Help a rider out!
 

Hey dudes,

So there's a 95% chance I'll be living/working at the Delta Lodge at Kananaskis (1 hour west of Calgary) for 15 months starting this May. I currently live in Toronto, so I'm pretty excited. A few questions:

What's the riding like around Kananaskis? Calgary? Good road riding? Mountain trails? Or just pansy paved trails?

If there are legit mountain trails, can my Jake the Snake handle them ('cross bike)?

Regardless, I need to replace my cassette and probably my front 2 chain rings (compact), not to mention my RD. What gearing combinations would you recommend?

thanks in advance for the help, dudes. If there are any riders out near the Kananaskis area, I'll be looking for riding buddies while I'm out there! Throw me a line!

The Kananaskis has lots of great mountain biking, it's one of the better areas in Canada a mountain biker could hope to be. You're going to find trails of all kinds of difficulty levels, from beginner track to stuff that will really challenge you and your Jake the Snake. Oh, there are real mountain trails.

awesome, that sounds sweet. Anything that's not doable on a 'cross bike? I'm mostly a road rider actually, so I might be bucked a few times haha. Do you know where I can find more info on specific locations of trails? I'll be stuck at the Delta Kananaskis lodge with my bike as my only means of transport, so hopefully there are some good trails near the lodge.

Aside from finding info online? I have a book somewhere around here that deals with mountain biking trails mostly in Southwestern Alberta, i'll dig it up in a bit and see what the title was.

There are so many road rides that will be worth your time, but I'm going to suggest that you ride Highway 40 (in Kananaskis) while it is closed to cars, which is usually until the middle of June.

You will find lots of different kinds of riding around there. Beginning of May can still be cold, and some snow higher up. If you're staying through next Winter, studded tires are almost certainly in your future.

Highway 40 is closed to cars in June? Then how do people get to Kananaskis in the first place? At any rate, I'll definitely check it out. I am staying through the winter, but not sure how much riding I'll be doing in the winter.


Also, any suggestions for gearing? I'm running a 36-50 up front, and a 12 - 25 in the back currently. I'm getting a new cassette this weekend and not sure if I should get a 12-25, or 12-27, or something else? I don't want to be over-geared for the intense singletrack, nor under-geared for the road rides. It's a dilemma.

Any suggestions?

Only part of the highway is closed. Something about wildlife, but i believe it has more to do with crazy snowfall and no desire to spend the
money clearing it.

The part that is closed is the highest paved road in Canada. It is one of the best rides around. From the front door of the Delta you can ride some cool tracks that work with a cross bike, but the mtn rides in that general area require a full-suspension (or at lease front) just due to the nature of the topography/geology.

have fun