Training Log Archive: Bash

Missing Dad more than usual today.

Event: ESAR
 

ESAR at Hardwood Hills with Dee and Mrs. Gally. Fun day! Mrs. Gally was our costume designer once again.



Our team wants to do well at ESAR but our priority is to have a fun, low stress day with some laughter and conversation between checkpoints. Mrs. Gally and Dee are both stronger runners and bikers than I am. I'm in charge of steering the canoe and navigating, and (frighteningly) I've probably got the most bike repair experience. Mrs. Gally was the primary team workhorse this year and Dee is making a strong comeback after having twins last fall. Dee continued in her usual role as Chief Logistics and Strategy Officer.

We were lucky to get the chance to ride at Hardwood Hills just before it closes for the Pan Am Games. The race started with one teammate doing a 1 km run to spread racers out before biking. Dee and I both voted for Mrs. Gally to run, so her vote didn't count. Then we hopped on our bikes for a marked ride, mostly on nice, flowy single track. There were two CPs at random places along the marked Hardwood Hills trails. Because there were so many racers with different skill levels, the biggest challenge was keeping our feet on the pedals since we lost momentum when someone stopped ahead of us. This also made the gears less predictable, and my chain fell off completely at one point. At least 3 or 4 teams went by as I waited to jump into the queue again.

We crossed 6th Line into Barton Tract, which was new to me. Yeehaw! Such fun, swoopy riding on public land right beside Hardwood Hills. Who knew? Riders had spread out a little so we were able to ride more freely most of the time. There were two CPs in this section as well, and we got worried when we had ridden for awhile without seeing either one. We remembered a short, steep climb where we passed a team of guys stopped at the side of the trail who said, "Nice riding, ladies!" Could they have been punching a CP? But fortunately, both CPs were later in the ride.

The bad news was that Mrs. Gally picked up a stick that damaged her derailleur so she had limited gear choices for the rest of the race - and no granny gear. She didn't complain but she was clearly working her butt off on some of the uphills. (While still kicking my butt.)

We took the road up to a 1.5 km stretch of trail between 6th and 7th Lines. Once again, there were two CPs but this time they were both marked on the map in the first 800 m of the trail so I mostly used bike computer distance to find them. We met several fast teams coming back toward us after missing the first CP.

Then we dropped our bikes at CP2 and did a trekking section in Strachan Tract. There has been lots of rain and sunshine so all the forests today had lush foliage and limited visibility. Dee and Mrs. Gally were strong as always. Dee went down with a very hard face plant when her foot caught a tree root. She scared us by not moving for a few seconds, then when Mrs. Gally and I peeled her off the ground, she began laughing (as did the emergency services workers behind us who witnessed it!) Phew!

Next we rode over to Bass Lake on roads. Dee and Mrs. Gally took turns leading the pace line while I pushed to hang on - mostly successfully but not always. I don't like looking at the map while drafting too closely, and that makes it easy to fall off. Also, those two are fast! They were great about keeping an eye on me though. It's especially impressive that Mrs. Gally did all her riding with only a small selection of gears.

Our paddle around Bass Lake to find two floating CPs was uneventful and a nice change of pace. Then we were back on our bikes to CP4 (also CP2) where we were surprised by freezies. Yum!!! I had to mark 4 CPs on a blank map of Johnson Tract, then we headed up the hill. Dee and Mrs. Gally helped to add more "run" to my run/walk pace, and I grabbed onto Mrs. Gally's pack at times to move faster. No trouble finding the CPs.

At this point, teams could go straight to the finish or bike to Copeland Forest for an advanced section of optional CPs. We rode to Copeland, pedaling hard up the hilly 5th Line toward Horseshoe Valley Rd., knowing it was going to be tough to return across that line of hills afterward.

The nav in Copeland Forest was more challenging than the mandatory trek sections. I had to stay focused on the map, mostly because there was so much foliage that visual cues were more limited than usual. This was the only place where we went through poison ivy - a small amount in the area between CPs 63 and 62. The hills were big and my new Pearl Izumi AR bike shoes were up to the challenge. I wouldn't want to wear them *too* long but it was nice not to change shoes at all today.

As we rode the hilly roads back to the finish, my left patellar tendon (2014 Giant's Rib Raid injury) switched from its persistent biking niggle to nasty pain so I geared down, increased my cadence and made horrible faces. Perfect timing - it wasn't long till we were riding the last stretch of single track to the finish line.

Fun course, great race organization, awesome teammates and wonderful to see friends after the finish. Thanks to STORM Racing and volunteers!



We were the 1st female team so I celebrated in the traditional manner on the way home.



(Official race time is a little longer since I didn't turn my Ambit on while Mrs. Gally was sent out for the prologue 1 km trail run.)

We had surprise guests today! Well, it wasn't a total surprise but we only made plans over the last 36 hours. Can you guess who? They are Attackpointers.



.
.
.
.
.
.
OK, that's long enough if you couldn't guess!



It would be a shame to waste such a long arm so we had to get a selfie with our B.C. visitors, Revy and C-Bass. Thanks for stopping by!

I'm not a morning person but my friend and former ESAR teammate, landscape artist Cory Trepanier, invited me to catch up during a 6 a.m. hike in the Hockley Valley. He's preparing for the fourth summer painting trip of his Into The Arctic project so he was wearing a 75 lb pack and carrying poles, as he will need to do up north.

Cory's wife Janet and friend Ben (also a friend of BGY's) were the other intrepid folks who got up early to hike the hills of the Tom East side trail loop.

Cory and Janet generously gave me a copy of his latest Arctic film, True Wild, which premiered here on the big screen while we were in Sedona. I'm excited to cue it up this weekend!





(Distance/time fixed - turned off GPS in a couple of short sections.)

Mountain bike gear test: Take 2. Headset and seat post taken apart, cleaned and replaced. Map board re-installed. Tires inflated - maybe too much? Insoles added to new shoes.

I took a short ride on single track in Palgrave East to stress my handlebars with short steep uphills and downhill bumpa bumpas. No creaking sound. Yay.

I also tested my AR bike shoes by running back and forth on our driveway and bushwhacking up and down a steep, muddy hill. Not sure how they'll feel after half an hour but they're OK in the short term.

After locating a missing piece of our team costume (whatever it's going to be - Mrs. Gally won't tell us), I'm just about ready for ESAR.

With ESAR coming up, I took a ride around Palgrave East to test some gear:

- Bike (well used, probably *too* well used)
- Bike map holder (used only once before)
- Map reading sunglasses (brand new, worn for one ride)
- AR bike shoes (brand new, cleats installed by 'Bent who tried to kill me the last time he installed cleats)

The sunglasses and map holder passed the test. The bike shoes need thicker socks or an additional insole but 'Bent's cleat installation was perfect - thank you!

The bike, however, made nasty creaky sounds under load. Mr. Google said I probably needed to clean or tighten my headset. Either that or my frame or fork might be cracked and I could die. I decided to start with the headset and luckily, 'Bent arrived home just in time to teach me. It passed the preliminary test in our yard but I'll need to ride again before tomorrow's rain.

9 run/trek hill repeats at Kelso with my excellent tour guide, Double_Downon11.



We started on the east side and worked our way west, then ran back on top to descend on the east side again.



Beautiful day - great heat and humidity training with a light breeze up higher.



Yummy lunch at a local bistro with icy, fresh-squeezed lemonade afterward. Thanks for le Tour de Milton, DD11. :)

SUP lesson and paddling practice with Caron. 'Bent, Funderstorm, Allison and Caron's brother-in-law Tim were the rest of the class so it was small and friendly. No one fell in.

So. Much. Fun. I was excited to try something new - especially an activity that combined watercraft, yoga and playing outside. This was Caron's first SUP yoga class of the summer so she went easy on us and let us become familiar with the differences in technique.



The cool thing about being on the SUP is that everything - even just paddling - is a balance pose and requires your stabilizer muscles to work. Some of the traditional yoga poses were modified or left out. The relaxation part was lovely, lying with our arms dangling in the water, listening to the birds and feeling the breeze. After that, we got curious and started pushing the limits with different yoga poses on the board. I finally fell off while doing a one-legged balance pose. I'd packed dry clothes for dinner afterward so hey, I might as well go for a swim, right?

The revelation of the evening was that 'Bent is better at yoga on a SUP than he is on dry land. Who knew? It's also easier on his tailbone because the boards are so soft.

Btw the classes are currently undersubscribed so if you're curious, give it a try! We're going to try to hit the Monday 6:15 p.m. classes. The quarry is in Caledon village.
http://www.bluedogyoga.com/sup-yoga

I went looking for climb in a short run close to home. I started on 5th Line just south of the Hockley Valley, ran downhill and headed east on the Bruce Trail, then followed the Hockley Loop route down the hill, across Hockley Rd., up to the northeast section with the B*tches, and a short distance along 15th Sideroad. Then I returned to the car by the same route.

No speed records but I tried to run flats, gentle uphills and downhills that weren't too steep. I seem to be recovering pretty well from the Kettle 100. I used poles except in the three poison ivy patches; I need them again tomorrow and I didn't feel like decontaminating them.

It was SO humid - like a sauna. The trail was nice and soft from all the rain - no mud since the sandy soil drains so well. Time deducted for a stop to remove parts of a rotten tree that had collapsed onto the trail.