Commuting Fun!

As was my goal earlier this year when I bought my bike, I wanted to do a daily commute on the bicycle. Well daily doesn’t happen, but frequent does. Here are some photos (up until the point where my camera ran out of batteries).

 

Ok, the exposure settings suck, but there is a deer in the picture as I head west towards the mountains.

 

See, a nice deer! Blurry, yes, but definitely a deer.

 

Heading south on Horse Creek Road towards the tracks. This morning I had to wait for the train for 5 minutes, but most days there are no trains.

 

Riding through the neighbourhoods towards the intersection. Beautiful way to start the morning!

 

Coming up to the intersection, you can smell all the fast-foods being prepared. Not exactly the best choice for an active morning, but oh so tantalizing when you’re riding on an empty stomach.

 

This is passing the Tim Horton’s in town. It looks as if I’m playing in heavy traffic, but actually I am just passing parked trucks.

 

I used to take the pathways under the bridge, up the other side, across on the pedestrian walkway and then back under the bridge to the paths, but I realized it’s safe enough to just ride the shoulder.

 

Crossing the bridge over the Bow River. The river has been really swollen this year. Usually in the morning it is quite low then by afternoon it is much higher, but now it seems to be always high. It even floods the parking lot underneath quite often.

 

Rather than heading up the highway, I take a right at the lights into Bow Meadows (I think) and aim for Tower’s trail. Sure it’s an additional 10km, but it is so worth every minute of it!

 

Ah yes, Tower’s Trail hill. One of two major hills (if you want to call it major) on the ride. Major enough to cause me to pant.

 

At the top of the hill, the sun just peeks over Big Hill. Such a pretty way to start the morning!

 

At the top of Tower’s Trail hill, some rolling roads that turn into gravel. I figured my ride to be about 56% tarmac, 44% gravel. That’s why I have the commuter bike and not a road bike, as mine can handle the gravel.

 

And there I am. At my desk being a good worker.

Commuting on the bike is great cause it’s the perfect way to start the morning, then I spend all day looking forward to the ride home! Sure it may take 1:15, but it’s no big deal to me cause I enjoy it so much! A great way to get some fresh air early in the morning. Usually when I ride to work, it ends up rainy or stormy, but hey, it’s half the fun seeing whether it rains or not! So far this year, I’ve logged 530km, which I think is pretty good (considering I’ve only put 1600km on my motorcycle).

Grand Valley to Horse Creek Loop

So the other day, we (neighbours, that is) decided to go out for a bike ride. Road ride. Yeah, and since we live on one of the most fantastic bike loops in the area, we decided to pedal out the Horse Creek – Grand Valley loop. GPS data can be found here.

We did the loop clockwise, starting on the highway from our neighbourhood going a few km’s west (into a strong headwind) to Grand Valley road and taking that north. The hills are called the Wildcat Hills.

Once we turned north, the winds weren’t so bad and the hills provided some protection. And there were some nice views along the way.

J and his fancy road bike. I have a single speed commuter and had to pedal like mad to keep up. Perhaps that is some incentive to get a hub-gear.

Taking photos of yourself while biking is tricky, but I think this turned out alright.

One of the nicest things about this whole loop is that it is smoothly paved the whole way! Very nice for skinny tyres and keeping the speed up.

Cows! I like cows! They are very photogenic and taste delicious!

There are no really steep climbs on the loop which is nice. Even though the loop is over 40km, I believe even a novice road rider would have few issues! Plus the scenery is just fantastic!

And of course, wherever there are fields and hills, there are trees, so they deserve a picture too.

J and K coming up the last section of Grand Valley Road before we headed east towards Horse Creek Road. Very easily identifiable by the stop signs.

K coming around the bend and heading east! I think she really enjoyed the ride!

The connecting road TWP 280 between Grand Valley and Horse Creek Road is very nice, with trees whizzing by you (depending on how fast you pedal) and is quite flat and straight. It’s so very peaceful.

Having fun with the camera. I sure hope there is no car coming towards me….

Coming down Horse Creek Road there are some slight downhills and bends in the road. Very fun and quite fast! Again, perfect scenery.

I was trying to get the camera as close to the road as I could without wiping out or dropping the camera. I think this worked out quite well.

Riding south on Horse Creek Road gave us a bit of a crosswind, and all the grasses made that nice summer rustling sound that I love so much. Hopefully this photo captures that sound in some way.

The last stretch of road brought us back in to Cochrane and in view of the mountains. I love living here. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

The beauty of riding the bike is the quiet and the peace that it creates. There are no motors, no stereos or noisy distractions. Just the road, the bike and your legs hammering away like pistons on your pedals so that you can feel the exhilaration that is road biking. And better yet, the Coke at the end of the ride that you share with friends as you plan your next ride.

Early Morning Adventures

Who says that a full-time father, husband, employee and instructor doesn’t have time for himself? I think it’s a lie, something made to discourage us. Not that I always need time to myself, just that it’s great to get outside and do things while not sacrificing your time at home with family. All it takes is an early morning alarm, some good carbs, plenty of water, a picture perfect sunrise and some good company to make everyday an adventure.
Hike data can be found here.

Meet Prairie Mountain. Site of winter flying, very strenuous hikes (as described by the guide) and early morning outings.

Meet Sir M (unknighted though), aka Satchel, aka Patty O’more. Climbing partner, coworker and good friend (and fellow early morning adventurer).

Meet K-country, with such sights as Elbow Falls, Moose Mountain and Jumping Pound Trail.

Now put these three things together and you get yourself an adventure, all before the daily grind. We threw this idea together pretty quick, and now want to make a habit of regularly getting out to do this sort of thing pre-work. I think it’s great, cause you look forward to it in the days leading up to it, and you reflect on it in the days afterwards. Ahhhh…..

Last time I was here, there was much more snow, but some still lingered.

We made the hike more adventurous, with bouldering detours. It was early so M was still sleeping during the ascent.

The summit ridge. Last time, there was lots of snow. This time it was warm and melty, like a delicious grill cheese sandwich.

Hero Summit Shot.

More Heroic Summit shot.

An artsy summit shot. Nice one M!

The best part about summiting is eating while you are up there. But since we had to be in the office in about an hour (it was only 730am), we figured we’d keep the meal short and make our descent.

It warmed up quite a bit and I was very happy not to have brought my snowpants.

Kananaskis country. Empty. No one there. Except one dude we startled who was just coming up as we finished our descent.

M couldn’t resist this photo. This is why I hike with this guy. He’s fun and goofy.

My thoughts on the hike… well pretty serene. There is nothing like fresh mountain air at 6am. There is nothing like an endless narration spewing from me about our adventures as we climbed. There is nothing like sitting at the summit at 730am thinking, “In two hours, I’ll be plopped in front of my computer facing the daily stresses.” There is nothing like knowing that when I get home, I have all the time I need to spend with my wife and son. Life’s good. Make everyday an adventure. It’s possible, oh yes it is.

A Blog Apart

So no blogging lately, but much going on. First of all, I would like to wish my son a very happy first birthday! Happy Birthday little buddy! You made our family even better

We took him out to Drumheller for his birthday. On the way, my wife got this amazing photo. Very nice! This will definitely be printed and hung on the wall.

Seeing as we were in Drumheller, it seemed fitting to go in to the Royal Tyrell Museum. D’uh! That was the whole point. For a 1 year old baby, he sure saw a lot and pointed and walked and enjoyed it! I’m really happy we took him. I won’t post pictures of him, but here’s me beside a rather large T-rex leg. It was a great visit!

What else has happened lately? Well, not many photos, but stuff is still going on.

I’ve ordered myself a new guitar! A Crafter SA-TMVS electric/acoustic. Thanks to Dennis @ Adirondack Guitars, I managed to put it on layaway, so it should be with me in a few months. I can’t wait. Hopefully I can get it before my brother’s wedding in Halifax this August. I’m playing guitar for the wedding, so a new instrument would be very much welcome. Donations to the Lorne Guitar Fund are always appreciated .

Along with the guitar, I also ordered a Boomerang 3 Phrase Sampler pedal. This lets you record and loop your guitar, so it’s like creating your own band. Lots of people do it, and now it gives a whole new dimension to playing guitar. I have been wanting one of these for years, and I know for a fact it’s going to help me get better and better at the guitar. Super excited for this one!

I have also signed on with Cochrane Functional Fitness to teach their 5 & 10k run prep. It’s a 6 week program to get people ready for the Footstock races (or whatever races) this June. I’m in to week 2 and absolutely loving it! It’s a great program and I really do enjoy teaching it.

Speaking of running, I am still on my quest to run the Powderface42 marathon this July. I am approaching this race as I would an ultra with a run strategy. Basically, 13 minutes running, 2 minutes rest, and repeat until complete. So I’m hoping to run 2km+ at a time, and with the rest, hoping to average 2.5km per interval. This should allow me 10km/hour or a finish of roughly just over 4 hours. I honestly think that’s not going to happen, as most racers are in the 5 hour mark due to the elevation and difficulty of the race, but regardless of how far I run in 15 minutes, it’s still my strategy. I think it will work well for me.

Lastly, I would like to conclude that I have finally finished reading James Herriot “All Creatures Great and Small”. It was a truly inspiring read for me. I’ve discovered that loving what you do isn’t necessarily loving the job itself, but just loving life and all it has to offer. A career may be a goal for some, but my goals is to use my career as a means to an end. To love life. To live life, and make the most of it, and reflect upon it with a positive attitude. I came up with a “slogan” after reading the book, which has nothing to do with the book, but rather with the feeling I got from reading it:

Love what you have

Earn what you want

Deserve what you get

We live in a very materialistic world, with pretty shiny things all around us. It’s very enticing to always have the next best thing! Look at the guitars in this blog, for example! I am living testament to wanting things. And one thing I have always wanted was career joy. I have discovered that I may not always find joy in that career, but I can find joy in what that career provides. So when I end up in a slump as I so often do, I have to remember why I’m having a hard time, and not just reflect on the hard time. I have to remember that the life I live is SO much bigger than the problems I face day to day.