Today was what might be the last major “new roads” for cycling in 2022. The club had a last bonus event ride that started in Black Diamond (south of Calgary) and headed up the Sheep River valley to the end of the road, at the first line of the Rocky Mountains.
It was a bit chilly in the morning but it was already warm enough to dispense with some layers before the start, which is a good sign. There was little wind and no threat of rain as we rode up into the mountains. In short, it was an extraordinarily nice mid-September ride. Compare that to the wet, cold ride we had in Drumheller last year…
Here are some photos from the day.
Throughout 2022, Esri Canada has been running multiple programs out of our “Connection Hub”, an attempt to bring people together during the pandemic. Last year the athletic challenge was to cover the length of the Trans-Canada Trail. People would submit their activities which would count as distance along the 28,000 km of the trail. This year it was more advanced with a heat map where you could see the roads that people walked, ran, cycled, etc. on. I found it a great personal motivator: it was a challenge to “paint” the roads blue and that included a lot of roads I’d never been on. The title was “See Every Street”, and while as a company we didn’t actually cover every street in Canada, it was fun to see the heat map bloom.
It was great to see how much of Calgary (and area) I visited.
The Northwest was especially “bright”, where I was always riding to and from, as well as my morning walks.
Areas of the map that have never been filled in before include a lot of the gravel and impassable roads north of town. I’ve had a full season of gravel riding with the club, and while there are rides in other places too, many of them are in this area.
The map extended farther, thanks to the trip in August to Victoria.
And virtual riding in the wintertime put spots on the map in unlikely places both real and imaginary.
