Training Log Archive: 'Bent

Singletrack commute with CC.

Commute on another excellent fall day.

Commute.

Rest of workout 3.

Easy ride with the dogs.

Partial workout 3.

Run fail- knee too sore after a few steps, even in Hokas, so just a short dog hike.

STORM with Tarno. Sean had mercifully shortened the course by cutting out a bike section made heinous by record rainfall.

We started in waves, presumably with the faster teams in our later wave, by chip time, so we went a few min behind the pack. We had a solid paddle, slowly moving up on the open water but in the river section we surprisingly managed to pass our entire wave. Tarno had brought wheels for the portage, so we made time there too on the flat parts.

Next on the bikes to trek section, where I ran in hike/bike shoes. We leapfrogged teams from earlier waves, and got caught by Attack From Above.
We saw Bash and Coach LD looking strong.

Back on the bikes just behind AFA but they pulled away a bit. Tarno was riding well now that his bike is fixed (he hadn’t ridden it for 2 years before WT) and was climbing like a goat, especially on a long muddy climb on a logging track.
Rough bikewhack down to CP4 and back. Nice bike trail section next that was more technical.

Next trek section was longer and I changed to running shoes and pack. We started with some co-ed teams from earlier waves, but slowly left them.
Tarno’s nav was clean, and we did a bushwhack which worked well, but I was hindered by my right knee hurting. At the end of the trek we were told we’d made up time and were 6 min behind AFA. We saw Bash and LD with big smiles on their faces.

Another bike leg, a really nice one along cottages and lakes, and on to the last trek, which was clean but I was held back a bit by my knee. Tarno did his traditional face plant right into a mucky puddle.
It looked like AFA was moving well there.

Final bike to the finish. We ended up second overall behind AFA, who definitely put more time into us. They were around 6 hrs I think.
Not sure who was next as we had to leave the site.

Good for Storm and Browner for putting on such a big event safely in a pandemic, after massive rains.

Great racing with Tarno- he was definitely in peak Tarno form, even if he got a sinus full of mud in his faceplant in the last km.

Bash and Coach LD won their category too!

Note- right MCL sore, maybe from running in bike shoes?

C • Sounds great 10

Partial workout 2 and rehab. Easy on the wrist before STORM.

Drove to work - So. Much. Rain.

Commute via rollercoaster, and singletrack and cc back.

Run with the dogs big guy’s reenergized in the cool weather after a slack summer.

Workout 1. Right wrist is still a bit sore from WT, so easy on the KBs and dumbbells.

Run with the boys in the cool morning.

Mansfield with Bash.
Mansfield is re-opened, and Team Van Go has done a ton of work building nice flowy buff singletrack without lumpy rocks. We rode everything, including extra loops to look for Bash’s computer sensor (no luck) and her phone (woo hoo, someone found it!).

The yellow Expert trail is a real rollercoaster with drops and berms, but no lumpy rock features or trees down. Next-level trail building, it was a blast.
I had a full clean ride going but missed the line on a turn just before the Big Kahuna, and had to walk the last steep bit.

We’ll be back!

Tour of Palgrave East, North trails. Trails in excellent shape. Still 2 bends that I can’t squeeze the ‘bent through, but a good ride.

Commute. Beat the storms.

Commute, return via rollercoaster and covid crusher.

New derailleur and hot-waxed chain working well.

C • hot-waxed! 3

Solo paddle out of Rain Lake with AD.

Too windy to take either of the old boys out for a paddle, despite the tantalizingly close hiking trail on the shore.

Solo paddle with AD into Rain Lake to meet Steve and Hardy who came in yesterday. We scored the primo island site with a huge old chimney and fireplace. AD Logan was glad to reunite with Frank the Wheaton Terrier and they wrestled, boxed and played tug-of-war for hours.

Run with the dogsx lots of stops to haul fallen stuff off the trail.

We took the wedding cedarstrip canoe for an anniversary paddle on the Beaver before stormageddon came in.

Sadly our dinner patio reservation ended up with us huddling in the basement while “take shelter now” alarms went off on our phones. Once the tornado warnings let up we decided to drive down the mountain and get our dinner for take out (not dining in). Sadly Collingwood had power out, and nothing in Thornbury was open or could give us take-out for an hour, so dinner was reheated frozen meals at the chalet listening to thunder and pounding rain, but at least we had power and weren’t camping out.

Coach LD led us on a nice flat recovery tour of the ‘wood area.
She also persuaded me to leap off the pier with her for a swim after!
Also fed us the most amazing backyard-garden cherry tomato antipasto and a latte!

I would never be tempted to hurl myself into Georgian Bay on a rough windy cool day, but in we went. CoachLD torpedoed off, and I wallowed behind.
Not bad, and definitely warmer than Superior last week.

Freestyle is getting a bit better, (working on straighter body position and less leg flailing) but haven’t got the breathing right yet, especially in rough water, so I did some easy side stroke too.

C • It was fun! 1

Backpacking trip with Bash to the Superior Coastal Trail.
See her log for story and many pics.

Rain in the morning with more forecast. Packed up wet and decided to do both remaining days to hike out. Wet rocks made hopping dangerous, so it was slower and more work. Visited the petroglyphs but it was too dangerous to see any but the closest ones that had a chain to hang on to.
From then on it was mostly scrambling inland, very technical until we reached the road and treacherous in dumping rain. After that it was a flat hike to the car.

All in all a great trip. Nice 25th anniversary!

Backpacking trip with Bash to the Superior Coastal Trail.
See her log for story and many pics.

Baldhead to Robertson’s Cove.
Slightly less technical scrambling, jaw-dropping scenery, and arrived early at the best campsite ever! Smooth rocky point to read or watch stars, sheltered tent site with bear locker, private sheltered sandy beach one way and rocky beach on the other side. Got all our stuff aired and dried, and swam again.
Large group tried to crash our site at supper time, but we convinced them to move on.

Backpacking trip with Bash to the Superior Coastal Trail.
See her log for story and many pics.

Robertson’s Cove to Barrett Island.
Some scrambling, some sandy beaches, and we had to go inland over a highway bridge to avoid a swim across a river.
I was really getting into cruising along smoothly hopping from rock to rock.
Barrett’s Island cove was beautiful, but no bear bin, no room for a tent on flat ground and the beach was coconut and mango-sized round rolypoly rocks.
We had to make a flat spot for the tent. The big group tried to crash again but it was physically impossible.

Backpacking trip with Bash to the Superior Coastal Trail.
See her log for story and many pics.

Beatty Cove to Bald Head South. More spectacular coastal scrambling on another perfect bluebird day. Long pebble beach before our campsite high on wave-battered rocks. The pebbles are amazing- so varied. Tough to get water in the crashing waves without getting soaked or swept in.