Tuesday Night Ride

At the top, grabbin' a snack.

Well the sun was out and the temperature was in the high 20s in the city. Time to get out for a real ride and put all my new learning to work! Suz and I skipped the Spin Sisters ride since we felt like doing our own thing and wanted to start earlier than their 7:00 starts. And I wanted to take Sante along. We were geared up and at the trailhead at 6:00pm. West Bragg Creek is so quick to get to!

Neither of us had done the trails from Station Flats before but I found a map online and read that Thom Snow up to the top and Ridgeback down was a fun loop. Though I'd read it was a 25km loop. It was significantly shorter at 14km. Suited us just fine. We were 2 hours out on the trail (1.5hrs moving time) ... time enough to get home and clean the caked mud off my bike, my dog, and myself before hitting the sack.

Anyway, the ride was exactly what I needed as the trail was well suited to my skill level with some good climbing, some fast downs, some twisting through tight trees, over some rocks, and, of course, through some mud. I didn't need any "above my pay grade" technical challenges and just wanted to go out and get a good, fun, workout in with a friend and my pooch. I also wanted to get out with my newly fixed up brakes! Kham at Bow Cycle bled my front brake line and replaced my pads for me Tuesday night. New rotors on order but even without the new rotors, the improvement made for some extra confidence and smiley descents!

I guess everyone who knows Thom Snow Trail knows it's boggy. I didn't. But that wouldn't have stopped me picking the trail. I only got stuck in some deep mud once and had to drop a foot. Brrr ... that stuff's pretty cold splashing up all over you every time. Given all the water in the area I think we must have gotten a ride in JUST before the mosquitos all hatch!

We got to the top at the range road before turning back to grab Ridgeback. Super fun down for a little while before Ridgeback had us climbing again for a little while more. The good kind of climbing though, nice and steady. All in, we climbed 1300 feet. I can't wait to go back and explore some more of the trails from Station Flats and do the upper section of Ridgeback that we didn't hook onto this time around.