Training Log Archive: Bash

Met Dee, Harps, Kirikou, Funderstorm and T. Rex for a Hockley Loop trail run on a deliciously cool morning. (T. Rex is behind the camera here.)



Oh, *there's* T. Rex!



Fun, taper-paced run with lots of good conversation. Picked apples and raspberries along the trail. Went up and down a bunch of hills!





Harps had to go drink beer somewhere and Dee had some other excuse, so they'd left Dee's truck at the 14K mark. It was too tempting for the rest of us so we skipped the final hour of running and finished our taper with a nice truck ride back to the start. Next time we'll do it all!

T. Rex came back to my place, as she had a wedding to attend nearby later in the day. We spent some typical girl bonding time - lounging, snacking, chatting and rappelling...

I put on all my lights, including the new bike front light purchased by my personal MEC shopper Kirikou ;-). Then I headed for a rough trail to do some bouncing around to ensure that everything felt solid. It was a very different way to ride, purposely taking aim at the biggest roots and rocks to really test the gear. It passed! If anyone had seen me decked out for night riding in the sunshine, they would have thought I was nuts. But that's not unusual...

On 'Bent's birthday shortly after our wedding in 1996, we decided it was time to start a family (Bash & 'Bent style) so we went to see some chocolate Lab puppies. 'Bent ran around the yard and one of the puppies ran happily at his heels. We'd found our new family member, Toblerone - aka Tobler, aka ThunderDog on Attackpoint. She became an awesome multi-sport athlete - running, bushwhacking, canoeing, biking, orienteering and swimming with us over the years. Those days are mostly gone even though she doesn't realize it and keeps trying to jog. Breathing isn't easy for her in hot weather and her joints get sore. But she's still that same little puppy inside, craving outdoor adventure.

Today is Tobler's 14th birthday and I'm so glad we have the chance to celebrate it. Most dogs don't make it to this milestone. We'll drive to the river for a nice swim, then BBQ steaks for both dogs and me. Happy Birthday, ThunderDog!

Several of us are doing a taper-paced Hockley Loop (Bruce Trail and side trails) on the morning of Sat. Aug. 7 - about 3 hours, 22 km with lots of hills. Meeting at the Bruce Trail parking lot on Hockley Road across from the Hockley Resort at 9:15 a.m. Let me know if you'd like to come!

Confirmed: Funderstorm, T. Rex, Bash, Kirikou (I think)
Maybe: Dee, Harps, Crash

A small triumph... For the first time ever, I managed to wrestle a kayak onto the van roof and go paddling on my own. Not sure I could have done it with my own kayak but it was possible to get 'Bent's lightweight kayak up there, and that's the one I need to practise with for Logs Rocks and Steel.

There was a strong wind blowing on Island Lake so it was a great chance to practise steering the kayak in difficult conditions without its rudder, which we had removed because it made portaging too difficult. That went fine. I also brought along 3 pairs of gloves to test to see if they might help to prevent the thumb blisters that I am almost guaranteed to get if I use bare hands for Untamed New England's initial 65 km paddle. Picked my favourite pair, left them all on the front patio to dry, and then we were hit by a heavy rainstorm.

Got a few e-mails from 'Bent in Kyoto just now. The Japanese keyboard added extra entertainment to his messages! He and his bro are having an awesome time.

Aurora Borealis could be visible in southern Ontario tonight and maybe tomorrow night too! Find a dark place to hang out.
http://www.examiner.com/x-38039-Toronto-City-Guide...

Wow, it sure is quiet with 'Bent in Japan. If I'm sending you too many long e-mails, commenting too frequently on your Attackpoint log or posting too often on your Facebook wall, rest assured that the flurry of communication will slow down when he's back. Living in the boonies, I can go all day without talking to a real human! (Lots of talking to dogs though.)

Short bike ride at 11 p.m. to check out my Nght Lightning light, which I haven't used for riding before. It was frying the leaves off the trees on its low setting, so it should do the trick. Gotta keep my helmet tight with that extra weight on top. If the light bounces around too much, the whole world looks out of whack!

I made the photos a little bigger than usual. If it doesn't look right in anyone's browser, please let me know.

U.S. Rogaining Champs results are up. The Milton Basement Tree Huggers were 3rd of 9 Coed Open teams (i.e. 1 or more team members under 40) and 13th of 37 teams overall. Since we stopped racing with more than 6 hours to go, I'll take that with a smile!

Some data for future reference:
- At the 50K mark on our "straight line between controls" string, we had actually travelled around 65K.
- We raced 67 km in 17.5 hrs. After we dropped out, it took 1.5 hrs to walk the 6K back to the Hash House.