Riding for 60

It was a fabulous day for a training ride - the sun was out, the birds were singing, the wind was somewhat behaving...

I left the house at 9am, intent on making 60 km today. The longest ride so far had been 50 with quite a few 30-40 km rides in between And, I was doing hills today as most of my rides had been on only mild hills within the confines of Spruce Grove - the city - rather than north into the real hills. With only 48 days until THE RIDE, hills are becoming more important.

I headed west towards the forest of Spruce Grove, zooming through the trees and enjoying the cool of the woods. Perpetually damp, the forest always smells of pine and rotting wood - I love it! I popped out on McLeod Ave and turned north, aiming for the hills of Campsite Rd. As I crossed 16 (The Yellowhead), I had already made 8 km and now the hills began. I was planning a stop at a friend's house for a quick hello along the way. The thing I love about MapMyRide.com is the km counter on the map and the verbal announcement of time & distance traveled. When I look back, I can see that from the distance from 16 to Lorraine's road is 8 km - 8 KM OF HILL! That's right, up, up, up, all the way for 8km. riding it didn't feel that far when I think about it and I had to do the translation to miles to understand it - 5 MILES. I rode 5 miles uphill all the way. Back in the old days it was uphill both ways but these days, if you go uphill, you get to come back down hill if you turn around.

A brief stop-in at Lorraine's house to say "Hi, I've ridden 15 km and I've got 45 more to go", a hug (and a caring "Ho-lee"), and I was out the door, on my way again. I continued west until I found Range Road 275. The plan had been to head south and then west again to 779 and Chickakoo so I'm not sure what possessed me to turn north until I reached the Villeneuve Highway. At the stop, I contemplated what was ahead of me - a hill, a dirt road hill. But, it was the top of the world. I could see that it was the top. I wanted to go to the top!! And so I kicked Sadie into 4x4 and off we went, up the hill.

There is something about being on top of the world with nowhere to go but down on either side. And I suppose I suffer a bit from curiosity - I needed to know what was up there & to say, "I made it to the top". I'm glad that I did as I found that at the top there were fantastic views and an eroded bank with a large birds nest built into the side. Something different that I'd not seen yet on any of my rides around Spruce & Stony.

Now, as enjoyable as an downhill dirt 4x4 ride can be, I opted to turn around and head back to paved ground. Arriving at the Villeneuve Highway once again, I turned east. I've never ridden to Villeneuve before and I knew that The Melan Heads (another Enbridge team) was riding that way today so I was hoping to either catch up with them or see them coming the other way. Off I went past fields, and fields, and cows, and fields. The road is rolling hills all the way down into Villeneuve and although I passed a bike group heading the other way, it was not The Melan Heads. It may have been Target the Tour - a group that trians for Le Tour D'Alberta (something I'm considering for next year).

And along came the second interesting site of the day: An airplane in the middle of a field...

First thought? "Uh, what happened here? Did it have a forced landing or something? Is everything okay? Oh, gosh, I hope nothing bad happened.". Being from a more populous area of the world before moving to Alberta, I've never seen an airplane parked in the middle of a field ON PURPOSE! I soon discovered this was the Villeneuve Airport and I can only guess that the plane lives in the field. Weird.

Arriving at Villeneuve proper, I noticed that there was construction ahead and decided that a turn around before the traffic circle was in order. I made note of the sign that said St. Albert is only another 8 km east of Villenueve and have already planned to ride there next weekend. That should get me up to 80 km with the additional 16km round trip and I'm sure I can find 4km more in Spruce Grove to ride before heading out that way.

Riding uphill west towards Spruce Grove & Campsite Road, I again passed the mystery group of cyclists and then another 15 minutes later, The Melan Heads rolled my way! I waved. hooted, and hollered, receiving a couple hollers back as we passed in opposite directions. Such fun to have amazing bikey energy on a ride!

Rolling south down Campsite road, I enjoyed a much needed break by coasting a good deal of the way as I knew I'd have another 10-15 km to go once I returned to Spruce Grove proper. As the day was getting quite warm, I opted for a ride back the way I had come, through the coolness of the forest but turning north on MFT to swoop under the bridge and check out the new wooden bridge that will one day connect Jesperdale to the forest trails. I dismounted and walked across as this section is still incomplete - perhaps by fall...

As I rode down Longview Drive and again turned south, I hit the park on the north side of Grove Drive just west of King Street and the unthinkable happened... CRAMPS! My inner thighs have a bad habit of holding cramp fests during particularly difficult or long rides. It took 10 minutes of riding gingerly, extending the right leg whenever possible and dropping down to a very low gear to get the cramping to stop enough to continue my ride. I had 5 km to go, afterall!!! And I was determined to complete it! I took a quick spin through The Secret Park, looped over to Century Drive and up Ghiry's favorite Wiggly Trail before I had enough km's on the tracker. It was an amazing ride!

Stay tuned for 80 km this coming weekend.