Training Log Archive: 'Bent

Much better conditions today- still some chop but Bash navigated us through protected waters. We went the whole way out without any difficulty.
Another fantastic day's paddle.

Sorry to leave the area, but there were some heavy storms forecast again.

Howling winds, crashing waves and pelting rain made for a day of reading, trivial pursuit, and some exploring when it improved in the evening.

Late start and easy day's paddle- again perfect weather, amazing area, but the forecast for tomorrow's not good. Wonderful campsite on the flat rocks- protected, but lots of hiking/ scrambling possible, and views to die for.

Kayaking on Georgian Bay - Philip Edward Island near Killarney with Bash, Gorgeous and Knobless. See Bash's log for pics and a good write-up.

Nice sunny day, fairly calm.
Easy day's paddle after a long drive up and fish & chips in Killarney.
The area's so spectacular that we could camp almost anywhere, and take 20 different routes to the same spot. I'd be just as happy playing around the rocks and islands as making distance.

Looks like the Surfers are out of RAAM, after being in a very close race for second. One of their riders apparently got sideswiped by a support vehicle from the "other team" and broke his ankle.

RANS has opened up a bigger lead on all the 4-man teams, and is catching the second-place 8-man team (who draft multiple riders)
Funny, the fastest bikes in the race are also the most comfy and the cheapest! Guys on the upright bikes are in neck braces now.

They're not getting much press in the 4-person blog, (Very little mention that they're out front of all the teams, but rather that they're the only 'bent team trying to set a record)

but here's a good one from the 'bent reporter:
http://www.bentrideronline.com/?p=2212

C • Even more interesting is th... 4

Skipped my workout today as my forearm problem is acting up.

Short but quick ride to work without dogs- I had to go in early for emergencies- really cutting into my training.

The 'bents have almost an hour lead in the 4-man cat. after climbing the rockies at RAAM.
If they keep this up they'll be banned.

Here are some pics.
http://www.marathoncamera.com/images/DSC_0004.JPG

http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt52/RAAM2009/R...

Have to take the pace easier when it's hot for the Bulletdog, even with her swim detours.

Hard intervals on Bash's 400M course. I decided I was recovering too fast after the first 2 so I pushed it harder on the second ones.
1:48
1:46
1:32
1:37

I've been following recumbent team RANS as they do Race Across America.

After 38hrs they just took the lead from Team Surfin USA, 4 maniacs who paddled kayaks 24 hours to arrive at the start!

One of the maniacs is my new hero. He's 76 years old, and is not racing age group! He does workouts that would kill most elite athletes- how about 3000 sets of strength non-stop (including 30 pull-ups, Zoolander)

http://www.esquire.com/features/don-wildman-0508

Bulletdog and I did the red dog trail on our commute, + the ORT (Lots of work going on for some big stretches of boardwalk) and 3 swims in the heat for the hound.

Short jaunt down to Albion to see how our friends were after the 12hr mud-fest instead of the 24hr race. They were all at the awards in a big crowd, so we only saw Gally & kids. Back via Palgrave.

Run with Bash down to Albion hills to cheer on our buddies at the 24.
Poor riders- it was absolutely pelting down rain, and the course was a mud pit within 10 minutes of the start.

Saw Tommy Hillflyer, MsGally, 3Pin and several others, but missed Harper.
Bash has pics.

Good solid Link workout, as well as part of Hard Core (the part I hate).

After a crazy but fun day of feeding, caffeinating and chauffeuring Blaze runners, I was glad when Leanimal dropped by to see if I wanted to run back to Bolton with her.

We had a nice run through Albion Hills before the 24hr, and down the Humber trail, then I caught a ride back with Goose who had to pick up Gosling.

Forgot to mention- we saw Godzilla the snapping turtle trying to cross the road on Duffy's North of Albion. Shell about 45 x 60 cm, neck as thick as my arm, 1" claws.

C • Turtle attack 2

Run to work in the soggy grass. Bulletdog arrived drenched, as did my shoes.

Home with some trail work on the way, to meet the Blazers.

Sets of soldering Night Lightning connectors for my buddies and whipping up pasta with fresh asparagus, interspaced with sets of workout #1.

Extra hilly commute via pond hill, etc.

Quickie commute- I can get more distance in without the dog, sadly.

First there was the beer can stove. Now I've found FB's new bike:

C • Should be an AR event 2

Ride down to my envirionmental meeting and back up the rail trail and home at night.

It was almost surreal cruising down the rail trail in a tunnel of vegetation with not a breath of wind- wish I'd had my camera!

Easy commute with Bulletdog. No extras today!

Navstock race with Bash.
Another complex format- score-o with 2 maps, and each person did one map then switched. The trick- only CPs you both punched counted.
Once again with a tricky format they had computer problems and it took a while to get the points worked out right, so we didn't have much time to plan.

Bash planned for the high pointers, as we couldn't get them all.
My nav worked surprisingly well and I spiked most of them, finishing the second map with time to spare. I always have to botch something- this time I forgot to mark one control on the South map that I got, so Bash didn't punch it- an 11 point error. Oh well, a nice day out.
Kudos to Tiny for cleaning the course after a hard day yesterday.
He and Dlevine helped me ready the stove-making supplies that D had imported for me from the US.

Here are instructions to make a DIY high performance alcohol Penny stove out of a couple of Heineken cans and a pop can:
http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/stoveinstruct.html

More details here:
http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/waite_instruct.html

Here's a video on the stove construction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6JiXMXM1pE

ESAR with Tiny and Tommy Hillflyer

I knew I had my work cut out for me as T&T are both stronger bikers, and Children's Wish was our main competition with Dave Corner, Millhouse and John Blackwell, who is also very strong on the bike. Started on bikes at Base Borden on a marked course hammerfest following the pace truck (CW drafted it apparently). The lads had to wait a touch for me in a soft sand section, then off to the paddle. For once I wasn't the portage guy, as TH ran the boat well and we passed a team to move into 3rd. Had a good paddle once we got the lines and handling figured out, and caught up a little time on Anystyle (2-man unranked SWAT team), but didn't see CW until the T/A where they were just leaving.

I ran in my bike shoes through town to save T/A time, and we leapfrogged Anystyle for much of the race. Back to bikes, then 2 thick bushwhack CPs. Tiny nailed them, but we seemed to hit more deadfall and muck, and found that Anystyle had passed us in there. Back on bikes, Tom got in his Tri position and hammered us back past them. We headed out on the final Orienteering around the same time, but well back of CW. We wasted a few minutes with a misplaced CP F but nailed all the other CPs. I was able to do some towing on foot a bit (as opposed to drafting on bike) but the team was running well anyway. Met Millhouse & Co going the other way, so they'd hit CPF early instead of searching for it.

Finally we had a military obstacle course- wall climbs, rope-walks, monkey-ladder swings, crawl-unders, etc. Tiny flew through! Slingshot a toonie for charity (Finally, a skill I have) and off to the finish.

No surprise, 2nd overall 12 minutes behind CW, but a well ahead of Anystyle. The Mallorys were 16 minutes behind us. Out of 5 ESARs we've got 2 wins and 3 seconds overall, but first time we didn't win Civilian.

Bash, MsGally and Rocky were ranked 6th, ahead of all the co-eds and just behind the first (ranked) 911 team. They had a great race.

Great to race with T&T. Tiny's nav was dead-on, Tom's a bull. As always, the race was well run, the T/As were ready in time for the lead teams, and I even won the best prize of the day- a GPS from the toonie target draw!

C • Congrats 6

Just heard that Glenn had to drop out of Children's Wish at ESAR, so Dave Corner recruited.... Millhouse! Unless their third is Jabba the Hutt we won't even see them after the start.

A rainy commute home.

Spin on the trainer (with a break for some alcohol stove experiments).

C • ????? 9

Workout 3, adjusting for forearm issues (getting better).
Still weak on close grip pulldown, upright rowing and curls.

Bulletdog and I had to start trail work early due to the wet spring.

Twilight run home

Basic jaunt to work and back with Bulletdog.

Pretty solid paddling session.

C • Shameful 4

With Bash, while watching a movie.

Most of workout #2, but lighter on the pulling-type exercises.
(Wide grip high row, upright row, curls, etc)

Don't Just Run Toronto Island Adventure run.
Highly complex format- rogaine style, sort of, but 4 mandatory CPs, and different values depending on the sequence, based on a grid chart- ie CP 1 is worth very little if taken first, but lots if you have to run back to it in the middle, etc. We had up to 10 minutes to plan, or just scratch our heads.

As expected, I planned a strategy that involved lots of running back and forth for high points, but low efficiency. Unfortunately, I made a small change early on that threw everything off, and after drenching my control card on the way to the 4th CP in chest-deep water, further plan changes were almost impossible.

It would have been better to drop lots of points and come in way before the 90 minute time limit, but where's the fun in that?

I ended up coming in with Bash (Winning female!) , with 1 more point but 30 seconds behind on time- we think. No podium for me, but a fun outing, and TOC must have put in a ton of work. Good map too!

Good solid ride down to Albion and around. Conditions are still great on the dry trails, and the muck is drying out in the soggy bits. Some interesting re-routes this year, including my old nemesis the S-bend on what we call the Haute Route (Goose calls it up, up and up yours). There's now nothing I can't ride cleanly on the 'bent.

Still only able to do half my workout due to the funny forearm thing. It may not be from paddling but instead from Lumberjack activities from a month ago.

Nice fast run in to work today with Bulletdog. She was actually lagging a bit at the end!

Back home with the Bulletdog via 2-swims and the Pond Hill.

Time approx.
Hammered down to Palgrave to meet Bash (car repair), then we went to Albion and rode almost everything but the soggy south bits. Best ride of the year so far- trails were perfect, legs felt great, the big bike ran like clockwork, and I rode every technical bit cleanly, including some turns I often can't get around. Great weather and company- really doesn't get much better.
After I rode back with Bash to Palgrave West, then re-commuted in to work.

The SRAM 9.0 may not be a Rohloff, but it sure shifts better than XTR.

Image for the day:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/jkeenan7/Po...

Ahh, commuting via singletrack with the Bulletdog. I think a lower granny would help my knee on the Omega 'bent.

Bulletdog and I took the rest of the Palgrave singletrack home, with some diversions for swimming dogs. Nice cool evening, and Bulletdog likes the singletrack pace. The Omega did OK- slightly better on some twsty bits than the big 'bent, but things came loose.