Kananaskis Country weekend

After sneaking out on Thursday/Friday for smaller after work rides with Cindy to help her with her Breck Epic preparation (Pneuma/Race of Spaces, Tuscany Ravine respectively), the weekend had bigger rides in store.

Saturday Craig called the plan and Kate, Alana, Trish and I joined (see light blue dots on map, done counter clockwise)... while Cindy played soccer and went for a road ride... probably the right choice.  We parked at the Misty Creek trailhead about 15k past Highwood pass.  Climbed Misty Creek trail up and over Rickert's pass or Rickard's pass (I'm seeing conflicting spelling and don't know for sure) which is a high ridge to cross, looks like about 2,300m/7,500ft from Google for what that's worth.  Steep climbing at the end, but say 50m hike a bike out of all of it which is pretty good.  Steep descent for first few kilometers - two fifths of our group rode it all, but it's tough loose shale back behind the saddle.  By the way, The Capitain tires were great, but a 140mm rear rotor on a big 29er wheel is a little under-braked for the alpine.  That was pass one.

Craig nearing the top of the pass.  It's just where the notch of the mountain and those trees make in the photo.

Kate got up behind craig, which gave her enough time to take pictures of the rest of us pushg.  Beautiful view.

Happy summiter.

Trish on top of the world!

Chilling with Craig, no sweat for him.

The mountains behind us are east, we're facing west (or a touch southwest).

Dropped into the Sheep River Trail which is double track and climbed the high point there, it's a pass in terms of water flowing but all could be "rail grade". Tough though, probably 10km of gentle climbing, then I'd guess 5k down. Once going down a baseball sized rock bounced up from my front tire and smashed my shin pretty good, thick swelling. Trish was first to top of that pass - she meant business. I wasn't feeling the hurry as much, and the 10 crossings of the creek iced my legs enough that I didn't feel like turning on the power.

This is about 10 minutes down the descent after crossing the shale fields and avalanche debris path.  Steep flower pastures.

Alana in the first river crossing just after we passed the horses (who came up from Bluerock recreation area).

From there we descended to the Big Elbow/Little Elbow junction, turned left, and did the 5km or so out to Elbow Lake and therefore Elbow Pass as well. From there it's the couple minute drop down to Highway 40 to finish with Highwood Pass... which felt easy on the pavement after all the rest. 17k drop down to the parking spot. About 50km all in, not the easiest 50km, but certainly fun. Great group ride, so fun with everyone! Trish's computer said 3:40 ride time, but with creek wading and other stops we were probably out for 4.5 hours.

This is the T intersection of Big Elbow/Little Elbow/Elbow Lake.  I'm happy after inspecting how a rock smashed my shin when we started the downhill to get here.

Sunday was to be a big ride with Cindy and I, but unfortunately it was raining.  We decided/needed to brave it anyway to get in some riding.  Did Big Elbow out and back, it's rocky rather than muddy so figured it'd be good in the rain, and extended it out to Elbow Lake for the views.  Nice climbing, we were warm in the rain as Cindy just got a new Sugoi rain jacket, and actually saw enough others out that it was refreshing to see people not throwing in the towel due to weather.  I forgot my rain jacket at home... oops... but had a little Coleman emergency poncho which did the trick although flapped in the wind a lot.

The "exciting" moment of the day was when fording the Big Elbow in a spot that was probably 20' across and the deepest was just below my crotch - of course it's cold, but the current was pretty strong too... strong enough to push Cindy around a bit.  So when I'm standing on the other side with numb legs thinking how I'm glad I'm not in the water anymore, I have to drop my bike pronto and go back in for a helping hand.  If you ever slip then get your bike partly in the water it pulls so much harder too, so it can go wrong pretty quick if your foot moves.  Anyway, all was fine, and we had to cross it again in 5 minutes which went fine.  From there it was up to the Elbow Lake turnoff and some pictures/lunch snack at Elbow Lake.  Rolling back is of course higher pace, net downhill, all rideable and all fun.  So that's where the Elbow River is born!
Finished strong with good pedalling on the flats for about 5h all in with stops, and about 45k.  Got home pretty late, ride started later/took longer than we thought.

Aim is to get in a couple more of those next weekend for the endurance and overall mountain biking skills, plus some weekday power work at Nose Hill or other stuff in town. 

First crossing of the Big Elbow (way lower down in the valley with more water - big bridge crossing).  Those shower caps may look awful but I think they made the ride - best weight to performance in the rain piece of gear to keep in a kit.  Heads with zero windchill and not wet make so much difference.

Half hour further up the valley.  Mountains in back plus valley would have been spectacular on a clear day - but we got enough views in to make it worth it.

















Elbow Lake through a slightly foggy lens.