Taking it on the Road

Just a quick update about the overnight training ride.  Planning to leave tomorrow morning from here in Canmore and head out on the Tour Divide trail and see how far I can get.  Plan to camp out tomorrow night and then ride back to Canmore on Saturday.

Here is a link to my Spot  tracking page  http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0CUmxLimFyOj4Z8qaPPq08nK5a4rXdBe4

Everything is packed up and ready to go for the morning.  Toss in a few sandwiches and I will be good to go.

Here is the rig in the garage.

Training and thinking

I was out for a training ride with a good friend (Andy Harris) on Monday and we
covered a good portion of the route from Banff to Mt. Shark. The trails
are dry and in good shape. Recently, the mtn bike rides are getting
longer. So far my biggest day on El Mariachi has been 120 kms. Combo of
trails, roads, fire road and a little pavement. The bike feels really
good. I have the odometer dialed in to the cue card mileage and Ben helped
me set up a very cool map holder. All while he was half asleep on Sunday
morning - that boy is a genius.

Training - since April 12, close to 2300 kms on road and mtn bike. The
seat is getting hardened. Soon I will be a hardass... This coming weekend
will be a bit casual then ramping up to June 1 and 2 when I will ride to
Elkford and back - snow permitting. I will turn my Spot on and provide a
link to the tracking website - follow along or not.

Thinking - I usually wake up about 5:00 am and after thinking about Peter
for a few mins, my mind turns to the ride. Envisioning my daily routine while riding the Divide, I imagine rolling out of my bivy sack, packing up my gear, grabbing a yummy power bar and getting under way.  I know it's going to be harder than that - but that's the vision.  The hard part will be caffeine withdrawal.  I may have to go into training for that event.

From a training ride a few weeks ago, here is a picture looking up the Cascade valley near Banff. Water is flowing, sun is shining and the trails are drying out.

 

Style it!

After a great week in Ottawa (thanks to Diane and Brian for a great dinner and leaving me in pretty good shape) and Quebec City, it has been back to riding, riding and more riding.  The weather has been fantastic so that has been making things a bit easier.  I rode up the Gap tonight (a couple of times) and then went into Kananaskis Country and checked out Goat Creek Trail.  The route leaves Banff and goes right through the parking lot in the picture and continues on down the road.  The trails are starting to look good - another few days and the Goat Creek trail will be nice and dry.  Let's hope for continued warming - still lots of snow on the high passes.

Tonight - I dropped into the Reclaimer on my way down from the Gap.  It really brought back some great memories of building that trail with friends and especially of Peter.  We would build a section and Peter would be helping out and making great suggestions.  As always, he was our test pilot.  In retrospect, not a great plan as Peter could ride anything and make it look easy.  Needless to say - made it down the Reclaimer in one piece with great memories.  If you want to get stoked - here is my fave biking video.  Peter riding the Goblin - kind of like the Reclaimer but scarier and steeper.  I asked him about his lack of elbow pads - he forgot them. 
Style it!

Quebec City Salut

Tough to keep up the training this week as I am in Quebec City and Ottawa on a work
gig.

Eating is fantastic...training consists of walking to dinner.

Home tomorrow and time to do the hill climbing weekend. I took El Mariachi
for a 4hr ride on Sunday. Sweeeettt! Rides like a dream. Pretty stoked
for the ride and the experience. Props to Blaine Nester for helping me out with the gear list and his experience.  The last little pieces are coming together.

A bientot!