I tried my best to squeeze some riding into the last bit of fall we had left. September left me with an awesome high and I was feeling at the top of my game. Sections that had troubled me a couple of months earlier passed by without even elevating my heart rate. I knew it was coming, freezing in my hammock in the morning in the Cataract Area was an indication that I should probably stick to doing daytrips from home. But I had some new objectives, and I was able to dial in a couple of technical trails.
Just as in spring when I found myself clinging to ski season, I now find myself clinging to bike season. But it is time to let go as I have a big winter ahead of me.
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| Bill, too fast for my camera. I had cleaned some sections of this trail that I did not even think I had the capabilities of doing. I returned a week or two later and rode with even more confidence and cleaned even more sections. |
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| I found some other trails to ride that have always been there, but I didn't even know about! |
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| Riding some classics that I didn't get around to doing this summer. |
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| Snow at higher elevations. It is probably time to stick to lower trails. |
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| That is more like it! |
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| I love Minnewanka. Fast and flowy. For an old school trail, it has way more flow and allows you to carry speed better than many purpose built trails with similar goals. They must have known something back then that they don't know now! |
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| I wanted to do at least one ABA cup CX race this year to see how things were. Pretty normal finish for me, 9th (1 off the 'mid pack payback') after a not so good start, so I'm happy with that. |
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| Ah, but who said the alpine was done for the season! |
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| Why not some rock climbing too? The weather is nice! |
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| Night rides are a great way to cram as much riding as possible before the snow comes. |
I just came back from what was supposed to be an easy road ride to Banff and back. There was snow on the ground and the roads were wet, but I was enjoying it. Then the wet snow started to come down, and I started to freeze. I had to pin it back from Banff to stay warm and so I could get home faster.
