400km with Dave and Calvin

Was behind on my KM, so rode the river pathway from downtown, to Canyon Meadows and back north to Joey's Only on Macleod Trail.  33km in total; my longest ride this year.  Highwood pass was 36km, but I had over an hour rest at the summit, it really was two 18km rides.

Dave & Calvin came along, they had a much longer ride as they had at least 10km to get back home.

So I made the 400km goal by the end of May, not with much time or km to spare, but made it.  Next is to hit the 500km mark on the Goat Creek ride this Sat.

Should be good to hit 800km by end of June.

- Peace

Highwood Pass May 2016

Feeling amazing about this years Highwood Pass run.  Last year it killed me.  Just over 3 hours to climb the ~700m/17.5 km to the summit.  This year: 2:20 from King Creek (just outside the gate) to the picnic table at the summit.

Last year It took me 45 minutes to go from the summit back to the gate.  This year 33.5 minutes, and that's back to the car at King's creek.  (OK it's not far from the gate but stopping and getting through the gate adds time.

Doing the climb and the descent in 75% of time compared to last year feels amazing.  Did I mention how amazing it feels?  OK I know that 2:20 isn't a record for people doing the highwood pass, but then most people aren't my size so a direct comparison doesn't really apply.  

Random side story:

The first year I did over 3k in a year a guy at the bike shop said "I don't want to steal your thunder but I'm at 3200 for the year" 

Me: "Dude I'm three times your size (zero exaggeration), talk to me when you've done 9k" 

So why the big jump.  Whish I knew for sure.  I don't see why I'd be in better shape than last year.  Last year I hit 300km near the top.  This year I was at ~330km at the top.  Last year I used the winter tires and the foot straps, this year I had the summer slicks and the bike shoes - that would be part of it.  Helped that there was a tailwind on the steepest part of the climb - though that made the descent slower.  I also rode alone this year. I was expecting the rest of the group to catch up with me, so I started out early. That meant I just went at my own pace.  I didn't stop.  I got off and walked for bits (100-200m) and rode again, but I didn't stop.  Last year people took a couple of breaks, and then continued on faster than I could go.  I think not stopping and keeping warmed up worked much better for me.  Also the camera battery died after the above shot, so maybe not taking pictures helped my time.

Whatever the reason,  I was glad to be the one waiting at the summit for the rest of the group instead of being the one everyone was waiting for.

Other Random Notes

• Saw a grizzly on the side of the road driving up highway 40.  People were getting out of their cars to take pictures with their iphones and tablets.  Stupid people.
• There were snow flakes in the air at the summit.  Not a good year to have left my sweater at home.
• Someone wore  pants on their head.  We called this a pantouque. Non Canadians please see the Alberta Parks Touque.

- Peace

300km with Clement

Went to Vancouver to visit Sarah, but also got in a bike n brunch in with Clement.  Hit the 300km mark Sunday morning while riding Pacific Spirit Regional Park.  One of my favorite places.  Went to Jethro's on Dunbar afterwards.  They make huge pancakes, I wasn't able to finish one of the two that came with my order.

200km On Target

Hit the 200km mark on the way for coffee on 17th Ave.  That took me through Sunalta, one of the few communities in Calgary with tree covered streets.

I'm on target for 400km by the end of May.  So far so good.

Looking forward to riding in Vancouver on the long weekend.  Not sure if I can manage to hit a 100km mark while there.

- Peace

2016 First 100km, Goal and a Plan

Hit 100km for 2016 on the way to work this morning.  Only made it to 850km last year, and 250 of that was on vacation.  Never found my commuting grove last year.  So I'm feeling good that I've biked to work every day in May.  All three work days :)

Goal for 2016 is 1300km, 500 more than the last 100km mark from 2015.

The plan is:

• 400km by the end of May
• 800km by the end of June
• 1000km by the end of July
• 1400km by the end of Aug.

I really should be able to blow through the 1300km mark with ease.  I'll wait till I've done that before setting a new 2016 Goal for the fall.

- Peace

300 km, 400 km, Group Rides and many Daves on Bikes

Hit the 300 km mark at the end of a ~700m climb up to the top of the Highwood pass.  Wow do I suck at climbing.  ~3 hours to go 17km.  Did the trip back down in ~45 minutes.

Thanks to the other Dave K. for organizing.




Hit the 400 km mark wile riding Goat Creek with David M. and 16 other riders + me for a total of 18.  I think that's a record number of riders for the Goat Creek ride.

100, 200 and the goal for 2015

Hit the first 100km of the 2015 riding season while doing a couple of loops around Vancouver's Stanley Park on the May Long weekend.  We had gone out to Vancouver to visit Sarah.

Started the day at about the 89km mark, and finished around the 154km mark.  It's was a good day.


Hit the 200km  today on the way back from Converge in Kensington.  Was stopped on the 7th St. Cycle track next to this cute dog in the bike basket.

So what's the 2015 goal?  Well last year I made it to 2100km.  I'll add 500 to that and aim for 2600km in 2015.

- Peace

1500km on a BC Mountain

Hit the 1500km mark coming down the switch backs on the mountain just west of Rosen Lake.  Drove up once with the Element, didn't get very far, got stuck, thanks to Paul and Bo for getting me unstuck.  Engineers can be so helpful :) Bo & KK, drove the Element down, while Paul and I raced down - wheeee!

Rob lent us his Jeep and Paul, Amy & I tried for the summit again on Sunday.  Ran out of time, but still had a ton of fun driving the Wrangler up the switchbacks.  Paul was kind enough to drive it back down and warn the oncoming ATVs that I was behind on my bike.  It was a blast.  Wheee!

If all goes according to plan, I'll hit 1600km on the way to work tomorrow, then hit 1700km by Monday while in Vancouver.

- Peace

1400km two days late

Had a couple of low sleep nights that lead to days without biking.  So not a big surprise that I missed my goal of hitting 1400km on Wed by two days.

Broke a bike post in Fish Creek park this morning cutting a planned trail ride shot.  So we'll see when I make 1500km.

- Peace

1300km down, 1400km by Wed?

Did 30km ride on 22x this morning hitting 1300km near Spruce Meadows. Next goals are to hit 1400km by Wed and 1500km by Sat.

 - Peace

Catching Up on KM

Hit the 1200km mark yesterday with Mike.  We rode the canal pathway out to Chestermere then came back on Highway 1a / 17ave SE.

The 1200km mark was on the way back, not cool shot of the canal, so I decided to go heavy on the photo  processing.  I think it works.

Will ride the canal pathway again, will have to take some pictures of it as there's nothing else in Calgary quite like it.




Those who have been paying attention will know that the last KM mark I blogged was 900km at the end of June.  So what happened to July?  Well a ton of stuff, just not much bike related.  I hit 1100 km on the 20th and before that I hit 1000km on July 8th.  Did less than 300km in July. So what's that do for my yearly goal?


Not much, obviously. So the pressure is on for Aug. I'd really like to be at 1900km by Labour Day . Last year I did 1300km after Labour Day, 1900 + 1300 km = 3200km and that's my 2014 goal. 3200km is 500km more that I did in 2013, so it's not unreasonable to say some of that 500km should come at the end of the year, so 1800km by Labour Day would be OK too. Less that that and I'll be worried.

- Peace

900km & 22 Years

Rode through the 900km mark yesterday.  Two days later than I had hoped.  Still have three days for the last 100km in June, 3 x 33 km is quite doable.

Also hit the 22 year mark of being married to Kim.  Happy Anniversary my love :)

We celebrated with a fabulous evening at  Scopa Neighbourhood Italian.  Great Italian food in an energetic atmosphere.

- Peace

800km - 200km to go this week.

We've had rain. And I've wimped out and not ridden in the rain.  Though I got caught in a brief downpour, and it was a powerful experience.  Still I'm behind my 150km a week pace.

Hit 800km yesterday, so now I have 200km and one week left in June.

The forecast is for rain most of the week.  Looks like I'll have to intentionally ride in the rain.

7 Days, 5 40km rides will do it.  Hope to be at 900km by Wed.

- Peace

Six & Seven Hundred KM

On Thursday I the hit 600km mark at this washed out section of the bike path in Fish Creek. The damage is from last year's epic floods in June.

On Saturday we rode the Highwood pass. I was thinking it was 25km, so I'd done 30 km in the morning so that the shot at the top of the pass would be my 700km shot.

Lucky for me it was only 17km (I suck at climbing) but that meant my 700km shot was on the way back down.

Also crossed paths with the Olderings who were coming down as Dave and I were in the last km or so. I did my first web dev work for Greg back in 96.

Last week I was 20 km short of my goal of 150km a week.  I made that up this week and added an extra 10km.  So 1000km by the end of June is looking good.

500km in the SW

Hit the 500km mark yesterday while riding to the Glenmore Reservoir.  Ended the day about 20km short of the 150km I was hoping to have by the end of the week.

Still I should be able to make the 600km mark by Wed. and then make 700km while riding the Highwood Pass on Saturday.  That would put me on track to hit the 1000km mark by the end of June.

BTW if you'd like to ride the Highwood Pass and didn't get an invite drop me an email.

- Peace

400km Before Midnight

At 300km I said I wanted to hit 400km by the end of May.  Hit 400km with an hour to spare :)

This was the first week this year where I've done 100km.

Goal for June is hit the 1000km mark by the end of the month.  So that's 600km in June.  Means I need to do about 150km a week.  Yay!

- Peace

300km with Mike

Hit the 300km mark on Sunday. Was riding around the Glenmore Reservoir with Mike, and hit the 300km mark just before Heritage Park. Love that I got a bike pic at Gasoline Alley, our local museum of cars.

Sunday was my first 50+ km day of the season, and my first 100km mark in Calgary. 100 was in Portland and 200 was in Vancouver.

Next goal is to hit 400km by the end of May.

- Peace

200 km in Vancouver

Didn't get the 200km mark in Calgary.  Nasty weather and a nasty cold.  Did get over 70km while in Vancouver. Putting me over the 200km mark while riding along the Burrard Inlet on Monday.

100km in Portland

Hit the 100km mark in Portland after hanging out with missional siblings at Evergreen this morning.



That's the Zoo Bomb Rack in the foreground and the Crystal Hotel where I was staying in the background.  (More on Portland to come)

So that's 100km down. Hope to hit 200km in Calgary, then 300km while getting Sarah from UBC.

The goal for the year 3200km.

- Peace

2700km, well that's 90%

So been behind on biking and blogging. Hit 2700km mark tonight, that's 90% of my goal of 3000km for 2013. It will have to do.

Goal for 2014 then is 3200km.  I don't have to start working on that till tomorrow :)

- Peace