Training Log Archive: OutdoorsMama

With the boyz. A bit of everything. Even those @$&# sliders.

After church, supper and cider, a jog down and around the park.
Warmest/calmest weather in days.....capris and a windbreaker would've been fine. I was a bit warm in the Santa suit.

May there be cool gear under your tree in the morning.

Paul and I want to go back to the UK and do more bicycle touring. We can now (wryly) laugh about all the times we had to push our bikes up hills, re-adjust the brakes after another day of sketchy downhills, take the panniers off to get through narrow gates, and the times we had to carry our loaded bikes up or down stairs. Sometimes I wonder if I imagined all the extra effort we went through. Then I found this journal from an American, a fellow with lots of experience exploring the world by bike. He writes this about half way through his trip from the southern tip of England to the northern tip of Scotland:

The rest of the day was pure unadulaterated torture. Ok, I get it, we have the Rocky Mountains in Colorado with beautiful climbs that go on for miles, but here..ha! Their climbs make our climbs look like bumps in the road. I have never, and I mean never, not even that huge climb in Kimberly Australia last October, ever pushed a bike up more steep grades in all the years of bike touring. It was totally exhausting. I was cursing myself all afternoon for even thinking I wanted to see the ancient of York without knowing I'd have climb on a ladder up the Pennines, the spinal hills of England. OMG, it was just awfully hard. And it wasn't just me pushing. Yeh I'm 5 years older than Colin (which i sometimes hate to admit) but he was pushing up those big steep climbs too. At one point, I was so dizzy with exhaustion, that Colin pushed his bike to the top of the climb, then walked down and helped push me to the top.

The other problem was that when you got to the top of these huge climbs, that you of course had a descent, not just a descent but a screaming steep 15-20% grade DOWN! And riding brakes all the way down a steep descent with 60 lbs of gear on the bike pushing you forward, was very nerve wracking because I was constantly scared I couldn't stop the bike. And at 2 descents, as we were coming down, the blacktop road turned into cobbles. Now have any of you ever encountered coming down a steep descent at 30 mph, riding the bikes to try and slow down and suddenly see the road before you go from asphalt to cobblestones??? Wanna talk about seeing your life end before you?? Whew!!!

Parked at Road 5 Mersea and skied north on the rail trail. A few snowmobiles had been along (illegally) but there was adequate room for skiing. It was pretty crusty and I hardly broke through. Took my skis off 4 times to walk across the concession roads. Skate skiing might have been an option.

Short trot around town in the daylight!

Ugly Christmas sweater night. It was Teenagers vs Mostly Old Enough To Be Their Parents. Long story short, the teenagers bought a round of Pepsis at the end (by one point).

Short jog around the Tip area at Point Pelee. Icy wonderland on the west side and calm and very inviting to the kayaker in me on the east side.

The Point must have gotten less snow than we did. And it was kind of trampled down in the 2 areas I checked out for skiing. Maybe I can get one more ski in tomorrow on the Greenway (it is +4C here now).

http://www.skylinescotland.com/ben-nevis-ultra/

The cool thing about race routes such as this in the UK, much of it is on public land/areas with public access. Therefore mere mortals like myself could hypothetically putter along at it at our own pace on whichever day (or days) we wanted to. And then I could stop and gawk at the incredibly awesome scenery as much as I want......

6 am session with trainer on a vacation day. D'oh!
As usual, she put together enough core, leg and upper body exercises that I won't be bored while at the gym.

Down to Lake Erie.

The temperature will be tropical here soon so better ski while I can. I broke trail on the Greenway going east from Ruthven. The snowmobiles had packed down the centre of the trail but there was room for me on the side of the trail. I made a lot of noise as I crunched through the crust with each step. Yes step. No gliding on the first pass. So I went back and forth a couple times to enjoy the fruits of my labours. Many wild turkey tracks out there.

I had to go to Windsor so I took my running shoes to Malden Park. Brrr, it was cold to start, but I soon got in the trees and warmed up. There was a nicely packed down trail to follow....every step was a potential ankle-twister, but the Speed Cross gripped the hard-packed snow well. I bet I saw the aftermath of 4 rabbit murders......something is a good hunter.
Up and down the hills......unfortunately, since it is a reclaimed landfill and not a true topographic feature, the elevation gains don't show up on Garmin.

Bit of everything to make us sweat and huff and puff.

Vacation day! So much to do, so little time. I waited until it warmed up to -11C (before windchill). It was sunny, which I have not experienced in a long time (yesterday's daylight hours were consumed by community and family functions).
I started with a trip to the post office to buy my once-a-year stamp for a US destined Christmas card, but the line was so long I went home and put two regular stay-in-Canada stamps on it and dropped it in a mailbox on the way out of town.
WSW winds, so a good fight along Road 3, then hopped up to the 6th Concession for some slick snow riding. The BarMitts meant I was riding bare hands, despite the cold conditions. Turned around at the Coulter, jogged down to the 5th on the McCormick then back up to the 6th on the Johnson.
Even though I put, ahem, antifreeze in my water bottles, they were martini slushies when I got back, sans the olives.
So nice to ride outside. I gave the Warbird a warm water rince when we got home. The roads were mostly dry, but there would be salt debris flying around.

A rare daylight trot around the 'hood, while I still had my sweaty biking stuff on.

The other pair of D had 2 goals scored on them in the first period. I did not gloat. Then my partner and I had 2 goals scored on us in quick succession in the second. My partner said "one more and we're gone" meaning we'll go off the ice. I said, "You mean go upstairs" (I.e. to the bar). We did not get scored on again so made it to the end of the game :)

Trotted over to the storm water retention ponds with my snowshoes under my arms. Much better footing than last night!

5 laps of the ponds. There was a crust on the snow from last night's freezing rain so I made a LOT of noise on my first couple laps as I crunched through the snow. It will be interesting to see if this track sets up enough to bike on. I haven't seen any fat bikes in town but you never know what is lurking in everyone's garage.
Good King Wenceslas kept going through my head, although the moon did not make an appearance.
In his master's steps he trod, where the snow lay dinted.....