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Monday 10 December 2012

Two pairs of spandex pants

"On my heavy metal Christmas, my true love gave to me... two pairs of spandex pants." 
- Twisted Sister

The indoor cycling season wasn't working out.  I used to wear boxers or sport underwear, but with my rides being longer this year, they haven't been providing the coverage that I need.  I reverted to my bib shorts, then bought two pairs of cycling pants.  

My demand for lycra isn't going to stop there.  I signed up for a winter run, the Hypo 1/2, the first weekend of February.  I need some winter tights.



Tuesday 27 November 2012

Inspiration


I don't think much of the word 'inspiration'.  I'm too much of a cynic/realist/skeptic to think that because someone else does something that I can do it.  I have plenty of self esteem without using others as examples of what you accomplish by trying harder.  You need this just to start on the path towards running a marathon.  You need to have the faith that you have the strength and motivation to do the required work.  I'm not much for 'faith' either, but for something of that magnitude a helping of intentional blindness is an asset.  

Then there's this guy.  I watched this in awe of him.  It made me want to work harder and strive to do better, because he shows that in the face of long odds, you can accomplish awesome things.  That's the definition of inspiration.

Sunday 25 November 2012

What fits in the backpack

Riding a bike puts a strict limit on how much I can buy when stopping at the supermarket.  With the Townie and its generous panniers, I can fit a case of beer and plenty of groceries on the other side.  With the road bike I just have my backpack.  Last week I stopped on the way to work for a can of cat food, and found it to be on sale for a generous 1/3 off.  So I bought 40, which was all I estimated to fit in the pack.  It's waiting in my locker at work.  I wasn't bringing it all home in one trip.


One backpack worth of cat food

I like the cool new style lock I found.  It uses sliders instead of the customary dial, so I can run it with one hand.  It's sturdy like most school dial locks.  I bought one like it for taking to the pool, because, well, I'm not abandoning my valuables, and don't want to carry a key.  


Master 1500iD Padlock
Last year I had my expensive lobster-claw cycling mits stolen from the change room at work.  How bad is theft there?  I bought a dozen heavy-duty coat hangers so there would be something sturdy to hang my winter coat on.  They all disappeared by the end of the year.  Who steals coat hangers?  So I took possession of a locker for my stuff.  




Tuesday 6 November 2012

Riding in the rain

It's been such nice weather all summer, that I almost forgot what it's like to ride in the rain.  I think this is the first time it's happened on my racing bike that I've been caught in a downpour.  This fall, I kept thinking it would be the last of the weekend rides, and then another patch of warm weather would arrive.  I've seen enough overcast days stay dry that I tend to head out anyway and let the rain come as it will.  

Rainy day


The week after the rainstorm, i was an hour from home and went over some twigs on the road and got a flat.  Changing it out was also a first for my racing bike.  The wheel came and tire came off super easy.  It fitted the replacement tube in, and had a problem.  The short valve stem just barely extend out of the aerodynamic wheel rim.  That's a slight problem with my floor pump, but a complete showstopper with the mini pump that I ride with.  I couldn't get it far enough over the valve to pump.  My spouse was away shopping, so phoning for a pick up wasn't going to work.  I ended up calling a cab for a $50 fare back to the house.  It took him 20 minutes to find me.  While riding, my skimpy outfit is suitable enough.  I wear tights since they're breathable.  The bib shorts would be too cold with my legs exposed.  In about 10 minutes I had some fine shivering happening as I waited at the side of the road.  At least I wasn't wet with sweat or rain.

Oh drat, got a flat

Wednesday 31 October 2012

Pitching the US Postal Jersey

It's time to pitch my US Postal cycling jersey.  The case against Lance Armstrong, former rider for the US Postal cycling team, is quite well established and accepted all around. 

I got a new jersey now


The US Postal was my first cycling jersey.  I bought it a few years back, for long summer rides.  The principle benefit of genuine athletic clothing is that they shed water, and therefore don't become heavy with sweat.  A cycling jersey has the additional advantages of the pockets on the back, and the snug fit.  During massively hot days I go with two bottles on the bike and one on my back.  The back-roads that I try to use sometimes send me for hours without a variety store.  There's some days when I go through three bottles an hour.  

This last summer, for instance, my longest ride was to Port Dover and back.  It was a 175 km round trip that took me over 8 hours, including stops, the longest being a 20-minute pizza break in Delhi.  On the return trip, everything was overheated. The sport drink was warm in the bottles, and I eventually began to vomit it up as I drank it.  I thought it really cool how I could lift an arm and puke off the bike without slowing down. The wind  By that point I was less than an hour from home, so I just carried on.  

For some reason which I don't quite remember, I took to mixing between the bottles.  The yellow Gatorade mixed with the blue looks a marshy green.  It had something to do with my preference for drinking out of the fresh cold bottle rather than the stale warm one.  This would leave me with two half filled bottles, which I would combine when buying a replacement.  

So I took to liking the jersey for its usefulness as well as the appreciation it showed for Lance's years of winning, even though I didn't even like how he won all the time.  It made the Tour dull.  A game sporting event is much more exciting when it's a close contest.  If one racer tears ahead and isn't challenged, then it's not so much fun to watch.  The Floyd Landis year was the best with the way he was in front, then way behind, then in front again.  That was great television.  With Lance in the race, you knew he was going to take it, except for the exciting Armstrong / Contador / Schleck battle.  That one was great too.

It doesn't matter to me that Lance cheated.  He was simply the best cheater in a sport played by  cheaters.  That seemed good enough.  Going back 10 years to single one cheat out of the crowd isn't sporting.  How can you just say that for 7 years there was no winner?  

What really made the difference for me was the way he handled the cover up.  The treatment of teammate Frankie Andreau and wife, and the treatment of soigneur Emma O-Reilly was deplorable.  That's what I can't stand.  So it's on to my new jersey.  

Sunday 7 October 2012

They are re-paving Bower Hill

Hurray!  They are re-paving Bower Hill.

Bower Hill, Woodstock


It's the highest and toughest hill near here.  I have to cross it on the way to Woodstock.  The western approach is fine, with a mild rolling hills leading to the crest.  The eastern side, coming up from Woodstock is murder.  It's a series of steep inclines that really demand an effort.  Going down it on the way into Woodstock has been a nightmare with the pavement massively crumbling for most of the distance.  

Bower Hill stripped for paving
I got there last week to find it torn up into gravel.  It's going to be nice to have this paved and smooth.  It's a pity they took away the speed warning gizmo.  I will be easily able to break the 50 kph trip setting that it was on.  With the crumbled pavement, I had to really take it slow for the descent.

Saturday was cold.  I was well layered, but my feet went numb after the sun went behind all the clouds.  It could be my last long ride out of doors for the year. 

There's good hills around here

At packet-pickup in Milton, I gave the Running Free store a quick browse and came away with $150 of stuff.  It's my first set of photochromic sunglasses.  I've needed a pair since my ride to Port Dover in the summer, during which I lost my sunglasses when I took them off for the trail through the woods.  They don't have a rim, which has been hard to find.  I want that for riding so the rim doesn't block my view with my head down when I'm on the aero bars.
  

Monday 17 September 2012

Milton half marathon race report

I was working night shift this week, so there wasn't any way to set a proper sleep schedule in anticipation of this race.  It's just barely close enough to drive there in the morning, so I was up at 4:30am.  Arriving at Milton around 7, I roamed looking for a Tim Hortons.  There's the Coffee Culture, the Starbucks.  What kind of Philistines are these without Tim Hortons all over.  I found one nestled in a gas station and stopped for a coffee and bagel #2.  Bagels with peanut butter are my pre-race food.  I drank a can of Monster on the way, and got a coffee with the bagel, which didn't sit well with the Monster.  I felt bloated and ended up vomiting the excess before heading to the race site.  

The race was the Go train station which was great.  There's tons of parking by at the start line, so you can sit in your car or keep your warm clothes on right up until they play the national anthem.  The weather was great too, sunny and cool, but not so cold at the start to be wishing for gloves.  Local hero Ed Whitlock was there trying to set another world record.  I got a picture of me with Ed, but one of us looks like hell in it and it ain't Ed, so I'm not posting it.

We headed to the outskirts of town.  The cyclist in me swooned over what a lovely field it was there under the morning sunshine.  I settled in just ahead of the 2hr pacer.

Outskirts of town East
I was feeling disappointed however that we weren't headed anywhere near the escarpment.  They promised spectacular views of the escarpment.  We turned to the West, and suddenly there it was.

Outskirts of town South
Turning the corner to the North I took another picture.  When I put the camera back in the  satchel  it must have bumped my phone because my music volume went way down.  The volume buttons are on the side of the phone.  My bluetooth headphones have been acting up so I didn't expect them to be able to fix it.  If I hit the wrong button, I could change the track, and my music of choice today was two 60-minute tracks recorded straight off the radio.  If I changed track it would star one of them at the beginning and I would have to listen to that section over again.  So I took out the phone and clicked up the volume.  Fine. Put the phone in the satchel and the music stopped.  I took the phone out and went looking for the play button.  I use the phone for business and if I lose it I can't have someone browsing my e-mail or spamming my contacts, so the screen is locked.  I have to enter the code just to open it to turn the music back on.  I was crossing an intersection about then, so the drivers must have thought geez what a loser I am texting during the race.  I got the music going.  At least it didn't reset to the beginning of the track.  I didn't want to put up with this nonsense anymore, so I put the phone in the other pocket of the satchel...  with my Gu. I don't leave packets behind, so it was in there with the gummy first two packs.  Soon I would add a third.  For me, the half is a 3 Gu run.


The promised spectacular view of the escarpment
This was just past halfway and there was plenty of gas in the tank so I turned it up a notch.  ...or maybe I just thought I did.  The 2hr pacer continued just moments behind me.  I passed a handful of folks.  Then there's a short out-and-back after looping around the block.  I wasn't paying attention and missed Ed Whitlock running past the other way.  Last time I raced him was in 2005 and he beat me by over two hours.  This is half the distance and I've been practicing, so I managed to keep it to 20 minutes.   
  
They were lining up for pictures with local hero Ed Whitlock

Was that course official?  Sometimes they can adjust the start/finish to reconcile the distance, but usually there's an out-and-back with a turnaround. Start/finish was right at the entrance of the parking lot. Hope so because Ed set a record for 80-84 in the half at 1:38.  I'm going to come back in 35 years to try to still be within 20 minutes of that.

I hung around after trying not to look too much like I was stalking Ed.  Most of my shots of him were brutal, being fuzzy or in shadows, but I got something good enough to post to his Wikipedia page.  

Oh all right, here's the pic of me with Ed

I went to phone home to say I was on my way back but it was glued inside the satchel by now.  It took quite a wipedown to rescue it.

Why haven't I done a half before?  This is a great distance.  It's far enough that you really have to work for it.  It takes long enough that you have a sense of accomplishment.  A 5 km race is over so quickly it seems hardly worth the bother.  It's like Olympians in fencing who lose their first and only match in 2 minutes and that's all they get.  Years of training, the long trip to the event, and over in a flash.  For me, runner's delirium sets in at about the 10 km point, and fades away around 20 km.  In my marathons, the 3rd quarter is fatigue and depression, and the 4th quarter is a world of pain.  Here in the half marathon, it's nothing but good times.

Thursday 13 September 2012

Mont Tremblant is fastest

I found this site which has statistics for all Ironman races.

http://www.runtri.com/2010/07/runtri-benchmarks-easiest-ironman.html

The average time for Ironman Mont Tremblant is 12:31, which makes it the fastest Ironman in North America, about the same as Florida which is 12:37.  It's almost a half-hour faster than Lake Placid and Penticton, both of which come in at 12:54, and 45 minutes faster than Wisconsin which at 13:16 is the one of the hardest courses out there.  Interestingly, the Lanzarote course in the Canary Islands looks brutal with its long high mountain climbs on the bike, but scores times similar to Penticton.  

I expected Mont Tremblant to sell out early like Wisconsin which the last couple of years sold out online the first day.  Last year MT sold out in 10 days, but here we are 3 weeks away, and it's still got openings.  Mont Tremblant 70.3 on the other hand is already sold out.  Last year it was into the winter before that happened.  So I was wrong about needing to go there to get my registration for 2013.  No problem, it was a great day as a volunteer at Ironman 2012, and it feels good to give back to the sport like that.  Now for lodgings, I found that the resort is largely booked.  I would have selected the Les Manoirs condo again, but the 2-bedroom units are all taken.  It was an excellent location, and a fair price for such a nice unit.  The resort still has some at the new sector, but it's a kilometer or two away, and sure doesn't look like walking distance like I had in June.  I will have to think about that some.  I definitely want a condo so I can cook my own food.  Pre-race eating is essential to a good race.  

Mont Tremblant offers a unique opportunity to compare athletes who did both races.  Since the Ironman is two loops of the same course as the 70.3, it will really show how someone's times compare.  This year we had 413 athletes finished both races, plus 23 who entered but recorded a DNF in whichever.  The site above calculated a comparison factor using 70.3 and Ironman races on similar courses.  At MT it's the same course, and the athlete fitness will be comparable with only two months between events.  He estimated Ironman times at 2.1 times the 70.3 time, or times 2 plus 40 minutes.  Both calculations get similar times.  The MT data comes up with a scaling of

     Full = 2.17 * half + 10 minutes


Here's a scatterplot of all athletes who did both races.  The 0.0075 offset equates to 10 minutes.


The 4 people slower than 7:40 in the 70.3 didn't finish the Ironman.  Nine others with various 70.3 times had DNF at Ironman.  The slowest swim in the 70.3 at 59:35 finished both (7:25 / 15:47).  Anyone who biked the 70.3 slower than 3:52 didn't make bike cutoff in the IM.  Slow runners still tended to finish both.


My 6:10 finish in the 70.3 puts me at 13:30 for the full.  Cool, now I don't even have to go.  as if.  



Monday 10 September 2012

Gatineau Park

I remarked after Mont Tremblant that there wasn't any particularly long or tough hill there.  The Monte Ryan downhill section on the return is definitely the one which I remember most fondly.  On Monday the day after volunteering at the Ironman, I visited what I think of as a big hill.  


Road to the summit
Behind the parliament buildings, looking into the distance across the Ottawa river, rises the hills of Gatineau park.  


When I lived here for the summer in 1986 my favourite thing to do on a Saturday was ride off into those hills.  It's been that long since I've biked up to the Champlain Lookout.  I parked at the Visitor Centre and unpacked the Fiori.  I see some of the reasons it made such a great ride.  It's a long climb, but really shallow.  The roads have little traffic, and are posted for slow speeds.  There's plenty of other bikers out.  Most of all, it isn't a great distance.  From The Hull river crossing to summit is only 25 km or so, which makes for an easy light day.


Champlain Lookout.  Red drink for the red bike.
One of the locals



Sunday 26 August 2012

Mont Tremblant Ironman Volunteer - Race Day

Sunday I was slow getting started.  Most volunteers were up at 4am.  Anyone with a morning assignment had to hurry off.  I was able to take my time.  I spent the night with other volunteers on the floor of a classroom at the local high school in St Jovite.  A light breakfast was provided, and we took the city bus for a 20-minute ride to the resort.  Busses were free of charge for everyone all day.

The collection of shops in the center of the ski resort is known as the pedestrian village.  It is anchored by the clock tower.  Above and around the shops are hotels. That's the buildings you see in most of the photos of the resort.  Being hotels, you don't generally get a kitchen, so you are eating at restaurants.  The condos are all further from the action.  They are larger and let you do your own cooking in their kitchen.  Kitchenware is all provided.  The place known as the "old village" is the suburb of the Municipality of Mont Tremblant located 3 km to the west of  the resort, on Lac Mercier.  The run course goes from the resort's pedestrian village to the old village, where the P'tit Train du Nord trail is picked up.  About 10 km to the south is Centreville of the municipality, also known as Saint-Jovite.  The bike course goes through downtown St-Jovite.  They were amalgamated back in 2000 to become the single municipality of Mont Tremblant.

My plan was to hike a short ways up the ski hill and videotape the Snowbirds flyby.  I didn't make it for that.  I was still on the bus when I heard the jet.  It wasn't the Snowbirds either.  It was a single CF-18 fighter plane doing the flyby.  Still on the bus when the cannon went off.  Up the hill I went.  The lake was too far away to see the swimmers at all.  I could barely make out some water turbulence.  You could only tell exactly where they were by the flotilla of support boats.  When they passed turn-around, the course took them along the near shore, and they were entirely obscured by the trees.
The swim underway
I had 4 hours to kill before my assignment began, so I wandered the area.  I went to the shore at swim exit.  Wetsuit peeling looked like a fun assignment.  Swim cutoff was 9:20am.  By 9:10 there was still a dozen or so out in the water.  Cheers and general encouragement were really ramped up for the last few to make it.  I love that about Ironman.  The last ones to arrive get the most glory.  We all feel really happy for them to make it.  It was announced that if the swimmer could stand up near shore, it would be classed as within cutoff, even if they hadn't reached the timing mat.  Since the route is near the northeastern shore, it's shallow for a couple hundred metres.  The kayakers had a guy stand up way out there, but it was deemed insufficient.  When he finally made it to the beach, he was out and had his timing chip taken away.  I think there were 3 of them who didn't make cutoff.

Coming out of T1 change tent, athletes had their helmets on.  Helmets weren't kept at the bike like other triathlons.  I'm tempted to change into my bib shorts.  With my tri suit I don't need to change at all, but nothings as comfy as the bibs.  I could run in them after, or change into running shorts at T2.  I've done some long rides in the tri suit, and it gets hot in the sun.  

Special needs looked like a fun job.  When a cyclist arrived, a volunteer with a megaphone called out the number.  Runners then hurried to fetch the bag for that athlete.  It would be busy and exciting.
Special Needs Pickup - Bike
My afternoon assignment was working a crosswalk in the resort plaza (the pedestrian village).  It was busy.  The run path bisected the resort, so there were lots of people wanting to cross.  Sometimes there would be a couple minutes waiting for a sufficient gap between runners, in which time a couple dozen people would be lined up to cross.  They would sometimes barely clear the lane before the next runner arrived.  Each runner passed through the pedestrian village twice.  The fork where they were routed back for the second loop was right near the finish.

Here's another cool job -- runner escort.  Cyclists had a motorbike escorting the leader.  On the run, there were bikes leading out the top five runners of each gender. 
3rd-place escort awating the runner
My evening assignment was less of a chore.  I was at the crosswalk directly in front of the church.  In the morning, this lane was the run path from swim exit to T1.  In the evening, it was the arrival back to the pedestrian village for the runners.  Hardly anyone wanted to cross the road here, so it was simply a cheering station.  

My crosswalk for the evening
Around maybe 7pm a storm cloud passed and it poured rain for about 20 minutes.  There was a lovely rainbow up over the pedestrian village towards the end.  This left the runners soaked and cold.  I had the foresight to bring my waterproof jacket.  Staying warm and dry helped me maintain the energy to welcome everyone back to the village with cheers, fist pumps, and the occasional jumping up and down.  When I first arrived, there was a girl doing the cheerleading, and she had much enthusiasm and a seemingly unending supply of witty remarks of encouragement. When she left, I felt I needed to at least try to leave a similar positive impression on everyone. For first-loop runners, I promised to be there when they came back again, and I was.  I stayed past midnight, to see the last one in.  He had a bicycle escort also, and a flock of angels to carry him home (girls with angel wings tied to their backs).  As with the last few out of the water, the crowd was just wild for the last runners.  I could hear them across the lawn at the finish.

Sunday evening, a rumour flashed through the volunteer ranks that the athletes who didn't register on Saturday for the 2013 race were intending to come en masse to Monday's registration.  Theories were that they hadn't know about the Saturday registration, or that they had waited to see what the course was like.  This led to many of us arriving an hour early Monday before the 9am opening of registration for volunteers.  About a hundred of us packed the hallway in the Congress Centre.  One of the volunteer captains came and told us all to chill out.  We could see that obviously that we weren't about to sell out 2013, so no one had to worry about getting a spot.  Although Monday was officially for volunteers only, they let the athletes register also, but after the volunteers.  All others were told to take a hike.  They weren't taking registrations for the general public.  I was giddy with delight and babbled at the volunteer doing my registration.  There were no card readers, no receipts.  She just typed it into the computer.  My credit card was initially rejected, but she retyped the name, and it went through.  They should just give us an access code to let us register online ourselves, and have a few days reserved for volunteers and returning athletes.

Mont Tremblant Ironman Volunteer - Pre Race

On Saturday the 18th I arrived in Mont Tremblant for the second time this summer.  I signed up as volunteer at the Ironman race. 

Hill on Montée Ryan road

Saturday I went biking throughout the area.  I brought my commuter Fiori since the weather was unpredictable and I might end up leaving it out overnight or something.  The hill on Montée Ryan road is as awesome as I remembered.  I let my bike coast freely.  I don't have a computer on the Fiori, but the wind was blasting in my face like it normally only does up over 50kph, so I was really moving.  Then the speed wobble hit.  The front wheel and handlebars began making fierce oscillations.  I was in the drops, so I grasped tightly to see if I could get it to steady itself, but it wasn't going to happen.  I clamped down hard on the brakes and it quickly came down in speed, and I brought it to a full stop.  I don't suppose I've ever had that bike going that fast.

At the bottom of the hill is a crosswalk where Le P'tit Train du Nord crosses Montée Ryan road. Le P'tit Train du Nord is the converted railway trail used for the run portion of the triathlon.  Turn-around for this leg of the trail is just to the left in the picture.  They have really made the region inviting for triathletes.  Montée Ryan is a busy highway, and they installed these wide shoulders for cyclists.
P'tit Train du Nord crosses  Montée Ryan
They had a small number of 70.3 cycling jerseys remaining.  I bought one of those.  A sign announced, Mastercard and Visa only.  I had a moment of panic thinking that if my Mastercard was damaged Monday morning, I would be left without my registration for 2013. 

The starting cannon on display Saturday
In the evening, it was beer, beers, and more beer.  I couldn't believe how dead the town (St-Jovite) was.  The morning had the streets full with cyclists and cars with racked bikes.  Wherever they went for dinner, it wasn't here.  


Mont Tremblant ski hill seen from St-Jovite
This wasn't an all-hands vacation with my dependants.  I came alone and stayed with other volunteers at the St-Jovite high school.  Lights-out was 10pm, with everyone anticipating an early start on Sunday.


Wednesday 15 August 2012

Mont Tremblant 70.3 Pre-race (2)


My dependents were just getting up.  We readied for the scheduled adventure.  The girls and I were booked for the Via Ferrata du Diable at the National Park.  They mounted climbing rungs all over the rockface.  You get a climbing harness for safety, and a guide.  It's as easy as climbing a ladder, but you are on a sheer cliff 200 ft. up.  The harness is a fall arrest.  If you lose your balance it will catch you on the way down, but doesn't provide any support for the climb.  It's not like the climbing wall at the water park where the attendant is pulling so hard that you are being hoisted up.  I don't go for easy sit with your feet up vacations.  You have to work for it.  Our beginner-level trail took about 3 hours.  The girls were great, with no problems traversing the course.  We were all very tired when we got back to the condo for dinner.  This was the only location in the entire trip where insects were noticeable.  It wasn't a problem.  We expected this and wore repellent along with plenty of sunscreen.  On my usual long-run route back home, there's a short swampy section where black flies attack.  I had some concern that either the Lac Superieur bike leg or the P'tit Train du Nord rail trail, since it is right by the lake, would have swarms of bugs, but there weren't any to be noticed at all.
Via Ferrata du Diable rockface

Bridge obstacle

Saturday morning was another early one for me.  I took the bike out for a short jaunt around the neighbourhood.  The village of Mont Tremblant, not to be confused with the resort's pedestrian village, is about 5 km away.  I would be biking and running through it again during the race.  It has a much smaller supermarket that St Jovite does.  For full-service banks and shops, you need to go all the way to St Jovite.  
Jen heads up

Looking down

No fear kid 1

No fear kid 2

Meghan reaches the bridge

Bridge obstacle #2

Saturday was a rest day. My time was taken up by registration, bike check-in, and benevole orientation.  That plus eating.  Lots of eating.  Bagels and a ton of white rice.  I've tried other day-before foods, including the typical pasta dinner, and I find that rice gives me the best carbohydrate fueling.  My dependents amused themselves around the resort, riding the gondola, riding the luge, browsing for souvenirs. I went up the gondola with them later in the afternoon. There it is.  I'm swimming there, biking over there, running there.
Orientation meeting

View from the mountain

Mont Tremblant 70.3 Pre-Race (1)

*** This is a companion piece to the Mont Tremblant Ironman 70.3 Race report published previously.  it seemed more important to write first about the race itself, since it would be several weeks until I got this posted. ***

With my dependents in the van, our gear in the overhead carrier, and my racing bike on the back, we headed out before dawn Thursday morning.  The weather that week had been very hot and humid.  We ran the air conditioning on full for most of the trip.  Everyone was advised that this was to be a low-expenditure trip, so they shouldn't expect to see us pull into a plaza of fast-food restaurants and have everyone stick out their hand to dad for funding.  It was Tim Hortons bagels for lunch.  The big expense was for the lodging, so everything else would be done on the cheap.  The drive went smoothly, with a range of music, and a couple driver changes.  My squire Jennifer happily got a long turn at the wheel.  
Bike in back

Sunrise

Jennifer was driving the leg from Ottawa to Mont Tremblant.  We were headed off the edge of my Ontario map, but the highways shown made it seem that route 315 would be the most direct.  What a nightmare.  It turned into a twisty gravel road through the hills.  For many kilometers it went on with steep drop-offs to one side or the other of the road, and hills and turns obscuring the way ahead.  She wasn't impressed with my navigating.  It was like one of those Google Maps blunders that gets the family stranded in the woods and eaten by the mutants.  Except that the occasional farm was well-kept and presentable.  And there were routine signs indicate school-bus stops.  It must take the kids hours every day to ride this road.  The gravel put a heavy layer of dust all over the bike.
Gravel road to nowhere

It's hilly around here

We arrived at the check-in center around 2pm and got our condo assignment.  Official check-in is at 5, so on a busy day we might have had to wait.  Stepping out of the car was into the oppressive heat.  The unit was basic quality, so it was not equipped with air conditioning.  Perhaps you normally don't need that around here, but today, as with the week preceding, was over the edge.  I got the code for the WiFi.  Maybe some internet would take their minds off the heat.  We doubled back up Mont Ryan road to the supermarket at St Jovite for supplies.  The unit is over $200 a night, but doing your own cooking makes up for that compared to restaurants.  Also, it was important to me to keep tight control over what I ate, so I would be in peak readiness for the race on Sunday.  The condo was gorgeous, with a high vaulted ceiling in the living room, a good-sized TV, and clean bathrooms. It didn't have the two single beds I signed up for, so the girls would be sharing the king.  A king is huge, so they wouldn't be near each other.  All of the condos were set up with the balcony facing downhill toward the lake and the ski hill.  It was about a 10-minute walk to the resort village.  We did a quick reconnoiter that night.  They were still doing construction.  The new pavement for the bike course is going to be sweet!
Construction Thursday

Bike racks

Friday morning, the alarm rang for me at 5.  The early mornings were a part of race prep.  With my dependents all still asleep, I headed out to hike up the ski hill.  Initially, the trail was shallow enough for an easy jogging pace.  Trying to maintain that was unreasonable, and by the time I got to half-way I was vomiting into the grass.  Then came the steep part.  It seemed like a slow plod up the top half of the hill, but my heart rate was nevertheless maxed out.  These were diamond ski runs, steep enough to require occasional hands-and-knees scrambling.  It was a marked trail, intended for this purpose, but the warnings to bring plenty of water were correct.  It was quite a workout.  There was hardly a breeze at the foot of the hill, but up here, a cool wind served to dry the sweat.  
The resort's pedestrian village from above

Climbing day

Almost to the top

For someone accustomed to the flatlands of Upper Canada, this view was tremendous.  The gondala wouldn't start operation for a few more hours, so the trip downhill was also by foot.  
East 
The dreaded Lac Superieur

West

Enjoying the view

Thursday 2 August 2012

Ride For Heart

Attended the Ride for Heart this year.  It's the second time I've done this ride.  They close the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway and allow us to bike on them for a few hours Sunday morning.  It's a fundraiser for Heart and Stroke.

Here's me and Meghan ready to go.  The forecast was for rain, and it was lightly coming down when we left, so I took my commuter Fiori.  It gets wet a lot already, and has a fender. 
You get to see all kinds.  This guy was riding his bamboo-frame. 
Okay it's hard to make out the picture.  My idea here of using the HD video mode and taking crops from the footage isn't working out so well.  It's a picture of a guy with both daughters on a tandem trail-a-bike.  That makes three of them all together.  I love that!  I would totally have had one of those if I had known they made them.  That would have been 15 years ago, and maybe they didn't back then.  I had a Bell carrier that I plopped my kids into.


 Off the starting line, we are in the trench running beside CNE grounds.  It's a shallow uphill climb to the raised Gardiner Expressway.


 There's the CN Tower in the background.  Also yet another skyscraper going up.
 Not a bit of rain all day.  I should have brought my racing bike.  No matter, it was a great time, and I can keep up with Meghan just fine on my commuter.  She's on her Specialized trail bike.  I swapped out the knobby tires with some large-width city tires, so it goes fast on the pavement. 


 The sun was in and out all morning. 


Out along the Parkway there's a couple half-decent hills, including the climb from river level up to the Gardiner.  We used the 50km route, which is from CNE grounds all the way out to the 401 and back.  Basically the same route as used by the triathlon July 22. 

Thanks to everyone who donated to my team.  Shout out to Ted who came along with us.  It was his idea!  Hi Ted.