Training Log Archive: OutdoorsMama

A very technical out and back to Recollect Falls at French River Provincial Park.
Also checked out the snowmobile bridge over the French River and the big snowmobile trail map beside it. I wonder how much of the trail system is rideable by mountain bike? Oh yeah, there's a race that often tackles that question .... :)

C • We don't even care whether it's rideable! 2

Checked out the Mt Ramsey trail at the conservation area that adjoins the Laurentian University Campus. It is a snowshoe trail in the winter (as opposed to other trails there that are XC ski trails). Quite technical (loved it!) with many roots and rocks (it would take a couple feet of packed down snow to make it somewhat "smooth" for snowshoeing). Nice view from the top of the smelter stacks, the taller buildings at the university campus, and acres and acres of bush and lakes.

Once I got back to the parking lot, I saw a sign, warning of recent bear sightings. D'oh!

http://dontgetlost.ca/index.php/raid-the-hammer

This event requires a team of three. And since I won't be watching teenaged boys play hockey on weekend afternoons this fall..... anyone interested in tackling the hills of Hamilton with me?

C • I sooooooooo want to be in running shape for Raid the Hammer one year 4

Yin yoga. Hips were the focus today.

My son humoured me with one last mountain bike ride at the flowy Black Oaks park in Windsor. He is fearless. Oh, to be 18 years old.

9 holes golf with a fun bunch from work. Best Ball format really is a good way to play :)

Today was supposed to be The Last Round Of Golf With The Family before Milton goes away to university. A 40% chance of showers turned into a 100% chance of thunderstorms, so we were called off the golf course after 4 holes. Bummer. I doubt the three of us will be able to use the rain checks, unless all the planets align at Thanksgiving.

So I had extra time to prepare a special supper (homemade linguine, homemade tomato sauce with roma tomatoes from the Nona of one of his best friends, homegrown roasted garlic on a baguette (but I didn't make the bread this time), with a double batch of tiramisu for dessert).

Paul and I wanted to ride some hills so planned an early departure for Lowell, to ride the 50+ mile race route. Showers then rain were forecasted for what we thought would be the last bit of the ride.....no biggie...I packed my fenders. En route, he realized that he had forgotten the bag of electolytes/GUs/bars that he had carefully packed for us. So we slipped into a sports store to re-supply and got some wifi.....and I could see that the 45% chance of showers at 2 pm had turned into 80-100% chance of rain now, until 2 pm. I guess the drought is over. We aren't wimps......we have ridden in November rain, and in warm summer rains (in races and when caught on the way home), but based on the track of the storm, I could see that if we rode north of Clarkston, we would now be good until 3 or 4 pm, which would be fine. Let's say it would save some bike cleaning/wear on the transmission! And less driving.

I have wanted to ride north of Clarkston with Paul since I did an AR there, umm, 5 or so years ago. We found lots of gravel hills, as we roughly retraced some of the route from that AR, including ducking into the southern end of Holly State Rec Area via an unofficial path. Quiet roads.....mostly quite smooth. I really notice how different my CX bike is to handle vs my gravel/touring bike....the shorter wheelbase is noticible (the gravel/touring bike is in for a tune-up). Those hills are not nearly as big as the bigger Barry Roubaix hills, but there are more of them. A really good ride. Paul wants to go back and do another route through that area. And I'm not arguing. Many more hills than what we get if we drive that distance east into Ontario.

It started to pour as we put the bikes back on the vehicle. Woodfired pizza was next. And a stop at the bike shop. They had a Salsa Warbird...."the" bike of the Dirty Kanza....the bike I lust after right now.. As usual, the floor model was too big for me......so a discussion about bikes followed......I think they were trying to sell me a carbon 2016 Specialized Crux, explaining how it was priced so differently than the Warbird. Since my husband and I are both in sales, we like to see how people try to sell stuff to us. They never asked us what kind of riding we do, nor what kind of bikes we have now (and I had two big chain ring grease marks on my leg from today's ride). They were telling us how gravel riding is so much better than road riding (duh, yes!). Then I finally got a word in and said we had done the 100 mile Dirty Kanza, and suddenly, it was declared that the Salsa Warbird *was* the bike to go with, citing comfort on those l-o-n-g rides. No, I didn't order one on the spot :). But Paul and I chuckled a few times as to how his tune changed, once he got one tidbit out of me. Really nice people and a nicely stocked store (a couple pairs of merino Swiftwick socks made it into our gear bags) (their fall gravel ride is now on our to-do list), but their sales technique will come up for discussion at our next training session for new sales reps.

C • Route? 2