Training Log Archive: Bash

Now that Wilderness Traverse is over, I can post the GPS track for our course test of Trek #2. (Click on the little globe to see it. Satellite map is probably best.) Bob and I didn't trek all the way to TA3. When we hit the main snowmobile trail at the north end of Red Pine Lake, we ran/walked 2 hrs on snowmobile trails to get back to TA2 where we'd left the car. This was the reverse of the route used by teams on the trek short course from TA2 to TA3. On the trek, we didn't take the route that either of us would have used in a race - not that we agreed on route choice anyway! There were some areas of forest we wanted to check out plus we were too soft to swim that early in the year. We did pack raft one short crossing on Sherborne Lake enroute to CP6. Beautiful area and we were lucky to see all the beautiful scenery in daylight, unlike most racers!

Here's my original log entry:
Wilderness Traverse course testing with Bob. The weather forecast promised us doom and gloom with constant rain and cooler temperatures plus a nice blast of thunderstorms in the middle of the day. We looked forward to a serious character building experience but - alas - it was not meant to be. Not only did we get less than 2 hours of light rain, the sun came out and we were *way* too warm. Oh well, better luck next time.

Bob carried a heavier pack than I did to "even out" our relative speeds. As if.



We did part of an epic trek from the WT race course and returned to the car by a different route. The landscape was varied and scenic - a classic Ontario wilderness bushwhack. Cliffs, mossy boulders, marshes, huge hills, lakes, wildflowers, creeks - we had it all today. Our navigation-while-chatting-about-totally-different-topics technique has improved so it was relatively smooth sailing.

Surprisingly, my legs still felt energetic after yesterday's 5.5 hr race. Starting about halfway through when we were making good time, I got crafty and began sharing food to lighten my pack. Bob totally fell for it and probably went home with *way* more leftovers than I did!













Only one wildlife sighting - same as last time. Looks like the garter snake will have to be the official animal of the Wilderness Traverse. Bob was so disappointed by the lack of critters that if he knew how to call a bear over, I'm sure he would have done it.



Painted Trilliums were out - pretty.



Bob promised that this time (unlike *last* time), I wouldn't be wading through water more than waist deep.





Unfortunately, he failed to mention that he was talking about *his* waist. Or that he planned to use special techniques available only to long-legged people.



Oh well, at least I'm getting good at it.



More views along this gorgeous trek.









OK, so it can't *all* be nice open forest.



At the end, we had a few kilometers of trail and road back to the car. It was tough but I managed to convince Bob to run the downhills and flats. (Didn't want him to over-exert himself.) He did pretty well but I touched the car first and won the course test. Still, I think he'll make a fine adventure racer some day.

I may have mentioned that I'm only course testing because it lets me eat dessert. So if you're at "That Place" in Carnarvon, I can highly recommend the warm haystack brownie with two flavours of ice cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Yum.

P.S. Thanks for taking a passenger, Bob - it was awesome fun.

P.P.S. Full set of course testing photos is here.

Original entry without GPS track. I've kept it to retain the comments.

Frontier Adventure Challenge @ Deerhurst

Once again, 'Bent and I teamed up with Shifty (of Terranaut fame). Gotta love his attitude toward racing and life; a weekend together is guaranteed to be full of laughs and good conversation.



It was nice to see how much the boys enjoyed each other's company.



There were over 90 teams at the starting line this year, which was awesome. Weather forecast wasn't good and the smell of ozone was in the air at the start line, so we knew a thunderstorm was nearby. After a mass dash to the Deerhurst beach, the Tree Huggers made up for our slow run by paddling up to the back of the lead pack as we headed down Fairy Lake.

We'd heard the first rumble of thunder within minutes of leaving Deerhurst. On Fairy Lake, we saw some distant lightning first, then a flash came down over a hilltop beside the lake. I've always dreaded this happening in a race because I've been a wilderness canoe tripper for a lot longer than I've been a racer, and I won't stay on the water in an electrical storm. So I took our team out of the race. :-( We pulled up onshore and waited for 10 minutes, which was 5 minutes after the last major thunder clap. We went back onto the water in dead last place, as no other team stopped. Ever the optimist, Shifty pointed out that we would spend the rest of the day passing teams. That was kinda fun and took some of the sting out of being so far back.

We switched to bikes on the south side of Huntsville then rode down Otter Lake Rd. into a system of ATV trails that led to the TA. Rain was pouring down and the biking was slick and mucky in the rain. I didn't go down today but I worried about doing a reprise of last week's back-twisting crash in the Wild B.O.A.R.

We dropped our bikes and headed out for three nearby CPs set up on smaller orienteering-type features. We could do them in any sequence and I was worried that the 1:50,000 topo map wouldn't support the CP locations sufficiently, so I chose a very safe route to ensure we spiked them all. It wasn't entirely safe as I managed to bash my head hard on a thick branch, which left a big goose egg even though (or perhaps because) I was wearing my bike helmet.





The route also seemed less safe when we met the man on the ATV who bellowed, "What are you doing on my land????" An excellent question, we thought. We spent five minutes trying our best to be charming and explain ourselves. We showed him our map and it turned out that one or more of our CPs were on his 400 acres, so he was not a happy camper. By the end of our conversation, he was friendly to us but it was clear that he needed someone in charge to apologize and acknowledge that he had been wronged. We later saw him at the bike/trek TA and at Deerhurst. As we came off his property, it was clear that he didn't welcome visitors. (Sorry... rain = blurry photos.)



We picked up our bikes for a little more muddy snowmobile trail riding, then a nice, mostly-downhill ride back to Deerhurst.



We were supposed to get our second gear bag there before doing the Advanced Trek section but the bags weren't there. That meant 'Bent was without trekking poles to protect his knee on the trail run and I was without a map for the trek. Thank you, Mr. Gally, for lending me your map so we could keep racing! And thanks to the racers who pointed out that CP A was misplaced. 'Bent found a couple of thick sticks to use as trekking poles and we were off. Shifty's ITB flared up after 10 years of good behaviour, so with both boys hurting, we were glad the trail section was short. We mostly walked it.

Great to reach the finish and see so many good friends during the afternoon and evening. After our "time outs" and injury issues, we were surprised and happy to finish 2nd Coed to the speedy Running Free crew, which had been our race goal anyway.



One of the great things about the Deerhust weekend is the chance to spend time with enthusiastic young adventure racers.



Huge congrats to PhattyJR, Frankenjack and Peter for taking the overall win.



And kudos to Harps, T. Rex and Relentless for winning 1st Coed and an impressive 2nd place overall.



Big smiles after a tough day.

Packing for a big weekend of training and racing up north! :-)

Just when I was getting a good impression of Cub Scouts...
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/28/boy-scouts-intr...

Trail run in the evening light in Palgrave West. I've been taking it easy this week because I did a lot of running last weekend and I'll be spending many hours on foot in the woods over the next two weekends. Endurance training... check! Speed training... well, that will have to wait. Running feels really good right now - whether it's because I've been doing a lot of it or because I took some weight off or because I'm working on Chi running or because I've got brilliantly coloured Salomon SLAB-2 XT Wings, I don't know - but I'm happy about it. Just wish 'Bent's knee would heal itself so we could run together.

Goose has posted some more Wild B.O.A.R. Photos. It is truly shocking how incompetent I look when I pretend to smoke. Mom would be proud. This album will grow as more people upload to it but it shows the other racers, as some of you had requested!

GHO School Meet impeccably organized by the amazing and energetic Ray Kitowski. Close to 1,000 kids raced this year! Goose took on the challenging job of teaching map reading and orientation to students at the start line - a 50-second spiel delivered at 1-minute intervals for about two hours. Can't believe he chose to spend his day off from teaching school this way, but we can always use another experienced orienteer to help out - thanks! I was on the results table with Terri and Jocelyn as usual, manually calculating race times for 500 teams. Fun but intense! Gorgeous, chilly day. Kids seemed to be having a blast. AdventureGirl! and Chloe placed 1st of 92 teams in Bantam Girls - yahoo!!

Madly preparing for our first Cub Scout orienteering night. Nervous!!!

The Caledon Navigators put on our first Cub Scout orienteering evening. Many thanks to Gosling, Joshua, Goose, Cindy, Catherine and 'Bent for coming out to shadow the teams and help me with all the flags. At the Cubs' indoor training session last week, their attention was drifting - but tonight they were awesome. In fact, I should have made the course 50% longer - which it originally was until I decided that it was too much for 8-10 year olds. Well, I've sure learned my lesson! Every pair got all 17 controls before the 45-minute time limit was up, and they all ran like they were being chased by the police. (Only in short bursts, fortunately, so I didn't lose my little guys.) Big thanks to Goose for leading the pre-race map discussion. Soooo nice to have a real live teacher who can do that with some panache.

BulletDog and I vetted Keith's unusual training course at Palgrave for Wed. night. He managed to take me to a cool place in Palgrave East where I'd never been - nasty bushwhack to get to it though! I was stunned to encounter a couple of tow trucks near the beaver pond. As a trail captain, I was thinking that I should mention it to our TRCA rep - until I saw him standing there wearing a guilty expression beside his stuck pick-up truck. Stopped to commiserate with him briefly, then finished the course. BulletDog is an awesome bushwhacker.