Long Weekends

A good week at work means not a good week for riding until the weekend. Spring has come even if the snow line is still low on the North Shore and I took the long way home via Simon Fraser University on Burnaby Mountain Thursday night enjoying daylight savings. The Trans Canada trail runs across the mountain and connects to my normal commuting route at the southern end of the Second Narrows Bridge. I was on my road bike and it was a good steady climb. I decided to take the Trans Canada trail down the hill instead of the road as I wanted to come back for a mountain bike ride on the weekend. My road bike still has the bomber kevlar tires that were purchased for the Kootenay tour last fall and I had no worries about being on packed gravel travel. The last pitch down to the road was quite steep and sore forearms from braking forced me to stop three times. In all the taking the long way home made Thursday's commute 45 km instead of the standard 26 km.

View towards downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park from Burnaby Mtn.

I went back to Burnaby Mtn Friday afternoon for a solo dirt ride. There are about 10 road kilometers to get to the trail. I was waiting at a stoplight and the guy in the low-to-the-ground convertible pulled forward and started talking to me. It took a couple of iterations before I realized he asked me "How do you get to the top of the trails?" and took me even longer to figure out he hadn't considered pedaling uphill. Odd. Vancouver is mostly a downhill and shuttle kind of town, but riding to the top of a trail shouldn't be a novelty. At the top of Burnaby Mountain there was a father/son duo getting in training miles for an upcoming Moab trip. Lucky guys. We rode the first bit of the Mels and Nicole's Pole trails together, but the father was on a hardtail.... This was my first time riding Burnaby Mtn clipped in, without armor, without a full face helmet, and without the guys from work. I have to say that the Enduro is a much happier bike clipped in than with platforms. It was nice to ride my own pace and not feel pressured to session the ramps and jumps. More a cross country instead of downhill frame of mind. Nicole's pole is a good intermediate trail for descending and there are ride-arounds on most all of the stunts. I climbed back to the top of Burnaby Mtn and took the wide, easy, swoopy Pandora trail back to the Trans Canada. All told it was about 3.5 hours round trip and 40 km (according to Google Earth).

Part of the Trans Canada trail

Saturday's ride was a late start after another trip to the physio. damn knees. Then the fiddling with the NEW ROAD BIKE getting the water bottle cages, the computer, and other bits set up. I hate fiddly things. But the Orbea was amazing. The downside is I've become that person. The person with too much money and a bike that is better than she is! My legs where tired from yesterday's ride but the bike was mocking me! It kept encouraging one more push to Horseshoe Bay, then why not go all the way down to White Cliff Park? How about a little out and back along Jericho Beach? Well, if you're already this far out, why not go all the way around UBC? So Saturday's ride turned into 100 kms at a decent speed. The one vegan cliff bar provided insufficient calories and I had to make brownies Saturday night. Yes, that is butter melting on the warm, homemade, fudgey brownies.


The appeal of the Orbea was shared by others. Three different people (not cyclists) cat-called when I rode by. That never happened with on the Trek. Odd. Because, honestly, spandex isn't sexy. Neither are bike helmets and neoprene booties. Maybe the bike's appeal will be so great that I'll actually find people to ride with! Or maybe a guy with great legs who will take me cycling every weekend and wash my bikes....

View of my bike storage, I mean, dining room.