Today’s the first day of August. There’s about a month of summer riding left before the weather will start getting more unpredictable. It’s Calgary, so we’re talking snow as a possibility.
This year I made a major change: I shifted my ride leadership from Wednesday+Sunday to Wednesday+Saturday. This was major because it forced me into riding long rides (80-110 km) every weekend and riding with the “A” riders every week. It has had the result I expected: I’m a lot stronger than I was at this point last year (2018). I would say this has been my most ambitious riding season, maybe even besting 2017, the year of five gran fondos (MEC x 2, Cycle of Life, Badlands, Tour de Victoria).
The best part has been that the feedback has been very positive. I was worried about how  I would be accepted by the Saturday ride regulars, considering that they had a reputation as being take-no-prisoner all-out rides and I like to make things more inclusive. But for the first time ever, I’m getting regular kudos in the form of comments directly from riders, notes on Strava and even emails to myself and the director complimenting me on the way I’m running the rides. It’s really put a shine on this year for me.
This Saturday will be a special Saturday ride: we’ll be starting in Banff and riding to Moraine Lake. That’s a ride I’ve never done before. Looking forward to it.
Here are a couple of photos from last night’s Wednesday night ride. We stopped on one of the lookouts over the Bow River and took a group photo.
