic centre. We decided to ride the Highland trail  which I have never done, so i was happy. It started off down of the dogpark and quickly went from not so steep to really steep loose switch backs. Nice hard climb then it all turned into some awesome fun twisty, up, down, rockie and all you can think of ...just plain old fun mountain bike trail. On the way back Gabor and i took one wrong turn at the end and got rewarded with some more fun fast downhill rather than coming down the loose switchbacks we came up ..more smiles !
We estimated about three hours but it wasnt even two, so got in a nice little ride at the nordic center to end the day.
Thinking of Hinton double header next weekend...so maybe a few shorter rides this week.

Happy Riding !

Saturday ride...

...with Toby and Keith. Not a big group today, but still a great ride. Started with a quick coffee pick up and brrrr was it cold out! Fall is coming quickly. Met Keith in canmore and we decided to head out to try Prospector in exshaw. 
Good call, my first ride over there this year. I forgot how much fun this little loop is, even thouh short. Toby came on the first lap. He got to have a break on the second. Think Keith quiet enjoyed this loop that has a fairly nice climb up with a huge reward of flowy single track including almost all terrain you can. After the second lap i put the bike back on the truck but realized it wasnt even lunch time, so decided to go out for one last. Toby got to come and by the end of it he was very much done.
Think tomorrow will be a few more folks and a little longer outing somwhere around Canmore again.

Happy Riding!

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Saturday...

...group ride started out at Cadence again. I had a less than great breakfast, just didn't have it for food this morning. But coffee was good as it always is. During breakfast it was a bit of discussion where to ride, everywhere from Canmore to Bragg, what trails in Bragg etc. In the end we ended up with a plan to do a Tour of the Moose Mountain. And as usual I don't really pay too much attention as I don't know the trails well enough to really follow all the discussions and I'm just looking to ride, and with these guys, Craig, Keith, Craig (second), Gabor and Jon, I'm rested assure that it'll be a great outing.

Though after all this discussion I almost missed my ride, as on the highway I was heading to Canmore, head just not there today! Made it to Station Flat and found a parking spot (not easy, it was packed!) and we started our ride.

Moose Mountain in the back, a great switch back climb!

We climbed up little bit of Sulphur (backwards) then on the highway for a few hundred meters to get to Moose Mt. Road. We rode up Pnuma and had a quick bottle drop off halfway up. Continued up to the top of Pnuma which then rewards you (depending on who you are) with a super fun, rockie downhill section. Rather than going down Moose Packers we continued on and decided to have get a peak of Moose Mountain in. I climbed this once before, and knowing it would not include a scree hike I was more than happy to ride up, and hoped to clean it this second time up. I stepped down once! It was very upsetting, I really wanted to clean this climb, next time! On the way down we did a "follow Jon" approach, so no switch backs, just shortest route down. Fun times, though as we came close to the bottom Jon had pulled over with a flat front tire. This turned out to a much longer stop than anyone had thought, and maybe next time someone will carry a hammer and a chisel, or maybe at least a Leatherman....

Everyone but I (not sure why I never did try...) had at least one individual try at getting the valve out of Jon's rim, some lost a bit of skin off their fingers trying.

Then several team efforts went in to the project, various tools from the surroundings (rocks mostly) were tried.

After all failed attempt, the idea of putting the tube in, get some air and stuff the valve in the tire came up. On the second try this worked great, enough air to maybe find a hiker with a leatherman, or make it all the way down to Moose Mountain parking lot with all the downhill folks parked, that probably would have tools.

Plan worked out, found some "dirt addicted" guys below that had any tool you can imagine (well at least one that we could use) and the valve came out. Only one more flat after this! Not bad for a day on tubes!

So with Jon's bike back up and running, we continued on with the ride plan. We rode from here over to SHAFT (SuperHappyAwesomeFunTrail, I think), and that was all the words plus some that shouldn't be said! So much fun! With one handle foamy loose, I had a couple of near-death experiences when hand would slip off on the steepest parts, added some extra adrenaline, and hence, more fun!
To get out we took some "connector" trail over to a road (I forget what road, but IngsMine maybe), and at the bottom of the road we climb back up to Sulphur, then some more Sulphur climb backwards, a little down and we were back at bottle drop, and good thing, as all the guys were out by this time. Climbed back up Pnuma to the start of SpecialK and ended the day with some fun descending once again. Little bit of Ridgeback and out to parking lot, nice and tired. Very happy with ride today, paced well so climbing felt better than last weekend, cleaning things I didn't before. Food was up next!

Happy Riding!

Midweek riding....

 

... has been pretty great, with Calgary summer at its best. Tuesday I did my regular Sulphur spring with the dogs, we come out early enough to avoid any traffic on the trails so the only big trouble is cows and cowdudies... which Toby is good at finding.
Great ride, the two four legged does great on the climb and not too bad going down, but the lack of water on the trails makes it tough. They love the creek in the end.
By the time we get back the the parking lot it is full!

Wednesday a second JP/Cox ride was planned. Keith really wanted to head out with his new tires. Great plan. Though as I drove home from work it didn't look to promising. Quickly went home, got dogs out, picked up some supper at Subway and went to the dirt lot. Gabor, Mani, Craig and Keith showed up as did the rain. The clouds to the west looked even darker. So after a bit back and forth and nobody wanting to totally pull out (though inside my head I sort of was ready to head home), we ended up driving out to Dawson, but planned at heading up Lusk rather than the full loop.

Little cooler at the top!

Great choice! The ride was as good as it can get, some rain on the road, and as we climbed up a little moist, but made for perfect trails and temperature to be out riding! It was hard, the last little bit of Lusk I just bit my teeth together and tried not to cry as I desperately tried to turn the pedals, walking is just not an option, even though I'm sure at that point it would have been faster. Up ahead, Craig and Gabor (on his single speed) had already peaked!! Well, the first climb. Cox was in great shape as well, didn't clear as much as last time I rode it but great ride all together and great company! The down I don't even need to mention as everyone who knows this trail, it is always heaven! Though today I must admit it was "awesomer" then ever!! The little bit of moist made it a little tacky, maybe slick, all which I prefer over the super dry, and I was just so happy that the 29er, hardtail, rode like it did, so much fun, what can I say!

When you only get two rides in, I'd say, the two I got was the best!

Happy riding!

Walk...

...in the park.

With black clouds sort of floating around i decided to stay local and hikecop with the dogs. It didn't look too bad, only one big one and it lookedlike it was heading downtown. But i couldn't have been more wrong !
It poured down so hard i was soaked through every piece of clothingbut it wasn't cold so i quiet enjoyed the walk ....untill all of a sudden igot hit in the head by something hard, then again and again...ouch ..even the dogs started looking for shelters. 

Both Toby and sQ quickly hid under some bush and it didn't take longbefore i had to join them. The hail came harder and bigger. I snapped  acouple of pictures of the dogs, they were not impressed at all. But itstopped and by the time i got home it was already drying up on mydeck. Guess it was just bad timing. My phone wasn't as lucky. Totally  dead! So quick trip to Bell and out with a new phone....no moreblackberry storm !

Happy Riding !

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Nice riding ....

...and a hike.

Stared out Saturday with a breaky and coffee at Cadence before heading out to Station Flat. Plan was a 5 hour ride. We ended up doing 2/3 of the Bow 80ish course, skipping JP and some of the road. High pace and lots of climbing! September will come soon and it'll be a hard race event with weather nice as today. The trails were in great shape, Gabor rode up all the climbs on his single speed like a  mad-man, there was no way to hang on. Craig on his geared bike hang on though, so for most of the ups we didn't see those two boys. In the end we descended SpecialK down and by Craig's suggestion we did part of Ridgeback, "all down" Craig said, but by now I should know better. Still fun, Gabor rode a bit more humanly (he had bonked). Thanks boys for a great ride!

Still time left in the day, so another crit to watch. Dogs got to come and they quiet enjoyed the race (or maybe the squirrel on the other side of the road). Toby was able to find something nice and smelly to bring home, to add another hour of cleaning up before ending Saturday outings.

Sunday  I wanted to treat the dogs to a good ride so went out to Barrier Lake with Craig, only to find it was closed due to grizzly with cubs. So ride turned into a hike up Bawldy. Dogs loved it, and my legs said thanks as well, nice to switch it up. When we got back we decided to get a little coffee ride in. Rode over to Cadence for some food and of course when out for a ride with Craig it'll be and adventure, even when on a coffee ride. We road downtown along the river, a little bit of trail but mostly amongst walkers and weekend riders on the paths. In to Kensington, second coffee stop. The a stop at a park trying to figure out the game of cricket (or something like that). I'm guessing coffee would be a good thing as match drink as it would be along quiet outing for some of those players. All this while African drums were playing .....so a bit of culture discovery in this city I thought had none.

 Great weekend.

Happy Riding!
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Who knew...

...a midweek ride after work could be an epic outing!

After arriving home a bit later than I'd hoped I was close to calling off going to a group ride I wasn't even sure was still on. But after a quick walk to the river with the dogs and still ten minutes to meeting time I figured I might as well...hard to get going but when on the trail I always love it...
I drove over to the "dirt lot" they usually call Invisible Esso, but quickly started thinking about what original message read yesterday...oh...dirt lot by COP...quickly speed over there. Craig and Keith were getting ready and that ended up being our group.

We biked up the road (felt long and slow on my "big" bike) to the access to Jumping Pound ridge climb, beginning of climb felt hard and I was a bit worried I'd be left in the dust (it was dry). But made it up, and felt better as time went on. What a great ride that is! We paused for a minute at Cox hill so Keith could look for a bear (didn't find it) and now to some of the best descending in the region! :) big smiles all the way...until unfortunately Keith had his first flat of the evening, Craig offered his tube as mine was a super light ...but after a few more minutes he needed mine as well, so now the next stop would have been patches! But we made it to he car with no more bike issues. Happy I took my big one out, haven't had such a great fun in a long time, descending back down!
Took us about 240 so daylight was no issue....

Happy Riding!
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

Sunday rest and ...

.... Monday ride...

So after a long Saturday outing I decided to spend the day getting the house cleaned a bit and get the dogs out for a few good walks/hikes. Calgary weather has been so great the last little bit, house cleaning is not easy, and of course that plan didn't come through today either. But dogs got out, we walked over and watched all the Tubers go down the river... I need to get out and try one day before summer ends! Anyone?

Though reading the news today I guess not all made it down the river in the tube, or without a ticket!

Got my bikes cleaned so not completely wasted day. The 29er got a new band aid as yesterday's was sort of a quick fix. So now it's good to go for a bit, one extra zippy tie on this fix!

Monday was a day off so the plan was to go for a semi epic ride with Craig, but another group ride was forming with Alana, Jeff, Lisa and Ryan, a little shorter ride. So when I met Craig at Cadence I suggested maybe we should join them, this might allow for some spectating of the Bowness Crit they were just starting to set up for on the main street. So we did!

We met the group at Station Flats and had a great fun ride with only minor delays. Craig and Jeff had to take a different route to catch Lisa who we lost about 1km in... Alana, Ryan and I, climbed up Sulfur (sort of backward from what I'm used to) then hooked on to Pnuma and met Jeff and Craig at the intersection of the start of Sulfur (the normal way) and Pnuma, but no Lisa there either. We continued up Pnuma and caught her just before the start of the upper section. She must have hammered up those hills. We also saw the TR marking guys, getting ready for next weeks event!

From there we climbed up the upper sections of Pnuma, and eventually hooked on to Moose Packers down to Ridgeback and so on.... not sure of the name of the trail that takes us out (new tom snow?). It was all about fun today! Great ride with great company!

And we still had time to make it back to Bowness for the men's elite crit race! My first ever! It was so exciting to see my little "town" so alive (Bowness that is). And the race was really neat, I like the concept and will spectate more of them now that I know, still unsure I'll do any of them though. And Steve didn't help convince me it is all fun either! But glad he is OK, and you really should check out his facebook picture sequence of the crash. Funny enough, Craig and I spoke earlier that they should almost hire some stunt folks to make sure there is at least one crash... you know... spectators always love crazy crashes... Steve gave them all of it!

Some nice Mexican on the street to end the long weekend!

Happy Riding!