The Wall of Fire

Our hot sauce "Wall of Fire" just had reinforcements arrive by mail today!

Ridgeback/Moosepackers/Pneuma/Race of Spades!

Well, I'll start by saying it's too bad that Kate was behind the lens rather than in front of it… Kate crushed some kilometers with the gang, I don't think broke a sweat, and I think had a fun time dishing out the pain to the guys as usual. We pulled out the camera only once, this is at the intersection of Pneuma and Race of Spades, so not pictured are Devin, Trish, and Davin whom rode earlier sections.



That's a great group for a great Sunday ride. After breakfast at Cadence where Shawn and I forgot critical belongings on departure, we pulled out of the West Bragg parking lot, with I think Craig up front, near 10am. Craig got to negotiate on some of the first climbs with people who also were heading out, that then shoulder checked and saw the aerobic capacity armada of Craig, Shawn, Devin, Jon, Trish, Kate, and me holding on somewhere on those initial climbs. Jon let it rip on the first decent, fast and fun enough to miss our first key corner, with Craig and I tailing him. We eventually climbed back up and went the right way, but that was the last we saw of Trish and Devin due to their shorter plans. Darn, we were supposed to do the group photo then.



We descended Sugar Mama then over to the ranger station which took some bushwhacking through flood damaged areas. Lonely Station Flats parking lot to Ridgeback to Moosepackers where the big erosion from that drain pipe was. Up Moosepackers, I made all the switchbacks, just missed cleaning it all because I rode off the side of a wide, smooth, flat piece of trail randomly when I looked left for view. It was as easy as sidewalk at that part. Funny.



Dropped in down Pneuma, where I caught my left pinky toe on the stub of a branch on a tree which hurt. Down to Race of Spades. Little mishap when my grips rotated funny (I had noticed earlier the end of my bar is messed as the carbon creased). Down Race with Jon leading. After the tough climb, I thought I spotted a moose in the woods and pointed it out to everyone… hmm… but it wasn't there, so as they looked, I got trail ; )



Tried to hold some speed into the Fraggle Rock jumps and features, we scared some deer sleeping in the woods, then down to the Tom Snow junction. I had flatted, so used a bigair on my rear tire. It leaked. We put in a tube… that was flat. We put in a tube that held… meanwhile that stall cost the group probably 20 million mosquito bites. Started hauling again, and on next downhill, I got a giant dragonfly in my helmet. I like dragonflys, they've been feasting on mosquitos, and they're pretty peaceful to people. But when it's jammed in your helmet, it freaks out, so I had to haul on the brakes and fix that. Lost the will to go forward on the second Ridgeback climb, but eventually a full bottle and some electrolytes got that fixed. Cruised back to parking lot – big day of fun all in!



I'm really liking the Pivot's ride, it's not slowing me down on the descents (I did stop on the way home and pick up a second Nobby Nic for it!). It's still hard to carry water on, but it rides well enough to keep Jon in sight on the downhills, unless I'm busy royally screwing up. Craig doesn't need any suspension to maintain those speeds.

Dreaming eventually needs to meet Reality - Mongolia

So I got really inspired to adventure earlier in the year, and signed up for the Mongolia Bike Challenge on relative impulse after thinking about vast and beautiful landscapes, scant population, deep historic significance.

Then... the racer package document arrived in my email, and I actually took a detailed read. Now I didn't expect a walk in the park, but now I have the fear of Ghengis in me to train up over the next month or so. Let me post some interesting summaries from the book:

Page 1: A long and challenging race, ..., but more than anything, it will be a very strenuous physical trial and a test of psychological endurance which will try every racer.

Stage summaries:
Distance (km) Climbing (m) Max time
Stage 1   126      2,900           10
Stage 2    126     2,240           10
Stage 3    148     2,000           10
Stage 4    175     2,540           14
Stage 5    45       1,000             4
Stage 6    167     1,730           12
Stage 7    86       1,486             7

Those numbers make my whole body hurt - already. The book also says about stage 3 "the stage finishes with a tough 28 kilometers climb to the finish line", which I'm sure I'll be feeling everywhere in my body as I hop in the saddle for the monumental stage 4.

The "what to bring" section has a notable section on weather. "Rain or snow of minor or major intensity is also possible [at the time of year of the race]", and the gear required is: winter cap, winter gloves, warm socks, winter base layer, rain jackets, rain pants, winter bibs, rain shoe covers, back pack, 8 bottles marked with your number, survival kit, sleeping mat and a -10C sleeping bag.

Like, the yurts don't have heat??

A great, impulsive, adventurous idea has eventually has met the reality that appears it will deliver quite a trial and adventure.

This isn't just ice cream

The story behind how we ended up on the patio, hipster watching, eating ice cream, evolved through our errands this evening.

We dropped off a bike for a co-worker, then on the way to getting my mountain bike post BCBR, Cindy suggested we stop by the wand carwash. I said I'd rather go through the machine wash next time we fill up. She said it'd be fun, which I disagreed with, yet I obliged.

And what happens when we pull in? There's two bays open. Each is populated at the front, but back is open. Each has a twenty something scantily clad, washing their respective cars. Cindy asks which one I'm going in. I pull into the first one, where some complete hardbody in tight Lulu shorts, a sports bra, flip flops and oversize sunglasses is rubbing some suds into her Civic with Saskatchewan plates. I'd guess she just made $10k last week serving beer at Cowboys as a bonus to regular yoga/fitness instructor income, but that's just for the sake of argument. I can't even make this stuff up how she's just squatting, bending, and really rubbing the soap into that Civic. Cindy says "you owe me DQ for this". No problem... the wand wash was way better than the machine after all.

Funny.

Jasper

After a stage race, Stampede, and vaccinations to put my body under, we opted for some R&R. Jasper!



We stayed at Jasper Park Lodge. A 3.5h ride saw 3 bears, a moose, and a big elk. An approaching wall of cloud enouraged us to turn around so we just got a little wet. We played catch with a baseball. We threw in the towel as we saw the second squall approaching - it brought rain, hail and snow when we were eating. We lounged and took in the lake's view.



Through our late lunch, a pianist showed up and walked around to take requests. It's always such a stark reminder how technology has made music available everywhere, but its really just a proxy for music. Sitting 15ft away from a grand piano playing Imagine, Rocket Man, Uptown Girl, and whatever else people requested, has layer upon layer of rich fidelity I rarely get to hear. Perhaps it was the honey lager supposedly brewed with honey straight off the bee hive on the roof that got me thinking about relative talents... that I don't have. I have balance and interpretation of terrain and traction skill so I can ride/ski/drive and see just ahead and carve, but I can't string two notes together to save my life. Bless this guy in an old grey sportcoat who can play anything thrown his way!

Stampede

Stampede is a culture shock vs. west coast midsummer mountain bike racing.  Corporate parties, booze, cowboy boots and jeans, beef on a bun replace chilling with people, coffee, Lulu wear and flip flops, and seafood and couscous type dishes.  It's actually kind of a tough mental adjustment.

I eased in with our corporate party, but have also had meetings, work stuff going on this week to curtail going to wild.  Tuesday I visited a private museum + bbq of a business associate that blew my mind, more fully descriptive article here and additional photos here.

This is a subtle picture of his Jaguar XK150 on display.  That car was ahead of its time.

Here's an XK 150 picture that doesn't suck as much as the one from my phone did to convey the beauty.

What was once the fastest motorcycle in the world, complete with a memoir of its achievements (and a very sketchy way to ride a motorcycle on speed runs).

Now the links above have way better photos and context of the museum, but let's just say this.  It's amazing, it's underground, and it houses machining/metalurgy/industrial development of mankind artifacts that are supremely restored.  It shows a glimpse into the passionate mind of a lifelong engineer who sees beauty in the utility of machines, and apprecates the interaction between form and function.  The tunnels and cave are completely amazing.  And there's so much more unpictured!  This is the main focus piece, a 60 ton steam engine salvaged from the UK and restored here.  Very impressive!

From there, Stampede took a different tone, patio rooftop party, Ft. Calgary party where Sloan/Cheap Trick/Def Leppard were featuring.  That was a super fun afternoon of mingling with our friends and clientele. 

I was pretty tired the next morning; how people do days on end of drinking in the heat, subsisting on pancakes and beef on a bun, while standing in cowboy boots and western shirts that are hot and don't breathe is mind boggling.  I'd say it's more stamina draining than a 50k mountain bike stage!  Regardless, I  managed to make our building's Stampede breakfast in our courtyard... and lucky I did.  I get this call to come down to building security desk in the front lobby, which is odd so I ask why - I won an iPad in the draw!  15 minutes later my co-worker won ~$400 in the 50/50 draw.  Great!

BC Bike Race aftermath

Trish, Pat and I had a nice afternoon of lounging and eating, then got geared up for the banquet.  It was good, bunch of awards and speeches, the videos are always great, then it was time to get the party going.  Trish and I had a great time after Pat dropped us off, I think I sweat more/burned more calories than during the race.  Good times.

Riding home on the bus the next day, I thought to how BC Bike Race always brings good experiences.  Ride bikes on awesome trails, eat great food, sleep well, meet great people, and just enjoy life.  That's a recipe I can't go wrong with.  It's the most fun race I've ever participated in for its mix of trails, sensible riding quantity, and then just the overall atmosphere.