Wild Weekend

Busy weekend . . . .didn't start out that way. Sick in bed with some sort of stomach bug on Friday and was worried it was going to screw my whole last weekend of long rides before I go into tapering for the 24hr race in two weeks. Luckily whatever it was worked it's way through my system.

Saturday started out sitting around waiting to for the beast to get his shite together.

Don't let this beast fool you kids, he can hammer!

We finally hit the trail at 2:20pm Saturday afternoon. Tip to the kids at home, don't plan your rides around people who have time management problems. You know who I'm talking to.

Rick and I ended up doing two complete loops from O'Brien (returned to the parking lot after the first lap and then went out again for a second). First lap was pretty cool, about 3/4 of a km from the 50/52 intersection I almost hit a young black bear sitting in the middle of the trail just at the bottom of a small rise. Was flying up and over it and had to lock up the brakes to avoid a collision. Was about two bike lengths away from it when it took flight. Don't know who was more frightened. For the rest of the ride I kept my eye on the look-out - damn chipmunks would give me a fright as they darted in the woods, making a ruckus. But what are the chances of seeing another bear!?!?

The only other highlight of the first loop was Rick making some cute girl working at the Lac Phillip canteen blush. I'll let Rick explain that. Rick?

Got back to the parking lot when we realized that there was no longer a vending machine which sold water down by the beach. Shite! I had enough e-load to maybe get me back to Lac Phillip if I conserved, but the big sponge (Rick) was completely out. So he drove around the parking lot begging people if they had any extra water as they left the beach. He finally got some from to young Kiwis who were travelling around Canada for their big OE. Only cost him five bucks for three bottles!

So off we go again. I was a little nervous that we'd lose out day light on the next loop, as it was getting late. I picked up the speed up until the intersection to the 52, hoping Rick would follow suit. Once we turned on to the 52, I was 10-15 metres in when off to my right, about six bike lengths away, there is this huge son-of-a-bitch black bear sitting in the grass just behind some trees. It spotted me as I came to a stop. I figured it was going to bolt, when it started to turn my way . . . . that's when I began screaming like a little school girl, "Bear! Bear! Bear! Bear!" Then it took off, fast as hell. Amazing to see and animal that size move that quickly.

I turn to Rick, who at this point is just making the turn on to the intersection and I says to him, "Did you see that!??!?! It was a huge friggen bear!"

"Why the hell did you scare it away? I wanted to see it!!" Rick exclaims back at me.

Excuse me!?!? Sorry you didn't get a look at the cuddly bear . . . I didn't feel like finding out why it was starting to come my direction! This ain't Lorne Green's New Wilderness dude!LORNE GREENE IS DEAD! And if you read the fine print on his headstone, it says that he died from a bear attack!!!!!

Once recovered from almost being eaten alive, we were on our way again. Nothing to note on this lap . . . filled up on water at Lac Phillip (was starting to fade) . . . . .Rick made the pretty girl blush again . . . . . then we saw another bear! WHAT ARE THE CHANCES!!! Freak'in crazy! We spotted this bear, a small one, in the same spot as the large one (50/52 intersection) - no doubt a mother and cub. Probably the same bear that I first spotted yesterday, considering it was in close proximity.

The foot of Lac Phillip. Purdy.

It's getting dark!On the way back to the car, took this shot Pretty freaky if you don't know what you're looking at.
It's a young doe standing in a bog alonside of the trail feeding on swamp grass.

Got back to the parking lot at 9:05pm. 6 hrs, 45 min ride time. Not a bad training ride. One beast of a training partner, 3 bear, one dear, 3 partridge, 1 raccoon, & countless chipmunks.
Got home, ate, showered and went to bed.
Fini.