Training Log Archive: revy

Day two of the Hana ride. We left at 6:30 (as soon as the sun rose) and had a pretty quiet road for the first 1.5 hours. It is a steady climb for the first 15-20 km and the road becomes winding very quickly. Being on the bike was great for stopping at interesting spots (it seems many of the pullouts near bridges say no parking now). The weather was quite unsettled and we got rained on multiple times (sometimes quite heavily). Luckily it was warm and as soon as the sun reappeared we would dry out fairly quickly. It is challenging to take pictures in these sorts of conditions - my glasses were fogged up for most the morning. We detoured to the Kenae peninsula but the famous banana bread stop is closed on Sundays. We stopped after about 50 km and lost half a banana bread to an aggressive chicken. The last section of the hwy was pretty straight but had a shoulder, then about 10 km through the back streets of Haiku.

C • Nice GPS tracks! 3

C • You had me at... 15

When we were in maui several years ago and drove the East Maui loop I thought it looked like an amazing bike ride. The biggest challenges are traffic and length. To manage both we decided to break the ride into two days which meant paying an exorbitant price for a place to stay in Hana (though it was worth it). Our Haiku accommodation was very well situated to start/finish the ride. The busiest section of road was just after Makawao although it had a very broad shoulder and after 4-5 km we were able to deke onto a quiet side road which paralleled the hwy. In Kula we stopped for some refreshments at Grandma's Cafe and then continued around the island on the Plane Highway. This section was super nice - quiet, perfect pavement, swooping, little wind and nice views. Once we turned the corner the views changed to wild windswept coastline - the same wind would now be in our face for the rest of the ride. The next hour was the worst although the first few km were downhill so the headwind was less of an issue. An occasional vehicle passed us but otherwise we felt way out there. Once back at ocean level we had a couple very stiff climbs that were exacerbated by the headwind and then we started the rough pavement section. Luckily the wind was not as bad here and the rough sections were never longer than a few hundred meters (though did continue for a 5 km section). We had plans to refuel at the Kaupo store but it was closed. The next 5-6 km were gravel (which was actually easier to ride than the broken pavement) and our 28c tires handled it with no issues. The road is again stunning as it weaves in and out of valleys just above the crashing surf. Past Kaupo everything starts to get lush again and the waterfalls were flowing at a very high rate (it must have rained heavily up high). There were a couple very impressive cascades - it was also very impressive to see how far out into the ocean the brown runoff extended. The final portion of the ride has many more houses with well tended gardens, and then finally near Hana there is some pastureland. I think everyone was happy to be done the ride as despite only being 100 km there was a lot of climbing and many punchy hills in the last half (though the first 800 m of climbing were super easy).

Papalaua Beach paddling - we headed towards Thousand Peaks but a rogue swell cause some carnage with lost sunglasses and snorkel so we headed back in the other direction. We found a nice snorkeling spot (where a snorkel boat showed up after 15 minutes - we seem to be finding the usual spots that the boat tours head to as they are the calmest spots for paddling). Saw lots of turtles... played in the waves after getting back to the beach.

Morning run with Courtney on some farm tracks to an ocean viewpoint for the Jaws wave. The wave only shows up in certain swell conditions so we were not expecting to see it... just wanted a nice spot to run off the roads.

Makena Landing Beach Park paddle. We showed up and the parking lot was full with kayak tour companies confirming that this is one of the calmer spots on the coast. We were a bit late already for the calmest conditions but we managed to make it a few km northwards before turning back. We found a beach that was water access only and spent some time snorkellng in a sheltered spot.

We drove to the summit of Haleakela and hiked the Sliding Sands trail down into the "crater". i put it in quotes as it is not a true volcano crater, rather it is from erosion. Hawaiian volcanoes are shield volcanoes and start are large mounds...

The summit was sunny though the clouds were sitting on the edge of the crater. The scenery from lower in the crater was worth the descent (and climb back up) as views were more impressive than from above. Didn't feel the elevation too much.

Pre-departure run with Milo on the greenbelt. The trails were surprisingly wet from the rain last night. The weather forecast is looking like we've timed our trip to Hawaii perfectly... hopefully we will have lots of snow to play in when we get back in two weeks.

Second ride with Courtney and Milo. Figuring out the bike a bit more today. Still lots of work to do on optimizing the position and ride. Having big knobby tires is sure nice (while the knobs are still attached).

C • New “shoes” ;) 7

First ride on my new Transition Sentinel. It took while to arrive due to supply chain issues. This is not a Macpherson bike but it seemed to handle things OK today. The slack geometry and long wheelbase make it a bit more work on flatter trails and technical climbs but rides much better in that terrain than other long WB bikes I've ridden.

Quick run with Milo on the greenbelt.

A short hike up towards Perley Rock with Courtney and Kate. The last day of sunny warm weather it seems. Still cool at the start as the sun is so low in the sky. Kate had a ride booked for 1 pm sop we had limited time and only made it to the junction but nice views none the less.

Quick run with Milo on the Toaster trails. Suddenly it seems like the sun is setting very early.

One last ride up the Parkway with Stuart. i thought that our season had been shortened earlier than possible due to a prescribed burn at km 20 but it didn't ignite very well so the road was re-opened. We could smell a little bit of smoke but not too bad. I felt tired and the time reflected that. I got my flu shot two days prior and thought I was a bit off due to that the day before. Warmer at the top than at lower elevations...

Backside and Stimulus with Milo. Quiet on the trails despite the nice weather.

Another test paddle on the short board. I added a few psi and adjusted where i was standing which helped the trim of the board. I took it downstream and it did fine. Happy with the performance despite it having the illusion of slow speed.

Downstream to the Tum Tum (which was just a trickle) and then back upstream. The trip back was not too hard as the current was fairly slow. On the Voyager as it was inflated.

Hermit Meadows with Courtney and Milo. We've never done this trail in the summer. It is a stiff climb and gets you into the alpine quickly. Lots of cool rock stairs as well. The weather was spectacular and the colours are still amazing.

Testing out a new inflatable board I just bought. This one is mainly for playing around on waves but I wanted to make sure I could paddle it on flat water. I'm pushing the capacity of the board at my weight but it works OK and will be much more maneuverable.

Eva Lake, Jade Pass and Miller Lake at Mt Revelstoke with James and Wakana. It has been a while since I've run here- partially since we can't bring the dog anymore. I'm not sure what happened to the weather forecast as the promised sun ended up as high cloud. The cold front cleared the skies out though and much better visibility than a few days ago. It was about 5 degrees but a nice temperature for running (hands were the most cold and wore gloves most of the time). I felt surprisingly good for what was likely my longest run this season. The pace was comfortable and it also helped that the middle 40 minutes were hiking. We saw a black bear just off the trail (30 m away?) who ignored us while he kept eating. James of course says "I'm going to take a picture" and proceeds to get closer to the bear (who continued to ignore him).

A cool and cloudy day as the cold front rolled through. Russ and Vikki joined us for a ride at Macpherson. Unfortunately I had to do an in the field finger reduction for Russ after a crash. He is going to have a sore finger for a while...

I took Courtney and James on my adventure paddle upstream. They survived the ferry across one of the channels but it was touch and go;) They had to paddle like their life depended on it supposedly...

Mt Revelstoke run with Courtney, James and Wakana.

Larch Hill traverse with Sean, James and Wakana. We started at South Canoe and used the new singeltrack connection. This climbs along a nice ridge feature and then through a cut block before joining a logging road. It was an easier climb than from Sicamous so makes the W-E traverse much more appealing now. I think if I went E-W I would still exit at Rubberhead.

The original sections of trail are in amazing shape (other than a few overgrown spots in cutblocks). I think the trail gets the perfect amount of traffic to keep it clear but not damage or widen the trail. We had a few stops for snacks and to let Wakana catch up. Seani of course didn't bring many snacks - "isn't this just a 4 hour ride?":)

The cutblocks are growing fast and the views are unfortunately disappearing but still a great ride.

Greenbelt run with Milo.

Up river exploration solo - took the Bark out for a change and it really feels more sporty than my Sunova. I though that the current looked low enough that I could try the left side. A couple of the pinch points were quite hard work - moving half a foot per stroke. Once I got beyond the golf course I needed to portage two sections to get into the Big Eddy. I did a CCW loop through the eddy using the current. I headed back on the river left channel for some added excitement.

Silvercup Ridge with Brett - a birthday present to myself (I like doing big activities on my birthday). We warmed up on the road which was useful as the first hour of the climb was pretty stiff (20% sections). The middle section eased off and then steeper again. I can't imagine doing this climb mid summer as I got very sweaty during this October summer. The first reliable water that we hit was near the top. The alpine colours are spectacular at the moment and we even found one patch of golden larches.

We chose the north mining road option once on the ridge and this has better views in my opinion. The hiking section has a much more obvious moto track on it now - overall the trail is much more obvious due to the moto traffic. There were a few tricky sidehill sections and a few steep hills that required hiking (more hiking than I remembered from last time). We had a few longer stops but still made good time and matched the time from 2015. The legs were definitely feeling the cumulative climbing and towards the end easier hills were hard to manage. We chatted about trying the alternative alpine option towards the end but we were both too tired to make the day harder. The aforementioned moto traffic has really chewed up the descent to the point that it was rather sketchy. I'm not sure I would want to ride it again... though of course in a few weeks I will have forgotten how sketchy it was;)

My bike Garmin died - battery life is too short for these all day adventures - hence the two tracks.

C • Wow! 4

Tree-cutting. Someone had already cut the trees I had aimed to clear so I moved higher up the trail.

A run on the trail along Dolan Creek with some stops for tree cutting.

Greenbelt run with Milo.

Columbia River with Courtney (to start). I'm on call again overnight so needed to be within cell service for back up call. The water levels are very low so I thought that we could make our way upstream, Courtney was not keen so she turned back. I walked my boat across the wing dam, ferried across the narrow channel and used the back eddy to head upstream (with one more walk across a rock bar). I managed to make it to the last house and possibly could have made it to the Big Eddy.

On call this weekend (hence the days off - I am finding it hard to plan exercise when I am on call for 12 hours of the day). Today I had to stay within cell service so I couldn't join Courtney on her trip to Keystone. Instead Milo and I went exploring up the Kirkup drainage. I'd like to get up Turtle at some point and potentially traverse to Copeland but this will require some bush whacking. Today's obkective was to check out an old logging road and see if the forest at the end was conducive to off trail travel... the road was OK other than alder in the avalanche paths and the the forest was manageable. Could possibly make it into the alpine in a couple hours from the truck.

Parkway with Stuart and Brook. They both dropped me a few km from the top (Brook attacked). A decent time but I just don't have the acceleration on steeper pitches at my current weight. Interestingyl it was the same temperature at the top and bottom when we started (and warmer than the last trip up). The girls were climbing as well so when we met them on the way down Brook and I turned around and climbed the last 4 km again.