Posted by: Karen | November 25, 2010

Winter Cycling Reticence

Calgary has some very dedicated cyclists. I am amazed by the bike commuters I see working their way past my bus stop to the pathway, over snow and in frigid temperatures I haven’t brought myself to endure on a bike.

Ice Jam near Calgary Pathway

Ice Jam near Calgary Pathway

This article (Go read it. I’ll wait.) about an incident on “my” river-side pathway route reinforces my desire to postpone my attempt at winter cycling a little longer. I miss my bike commute, but not enough to jeopardize my safety by riding along dark, slippery pathways that might dump me in the river.

I miss my bike commute, but not enough to wade through the mashed-potato snow covering the quiet residential streets I I’ve used instead of riverside pathways.

I miss my bike commute, but not enough to equip myself with enough cold weather gear to insulate me in anything much colder than -10°C. I’ll RUN in -15 to -20°C weather (I enjoyed 2 runs last week in -18°C). I’m just not up to riding my bike in it yet.

I’m fine with taking the bus in really cold, messy weather. I’ll bike commute when it’s fun and healthy. If it’s not, I won’t.

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Posted in Bike, Calgary, Canadian Content, Cold, Puddles, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , ,

Posted by: Karen | November 20, 2010

Edworthy Park CRR XC #55

Edworthy XC 2010 - heading out on the ridge

Edworthy XC 2010 - heading out on the ridge

Photo courtesy of the Calgary Roadrunners

Last weekend I enjoyed running my 55th CRR XC series race in a row, the 8k option at Edworthy Park.  This year there was no snow at all on the path. There was one icy patch and a puddle, but the rest was gloriously dry dirt.

I joked around with buddies at the finish that this year it would be my goal to beat the entire Women’s 60-69 age group (Julie & Barb). This sounds kind of funny coming from me in my mid-forties, but really, those women are formidable. Last year I only beat one of them, with a 70+ woman hot on my heels. This year I had all the training I did for all those 5 Peaks races under my belt, and the bike commuting wasn’t hurting either.

Julie and Barb didn’t make it easy for me. As you can see in the photo above, Julie (in the blue) is setting a decent pace, and I’m tucked in right behind her. Todd and Sarah are right behind me, followed by Barb, Carla and Karin.

We leapfrogged a few times throughout the one-hill course. The course is set on a huge north-facing, river-side slope, with switchbacks through trees and a big plateau on top. By the time we got to the puddle at the bottom I was slightly ahead of Julie. I leaped over that puddle like a ballerina en jeté and afterward joked with Julie that she’d missed her chance to get revenge for our past puddle predicament.

I walked quickly up the steepest parts, but actually managed to run up some of the hill in the first lap. Julie and Barb were still right behind me as we arrived on the plateau after the second big climb. They were so close that when Barb tripped I heard her go down (whumph!).  Julie was right behind her, but as soon as we saw she had bounced back up again we were all off running. Julie might have caught me, but her ankle turned at some point. She didn’t go down, but it slowed her. I was barely hanging on to a run at this point. I was breathing hard and trying to make a gap she couldn’t close. It was worth it. I finished with a big WOOHOO! I high-fived friends at the finish and enjoyed cheering the others in, too.

The soup and sweets back at the hall were great, and I enjoyed hanging out with the Pink Chick and friends. I love this series.

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Posted in Calgary, Running, Running Friends, XC Races

Posted by: Karen | November 16, 2010

Hello Winter, Goodbye Bike Commute

I am not equipped to ride a bike in the depth of snow that has accumulated out there, and today the temp is to drop to -12°C/ 10°F.  For the record, yesterday was bike commute #108, and might be my last for a while.

I’m looking forward to a nice, safe, warm city bus ride with Ken Follet’s World Without End.

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Posted by: Karen | November 14, 2010

Bike Wall in my Living Room

bike wall chalk board

Handy Bicycle Storage

I finally did it. After parking my bike on the floor in front of a book shelf all summer, I finally mustered the resources to build a bike wall. I bought a thin board (mdf) and coated it in metal paint (so magnets work on it) and black chalk board paint (so I can decorate it if I want). The black kind of reminds me of the bike path or the road.

I recruited some help in attaching the board to the wall with washers and screws. The help kindly also affixed two inexpensive bicycle hangers to the studs behind the wall. I don’t recommend these for heavy bikes. The light bike on top is doing just fine, but I might have to try a stronger hanger for the bottom for my heavier commuter bike.

I don’t have a garage, so this is the next best way for me to store my bikes inside. This winter if there’s a chinook and enough snow melts I can still use the commuter bike and if I want to access the triathlon bike for an indoor spin, it’s handy.

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Posted by: Karen | November 13, 2010

Race 55

 

Finishing up at Confederation Park

Finishing up at Confederation Park, courtesy of The Calgary Roadrunners

Yes, I’m still running. It is fun mentioning my bike commutes on Twitter (now up to 107 so far this year!), but I’m still a trail runner with a bike.

Last month I had a blast at the Confederation Park 3x4k relay cross country run with Sarah and Sheila. Our team was “Two Wheezes and a Tease”, since two of us had been using inhalers due to breathing challenges. We were all quite conservative in anticipating our times, but each of us surprised ourselves by doing better than we expected. It was a blast! It was a fantastic day for it. I had brought split pea soup, which was totally consumed by racers, even though it burned a little on the bottom.

My cough finally disappeared sometime in mid-October (after 6 weeks of coughing!), I’m off the inhaler now and I seem to have my normal voice back. I must remember to get the Little Runner and myself in for flu shots this fall. I do not want to be sick again for a long time.

The weather here in Calgary has been unseasonably nice for late fall, so I’ve been able to get out for weekend trail runs without having to strap on extra foot traction so far. I’m not going particularly far for the runs. One was just west of Valley Ridge for about 8 km, and last weekend we ran around Fullerton Loop near Allan Bill Pond near Bragg Creek, less than 8 km.

Aside from the weekend runs I’m running about one weeknight per week lately. Combined with the bike commuting, that’s enough cardio for now. A couple of weeks ago I ran with the Gord’s Running Store Tuesday group. Kelly kept a perfect pace for conversation and we enjoyed getting caught up on each others’ news. I’ve missed her.

I have been enjoying the use of my headlamp for more than just biking – I’ve been using it on urban trails for short evening runs. One night we bounded up and down the goat trails below Crescent Heights, on the curling club hill escarpment. I have learned don’t mind running dark trails on prairie terrain; but heavily treed, hilly, technical single track in the dark still reduces me to a fast hike. I can’t shake images of myself being impaled on a big ol’ branch.

Today I get to race the Edworthy CRR Grand Prix 8k, #55 in my Grand Prix series streak. There’s a 4k too, but I like that hill so much I’ll do it twice. If I keep repeating that to myself, I’ll believe it, right? I’m bringing soup today, too. So far in the series I’m a consistent soup-bringer (3/3). Today it’s Halloween Pumpkin soup, from the huge jack-o-lantern that we decapitated, disemboweled, mutilated, lit a fire inside, then cut up, roasted, simmered, blended, and froze. Now I’m thawing it in the microwave. Want some?

Next weekend I’m heading up to Camrose to check out a possible new route for a 5 Peaks race. It looks like fun, and we’ll visit family while we’re there. I really enjoyed the 5 Peaks races I did this summer. Since I did three of the five northern ones, I qualified for their series standings. Cool.

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Posted by: Karen | November 3, 2010

Bike Commute 100 Today

It’s 7°C and dry out there, and I have fresh batteries in my headlamp. Life is good.

The “office record” is 103 bike commutes in a calendar year. I look forward to smashing that record next week.

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Posted by: Karen | October 16, 2010

Bike Path Puzzles

It’s fun to puzzle over road markings seen while cycling. Casual cyclists see stuff that drivers don’t, and they usually get to cover more distance in an outing than runners do.

This summer some duct tape markings appeared on my bike path (NE Calgary) and it took me a couple of weeks to figure them out. I finally realized someone had marked out a 10k out & back distance, but it was cryptic. There was a beginning line, then a 1 , then a 25 with a smiley face, then 5k! Once I realized 25 was more likely 2.5 km it made sense.

That duct-tape route has a big nasty hole in it now, as the City has torn it up while they dig a new drainage pond next to the creek. There are ways around it – the official route takes riders up the very vertical 6th hill, which actually cuts 4k off my scenic easy route and gets me to work 5 minutes faster. If riders don’t want to tackle the monster-hill there is a nerve-wracking dirt single track mere inches from the curb of a busy 4-lane industrial road for one long, curving block. Sometimes I have talked myself through riding it – sometimes I don’t. At least the long grasses along the dirt path are now mowed and don’t grab my pedals.

There has been a directional drilling truck and monstrous, vehicle-sized spools of wire out along a secluded stretch of the NE pathway much of this fall. The truck was preceded by lots of surveyor’s paint with dotted lines crisscrossing the paved path. At first I thought the surveyors were marking more pathway (de)construction, but later I decided that they are drilling wiring under the pathway. I don’t know why, but I hope it’s for lighting up that dark section. I haven’t seen any light poles yet, but there are some strategically-placed holes, so I have hope.

It’s been steadily getting darker on my morning commutes. I wear reflective clothing and have reflectors on my bike, but don’t have bike lights installed yet. Early last spring I affixed my running headlamp to the top of my helmet, but it was awkward to use. Recently I’ve realized that my head lamp fits comfortably under my helmet, and I’m loving it. I set the back to flash red and have experimented with solid white or flashing white in the front. When the ride is only semi-dark I use the flasher to make myself more visible, as I don’t need the light to see the path. As it’s been getting darker I’m finding the flasher distracting and so I just keep it lit steady to actually see the path.

Confession of an inner blonde: the first morning I rode the path wearing my flashing white headlamp I noticed how some approaching riders had really cool flashing jackets. Nifty! I didn’t know you could buy jackets that flashed light like that! Then I realized that their jackets were just lighting up intermittently as the light from my lamp reflected back at me. Duh.

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Posted by: Karen | October 16, 2010

Bike Commuting and the 6th St Hill

I really, really enjoy bike commuting. I have great memories of riding my bike as a kid and teen, to school and my part-time job I wasn’t as dedicated to my bike as much then as I am lately, but it is very cool to ride so much again. I’m going to miss it when the ice comes (unless I conquer that challenge too), but until then I’ll see how much I can do.

My cough is ever so slowly easing off, and I’m feeling stronger than I was a few weeks ago. I have only been running about once a week, maybe twice, and not very far or fast, but I have ridden my bike to work every October work day so far except the 1st. I’m up to 88 rides this year; 22 more to go to achieve my goal of 100.

This week I rode all the way up a big, intimidating hill I’ve never conquered before, on 6th Street NE near the Elk’s Golf Club. Last spring when a path detour blocked my scenic, long, flat route, I tried several times to ride all the way up, but always ended up walking at some point. It’s STEEP. In September I was going to try it again, especially because now there’s another challenging detour on the NE bike path, but I got sick and put it off.

Wednesday morning this week gave the monster-hill a half-hearted go, knowing that I would likely get off and walk halfway up, and sure enough I did. At the same time I realized that it didn’t seem so hard to get halfway up as usual, and decided to set my mind to getting as far as I could the next day. What do you know, Thursday morning I just rode all the way up. It didn’t hurt. My lungs didn’t explode. I didn’t look at the top and just took it a couple of meters at a time. Friday I did it again, just to prove to myself it still wasn’t too hard. Yahoo!

Friday it began to snow as I was just getting to work. It snowed big flakes like crazy later that morning, but it all melted in afternoon sunshine and the roads were almost dry by the time I headed home. If I cycle to work on a day when a blizzard makes it unsafe to ride home, I’ll just leave my bike at work (take the bus home) and ride the bike home another day. Eventually when the weather makes it unsafe for me to ride I hope to run to work and home again a couple of times a week.

I like getting my exercise in during commutes. It beats getting up too early or cutting into weeknight evenings. It beats waiting for the bus. It really beats driving in rush hour and paying for parking. When I get home I’m done – I can change into comfy clothes and relax.

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Posted by: Karen | October 16, 2010

Three Weekends, Three Races

This fall I have enjoyed three races so far, although I only “raced” one.

Four weeks ago Little Runner and I walked the 5k route of the Calgary Terry Fox Run together. It was a rainy day (like a lot of September days were this year), so we brought our umbrellas and mittens. In his epic quest three decades ago Terry had run in the rain with one leg – we could certainly walk in it.  I don’t go to a lot of big fundraising races – I often find the hype a bit much – but the attitude at the Terry Fox Run is cool. No set race fee or goodie bags, just donate or raise what funds you can and run what you can. If you want to buy a t-shirt, that’s up to you. Pre-register on-line or sign up on race day. Collect a sticker and a ribbon, write a loved one’s name on a bib and come back next year.

The last weekend in September we drove to Devon to spend some time with John Vezina and his darling M again. I took the Friday off to do some things around the house and pack and travel. Saturday John and I ran the 5 Peaks race in the river valley close to his home. It was a gorgeous day, with all the trees turning colours and it was just warm enough for comfortably running in shorts and short sleeves. My mom & step-dad came to cheer me on, and we chatted with other racers I’d met at other northern 5 Peaks races this summer.

John started early with the half marathoners and we Enduro distance runners (14.?k distance) started 30 minutes later. John had warned me about the steepness of some of the climbs and he was right, the course is brutal! He also told me I’d love the descents, which I did indeed. I let out a lot of woohoos! and oh joy, it was a double loop course so I got to do it all again a second time. My cough didn’t bother me a whole lot when I ran – I’d been coughing for two weeks by then  – but it still took me almost two hours to cover 14+ km. It was a good day. We hung out by the river and sopped up the scenery. John received his first 5 Peaks age group medal ever. Yay John!

I continued to ride my bike to work throughout September until the Tuesday after that 5 Peaks race . By then the head cold had hit hard on top of the cough and I went to the doctor. She told me to take it easy for a few days until she had a chance to look at my chest x-rays, but that it was likely an allergic reaction in my lungs. Now I have an inhaler for 2-4 weeks. I was not happy about putting off bike commutes as the weather was beautiful, but I wanted to kick the cough.

The first weekend in October (3 days after seeing the Dr.) I kind of walked the River Park Classic short course. It was my 53rd race in my streak of CRR Grand Prix races, so I wasn’t missing it for anything. I woke up early and cooked up a Squashed Apple Citrus soup and baked a batch of brownies for the dessert table. It was the nicest, sunniest, warmest day we’d had in weeks, so I donned triathlon shorts and my Calgary Roadrunners singlet. I had said I would take it easy, so I only jogged the first km or so and after that walked with gentle outbreaks of running in between. We got to wade through the Elbow river twice, which was a total blast. The river was deeper and the current was stronger than when I’ve done this race before, but crossing it both ways was a blast. With all my trail running this summer I had been looking forward to totally kicking butt at this race, but it was not to be. I was gentle on myself and there will be other chances to kick butt very soon.

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Posted by: Karen | October 16, 2010

Runs, Autumn and Bike Storage

Last Saturday I got to run with a group on trails I’d never seen in the west end of Fish Creek Park, in the far south of Calgary. We ran for about an hour and then roasted smokies over a fire for lunch. I enjoyed letting loose on the north-facing slopes through the trees, where every climb up promised a joyful bound down. Whee! I still coughed a bit, but I think the run helped exorcise some of the gunk from my lungs, as I felt much better the next day than I had after runs in previous weeks. It was a beautiful, sunny day and just the right temperature for a trail run and picnic.

That afternoon Little Runner and I went to a garden store nearby and then to Canadian Tire in search of orange pumpkin garbage bags. We bought some bike hangers for a bike wall I’m building in my living room. We raked up all the decaying crab apples and leaves in my yard and now have 4 big cute bags of leaves smiling at passersby.

Sunday Little Runner/Mermaid and I went swimming and enjoyed it thoroughly. We may get on each other’s nerves during the week (teenage hormones, eh?), but playing in the pool is always a blast.

Monday I went to Totem and bought a big thin sheet of mdf board and paint for my living room bike wall. I painted four coats of metal paint so magnets will stick to it. Today I’m adding a final top coat of chalk board paint. The chalk board paint reminds me of an old headboard my Grandpa Hoybak made into a chalk board when I was a kid. Next I hope to cut the board to size (it’s 4-5 inches too long) and mount it and the bike hangers on the wall opposite my desk in the living room. Once it’s up I’ll decorate it and post some pics.

Thursday evening I went for a head-lamp run. About a third of it was along well-lit sidewalks, another third was on partially lit pathway, and the rest was on an un-lit single-track dirt path. It felt good, I had great company and kept a decent pace. It always feels like I can run faster in the dark; maybe it’s because I’m so focused on my next steps and not how darn long it’s taking to get somewhere I’m not yet.

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