It's going downhill...

Another harmless looking hill, full of pain.

I will have to rush in my weekend activity report! This week will probably be hectic. My mum arrives in Calgary on Wednesday to be met by Amanda (thanks!), and I head out after work on Thursday to meet them. We'll be Stampedeing! Need to get me a checked shirt! Or not.

My plan for Saturday was to get on my bike and ride. My choices were to revisit Baldy pass and do the complete circuit minus the mountaineering bit, or head to the other side of the lake and take on the Prairie View trail, divert along the Quaite Valley trail into the Bow Valley for a bit before turning back and taking the Jewell Pass trail back to the lake. I went for the latter. I thought that I could make it an out and back trip measuring about 30km. A nice distance to take it easy and have a good day out. I should probably have done a little background reading first.

Up, up and more up.

Back when I was doing more regular biking at home, 30 km and 600m of climbing didn't really seem too bad. Especially if you're taking it slowly. So I thought this would be a nice, if tiring day since I'm well out of bike shape. Of course, it is probably a good idea to properly look at the trail map first. I did, but only to get me pointed in the right direction. What followed was a 600m climb over 4 to 5 kilometres. Not something my wee legs are used to! Still, I was taking it easy, so I could go slowly up and stop often. That is if I wasn't a pathetically competitive manboy. At the initial climb up from the lake, there were two middle aged men who were also going up the Prairie View trail. They started up the trail at the same time as me. One guy was pretty slow, but the other one was moving pretty steadily. Obviously I couldn't let him beat me to the top, so I stayed at his pace. Which pretty much blew my taking it easy out of the water. Fortunately he stopped at one point to let his mate catch up, so I got some respite. But five minutes later he's powering up behind me. So the competitive urge kicks in again and I force myself to stay ahead of him. Eventually we caught up with a group of girls and he stopped to wait again. No stopping for me. By now I knew if I stopped there was going to be a lot of pushing to the top. I had at least seen the last of the old man. But now the competition was the group of girls. They passed me once, then stopped for a break. Not me. Had to get to the top before them! So I went past them again and steadily plodded my way up the hill. But I got chicked again (not my terminology, that's from male triathletes who get passed by female competitors). Again they stopped for a break, and again I went through. Hard to believe I'd only gone about 3.5 km by this time. I was passed yet again, and this time my will broke. I could see too much of the climb ahead of me, and it looked long and steep! I had to stop. I also have to admit there was some

Almost at the top

Top, looking back

In its element.

pushing. But I did ride at least 80% of the way. I caught up with the girls at the viewpoint just before part of the trail where the only option is to carry your bike up. They asked me which way I was going. I said that I was going to go along Quaite Valley, but thanks to them and the old man, I really didn't feel like it any more! That felt like a serious climb and my legs didn't fancy any more uphill, so Quiate valley will have to quiate for another day. Oof. I'm finding it tough to compare to the riding I have done back in Scotland as my fitness is different and there is possibly an altitude issue. But I think that that was approximately the same height gain as an Innerliethen ride, but over half the distance. Both are well worth the pain for the view from the top.

Innerliethen - good views too!

I wasn't really there for that though. I was more there for the going downwards stupidly fast

Pretty nice at the top.

Fun time! Aaaall down from here

(for my skill level)! It is pretty much down all the way for 7km, so there are no photos of any of that. I was way to busy having fun! There were some slow downs where hikers were coming up the trail, but mostly just pure adrenaline and sore hands from gripping hard. It's a really nice trail. Rooty and rocky, but nothing really loose to slide on and flows really well. I somehow managed not to come off or hit anything all the way down, so I guess that's 1-1 Kananaskis! Had I any energy left in my legs, hands that weren't cramping and wrists that could support me, I'd have been right back up to the top! Fully recommend this for any bikers out there. Although probably best to avoid trying to race people up the hill!

The other part of my saturday plan was to get a curry as a reward for my exercise. I haven't had many good curry experiences so far in Canada (a locational factor I'm sure), so I was a bit apprehensive that the Cochrane curry house would leave me unsatisfied. I'm glad to report that my fears were unfounded. Methab in Cochrane appears to know what they are doing. Not exactly the sort of curry I'm used to, but very tasty, and the naan bread was really good. All in all that was a pretty satisfying day!

Sunday. That was reserved for chores, and bumbling about expressing little whimpers of pain every so often! Really need to do more biking!

So that's the quick weekend update. Next one is probably going to have to wait until after the Calgary Stampede. It all seems a bit weird to me, but then we never had cowboys back home. Except for some builders, plumbers, mechanics... Looking forward to it! I've heard that there is a stall that does a special kind of burger. One served in a donut instead of a roll! Traditional... should you put ketchup on it or raspberry jam?!

Oh, talking of cowboy mechanics, that front brake of mine held up fine now that they finally bled it properly!    

Here's the rest of my pics.