Training Log Archive: danfoster

7 mile mountain bike with Jess, short break, and then a 17 mile West Bare Hill loop with DH. Warm, humid, and gusty headwinds. My knees were hurting, so we eased up and took the shorter way back.

Two night bikepacking trip to Bearsden.

Friday: drove out to Athol at noon, catching the final wave of rain. Packed the bike in surprisingly-freezing conditions for 60 degrees. Windy and raw. Biked in two soggy miles to the riverfront campsite, gathered wood, and then did a two-hour recon ride that covered just 4 additional miles. Lots of hike-a-bike, lots of mud. Campfire was much appreciated, and the highest winds didn't come until overnight.

Saturday: 57 mile "gravel-friendly" ride, with some bonus MTB/washed-out jeep road terrain for good measure. There may have been a major bridge under repair at a critical point on our ride, and there may have been an adventurous route that involved carrying bikes up and over a railroad embankment and then across a construction barge with a gangplank over the river. Or maybe we just retraced a lot of road miles to get across. Squishy conditions made it an all-day affair, with a bailout onto paved roads before we hit Quabbin. 65 and sunny - perfect riding weather. Final miles all uphill. Left camp at 8AM, made it back at 5:30. A perfect warm, windless evening by the fire.

Sunday: 8 mile ride out with gear, including 5+ miles of new "trails" to explore. Some of them weren't. Our hike-a-biking and a dramatic ravine crossing on the pipeline trail lead to a sweet singletrack downgrade run with some opportunities to catch air with a fully-loaded bikepacking rig. And then a final hike-a-bike and road climb back to the cars, with just enough time to pack up and get out before the deluge began.

A great weekend trip, and we managed to squeeze out every last rideable minute between Friday and Sunday's storms.

Yard work is hard work! Did a spring cleaning on the wildflower slope down by the pond. Raked and carted away about 10 oversized wheelbarrows full of oak leaves and dried stalks from last year's growth. Pulled lots of bittersweet and burning bush. I think I may have actually transplanted a burning bush seedling onto the bare slope a decade ago. Oops.

Saw a bald eagle again on this morning's dog walk. It did a slow, circling descent into the water, and then flew off to the north. Couldn't see if it got a fish from that distance. I should really carry binoculars at this time of year. Geese are crazy noisy back in the wetlands.

At breakfast this morning, several pairs of ducks took flight from our pond. A few minutes later I looked out and saw a peregrine falcon plucking feathers off his morning breakfast. We watched him for about 20 minutes, and then I finally decided to haul out our old DSLR, tripod, and birding lens. I had everything set up, aimed, and was literally switching the camera on when the falcon took off and disappeared.

Jess and I took a leisurely paddle around Delaney, with me practicing slicing-J strokes and Jess admiring the waterfowl. A big swan flew in and set down right in front of us, and we both enjoyed listening to the wing beats and various swan utterances until we drifted further away. A bald eagle took off out of a tree on the point, and scared up dozens of ducks as it soared to a perch on the other side of the pond.

A bad day to be a duck, but a great day for wildlife sightings!

C • Cool! 1

Adventure ride on the Cutthroat at Myles Standish State Forest. Tried to link up every bit of gravel and singletrack riding I could into a 45 mile loop. It turns out I brought a gravel bike to a dirt bike fight. The first 20 miles or so were a great match for the Cutthroat - twisty tight sandy trails with short punchy climbs, make-your-own-trail-bashing through logged-over pine barrens, incredibly scenic cranberry bogs and kettle ponds. After that, the trails turned into a network of dirt bike pump tracks, bermed turns, deep sandy wallows, and abandoned, overgrown tracks through the scratchy vegetation.

In 38 miles of riding, over close to 6 hours, I didn't pass a single other biker, except on a few short stretches of paved bike path. Saw several horses, a couple packs of ATVers and dirt bikers having a blast, and one very-out-of-place Camaro scraping its undercarriage as it bombed down a rutted-out jeep track, and then backing its way down a hill in several inches of unrideable sand. A true case of "drive it like you stole it", so I avoided eye contact and quickly moved on (after pushing through all the loose sand he churned up).

This really seemed like perfect adventure racing riding - moving through ever-changing conditions, hiking the bike through the brush to a new trail system when things got too overgrown, never knowing exactly where you were or what was coming next. The warm temps, sandy, scrubby trails, and the super-sized power lines coming from the old nuclear plant led me to dub it the "Sea to Seabrook AR".

Hike and bushwhack at Quabbin with Jori in search of porcupines (skunked, once again) and to retrieve one of my wildlife cameras, which I placed in March 2017 and haven't visited since! Strava reports 27 minutes of motion in our 3.5 hour trip, which tells you everything you need to know about our pace. I started our bushwhack off the powerlines about 1KM to early, partially because I haven't been there in 4 years, partially because nothing is actually on the map, and partially because there was an official-looking vehicle parked up ahead, and why disturb his lunch? It was a long bushwhack down to an unmarked trail, and eventually to the main road system. Found lots of porcupine scat in the "porcupipes", but no animals. Found some fresh moose scat, and heard two ruffed grouse doing their muted lawnmower drumming log display off in the distance. That was really cool to hear.

Amazingly, my camera was right where I'd left it 47 months ago, looking no worse for the wear. Batteries were dead, obviously. Had a sumptuous picnic lunch on a flat rock inches above a broken mill dam, and then did the road walk back to the car. Sometime in the last 4 years, they did a selective logging cut on most of our return path, which ruined some of the wilderness feel of the trip.

Finished the day with a maple sugar shack and farm brewery in Rutland.

Camera results, once I got home: the very first set of videos was a fully-camo clad wildlife photographer (toting some serious lens glass) walking right up to the camera in April 2017, photographing my calling card, and then returning several more times over the course of the month. He may have even emailed me that he found the camera now that I think back on that year. After that, it was 10 months of buck deer photos. I swear you could see their racks growing as the season progressed. A solitary juvenile bear and a moose passed through in the fall, some snow fell, and then the batteries died. And the whole thing sat there waiting another 3 years for me to come back for it. There's a space for it waiting with the other cameras in a bin in the garage.

If adventure racing is all about paddling canoes with kayak paddles, this was the opposite. I wanted to try using our open cockpit tandem rec kayak as a "canoe-like vessel" for some potential canoe tripping weekends this summer. Bundled up in the drysuit, rolled it down the street, and was immediately greeted by a cold north wind blowing 10-15mph. Did I mention it was 32 degrees out? Anyways, hopped in to the kayak with the seat positioned in the center, and poked out into the wind with my trusty $12 Cabela's "economy wood canoe paddle". Much pirouetting ensued. Managed to get into a sheltered bay by switching sides every other stroke, but the shallow bay meant I couldn't paddle vertically, so I continued spinning. Neoprene-clad fingers were already going numb in the wind.

Switched to the kayak paddle and fought my way up-wind, knowing I'd find some deeper, sheltered water there. Hauled out on a muskrat platform, and switched to the stern seat. Started hunting for logs to use as ballast up-front. Things got much better behaved once I stuffed a heavy 6ft pine branch as far up into the bow as I could.

Tried kneeling, a la canoeist. Had to straddle the crotch-height pine branch. Couldn't get back any further because my feet were up against the stern seat. Very tippy, and I was forward of the center point. Hard to go straight in this configuration. Got up some speed and ran into a hidden sub-surface stump, which lifted the bow and nearly dumped me. Back to sitting.

Practiced steering courses cross-wind for landmarks on either side of the pond. Having a strong cross-wind actually helped - I could use it to counteract the natural tendency to turn. Goon stroke much more effective than the J-stroke.

Ended up down in the land of 1000 stumps. Spent a while playing stump slalom, weaving in and out of obstacles. This was incredibly fun, and I worked up a good sweat trying to swing the boat around while keeping up speed.

Jess and I hauled the tandem kayak out for the first paddle of the year today. 39 degrees and overcast, with rain and snow coming in by 2PM. We had to detour around the remaining fingers of ice on the pond to get out to the main channel. Water temp couldn't be much more than 33, as I quickly confirmed when we started portaging around beaver blockages, and hauling the kayak up and over the road to bypass the new box culvert. They ignored my feedback during the public comment period, and actually made it harder to portage around when they reconstructed it last year. Thanks!

Attempted the easy portage around the big beaver dam, but the upstream impoundment was solid ice on that side, so Jess stayed ashore and I re-launched and dragged the boat right up the dam, using her leash for assistance. Canoodled about in the tussocks and marsh, and landed at Apple Point at 11:30, just in time for it to start raining. With a full drysuit and lots of heavy insulation, the rain wasn't an issue, but my toes were still a bit chilly from traipsing in and out of icy water.

Decided to run the nearly 2-foot drop off of the beaver dam, rather than portage it. Had to drop the paddle and use both hands to pull on the cattails and beaver sticks to get us over the edge, which meant I didn't have any way to brace as we careened and splashed down on the outflow side. We ALMOST bit it hard. Maybe it was a lucky hip snap, or just the boat doing what boats are designed to do, but we were rolling to the left and at the last second we were back upright. Jess got lots of treats for surviving the ride, and at that point I realized my phone was just tucked into my PFD pocket, and not actually clipped in. Would have been an unfortunate swim.

We tried running the box culvert, but there's no way up and over the concrete lip that sets the pond height of the upper basin. Back over the road we went. Ran the beaver stick impoundment right below, which is going to keep me from packrafting there this season. Finished up along the far shoreline, with some shore leave for Jess.

Lots of bird activity: red-winged blackbirds in the cattails, herons starting to rebuild their rookery, swans and geese already claiming nests. Wood ducks, goldeneyes, mallards on the wing. A nice day to be on the water.

Swapped back to the non-studded fatbike tires last night, which probably means we're due for another ice age. Did a St Fatrick's Day spin this morning with Jess, stopping for a thermos of hot tea in our favorite sunny spot. Ticks were also enjoying the sun. I'm not sure how I've picked up two and Jess still has none, given her love for the underbrush, but I might just happen to spill some of her K9 Advantix on myself if this keeps happening.

After yesterday's orienteering training, J and S invited me to join them at Massasoit State Park to take advantage of dry trail riding close to the Cape. Every rider on facebook had been saying the Cape was the place to be this weekend, and when I pulled into the park, there were pickups lining the entrance road on both sides. Everyone, indeed!

It turned out there was a kids MTB race/training event going on, as we ended up entering one trail system a minute or two before (and with permission from the adults) a pack of about a hundred riders launched off. Luckily we ended up on a parallel trail, because they would have ridden us into the dirt.

After our group ride, I relaxed in the sun beside a cranberry bog, finished the rest of my food, called home, and decided on a short cool-down ride before the hour-long drive home. And then I just kept going. Two hours later, out of water and somehow managing to ride the last three miles with the last 3% of battery in my phone, I made it back to the car. Saved the ride, dialed home, it rang three times, and the battery died. Luckily there was a charger in the car.

Drove home into whiteout conditions, with the temp plunging from 48 to 33 in the last 20 miles. A great day on the bike.

Introduced two of my paddling friends (and our dogs) to the joys of off-trail AR navigation on a DIY Fells practice orienteering course, in preparation for their first ever AR. It definitely takes some of the excitement out of the training to arrive at the CP location and have no flag as a reward. I marked our best guesses for the CP locations on my watch, and matched up our GPS track with the O map back home. We bobbled the first and last controls, the last due to time constraints and well-behaved dogs that suddenly weren't (behaved, or even present). Jess was wearing her GPS tracking collar, and so we hunted her for a minute or two, instead of the CP. But other than that, the day went smoothly, and everyone is excited for the real thing.

Found my first tick for the season, crawling up my wrist on the drive home. Absent-mindedly opened the car door on I-93 North instead of rolling down the window. At least we were in fairly slow-moving traffic. Tick was nowhere to be seen by the time I was ready to flick it out. A bonus CP for the next driver, I guess.

About a dozen wood ducks passed through our pond this morning. Almost all of the snow and ice is gone, and hopefully today's 60 temps take the rest.

Day five - our final ride in this week's Spring Classic. I was ready 15 minutes early, so I decided to mount a second light on the chainstay, for twice the rear-blinking goodness. Had to drill out the plastic mount slightly to accommodate the bolt. 18 minutes later, had it all ready to go, and realized DH had been waiting for me out front for a while. Apologized profusely, made plans to meet up with the group as they pedaled the first mile back toward home, and quickly changed and raced off to catch up.

Ended up waiting around for another 15 minutes or so, but we eventually all met up, and off we went. We only spent about 50% of the ride on the course that had been plotted out, so my phone was chirping and beeping up a storm with off-course and car-back and rider-back alerts.

Had a nice view from Old Bay, and a quiet descent into Lancaster. The group of six got pretty spread out, especially toward the end when we cut off the last two climbs and headed straight for the cider barn at the Carlson Orchard. Spent a lazy hour relaxing in the sun (and the gusty winds) at the picnic tables over a pint of cider. Then a quick downhill shot back home.

Day four of our five-day spring classic. Today was a light spin, no hills day, to allow the four of us to recover a bit before tomorrow's capstone ride. Riding my Boxboro loop, modified for a Cisco start. One mile in, on the office park access road, the group passes the new pothole/sinkhole that has appeared over the winter in the middle of the road, just beyond a small rise. We've already passed and commented on this new hazard twice this week. Today, caught in conversation, nobody calls it out, and M, riding in the middle, goes down hard.

We get M and his bike to the curb, and assess the damage. Lots of superficial road rash, and a nasty avulsion on one hand. Someone has a first aid kit, and cleanup begins. M takes about a minute to catch his breath before he starts responding to us, but appears alert and generally OK. I realize the piece of asphalt I cleared off the road was actually a piece of dense helmet foam.

M can't remember the accident or what lead up to it. Understandable - I don't think any of us saw anything coming until it happened. I start asking the WFA level-of-consciousness questions, and get an irritated scowl back. Understandable - I'd be pretty pissed if I'd just crashed my bike and someone started asking if I knew where I was. M assures us he's OK to drive home. A few minutes later I ask what day it is, and get silence back. Somebody asks his address and he rattles it off instantly.

M is repeating the same three phrases every minute or so. Same exact phrasing, same intonation. It's like hearing a tape player on loop. This isn't just road rash. DB is back with M's car now, and we load him up and they are off to the ER for evaluation. That was 3 hours ago - no word back yet.

[Update: 5 broken ribs, transferred to another hospital for overnight eval.]

Be safe, everyone.

Got the rear rack mounted on the Fatboy last night, after literally taking off and reversing every detachable or adjustable part. It now sits almost 2" lower than the stock setting. Loaded it up with mini panniers stuffed with random things, and strapped a packraft on the rear deck. Took it for a shakedown ride around the yard this morning, and immediately rolled through Jess' morning deposit. Sprayed most of that off, and since it wasn't going in the house in this state, we leashed up and did an impromptu ride through part of Delaney. I was happy to find room enough in the panniers to shed my puffy coat once we got going. Was REALLY warmed up after we had to stop to cut yet another fallen tree across the trail. Got back, dumped the burning charcoal chimney into the smoker, and added a pan of beans and a 15 lb brisket. Wolfing down second breakfast now, and then it's off for yet another road ride, and then an afternoon of tending the BBQ and advanced rehydration and recovery. And maybe a bit of actual work...

Day 3 of our week of spring riding. First day in bike shorts. A bit chilly at the start, at the finish, and at various downhills throughout the ride. Otherwise another pleasant blue-sky day, this time exploring the roads around Harvard Shaker Village.

I really wish RideWithGPS had a high-contrast basemap. All the lesser-used roads, which are the ones we want, seem to fade into the background when navigating from the handlebars.

Day 2 of our 5-day Cisco marathon. Rode Vaughn Hill with the usual suspects. 50+ and bluebird skies. Could be the last day to wear tights for a while. Pushed hard on the climb up Prospect Hill, downed a snickers bite, and then ran out of water and had a scratchy throat for the remainder of the ride.

Got home just as UPS was delivering a rear rack for the fat bike and a camping hammock. Spent the next two hours lazing in the hammock in the afternoon sunshine, just inches above an ice-covered deck. As soon as the sun dipped below the trees, the difference between sunny and 50 and shady and 50 became very apparent. (in two years, I'll be super-shady and 50...)

DH proposed 5 days of spring riding, in celebration of the unseasonable weather (due to arrive any day now) and the 5 Spring Classics of Euro road racing. This is all Greek to me, but I support anything that gets us out and on the bikes.

Day 1: an abbreviated version of our ride from Cisco, including 50 ft of cobbles, the nearby dirt road, and enough residual road sand to make it a true mixed-terrain ride. Kinda. Learned the Garmin Varia doesn't discriminate and will trigger on any cyclist approaching from behind. Got faked out a couple times when one of our pack passed by, AND a car was approaching as well.

Ran into neighbors JM and son on the final mile, and had a long sun-soaked conversation. More vaccinations. More sun. Warmer temps. Longer days. Hope springs eternal.

Jess and I rode the full loop at Delaney. 5 days after the wind event, the trails are still littered with debris. We knew of at least two trees down, but ended up dealing with at least six. Put me down for 45 minutes of "getting swole", pocket chainsaw style.

I've probably ridden this exact loop more than a thousand times at this point. Today, monster-biking over debris, dodging dinosaur boot prints permanently embedded in the ice, and alternating between ribbons of dirt, mud, ice, and exploded pine boughs, it still felt like an adventure.

All this freeze/thaw is turning the trails to ribbons of solid ice, but the untrodden snow out in the sunny fields has turned into a crusty styrofoam fatbike playground. Played several high-speed rounds of "bite the shoe" with Jess, and ventured off trail in every clearing to explore on the "go anywhere" crust.

Several dead pines down from the recent wind event, including a long-hanging limb in our front yard. Bonfire time!

Lunch ride to Bolton. Should have stopped to eat on a flat rock on the East flank of Old Bay, but continued up and of course there were no good options after that. Ran into and old wildlife tracking friend and chatted for a while. Finally pulled over at Vaughn Hill and hiked the bike up through the slushy snow to a perfect bench rock on the stone wall. Stuck a non-alcoholic IPA in the snowbank, inflated my trusty sit pad, and enjoyed a late lunch.

This was my first ride with the Garmin Varia radar tail light, and it's amazing. The first two times it detected a car approaching from behind, I glanced back, saw nothing, and thought it was glitching. In both cases, I heard and saw the car two seconds later. For the majority of the cars that overtook me today, it alerted before I knew they were there. Only twice did I notice first - a loud pickup on a fast road, and a motorcycle - both loud enough to hear long before they were visible.

I'm 100% sold on the Varia. Go get one.

Rode the Harvard Hills with DH and DB. 40, light drizzle, with some wind.
Ordered a Garmin Varia (alerts when cars approach from behind), and re-read the AMC Outdoor Leadership guide chapters on risk management and acceptable risk in outdoor activities. Made some promises that I hope I'll never have to break, while still participating in AR.