At 9am on New Years Day we were picking up a hire bike for me, then driving out to West Bragg Creek. Ideally we would have gotten there a little earlier, but we still made it in time to snag a good parking spot – unlike the hoards who’d slept in a little longer.
We chose poorly, and headed out on the Snowshoe Hare loop. It’s a snowshoe trail. Snowshoers only travel on pretty moderate, friendly, trails don’t they?
Nope. Snowshoe trails incorporate many more ridiculous hills and drops than most of the bike trails at West Bragg.
We had fun getting up and down the hills. Well the boy had fun getting down some of the hills, that’s for sure.
Once we hit the Telephone Loop trail, we headed straight back to the car to warm up toes.
I then headed off for a solo loop of my own on the south side of the trail network.
Riding south on Ranger Summit, the trail was in great shape. I didn’t have studded tyres, and didn’t lament the fact once. There’s not a lot of snow though, with bare patches in spots.
Then it was back on Strange Brew, with flashbacks from Singletrack6 going through my head. The course on the first day finished up on Strange Brew, although it rode a little slower with snow, and without race adrenalin… and with skiers to avoid at the trail crossings.
Once back in Canmore we headed out for a quick lap at the Nordic Centre, just because we may as well, seeing as we both had fat bikes for once.
It was a good start to 2015. Now for the rest of the year I’m just hoping for house renovations to be finished soon, no injuries, minimal illness, optimal fitness for Tour Divide, lots of outdoor adventures with my family, and work to be a good balance of fun and challenging.