Fishcreek Loop

I guess it's been a couple weeks since last post. I've been slowly trying to get back to normal activity levels. Had a little set back last weekend with the plague briefly returning. A new round of antibiotics seems to be taking care of that nicely. Big bug? I've heard this has happened to others so I don't feel the bug targeted me for any particular reason. Equal opportunity bug. :)

We've had a couple nice warm Wednesdays surrounded by a whole lot of March winter weather. Typical for Calgary. I rode outside both Wednesdays and enjoyed the teasing spring smells of wet earth mingled with dog poop. Other than that it's been spin classes and hockey. Today was the first bigger ride outside in a while.

I had in mind to do a 45 minute trainer workout in the basement today and get caught up on some work, after a thankfully painless run to Ikea. But Anna was in for a real ride so, how could I pass that up? With my booties, toque, and hand warmer packets in my lobster claw mitts, off I went to meet her. I am still trying to get my lungs and legs back so I had in mind a two hour ride. We never really talked about it though. After an hour and a half I suggested we turn back. Hey, three hours wasn't that far off the mark. Anna suggested we keep going though and make it a loop ... the idea was we'd spend the same time to get back and it'd be a 3 hour ride. We didn't count on the hour or so on and off the bikes as we navigated the ice covered pathway in Fish Creek and Weaselhead. Anna actually dubbed it Icecreek park.

Througout the first couple hours of the ride I had been pleased with the decision to ride knobbies and skip the studded tires. I still think that was the right choice for the ride overall but I sure would have loved to have my studs through the hilly shady wooded pathways covered in thick glossed ice. Much of it we walked. For some of it, the walkable area was narrow so I carried the bike (cyclocross style, yeah!). There was one section where we put our mad skillz to the test and rode for about 10 minutes or so on the snowy crusty ice. That was the end of it. After that we popped out of the Weaselhead at the 37th Ave parking lot and made our way north to Edworthy and down the hill to the river path.

I don't have my legs fully back and I was pretty fried by the end of it, but it's alway good to be worn out after a sunny day outside on the bike with a like-minded friend. No grouchiness, lots of laughs, and no one wound up on their ass! A great day.

Get outside!

 

 

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