In the past, I’ve struggled with Mountain Biking. Most trails I find are too challenging, to the point of being dangerous to me at the level of expertise I have (i.e. next to none). Since moving to BC, dyke trails are often recommended, but those aren’t really challenging enough – they are mostly flat, though the gravel is too tricky for a road bike. I’ve ridden plenty of these with my Trek hard-tail, but it’s overkill (and a little heavy). So I figured a gravel bike would be my next bike.
My other problem is that I don’t have a bike in Muskoka so my training always suffers during the time where I’m at the cottage. When I’ve had my triathlon bike at the cottage, I have to load it into the car to bring it to a suitable road for riding. On this year’s visit, I considered renting a bike, but after I costed that out, it made more sense to buy a gravel bike. I got a good deal from the Muskoka Bike Pro Shop in Huntsville, and I’m so glad I made that purchase.
My first ride was right out of my driveway, which hadn’t been previously possible on my tri-bike’s skinny, untreaded tires. It was still very hilly, and I confess I got off the bike once or twice, not because the hill was too steep or too long, but because I hadn’t had enough time to recover from the hill before. There were more cars on these roads than I would have expected, but everyone drove safe so I was able to focus on enjoying the ride.
For my second gravel ride, I chose the area around the Lightning Kids summer camp in Novar. I had it recommended to me by Muskoka Bike Pro Shop. I found this ride even better in a lot of ways because it wasn’t as hilly, and I could really enjoy the flying, spinning feeling you can get on a road bike without worrying about any dirt roads. I think that was what was missing when I would ride the mountain bike. It doesn’t quite feel the same in terms of speed and lightness that a road bike does. This has that same lightness, but I’m not stressed when there’s a rock in the road or anything like that. I will say, washboard is still a bit of a nightmare to drive over. The route, as I said, was not as hilly. There were some nice rollers, and though I had hoped to get a 20-kilometre out-and-back done, I hit a point where the road was so steep and rocky that maybe a mountain bike would have been better after all, so I turned around and went back.
Another nice thing about this bike is that it has my first set of tubeless tires, so I worry less about punctures. The guys at Muskoka Bike Pro Shop added a sealant. I might try to do the Tour De Muskoka before the summer is out, and I think this will all put me in better bike shape for the upcoming Vancouver Triathlon.