2 days in Amit's office, big back packing bike trip in Kananaskis
2 days in Amit's office. There will always be a reason to go out in an adventure and explore this beautiful country. Andy and Amit are always game for a loooooong adventure mountain bike ride so this year we planned an overnight at the ranger’s cabin in Tombstone. We started from Station flats and climbed up Sugar Daddy, went down Snake and Ladders, up RidgeBack and Moose Packers. The down hill on Shaft was fast ! Up we went on the Husky road to Loamzilla (yes, we pretty much raced to the top which I realized on day 2 that it was a bad idea…) The downhill from Loamzilla is technical and steep (very steep). Powderface ridge was a challenge, Amit wasn't feeling well and I carried his backpack all the way to the top and down to Elbow, but that is what friends are for ::--)). He then started to feel better and we both slowly tried to catch up to Andy who was on fire pursuing the KOM of Little Elbow !!! He got it, we didn't have anything left after 3,000 mts of elevation gain in a 9 hours day.
Since we were officially volunteering with a Conservation Officer we got permission to stay in the log cabin. Amit has previously sent a cooler full of food for the night. We had steaks, rice, beers, chips, chocolate, tea, etc etc etc.. and after a good long chat we pulled the pin and went to sleep in the sleeping bags.
The temperature dropped to 0 degrees overnight, but inside the cabin was good. Next day we were up at 6:30am, lots to do before we could continue the ride. Between cleaning the cabin, cooking and eating breakfast we spent at least 3 hours ! At around 9:20 we headed out, pants, jackets, toque, gloves, all these to realize that it was way too hot already. Immediately we dropped all those layers and pedal away from Tombstone to Hwy40.
The descent to Peter Lougheed was nice and fast ! From there we rode a bit of the spray lakes road to the trailhead of High Rockies (first time for me riding this trail) phenomenal to say the least. Amazing burms, flowy trails, suspension bridge, rocky sections and an unbelievable 5 kms of xc ski trails ""infected"" with Grizzly Bears !!
Two hours before the end of the ride I was already looking forward to hit pavement, we pretty much spent the last 2 days on single track (166KMS). I lost my mojo and was mentally and physically tired. We got to Canmore at around 4:30 pm, loaded the bikes in Andy’s truck and had a quick snack to replenish to salt in our systems.
I drove home quickly since the kids have been waiting for me all day long to go camping, loaded the trailer and headed out to Waterton for the weekend.....
It is Monday now, fully recovered, and ready for the next adventure !!!
























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