Water Valley loop 2014
Well, another year went by and the Water Valley loop had to be done ! this year, with less training (probably due to the fact that I now have 3 kids !!), anyway, I didn't want to miss this great group ride and despite I couldn't chat much while pedaling this time, it was a great ride.
Big group this time departing from Cadence, however the weather wasn't as nice as years before and forced lots of people on this group to get extracted from the ride along the way.
Riding to Water Valley wasn't that bad, few crashes due to icy roads, but no one hurt.
When we got to WV the coffee shop was closed, so had to hit the Saloon (which has nice food, but the service is slow...). right after that we left for the second leg of the ride (really hard section ahead of us). As soon as we hit the gravel section (next 60+kms I knew it was going to be a hard ride.... The gravel was to soft due to all the snow melting that it was very hard to pedal.
The group split really quick and Kate was on a mission to get back to Calgary, so off she went. I was hoping "hoping" to catch her at the top of the climb, but it was mission impossible. I managed to passed Trev and Erik as they were sorting out some mechanical issues, I did not want to stop because I felt that if I was with the group soon enough I was going to be left in the back, so I decided to keep moving. Descending the harold creek section of the road was tricky, very wet and muddy (even snow). I managed to re-group with Jeff, Geff, Dallas and Jay in the hwy 40 intersection where the 59km mark to Cochrane is pretty shocking :--)). I told them I needed to keep going so that I could find cellular signal to call Maria and ask her to pick me up in Cochrane (the plan was to get her pick me up and drive back to pick up Andrea, but Andrea managed to get a drive to Cochrane and I didn't know that until I saw Cindy).
Just before hwy1A I saw Cincy and Ashley pulled over with a SUV full of food and all sort of things (cookies, pop, etc), that was the best Coke I have ever had !!! thanks a lot to Erik for arranging this surprise. I kept riding and just before Cochrane Maria picked me up.
I never like the idea of dropping out, however without nanny for the entire day my arrangement with Maria was to meet at Cochrane if I wasn't home by 6pm, that way instead of her been stuck at home with the three kids at least she could drive along and make the babies fall sleep in the van. I hope this year I can ride this loop again with slightly better conditions. Now, just getting ready for my trip to Florida with the kids tomorrow morning..
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Big group this time departing from Cadence, however the weather wasn't as nice as years before and forced lots of people on this group to get extracted from the ride along the way.
Riding to Water Valley wasn't that bad, few crashes due to icy roads, but no one hurt.
When we got to WV the coffee shop was closed, so had to hit the Saloon (which has nice food, but the service is slow...). right after that we left for the second leg of the ride (really hard section ahead of us). As soon as we hit the gravel section (next 60+kms I knew it was going to be a hard ride.... The gravel was to soft due to all the snow melting that it was very hard to pedal.
The group split really quick and Kate was on a mission to get back to Calgary, so off she went. I was hoping "hoping" to catch her at the top of the climb, but it was mission impossible. I managed to passed Trev and Erik as they were sorting out some mechanical issues, I did not want to stop because I felt that if I was with the group soon enough I was going to be left in the back, so I decided to keep moving. Descending the harold creek section of the road was tricky, very wet and muddy (even snow). I managed to re-group with Jeff, Geff, Dallas and Jay in the hwy 40 intersection where the 59km mark to Cochrane is pretty shocking :--)). I told them I needed to keep going so that I could find cellular signal to call Maria and ask her to pick me up in Cochrane (the plan was to get her pick me up and drive back to pick up Andrea, but Andrea managed to get a drive to Cochrane and I didn't know that until I saw Cindy).
Just before hwy1A I saw Cincy and Ashley pulled over with a SUV full of food and all sort of things (cookies, pop, etc), that was the best Coke I have ever had !!! thanks a lot to Erik for arranging this surprise. I kept riding and just before Cochrane Maria picked me up.
I never like the idea of dropping out, however without nanny for the entire day my arrangement with Maria was to meet at Cochrane if I wasn't home by 6pm, that way instead of her been stuck at home with the three kids at least she could drive along and make the babies fall sleep in the van. I hope this year I can ride this loop again with slightly better conditions. Now, just getting ready for my trip to Florida with the kids tomorrow morning..
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