Maybe dragged isn't quite the word, she came quite willingly.
She hasn't done much riding - other than to work and back everyday - and certainly not much mountainbiking since last August. So it didn't take much to get her working a sweat! We're going to have to drag her out a few more times over the next few weeks or she won't be in any shape at all for our little trip up to Prince Albert National Park - where we are going pretty much to ride mountain bikes for a few days later in August.
I ended up hanging back and riding with The Girl.
I'd ride ahead... wait for a while for her to catch up... then ride ahead...
Eventually we caught up with Amanda and Finnegan.
We didn't actually ride very far before it was determined we should call it a day... for... reasons... Partly involving grumpy kids and extreme heat (it was nearing 30°C). We rode for an hour and covered about 10Km.
Having not done much riding over the past week, I was feeling like 10Km wasn't quite enough and since no one wanted to go riding anymore in the steadily rising heat (I think it got up to about 34°C) I switched bikes and went out for a ride on my own. I decided to take, more or less, the same route I rode with Finnegan a the last time we went out for a gravel ride.
When I got to Chief Whitecap park I could not believe how many cars were there! The parking lot was over full and there were cars just parked at the side of the rode for as far as the eye could see. As I got closer I could see there were loads of people on the trails - but I figure they were mostly heading out on the trails along the west side of the park to access the river.
I rode past the parking lot and further down the gravel road to another entrance to the park on the east side.
I didn't see a single person all the way to the South entrance to the park.
Back onto pavement on Grasswood Road past the Riverside Country Club.
South along Range Road 3055 to where it turns to gravel at Township Road 354.
Gravel.
...and then Highway 219 where I turned around. I did the 40Km in just over 2 hours. Not super speedy by any stretch, but it was probably a bit too fast for a fat old buy like me on a 34°C day with clear skies and no shade... I had water, but I didn't drink enough of it and was suffering by the end of the ride.
Also for the last 5Km or so my freehub started to stick and whenever I tried to coast the cogs would just keep rotating with the wheel and feeding chain through, pulling the drear derailleur in a way it wasn't meant to be pulled. So I had to ride it like a fixie - always pedalling, no stopping! Which was really unfortunate because I was really needing the rest that a bit of coasting could have afforded me. Luckily I got home without wrecking the derailleur.
Took the Fargo into the shop today, should have a new freehub on there tomorrow. Hopefully get back out on it later in the week.
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