Getting out of Bed is the Hardest Part

Saturday January 23, 2010 MTB Ride GPS Data
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23054589

The other day I received an e-mail from a teammate about doing a Saturday ride with the hardcore MTBers (or the Calgary Fast Cats as Jeff Nielsen calls them). I had heard of these rides before and read the tales of some of the victims. I was really surprised to get an e-mail about going for a ride around the city. I wasn't sure how I would do on one of these rides, having only recently returned to riding again, but I thought it might be fun to give it a go and see where my fitness is at going into the season. What's the worst that can happen right?

I was up much earlier than normal as I had to make an early morning trip to the airport. I got home around 8:30 and decided to take a quick power nap. I woke up an hour later and looked outside. It was windy, blowing snow and about -8C outside (-17C with windchill). I decided to rest a little bit longer trying to decide to go out for a ride or not.  I remembered Cyrus telling me that in training the hardest part is just getting out the door.

After much debate with myself, I finally made the decision to get ready and meet up for the ride. I figured the worse that can happen is I can bail out early and at least say I gave it a try. I got dressed, pulled out my mountain bike and loaded up my car for the drive down to the coffee shop to meet with the group.  I arrived at the shop and there was a group of about 6 other riders. Among them were fellow Deadgoats Erik, Ken, Craig and Gerry along with Dallas and Shawn, everyone one of them, an accomplished enduro rider.

First order of the day was the 12 Mile Coulee trail up in Tuscany. It was pretty windy but when we got to riding it didn't seem bad at all, the snow was fairly light and we got some good cover from the houses. After a short ride we got to the first section of single-track. As I went around the first turn, my front wheel hit a patch of powder and I did my first endo of the year....probably a good thing to get these things out of the way early. We got to the bottom of the trail, rode up and bombed back down again. There were a few runners but the craziest perhaps was a lone  runner in only a sweater and bermuda shorts...I think he wins the hardcore award.

After we finished the trail we rode over to Bowmont Park We got up to the first trail head and it was pretty icy on the first uphill forcing a pretty difficult walk up the hill for most of us. After getting to the top we decided to skip the more technical trails as they seemed pretty treacherous. We then decided to bike down to Edworthy and bike up some single track to make our way to the resevoir.  It was really awesome riding with all these guys and discovering all these trails I had never ridden before.

After climbing out of Edworthy we took a short break and then proceeded to the reservoir. We were able to ride some pretty good single-track through a good half of the reservoir. We then stopped for lunch in Glenmore Landing for about an hour. When we were ready to ride again...the wind was pretty strong and it was near whiteout conditions. We were all gettting pretty tired and just wanted to get back home now before the sun went down. We decided to ride all pathway/road and do the most direct route back to Bowness.

The wind was blowing snow right in our faces now and it was starting to get pretty cold. My legs were getting a little tired and it was getting more difficult to hold pace with the group. This was getting to be my longest ever January ride and on top of that the coldest condition I had ever been out riding in.

When I finally got back to my car, I felt really good to have gone out and done this ride. I stayed with most of the group till the end and my legs still felt pretty good. It was really cool riding with a really awesome group of riders and I'm always in awe at what the guys on single-speed bikes can do. It sure beat riding on the trainer on a Saturday and helped me work a little on my MTB technique. All in all the hardest part for me was getting out of bed.

Dallas' Ride Report and video
http://dalrock.blogspot.com/2010/01/winter-in-tuscany.html
Yes...that is me doing the first bail of the day.