Commuting - 2010 and now 2011 too!

The famous “Rio” trail

2011-09-27T08:19:00.001-07:00

Well, I finally rode the famous “Rio” that runs along above the hills behind Juniper. I’ve heard a lot about the trail, but had no idea where to go to find it nor did I ever seem to have the time or energy to get up and ride an hour or more on the weekend. Dave, a friend of mine from church with whom I share a love for mountain biking, has talked about riding with me up there for quite some time, but until this weekend, that was all but talk!

This weekend was Graedy’s birthday, so when Dave and his family arrived I noticed he brought his bike! I was excited about that, but a bit nervous as well. I’d heard a lot about the trail, and I knew I wanted to try it. But a few of the comments about it had somewhat scared me off… Comments from a co-worker that said “I wouldn’t ride it with that fork” as he looked at my 3” travel RST Gila… Seriously? Or how about the remark from a co-commuter when I suggested taking Corrie there. “Does she ride a lot? If not, don’t do it.”

But Dave assured me that with the riding I do, I should be able to handle this trail. “There’s only a few drops, and they’re small.” Whaaaat?!?!?! I bravely smiled and nodded, hoping my expression wasn’t betraying the panic that I felt building inside me. I don’t do drops. I’ve never tried drops. The most I’ve done to date is jump off a sidewalk curb. I’m thinking he means a bit higher than that…

So we set out. To save time, as it was getting late, we left my truck at the bottom of the trail in Valleyview, and then drove together up to the top of Rose Hill in Dave’s truck. We started off rolling along a nice, easy road. There is a lot of pasture land up on the top of these hills here in Kamloops, crazy! After about 2 or 3 kilometres, we arrived at the trailhead.

The view was amazing!

Dave at the famous Rio trailhead… Here goes nothing!

And off we went. Dave made a comment about some washboard. Hah! I’ve seen washboard. This wasn’t washboard. This was more similar to speed bumps, both normal and inverted, all back-to-back. It was nuts! But, the new fork soon inspired confidence in me that I didn’t know I had! It soaked up these bumps like there was nothing to it, and the bike stuck to the trail. This was fun! I kept up with Dave (something I’ve always had a very hard time doing going down), and we winded our way down. He stopped at one point to talk about other trails, and the one we were headed down. I still hadn’t come across any drops yet! However, we both noticed the dust line on the new fork I have. I had used at least 4” of travel to this point, sweet!

He then pointed at the trail we were going down, and my heart stopped for a minute. The trail went straight down, across a gravel bank until it levelled out a bit and disappeared into the woods. Seriously? I knew I was in trouble when Dave lowered his seat. He doesn’t lower his seat for just any trail.

Well, truth be told, I completely chickened out on this section and walked it. Hey, you gotta leave some room for improvement for the next time, right? Turns out, in just a short while I would find out leaving room for improvement was not going to be a problem.

Soon enough, the trail turned into a rocky, bumpy roller coaster, winding its way down through a gulley. It was a steep grade, with a few sections that at the time, I couldn’t believe I was willing going over! And then the first drop came. It was only about a foot high, but I was coming up on it pretty fast. I pulled up much too vigorously on the front wheel, and basically tossed the bike haphazardly, landing at an angle to the trail. After a bit of whooping and hollering, as well as skidding and bouncing, I realized I was still on two wheels, and careening down the trail. Wow!!! I made my first drop! I yelled out something to Dave about needing to work on my landings… Yeah, that’s an understatement!

Then the next drop came up. This one was a bit bigger, and the landing area not so forgiving. Not wanting to repeat the previous attempt, I took it a bit easier on the lifting of the front wheel… Too easy! The front wheel didn’t come up enough, meaning my landing was entirely front loaded. As my Grandma would surely say, uff da! I swear I rode a foot or so just on the front wheel. I thought I was a goner. But, again, I soon realized I was still upright and a smile slowly erased the look of panic… Shortly after that, I caught up with Dave again and we noticed my fork used the entire travel. 5” of dust had been wiped clean off the stanchions! Wow. My older fork would’ve just let me eat dirt. This fork lets me ride like the chump that I am, haha!

The rest of the trail wasn’t too bad, and soon we came out just below Juniper. The terrain went from forest, to desert hills. The trail was smooth and flowy, and followed the ridge of some clay cliffs above Valleyview. It was an extremely fun and fast little trail. The only problem I had with it was the fact that the closer we got to the highway, we really weren’t going down as much as I felt we needed. Now I’ve driven along the highway and looked up at these hills. I mean cliffs… Where on earth was Dave taking me? He stopped at the end and stood over the top. He pointed down and said, “There’s your truck.” Yeah, I know. Thanks. What are we doing up here? Dave pointed down the trail, “Now this trail…” he started to say. Good, he’s going to show me another route, phew! “…is the one the sane people take.” Whaaat?!?! He walked over to another section and pointed, “This one, however, is the one the crazy people try.” Yeah, no kidding, this one goes straight down a cliff for 20 feet before “levelling” out to the rest of the steep trail going down. Nope, I guess I’m sane then if these are my only two options!

Almost smack dab in the middle of this picture you can see my blue Ford.

Dave standing above the “sane” trail.

The sane trail wasn’t actually that bad. I mean, the first 20 feet was enough to make me wish I had a on a pair of Depends. But after that, it was manageable. Basically, I lowered the seat, rested my chest right on it, grabbed a fistful of brake, dragged one foot, and went over the edge. After the trail rounded the first corner, I was able to put both feet on the pedals and make the rest of the way. Wow. What a rush!

So, yeah, this trail managed to scare the bejeebers out of me, but in the end it was a blast and I really want to do it again. The new fork was absolutely amazing. Hopefully I can ride this more next year. It should be easily accessible with just a bit of climbing out of Juniper, so I’ll have to check that out soon. Thanks, Dave, for finally dragging my butt up there!

I love Kijiji… and my wife! :)

2011-09-17T16:14:00.001-07:00

Corrie found a killer deal on Kijiji the other day. A (used) Manitou Splice fork (130mm of travel!) and an Alexrim front disc wheel for $50… $50!!!! A $300 fork and a $100 wheel, crazy! Of course I jumped all over that deal. And, just to add as a bonus to this deal, the head tube was the perfect size to make the swap over to my bike a breeze… Other than the $5 I had to give the bike shop to swap the bearing race over for me.

My new Manitou Splice! Very happy…

Not sure how much the extra front height will affect the handling, but I can’t wait to find out!

The Splice is a decent fork, not a top end but MUCH better than my heavy coil spring RST fork I had. This one is an air/oil fork, which is lighter and the response is pretty sweet. I can’t wait to hit the trails and find out how much of a difference this thing makes. The rim is hanging up in the basement (my front rim is a good one, and still pretty new, so I’m happy with it for now. I might be able to put the rim and the old fork on my old Balance frame (from my bike I bought in high school) and sell them together. Or, maybe start finding more deals on Kijiji to build a THIRD bike… Hmmm…

Treat it right, and it will treat you right.

2011-09-12T10:51:00.001-07:00

And I’m talking about your bike. Yes, that inanimate object that really only reacts to what you do to it. However, how it reacts makes all the difference in the world between a bad ride and a great ride. And, controlling how it reacts relies heavily on proper maintenance. Something I have not done much of this season at all. And last week, I was ready to throw this bike down the Peterson’s Creek canyon! the brakes were sticking… The front fork was bumping and clunking… The derailleurs were grinding and jumping (and even actually jumping right up and over the crank, check out the picture)… And the front tire kept losing air.

Just how exactly is this possible? Mix in a poorly maintained drivetrain, dirt and grime, along with a bit of over-zealous shifting and blamo! Derailleur actually jumps up and OVER the front crank when going for the big gear.

Yes, my bike was letting me know loud and clear that it needed my attention. And more than just a quick wipe down on Sunday night with some dabs of grease and lube. But it needed help! As the picture above shows, I was riding down to Mac park on Thursday to meet Corrie there and watch her soccer game. However, as I turned downhill from TRU and tried shifting to the big gear, crunch! The derailleur actually jumped over the crank. I’ve never seen this before. I didn’t even know it was possible. But it was enough for me to realize that enough was enough, and that if I didn’t take care of this bike soon it would start costing me more money than it was worth (and that I have to spend). The good news? I was able to loosen the clamp, raise the derailleur and slide it back into position with no harm done.

So, I spent a bit of money, and about 5 hours of my time, on getting this bike back into shape. I replaced both shifter and both brake cables. I also lubricated the housings and cut them shorter where needed (the rear brake I cut off over a FOOT and still have plenty of housing). I even zip tied the cables at various points to remove much of the flex of the housing during operation (see the picture below). However, I didn’t just stop there. I took the brakes off, pulled them completely apart, scrubbed them clean, re-greased them and got them back into tip-top shape, clean and sparkly!

Zip tied cable housings create a much quicker and firmer response to braking and shifting. A very easy and cheap mod that brings a big benefit to the overall ride!

The result of all this work? A bike that ran better this morning than I think it did when it was new! It was a thing of beauty, really. No, I’m not kidding. Why else would I actually write up an entire blog entry just about this if I wasn’t so excited about it?

Anyways, the payoff was a pretty darn good ride this morning. The shifting was crisp and oh-so-easy! The shift levers clicked up and down with very little effort, really. And the chain hopped from one gear to the next without a sound, sometimes it did so with such ease and lack of noise that I had to actually double check that it actually even shifted! I rolled through the trails quieter than a mouse (well, except for the sound of me wheezing and gasping for air of course). It was such a good ride!

Therefore, the moral of this story is take care of your stuff! There’s a reason why this entry-level ride has given me so many great miles over the last two seasons. Even cheap stuff will work better and last longer with the proper care.

*Steps down off of soap box*

August Update

2011-08-10T10:45:00.001-07:00

Well, I’ve been riding again fairly consistently. I’m feeling better, and starting to get back into the swing of things. I’ve been enjoying a bit more exploring lately, finding some different routes, and even had a fun ride to work down from Lac Le Juene Provincial Park! We camped up there for a weekend, arriving on a Thursday evening, so I rode in on Friday. It only took me about 45 minutes, and it was quite an enjoyable ride. Although it would’ve been much more fun on my dream road bike, the Trek Madone 3 Series! There is still the one hill coming out of the East side of Peterson’s Creek that I cannot make. I’m about 15 feet away from making it, but I just run completely out of gas, traction and will power… Some day, maybe? However, there is one shorter hill near Rose Hill Road that I only made it up about 3 times last year. This year, I’ve made it all BUT 3 times! It is cool to see the progress for sure!

I found myself exploring a bit on a ride into work just last week. Not sure what came over me, but I decided to look for some more trails as I was leaving Juniper, which caused me to ride to the top of Coldwater! That was a decent climb to start me off in the morning! Only, I got to the top, quickly realized that the trails were all going the wrong way (back east above Juniper, rather than west towards work), so I decided to abort and rode all the way back down again… And then, when I got to the end of the Peterson’s Creek trails, I decided to continue on with my exploring and followed the Tom Moore trail up rather than cutting over to Summit drive. I ended up coming out up on Pinnacles street, which is the highest point in Sahali!

The next day I paid for the extra climbing, even that ride home. But I recovered soon enough, and then just this week, Monday, I decided to again explore some more and rode up to the top of Pinnacles/Chancellor to where the Peterson’s Creek trails actually start. This was a good little climb, that I will probably do more just to get a bit more of a work out on my rides home (although not too often, yet, as Tuesday morning I felt the effects!). On this ride, I attempted to find another trail across Peterson’s Creek. However, I ended up on two dead end trails. I did find the beginning of Peterson’s Creek, though, which also marked the end of the line for my trails though. It was a stagnant, mosquito-breeding, slime filled pond, which was directed down about 50 feet of a 10 foot wide canal and then down the canyon. The other side showed no signs of trails whatsoever that I could see.

But, I have at least been finding some new trails that I can add to my route to shake things up. Next up? Find more trails above the east side of Peterson’s Creek, and maybe end up coming down into Juniper from above!

I have been taking some pictures lately, so I will post them here for you to enjoy.

The end of the line – And the beginning of Peterson’s Creek park. Wanna go for a swim?

The canal leading down from the pond into Peterson’s Creek canyon.

This isn’t a great shot, as it didn’t capture the depth of the canyon as I was hoping. But this section is deep, rocky and very steep. I wouldn’t want to slide off the trail up here, not sure if I’d stop ‘till I landed in the creek at the bottom!!!

This is a neat new spot that I have found just off of my trail on the East side of the Peterson’s Creek canyon. Very nice to sit here for a few minutes in the morning, soaking in the view and spending some much needed quiet time with my bible!

I also tried a panoramic shot of the view… It turned out not too bad! On the left is where I come out of Peterson’s Creek and up to Summit. On the right is where I come from Juniper. In the middle is downtown Kamloops, Batchelor, and Westside.

Enough already! I’m back… Again… Finally…

2011-07-13T10:44:00.001-07:00

So I finally got back on the bike this morning and rode to work! It was pretty tough, really, as it has been about 2-1/2 MONTHS that I have missed! Ouch!

The overtime at work isn't really going away, I'm just needing to stop. I've been putting in way too many hours at work and I simply need to get away! I was starting at 7am and often going until 9pm day after day, and then throwing in 10 hour Saturdays too. Not fun. And frankly I'm sick of it. I'm sick of work, I'm sick and getting fatter every day, I'm sick of being grumpy and I'm very tired of not seeing my family!

So I'm saying enough already and I'm going to do what I enjoy doing again, riding!

Well, at least I remember enjoying it before... this morning's ride felt a lot like hard work! Hah! No, it was indeed fun. I picked up a new front wheel last week as mine was shot from me over tightening the axle too many times. And wouldn't you know it, but I still had to work to make it up the hills! ;) Seriously, though, the wheel was good but unless I'm going to spend a few hundred dollars on a new wheel, any noticeable difference will be somewhat negligible.

The trails were quiet and the weather was warm. Cloudy, yet sort of muggy actually. And weeds! Tons of weeds! It has been a wet spring and summer and it shows in the amazing overgrown trails! It was a constant "slap slap slap" on my legs the whole way! I'm really not looking forward to when these guys die and become hard and sharp... my legs are going to be rather ripped up in no time! Oh, and another side effect of all the rain is that Peterson's creek has been very high for a while. Its back to normal right now, but the West bank has eroded away and the creek IA no longer passable by riding through it (at least not at my current skill level, but you never know!). So that's not much fun, trying to hop across wet, slippery rocks with hard, plastic biking shoes!!!

And the work on the Tom Moore trail continues. They have added more railing and even built a wooden boardwalk over one of the sandier sections.

Not that the upsets me, but I think it is a big waste of money. Did people really have that much difficulty getting through this section? I find that hard to believe! Why not build me a bridge over the creek at the bottom? Hah! The attached picture shows their current progress. That little drop was actually a bit tricky coming up with little to no momentum! My front wheel just dropped off like a rock and my bike just stopped dead.

Anyways hopefully I can continue riding from now until the snow flies!

2011-07-13T10:26:00.001-07:00

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Is riding again n my near future?

2011-07-06T23:25:00.001-07:00

Mirror, mirror on the wall... will I even ride at all?

I don't even want to think about how long it has been since my last ride (although I could look it up easily enough). Since my last ride many things have happened. My daughter finished school. My parents moved back from Mexico. The entire mid-west Canada and the USA is flooded, while at the same time fires raged out of control in Northern Alberta. Bin Laden was killed. Boston won the Stanley Cup (and thus Vancouver lost it).

Overtime at work hasn't gotten any better. In fact, it may have even gotten somewhat worse!

But, I've had enough. Starting next week, I think I'm going to ride again. If even only for one or two days a week. I need to. I have to. If I don't start riding again, not only will I get fat and lazy again, but I'll also get fat and lazy again. You know what I mean?

So, yeah, here's me coming out and making a bold proclamation that I will ride! Overtime schmovertime....

Please let this stand true...

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Bushes, flowers and fences are popping up everywhere…

2011-05-05T13:06:00.001-07:00

Well, it’s been a long time since I last posted here. 1-1/2 weeks actually. So, OK, that’s not that long I guess. But it feels like I haven’t posted in ages, partly because of how much has been going on lately. With so much soccer lately (Levi, Taryn AND Corrie, both games and practices), not to mention all the overtime at work, it’s a wonder I’ve been still able to get any rides in at all. But, I have managed a decent amount of riding without bailing for the car too often, yet! The weather seems to have FINALLY turned a corner and is getting warmer. This week I’ve been shorts-only, with the jacket sporadically. The sun has been out almost as much as it wasn’t, which is a big deal recently! As such, the trails and surrounding landscape is starting to change. The Saskatoon berry bushes are suddenly in full flower mode, finally adding some much needed colour (albeit white, but something different than brown and gray at least). It won’t be long ‘till the berries start coming for sure. And now, this week the Balsamroot plants are sprouting as well.

The sun was actually too bright, as this picture didn’t actually pick up the white very well. “Imagine if you will….” Yeah, these bushes are nothing BUT white in reality, boo on cell phone cameras!!!

These balsamroot plants suddenly sprouted up within a few days all over the West bank of Peterson’s Creek. Last year it was only the west side as well, I wonder what is wrong with the east side?

But, new, natural vegetation isn’t the only thing “springing” up around my trails lately. Yesterday I came shooting off of Summit Drive onto my Peterson Creek trails when suddenly there was a fence in front of me. Yes, a fence!!! And it wasn’t just a quick little job, either, but a nice, cedar wood fence that looks really great. Except it’s across my fun little section of single track….

Turns out that this trail is not a “designated trail” by the city, and actually interferes with private land. So what? The land is the side of a CLIFF. What are the homeowners doing with that land? NOTHING!!! Well, that’s not true, one homeowner faithfully waters the weeds during the summer…

Boo!!! Now I have to ride a wide section down (and then climb back up). And, this “designated” trail is nothing more than a dried up old creek bed of gravel, rock and shale. Nothing hard packed about it in the least, meaning I can’t just “let ‘er rip”, but instead have to slowly make my way down, only to climb back up to the main trail at the end. And it’s a rather steep climb to boot. Yep, this makes me very happy…

Anyways, in the end it’s no big deal. I still get to ride the vast majority of my great trails, so for that I will be happy! Now if they actually cut off Peterson’s Creek altogether, well then that would be another storey altogether…

Oh, and I’ve seen my first bear already this year! Last year I didn’t see any bears (although I saw countless signs of their activity) until the end of the season, and even then it was a mile away. This one was in the Aberdeen Glen Village (trailer park) at the top of Howe, just before I ride into Pineview. He was meandering down the hillside on the south side of the street and stopped to let me ride by before he continued on across the street. That was polite of him! More than I can say for most pedestrians that simply walk in front of me while looking right at me the entire time!!! Anyways, as soon as I saw the bear, my stupid side of my brain wanted to stop, and started arguing with the smart side of my brain which wanted to just keep going. The stupid side won, but by the time I turned around, grabbed my phone and tried to get the camera going, the bear was gone. Oh well, maybe the stupid side will win the argument sooner next time…

As for riding, it’s been going really good. I feel much stronger this year, and much more balanced. I’m making obstacles consistently, where I would only be successful the odd time last year. I’m also making most of the climbs, especially the final one at Rose Hill. I’m now starting to make that climb more often than not, so that is really cool!!! However, I don’t think I have the stamina again like I did last year. After two or three rides, I’m becoming quite exhausted. Hopefully that stamina will come back soon. I am starting to focus on eating better (and less) as well, so that should play a part in being tired and being able to recover. But over all, I’ve been seeing much improvements already. My average times and speeds rival my records from last year, so that is really encouraging to see.

Anyways, I need to get back to work now so I will sign off and hopefully post again within a week or less this time, instead of waiting this long… Sayonara!!!

A rare week off

2011-04-25T09:10:00.001-07:00

So I now have a car. Yes, I now have a choice to ride to work or drive. It is an odd feeling to be sure. Last year, I sold my car to buy the bike, if you remember, and as such no matter what I was riding. Bad weather? Too bad. Windy? So what. Feeling tired? Suck it up. I did get sick in the beginning and therefore ended up taking the bus and had Corrie pick me up, but that was such a pain in the butt that I had to be basically dying for me to choose that convoluted option. But now, I have a car. Oh boy, so now the test comes! Will I still ride regularly? We bought it mainly for Tuesday nights when Corrie and Taryn both have soccer at the same time, on opposite ends of town. In order to make sure they both get to both games, we forked out the $600 for a 1992 Cavalier Z24:

Actually, this is not an entirely bad car! The 3.1L is punchy, it has aluminum rims, nice molding and the body is in decent shape (a bit of bubble rust on the rear fender and passenger door). Other than that, it starts well and seems to run well so for the money, it is a perfect 2nd car for us right now. Corrie has already mastered the 5 speed, so we’re laughing now!

But, back to biking, the point of this blog. We bought the car almost two weeks ago. We bought it on a Wednesday, and I still rode my bike on Thursday and Friday. But then on Monday, it was cold, wet and with Levi’s soccer that evening being my “excuse” (riding home is a tight, although doable, time frame) I drove the car. Then, on Tuesday I drove again. Actually, Tuesday will be my driving day with the soccer in the evening and it allows me to still get 2 hours of overtime in yet. But then Wednesday came, and I was now coming down with the flu. So I drove… And I was still sick on Thursday… And Friday… And before I knew it, the entire week had gone by without me so much as looking at my bike!!!

However, what this week made me realize is that I enjoy riding. Sure, the convenience of the car can’t be beat. I can get to work in 15 minutes! I can go for lunch… I can pick stuff up on my way home, whether it’s on my way or not… And, I have a “sporty” little 5 speed that is fun to drive. But then the other driver’s on the road can so quickly sour a nice, enjoyable drive. And they do so often, and multiple times within that short 15 minutes. And I don’t get to enjoy the sun, air and quiet of the trails. I yearned for the trails. I longed for the bike! And that week was too long… I’m not finally back on the bike and loving it! Had this been last year, I remember a point at which I knew if I still had a car, I would’ve quickly given up the riding and this new adventure would’ve gone the way of so many other good ideas I’ve had. But, I was forced to ride then. Now I want to ride. And it makes all the difference.

Sure, I’m going to drive this year. Every Tuesday at least, and most likely the odd Saturday as well (if I’m working the weekends). Maybe when the weather is extremely nasty. Maybe if I’m sick. But the fact is, driving will be the filler, the rides will be the norm. Not the other way around.

It’s pretty cool to know now that I have managed to solidify this habit into my life. This year, with the option of driving, it leaves me open for fun weekend rides now! Maybe even a race or two that Dave and I are actually talking about… Suddenly, this bike is starting to be more of a “toy” than a “tool”. And that’s the way it should be.

Oh, I almost forgot! I pilfered the rear derailleur off of an old Rocky Mountain bike that I bought earlier for $50. It is a newer model Shimano XT, just a step up from the used LX I put on last year which was a step or so up from the Altus that I put on after the original Acera was wrecked because I didn't know how to bunny hop... Yes, you read this right, I'm onto rear derailleur #4! And honestly? When adjusted properly, I can't tell the difference between the Altus bottom feeder and now the XT. They say a rear derailleur is often more eye candy than functional, and I would agree. It makes sense that most bikes will have a good rear derailleur, while crappy front derailleur, crank, chain, etc. It's the rear derailleur that most bikers look at and falsly consider as being a sign of whether or not the bike itself is "good". I can say now that, while I know there are advantages in the higher end models (quicker shifting, longer lasting, better functionality in poor conditions) the price for upgrading the derailleur hardly seems worth it now. Glad I hardly spent any money on my upgrades!!!

Update on the new tire… And a bit of wisdom learned and shared.

2011-04-12T12:44:00.001-07:00

First of all, the new rear tire, Larsen TT I mentioned in my post yesterday, is a slam dunk it would seem already in just three rides. First of all, I had record speeds, record stops (or lack thereof) and a record time coming home yesterday! Fluke? Maybe, we’ll see… But I did make it up the final hill at Rose Hill for the first time yet this season! I only made this climb maybe 3 or 4 times last year, so that is huge! And the tire gripped nicely all the way up, allowing me to focus on my direction and energy and not worry about traction. So that was sweet! And I beat my times and speeds by some decent margins, so that’s cool! This morning, again I was impressed. Although no records were beat this morning for time or speeds, it was my first time making the entire trip with NO STOPS! The one stop that I kept making was trying to climb out of Peterson’s Creek up the rocky, tricky west bank. This morning, I climbed right out with no issues. Again, the new tire hooked up and didn’t spin out on the rocks or roots, even though it was wet from just coming through the creek. Nice!

Ok, but what I really wanted to post about was front shock maintenance. I learned a valuable lesson yesterday. I know, most of you reading this will most likely go, yeah duh, Scott… But all I have to say to you is, where were you to give me this info before? Exactly. So leave me alone.

Anyways, when I got the bike, I asked the owner at Taboo what I needed to do for fork maintenance. He told me just to add a bit of oil along the top of the seals now and then. Ok, not sure why, but whatever, I can do that! My bike just came with your run-of-the-mill fork, an RST Gila. In fact, I can’t even find my exact fork online, so that link is to the fork a step above mine (I don’t have any lockout ability). At first, it was a fine fork I thought. A bit “clangy” over slight drops, or if I lifted the front wheel when it became fully extended. But other than that, no big deal. Eventually, near the end of the season, it started to lose it’s “compressibility” as I call it. It took all I had just to get the dumb thing to compress more than an inch. Brutal! I started thinking I was lugging around a 6 pound fork for nothing, and that a rigid fork might suit me better…

Then, this weekend, I put some oil on the seals again. Something I hadn’t done in quite some time. Well, on my ride home, suddenly I had a full three inches of travel! I was actually wondering if I might bottom this thing out!!!

So, yeah, turns out that oil trick is needed. It makes sense, now that I think about it. The rubber seals are rubbing on the aluminum stanchions, so the friction (especially with dust and heat in the mix) needs to be well lubricated. Before, when I would oil this frequently, I often wiped off the oil later because of the black rings it would leave! Hah! I guess better to learn about these things on a cheap fork, right?

Those oil lines are a GOOD thing, don’t wipe them off!

Well, there you have it. If you have a suspension fork, oil the seals!!! And don’t wipe off the oil from the fork, leave it there!

Sunny skies, fresh legs and a clean bike… What a way to start the week!

2011-04-11T09:30:00.001-07:00

Yes, this morning’s ride was almost a perfect start to the week. Drop the wind gusts at the top of the hills (especially on Summit and Howe), and it would’ve been batting 100! Still, I had a good ride regardless of the wind.

I picked up yet another new tire this weekend for the rear. My Rocket Ron was quickly running out of tread and fast becoming a slick, but I still loved that tire. Being a light tire, it did, however, start getting in my bad books by getting me two flats in two weeks. Not to mention a sidewall tear that developed about a week and a half ago… So, I had limped it along long enough and I went into Spoke ‘N Motion to pick up a new rear tire. Telling the salesperson about my experience with the Rocket Ron and that I wanted something similarly fast rolling, grippy and yet stronger than the Ronny (and under $65!), he directed me to either a Maxxis Crossmark or Larsen TT. I looked at both of these tires, and suddenly realized I had just completed a full circle from when I started riding. My bike originally came with Kenda Small Block Eight's when I bought it. I removed those within about a month of riding (April 19th, actually), claiming they weren’t grippy enough. Funny how my riding style has changed so much to the point where now I want those type of tires again! The fast rolling style of these tires are excellent. And grip is still suburb, so I’m not sure what I was smoking… Maybe I’ve just come to realize that traction has just as much to do with my position, speed and stance as it does the tires? Anyways, I ended up buying the Larsen TT and I tried it out this morning for the first time. I will reserve my official review ‘till next week when I’ve had a chance to completely try it out. For now, I didn’t notice it much. Which I think is good, considering I loved the Rocket Ron so much, and I hadn’t found a fault with the Ronny as far as speed and traction. That must mean this tire lived up to the one it is replacing, which is a good thing! I’ll see how it does on the way home with higher cornering speeds and the final hill at Rose Hill as far as traction.

Overall, the week was OK. I’m still struggling to get back into shape and my Wednesday rides were painful, to the point where I felt like I was at the end of a 5 hour ride before I started! So Thursday I actually wussed out and got Corrie to drive me to work (although I did ride back in the evening at least). Hopefully I’ll make a complete week this week, but we’ll see how it goes! I’m starting to eat better again, and making sure I’m taking in what’s good and that’s helping with me being tired and feeling bloated like I did a couple of weeks ago.

One more thing before I sign off. I picked up a new-to-me frame this weekend. I found an older Cannondale F2000 (CAD9) mountain bike frame on Kijiji for $50. It came with a Truvative Isoflow crank (still in really good condition) and the Cannondale Fatty Headshock (although mine is much older than that link). The frame was well used, but I couldn’t see any cracks and the stays seemed to run true still. It is an older frame, and unfortunately doesn’t have any setup for disc brakes at all. However, other than shifters, I have enough to get this going as a 2nd bike right away. I will probably set it up as a spare for now, and later maybe as more of a ‘cyclocross’ setup or winter bike. With the lighter frame and fork (as compared to my current Cannondale F8). As this frame was originally on Cannondale’s higher end hardtails (prices probably starting around $2500 and up for the complete bike), I think I should be able to get a pretty decent secondary ride set up for cheap. Anyways, when these Fatty’s first came out, I was in high school and drooled over them… So buying this may have been just as much a nostalgia purchase as it was a “need”…

With a bit of work, I will soon have my ‘spare’ bike, or maybe a winter setup? Either way, now when people come visit we can go riding together!

I will need to service the fork, but it does still work well, so it shouldn’t take too much to get this going and reliable again!

The teeth are still in pretty good shape, actually, so I maybe would even consider swapping this onto my bike this year? We’ll see how I like the original Shimano one I have on there now…

I’m tired… This is tuff.

2011-04-04T08:54:00.001-07:00

Yep. One week into riding on my trails and I’m tired. Thursday I had Corrie come and pick me up from work because I was feeling sick. Friday it was all I could do to stay awake during the work day, and I ended up going home at 4:30 (yes, that is supposed to be my normal time to leave, but this is 3 hours earlier than my norm!).

So, a couple of things have come to light recently. One, riding these trails is so much tougher than riding the streets. Two, riding these trails is so much more FUN than riding the streets! And, three, I need to once again start monitoring my eating habits!

Yes, in the month of March I went from 218lbs, down to 216 briefly only to end at 220! Yikes… We’ve eaten out too much, I’ve midnight snacked way too often, and there’s been too many chocolates and candy laying around (thanks, Lauren, for the gift but really? ). Anyways, I guess I’m back to that now, which will probably be good as I’ll start getting more energy for riding and start feeling less tired.

I met up with Phil on Friday, actually. He’s been riding the trails since a week ago as well, and said this winter was the longest he’d been off his bike for quite some time. Good, I was starting to wonder if I was just a wuss by waiting this long! I saw him on the other side of Peterson’s Creek (he was going up, I was coming down). He had about a 5 minute lead on me, but now I had a goal. You know, motivation is a funny thing. I don’t particularly like riding with Phil too much (he’s too slow and I just like doing my own thing out there!), but having him ahead of me by about 5 minutes suddenly gives me jump to try and see how quickly I can erase that 5 minute gap, hah! So, as I was coming down the connector road between the upper and lower roads on Frolek’s land, I came cruising right up behind him. We talked a bit about the winter and what not, and then as we were riding and approaching the Rose Hill section, he asked how many times I’d made the last hill and if I was going to try it today. Well, of course, I said, I try it every day! So, he pulled over and let me go ahead and I started the roller coaster section of trail that I love so much. As soon as I started up the final hill, I knew that my legs didn’t have it in me this time. I still pushed and got up a good distance, but then I had to bail. I turned around to see where Phil was so I could get out of his way, and the putz waved at me from the bottom and turned and rode off on the bypass trial! Hah! Wuss… Just kidding…

Well, another week has past and it was good one. Riding the trails again is so much FUN! I can’t wait ‘till I’m back in shape enough to start doing some exploring… Well, that along with getting off of work at a decent hour so that I have time to do so of course… Oh, my new phone I bought recently has a ‘Panorama’ feature on the camera that I tried today. Other than the image being pretty small, it worked not too bad. It’s about 2/3’s as big as it should’ve been, as it couldn’t focus on the final two shots (probably because my hands were shaking too much or something), but it still turned out kind of neat.

This shot was taken just near the top of the Peterson’s Creek ‘Billy Minor Trail South’, on the East side of the creek canyon. I’m looking north towards lower Sahali, and then Brock. I will work on my skills with this and I should be getting some neat shots this year!!!

On the trails again!

2011-03-29T08:13:00.001-07:00

Yessiree, this morning was my first ride back on the trails and I am pumped! What a great ride this morning, oh how I’ve missed you dirt, rocks and sticks!!!
Last week was a pretty good week of riding all told. As I mentioned on my last post, I removed my studded tires and in doing so I think I was to blame for the two days of SNOW we ended up getting last week… Oops! The good news was that it was so warm, the snow was gone very shortly after it arrived.
With the regular tires back on, I quickly hit a good stride with consistently good times and average speeds all week. I felt good, and I really believed I was getting back into shape again… And then I rode my trails this morning, and boy was I wrong!!!
Yes, as surprising as it was to me, riding all the way downtown and climbing all the way up to work is actually easier than the couple of nasty climbs I have on the trails. The first climb up between the upper and lower roads on Frolek’s land about killed me. I stopped at the top, not only to remove my outer layer of gloves, but also just to catch my breath and to try not to puke… Yes, I was that beat! I couldn’t believe it, this hill had always been tough (usually where my heart rate tended to spike), but I had never been this rough afterwards… Yikes! I guess I still have some work to do to get into shape yet…
But, seriously, the trails were sweet, I just can’t say that enough! Very little mud, a bit soft and sandy in spots, and no snow whatsoever. A few trees, but someone did a bit of work in trying to clean them off the trail somewhat, so only one tree still requires me to ride quite a ways around it, but, hey, whatever! I’m on the dirt again, so I couldn’t care less…
This weekend, however, I was not in such good spirits. As I cleaned the bike and got to the back wheel, once again I found yet another broken spoke! After only 2-1/2 weeks of riding this season, and all streets at this point, once again I found myself back in this predicament. Last year, Taboo eventually replaced all the spokes on the drive side of my rear wheel with thicker gauge spokes (and the forth visit they finally did for free after I spent about $80 on my previous 3 visits). This spoke was now on the other side of the wheel.Again, still the stock spokes. I am NOT going through another season of this frustration. So, yesterday morning I left work at 11am and drove down to Spoke ‘N Motion. I’ve been very impressed with the salesman there, Greg, every time and rather unimpressed with Taboo so I figured I’d check there first. Thankfully, I did, and they suited me up with a new rear wheel! Sun Rims Single Track mated with a Shimano Deore freehub for only $86 after discount! Not only that, but they swapped over my freewheel and disc brake while I was there, sweet! With that price, I also picked up a new Maxxis Aspen front tire. I wanted something as fast rolling and grippy as the Rocket Ron I had on the back, but didn’t want to spend the $90 for another one of those! So far, so good with this set up of the Rocket Ron on the rear and Aspen on the front, very happy! I also picked up a new pair of liners to wear under my baggies. My ones from last year are still decent, but I wanted two so I could actually wash them a few times a week and they'd have time to dry between rides! Pretty nice Sugoi RC Pro liners, again, bought from Greg at Spoke 'N Motion!

The new front tire, a low tread, low rolling resistance, fast but grippy tire.

The new Sun Rims rear wheel. Not much better than the stock rim, but a great price and a strong wheel that should last me a riding season I would hope!

Riding is Fun… Streets are rather boring though…

2011-03-21T12:08:00.001-07:00

Well, another week has passed and I’m still riding on the streets with no immediate end to this torture yet in sight… Ok, it’s not that bad, but I didn’t have that great of a week last week. Partly because I’m still not quite back into shape, partly because I’m working too much, and partly because there’s just not that much challenge about them, other than trying to go faster or harder than the last time… But did I not just mention I’m not quite back into shape yet? I have managed to be very consistent with my riding so far, though, so that will come very soon I’m hoping!

Last week went pretty well over all. I felt good, had some good rides, but then Friday I tanked. The ride in the morning I felt half dead and just wanted to stop and lay down and sleep… zzzzzzzzzz… Thankfully I didn’t, as that would’ve been rather awkward not to mention quite uncomfortable.

So, with my Friday rides turning out to be rather lackluster as they were, I drove to work on Saturday instead and took a full two days off this weekend from riding. I think that was a good move, as I felt really good this morning (Monday). I also cleaned and tuned up the drivetrain, put my regular tires back on (albeit I put the front one on backwards… Oops!), and pumped them up pretty high. All of that, combined with a decent rest, made for my best time and average speed this morning than I’ve done yet, so that was cool! Hillside drive felt good, actually, like I was spinning up easily. 10km/h on average, better than my usual 7-8 there, so I was happy about that for sure.

I put my regular tires back on this weekend, no more studs! Boy, am I ever liking these fat boys again! They look soooo much better, and they’re not even that fat, really, 2.35 inchers…

I picked up a new saddle this weekend, too. The stock Cannondale one sucked! This one is fairly stiff, a bit wider/longer with a deeper groove down the middle.

As you can see by the picture above, I also bought a new Specialized Riva MTN saddle this weekend. First of all, am I ever glad it turned out to be called “Riva”. When I was looking at the saddle this morning to look it up on line, I thought it was called “Diva”… It had me worried… Also, I paid $40, NOT $25 as it says on Specialized’s website… Dang, I hate website pricing! Anyways, the saddle was OK for it’s first ride. Stay tuned to next week’s post to see what I think of it after a full week (oh the suspense!). I think it’s better than the sucky stock Cannondale one, but still a bit on the painful side as it is pretty stiff really. However, the reviews online are pretty high, with many saying it takes a day or two to get used to it. If I don’t like it by the end of the week, though, Bicycle Cafe can have it back!

The weather was pretty nice last week, with the mornings hitting around 4° usually and with 11° highs for the most part. A lot of wind, which made for some tough rides, but in the end that means the trails are drying out and the snow is quickly receding! Granted, of course on the day I take off the studded tires, Pineview and Aberdeen are getting DUMPED on this morning… But, it’s supposed to be 10° today, so that will quickly disappear I’m sure. Hopefully I’ll be hitting the trails again within a week or so. The clerk at Bicycle Cafe said she tried riding up above Juniper on Saturday morning and said it was brutal, hardly even walkable. So, I will try to be patient!

Street Commuting 101

2011-03-16T08:43:00.001-07:00

Well, even though I haven’t updated this blog, I have been commuting regularly again since my last post here back last Wednesday. Since then, I’ve missed one and a half days of riding, but also had a Saturday ride thrown in due to the overtime I’ve been having to put in at work lately. I’ve been surprised at how quickly I’ve been able to get back into the swing of things. So far to date, I haven’t stopped once on my ride to or from work. Both are tough rides, with lots of climbing, but I’ve been able to stay on the bike and I feel like I’m getting back into shape quite quickly. That being said, over the winter I only put on about 4 pounds in total. Well, since I’ve started riding, I’ve added 2 more pounds!?! I’ve been told that’s mostly muscle gain (which would mean I then lost 2 pounds of muscle over the winter?), and maybe that’s true. I will choose to believe that, and not that I’ve gone into binge eating as my hunger has suddenly drastically increased due to the exercise!
Anyways, riding on the streets is pretty boring. Not much to tell here, so I haven’t bothered with the daily blog (actually, it used to be twice daily, yikes!). But, I figure that I’ve compiled a list of tips and facts that I’ve learned, observed, or always known about street commuting by bike. Some of these are obvious, but I thought I’d throw them all in here together.

The Juniper hill is SWEET. Going 70+ km/h down a hill is a BLAST. There’s no better way to wake up in the morning than going down the Juniper hill tucked as tight as possible and letting it rip. Coffee Schmoffee!
The Juniper hill SUCKS. Averaging 7 km/h going up is killer. Not to mention there is no bike lane, which means I have to ride on the dirt at the side as cars scream past me. What doesn’t kill us… You know…
Out of the 30-40 cars that are usually parked on the side of Dagleish road (a bit of a steep hill), maybe 10 of them at the most tend to have their wheels turned as we all learned to do in Driver’s Ed. Of those 10, 2 will typically be turned correctly meaning the other 8 have actually created a worse scenario than if they had just left the wheels straight. And that, my friends, is the fundamental reason why most driver’s today are so bad at driving. We all usually remember that there was a rule for a given situation, but most can’t remember what that rule actually was or what it required us to do. As such, we tend rely on our smarts, which, as we all have witnessed, is often very, very dumb.
Assuming a motorist sees you (as a cyclist) is is a quick way to be dead.
Seeing a jogger catching up to you on a hill is great motivation to suddenly find some extra energy to go a bit faster...
Diesels are an abomination, and Dodge diesels are of the devil. Why they are legal I’ll never know. And it’s a given that on the steepest part of the hill, where you will be gasping for breath the most, is when you will be passed by a diesel belching it’s sinful contamination straight down into your lungs.
I used to think the term “granny gear” was a humiliating term meaning that gear was only to be used by old ladies. I now realize the term is instead endearing. When the chips are down, when the pain is higher than you think you can bear and you have no where else to turn, who else would you expect to be there for you but good old Granny? Loving that granny gear lately…
Daylight Savings Time has bitten me once again, and I still say it sucks. Now I get to ride to AND from work in the dark! Thanks, DST… Granted, working ‘till 7:30 doesn’t help either, so I’ll share some of that blame I suppose.
If there are two lanes and traffic is light, ALWAYS take a full lane. It is a given that motorists will always try to share your lane with you, but if you ride down the middle of the lane they will move over. If traffic is steady, find another route. On that note, given the choice between hitting a cyclist or hitting a car, most motorists will choose the cyclist…
On that note, don’t plan your route thinking like a car. The route taken by a car is rarely the right route for a bike. Think like bike!
Also on another note, if your only choice is to ride a busy street and it is illegal to ride on the sidewalks (as it is here in Kamloops), but you are unable to keep a speed of at least 30 km/h, get on the sidewalk! I believe that if given the choice between a possible ticket (that would be unreasonable and most likely thrown out if challenged) and potential death, the choice is rather obvious!

I think that’s about it for now. Until next time, keep the rubber side down!

Now I’m REALLY back… I’m pretty sure…

2011-03-09T21:34:00.001-08:00

I guess riding on Saturday gave me the bug, and I couldn’t stop thinking about riding all week. So, on Tuesday, I went but Sport Chek on my way home and picked up a couple of fenders. No, I didn’t write that wrong, I bought fenders… Those very uncool accessories that most kids would loathe if anyone dared brought them even close to their rides. But, these fenders aren’t “uncool”. No, not so! These fenders are cool! In fact, if you go to Toys R Us you can find many a bike with these types of fenders on them. Granted, those bikes are made and sold to 10 year olds who think it’s cool to ride a simulated motorbike… Anyways, enough words, here’s some pictures of these rather hideous things:

Yeah, they’re not the best looking but very functional!

As mentioned in the caption above, these fenders work. Obviously, as per my last post, riding the trails is out of the question. Riding the streets is something I have avoided to this point. I’ve never ridden all the way from home to work on the streets. This means going all the way downtown (to the river level), only to have to climb all the way back up… and up… and UP! So, I haven’t done it. But, I figured I really wanted to get riding again and as far as I could tell, the weather wasn’t cooperating with me at all. So, I decided I’d finally just suck it up and ride the streets.

This morning, I was dreading the ride up Columbia street. It is a four lane road connecting Sahali with downtown. If you want to go from South Kamloops to downtown, without going on the highway, you take Columbia. It is a VERY busy street, and a very steep hill! I would have to take to the sidewalk, regardless of the fact that it is illegal, or basically get run over. But, as I was contemplating my route I remembered that Battle street also went up into Sahali, only through back streets. So, I cruised along Battle street and it was great! The climb was tough of course, but quiet. Maybe one or two cars passed me along the entire way. I then cut through some Apartment building parking lots, the Superstore parking lot and even a strip mall parking lot. At 7:20am, there is no traffic there, so it was perfect!

Oh, but did I mention it was snowing again? Crazy!!! But, the ride was good overall. Tough, and basically an hour of straight climbing. But it was so good to ride again. The ride home was good as well, other than the BRUTAL head wind! Going up the Juniper hill was very painful, especially with the head wind trying as hard as it could to throw me back down the hill!

Anyways, before I sign off tonight, I thought I’d put one more picture here…

When it’s too cold to wash your bike outside, you have to make do with what you have!!! I had it pictured as fitting much better than it did, but it worked!!!

I’m Back!!! I’m not back… :(

2011-03-05T18:01:00.001-08:00

With the amount of overtime we’ve had to put in at work lately, I’ve been working every Saturday as well. As such, it was a warm 0° this morning so I figured I’d ride to work this morning. After all, it was Saturday. If I was late for work, big deal! And, being Saturday, I knew I would be leaving in decent time while it was still light out and warm.
Well, the ride in was tough, but rideable. For the most part, it was fun. I had the new studded tires on and they gripped the ice amazingly! I was quite impressed. The higher I got, though, the deeper the snow on the trails and the less packed they were. So, I figured I would stay lower and take the Billy Minor trail North through Peterson’s Creek. This turned out to be a rather poor choice, as I headed down the side, the trail quickly turned quite icey. With the steep nature of this trail, even the studs had a hard time grabbing the ice and I started having a tough time controlling my speed. As such, I tried walking some of the icier portions, which took forever, and I ended up slipping a falling a few times. I was wearing my biking shoes, which have little in the way of traction on shear ice, and it was pretty nerve wracking for a while. finally, after a full hour since I’d left the house, I made it up and out of the other side of the creek and headed the rest of the way to work without issue.
Coming home was another storey. At +7°, the ice was breaking up and the mud was deep. It was extremely difficult to ride. In fact, there were times I was pushing hard just to go downhill!!! I will let the pictures speak for themselves…

There were more trees across the trail then I could count. I may have to buy a chainsaw this year, as it doesn’t look like hikers actually seem to care!

This is what the trail was commonly like this afternoon. Snow to ice to soft-break-through-ice to mud… Calling this “tough” is like calling the ocean a lake… Sure made me work on my balance and riding lightly, not to mention letting the bike jump where ever it wanted to...

And then suddenly ice! But, these tires work wonders on this stuff, pretty cool really!

So… If the mud is deep enough to stand the bike up on its own, is it too deep???

This downhill section was one of the toughest. Obviously, not only is this hard on me, but very hard on the trails too. Granted, I'm not adding much more than all the 3" deep footprints all over, but if I did this twice a day for a week, I'd tear up these trails and make for some poor dry conditions if that ever comes!

Throw in the odd lake, too, just to make it interesting…

So as the pictures show, the trails are just not passable yet. In fact, the mud was so deep that the trails are not even passable by walking yet! It was quite brutal, really. I will try again next Saturday, hopefully!

Back on the trails? Not quite…

2011-02-13T17:06:00.001-08:00

Well, we’ve had a couple of nice weekends only to end in a snowy blizzard, so when this weekend rolled around again boasting of plus temperatures, I didn’t get too excited… And yet, yesterday was just about 10° I think, and then today hit 12° with sun! It was a thing of beauty… And, so, I decided that I’d jump on the bike and head out onto my trails to see what condition they were.

Well, they kind of sucked…

Seriously, I don’t know what miracles I was hoping for, but we’ve had a ton of snow and only a few days like this weekend, so of course the trails are still going to be covered in snow. But I didn’t think they’d be this tough to ride! It was so much fun, though, just to get out again and ride! So the fact that it took me nearly 30 minutes just to get to Rose Hill? I didn’t let that bother me too much…

Still enough snow to stand the bike up in means there’s still too much snow I think.

As you can see in the picture above, the trails are pretty deep still. I’d say about 2 inches of just-about-frozen crust over about 3-4 inches of hard packed snow-turned-ice. Lots of melting still to do. It was fun, but a body can only handle 6 km/h of slow, bumpy, side-to-side-slipping-and-sliding type of riding. If I had to ride this all the way to work, I’d probably not enjoy it as much as I did today. Twice, I turned to start climbing up a hill (I took the pipeline trail section heading west through the Juniper trails), and the bike was suddenly laying on it’s side on the ice… It was crazy how fast and how unpredictable the bumpy ice is, especially on two wheels. It doesn’t help that I left my Specialized Crossroads tire on the back because I was too lazy to swap it out (I have it on for use on the trainer).

Lots of water, too, which was cool (literally), but made me nervous as the ice underneath now was unpredictable AND hidden… In fact, one section of the trail looked kind of cool as the water had been melting and flowing down the trail making a bunch of “ice shelves” on its way down (see the picture below).

This was a tricky hill to make, both up AND down.

Another thing? Seems that since the biking stopped, so did the cleaning up of fallen trees. I counted 5 trees laying across the trail (I was able to move one of them, but the rest will require a chain saw and a few guys to remove).

There’s a guy on Kijiji selling two new Nokian Mount and Ground studded bike tires for $50. Considering that they’re about $70 each, this is a great deal and I plan on going by tonight or tomorrow to pick them up. They should help in the ice as seen in the picture above. Not sure about the extra weight and rolling resistance, but if it means I can get on my trails sooner, I’m all for it! Then again, a week or so of weather like today and I’ll be riding on mostly dirt and mud anyways… Something I saw nothing of today!

It’s been a long winter (by Kamloops standards), and I’m raring to get on the trails again very soon!!!

Oh trails, wherefore art thou?

2011-01-10T14:29:00.001-08:00

It has been about 5 weeks since I last rode my trails, and I do miss them! I hate jostling down the freeway with all the other faceless motorists, playing my part in the grand, imaginary race twice a day, making sure that the guy behind me doesn’t get past, and that the guy in front of me gets the heck out of my way in time…

Yes, the trails were a more peaceful time…

Anyways, I have been almost going crazy waiting for the snow to go away. I still hold to the hope that I will be biking again come February, but the naysayers keep trying to tell me that the snow will continue to pile up… I sure hope not!

When we returned home from our Christmas holidays, I nearly shouted with joy as I saw the ground brown and ugly! The snow had all melted in the valley. Granted, there was still some left up in the hills but nothing that couldn’t be ridden through. The last weekend before going to work, I picked up a new cogset and chain (along with a few tools for the job) and swapped them onto my bike. While I was at it, I cleaned the wheel hubs and re-greased the bearings. I should’ve done the headset too, not sure why I forgot that…

New SRAM 8-speed cogset and chain (Powerlink) installed. Shiny!

I also installed the stock Shimano crank back onto the bike, replacing the Truvativ crank I had put on last spring. Hey, I’m broke and can’t afford $100 for a new crank!

Alas, as Tuesday rolled around and I had to start work again, the snow came too… I should have known that you would come along! So, I’m back to driving again…

But, at least the bike is ready to roll once the snow finally does leave…

November 25th (Morning)

2010-11-25T09:38:00.001-08:00

Well, it snowed last night. And all evening. And all night. And all morning. There was a lot of snow this morning.

But, like an idiot, off I went. I mean, really, I can’t just assume that I have found my limit until I try it, right? Right! Well, yep, I found my limit. And my limit is too much snow…

At first, the trails were OK. I actually was enjoying myself! I was wearing a pair of Scott goggles that I borrowed from Dave and Esther. They had an orange tint to them, but with the light it wasn’t too bad. I probably would like a lighter yellow tint which I think would be perfect. But they did great on eliminating (not just reducing) the glare of headlights from oncoming traffic, so that was cool.

Once I got to Rose Hill, all the foot traffic had ceased and I was the only tracks in the snow beside the deer and coyotes. The valleys were tough, I couldn’t make it up any of the hills without slipping out, and I didn’t get enough speed going down to make it up anyways. But, once I got to Frolek’s road things got easier. I still had to keep my speed down quite a bit as a few times I hit a rock or stick that I couldn’t see under the snow which would send me skidding sideways.

Going down into Peterson’s Creek on the Billy Minor Trail North was OK. I had control (front brake was good, but the rear brake kept freezing up), and was able to go as slow as I wanted. But it was tiresome for sure. Going up the other side I walked the whole way and it was brutal, as every step I slipped meaning for every 1 step forward I slid 1/2 a step back… What a waste of energy!

Once I exited Peterson’s Creek my hell began… The snow plows had made a nice big bank on the sides of the road, meaning I had no where to bike unless I wanted to ride in the lane (not!). So, I stuck to the sidewalk (even though that’s illegal). But sidewalks here are so unpredictable. I couldn’t see where the edge of the sidewalk was, and constantly slid off the side. Some home owners shoveled their walks, some didn’t. Some just piled the snow from their driveway on top of their sidewalks! I couldn’t tell where the approaches were, so when crossing streets I often ended up hitting the curb hard, causing me to flounder all over in the snow… And, Kamloops has a wonderful sidewalk system that constantly jumps from one side of the street to the other (many of the streets don’t have sidewalks on both sides), meaning that suddenly my sidewalk would end… Arrggg!

After almost an hour of probably the worst ride I’ve ever had (add to that the 1/2 an hour of trail riding already), I finally made it to work. I have never had a ride yet where I was so desperately wanting to just quit and give up!!! Not fun.

So, I’m done. Old Man Winter has defeated me soundly. I will sit back on the bus licking my wounds ‘till the warm airs of spring put him back in his place and I can emerge once again (maybe on a Scott Scale 29er???). It was a good ride!!!

Two quick numbers before I sign off:

3600 – The amount of kilometres I put on this season
35 – The amount of weight (in pounds) that I lost

Cool!

November 24th (Evening)

2010-11-25T09:18:00.001-08:00

I took my old, original biking route home tonight again as I did on Monday. It was snowing a lot, so I’m not sure how tomorrow’s ride will go. Tonight was still fun, though. The snow makes for a hard ride to be sure, and a bit hairy going down into Peterson’s Creek, but the quietness is almost surreal. The soft crunch of snow under my tires is the loudest noise aside from my breathing. It really is quite beautiful. If only I could figure out how to keep my hands from freezing I’d be set!

Oh, and I’m not sure if you recall, but there was a dirt path between Springhill and Roger’s Way that ran alongside the old Merritt highway. I complained about it many times when it was wet and muddy as this was the muddiest part of my entire ride. Anyways, the city has now paved this path and it is a great little path! So smooth… And with a fresh layer of snow it makes for a neat little section.

The toughest part of the ride is the streets as they are getting narrower now and I have to hang out right at the edge, by the snow bank created by the snow plows. As such, I often will end up hitting the bank and causing me to slide and fishtail, not fun! Plus, cars are driving by now even closer and with less control, not a good combination if you ask me!

The temperature was -13° and it felt OK. My gear is good, and other than toes and fingers it feels great. Almost too warm sometimes (I had to unzip the fleece today). Also, I used sandwich baggies over my toes, wore two pairs of socks, and then put the toe warmers on top of the baggies (instead of inside them). As these are air activated, I figured this made more sense. And I think it worked, as I didn’t have any issue with my feet being cold ‘till about 15 minutes left in my ride. So I guess there’s tricks to everything here!

November 24th (Morning)

2010-11-24T08:04:00.001-08:00

No ride yesterday (-17°, and with the wind chill it felt like -29°). So, once I saw that I waited at home and got a ride with Corrie to work after she took Taryn to school.

A couple of people have brought it to my attention that it’s not just being out in the cold, or even being out on a bike in the cold, but its the being out in the cold on a bike alone in the middle of nowhere that is risky. I guess I can see their point, really. I mean, if I were to get injured or knocked out or something out on Frolek’s land, by the time someone came along to find me, I’d be frozen stiff… Therefore, I have decided to make -15° my personal cut-off point. Colder than that, I ride the bus or get a ride. Warmer than that, I ride the bike.

So, this morning was -17° and Corrie had scrounged together some change last night so I jumped on the #16 bus out of Juniper. That was fine, and all, until we got to TRU and I noticed that the Pineview bus (my connection) had already left… Oops!

But, no worries, I felt good and warm and decided that I would just ride the streets to work. That way if I fell and got hurt, surely someone would see me laying on the ground!!!

So, I had a short, tough ride this morning after all which is good. It is completely uphill the entire way, and I did walk a lot to try and keep the blood flowing into my toes and fingers. Actually, I even tried the plastic baggy over my toes (inside my shoes) this morning as that is supposed to be a miracle warming trick… NOT! My toes (and fingers) were still quite frozen by the end. However, being that this little route has so much climbing, my neck and torso were actually a bit too warm if you can imagine that.

This afternoon it is supposed to get down to -13° and even as good as -7° by Friday, so for the rest of the week I am good to go! Next week I’ll be in Vegas for Autodesk University, and the few weeks after is typically the coldest week in Kamloops (in my short lived experience here to this point), so we’ll have to wait and see if I have much more riding left in 2010!

November 22nd (Morning)

2010-11-22T09:07:00.001-08:00

Still riding! The temperature on the internet said -10°, and yet with the 26km/h headwind, it was rated that it felt like -19°! I say “supposedly” because, really, it just felt cold!

Corrie and I found a fleece sweater at Penny Pincher’s this weekend and it turned out to be a perfect second layer. Not too warm, breathable and yet I never felt too cold. I removed my clipless pedals and put my regular pedals with clips back on so I could wear my running shoes with two pairs of socks. It didn’t really matter anyways as my toes still froze. I had slightly better traction when walking up the hills in the snow, but not much. Considering those two things, I may try my big Sorel’s… Too big? Probably. But at least I know I would be warm and traction wouldn’t be an issue!!!

It did snow a lot this weekend (well, a couple of inches I guess) so I was a little apprehensive about what this would mean for my trails. The Juniper section was no problem as it is so well travelled that the path was worn in quite nicely. The snow, however, definitely adds a rolling resistance factor, though! Sheesh…

The pipeline section at Rose Hill was good, I still got some decent speeds going down into the dips, but walked two of the hills as I was going much slower and there is precious little traction now when I do start climbing. I headed up from Frolek’s lower road to my single-track and that part of the trail was fun. Less travelled (not at all travelled in many spots other than wildlife), so it was fun to crunch along through the fresh, undisturbed snow trails. I did come across another biker’s trail at one point, so I’m not the only one!!!

As I rode along the edge of Peterson’s Creek valley on the east side, I got a bit nervous. Traction was non-existent, and I had the sudden realization of how if I slipped off of the trail it could turn suddenly very bad. Trying not to think of what was below me, I focused on keeping the bike upright and made it without issue. However, as I crested the top of the long, straight steep downhill it started getting a bit hairy again! Thankfully at this point, there are no cliff edges beckoning me to careen off of them. But, nonetheless, once it got steep I had extremely little control. The rear wheel had no effect for traction and slid from side to side. But what was worse, was the front wheel sliding! I now couldn’t control my direction NOR my speed, a very nasty combination! Thankfully the trail is about 4-5 feet wide right there, giving me room to slide around. I made it down still rubber side down so that was a huge relief! I crossed the creek and then made it up the other side by a combination of walking and biking.

By the time I got to the top of the trails and came out on Summit Drive, my water had finally frozen solid in the bottle. At least I got 30 minutes of hydration when I needed it! I might see if I can rig something up inside my jacket for a spare water supply maybe.

The rest of the ride was pretty good. I actually didn’t mind the street portion this time, probably because I didn’t face a free-falling death if I slipped off track… In the end, my toes and fingers were still pretty cold, but the rest of me was really good. If I can ride with boots, I will try that next. Not ideal by any stretch, but if it means I have traction to walk the sketchy portions and my toes stay warm, then maybe the extra weight and annoyance of the clod-hoppers will be worth it? I still would like ski-goggles if I could, but nobody sells clear lenses in town (that we found so far, I think I’ll phone around today). Other than that, things are looking not too bad… So far…

November 19th (Evening)

2010-11-19T19:20:00.001-08:00

Another good, cold ride! I think I can make these rides work! Tonight was -7°, with a wind chill again but for me I was riding with the wind behind me so this wasn’t as much of a factor as it was in the morning. Corrie picked me up for lunch today, so we went by Wholesale Sports and I picked up a balaclava called a NINJACLAVA by Outdoor Research. It is on the lighter side, but it has a light, fleece lining inside. I still pulled my skull cap on over top of this, which helped give my ears 2x the warmth! Then, when I got a bit too warm, I was able to just pull up the skull cap a bit and it helped cool me down. When that got chilly again, I just pulled the cap back down!

I wore the track pants again over my tight stretchy sport pants. Going home, this was perfect. A bit on the warm side, but with the amount of downhill going this direction, it was good. I decided to just wear the fleece jacket without the sport jacket as a wind shell. It was pretty good, and even that was a bit on the warmer side. I would think that I might try wearing my short sleeve biking shirts with a lighter fleece and that might be perfect for the current temperatures.

My toes and fingers were still the worse off. Walking a couple of the hills helped for sure. I think I will be putting on my old pedals with clips so I can wear running shoes next week. This will allow me to wear two pairs of socks (or even wool socks maybe?), as well as give me better grip and traction on the frozen trails.

I have new resolve to keep pushing! I have one more week of riding before I go to Las Vegas for a work convention (Autodesk University) for the final week of November. When I get back, it will be interesting to see how cold it is and if I can continue into December or not. Last year, December was cold (-15° to -20°), but then January was quiet mild. Maybe we will be so lucky again?

Oh, and I just wanted to say that the new chain lube I’m using (Finish Line WET Lube, see October 29 (Morning) post) is pretty amazing. With the amount of wet, rain and snow this week, it took ‘till today to finally get a bit squeaky. The wax I used to use wouldn’t have lasted 5 minutes in the conditions I hit this week! So, even though it means more work each weekend cleaning the chain, it’s worth not having to worry about it all week long.

November 19th (Morning)

2010-11-19T09:30:00.001-08:00

-8° this morning! YIKES!!! And with the windchill, it said it felt like -15°…. UFF…. DA…

However, last night Corrie and I dug out all of our winter gear. First thing we noticed was how many pairs of gloves I have, and how many toques the boys have!!! We really need to donate some of these items this year… Anyways, I found a pair of lined track pants, a fleece jacket as well as a nice toque that came down low over my ears, and yet still fit under my helmet (sort of!).

So, this morning after about an HOUR of getting dressed (obviously I’m exaggerating there), I headed out to brave the elements that had sent me running for cover yesterday morning. And I was warm! By the time I got to the traffic circle, I was still toasty warm which made me think I had now layered TOO much… My face was quite frozen, but the rest of me was warm and they say you should be slightly chilled when you leave. I was not… Sure enough, by the time I got to Rose Hill, my face had become accustomed to the cold but I was started to burn up inside with the fleece! My arms and neck were very warm! I unzipped my jackets low to my chest which helped a bit.

I continued with walking a few of the hills to get the blood flowing back into my fingers and toes, and to keep my body temperature down. This did help for sure, but seeing as how this entire route is basically one big climb, it was pretty tough to keep my temperature down! Pretty soon, I was sweating underneath the layers pretty heavily. Physically I felt pretty good, but I wasn’t really pushing any limits today in that department to be sure!

At the top of Peterson’s Creek valley, the snow starting flying around pretty good, making the streets a bit iffy. I took a fairly easy pace on the streets, not wanting to test my tires’ cornering limits. As I got to the top of Howe Road up at the trailer park, I was pretty warm and all that sweating turned around and bit me on the stretch across Pineview as the cold wind cut through my now wet layers, making for a bit of a painful final stretch!

So, with a thinner fleece and maybe a balaclava and goggles instead of a toque, I think I might have the perfect set up to continue riding! I will go at lunch today to Wholesale Sports, or maybe Canadian Tire to pick up these two items (balaclava and goggles) and I think I’ll be set! SWEET! I think I have just extended my riding season ‘till probably -15° or so!

Now I just need to figure out how to keep my water in liquid form…