First ride weekend...

...following the new routine of four days up north three days home.

So I hopped to jam in a week of riding in three days and did ok.

Arrived home Thursday and acually had time to race COP but felt completly done. Guess traveling and work can be "hard" work. So skipped it and saved legs for some real rides.
Friday I went out early after debating road or mtb. Toby helped my decission by looking really sad so I joined Suzanne, Meredith and two of Suzannes riding friends. They road up Tom snow so I took pnuma to moosepackers and met them at Ridgeback. Road down ridgeback in the back of the pack with Sequoia and Toby and back to station flats. Nice way to get legs warmed up.
Saturday Craig had a great plan and as logistics got worked out it just got better and better. With so many good ride friends we had the luxery of two "feed" on the way, car pick up and drop of to make a ride from Canmore to Station Flats.
Left Calgary after a supply load at Petro and McDondalds, quick stop at Barrier for supply drop. This time we made sure to hide it extra goos; and if ever in a bind at Barrier there is a few goodies to drink still hidden. Got to dog park in Canmore and Craig almost lost all of his goodies (mcd burritos) to some hungry puppy dogs but they were nice enough to leave him two for the ride. Rode Highland over to Transcanada. Stopped to text Erik and saw two missed calls. Cindy and Erik was planning on riding with us down Jewels pass. Unfortunatly some food from night before was not agreeing witb Cindys plans. But as only super good ride buddies would do they are in the car driving out to ensure we have enough to drink not knowing that we had the time to hide some stuff at Barrier (sorry guys). Got them turned around home quickly and moved on with ride. Took quait up over Jewels pass down to Barrier over to Lusk. Lusk surpeised me with the amount of climbing; never ending and steep! Just getting warmed up to JP climb! Awesome viewa at the top of course makes it all worth the effort. Craig and I took a minute to remember our scree slope hike a bike from last year. From JP it looks like a insane thing to do....
Down JP, rough ride down to Powderface road. Ride the road over to PF climb and up we go. Craig of course would have liked to do the ridge but I was pretty done and looking forward to the next fees. At PF parking lot Meredith and a friend had left some goddies after their ride. A can of coke for each and some water and snack:) well hidden, 30 steps back from sign, wich happend to be straight up the slope. A note ensured we would not have a repeat of last years stolen goods.
Then up over to Ingsmine rd and up and over to sulphur. Craig were on his way up but I begged for the chicken route out along the river trail; no more climbing kn the legs. Back to the car that was picked up in Canmore and dropped at Station flats (thanks suzanne and her boys for the detour)
Just an awesome day out on the bike!
Sunday I was unsure if I should join the boys ride as legs felt so tired at the end of the Saturday ride. But with only three daya I really wanted to ride so got my hardtail going and that gives me an extra light gear to help the tired legs. Met at Cadence and Craig M., Craig S., Shawn and Gabor was the crew. We eventually landed on the Highland and transcanada trail.....
Gabor had a bit of a rough start and with all his power up a, for most, not possible to ride kinda hill, managed to bend everthing possible on his rear wheel; casette, wheel, disk rotor! So after trying to continoue ride he bailed out after we got up the first major climb. This trail including the singletrack that takes you to TC trail such a fun trail; having the hardtail felt awesome and I enjoyes the ride. Thankfully everyone had a big day Saturday and even better; Shawn had a bottle of wine and Craig M only slept a few hours :) So they didnt seem to mind waiting a bit. Shawn also had a major tire rip but got that fixed up; note to self to remember to fill up the patch kit.
Great day on the bike and todag (monday) my legs were happy to not sit on an airplane but actually do an easy spin to Calgary office. Back on the airplane tomorrow for three days of rest....

Happy Riding!

4 passes...

...today; Rickert's, Sheep river, Elbow and Highwood Pass.

Family left yesterday so house is back to its quiet self and so it was nice to spend the days on a long ride with good riding friends; Alana, Craig, Erik and Trish.
Had an awesome time the two weeks after Fernie race hanging out with my family who I dont get to see much, but less long hard rides, so wasnt sure how the body felt.

Started with a gradual climb that eventually got steeper and harder as it went on up to Rickerts Pass. Great views and rewarded with a scetchy down at start then fun rugged mountain trail down to Sheep River trail. This one brought back some cold feet memories from last years ride with Katy. And it didnt dissapoint this time. Several crossings in freesing water! Though well above zero air this time so it wasnt too bad.
Decent down to Elbow intersection was fast and when stopped there I noticed my rear tire was flat. With a bit of help from Craig we plugged the tire with the kit Ive been carying since Portugal and it worked great!
Up to Elbow pass and down to the highway was the easier part of the route. The Highwood pass is pretty classic road climb that Ive never done. In the car out it didnt seem too bad. But the road up to just over 2200 metera felt long. Trish set a hard pace up, good for the legs. Then a 17 km mostly down to the car.

Great ride! Hope to spend lots more time on epic rides like this.

Happy Riding!

Whistler...

..."Kill me Thrill me" with Erik today. Great fun. Then some "shit happens" and some other rockie gnarly trail. Toby in doggie heaven and Erik getting some new skills on the bike.
Earlier this week some playtime in the Lost lake trails, rode comfertably numb, watched some BC bike race, down hill rides on the skihill and lots of watching big bikes coming down fast.

Peak2Peak with the rest of the gang is next on the agenda. Then some more downhill....

Happy Riding!

Furious 3 ....

.... race weekend was pretty awesome and everthing a race weekend should be. Wet, muddy, tacky to dry trails well made for fun fun riding. Great riders out made for a real race to the finish, thanks Mical and con grats on a great race and win.

Friday we started with pretty good weather but trail were pretty wet from rain earlier days. Mixture of gravel roads and lots of single track decending. Both Mical and Melanie is off at the start and not much I can do to keep the start pace, which then Im stuck in the downhill lineup. First down was steep and technical and a new trail Id love to do again. Some more climbs and downs and toward the end it opens up for true enjoyment of Fernie riding! So fun! Never saw Mical until I crossed the finish in second.

Day 2 was a wet day. We spent most of it at the skihill side of town. Lots of climbing and lots of amazing down. Wet didnt really bother me as trails seem to hold up good and it was not cold. The people along the trail were still out cheering and even a boombox party at one of the climbs. Start as day one was too hard for me to hang on to both Melanie and Mical but this time I cought up to Melanie a bit earlier and eventually would see Mical. We road some fun singletrack together and just as we passed feed and started climbing project9 she fell behind. I held that to the finish but not much of a gap so before day three she would still be in the lead. Felt good and besides the many stops to clean and lube chain bike seem to work good but the 24 small ring was greatly missed.

Last day and needed to get a minute or so to get the overall. Mical hammers off the start and I had to forget about hanging on once again. Get in a bit of a jam to start but it quickly spreads out. Back on the town side we climb up sidewinder to deadfall, steady pace and legs feel ok. I plan to ride steady and hope to have enouh left to the major last clim  at the end. We ride the coal discovery trial (i think) for a while, not my best ride of the weekend and manage to wipe out on a flat slow section (clumsy amd embaresing). I figured we were almost in Sparwood, eventually popped out on a road and had to work the road back to top of kids stuff. Got to enjoy splitting bears by my self and smile was on! Now over to roots and the big climb, first road then single track up to castle. Mical was out of sight but should be a couple of minutes up so there was a slight chance. But she was too strong today and only saw her as we creasted the top. Got her wheel further down and from there it was all super fun until we hit the road and I learned it was not all down! Road climb again and legs felt completly done. Put in what I had to hang on and then some more fun down. Got a tiny gap after Mical had a shift issue on one of the dips and worked, slowed down assuming she would be right back on the well and I needed to rest if I was gona hold her to finish but looking back gap is still there. Had to work harder than ever and barley held it to the finish. Fun race!

Great weekend with great racing on some of the best trails.

Happy Riding!

Dirty Feet ...

... Enduro in Kamloops on the agenda, recovery ride is what my legs felt like. This race was definitly low key compared to the metal but still great to attend a local event. Its a lap race; 6 hours to get in as many as you can.

Got to the venue a bit late but I quickly figured it was ok as legs didnt feel like warming up any way. Alana and I signed up for women duo and I would ride the first three to make it home before dark. They were staying another day so it worked out well.

Off the star we climbed up a double track hill and I was already on empty; would be a long three hours I thought. After the initial climb some fun flowy single track, felt like sideshaw bob but much longer and with better flow of course. Made it through the first lap and new I only had two more in me which would leave me at just over two hours.... Good thing Alana loves to ride bike :)
Each lap was a little better but with little knee aches and being very tired there was no motivating phrases I could run through my head to make my self do one more. So Alana would get more for her Money! Special deal from me today!....
Got her update and she was the superstar of the day with five laps and got us the win.

While she rode five laps I drove a slow drive back to Calgary in mostly rain. Hope the summer will consider a visit while family is here in a couple of weeks.

Happy Riding!

Test of Metal...

...pre-ride last night with Alana and Toby was good; meaning we did not get rained on!

Not the same story today! Woke up to rain, raced in rain, and still driving in rain! Word has it the rain has not yet arrived in Kamloops :)

Rain aside this race is still a classic and with 900 happy riders on the start line and all the spectators on the course it is a great race to put on the calendar.

After a little trouble finding my start; well the right one I should say, i did finally get to the right spot after jamming my self in the 3-330 hrs blocks with the age category riders; and u have to have been there to appreciate that this was not an easy task. And only then did I hear the announcement about elites having a block up front. So a little embarrassed I asked one of the guys if I was in the wrong spot and sure enough he looks at my yellow plate and says yes, every other plate was green around me.

The start went off as soon as the Canadian National anthem was sung with no warning; so needless to point out I was a bit slow out of the block as I was still waiting for Ja, vi elsker ....
The start was crazy as it has to be with so many riders, riders from behind creating a wider lane and eventually things go wrong in front of me. Ripple effect and a few folks went down hard right in front of me. Decided then to move over to do the gutter ride and away from most trouble. It was not just crazy scary but crazy fast! The road climb up is not short so eventually I had to start letting folks just go and do my pace. I settled in a manageable pace and paid for it as we entered the trails; it felt I moved further and further back. Guys would pass finding pace to slow, then realizing it was too hard and let group go in front of them, id have to try to pass to close gap again, but passing is not my strong side so it would take a bit and I did a lot of that for the first half. Second half things felt better; the Bonk Hill climb is nice and open and you can ride your own ride, legs felt good but wasn't sure for how long we would be climbing. Chatted with a few guys and thought I had a pretty good idea. Noticed Mical far up in the distance which made me happy to realize the slower pace in the start hadn't pushed me too far back and probably saved my legs a bit too. The climb was definitly longer that I had pictured but not bad; nice for the eyes to get a break from constant dirt spraying in them as glasses were useless today for everyone Im guessing.
Got wheel contact with Mical and favorite part of day was the decents after that; all the spectators and following Mical who is technically so strong helps boost my guts level on the rooty rocky and wet stuff;
Great times and the reminder of why I love this stuff!
And the course end with some great single track; more climbing of course but some nice decent; then a ride through the park and by the time I hit the finish line I was less than 3 min off first, very surprised with how the first half felt.

Besides riding down with Mical; thanks for setting the lines, the guy at the pool with the hose was high on the favorite list too. Not just any kind of hose; hot water! And with no line I got the luxery package! So nice....

So despite weather again; great event!

Now on the road to Kamloops!

Happy Riding!

The week ...

...in between two big race weekends didnt go exactly as planned. A 30 min spin to work and a truck drop off and Toby ice cream ride was all I got in. Most of time after work was spent fixing up bike and getting it ready for the Test.

Bit of a marathon weekend in plan. Drive out Thursday night, get in to Squamish Friday, race Saturday, pack up and haul our self out to Kamloops, race 3 first hours of the Dirty feet 6 hr enduro before loading up and back to Calgary.....

Happy Riding!

Organ Grinder ...

... 5 hrs Enduro!  with the uncertainties in weather and the already pretty wet trail it was scheduled an hour later and a 4 hour race. I was ok with that. The sky looked ok and it was definitly warmer. Planned on riding steady and not too hard. Did just that. Figured 4 laps was all i could get in anyway. After three I really thought hard about pulling the plugg. The bike was in terrible shape; breaks stuck, fork rigid, gears skipping. The trail was getting worse too. But not finishing what I had set out for was not reAlly an easy thing to do for me. And with plenty of time for another round of a muddy but fun loop I headed out.

Good day all in all! Great to see so many out still after a chilly and muddy Saturday. Impressive to even get the rigs ready after what we put them through. That said; with two days of wet and mud my bike has now gone thouh a significant "clean". Wallet clean mostly. Brand new break set, rebuilt fork, new cables and chain and a little soap and water....and magically there looks like a bike ready for more action.

Jon also had a solid day and he had two of his jersies podium today! Nice work!

Test of Metal next.

Happy riding!

If I could ...

...only keep up with this blog like some. It serves as a great training diary and already looked back to try to remember last years doings....but so many holes. So to close the hole for next years recap of this year....

Last week; not great rides but got in my first around the Glenmore reservoir ride after work one day. Spent the Friday with work at the Turner Valley golf. And if it wasn't for clubs being rented and my manager in my group of four...the clubs probably wouldn't have survived. Not my strong side. I like consistency and there was only luck at a few occasions. Won the longest putt of the day!:)

Saturday a great ride with Alana, Jeff, Steve and Ryan. We did most of the trails around Barrier and lucked  out with no major rain. 3 good climbs and an icebath attempt ...got just above the ancle for about 10 sec. Brrr

Sunday I rode Bragg Creek with Ryan and some of his friends. Perfect Sunday Toby ride. Still some good climbs so a bit more effort in than I needed but super nice day. Scouted a great trail for family when they get here...shuttle up and ride down then the lake....perfect. One day planned.

Monday site trip was exchanged with a team workshop team building event at work. Fun at the core lab and then to play bowling and minigolf; probably cant count it as exercise....Friday 18 hole did go in the book by the way..

Rest week so only road easy to and from work; and  included COP weekly race in as well. Gees..first one of the year and 3 days later and Im still coughing! Short but a killer !

Learned that the hardtail has a crack ...hence headset issues .. Waiting for new frame

Friday was spent fighting with my bike then the expresso maker...got bike working (i broke the 12mm through axle and no way to get it out...thanks Marty). Still fighting the steamer on the mocha machine.

Fading now...

Raced in the snow at Canmore today; June 9th! Not as bad as I expected at the start. Poor Erik got his shoulder dislocated in a hole I almost endoed 3 of 3 chances! The last time I was pre-occupied looking for the puddle ..and whoops ..
Alana showing the mud off below..
Felt ok; didnt push as hard as Thursday to not kill the lungs, rode mostly safe, it was cold, im now finally warmed up (930pm).

Ended day with a huge taco salad..mmm

Racing tomorrow..or not...checking forecast and decide...5hr enduro could be fun but could be cold...

Happy Riding!

Monday morning view...

...from now on. Not a bad view. Calgary is a nice city. The mountains in the back make up for most of the "nice" for me. Unfortunatly the view is from up high going north. Instead of a nice recovery spin to the Calgary office, Im dressed in compression socks and a bottle of water buckled up in a tiny seat on a small propeller plane. A touch down in another nice city, Edmonton, then to the airstrip at Shell to board the bus to site. If I include my drive that started the trip; about Six hours later Ill be at my desk. Then a similar but backward routine for the home trip. Thats about 12 hours doing nothing but getting from A to B and back to A.
Thats a lot of nice bike riding!

Guess I do it so I can have a nice bike and travel with it....but this might be taking it a step too far...to be continued ....

Happy Riding, remember!?

Race weekend...

...at Calgary Olympic Park. My back yard playground and put on by the Deadgoats so all set for a good weekend of racing bike.

Body feels good but legs seem to get tired out by any little effort; got in two rides to work this week, easy spin with Toby part of the way. Should not have a tiring effect. But it did. So unsure how I would feel racing.

Saturday is the short course. I show up for registration in the morning and there is no category for me. They chose to start me with expert men; better than alone in elite women. Where are the women? Start was not until 1pm so I had some time to head down to Ridleys to pick up race wheels off my racebike which was waiting for part from Trek. But I managed to fumble away time and when I got there and the complete bike was ready I had no time to swap plate and get bike set up for race so raced my dual suspension as planned without race wheels (gota love how every year there is changes to gear so to swap parts you have to plan for extra conversion time...). Anyway, love both rides either way so no big deal. I made it to the start after riding up from the house as a quick warm-up.

Felt ok, third lap in and I was in fourth when chain did a funky over the pedal spindle and it took my brain some time to un-tangle the figure 8ths. In the mean time three guys flew by. Shitty; I lost my motivation for a few minutes and just pedaled but then reminded my self it was a race and I need some high end workouts! Could see one or two of the guys on the climbs so got back into it, had a little more left for last lap and took back two spots. Happy with effort. Not my thing to suffer for an hour and half; but should make me a better all around rider so I do it. Good warm up for 4 hrs Sunday. Course was fun so made it all go by quick. Nice and tacky and funky climbs. Nice work Deadgoats!

Sunday was the marathon with a 8 hour lap race. Jon and I entered as Ridle's but Jon unfortunatly got a nasty bug and could nt make it. Hope he fights it off and back on bike soon. In the last minute I get a John (Cadman) to step in. He did the morning shift so I had some time to get ready after I watched the start. Great turnout and very cool to see so many Calgary women out racing some brand new to racing.

I had the race rig all set up and was early on site to spin legs warm prior to my go at 1pm. I watched John come through and figures Id get a 105 start. Road around the parking area and few minutes in a familiar feeling of bike weirdness! Sideways pulling!....I see Marty in his awesome flashing shorts and pull the poor guy from his rest to sit on another bike (he did not wanna sit in any bike). Verdict...get another bike! Thanks for taking two minutes off your race time to help!

So good thing Im in my back yard. In full gear I drive home Dow a quick swap of stuff on the bike and rush back up. John was a bit later across after hammering 5 laps the legs were feeling it, good for me as I made it back in time.
First lap I rode with Ryan as a warm-up. Though him leading out; felt harder than a warm-up. Course was different than Saturday, still fun and hard.
Second lap I felt awful; the poor warm-up leading to the start and a hard start had my legs turn to rock. So I settled in a long distance pace and things started to work as it should. Fun day, so many riders out there on a course in great condition. I had hoped for seven laps but with my laptimes and late start I got in six and the course was shut. Got to ride with Devon for a bit, great to be pushed. And last lap Craig made me push a bit extra. Still couldn't hang on, me on lap six, he on lap 13?...strong ride!

Happy with the end. John and I took the win; body felt ok; no rain; lots of bikes out!

Thanks to the Goats for putting on another great event.

Happy Riding!

Rundt huset ...

... Litt av hvert for dere som skal paa tur .

Tok et par bilder paa kosetur sondag. Alle bildene er innen 4 km fra huset. Dere kjenner muligens igjen parken hvor vi stod paa kjoyter?..om sommern er det en veldig travel park med kano leie og masse andre activiteter.  Var jo ikke kjempe varmt paa sondag men allerede er det folk som flyter need elva ....vi kan starte rundt huset og flyte gjennom byen ...paa varme dager er det nesten flyte koe paa elva!

Ellers er det jo COP; tar bilder over helga siden jeg har to ritt der. Skibakken opner for sykling og det er klatrevegg, stor minigolf, hoppe thing, bobsled osv ...2min opp bakken.

Ellers er science center aapent naa og dyreparkern, i fish creek er det strand og bading....saa litt av hvert foer vi kjorer paa tur.....og alt innen gaa avstand saa og si ...

Ordner med sykkel til Markus mens Madelen og Monica kan vi sette opp paa en av mine saa vi kan rulle rundt naar vi vil ...

Sender litt mer naar mer kommer til ....

Hilsen reisemaalet ....:)

Long weekend...

...much needed even with only three days at work.

First Bragg Creek ride of the year. After a coffee and some plant lessons from Alana we headed out to Station flats. It was not as warm as I had hoped and with my fingerless gloves and the meter showing 2 degrees I was a bit concerned. Jeff, Alana, Michelle, Andrew, Ryan and Toby; a good group. We rode over to Moosemtn to climb Pnuma as far as conditions would let us. I felt ok but right off the start I was in granny gear; there was not much power coming out of the legs today. Still a great climb up. Made it to start of Raceofspades and did a quick attempt to keep going but quickly hit too much snow. And my feet and hands were still not warmed up, so no point in pushing up higher. The decent down is as fun as always! Toby hung in great and is happy riding times are back.

Sunday I joined the Terrescape group ride mixed with a couple of goats. Great ride at the Nordic centre and them even better ride doing the Highland trail. All in great condition.
A after ride BBQ with some amazing cooking by various people, thank you! Great day!

Today, both Toby and I feel tired. Toby will skip the ride after a nice walk in the park; i still hope to get a spin in before departing to site for a couple of days.

Happy Riding!

Post Portugal...

...and back to reality or something like that.

After day one of Portugal this year, and probably last year, I told my self to remind my self not to take on such big adventure next year. There has to be other ways of getting in good shape and other experiences out there that Im missing by coming back. And its just pain!

Now; not even a week since last day, I ask why do I keep coming back to the norm? I already miss the waking up a bit sore, trying to eat as much as you can, wondering if you can get another pedal stroke in, but happy to see the rest of the racers on the start line, cheering each other on as Tiago counts down the time; then pedal and all that matters is to keep pedaling to the end while taking in all the different sences from around you; see the smiles at the checkpoints, specially my dad; then cross the line once again, even though you thouht it was impossible. Then get treated like a super star with awesome food, bike service, massage and them more food and stories around the tables from other racers while the body wonders if it'll be able to do it again tomorrow.......and it just keeps going....

Half a week at work and there is no resembling the great people with such positive outlook, with such passion to what they do....Im going through withdrawls already!...guess there is a reason why we keep going back to these experiences in life.

Looking forward to a mountain ride with friends to releave the mind from the week of work....starting with a awsome breakfast and a little bit of bike fix...

Happy Riding!