Training Log Archive: Bash

Purr de France, Stage 11 (doing this after Stages 12 and 13)

This was supposed to include a 6-minute breakaway but I completely forgot while I watched a video on the trainer. But I kept up a slightly uncomfortable pace after a tiring week, so that has to count for something.

We'd hoped to paddle with the Doughtys but we could see this storm coming on the radar.



'Bent and I were both low on energy today so it was mostly a day off, which wasn't the worst thing.

Purr de France, Stage 13 (a day early - I need to do Stage 11 tomorrow.)

This was supposed to be an easy, rolling ride. The Georgian Trail is easy but it doesn't roll so I turned into the George Christie trail network for a bit of real trail riding and one decent climb. Beautiful morning but it was already getting hot.

Beaver River SUP paddle with Tarno and Jackie. We started at Access Point #2 near Epping, which was jammed with cars. We headed upstream to the 4 km marker. I've only ever paddled this section downstream and I've never noticed the kilometre markers heading upstream from this access point. It is a great section for paddle training - not many obstructions.

Well, except for the log that I hit while 'Bent was taking my photo. He had his camera out for exactly one minute of the entire paddle so it's amazing that we have a record of The Incident.

Blissfully unaware - posing for photo.



Boom!



Splash!

Purr de France, Stage 12 (a day early)
Long, easy, flat to slightly rolling stage

There's no place like Collingwood for a flat bike ride! 'Bent and I did a counterclockwise tour of the town on the bike trail network. It was fun! The trails weren't that busy. We stopped by Dee and Bill's house for a short chat. We rode past the harbour. It was a perfect way to get hungry for a yummy take-out dinner.









[Time deducted for photography and map checks.]

After dinner, we had a great back yard visit with these people, whoever they are. ;)





They have a nice back yard view!

Elm Tree Dental Clinic staff working the daily 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. shift. (Who sleeps well in a pandemic?)

Purr de France, Stage 10
Flat Stage

Around Palgrave East - a lot of overlap with yesterday's Attack stage but without the attacks.

Coast Mountain Trail Running Summer Scavenger Hunt
Trail Scavenger Hunt badge

The weather wasn't looking great but I figured the Trail Scavenger Hunt would be a perfect thing to do in light rain. We were given a long list of items with point values. We could earn a maximum of 65 points but more points were available. Some items were out of reach: Mountain goat, Moose, Snow, etc. But there were plenty of things I *might* see - like a spider web or a butterfly.



Cristina did some of the high pointers like submerging herself in water up to her neck and juggling three items found in the forest for at least 5 seconds. I'm not sure I can juggle but on this morning's bike ride, I checked out the Humber River to see if it would be suitable to submerge myself in. It looked OK but I figured I would only do it if I needed the points.

This was a run/hike because of detours like pushing through long grass to a pond to see a frog. And of course I took some photos! I got lucky and managed to collect the maximum 65 points within the first 1.5 km but I couldn't remember the minimum run time so I figured I'd better stay out for an hour. I ended up with 111 points and I know where I could have found a few more items if I'd needed them.













We got extra points if we found a yellow gate. The RD is Gary Robbins. If you don't know why he put it on the list, Google will explain.



Unbelievably, after the huge influx of out-of-towners during the pandemic, one of the items I couldn't find was "Mountain Biker". I even ran over to Crash's house, which is currently acting as an aid station for a 700 km mountain bike event. She wasn't home and there were no visitors. I suppose I could have taken a selfie.

For a long time I couldn't find any butterflies, then suddenly I started seeing Monarch butterflies everywhere. They're emerging! Beautiful.

There were a few things that weren't on the list but it was cool to find them.





This was fun! There is also a City Scavenger Hunt, which I'm nervous about since I don't know any cities very well, and I never run in them. I haven't looked at the list yet to see what I'll need to find.

Purr de France, Day 9

Today we were supposed to include some all-out attacks in our ride. I didn't see any other bikers in Palgrave East so this required some imagination. It inspired me to go faster at other times too, so I guess it's a good training drill.

I found the new piece of trail 'Bent has been talking about. It needs to be ridden in but it's going to be a fun addition to the network.

Zoom Boot Camp with Mrs. Gally.

AdventureDog and I went to our first SUP & Pup session at the C3 Quarry. Caron Shepley is offering these sessions through the summer and donating the fees to the Upper Credit Humane Society.

AdventureDog had never been on a SUP but he is an experienced canoeist, which proved as helpful as I'd hoped it would. As soon as I waded into the water, he jumped onto the SUP. He's used to a wobbly watercraft so that didn't faze him. He sat upright and looked around for the first 15 minutes then he relaxed, lay down and enjoyed the smells for the rest of our paddle. Most dogs handled it pretty well but in my admittedly biased opinion, A-Dog was really a pro. Some dogs refused to sit. One dog insisted on lying on his owner's lap. One dog (with a veterinarian owner) refused to leave the knee-deep water at the beach. About half the humans sat or kneeled on their board to avoid a sploosh. I only saw one dog-human pair go for a swim.

I *might* take BazingaDog next week if I'm in the mood for adventure.

Purr de France, Stage 8

Today we were supposed to grind up a few hills in a larger gear so I did some low cadence climbs in Palgrave West.



Busy today - waiting in line to buy produce (sigh) and applying to the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program and the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program. Just another typical day in Covid Land.

'Bent came home with N95 face. :(

Purr de France, Stage 7

Today was a rest day for most participants but I took Saturday off because the trails were so wet. The joke was on me!



So I had to ride on the trainer anyway. At least that let me catch up on some Youtubing.

I haven't used the TacX Flow trainer regularly in several years, and it's obviously mad at me. It refused to calibrate. I think it's telling the truth about Cadence and Time but the Wattage, Speed and Distance numbers don't seem right. Either that or I've become a pathetic weakling. So I'm just guessing on the distance.