Cycling 2015

[MikeT 744]

Up to 3235 km now. I hope to be over 3600 at month's end!

[dmoonen 54]

Nice! For Aug so far I did only 8 trips to the shop but have been doing a job down the road from the cottage. My OD for this month is sitting at 431km. Much of this was earned due to car troubles haha

Picked up a used 2015 Felt QX75 And a 2015 V85 to leave at the cottage as the bug splatter was getting a bit nuts.

Edited August 16, 2015 by dmoonen

[MikeT 744]

Sitting in a restaurant in Jasper, the afternoon before my son and I leave on a bike ride from here to Banff. The weather sucks....predicted weather on the summit is 0 degrees C with 15-30 cm of snow. If it is that bad we'll have to hitch a ride over the top or turn back. But short of snow on the road, it should be possible to complete it in 2 days as we have planned it.

In the origin and destination towns it is much nicer, only showers and 12C.

[MikeT 744]

Well that was epic!

No snow on the summit....but 0C and driving rain. Riding up to 2100 metres elevation on 12% slopes was interesting in those conditions!

We had a late start from Jasper at elevation 1040 metres, hitting the road on the bicycles at 11:30 AM. I had hoped to leave by 10, which I hoped would get us to the Icefield Centre before 6 PM so we could eat dinner there (I thought the restaurant shut at 6). Anyway 37 km into the ride, going about 40 km/h, I had a rear tire blowout. Casing was ruined, 2 cm cut, must have been glass. So my new and only spare tire went on with "only" 250 km to go! We went on, gaining elevation all the way, and at Sunwapta Lodge we decided to eat some early dinner because by then we knew for sure that we'd not make it to the Icefield Centre before 6. The road kicked up to a ridiculous grade, and we were stewing in our own juices inside our rain gear, wet but warm. Me especially at 225 lbs was feeling the effects of gravity more than my son Sean, who is 50 lbs lighter than me though just as tall. The rain was falling hard by now, as it was approaching 7 PM we got to the worst bit of the climb, an asinine gradient. With about 10 km to the Centre, we ground upward and finally we could see the centre. We stopped and found that the restaurant was open, bonus! We had a nice hot dinner each, then went to the washroom to dry out our soaked gear with the hand dryers.

As we went out into the night again, it was dusk and about 9:20 PM. Our headlights went on, the rain was unrelenting and the temperature stuck on zero. Our destination for the night was Saskatchewan River Crossing, which is 50 km further south from the Centre. Mostly downhill, couple of minor uphill areas. Within 5 minutes we were drenched to the skin again. There is another couple of km of climbing to the summit, after which there is a brutal descent in what was then pitch darkness, about 5 km long. My headlamp was mounted on my head but Sean had a clamp on handlebar light. On the descent, even with neoprene riding gloves, our hands were getting extremely cold and the constant heavy braking to keep speed under 40 km/h which was probably 10 above a safe speed anyway, was a hell of an effort. I got about 500 m ahead of Sean and as I rounded a large looping switchback, I looked back to see where he was....I just caught one blink of his taillight, no headlight...so I turned back and rode 500 m uphill. His headlight had fallen off and was useless. We decided to ride side by side on the deserted highway, rain still pelting down. With about 30 km to go, a nice guy in a pickup stopped (there were only about 2 vehicles that passed us in this descent, and this was one!) and asked if we could use a ride. Well, being half frozen and exhausted from the climb we said "yes please". Bikes went in the back and we got to sit in his nice leather seats, steaming up his windows. He dropped us off 30 minutes later (rain still beating down hard) at the Crossing Resort. What a great guy he was, from Prince George BC. We checked into our room, I had a hot bath and Sean had a sauna.

We had left a care package of dry clothing and riding food for the next day beforehand so that was quite useful. The next morning we ate a large breakfast and hit the road again. The weather was a whole lot better, about 5C and light overcast with some sun. Now, the thing about being at the Saskatchewan River Crossing is that there is another climb equal to the one in elevation that we had done the day before, nearly 2100 metres from the starting point a bit under 1400 m. So up we went, and the Bow Summit was achieved at 38 km, with a relentless pitch of 8 percent for the last 6 km. At the top I was drenched from my own sweat again, because it was cold and I had the rain jacket on. But I had a spare dry jersey in my frame bag so on it went. Sean got the summit half an hour before I could drag my sorry ass up there. It was sunny on the summit so we stood there for a while to dry the inside of the rain gear off. The descent was really fun, being dry, sunny and we really had a blast.

Sean's right knee was becoming ever more sore and at Mosquito Creek Campground turnoff he said that it was painful even on the flats. I convinced him to stop at Lake Louise Village while I would continue onto Banff to get the Fiesta which we had left at the Best Western Siding 29 Lodge three days before. So I carried on down the Trans-Canada. Although it is generally downhill from Lake Louise to Banff, it is still a bit up and down and it seemed to take forever to make that 55 km (in reality, about two hours). I got to the hotel having done 137 km on the day (125 km the previous one, not including the truck ride, otherwise it would have been 153!), checked into the hotel - bike in hand - went into the parkade and headed back in the Ford to get Sean.

The evening continued with us going straight up to the hot springs for a well deserved soak. And then elk burger for Sean and beef burger for me at the Elk and Oarsman Pub in downtown Banff.

A great trip, memories for a lifetime!

[dmoonen 54]

Holy cow sounded like an adventure!

[MikeT 744]

I've had a couple more rides since then....53 km to and from work on Monday and then 78 km today. I'm near enough to 3900 km on the year. I suspect that the 5000 I was targeting later in the summer won't be reached but 4500 is possible if the weather holds through October. My weight is down over 20 lbs too. however, I peaked a couple of months ago, so I am not as quick as I was in July!

And hey, the original goal was 4000 and that for sure will be beaten!

[smartzuuk 167]

asinine gradient..... lol

Wow, that's quite a trip....

My cycling goal was 1500 kms for the spring/summer/fall.... I'm hopefully still going to make that, over 1000 now, and the riding now is actually preferable to either the way too hot stretches we had, or the 2-3 weeks of smoke which shut me down a bit

I'm doing this on a 93 GT Corrado 24 spd mountain bike.... no suspension, Conti slicks on it

So it's not the fastest, but it does the job

I can't imagine going downhill over 60 kmh on a bike, I was freaking this year when I hit around 60 and decided to alter my route accordingly after the third bout of white knuckles.... I mean, a mtn bike is not really stable at those speeds anyway, and then rocks on road and truck traffic, yikes.

I tend to like a 23-25 km ride, which is about 75 minutes

but two shorter 10 km loops a day is also possibly good

I need to ride as much as possible going forward, as it really helps me out

a typical average is around 22 kmh

longer rides (with more flats), I can get 24-25

I've been as high as 27.5 on my longest ride at the halfway point, but some hills and fatigue creep in, and it drops..... lol

again, on a mtn bike! running like 55 psi rear and 45 front

me 235 at best, sometime 240 lbs

Kevlar tires may be required at some point - I experienced too many flats

It wasn't all from being in the gutter either

The roads just aren't bike friendly in general I find on the route I think is the 'best' from where I live

lots of rocks and debris, and of course, the dreaded glass.......

[MikeT 744]

I rode to work and back today, the year's total is about 4300 km. 4500+ does seem to be possible....

[dmoonen 54]

I think my seasons done, toys are all packed up including the bikes and the cottage. Had 10cm of snow last weekend ontop of the mountain. . time to go down south.

[MikeT 744]

I am at 4494 km now. Hope to get another 78 km ride in this weekend....

[MikeT 744]

Today I got my wish - well not for 78 km, but instead I did 59 km. I took the Cervélo out in the dry today, and afterwards, my annual total is 4553 km! Oh yeah, personal best for me. And there could be a few riding days left in 2015, who knows?

[Pingu 0]

Congratulations on the PB! Maybe 5000 next year?

[MikeT 744]

Thanks! This year is not quite over either

[MikeT 744]

The total ended up at exactly 4600 km.