The Bike.

I thought I'd make a post about my bike.

She's a early nineties Miyata triple cross, with shimano exage 300lx deraileurs, crank, and brakes.

Crank brothers candy pedals.
Mec brand racks and lights.

Aero bar (from dave's bike dump (ottaea)) suntour half ratchet thumbies mounted sideways on the aero bars. Shimano slr brakes.

I'm going to get some new wheels before my departure: ideally doublewall deep dish with lots of spokes, and a cassette

Itinerary

August 2 Edmonton-Entwistle 105km
August 3 Entwistle-Edson 100km
August 4 Edson- Hinton 100km
August 5 Hinton-Mount Robson Park 100km
August 6 Mount Robson Park-Valemount 100km
August 7 Valemount-Blue River 100km
August 8 Blue River-Clearwater 100km
August 9 Clearwater-Kamloops 110km
August 10 Rest day
August 11 Kamloops-Merritt 80km
August 12 Merritt-Hope 100km
August 13 Hope-abbotsford 100km
August 14 Abbotsford-Vancouver 75km
August 15 Vancouver-Victoria

All of these dates are tenative, but I think it's good to have a plan.

Pidgeon Lake

Pictures of the Pidgeon Lake 256

Pidgeon Lake training ride: part 2, the return

So, we woke up early, made coffee, broke camp and went for a quick swim.



After yesterday's late start, I was rather keen on starting early, I also received some news that made me want to get back to edmonton in a big hurry.



The going was a lot smoother, we improved our average speed, by about 4 kmph over the day before, and took a different route, through leduc and beaumont.



Outside of Calmar, I got a beesting while riding, which was perhaps the single most painful minute of my adult life. Worse, it was on my calf, so every pedal stroke made it pound a little harder. Searing, localized pain, like I haven't felt before.



My lunch in calmar was lousy, "western" chinese food, served with fork, in a nasty gelatinous sauce. The service was good though, and they filled our waterbottles up with icewater. Leduc was a strange combination of small town and suburb, as was beaumont, with it's quaint eglise on the hill. It's a very strange thing to see evidence of francophones in alberta.



We finished strong coming up 50th street with a tailwind and the drive of being close to the end at 35 kmph, and had a nice quiet ride along ada boulevard.



All told, 256 km, 8473 calories. Also... The longest weekend tour I've ever done.

Pidgeon lake training ride: part one

Me and fez rode down to pidgeon lake, a long, hard, loaded ride. 125 km, 4600 calories. I broke a drive side reasr spoke before I got out of town, my new tools and spare spokes saved the day.

What I learned today, as I arrived around 11 at the campsite, is that it is absolutely imperative to depart early. We left at 2, and that's just too late. Tomorrow, we take a different route back. Part 2 to follow.

Training rides

So, I've completed two major training rides in two weeks.

1) Edmonton to east of Smoky Lake, AB 125 KM, 30 degree dry alberta big sky heat.

2) Edmonton to Devon, AB, 100KM round trip, loaded (picnic), heavy rain in hills.

These two rides were both challenging and rewarding, as I pedalled my way across the prairie in opposite directions. Both rides had challenges provided by the weather, the first ride had ridiculous, 30+ heat. The second ride had a torrential, prairie thunderstorm.

I think, I'm confident about my strength going into this trip, it's the mechanical aspect that worries me.

From the Devonian Garden ride, before the rain started:

The Bike