Bike: 40 km (mountain) + 18 km (commute)
Monthly Total: 308 km
Do you have a personal, physical feat that you successfully and gracefully achieved? For example, I felt fantastic when I ran my first 5 km race this spring. Fan-tastic.
How about that personal, physical feat that you successfully and not so gracefully achieved? I’ve got one.
Two years ago.
Mountain bike.
Epinette Creek Trail system.
All 40 kilometers of it.
We attempted and finished it, but it was not pretty. At the time, I blamed it on the trail itself: too hilly, too grassy, too sandy, and was not ideal for mountain biking. Looking back, the mess at the end may have been due to operator error. Back then, I barely rode my bike, we didn’t have enough water, and we hadn’t packed the insect repellent. (The bugs were a killer!)
Needless to say, I have avoided the subject since then. When I listed my goals for July, I included an Epic Bike Trip. Secretly, I had envisioned biking the Epinette again – conquering it versus just finishing it.
Now, I get to tell the Epinette Creek Bike Story again – Part Deux.
Saturday, we had a fabulous day at the lake. It was my grandmother’s 80th birthday party and she was the beautiful, gracious guest of honour. I had a blast hanging with the whole family – all characters. After eating entirely too much food, we set out for Spruce Woods to camp for the night. Hubs and I had a few adult beverages by a camp fire, and fell asleep peacefully in our tent. (Air mattress and all – love car camping!)
We had hauled our bikes out, so we figured we should take them out for a spin. I proposed to Jere that we check out the Epinette Creek Trail, to see what was up. He was all for it.
We were well equipped for our bike ride, in the event we turned crazy and the whole 40 kilometers came to fruition. Lots of water, bug spray, sunscreen, and GPS were are all packed. The sun was hot, but there was a gentle breeze that was very comfortable. We jumped on our bikes and took off down the trail.
The Epinette had been altered somewhat in the last couple of years, but it still put on a “grass, sand, and tree root” show. However, it was I that was different this time. I ride my bike all the time, I did MissFit Boot Camp for 8 weeks, I have been running, paddling and hiking – I felt good. I pumped through my low gears and crawled up those hills. As I was reminded at Birds Hill last week, mountain biking is a full body workout. My back and shoulders were feeling it, but my legs and cardio were holding strong. When we got to Cabin 3, we figured, “what’s 20 more kilometers?” Thus, without any previous mental prep, we went for it! I took on my trail nemesis.
The Epinette is a lovely display of spruce trees, creeks and sand dunes. It is a fun represent of what the Canadian Prairies have to offer. Plus, it tests one’s endurance to the maximum. It is an up and down ride, mostly up on the way to Cabin 4 – thankfully, downward the way back. It took us under 7 hours to complete the trail, with breaks included. Going down the hills was wild, with both the bod and bike feeling it. I had to walk down and up some sandy patches, but all and all I rode the whole trail. Conquer, one might say.
When I go back to my initial mission statement, I wanted to push myself to new limits. Now that I know I can tackle 40 kilometers of mean trail on the fly, I know I am ready for the next challenge.
It’s working! It’s really working!
Ghost Ride the sand.
The grassy prairies. At least there is a hint of a trail in this spot.
The beautiful green forest from the top of a hill we just climbed. Delicious.
