Knees, more bears and 24hrs

I had to begin this post with this piccie I stumbled upon from Nic and Browny's last visit. Make of it what you will (or feel free for a caption competition), but I reckon it's pretty apt (and I'm sure that's a coke Browny's holding, not a Bud). Unfortunately, I haven't become a regular at Kensington Road Church there, so perhaps nothing has changed.
Anyhow... after last week's Grizzly bear sighting (over which I have still not calmed down) it seems that I can't get enough of bears when on the road bike. A good 100km wizz out yesterday from Johnston Canyon up to Moraine Lake and Lake Louise and back had me zipping past another Grizzly!!!! I was on the Bow Valley Parkway and lo and behold a little Grizzly cub was rolling around in the buffalo berry bushes by the side of the road - I didn't linger around since there wasn't much between me and bear and I didn't have a clue where the mum was, but a brief glimpse of the exciting wildlife (I don't think the cub even knew I was there as it was so engrossed in wrestling with the buffalo berries).
I'm slowly coming out of my glum mood which stemmed from me thinking that I'd buggered up my knee which was curtailing my training and TR aspirations. After two days off on the weekend (the first weekend since early October that I haven't ridden on either day) and having taking medication and applied ointments, the knee seems to be holding up o.k. - phew.... lets keep our fingers crossed it stays like that until after the TransRockies!
To cheer my somber demeanour over the weekend I headed out to Canmore to watch the 24 hour world solo mountain bike champs (basically very fit guys ride an incredibly technical course for 24 hours non stop, contending with the night, thunderstoms, hail and I imagine arse ache). It was a super atmoshpere, loads of bike maniacs spinning around in awe of the solo competitors (some people get together and do it as a team relay event, but these seem to be more in party mood than anything else).
Mark and Luce arrive on Friday and Brina lands 2minutes after they do (couldn't have planned it any better to avoid lingering around at the airport to pick them all up!). We'll have a couple of good rides at the weekend, then it's serious tapering time before the big race begins next weekend!!!!! (mega excited about the race - although I'm sure this excitement will transform into squeeky bum time come next Friday night).
Not much else going on in my bachelor lifestyle at present (should really be heading into work, but can't get my head around anything but peddaling at the moment).
And just to make sure that my knee was iced properly, I had to ice it with the best organic antioxidant filled blueberries I could find (sod the ice pack)..

Hope all your ailments are soothed,
S.

A Grizzly Tale

Hi all.. so a few things have passed this week. A ride in Bragg Creek with Mr. Weible early in the week resulted in an hour and a half coffee shop stop and a retreat home to the windtrainer due to this....

A good few inches of hail fell (enough to cover my ankles) and the thunder and lightening made for more than dubious riding conditions - so after a caffeine hit, it was home to spin indoors (urgh). I'm thriving the bachelor lifestyle at the moment, although am readily realising that I need to get things ship shape in the house before the misses gets back (the dragon).

Headed out to Nordegg on the weekend to race a 60km race on remote single track descents and killer climbs. It was the otherway round for me though, the climbs were great, it was the single track that killed me - crashing (no surprise there then) and banging up my knee so that it ballooned like a golf ball, forcing me to abandon the race after another lap of agony. First DNF of the year was awfully disappointing as I was riding well and in contention with the overall winner - but hopefully I'm getting all the mistakes out of the way before the TR! (Was thinking about my racing stats this year, and the races where I haven't crashed, I've won!!! Not saying that I'd have won the races I stacked it in, but it's an entertaining statistic that highlights my riding ineptitude!). Decided to cheer myself up so drove home from Nordegg via the Icefields parkway, to get to which you drive along the very deserted David Thompson Highway - which has endless views of....

and of this..There were just endless spectacular views with nobody else around for hours... and that's before hitting the icefields parkway!
Got the knee all iced up last night, swelling went down a fair bit this morning (I'm still singing the praises of my compression socks for such assistance), and the aforementioned Mr. Weible drove us out to K Country for a superb ride over Highwood Pass. Those of you familiar with Canada's highest paved road will appreciate the grandeur of the scenery (especially on a clear blue sky, hot and sunny day), and being a Monday made for us being passed by all of 10 cars (if that) over 2 and a half hours. BUT... the piece de la resistance that will keep this ride in my memory until Alzheimer's kicks in is that as we summited the Pass the second time coming back to Peter Lougheed, we viewed out to the mountain and saw two Grizzly Bears digging around in the undergrowth, turning over rocks and generally having a damn good rummage for whatever yummy Grizzly goodies where hiding there. They were two awesome beasts, I couldn't believe it at first, "They're not sheep are they?" I commented, not wanting to be disappointed (having seen zillions of rocky mt sheep on the road), "No, they're bears" responded Brad in his usual laid back tone (whilst no doubt thinking "Sheep?!?! Dumbass!!"). We watched them for 10 minutes, and they were huge! It was one of those Canadian moments I've been waiting for since we arrived - awesome! I could just rant on about the Grizzlies all day, so I'll contain myself and leave it at that, as I head off to ice my knee and watch a re-run of today's stage of the Tour!
You never know what's around the corner,
Striving for yellow,
S.

Yee Haw!

Howdy pardner,

so after three years of living in Cowtown, we finally made it to "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth" - or the Calgary Stampede as it is otherwise known. We got ourselves tickets to the rodeo and made our way downtown to see the bulls flip cowboys in the air, and the broncos leap around like they had electrodes attached to their danglies. Taking the C-train into the city (driving and parking at the stampede is just a non starter) was quite an eye opener. The closer you get to the stampede ground, the more prolific the stetson hats, wrangler jeans, and other such cowboy regalia becomes. By the time we were at the stampede station, the train carriage looked like a coach of extras for some over exaggerated western musical. I'd like to continue in a rather facetious fashion, mocking cowboys (and girls), belittling country music and the like, but I have to admit - I loved it! The whole city embraces the cowboy culture (albeit for 10 stampede days) with such vigour that you can't help but be impressed, it's certainly a unique event. And as for going to the rodeo - bloody hell! The size of the bulls those guys sit on are Stegosaurus like, and they get flung around like rag dolls in the washer. I'm not sure who first decided to try and ride a bull (or why) and for what reason the dangerously mental task continued - but it makes for a great spectacle.

Here's a rodeo clown taking cover in a plastic barrel. Once the rider has been flung off, it's up to these clown fellers to usher the bull backstage - the bulls are not always that cooperative, so the clowns have to run after them to point the beasts in the right direction (with flimsy plastic tubs to hide in should the bull become more aggravated).

We've also been out on a few hiking trips, here's a piccie of mum and Brina up at Stanley Mitchell glacier. It was a good hike, but a sad day for my old faithful day pack...
The arse ripped out of my pack at the top of the hike, so I struggled to avoid spilling the contents of it all the way down the trail.
We've been out and about in K Country and around Banff too, with a nice little hike up Sulphur Mt yesterday. Stopped in Canmore on the way home to pick up some gels and biking juice, to be greeted in the car park of Homehardware by Fish and Wildlife officers who were darting a big Moose that had trapped itself in the timber yard of Homehardware, and to add to the animals in town excitement, they had a tranquilized black bear already asleep in the back of their pick up, ready to be taken to the city limits to be released (so that it can wander back into the town again the next day).

And finally, here's Mrs. Wife doing her Gone With The Wind impression (thankfully without the singing!) - I can get away with such comments at the moment as Brina is back home in the Soo for a couple of weeks, so I'm safe from getting a clip round the ears (for now).

Ride 'em cowboy,

S&S.

Computer death

Hi all,
the ol' computer took a turn for the worse and is currently undergoing critical surgery to remedy the ailment of not turning on without beeping, flashing and then refusing to move from ann unfrozen screen. Have currently got a substitute computer (hence this post), but am struggling to get photos up. Need to go an figure out the new technology of this laptop (the old one was over 5 years old, steam powered and pre-dated the abacus). In the next half hour hopefully I'll have piccies of our first stampede - YeeHaaw! Bucking Broncos, bull riding, cowboys (and girls!!!) and other such western foolery. Also hiking and biking piccies from Mum and Ken's trip, with not much else to report (you know the drill, work, ride, eat, sleep and repeat.....), although the Tour de France is taking up the only other spare time in my day. Not got the holidays of a teacher anymore which really sucks!!!!
More to come imminently when my camera decides to cooperate with this new Dell beauty.
Ta ra for now,
Keep multi tasking with one eye on the yellow jersey,
S&S.