Kate's Blog 2014: One of my favorite...

... winter route when the sun is shining and a full day outing is worth while is the Glenbow-Cochrane-Big Hill Spring and back on the twisty north gravel roads.

Today the sun was shining and the temperatures perfect for such loop. A few modifications to shorten the loop up a little bit.
It seems that every year I need to re-train my self in the winter clothing code. Today it started out around -8 degrees as we left cadence, with around 0 the day before and I felt chilled I put on a couple extra layers. It only took 5 minutes of riding before layers had to come off. The dry cold vs the moist less cold got me fooled. So now I had pockets full of clothing and we were still far from the high of the day....... and it got hot! In dry sunny cold days it's hard to convince your self a thin insulation layer inside a good wind or goretex type outer layer and you are set. It might feel cold as you role out of your warm garage, but as soon as you start creating some heat you'll be good.

We skipped the Tuscany ravine and upper Bearspaw park section and stayed low through the gravel pit. Just started trails when my fender mount on the rear broke off. But a quick stop and a zippy tie got me going quick.

First trail mechanical of the winter season... carry a few zippy ties,they come
in handy for a lot of quick fixes. Fenders fixes are a regular on our rides.

This section of trail is always fun, but often not used enough to ride all winter, the Bearspaw reservoir is our way over to the rail road service trail. But with the trail barley covered in snow this was a great option.

Not so lucky with the rail way service path, it was covered and since we had a long ride ahead of us we chose the rail road for a small section before the bike path to Cochrane through the Glendbow. The majority of the path had been cleared so it was fast and easy compared to the rest of the day. Seemed like a quick ride to Cochrane compared to last weekend, but we still took time for a good lunch stop. The coffee also contributed to a jelly bean stashed away for later...

Took our new route out of town on the path; eliminating going through traffic. The single track through the valley to Big Hill Spring was great, while the open section was a bit of a hike. A minor miss calculation was also the lack of frozen water. Not a big deal for Craig who is a jumper champion. I through for sure I'd get wet feet, but then we saw the log, a little balance and I was over too.

We made it to the Provincial Park after a little bit more hike than we normally would do. From there we took a bit of a shortcut on asphalt highway before hitting our favorite gravel roads. They were in great shape. After a long day we decided to skip the ravines on the way down. Good call, felt really tired when I hit the bottom of Tuscany and had to pedal the short straight away to my house.

Great day and look forward to more Alberta Foothills gravel roads! Endless opportunities for great rides.