Training Log Archive: Bash

'Bent had adjusted the gears on Gorgeous' bike, and it was time to take it home. We started riding from Town Hall in Caledon East and took the rail trail to Inglewood. Lots of people out today enjoying the autumn weather.

Ran back from Gorgeous' house in Inglewood to Caledon East. 'Bent was still on his bike, and I'd imagined that he would spend lots of time waiting for me, but his front derailleur wasn't working well, so we played leapfrog. Felt pretty good in the cool weather. Nice to have real autumn at last!

Left before sunrise to drive to Buffalo for the MRI on 'Bent's knee.

When we finally reached the front of the line to enter the U.S., 'Bent held out his passport and turned to get mine. The border official didn't take his passport, barking, "That's right, come on, gimme both of them at once. I don't need that aggravation!" We both stared at him with polite, expectant tourist smiles, waiting for him to chuckle - but he was serious.

"Purpose of your visit?" "Medical appointment," 'Bent answered. "Medical appointment. *Really.* Where are you going?", the official sneered. "Erie County Medical Center." "So you're coming here for a medical appointment!! Sounds like you've got *real* problems up there in Canada. No hospitals, huh?! No hospitals and no stores up there!!" "I'm just here to get an MRI." "There are no MRI machines in Canada? Tsk, tsk. No hospitals and no stores in Canada. Yup, real problems up there." (Plus assorted other nattering to ensure that he had properly conveyed his utter scorn for us.) Shaking his head, Mr. A**hole-in-charge-of-homeland-security then demanded that 'Bent open the windows so he could stick his slimy face into our van to look for contraband. As he shrugged us away with a clear look of disgust on his face, 'Bent said brightly, "Have a great day!"

Talk about pissed off. In spite of having many fine American friends who would be horrified by the way we were welcomed to their country, I was now determined not to spend a single penny in the U.S. other than the MRI. Not a coffee, not a tank of gas. Definitely no stores. And not one extra minute spent on that guy's side of the border beyond what was absolutely necessary.

It wasn't so much the incident, which was over, and we had made it into the U.S. on time. What bothered me was thinking about what it represented. This guy obviously feels that he can get away with this behaviour. It's apparently acceptable within his workplace culture. I seethed at the thought of him treating someone my parents' age that way.

We are lucky that we seldom experience feelings of total powerlessness around nasty government officials, but this was one of those times. He could be as insulting and abusive as he wanted, and he knew we were unable to respond because we didn't want a full body cavity search or our names added to a "watch list" or whatever else he can do to people at random if he feels like it.

I wonder... how bad does this guy get? We were a clean-cut, 40-ish couple in a new vehicle, heading to a medical appointment at 8:30 a.m. Pretty boring, really, for someone with a mission of stopping terrorists, and - right or wrong - we seldom seem to meet whatever criteria they have for attracting suspicion at border crossings. What would this jerk have said to our friend Hingo, whose East Indian appearance frequently leads to extra attention at the border? Then I imagined what it must feel like to be a member of a minority group that often gets treated badly or with suspicion by public officials. For example, in Toronto, there are some young black men who say that they would never dream of approaching police officers for help because of their past treatment. What happened to us was nothing by comparison, but it gave me a tiny taste of the powerlessness, anger and disrespect for authority that they must feel, and I can only imagine how it must change them over the years, and how friggin' bad that is for society.

What I wanted to say:
"If you really don't want Canadians spending our $1.01 dollars in your country, then you're doing the right thing. If you're lucky, traffic volume will decrease, and they'll be able to lay off some border officials, and you can find work you actually enjoy."
OR
"I get a dozen e-mails every day that say they can help men with your problem. Would you like the website for Megadik?"

The MRI was uneventful, other than the fact that the clinic's heating system seemed to be broken. I was cold in the waiting room wearing my jacket. 'Bent was put into a frigid MRI machine for 30 minutes in T-shirt and shorts, and asked not to shiver, please. We'll get the report in a few days, and in the meantime, we can look at all the films and speculate on what looks normal and weird. The good news is that 'Bent thinks the sharpest pain in his knee is starting to subside. That's great - it seems that my MRI cured my knee problem as well. ;-)

Felt unreasonably tired in the morning, then got a sore throat and cold-ish feeling around mid-day. Going to try Cold FX and hope for the best.

Pathetic week of training, but not the end of the world, since I'm in a recovery period between AR season and XC ski season (which is a fitness building phase with little racing), so if I must be pathetic, this is the time.

Hosted the GHO Training Night at Kerncliffe Park. Cool rainy weather meant low attendance, and forgetting my shoes meant no chance to go out into the cold rain in the dark after the participants had returned. Oh well!

Frontier Adventure Challenge results were finally posted yesterday. Interesting that I came home feeling that my chicken-hearted technical mountain biking was our team's biggest weakness, but actually we were within 6 minutes of several top teams on an off-road section more than 3 hrs long. (Some navigating involved.) However, we were 15-20 minutes behind them on a road biking section that was just over an hour. Hmmm - it totally felt the other way around. The road biking time includes our paddle/bike transition, which was a slow one due to my hypothermic fingers lacking dexterity, and because I changed into dry clothes, but that can't account for such a large difference. Yuck, I don't want to have to do road biking training, so I'll need to think of something else!

As expected, paddling was our best discipline - and hopefully will be better in future, since my stupid hanging seat collapsed last weekend, leaving me on the floor of the canoe for most of the race, but I will have my fancy new collapsible stool next year. Most of our trekking legs went well too, but we apparently needed to push harder on the first bushwhack, since we followed our intended route, but lost considerable time to the leaders. Very impressed at our friends, the Bobkittens, having the fastest final split in the race - a 1+ hr paddle followed by a short run through the campground!

Tuesday Gurlz Run with Leanimal. We ran the section of HVT to the west of Duffy's Lane, then ran 3 km back on the road to our car. The road running wasn't as pleasant as the trail running, but the hills and country views were pretty decent, and it was nice to do a loop. We finished by munching on a couple of nice, tart apples from a tree growing wild near the road. I picked the first one for Leanimal, then wasn't able to reach another one due to not being Leanimal's height, so she kindly picked one for me.

'Bent and I paddled out to the canoe campsite on Joe Lake where we were married. It's often occupied when we try to visit, so it was good to see one of the campers piling packs and paddles near the water. It took him awhile to get his friend ready to leave, so we had lots of time to casually check out the island across the way, a little inlet, and a bunch of brilliantly coloured trees. Then we walked around our wedding site and thought about the friends and family who were there with us eleven years ago. It's always special to go back. We paddled on to Camp Arowhon and explored the shoreline thoroughly. All the campers have gone home now, so it was deserted. Then we paddled back to Arowhon Pines lodge for one final yummy meal with dessert buffet before heading home to lose weight.