Still riding...

... mountain bikes.

Worked at home early to get a break after lunch to enjoyed what the weatherman said was the last of the great days for this weekend. Trish, Steve and Henry was orignially heading to Canmore, but as I was driving out they had gotten a weather update and we decided on Bragg Creek. Toby and I met them at the Station Flats trail head. All ready to suck in the last of fall!!
Rode Ridgeback including bottom single track (backwards) up to MoosePackers and the plan was to do SHAFT but with some very strong winds coming in and the temperature feeling cooler we opted to try Pnuma backwards down to Race of Spades. Great choice!! What a fun trail going down! I've never done the upper section of Pnuma down, what a treat! And Race of Spades, well, most of you know I love this ride! Awesome day out!! Not looking as sunny and great for the rest of the weekend...

Happy Riding (into winter)!

 

Quick after...

... work ride!

It's been a while since I got to ride after work. Worked out of Calgary office this week so felt great getting in a couple of days commuting and then a Thursday after work ride! Took me about 5 minutes to convince Craig to drop whatever he was doing to join in on a quick loop at Exshaw.

The parking lot was busy, looks like more than us are trying to steal in the last few mountain rides before snow. The Prospector is a great loop. It's only about 8km long but has a little bit of everything that a real mountain bike ride should have. Swoopy single track, a few stunts, rocky steep, and rocky loose. We got another guy joining us from the parking lot so a nice little group ride, and Toby was very happy to get a week night ride.

Happy Riding!

 

The last ...

... real mountain bike of the season??

Big plans for the day. Craig and I headed out to the mountains, and while talking it seem all possible. Start at Powderface Parking. Climb up PF to the Link and up Prairie Creek, PF road to JP climb, up and over JP to Cox, down to Dawson, road back to JP Summit Trail, up and down the back side of JP, road up to back of PF, up and over PF ridge, and highway back to parking lot.... hmmm maybe on a peak season fitness and superb trails.

The plan all seemed possible until we hit section of JP with snow, then some more snow of the way up Cox, and down even more, some mud and then a road section that feels like forever from Dawson to JP summit trail, headwind in every direction it seemed. Besides skipping the PF ridge plan we got it an awesome day of riding, the legs felt like they should after a great weekend of riding. And knowing this might have been the last up and over Cox, it felt even better.

After the ride I tried very hard to find my stocked away snickers bars and cans of coke, but no such luck! Someone else must have enjoyed it over the summer sometime. Held out until Bragg Creek.

Happy Riding!

First Cross ...

...adventure with Craig of the season. Well, too warm and to little snow to call it winter ride, but still a good long adventure. Starting out with some Bowness single track and heading west on the south side of the river, on more awesome single track. The trails are in perfect condition. Though with the Bearspaw lake area not frozen some exploration had to happen. We did a minor section of bush whack and a little loop around the fields and getting cut off by peoples huge back yards. Finally made our way up a gravel road that took us on some main back roads. From there Craig had a plan on hooking onto a gravel/field road that should eventually take us to Cochrane. It looked very promising as we jumped the first fence. But then the "trail" disappeared, and it was mostly cow field. The cows do a pretty good job on maintaining some good single track though, so no big issues. We finally found the city water cut line that Craig had seen on Google Map, and jumped on it for the last five min. Then some gravel road to 22, crossed 22 and got a little lesson in riding by a local police who passed us. He let us continue to the top of the climb, then to tell us the road was closed. We now know it was human remains found and investigation was going on. Guess someone must have bonked really hard. We turned around and met up with the girls group who also left the city around our time. Told them about the closure and rode 22 for a bit longer and a back road into Cochrane for a nice lunch.

We manage to convince two, Pam and Suzanne to join us for some off road fun back to Calgary.

Great ride, with a some minor bike issues, 4 1/2 flat I think we counted and one derailleur hanger. Not bad.

 

Happy Riding!

 



Friday local...



... ride with Toby!

Sunny, nice day, started at 6C and when done it was up to 14C.

Climed up Pnuma and hit some snow, got cold toes so changed plan to a short but sweet ride. Down Race of Spades it went! Sweeeet... such a fun trail, great work on this trail done this summe! The dually with the big tires feels like a big rig. Toby is loving the colder weather and flying down the hill like a "mad man".

Happy Riding!

 



Second trip to Barrier...

... and a Thanks Giving city path ride.

Sunday Craig and I decided to give Barrier another go after my shoe forgetting episode previously. I was happy to give it a shot even though I rode some of the trails Saturday.While driving out we noticed a car with some familiar bikes on the roof and sure enough another group of riders on their way out and by chance heading our direction. We ended up riding Baldy with Trish, Linda and their two ride buddies. Awesome climb up and Trish as usual set a good pace. The decent down was a little slick for me and I couldn't seem to get comfy but enjoyed it as much as I could, and with the GO PRO running on my seat post of course I had to slow it down a notch so Craig could keep up! :) and he did. At the bottom we took a left and Craig showed me a trail I've never done (on the map it looks like Old Baldy Pass Trail, but not sure), we hook on to the highway and head over to Nakiska to find the climb up and over Skogan Pass with a quick visit to the Troll Fall. It was busier than I've ever seen the area with hikers enjoying the fall weather. I brought a GPS with me to ensure no Craig trouble, but this time with the GPS I got us wandering a big back and forth and the trail on the map did not match what actually there. Should have listen to Craig this time. Fast ride down. Started to feel the ride, and with only one bottle each (planned to refuel at gas station but just wanted to get going) I was fading. I road Trans Canada trail on the "love of trail riding" fuel and got a little bit of second wind going up Quaite. And Jewel Pass waiting at the end is the best reward after a long day in the saddle. When we got back to the parking lot I was sure hoping to find the two redbulls left a few months ago, and after a few minutes of searching they did show!!!


Group getting ready to ride down Baldy

Top of Baldy decent

Little bit of snow on the trail...

Best tasting treat!

So with some nice and tired legs Monday and a little rain in the forecast we figured what a perfect day for a city path day. We road downtown and got a photo up with the new bridge, at what point we got the idea of testing a group ride idea with Erik. With a temptation photo of Craigs fender setup who could resist. Though it took them a few to get back to us, but while having our first coffee break (58 min into our ride... rough day) at Rosso we heard from them and 20 min later we met up. An awesome city path ride down to Glenmore, some single track exploring and with Erik knowing the city better than I, we found some new trails on our way back. Perfect ending of a good riding weekend.




The fancy new red bridge, matching my RED jacket!

Craig, Erik and Cindy

A local ride...

... and a Toby ride.

Friday I headed out for an evening trail ride around the neighboarhood. The trails around the Stoney bridge is a fun playground, I tried to make it from there to Tuscany but the new fence had me at the dogpark and by then I figured I might as well ride Bowmont. Trails in great fall condition. Then over to Edworthy and single track back to Bowness. A nice shorter ride all within 5km of my house!


Satruday I took Toby out on the awesome Barrier Lake loop including Razors Edge. And it couldn't have been much better of a ride. The night before I put the Hans Dampf on my Trek Superfly 100 and all of a suddeen I felt like I had a "big" bike. The decent down Razors Edge was super fun and not one foot touch down!! Climbing back up Quait didn't feel as efficient as it could but the reward flying down Jewels was all worth the little extra weight up.

Sept 28-30...

...weekend.
Much easier to update blog if could get it done in at least the same week as the ride....but here we go anyway..
Friday I had the hardest time deciding on a ride. I do like to ride with people and since everyone is working its a tricky day to get out. Though I was able to convince Sarah that it was a perfect day to show her some of our city path rides. We rode the path though the city and down to Glenmore reservoir, had a coffee (nice treat and a drink) stop and did the loop around and then on to some city street time lanes and back through the west side of the city. A perfect road ride for a Friday.
Saturday Craig had a plan, a ride he know from his motorcycle days; 10 years ago. So based on that I brought my bigger GPS :) great long day. We parked where the the ashfalt starts when doing our watervalley ride (?) and crossed the river and road and hiked some neat trails. Ill admit there was a lot of dismounting; and most up hills way to steep for my engine and two wheels. But as we got closer to devils gap we got to enjoy some pretty particular scenery so well worth as a ride once every decade.
Craig would have loved to explore some more single track on the return trip but I reminded him the importance to support our fellow bike friends that is now in cross season. So off to watch the Dark Knight Races until way passed my bed time.
Sunday Craig and I had a ride planned out at Barrier. Bit during some checking of shoe sizing I forgot to get shoes in the bag again and as we arrives to the lake I was with out shoes :(. Not great. Toby was the lucky one though and got to ride with Suzanne and Kate who just arrived after us. Back to the city we decided to get shoes and ride west bragg. Turned out to be a great ride. Rode up Ranger Summitt, down SuggarMomma, and some other great trail I rode with the two firefighters, Cam and Cam, and Toby the Friday after Houston. New trails for Craig and for me second time and no flats. Happy ending!
Happy Riding !

Post Houston...

...weekend; two days to catch up.
This weekend I was not successful in recruiting Craig for rides. Not to upsetting as I felt pretty tired and had a few things to get done.
Headed out to west bragg Saturday and brought Toby along to explore some new trails out there. Ended up stuck on top of the start of strange brew with a sign saying it was closed. A couple of guys told me there is a way down just not on the map. So we joined them. Great ride; fall colours and some great singletrack. Toby impressed and I impressed less with a double flat on the same rock. One fixed it self after adding some air and the second was fixed with the magic plugged kit. Third time its saves the ride this year.
Sunday I headed out with Trish. An awesome ride; canmore to banff along Rundle then up and over Stoney Squa (?), aar back to Canmore mostly on Goat Creek and down to Nordic center on a great down hill trail. Nice hard pace but with Trish slow tire leak I got a few much needed breaks here and there...
Love fall riding!

Sunday...

... third day of riding. What a great weekend. Two good rides in and one more to go in great fall weather.
Craig and I was lucky to have a shuttle to Banff so planned a point to point ride through Minnewanka and Devils gap. After a breakfast in Banff, Suzanne did a drop off at Minnewanka. This was the first weekend open for bikes so a few others out. The ride along the lake is just such an awesome cross country ride. So flowy, fast and beautiful. First delay was an Auzzie (or similar) with a chain issue. After that it was smooth sailing until we litt the trail after a rock section. But what would a ride with Craig be without a little bit of bush wacking ....
We eventually got on track. About 20km of gravel then 40 or so into Cochrane. And since Craig was doing all the work on the road he got to chose to include the wildcat climb.

Fall is my favorite time of riding and hope it'll be as long lasting as last year.

Off to Houston for this week.....

Happy riding!