have been talking about trying downhill, for a number of reasons...1. "Cross-country" biking in Alberta tends to involve a looong period of uphill climbing, followed by a short but sweet downhill ride...I'm not the greatest uphill biker at the best of times, and I never have quite gotten my mountain legs figured out, leaving me huffing and puffing and walking my bike up the hills while everyone waits for me...not so much fun! 2. Downhill bikers ride big, fat bikes, and by the nature of the speeds of their sport, tend to wear all sorts of protective equipment: arm and shin guards, full helmets, and some of the smarter ones wear full chest and back protection. Downhill or not: this seems like a pretty smart idea to me! Besides, it looks very cool too... ;)Needless to say, Dave gave in to my constant speculation that I would be so much more "hard core" if I could only try downhill biking. It came as no surprise that: I am still not very hard core, nor am I very fast, nor does taking the chairlift up the hill stop me from getting tired on the way DOWN the hill, but it was a great day nonetheless. I liked having dual suspension: my fat bike would go over absolutely anything, although it took me a little bit to actually trust this fact...I loved not having to pedal uphill; in fact you don't have to pedal much at all, and your feet aren't clipped in, making for an easy escape at any time...Dave was of course great at the whole thing; riding "skinnies" and catching "sweet air" on a few jumps. We were both amazed at how technical some of these runs are: amazed that anyone can actually be that good (or fearless!)! I managed to make it down a handful of reasonably technical hills, with no major fractures or scrapes, just a few sore muscles and bones (my wrists are actually sore from rubbing against the wristguards!)!
I'm not sure if it helped that we went for a brief x-country ride in town (Fernie--Ridgemont) on Saturday: it was sooo hot out, and I was terrified of bears every time Dave pointed out a raspberry bush...We made a quick exit, but I'll admit to being a bit of a whiner on that ride...making Sunday's downhill that much more rewarding I guess...
Anyway, that's probably our last little adventure out here for a while, as we are heading back to Ontario on Friday for a vacation: we are looking forward to a packed schedule of laying on the dock with the babies in Bobcaygeon, trying out Adam and Val's boat, laying on the dock with the crew in Muskoka, then sailing away with the Brewins before checking out Tara and Joe's boat in Turkey Point, and finally celebrating at Som and Kerry's wedding with the Toronto folks. It promises to be a great couple of weeks...now we just have to make it through a few more work days!
Looking at Dave through the "window" in the tree on "Powercarve"
and me riding past a huge tree on "Hollow Trees"Dave wears his "doo-rag" to protect his head from his gross sweaty helmet (rental)
I'm looking at the narrow dropoff trail that I DIDN"T ride down (especially in spandex! haha...)
A handsome boy I met on the patio...
Some tall people at our hotel...
This chick is a bit of a "poser"...
1 comment:
Awesome blog you guys! I totally love reading it every day and knowing what you're up to! Keep it up!
;)
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