Gorgeous weekend outside.

After getting knocked around a little at hockey Tuesday night, a couple of days off were in order for the sore body. The +7C Friday afternoon sure had me feeling better though and Sante and I headed out for some more time on the Bowmont single track.

On the cyclocross bike, the icy packed bumpy trails are rough on the body, mostly the hands, but it's so much fun. I really like the challenge of handling the bike on the narrow trails, on the sometimes-slick inclines and declines, the turns, the logs ... it's all fun and it's all about learning more about handling. The spiked wider tires and the disc brakes come in really handy and allow me to ride trails I otherwise wouldn't be able to ride. And since it's in my own backyard (ok, just down the road) I feel safe being out there on my own with Sante. Until my hard core riding buddy Michele comes back from racing the Trans Andes, I'm hard pressed to talk anyone else into winter riding. What's with that?! I couldn't even get any takers out for a snowshoe this weekend.

Saturday was more of the same. By the afternoon the warm sun makes the riding really pleasant and comfortable. I also got a bunch of cooking done Saturday to kick off my gluten, dairy, egg, peanut and banana free era. So far it's a piece of cake (a flour-less dairy-less cake) ... other than my infatuation with creamy coffee. Ugh. I'm here to tell you the soy substitute creamer is NOTHING like the real thing. I may have to just switch to black coffee. Boo.

Today I took the pups for a long morning walk. When the day warmed up I did a pathyway ride along the river. There's been a lot of interest in what cyclists are up to in Calgary lately. In the last week I've filled out two City of Calgary surveys and, today, UofC students were stopping cyclists on the pathway to survey them. It's great to know there's a future eye on cycling for the city.

The bike is clean and loaded up with the commuter lights now and ready to roll out the front door in the morning. Peace out!

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Winter single track and the cross bike ...

Nice fat Schwalbe winter spikers.

Yesterday was the warmer of the two weekend days at -6C. Being that today started out at -18C and is supposed to warm to -14C, I am extra glad I got outside on the bike yesterday. I planned a Bowmont play. I've been out there on foot this week a lot with Sante and it's gotten pretty slick, so I thought I'd try some single track on the Norco cross bike with the spiked winter tires rather than the comfy suspension ride on the fatter mountain bike tires.

Knowing Cheryl recently got some spikers for her cross bike, I dropped her a text to see if she'd be in. She was! So Sante and I waited for her to be available and we rode with some company.

It was a little chilly to start but we got warmed up quickly on the frozen bone-rattling trail. The going was bumpy over parts of the frozen footprints formed on the warmer days last week. My arms are still sore today! I had a blast though trying out the cross bike on the same single track I've been riding recently on the mountain bike. The big wheels rolled nicely over the snowy logs and the spikers held their own on the icy sections. Oddly, I quickly felt a lot more confident on the icy, hilly single track than I do on the sheer ice that forms on the paved pathways. We saw some of that too but it was no problem.

We saw a couple other cyclists. They were on mountain bikes. Full suspension AND spiked tires. That looked fun too!

The ride was good for my confidence on the spikers ... I have a good feeling now for what I can expect from them on the ice now. That should help make those icy commute mornings less of a white-knuckle experience.

Now I have to find some motivation to get on the trainer in the basement on this nasty cold day ... wish me luck. The pay off is good for when the outside riding is good but man it's way less fun to exercise inside.

+++++++++++++

Later that day ... I took Sante for a walk and it wasn't so bad outside so I bundled up and went for a ride. It started out at -8C at my place and kept dropping the further east I went. All the way down to -16C. Brr! My iPhone even died from being in an outside pocket. But still way better than the basement. Outside is always better!

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Back to the skis ...

With several inches of fresh snow this week, the outside riding was over after the bike commute Wednesday. I know there's a portion of the cycling community that'll commute and ride through anything but I'm not that far to that side of the hard-core spectrum.

I wasn't up for a fight through the crappy-conditions traffic again after work Thursday so I gave spin class a miss. Coach Jeff reported 10 others joined me in the hooky plan. I thought about riding in the basement but the thought didn't amount to action until the next day. Martha gave me a strength workout on the trainer and that was Friday's workout. Santé got a big walk that day too but you wouldn't know it from the staring I got while on the bike in the basement.

Saturday we went for a big walk with some jacket- and bootie-clad doggie friends (Santé was all natural and didn't mind the cold at all) and then headed out to West Bragg for a ski with the last-minute company of Chris. I should have taken some photos; it was a beautiful day with the fresh snow blanketing the trees. The parking lot was overflowing but it didn't feel busy once we got going.

Today we had a rare daytime hockey game. The legs felt dead but managed to perform through the whole game. Phew. Tonight the Best of Banff Mountain Film Festival is on the schedule...

Against the wind...

Well being back at work was a little tough to get warmed up to but at least it was only a three day week. Then it was back to playing outside!

Friday afternoon I took Santé and the red bike for a great spin on the single track in Bowmont. Wow! It was perfect! It was like riding on dry white hard packed dirt! So much fun.

So fun that I decided to do the same on Saturday! I found a couple of new hills to climb. All in, I did 16kms of single track Saturday right in my hood. Nice!

Today Michele and I ventured out towards Cochrane. Th plan was to do a full loop but the 70km/hr wind gusts were a real challenge, making it hard to steer clear of icy patches on the shoulder. We had a couple of episodes of gusts nearly taking us down. We decided not to press our luck by trying the 22x with a crosswind and heavier traffic and aborted the final push into Cochrane.

Still a great ride though! The legs and lungs felt strong! And the climb up COP was a great workout uphill and into the crazy wind!

Bringin' in 2013

Late night lagoon skating and watching the countdowns.

Up this morning and off to Canmore to ski with Kate M, Chad, and doggies.

Turned around half an hour later to retrieve forgotten skis. They were diligently scraped clean of wax and left leaning on the garage. Duh. Tired.

Eventually made it to Canmore and Chad drove the rest of the way to Mt Shark.

Chilly but gorgeous day. Brilliant white-clad Rockies against a clear blue sky, snow-capped evergreens, and pristine track-set trails. Nice!

Not much left in the legs but I managed an hour and a quarter trying to keep up to Kate. I should have left Santé rigged to me so I could work less and go faster ... but I didn't want her hauling me down and it wasn't an ideal day for me to train her, based on my brain barely working.

Great day. Just too much driving.