Training Log Archive: Bash

Unbelievably, it's the first time this year I've skied at Hockleycrest but it's their 53rd day of skiing this season! It snowed all day until mid-afternoon so the groomed tracks were partly filled and some trails had only been rolled before the snow started. There was one open field where I couldn't see the rolled trail so I wallowed slowly through the powder. I'm not complaining - it was awesome!

It's such a fun little trail network. It would be great for ski orienteering but it would be limited to people who are comfortable classic skiing on narrow trails without hitting trees on downhill curves. I don't think we could cover our costs.

Added a little extra distance/time for a loop where my GPS wasn't on.

AdventureDog had an X-ray for his sore elbow today (kaCHING!) and I got the call to pick him up after his sedation had mostly worn off.

Turned out my car battery was dead. Weird but no problem - I'd take 'Bent's van. Oops, forgot that 'Bent drove A-Dog to his appointment this morning so his van was at the dental office.

So instead of the lovely midday Hockleycrest ski that I'd planned, I skied into town to get the van and pick up our boy. The vet noticed a couple of spots that might be mild arthritis but really nothing much to explain his limp. The X-rays have been sent on to a specialist for further review.

Time deducted for a conversation break with some hikers.

I harnessed up the mighty BazingaDog and took him for an easy, hilly snowshoe bushwhack through Palgrave West on this beautiful, wintry day. He is so strong that things could have gone very wrong if we'd seen any exciting wildlife but luckily, there were no major incidents. Well, there *was* the deer poop he rolled in, which meant I had to scrub him, his collar and his harness when we got home. Oh BazingaDog, you're such an animal.

Event: Stars W*A*R 2020
 

Stars W*A*R
Wasaga Beach Provincial Park

Browner and I teamed up for this race once again. It didn't take us long to make a route plan with some time checks and a few optional controls if we were ahead of time. There were three control pairs that offered bonus points if we visited them consecutively without any other control in between. We built them all into our plan.

Then we spent an equal amount of time figuring out (or guessing) control descriptions and writing them on the map since they weren't provided. Browner used her magnifying glass to figure out a few. This is a tricky area where up and down aren't always obvious. [Click for larger version.]



Controls 41, 42 and 43 would be removed after the first 15 minutes. They weren't valuable but with a false sense of urgency, we decided to do them first without thinking too hard. This is the only thing I would have changed about our plan. It would have been enough to visit two of them. It was a lot of running at the start!

Nick wasn't sure whether snowshoes would be a help or hindrance. The top overall teams ran without snowshoes but we opted to use them. The cleats were great for climbing the steep hills (dunes) and there were some soft areas where they helped and we didn't need to worry about twisted ankles.

We did 44 (with a bobble), 34 and 35 before crossing Veterans Way.

On the west side, we visited 33, 136, 135, 139, 148, 147, 32, 31, 133. The snowmobile trail network helped to pinpoint our location and the terrain was less hilly than the east side of the road.

We crossed back to the east side of the road and visited 141 before attempting another bonus pair 131-132. It was almost a bust since we passed close to 132 without seeing it then started exploring the area without a good plan. We relocated from a clearing and Browner saved the day by finding it in a location I'd ruled out because we'd previously been almost on top of it without seeing it.

Time was getting a bit tight so we started to run south-ish following snowshoe tracks that seemed to be heading to 38. They weren't. We didn't think we had time to relocate so we just carried on when we realized we'd overshot. Instead, we visited 40 before crossing the road and running across the field to the sports centre.

With a few exceptions, things went pretty well. We followed our plan almost perfectly, adding two of our optional controls and missing one. As always, Browner was a great teammate. We won the female category.

Huge congrats to Bob and Luka who cleared the course in just under 2 hours - wow! No one else cleared it in 2.5 hours although some came close. Congrats also to Timato and Nosnhoj, who were 2nd overall, and to 'Bent and Hammer, who were 3rd overall and won the Masters category. Huge thanks to Nick and the other volunteers!

Results

Our finish line photo. Browner had just taken off her snowshoes.



Timato secretly "improving" our photo.

'Bent and I went to Loree Forest to tire out the dogs since they'll be home tomorrow while we do the Stars W*A*R race. I was thinking we'd do about an hour of relatively flat snowshoeing but with the sunshine and deep, fluffy new snow, we couldn't resist heading down the Back Bowl trail. We've done it in past Snowshoe Raids but we didn't have a map or compass so when we bushwhacked to get back to the Loree plateau, we watched the angle of the sun to make sure we were on track. It was spectacular. We ended up staying out for 2 hours and climbing a few hills - a terrific pre-race rest day. Time includes a lot of photography and videography.

The overnight snowstorm "over-performed", as the weather forecaster would say, and we got 10-15 cm of fluffy new snow. It was hell for my long drive home from Kitchener last night although I had a lovely evening with Funderstorm and Adam Shoalts (well, I didn't actually meet him). But today it was a winter wonderland in Palgrave Forest. I mostly skied in 'Bent's tracks from this morning but I broke some trail on my own. It wasn't fast but it was fun and beautiful!

The upper right outside part of my heel is quite sore - a very small area, almost a point pain. It's been a week and a half since it got banged by the sharp corner of some furniture that we were moving. Because I was having heel pain elsewhere before that, I don't know if this current pain is related to the furniture or whether it's an evolution of my earlier heel pain (part of the Achilles attachment maybe) or...? The places that used to hurt on that heel feel fine at the moment. As Gilda Radner used to say, "It's *always* something."