Training Log Archive: Bash

'Bent and I rode over to Palgrave East and had a super fun ride on a sunny spring day. The trails were in perfect condition and not too crowded, although everyone had dogs today for some reason. We seldom take ours on single track rides - too risky. We only repeated a short trail section east of Duffy's Lane and probably could have added 10 km of trail without much more repetition. No poison ivy yet but it should appear any day.

This ride was another test for my right quad. The screaming pain began 24 hours after a 41 km rail trail ride but that ride was also the day after Raid The Rib where I ran more than I'd trained for, including a fall on gravel, so I don't know exactly what set it off. Maybe my poor quad was just tired of being disrespected and decided to teach me a lesson.

So much fun on the trails today :)

Kyle Nesbitt kindly offered to let us test paddle his H2O Slingshot 222 canoe at Wildwood Conservation Area while he paddled his Simon River Sports kayak. We've been looking at this model but the designer is selling canoes as quickly as he can make them so he has none available to try out.

It was very windy with some chop on the cold water - a great day to see how a canoe handles in rough conditions. The Slingshot has excellent primary stability - more than we're accustomed to with our own lightweight canoes. I suspect the secondary stability is not as good but with any luck, we wouldn't get to that point. It was a tough day to test its speed but the Slingshot is known as a fast, stable C2 Stock boat in events like Muskoka River X. I'd worried that it might not be comfortable to sit in the skinny bow or that we might not like the bucket seats or that our canoe tripping gear might not fit but this boat would definitely work for canoe camping.







So we have some thinking to do about the Slingshot and other canoes. We have two lightweight canoes - the cedar stripper that 'Bent built and a 40-year-old Kevlar canoe from 'Bent's parents that has become rather fragile. It's probably time to stop taking that one into the wilderness. I'd promised 'Bent a canoe for his birthday a few months ago.



In a happy coincidence, Kyle is the brewmaster for a beautiful South African restaurant in Stratford called Braai House. It was closed but he gave us a tour, starting with the microbrewery downstairs.



Then we sat on the sunny patio upstairs and enjoyed some of his beer. I had a black currant sour. It was an awfully nice day. :)

After yesterday's run, my quad feels the same, which is good. The upper part is still tight and painful if I try to bend my knee too far but otherwise, it's fine. My Achilles was only a little tight today, which is also good. If I can just keep from breaking my nose again, maybe I can finally do a little more running.

I ran over to the Oak Ridges Trail and followed it from Humber Station to Gore Rd and back. The east side of the ORT in that block has been rerouted substantially although I missed a blaze and ran a closed section of the old trail.

This was a test of my injured quad. I'm not sure if the pain might be triggered by running or biking or both, or if I've recovered enough that the only issue is pain on bending my knee too far. So far so good but tomorrow I'll know for sure.

2 km of rowing + a few sets of upper body weights.

After a couple more weeks working on the Orienteering Ontario archives, I celebrated a major milestone with a sunshiney two-dog hike in Palgrave Forest. Soooo many maps.