Training Log Archive: coach ld

The Don Olson Classic xc race was today and as I always have I set out the flags and arrows etc. for the course and then rode the course as a marshal and sweep. So it was 10 times around a 2.5 km loop. Normally it would have been one 2.5 km race followed by a 5km race with mass starts. But this is the year of Covid craziness so we had to do all kinds of special things:
1. 40 racers/"heat" max.
2. Interval starts, 1 runner every 10 secs.
3. Each racer stood at a numbered cone, all set 2m apart at the start
3. 7 heats, started on the hour from 10-4:00.
4. Athletes congregated 1/2 hr. before their scheduled heat about 1/2km away in a picnic area and were led , single file across the creek and then chalet campground/parking lot, wearing masks
5. All racers had to clear the finish area within about 10 minutes
6. No awards ceremony, awards mailed out later
7. No use of the chalet, just washrooms, so no baked goodies for sale
8. Only 1 support person per athlete, so no real spectators on the course
But, everyone was happy to be able to race, and they were all cooperative and compliant. It went quite well
and I got to ride short intervals on and off for 8 hours, in the beautiful fall colours in the Albion Hills woods:)

Misty, drizzly, cool grey fall day. Packed up after 2 nights on our great island campsite and paddled down to the portage from Island Lake to Farm Creek. Then it was a winding, pretty paddle on the narrow alder-lined creek. The flow was decent after all the rain this week so it was quicker than it might have been at lower levels. Several beaver dams but we were able to get over them with the current. Had to portage around a couple of drops but ran one small set, with some bumps. Put a couple of good scratches on the bottom of the new kevlar boat :(. But it was fun. Finally came out onto the Top Lake of Wa-wash-kesh and got the cars pretty quickly with the wind at our backs. Damp and tired but happy with the trip. Connie and Dave O were awesome to trip with and it's hard not to have a good trip with Goose.

C • Nice Autumn Adventure! 1

Took this as a lay-over day and kept the same, sweet, campsite. Heavy rain again during the night but the clouds were breaking up at breakfast. It was a pleasant temperature and we headed out on an exploration of Island Lake - which not surprisingly has many, many islands, as well as bays, and inlets etc. and just a few cabins/hunt camps. We went to find Loon Creek and paddled up it as far as we could. We passed a kind of creepy old crooked cabin with several old boats pulled up beside it, and carefully placed glass liquor bottles set up on the rock across from it - like an exhibit. Weird. IT was a beautiful fall day though with clouds racing across the sky, then brilliant intense sunshine, then rain, and deep purple clouds, and a north wind started blowing. We got back to the campsite just in time to get under the tarp before another round of rain. The soup tasted good:). The sun came out again and it was a good 5 degrees warmer at the other end of our island from where we had the tents. I even went for a swim. Oct.1! 26 years ago Tman was born and today I can't even see him. Strange times.

More heavy rain overnight. Another long day, and quite wet, Rain, drizzle, fog, mist, more rain, heavier rain, dripping off the trees, bit of a break, then more rain. But no wind:)
Left Last Lake after a beautiful sunrise that hit the maples and set them on fire, It was breathtaking. Headed off east to the end of Noganosh, into very different terrain and vegetation on John Lake. Rockier, more lichen and moss, scrubbier, marshier, more lily pads, more spruce, less hardwood. And the rain started the moment we got to the end of a creek and found the start of the portage trail - in swampy squishy alders. Not a portage with yellow sign and the image of a person carrying a canoe. WE had to slog our way through swamp and try to find an opening. Luckily someone had hung flagging tape, and there were inukshuks/rock piles periodically when the direction changed so at least you could look around for flagging tape. But there was a lot of bushwhacking and stomping through tall grasses, raspberry canes, shrubs, rocks, then big hardwood forest until after more than 2 hours we were scratching our heads when the flagging tape ended at a huge grassy bog with no channel to paddle. So we tried a few directions and could see the end of the next lake but couldn't find a trail. Had to make our own and eventually got to Island Lake. We were ready for lunch. Then we paddled on to the far end of Island Lake to a find a perfect island campsite. There was actually a site at each end of the lake and it was a great spot for hanging stuff to dry since the sun came out finally and there was a steady breeze. We had a nice fire tonight and watched a magical moonrise.

Tough, wet, slightly frustrating, but very interesting

Long day and pretty tough but not as wet as yesterday. It did rain in the night - again. We paddled on the Magnetawan for a bit in gorgeous bright sunshine this morning with a couple of short portages, then it was the big one, 2+km into Noganosh. A bit of a bushwhack for a few hundred metres and then an ATV trail which eventually became a logging rod that was quite flat and well maintained - but it was still long. The weather was bright and dry for the portage at least. Hot in fact. But I cooled off when I did a full face plant with the (quite full) food barrel and day pack into an ATV puddle-pond which was deep enough that the water flowed in over the top of my rubber boots - at about the 300m mark of a 2km portage.
It was a bit tricky finding the start of the portage trail, and the final hundred metres but eventually we were finally on Noganosh:) It's a nice long lake.
Found another lovely site on and arm called Last Lake. It was the south end of an Island with a pretty, rocky point and great view of a maple shoreline that was in full colour. Heard some amazing Bard owl calls over and over at dusk. Pretty cool.Unfortunately I felt like crap after dinner.

Long, heavy work but relatively flat at least, and not raining:)

Heavy rain in the wee hours but it had stopped by the time we got up. It was grey and it rained on and off all day but there were sunny breaks too and it wasn't cold. The colours were spectacular on Maple Lake. As we got onto the Magnetawan the skies opened and it hammered in the early afternoon so we found nice site and called it a day. Since it's not provincial park the campsites are kind of hit-and-miss. We found a beautiful site and once the rain stopped we soaked up the sun and explored the nearby channels. There was no wind. At all. It was so still it was spooky. The water was obsidian. So shiny and black and the reflections were like cut glass. Exquisite, perfect mirror images.
After collecting a lot of firewood, the heavens opened again so no campfire tonight.

Met Connie and Dave O in Parry Sound for lunch and then drove the winding but gorgeous roads from there into Wa-Wash-Kesh Lake off the Magnetawan. We hit the fall colours bang on today. Couldn't have been brighter, more vibrant. We headed off west-ish toward Maple Lake and found a good campsite so we stopped early. Had a swim, and enjoyed a lovely sunset.