Managed to sneak in a full weekend of riding with a good friend, Jarrod Forrest. It was two of the coldest days so far this winter. After our mid-winter melt, smelling spring in the air and dusting off the gravel bike, frosty was quick to return, with a vengeance, I might add.
Day 1 - Saturday, 3pm to 7pm
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| She was crispy out!! |
Snow surface conditions were absolutely perfect! It was go-anywhere style riding. I arrived at Jarrod's later in the afternoon on Saturday, around 2pm. We immediately geared up and left from his place. The plan was to do 50km, in a loop. It was breezy and about -15C before the windchill and had to be close to -30C with the wind.
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| LAUF Carbonara fork coming in handy for these bulletproof conditions. |
Our Saturday loop started out on some road. I stopped a few kms in to pump up the tires. I felt squishy and slow. The added air helped dramatically. We veered left onto the gravel and right away things felt warmer. The hills helped with the 'warmer' bit. We climbed up Mt St Patrick, an Irish community between Calabogie and Dacre, where we pulled into the Holy Well, to, well...warm up...
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| The Holy Well was a little soaked |
Kenelly Mtn Road was the crux of this ride. A long and dragged out gravel climb that steepened near its peak. We hung out on top, at the new cell tower for about 5 seconds. Worth it. The descent was eyeball popping, meaning that my eyeballs froze and then popped outta my head as if cherry bombs had been inserted into them. Favorite part for sure.
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| Finishing off the ride. Full moon ahead. |
The remainder of the ride had us blinking red as we approached sundown and moon-up. Gravel road lead to some inconsistent skidoo trail, to more gravel and then the final few kms of pavement bringing us full circle and back to Jarrod's warm and cozy fireplace. The evening was short but sweet, as we guzzled a brew-dog at the
+Calabogie Brewing Company in the Village of Calabogie. Highly recommend the Campfire stir fry. Filling with a hint of spice.
We also drained a whitewaterbeer.ca/ seasonal, the Straight Outta Cobden. Just enough 'hoppiness', for a red ale. I could have a few, but not tonite, not with what lies ahead for tomorrow.
Day 2 - Sunday, 10:30am to 2pm
Sunday's ride was a little more on the tolerable scale whereas Saturday coulda went sideways pretty fast should something epic had gone done, like a big crash or major mechanical. Saturday I worked all AM at the College and arrived at Jarrod's a little foggy from presenting to 70+ for two hours, but the ride helped clear my head.
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| K&P Rail Trail - the ice highway |
Studs would be nice to have on sections like the above. Note the lake beside Jarrod and note that there isn't much difference between where he is riding the lake ice! It was fast going with the odd HOLY SHIT moment. With the eyeballs just-a watering, some sections were shaded and pure ice. Some ice was smooth, which could still hurt but at least you slide whereas other ice sections were rutted from skidoo/Atv traffic. Those sections would rip you to pieces. Luckily we managed to keep the rubber side down.
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| Wood section |
We stopped at an intersection not far after chatting with a group of ATV'ers in Flower Station. We decided to take a right onto Fish Creek Road as it showed a promising route back towards Barrett Chute Dam and familiar territory to Jarrod. The road had been plowed in last weeks warmer weather and we ended up riding through a recent logging operation. A misleading right hander took us 1 km off route but we quickly found the entrance to the funnest terrain yet.
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| Open creeks kept us on our toes |
Animal tracks abound everywhere and we were having such a great time in the woods, on the old logging trails, rolling through the dips and twists, wondering if we'd eventually sink our front end into a depression only to not ever see it again. Jarrod proved that the latter could happen, as he flipped himself over the bars, gracefully I might add, as the ice cover hole he rode into slowly gave way and his front tire disappeared - (no pics unfortunately) .
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| Bomber conditions in the wooded sections. |
From Fish Creek Road to Barrett Chute was the best where our fatbikes shined! Some open creeks had us tiptoeing lightly over the open rocks to avoid soaked feet in -15C weather. The sun shone throughout the ride and we both felt great, even though the majority of climbing would happen in the last third of this route. We both enjoy climbing so it was to no avail that smiles remained on our faces even while grinding our way up.
+SpecializedCanada
+Lauf Forks
+Specialized Bicycles
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