Training Log Archive: revy

BCOC Long in the Cranbrook Community Forest. Definitely a fitness challenge as the terrain used meant fairly straightforward navigation. I had a fairly clean run other than a couple meandering routes due to my inability at times to run on a straight bearing, and also a few route choices that could have been better (straighter was the better choice in most cases - especially for someone like me who is not a fast trail runner). Scale was hard at times - should try and use a magnifier one of these times perhaps? Have to remember for next time that distance off the line is magnified by the bigger scale and all the more reason to stick to straighter routes.

BCOC forest sprint on Kimberly Kettles map. Surprisingly good sprint for me - felt in touch with the map and scale (inevitably I overrun things in sprints). A couple controls could have been cleaner but overall quite happy with the run and enjoyed the event.

BCOC Middle on the Myrtle Benchlands map. Was moving OK through control 11 - not super fast as didn't feel at one with the map (vegetation was thicker than I expected) but no mistakes. 12 was a big blow up due to poor plan and lack of attention. Was trying to avoid the depression but got sucked up the hill more than I wanted so then was taking a guess at where I was when I took a bearing. Low visibility, lots of stuff on the map and small catching features meant loss of contact with map. In retrospect I should have recognized the bigger depression on the map and used that to relocate. Instead I relocated to the road 250m away and found the control on the second pass (though still walked by it at first - poor visibility). Lost 10-12 minutes here. After that I ran with a bit less urgency but no other errors. 16-17 was interesting with a random patch of unexpected green. Ran with the new compass - need more practice with it as it is an adjustment.

Event: KOC Kootenay Orienteering Festival 2019
 

We camped a second night at the rec site. Met the author of the local guidebook who was also camping there. She suggested hiking into Silver Basin and we took her up on the suggestion. Our initial plan was to hike a bike up Chalice Ridge but felt like it wouldn't be better than Grizzly Ridge yesterday, might be less rideable and weather wasn't as nice so adjusted plans.

Silver Basin is a nice short hike - worth doing if in the area. Trail leads to the alpine then easy travel to the ridge where there are good views of the Bugaboos. A few nice tarns and seems to me that wildflowers would be good in season. I think this is another common CMH heli-hiking spot - which reminds me that one downside of camping in this valley is the helicopter noise starting at 7am. No guests at the moment but they were still flying around dropping off glading crews. Not an ideal spot for peace and quiet in the wilderness...

Stopped in Windermere on the way to Cranbrook and rode the Swansea Loop with Lucas. Nice solid climb at a good pace. Lucas climbs faster when it is steeper and I climb faster at moderate grades. Probably explains why I don't like steep climbing trails;) This one is pretty good - a few spots that were steep but enough views and moderate grades to even things out. Despite the high cloud still great views of the Columbia Valley. The South Park descent was excellent - more like what I thought 5620 should be like. Lots of pumping and not as much riding of the brakes. Midway down you spit out onto the older trails which aren't quite as flowy but still fun (though it would be nice if the trail extended to the bottom in the same style).

Rocky Point alpine hike a bike route with Lucas. We camped the night before at Bugaboo-Septet rec site. It was quite chilly for the slightly downhill ride to the trailhead. Lucas had mentioned that his buddy had ridden the route and said it was 90% rideable. I thought this was impressive given the apparent grade of the old road. It turned out that he meant the ridge was 90% rideable... the road up was steep and rough. I think mainly it is used by snowmobiles. There was are a lot of steep grinding and also a lot of pushing. I felt like I had no power in my legs but it might just have been the steep grade and frequent soft ground sapping the energy from my legs. I was also chasing Lucas who had plus tires, loves steep riding and is in good riding shape after his summer of bike packing. When the road ended we had to find our way through some open larch glades (not changing yet) and alpine meadows to gain the ridge. This is a common spot for heli-hiking so there was a trail for the last portion up to the ridge.

Once on the ridge we were treated to great views of the Howser Towers and the Vowell Glacier. Also an interesting view of the north side of Bugaboo Spire. The ridge looks rideable for quite a distance heading north though we turned south and headed towards Cobalt Lake. Much of the ridge was rideable including some of the climbs as the shale was very supportive. There were a couple 100m hike a bikes though. Almost all the descents were rideable as well. There was an intermittent trail that would randomly disappear. I'd probably put the ridge at 80% rideable overall and a couple quite fun sections. The views are amazing the whole way...

Near Cobalt Lake we descended the hiking trail back to the campsite. This trail was fine for riding - slow and technical in spots. Unfortunately had two big crashes - one OTB when I misjudged the size of a rock. This led to a cracked GPS screen and a strained shoulder. Luckily only ran into one hiker here (and CMH was doing some glading near the trail though luckily this didn't cause any safety issues). As a portion of this trail is in the provincial park our route wasn't actually legal which I felt deterred a bit from my enjoyment of the day (it would have been better if the section we poached was first thing in the day). Overall a great adventure - similar to Cartier though perhaps Cartier is more rideable. Too bad the road up Rocky Point is crap as if it was better I'd be more inclined to repeat the route.

Quick run with Milo on the greenbelt. 5 km of threshold - 800/700/600/500/400 with remainder of km 50-100m walk then jog. Seeing some improvement in speed I can hold.

Martha Creek heading north with Courtney. It seems every time we take our boats to the lake it is windy and every time we don't it is calm... oh well conditions were not too bad. Faster (and warmer) with the tailwind on the way back.