My first Cochrane Hill ride!

Well, well, well. I think I saw sunshine for a bit this last week. Allllllllmost summer. Let biking begin!

That is pretty much the jist of the last couple of weeks. Since we have been getting some nice weather I have been taking the bike to work for a good 12km ride each way. I know, nothing crazy, but have you tried biking through downtown Calgary in rush hour with clip ins? Not cool. Luckily I haven't been hit yet, actually, I haven't even had any close calls yet either. Don't jinx it.
The paths to work after I get out of downtown are alright, at best. Rutted pavement from tree roots underneath, a 20km / hour speed limit, and creeps along the river make up the worst parts. I'm actually surprised I haven't got a ticket yet. I hear the bylaw people are out and about. I would actually get two tickets, one for speeding, and one for no bell. Who actually puts a bell on a time trial bike anyway? More weight to carry, right? I'm pretty good about slowing down and letting people know I am passing, but that is still a ticket. How much is a no bell ticket? Anyone know?

As for Sunday, Leslie and I made our way to Rocky Ridge and biked out to Cochrane. It was windy. Really windy. We went through Cochrane, then turned North on the Horse Creek Road which is part of the Calgary Ironman bike course I'm doing in August. I wanted to check it out so we went a ways, turned and started home. The road is kind of shitty to say the least. Rough, dirty and hilly. I think next time we are going to do the whole loop backwards and end up a Ghost Lake where the swim will be. On the way home I got my first taste of climbing the Cochrane hill. It sucks. Enough said. I did do it seated the whole way, but got into my real easy gear pretty quickly. We cruised back into town with what was left of the dying wind at our backs going about 40km / hour. When we finished it was a 2 hour 39 minute ride, 64.36km, average speed 24.22km/hour with lots of climbing, and a max speed of 61.54 km/hour.

In the past 13 days, I have now rode my bike on 11 of them. I have done 10 hours and 39 minutes, so almost hitting about 1hour a day average! Not too bad for a newbie.

This weekend is going to be a busy one as well. I actually have two 5km races to run. On Saturday morning is the Rattler Run in Medicine Hat. We did this one last year and Leslie got a 3rd place medal so she was insistent on doing it again, which is fair, I would too! Sunday morning is the Calgary Police Half Marathon and 5km run. I have done this one for the last 4 years and like it. I will go hard in Medicine Hat, then use the Calgary one to recover and enjoy a jog with the 15 people from the gym that are doing it as well. Should be a good time!

Hopefully I will have my computer back soon as well then I can upload some pictures of my new bike and of some rides. I am still using Leslie's loner work one now!

L8R

Grizz.

Oh yeah, I get to ride by the zoo when I bike to work and see real grizzly bears on a regular basis. Kind of neat, huh?