Training Log Archive: Bash

Canada's goal for medals at the Rio Olympics = 19
Number of Canadian medals as of today = 21
Great job!!

Around Palgrave East single track on another warm day. In the past, I would have called this a hot day but I've been forced to change my standards. Thank you, Climate Change! I failed to avoid the abundant poison ivy and horse poop so I'll need to glove up and scrub my bike tires and shoes with dish soap. Yay.

There was a community viewing party for the Olympic men's triathlon at Caledon Town Hall this morning. We were cheering for Andrew Yorke, who grew up in Caledon East and belongs to our C3 club.

It seemed wrong to drive there so I decided to run but slept through my alarm - doh! That forced me to keep a steady pace, which was good. I carried a pack that included a thermos of 'Bent's coffee since I wasn't leaving home without finishing it!

Andrew usually starts a little back in the swim, then moves forward on the bike and run; today was no exception. He worked hard with Richard Murray of South Africa, who finished the swim behind Andrew and eventually placed 4th by seven seconds.

Unfortunately, Andrew crashed along with several others during the seventh of eight 5K bike laps. I haven't heard the story yet but one guy was slumped against the barrier with his carbon bike beside him, snapped in half. (He is fine - or as fine as anyone can be when their carbon bike has snapped in half.)

The crowd at Town Hall stared at the screen in silent horror as we realized it was Andrew lying on the pavement on his back with his bike partly on top of him. Fortunately, in the next shot, he was running in cycling shoes, pushing his bike and channelling his inner Froome. After half a km, he got a new wheel and finished the 8th lap with no one to draft. He couldn't dawdle since he would have been DQ'ed if the leaders had lapped him during their final lap. Then he ran 10K in to the finish to place 42nd of 55 racers. Canada's Tyler Mislawchuk, who had been riding in the same group at the time of the crash, finished 15th.

Good for Andrew for getting up and finishing his Olympic race, even though he must have been terribly disappointed and sore. It was a gutsy, classy effort. The poor guy was hit by a car last fall on his final training ride before the race where he'd hoped to secure his place on the Olympic team. Then in May, Canada *should* have secured Olympic spots for 3 men in the final qualification race but they didn't because one of the other Canadians had a minor bike crash and chose not to continue. As a result, there were only two places available on the Canadian team for three well-qualified men. It was a tough call by Triathlon Canada, and Andrew only got the nod a month ago. I'm sure that experience ensured that he will always race to the finish as long as his bike will roll and his body can keep up.

Olympic viewing parties are fun. Who's holding the Tragically Hip viewing party?

When I ran home, it was high noon and for some stupid reason, I thought I should try to maintain the same pace as in the morning. Oh, and I didn't have any water in my pack, just an empty coffee thermos. It went OK for awhile but I took a slightly tougher route, and as I climbed a hill while dripping with sweat in the 30-something humidex, I CRACKED (as Phil and Paul would say). I made a brief stop to bring down my HR, then walked the next few hills until I felt human again.

Now that jury duty is over, we can move on to the next unexpected interruption of our regular activities. 'Bent and I took BazingaDog to an orthopaedic surgeon today and made final plans for his major knee surgery on the Tuesday after Labour Day. He has the doggie equivalent of a torn ACL. Because of the difficult recovery, it will then be 12 weeks until 'Bent and I can both be away from home at the same time for more than a half a day. Lots of tag team days coming up.

Warm-up for strength workout. Clouds were ominous and we had a severe thunderstorm watch so I didn't stray too far from home.

While watching the Olympics. Obviously.

Rain, rain, rain. No complaints because we've been having a drought. Lots of wind and falling branches too. On my next trip into the woods, there will be work to do!

No exciting birthday adventures because I expected to be on jury duty but 'Bent did take me out for a yummy dinner. :)

Jury duty is done! We were instructed to bring overnight bags in case we needed to be sequestered in a hotel but we reached a verdict of Not Guilty before that was necessary.

It was an interesting experience to get a front seat view of our criminal justice system and explore difficult issues with eleven thoughtful strangers who all brought different wisdom and insights to the table. I came away feeling impressed and proud as a Canadian; I'd be glad to go back and do it again some day. (I'm now excused for 3 years.)

Huge congratulations to Charlotte Vasarhelyi for completing her self-supported, end-to-end run of the Bruce Trail in the wee hours! The total time was 16 days and (I'm estimating) 22 hours, which, coincidentally, is exactly how much time she had off work. :) She travelled through some of the hottest weather on record and had to take side hikes off the trail to find food and water. Because of the drought, many potential water sources had dried up. It looked like a tough journey with a much bigger pack than she had for her first Bruce Trail run. Well done!

Monday morning our jury gets instructions from the judge. He says it will take most of the morning, then we'll be sent away to come up with a unanimous verdict. Obviously, this is daunting. We've been told to bring overnight bags in case we're sequestered in a hotel, and some of us are packing for two nights just in case. They will confiscate our cell phones and other methods of communication until we're done. Some stranger may phone to tell 'Bent I'm not coming home for the night since I'm not permitted to do that. If rumours are true, we may even be unable to get our daily fix of Olympics news. Interesting to learn how this all works.

Yumi, 'Bent and I ran from the 6th Line Nassagaweya north BT parking lot to Hilton Falls, then back by a different route. Before we started, I had a chat with IronJulie Parent, who was riding by. I had a few maps and a compass but didn't have a map of everything so we hit 6th Line too soon and had to run up the road a bit. Browner drove by and cheerfully offered us a ride but we decided to finish what we'd started.

Along the way, we met a couple of guys riding expensive bikes who were very knowledgeable about different MTB models I should consider in my search. I could have stayed and talked longer but we had a deadline. 'Bent stuck around a few minutes longer and discovered we had been chatting with Rider Mel, who writes mountain bike guides.
https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5044-501/Rider-Mel%2...



P.S. 'Bent is not that much taller than me. He must have been standing on a rock! :)

Browner did the Bruce Peninsula Multisport Race yesterday (and hit the podium!) so we excused her from the trail run but we still required her attendance for the bike ride. Yumi is a new mountain biker so we took double track where we could; she was a rock star when we got into technical trails by mistake.

'Bent was riding the rocks well on his new bike - until the shock failed and a custom only-one-in-the-world part fell off. This is the hardly the first time we've been in this situation. It took awhile to work out all the bugs in his previous recumbent mountain bike so I'm used to hearing things like, "Um, my handlebars just snapped off." So he limped out to the nearest road with his broken bike while the rest of us rode back to the parking lot.



After I'd driven around to rescue 'Bent, our group reconvened at the Flying Monkey for espresso drinks and huge slabs of carrot cake. Fun afternoon - except for poor 'Bent!

Crazy weather on and off all day. Torrential rain, gusty winds, thunder and periods of sunshine. After a week of heat warnings (which we still have), I'd been looking forward to a longer run but it wasn't the day for it.

When we saw a break in the storms on radar, 'Bent and I snuck out for a run around the Palgrave trails. Glad we waited!



It felt like 150% humidity in a steamy jungle. We didn't get too far from home in case we needed to bail. An hour after we finished, there was a tornado warning - yikes!