Cycle the Sunshine Coast, BC

A couple of blog posts ago, I wrote about that not doing a trail feature doesn't define your ride.  Well last night I did the drop and crashed hard.  Words to myself like "dumb-ass" came to mind as I was trying to catch my breath and getting up to walk it off.  Sore knee (yes no knee pads), bruised ribs and a left arm that I can barely raised above my shoulder.  Afterward, the crashed mellowed me out and decided to take it easy on the ride home.  I started laughing after the pain subsided that the feature that defined my ride previously because cause I didn't do it; definitively defined my ride when I attempted it for the first time and crashed.  There's irony  in there somewhere.   My friend Gail wrote a poem of my experience: Bicycle week is an endurance test So man can prove he is at his best! He mounts his bike with a polished flair His bright yellow rain coat flapping in air Shifting a gear he starts on his way Picking up speed – wheeling throu

What is it?  Why should I bother? Strava.com  is one of those brilliant web applications that brings GPS and the cycling training diary into harmony! That's its basic use.  Log your rides and monitor your progress. Whats this?  People want to follow me?- that's too weird to show people where I ride...  but it would be nice to see where they ride so I might try that ride too. Okay, follow me and I'll follow you. Kudos?  Thanks but it was nothing and I felt like crap. Hey, I just got a King of the Mountain on a hill segment!  Umm, maybe I can start to create segment and try to beat myself?  There's this guy I know that is pretty fast up one of my favorite hills and has the KOM.  Maybe if I ride more like train and lose weight, I can beat his time? And just like that I was hooked!  To date, I've put 314 rides  and 7400km into Strava and follow 43 people.  I've created 30 plus segments and have 70 KOM's.   It provides me the competition I need without

All smiles...At this point - my legs were cramping bad!!!!

So there is a new trail in Sprockids Park in Gibsons.  It was built by the Mountain Bike Program by Capilano University.  Its a great trail with lots of trail features like a pump track, ladders, table tops and drops.  One such feature is a 4 foot drop into a really nice transition.  I've ridden to the lip of the drop 6-7 times on two different occasions and it just sketches me out.  The reason being, I figure, is that I can't see the landing until the last second.  Its a confidence and trust thing that I can't seem to wrap my head around it.  I wear all the gear that should protect me if  things go wrong. But this is a real mind over matter thing.  Two  times now I've eventually taken the chicken route and I have beat myself up about it for the rest of the ride and for a good long time after the ride.  I'm literally depressed about it.  It didn't matter if the ride leading up to the drop was totally great (which it was) as I defined my ride and my remaining day