Freaky storms

Saturday a big group of us did our best to avoid some freaky storms blowing through. It wasn't that cold, but windier and more moisture in the air. Generally cycling with horizontal snow blowing in your face isn't so hot.

Yin and yang were in balance within me for some icy singletrack in Bowness and Tuscany. After those fun bits it was out to Symons Valley for some gravel miles. Every 10k someone would peel off, and rest of us were determined to make it to the Big Hill Springs valley to get out of the wind (where this picture is). After the requisite flat but cows like walking on the flat so it's bumpy part, we were into the sweet, and slippery, single track.

I took the direct route home with Andrea which was relatively fast and relatively relaxing with a tail wind on 1A.

Good times, good ride, so tired!

45 NRTH Jaztronaut insole review

First ride review of a new set of insoles made of NASA worthy, noncompressible aerogel that doesn't "pack out" underfoot, and therefore maintains resistance to conductive heat loss to your metal cleats just under the ball of your foot.

They do exactly as they say, and are warm because of it. Good product. More costly than a normal insole, but for those who despise cold feet, "any price is worth it".

One caveat - they feel thick and spongy. I like that. Problem is, they take up shoe volume. If you have extremely low volume/skinny feet like I do, that's a plus, as now my shoes fit better and are not baggy. If your foot isn't like that... You might not be able to use them, or would need a different approach to shoes. No sense having everything packed in so tight that you lose circulation and end up cold anyway.

http://45nrth.com/chronicles/post/jaztronaut-aerogel-insoles-available-now

thirty five

Two things today brought this to mind:
- I’m not 35 yet, but I’m getting closer. 
- I rode a lot last weekend, someone asked me about it, then their follow up question was “why”.  As in “why don’t you do something better with your time?”

I’ve heard a few pieces of sad news lately.  One is cancerous, and cancerous of what appears to be the extremely sad kind.  Another rekindled the memory of another person who should have had many more years than 35 to ride bikes.

That’s why I ride bikes.  It’s anything but a waste.  It’s exactly why life exists – to enjoy.  I ride because I love it.  It’s adventure, it’s carefree, it’s escapism, it’s friends, it is, and is within my family, it’s with Cindy, it’s in nature - all in a package that I can consume in amounts really only limited by fitness. 

Why would anyone question that? 

a hard day's night

Photo and title credit to Andrea Bunnin on this.  This was from Bowness park on Saturday after our 7h ride.  Andrea, like Cindy, smiles the whole time and enjoys seeing what adventure is out there, which makes the rest of us smile to have her along.  Andrea – you’re riding awesome!

Bottle it up

It's days like today I wish I could bottle up and have "wherever, whenever" to quote Shakira.  So much fun riding (mostly) with Craig and Kate from sunup to sundown.

Cindy and I rode over to Kawa to meet Craig and Kate.  Cindy was a trooper after a massive day yesterday that left her feeling like a puddle of jelly.  Dustin Andrews showed up (provincial road champ) and a fellow named Rene who just moved here and was looking for people to ride with.  Off we went for some adventure south.

Cindy and Dustin both were out for shorter rides, so pulled off earlier.  Rene is a long time racer, but has been skiing more this winter until finding this winter riding group.  He's strong, but without miles in the legs, pulled off a few hours in.  He anticipated a different pace with a "girl" on the ride, but we've seen this story unfold before with people who haven't ridden with Kate before.  Kate displays no ego or bravado.  She doesn't need to!

She has this sticker on her down tube, which means she's got a gene for slaying winter rides:

















And if you examine her layering enough, there's often an Alberta Provincial Champion jersey in there somewhere (two disciplines at that).  

After separating, we did one climb with just the three of us,  where Craig "Stappler'd" the first climb, then we raced the second one in a sprint.  Just on the scenic descent we bumped into Dwayne Ellis who was logging some ninja all black, all basic outfit miles.  We elected skipping Priddis in favour of Plummers Road then the 762 into Bragg.  Let's just way the 4 of us held a very respectable pace into Bragg, and I did my best to Stappler the last couple of climbs... the Juan Valdez and still eating mostly Popeye powerfoods must be helping as I feel better this weekend.  I also installed this on my handle bar such that it's way easier to turn down when appropriate:

It only adds like 5g to my bike, but it's effect goes beyond that.

We had a great lunch in Bragg Creek, but I found out the split pea soup there isn't as "fast" as the roasted red pepper soup in Cochrane.  We covered important topics like bikes, bike racers, bike friends, and how what "this is" in English (bread crust).  I suffered on the way back as we took turns into the wind, Kate and Craig crushed.  We elected to drop into all the Valley Ridge singletrack for a bonus at the end of the day, and with just the three of us it was over in a flash.  Craig and I both rode the icy little log over the small ravine too... nice bonus at the end of the day.

I got home before sunset!  That's a 275km weekend of awesome weather, good times, and good friends.  Bottle it up, I love that stuff.

Shakira's birthday

For Shakira's birthday celebration, Craig, Craig, Kate, Jay, Pat D, Andrea, Kate, Cindy and I logged a serious 132km ride.

Met at Cadence, went out all the Bowness singletrack and Tuscany ravine, then out north on Symons Valley, "birdhouse lane", then in to Cochrane via Big Hill Springs - parts of which weren't very fast. You know it's a solid ride when it's 5h before the coffee stop.

Came back on Towers Trail, then airport road, where we took turns burning matches for fun. A week in Colombia has me feeling absolutely on fire.

In through the singletrack in Valley ridge, then home. Cindy's computer said 7.5h ride time!

That doesn't leave much party time at night in Shakira's honor, but I did tighten Cindy's crank, straighten her derailleur and hanger, swap out the slashed tire, and charge her battery.

You know what appeals to hungry people without patience for cooking? Mac 'n cheese and Stagg chili together. Wow.

Houston Sunrise

The size and sprawl of this place amaze me, and it was framed just beautifully in a bright pink sunrise earlier this morning.