Training Log Archive: PG

Event: 2019 Orienteering USA Masters Nationals at the Older Dash
 

At the Older Dash at Gunstock. M75, Brown X. A wonderful day almost entirely, the only exception being the time I spent between punching the start box and punching the finish box. But I got myself around the course, almost entirely at a walk, and don't seem to have done any damage. Mission accomplished.

Had a wonderful time catching up with folks I'd known for a long time but also hadn't seem for quite a while. Really good vibes.

Brown-X Saturday - Splits

Started from up the road in Montague where we were picking up the weekly CSA collection of veggies from Red Fire Farm. Not for us but for Alex (and Ed). Managed to load up about five bags full. And then Gail drove home with the haul -- big deal, she's now driving again, yay! -- and I headed off on my bike for a little exercise.

Windy and cool, low 50s, overcast. Unlike my long ride on Tuesday, this time it seemed like I was into the wind more often than with it. Well, better now than then. Or maybe it is just that when the legs are tired, the mind figures you must be going into the wind.

But there was a highlight, a fine highlight -- another summit, this one would sure have appealed to Phil because you can drive right to it. Rocky Mountain, on the edge of Greenfield, the summit being just a high point on the ridge. But there is a good view and a proper tower and, of course, a good photo op. :-)

Was in Bernardston, so figured I would go for an hour or so, picked a route that should get me back about when Gail was finishing up her lunch with her art group. Headed off north on Rt. 5 for several miles before turning onto a side road, dirt, and gently up. Tired but not sore, so always a gear lower than usual, it seemed.

After a bit, I turned onto a dirt road I'd never been on, knew it climbed some, discovered that it was seriously steep. Not for long, but long enough to have me wondering if I'd make it. Did, but really slow. Back out on pavement, I did a little math and figured there was no way I was getting back in time if I stuck to the planned route.

The problem was that the only shorter way also added a 10-minute hill to climb, but I figured even with that it was faster and I'd get back in time, because the rest was all downhill. So up Frizzell Hill Road it was, hard work but my legs had more in them than I thought, and then a pretty fast downhill, and I pulled up at the pizza place at 1:15, right on time. :-)

The only regret was that Frizzell Hill Road goes close to the top of Frizzell Hill, and there is some sort of tower on top, so there must be some access that should be manageable on the bike. But that will have to wait for another day.

Hike #24 with Gail, a return for me to East Mountain in Bernardston but on foot this time. A fine hike, though we were both tired and in no hurry. Though going slower has the advantage of being able to look at your surroundings a bit more perceptively.

First was the matter of the boat. Showed it to Gail, she was properly impressed by my find. Took a better photo of the registration number and in the process realized there was a green registration sticker next to it, and the year on the sticker was 1979.



1979? Was it possible that the boat had been sitting there for 40 years? We looked around a bit. Yup, sure is possible.





We'd also noticed a building in the trees that I hadn't seen. Didn't look like it had been used for 40 years either.



Lots of old relics scattered around the New England forests.

C • boat 1

East Mountain in Bernardston, and a visit to the summit boat.

A remarkably fine birthday ride.

Though I really hadn't expected it to happen. Not because of any obligations for Gail (driving, or as a hike partner, or whatever). But because it seems I had scheduled a middle of the day appointment with the dentist. A strange way to celebrate a birthday, but there it was.

But I was thinking about the possibilities this morning. I'd be done with the dentist a little after noon. If I could get going by 12:30 or so, I'd have about 5:15 of useable (safe) daylight. Time for 75 miles? I figured maybe. I've been riding at about 15 mph, sometimes faster if I worked harder, sometimes slower. But for 75 miles? 14 mph, or about 4:15 a mile, should be possible, and would just barely fit.

A route. My first thought was up to Brattleboro and back, up one side of the river, back the other. I thought it was about 65 to 70 miles, could always add a little more at the end. I did a search on my AP log, first on "Brattleboro" which gave me the distance at about 65, then out of curiosity on "birthday" to see what other foolishness I might have done on this day.

One thing really stood out. Five years ago, age 70, I hadn't been in shape to ride or run for any length, so I had come up with a challenge of a decidedly shorter duration -- to see if I could run a mile in under 7 minutes. Off to the track, adjusted the starting point so it was a true mile, and had at it. And the verdict was 6:42. Reading it today, I was stunned. In a positive way, wow, that is remarkable. And in a negative way, wow, how far I have fallen.

Well, that's all in the past, both the good and the bad, can't be changed. Back to what to do today. Brattleboro with a local loop at the end was the plan.

Until I got back from the dentist and took another look at the weather forecast. It was certainly a beautiful day, sunshine, about 60, low humidity, the fall colors at their finest. But what caught my eye was the wind -- NW at about 5, shifting to W and then SW as the afternoon went on. So with any luck the ride to Brattleboro would be into the wind, and then the ride back would be into the wind too. I'm stupid often enough, but fortunately not all the time, and not today.

Off to plan B. The wind is from the NW. So head SW, then work my way west and up in the hills a bit, eventually popping back our in mid/late afternoon with a good stretch heading north. Took five minutes to come up with a route, all but the last few miles, where I would see how I was doing and how much daylight was left and adjust accordingly.

And it worked so well. :-)

The afternoon was beautiful. The legs felt good. The wind was often behind me, seldom in my face. I could stop right there, those three things, how lucky is that.

As the afternoon went on, the miles just kept going by, the effort always moderate, as planned, trying to pace myself properly. It seemed like a long way in the early miles, but the five hours seemed to go by in a flash. I thought of things I had done in the past, the obvious example being running 100 miles, and in comparison this seemed pretty simple.

It is so nice when the body feels good. The tendency is start thinking about what more it could do if you trained more, or just tried harder. Natural instincts, but it is good sometimes to just enjoy the good feelings without thinking about or wishing for something more.

And so it was this afternoon. Not quite five hours, never getting off the bike. Two bottles of water and two Cliff Bars seemed just right. And even on the last little uphill just down the road, out of the saddle and the legs had some zip.

A remarkably fine birthday ride.

C • Thats one way to celebrate ... 10

What I think is the 21st in our every other day series of hikes over the last six weeks or so. Today, Old Albany Road in Deerfield, was especially fine -- perfect day, interesting stuff to look at, zero traffic (helps that it's not maintained), good exercise, good company. Most last for an hour to an hour and a half, with some hills.

We certainly couldn't keep up with Charlie and Rhonda, but we would be fewer miles behind than six weeks ago. :-)

Old Albany Road up to the towers.

Late afternoon ride, gorgeous out. Nice way to take my last ride as a 74-year-old. Since I have been in no hurry to get to 75 (though it seems to be happening anyway), it seemed appropriate to take this ride at a "no hurry" pace.

Which I did. It certainly helped that I had the wind figured out -- I went north and out in the open for the first half, when the wind was about 10 out of the south. Then, as it usually does in late afternoon, the wind died down about when I turned to head south, plus my route took me mostly through the woods. So really no head winds at all.

Would be nice to manage that every day. The easy way would be to ride in a pack, but that holds no interest.

I had a hankering to see if I could get up East Mountain in Bernardston and it seemed like today was a good day to try -- perfect weather, some leaves down but not too many, so rocks should be visible, and Sunday so no hunters. I wasn't sure I could make it up. The grades (no more than 12-14%, supposedly) were manageable if the traction was OK, also if there wasn't too much in the way of rocks and roots. But those were a couple of big Ifs.

Strava -- often my source for interesting places to go, and the inspiration for this outing -- showed that only 10 folks had done this segment (from the gate to the top), so a placing in the top 11 was certainly possible. Though my suspicion was that all 10 had been up there on mountain bikes. The best time on Strava was 10 minutes, the worst 14.

Started in Gill, just across the river from Turners Falls, so as to have a few miles to warm up. Didn't feel terrible, didn't feel good either. Got myself up to Bernardston, then headed up, paved for a while, then pretty good dirt, then the gate where the segment started, though the steep part didn't start for another half mile or so.

And the climb wasn't bad because, other than getting steep, the "road" never got bad. So it was just turning the pedals, always holding something back because I didn't know what might be around the corner.

Around the corner eventually, after about 15 minutes, was the airstrip (a mowed field, might have been an airstrip once upon a time), the summit (very hard to determine exactly where, and I'm not anal enough to worry about it), and a boat.

I shit you not about the last item. I have ridden my bike to quite a few summits by now, and hiked and/or run to a lot more. They have often been topped by man-made structures. But I don't ever remember there being a boat.

Looked around a bit, then headed down, carefully, and then back to my car. Delighted. Only regret was having passed a nice sign for "Satan's Kingdom Wildlife Management Area" and not having stopped to take a photo.

C • That's weird 1