See more Saturday

Saturday morning saw Shaft and I set off on our own nice and early at 7:00am. Our plan was an ascent of Mt. Seymour followed by something else depending on how our legs felt.

After stopping briefly for some cream-filled chocolate cupcakes that to our delight were called Ho-Ho's, we made it over to Deep Cove and began our climb shortly after 8:00 am fully gassed up. It was super fun doing the big climb with Shaft since that's one thing we've never done together to date. Shaft was quick out of the gates and left me running out of gears trailing behind...he kept muttering something about an extra Ho-Ho that I wasn't able to get but I buried my head and pulled back onto his wheel.

Over the next 11 km we kept the pace high trading leads and in 45:30 we were standing on top of Seymour, basking in the glorious early morning sunshine and marvelling at the always-impressive Mt. Baker to the south. After briefly discussing how amazing Vancouver is, Shaft graciously lent me his vest to that I could be warm while he froze on the way down...thanks Max! On the way down I had a stroke of genius and decided that we would stop at the base of the climb to enjoy a cappuccino and a small snack to top up the tanks.

So there we were, doing our very best imitation of famous Italian cyclists adored by the tifosi, sipping cappuccino and nibbling a muffin. After finishing our beverages and watching our friend Henry the crow clean up some crumbs left by some sloppy North Americans (us being more refined Europeans) we remounted our steeds and continued forth to complete teh North Van Hills Route that was originally conceived by our other brother, Big T.

After adding on a last stinger by climbing up Capilano Rd. to the base of the Grouse Grind, we finally turned home and joined up with the ladies.

What a ride...beautiful sunshine, and riding 100 km with your best friend; doesn't get much better! Thanks Max!