Training Log Archive: Bash

Hard Core Live with Caron

Biked around Palgrave single track, inspired by a slew of insulting, uninformed comments on Facebook about Palgrave mountain bikers. A biker (not me) dared to write a letter to the local newspaper about horses leaving piles of poop on the bike trails - where horses actually aren't supposed to be, although the biker didn't mention that.

Mountain bikers were referred to as "Citidiots", which is a common class of insult in Caledon. It means you are from the city - not from the country - and you are complaining inappropriately about country things. I make similar (less rude) comments privately when new neighbours move in and decide that our dirt road should be paved.

Anyway, even though Caledon supports two busy bike shops, all their customers apparently come from outside of town. And if you believe the commenters, it seems that none of the equestrians are city people who board their horses in the country; I guess wealthy Torontonians keep their horses in their back yards.

I know from past community discussions that many people believe that mountain bikers are kamikaze, untrustworthy young men from Toronto, while equestrians are community-loving, tax-paying, respected citizens who contribute to the local economy, care about nature and have a long family history in the area. They would be surprised to know how many local bikers are age 40-70 and can afford 5-figure bikes so they're probably paying lots of property tax too.

I don't usually get into debates on the Internet but I felt sorry for this poor biker who was being pummelled by people who don't know what they're talking about. I mentioned that it's unpleasant to get horse feces flung up onto our water bottles and another commenter (obviously a bike expert) set me straight: "A tip: I would not be having a water bottle EXPOSED in any forest or anywhere in the streets for that fact with all the spitters out there. It is just gross!"

So just so you know, if you have a water bottle carrier on your bike frame, that is just gross. :D

Anyway, it was a great ride. The trails are in excellent condition with only a couple of muddy spots. I still love my bike. But news flash: I can't get away with regular bike shoes and socks at +1C. At least not for longer than 40 minutes. After that, I was riding with Popsicle Toes.

Bike computer time/distance.

Dr. Thumbs-of-Death continued his reign of terror today with some excellent Pain per Dollar.

I paid online for boot camp and was really looking forward to it but 15 minutes before I had to leave, I clicked on a link from a friend and realized too late that it wasn't legit. I did a full virus scan, then restarted my computer with the intent of doing one more virus scan as I headed out the door. But then I got a message that I wasn't protected by my virus scanner anymore. I couldn't login and I couldn't uninstall it so I couldn't reinstall it.

The support database provided some instructions that took me into the guts of my Mac to uninstall my virus scanner. In my long history with PCs, I went into their guts regularly but for all my skepticism about Macs, they do tend to work properly without much fuss. I was disappointed that Cristina doesn't live in Palgrave since she would not have found this scary at all. I sure did.

It worked. But I missed boot camp. The End.

OK, not quite the end. If you want to postpone dying, you should do strength training. So don't miss boot camp. It's probably even more important than virus protection on your computer.

Foot still feels OK a few hours later. I'm seeing Dr. Thumbs-of-Death tomorrow so OUCH in advance.

I’ve been trying to build physio exercises into odd moments in my day but I should plan more dedicated sessions too. My foot feels fine tonight - none of yesterday’s stiffness and no pain.

Browner, 'Bent and I went running with Contour, BazingaDog and AdventureDog at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park on a crisp, pre-winter morning with wisps of snow on the ground. It was a nice chance to catch up and tire out a few dogs on the trails. My heel felt stiff after yesterday's orienteering, which probably isn't good but I'll see how it recovers over the next few days.

When we were almost back at the cars, Browner noticed that her phone had fallen out of her pack. Remembering our successful lost phone adventure with Carbon's Offset on the Wind Ridge Trail in July, we were optimistic. Like CO, Browner had a map-savvy spouse at home who fired up the Find My iPhone app on her computer and sent us screen captures of the simple map that showed her phone's location. (Note that people without map-savvy family members at home can sign into Find My iPhone on a friend's phone but it is nice to have someone sitting in a warm house focusing on that task since you will likely need the friend's phone for other things during your quest.)

We realized last time that using Find My iPhone on one of our own phones allowed us to see our location on the same type of map and use that information to move toward the missing phone even if the map wasn't too detailed. (Storm also sent us a satellite version of the map but it wasn't until we were in the car with warm hands that we figured out how to convert our own map to satellite. Next time that would be easier.) For the next few kms, we did more hiking than running.

Storm could make the phone play sounds using Find My iPhone but the phone was down to 2% battery so we waited until we thought we were in the right spot. We searched the ground and begged our three dogs to use their acute senses of smell for something more meaningful than sniffing butts. But they were unhelpful and we came up empty. With 1% battery remaining, we asked Storm to play sounds and... we heard a beep. It was lying right on a trail we had run on while actively looking for it. Who would have thought a piece of technology could make itself so invisible on top of some grass?

Anyway, success! Thanks to Browner for a yummy reward lunch and latte in Belfountain.

Event: Kick-Start and Starry Night O-CUP Races
 

Stars O Cup Kick-Start at Columbia Forest, Waterloo

Yay, it's O Cup season again! Unfortunately, it wasn't great weather for lingering and chatting with friends although we were lucky to have a break in the rain for most of this race.

It was a fun course with a surprising amount of hill climbing. The forest was soggy but that just added to the challenge. Val flew past me like I was standing still on the way to the last control so I just missed out on a prize. AdventureGirl! crushed us both, though!

Mrs. Tiny kindly invited Amber and me to hang out at her place between races, which was a nice treat.

Starry Nights O Cup
Steckle Woods

Nick really outdid himself on this complex race course but it was a lot of fun and a terrific use of a small forest. The first part of the race was the O Cup Box, made up of 7 dog bones where we could drop dog bones based on our handicap. Then there was a map exchange and we finished with a point-to-point section, made more challenging by the fact that all the controls kept the same labels that they had when they were dog bones, e.g. you could be running from F to c to d to A. Also, everyone was allowed to drop one control. (I picked g.)

It was absolutely pouring so it was an excellent test of our clothing and gear. I wore a real rain jacket and didn't regret it even though I was warm. It was better than being cold! I wore my headlamp above my clear visor over my glasses and it worked reasonably well although I had to direct my breath downward or else my glasses fogged up. I had only one major bobble but it was an annoying one because it was a control I had visited on the first map and found immediately. This time I doubted my pace count because I hadn't seen a trail junction in the mist so when I finally went into the woods, I did a big, unnecessary circle.

Once again, AdventureGirl! was the top female even though I tried to blind her with my powerful bike light as she passed. She got a prize as the top junior woman but had the *nerve* to take the bottle of wine that was clearly intended for the top adult woman - just because she is of age now! ;) I settled for a bag of yummy chocolates.

I wish there were more opportunities for Night O. This was a blast! :) And my foot doesn't feel too bad after all that running on uneven terrain.

AdventureDog and I went for a short run in Palgrave West to make sure my sore foot feels OK on smooth trails before I take it orienteering tomorrow. So far, so good! Except that tomorrow's forecast is build-an-ark weather.