When sixty-six was ninety-two.

Went out for my third road ride of the year yesterday with Simon, who is in training for an Iron Man triathlon. He selected a route from his house that heads out to Cochrane then does a quick loop past Big Hill Springs before returning. '66 km' he said - so I thought 'fine, one bottle of water, no food needed'. Big Mistake. We (I was there, so have to take some blame) missed a turning (which I wasn't aware we were looking for) northwest of Cochrane and ended up waaaaay north of our intended route. This then meant returning up the big hill out of Cochrane, which started at 72 km on the odometer (and ended at 75.5 km). Total distance: 92 km, averaging somewhere over 26 km/h. Man, my legs and backside were aching afterwards! Two things of interest happened during the ride: I met a guy from Wednesfield, England (not many of us ex-Wulfrunians out here), and I noticed the sparkling azure of the Ghost Reservoir in the distance so could plan the next day's kayak trip. Another mistake in the making....

Cycling: Plummer's Road, Millarville and Priddis loops

The weather station was reading 21 C at lunch time today, and so we headed out for our second ride of the year, just south of Calgary. There are a couple of nice loops that we've found out that way; one is 24 km and the second is 36 km. Neither of us are cycling well after a long winter lay-off, but the roads are good and the scenery is spectacular, so it was a good run. The roads are very straight and the surfaces excellent - I've done nothing in the UK to compare really - they make highways differently out here. One thing that is sobering is the lack of pubs...I'd have loved a pint at the end of my ride. I did notice a nice looking bistro place in Priddis (where for some reason all the kids ride on the left), that might be factored into a ride soon, though. Unfortunately the weather is not really playing: today I read that Professor Falls has collapsed (I had a plan for a sneaky last climb of the season in May), but the forecast for Thursday is a high of 0 C. That's just wrong.....