Trapped in a machine

2006-09-13T20:36:00.000-04:00

Tour d'Afrique - new weblog

I recently got a whole new reason to start weblogging again. Here is the new site: 12000km.blogspot.com. I have registered for a race called the Tour d'Afrique and it is a mountain bike race from Cairo to Cape Town...yep, I'm making the 12,000km journey from Egypt to South Africa on my mountain bike. Check out the new site to keep up with my journey.

If I am this excited now, what am I going to be like when I start in January?!

2006-01-25T09:26:00.000-05:00

Milestone!

I can’t believe I let this one pass without as post. I have been so diligent about my posts since October….

This past Monday marked exactly one year that I have been in Ottawa now. That’s right, an entire year in one city. I feel like I have seen the “full cycle” that happens in the city now. I am so excited to partake in some of the events that I missed but sounded like so much fun last year.

First up: the Canadian Ski Marathon!

2006-01-23T11:10:00.000-05:00

Cool idea!

Mark the time and the date: I think I found something that I haven’t had in a while…clarity in future plans. I have always had a rough plan in my head as to what I was going to do after my Master’s but was awaiting inspiration to tell me whether it was the right plan or not. Well this morning while staring into the rippling water of my experiment my internal self leapt at an idea like it hadn’t since I conjured the idea of starting my Master’s. I need to travel.

I have always absolutely adored hearing others’ travel stories and have always placed a high importance on the concept of travel in my life. I previously had placed a higher importance on building a life locally from which I wanted to travel. Many things have changed in my life and I realize that my priorities have shifted. What better way to get perspective on where they have shifted to than to experience first hand cultures and sights around the world? I originally wanted to try the cross-Canada bike journey, but I think I will save that one for later so I can get more of a cultural experience.

I have way too many ideas in my head right now about what I want to see and were I want to go, so I’ll take my time prioritizing where I want to see this time and what I can leave for future trips.

Granted my ideas seem to fluctuate faster than the Canadian dollar, but I’ll ride on this one for a couple of weeks now.

Damn, all of a sudden I’m impatient to get this Master’s done…probably a good thing!

2005-10-05T22:50:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh…my nourishing right shoulder!

When you’re thirsty for some water, when you’re feeling a little peckish and need some quick calories, where do you turn? I don’t know about you, but I have been a victim of classical conditioning and I turn to my right shoulder.

No, it has nothing to do with the way I was nurtured as an infant, it has a lot more to do with the amount of time spent wearing a pack with a hydration hose over my right shoulder and either a gel flask or a bar in the pocket of my pack there. I have noticed that I get quite disappointed when I am biking on my way home from work or even just walking around and find nothing but a shoulder strap with a gym lock, or even just part of my shirt. I have to get my body to understand that I need to fill a bladder before I can drink from one on my shoulder.

Either that or just wear a hydration pack all the time…hmmmm….

2005-10-03T22:31:00.000-04:00

Timeless Mrs. Dryden

I have always known that Mrs. Dryden was a determined lady. I guess I didn’t realize as I was getting older, so was she. She seemed to be frozen in time, never really getting older. The thought never crossed my mind that her way of life was very busy and full considering her age. She was always determined to do what she wanted and was going to stop at nothing to make sure things were done to her satisfaction. It was most unfortunate not to realize these things until her funeral.

One story that came out at the funeral captures this perfectly. Being a snowbird until relatively recently, she always saved her medical problems until she returned to Canada to make things less complicated. When one of her gold caps came out with her lunch one day and she was certain that she swallowed it, the dentist was not considered as an option. To make a long and funny story short, a “generous dosage” of laxatives and some glue from the hardware store was all she and a friend needed to rectify the problem (no pun intended).

She lived a long and happy life and was able to live in the independent way she loved right up until the end.

You will be missed by many Mrs. Dryden!

2005-08-13T19:49:00.000-04:00

What has Andrew been up to?

Long time no post. For some reason when summer hits, I completely forget to post. I have certainly have had some fun postable experiences since the marathon; in fact I am sitting here in Ottawa on a weekend for the first time since April. Here is a small recount of my life since then.

Weekend of April 30 – Went to Montreal to celebrate being done classes and to see my French housemates before they headed back to France. Highlight of the weekend was having to do a 33km run on my own….oh wait, no it wasn’t!

Weekend of May 7 – Salomon Adventure Challenge in Bon Echo Park. Although we dropped behind at first due to our tiny yet heavy (~80lb.) canoe coupled with the fact that it was our first time in a boat for the year, we recovered to take 2nd place co-ed by 1 minute!

Weekend of May 14 – Thousand Islands Fluid Mechanics meeting. Yep, I went to my first academic conference and I was extremely surprised that a) I was able to follow more presentations than expected and b) actually enjoyed them.

Weekend of May 21 – Good ol’ May 24 weekend was spent at Leanne’s parents place in Orillia. They live on a lake, many good times had, I love sea kayaks!

Weekend of May 28 – My first marathon in Ottawa. Okay, so I did spend this whole weekend in Ottawa, but it was a busy weekend anyway!

Weekend of June 4 – How is this for random? I volunteered at a 24 hour adventure race put on for the BAR Honda F1 racing team at Mt. Tremblant and was put up in Hotel Sommet des Neiges! Nice!

Weekend of June 11 – Volunteered at Salomon Adventure Challenge Marmora long course and saw Team adidas Divas (all female) take fourth overall behind one of the strongest co-ed teams in Canada and two extremely strong all male teams. Awesome work guys!

Weekend of June 18 – Hiking trip in Frontenac Park. I didn’t know that Ontario could be this beautiful for hiking.

Weekend of June 25 – We (Team HolisticClinic.ca) took first at Quest for a Cure 48 hour adventure race. Beautiful scenery and 18 TAs?!

Weekends of July 2 and July and July 9 – Went to Scotland to celebrate my granny’s 90th birthday and she doesn’t look a day over 80! Special lady. I hiked the last half of the West Highland Way in 2.5 days with my two cousins. Beautiful!

Weekend of July 16 – Stayed at a friend’s place in Gatineau park and had a relaxed time of trail riding, swimming, movie watching, and eating lots of good food!

Weekend of July 23 – Raid the North Deerhurst 36 hour adventure race. Long story short, it should have taken us 1.5-2 hours to reach CP1 and we took 7.5 after being a little turned around. We moved quick enough after that to finish the “remedial” course in the allotted time. Very hungry for my next race now!

Weekend of July 30 – Took the long weekend to do a canoe trip on the French River. We raced there last summer so it was nice to go back and actually enjoy the area instead of hammering through it. I swam 1.6km; not bad for a pylon!

Weekend of August 6 – Canoe trip with Brett and Mel in Algonquin. Very fun and relaxing trip. Amazing stars out on the Saturday night and we did a successful double gunwale bob.

Today – Did a 110km trail ride in Gatineau park. I love that place!

Some of the “during the week” events were also fun and included many morning paddles on Mooney’s bay, ultimate games, Josh came to visit and finally got to meet Chantal, we had our power cut-off (not my doing), many rides in Gatineau park (did I mention I love that place?), and of course I am progressing daily on my thesis research.

The most exciting part is that I am keeping my streak of moving every four months going in a couple weeks, but then I am going to stay there for a whole year! So exciting!

So there is my summary of what I have been up to….if you actually made it this far that is.

2005-05-30T23:54:00.000-04:00

Marathoning is a game of numbers – yesterday the numbers were in my favour!

Curiosity killed the cat; right now the cat is actually my quads. A year ago I became curious to see what my cycling body could do with a marathon course. The only road running event I had done was the Waterloo 10k Classic in 2002, but I had done a bunch of running as training for adventure racing. My longest training run had been 28km, but that took place on dirt trails, up and down steep hills and while wearing a pack full of AR gear. After seeing Heather dedicatedly train with the Running Room last year and complete her first half-marathon, the curiosity was born. I threatened through the fall that I would begin training for the Ottawa National Capital Marathon at the end of January as the Running Room schedule prescribed.

An unexpected move and another large life change around that time turned my world upside down, but my usual plan of “tell as many people about what I hope to train for and then I will have to do it so I don’t feel like one of those guys who is all talk” worked and I felt compelled to begin my training approximately on schedule. I was pretty good at the “I’m cross training” excuse at first, but by the end of February when I spent my first weekend in Ottawa since I had moved there the schedule had worked its way up to 19km. Much to my delight, my first Sunday morning run with the Running Room felt surprisingly good and not over paced. Every Sunday morning until the end of April was subsequently spent socializing on the snow and ice covered paths of Ottawa while running. There are so many unique experiences and conversations that came from these runs, but too many to write here.

Once classes ended at the end of April, I went back to the routine of never spending a weekend in Ottawa again and my Sunday morning runs became a little more creative including a 33km run on Mont-Royal on my own (BOOOOOOORIIIIING!!)

Cut to the chase Andrew: Finally race morning came. There I was standing at the corner of Elgin and Laurier and I felt unusually emotional. The past couple months of pounding the pavement, mentally preparing, sitting at my computer calculating what my pace and heart rate for every kilometre of the course should be (gotta love excel geeks), sacrificing doing long rides with friends (that one really hurt!), calculating race nutrition, and constantly tethering in my mind what my goal time should be had finally ended and all I had to do now was run. The emotion grew after the gun went and the timing computer that beeps every time a runner passes by was at a constant squeal; quickly populating a list of bib numbers. Each number toting a unique story that was to unfold in the epic journey upon which they were embarking.

The first kilometre was by far the toughest. I had very little concept of what my body was capable of and the first kilometre lead me to believe that keeping my heart rate at 146BPM was going to feel like a** and leave me behind the 3:20 pace bunny. Luckily stripping my “warm-up” goodwill shirt, seeing Leanne on the roadside, and having my body finally turning aerobic, I relaxed and I found that I was able to stay approximately on pace for a 3:15 finish holding the HR in the high 150’s.

The first half went by with a bit of a grin on my face as I was putting in my time. I was heeding the advice of many (thanks Patrick) to keep at a comfortably fast pace for the first half and enjoying the Rockcliffe scenery and spunky race volunteers/spectators/police (yes, even the police were smiling/clapping/encouraging). Although km 15-20 didn’t feel the best, I was convinced that I would feel better later.

I was right, after surging the pace a bit and kicking it up a notch heading over the half-way mat in with the encouragement of the growing crowd, my body found a new equilibrium in the high 160’s. Now going along the canal which I considered my “home” territory, I was moving faster according to the race plan. I started to pass more and more people as my mouth grew more and more parched. I was falling a little behind on my eating schedule, but my stomach wasn’t processing the gels as quickly as usual. No matter, I had bigger fish to fry as I surged the pace a bit again passing under the 30k banner. I now tried to keep the HR above 170 and was breathing a little harder, but it still felt good.

All the fun and games are over with now, here comes km 32. I had heard so many things about this point and now the mystery was to be revealed. I grabbed my last gel for the course and changed my demeanour from calculating and enjoying to “game face.” My internal words of encouragement started to be said aloud as I rounded the arboretum and sucked back some badly needed water at the second last water station.

Careening down the hill to Dow’s lake I kept repeating “Let the legs go. Use the hill. Tall. Efficient.” over and over again. I had reached a new level of focus as I missed a roadside friend that had come to cheer me on (sorry!). My words had now become “Come on guys (I always talk to my quads), keep pushing we’re almost there” in an increasingly raspy tone. At km 39, I thought I was feeling the onset of the famous wall. My hamstrings suddenly twinged in unison and I said multiple times aloud “uh-oh!” I did about four half-speed strides which seemed to calm them enough such that I could continue my aggressive pace and drive my HR into the mid-170’s.

Game time. 1km to go. The street side crowds had kept growing proportional to my pace. I took 10s off my previous kilometre and I knew that I could bring just about any pace home now. I took another 15s off my per km pace as the distance to the finish line was now counted in hundreds of metres. I couldn’t wait anymore. When the 200m sign passed overhead and any pain my muscles felt had completely disappeared from the endorphin high of the situation, I hopped up on my toes to finally cure that curiosity “what am I capable of?” Something inside me responded and I covered the last 200m in 37s.

Any sort of grace, power, confidence, and any other positive quality that I may have shown over the last 200m quickly disappeared as I turned into a flailing ball of limbs making squeaky grunting noises as my cardiovascular system struggled to keep up with demands at a HR of 189BPM. I managed to stay standing, but the help of a volunteer at the finish line was greatly appreciated while the blood returned to my brain. I double checked that I had stopped my watch at the line. Yep, I had stopped it at a time of 3:13:24.

Summary: Happy with my performance. I accomplished almost all the goals I had set out for. I successfully did a negative split (did the second half faster than the first), I didn’t blow up or bonk, I came in well before 3:20 and I had a good push to the line. The only thing that would have made the race sweeter is if I somehow managed to shave another 2min 25s off and qualified for the Boston marathon next year, but I filed that under “pipe dream” about a month ago so I didn’t mind at all.

Thanks again to Leanne (ahem, Dr. Mueller) for keeping me injury free during my training, Running Room instructors for their wisdom and support, Mike for filling many training hours with good conversation, Heather for inspiring me with the idea and of course you for actually reading until here. I didn’t think you would :P (P.S. I didn’t proof read this, too long!)

NOW GET ME BACK ON MY BIKE!!!!!!!!

2005-05-16T11:36:00.000-04:00

A new level of geekhood!

I have always been proud of my geeky nature and tendencies, but this past weekend I surprised even myself. I attended a fluid mechanics conference and enjoyed the experience.

Granted this conference in particular has extremely casual setting (you get fined if you wear a tie or if you use Prof. or Dr. before someone’s name), but I really surprised myself when I was able to follow a good deal of the presentations. Some of them still went well over my head, but that is to be expected. I also enjoyed the opportunity to see what other fluids researchers in the area are working on and what techniques they are using to overcome common problems.

To cap it all off, a great deal of ping pong was also played over the weekend. However, this doesn’t add to the geekiness as the intensity and speed of the games exceeded “geeky” class and went into “sport” class. One guy had to shower after our match.

I wonder what the next step will be.

2005-04-26T23:40:00.000-04:00

Important lesson Dave Service taught me...indirectly

Dream as if you’ll live forever; live as if you’ll die tomorrow. I’ve been swaying too far to the left for a while now and have forgotten to enjoy the experiences immediately before me.

Where are you?

2005-04-25T22:51:00.000-04:00

The blank clock

I almost want to call it a recurring dream, but it is when I’m daydreaming. So many times now, I keep rolling the same scene over in my head. I’m running along in a stream of runners, people are lining the street that we’re running along and cheering for us all. Myself and all of the other runners are really given’er, but are really taxed since we’re approaching the finish line of the Ottawa Marathon. The scene always ends in one of two ways: 1) I reach the finish line screaming with a pubescent-like crackle pumping my fist in the air in a state of elation and 2) I reach the finish line, utter a gentle “woo-hoo” with a finger in the air in celebration and quickly begin to think about my recovery. The common part of the two scenarios is that both the big clock above the finish line and my wristwatch are always blank. I have accepted the fact that the original time goal that I set (3:10 the Boston qualifying time) may be a little aggressive and have therefore set my “I’ll still be happy” time goal at 3:20.

These “dreams” are a symbol that I’ve never trained for this kind of race before. Up until now, it’s mostly been a question of whether or not I can make the finish line. In this case, I know that I can do the distance but I just don’t know how fast I can do it.

That’s what I love about endurance sports: the mental battle!

2005-04-23T23:36:00.000-04:00

This white page

White page in front of me. So many thoughts to express. There exists a disconnect between my thoughts and this page. The white on the page is vast, the thoughts to go on there even more vast. They must travel through such a narrow channel when going downstream from my brain to the page. First they must pass through the language centre where they are recorded into inefficient words organized into sentences, then through the most narrow part: through the fingertips into the keyboard. Such high water levels at the top. Floods at the top and drought at the bottom of the chain. This analogy breaks down in the definition of the dam. The dam is fragile against the forces of the upper water and will collapse without maintenance; my dam’s inefficiency prevents flow. A poorly maintained dam actually reduces flow. Then again, allowing the upper level to rise too high could lead to catastrophic failure. Maybe the analogy does work...

…maybe I should get to bed!

2005-04-19T08:32:00.000-04:00

Now THAT was fun; but was it right?

Having competed in a bunch of adventure races and even having been a navigator in a few, I have really come to enjoy the navigation aspect of the races. Having said that, I have always been curious to try orienteering races, but like triathlons, I have just never got around to doing one.

This past Sunday I did the Ottawa Orienteering Club’s Trailhead Orienteering Adventure Run and had a blast! I got to practice skills that I normally only get to practice in an adventure race; I got to hone…okay, grind away at my navigation and bushwacking skills. Over such a short course, there were about 20 control points to hit and punching our control card at every single one brought on such a sense of accomplishment. Add to that the stunning setting that was used as the playing field and there are more than enough ingredients for a really fun day. Even to those that live there, the stunning beauty of Gatineau Park forces one to occasionally pause and revel in its spendour.

After the race, I had to swing my mind back to this stupid marathon training and go for another 16km run afterward. However, I returned from my run just in time for the awards ceremony to find that my brother and Leanne won the co-ed category, teammates from Team HolisticClinic.ca came in 4th co-ed while my teammate Shannon and I came in 7th co-ed.

The big question that the race left in me is what I train for. I have set myself a pretty aggressive goal for the Ottawa Marathon (3:10; I just don’t know!) and am cognisant of the fact that the only way I’ll come close is discipline in my training. Olympic athletes know this and use it to excel to their elite levels. However, if enjoyment is not there, then why are you out there in the first place? I originally claimed that I was not going to do the race as it was going to interfere with my training and originally turned down the offer of cycling in Gatineau Park on Saturday for the same reason.

The question is: am I a better athlete for doing the ride and race, or would I have been better off sticking to my training. Next question: am I a better person for doing the ride and race? I’ve got my ideas, what are yours? (if you made it to this point that is)

2005-04-14T09:20:00.000-04:00

Adventure Racing is for Anyone and Everyone

Since I had some good responses to my first AR story posted on April 8th, I decided to study for exams instead of writing something right now and post another. I hope you enjoy and am getting as excited for the upcoming AR season as I am. Watch out for Team HolisticClinic.ca this year!

Interesting how the simple resonance of the vocal cords of one person fires hundreds of synapses in an army of eager minds front of him. On the beautiful morning of June 23, 2002, said vocal cords belonged to Dave Zietsma and the eager minds belonged to the 47 teams of three beginning to vault themselves and their mountain bikes down the gravel road ahead for Salomon Adventure Challenge - Parry Sound (2 hours north of Toronto). This race marked my first 8 hour summer adventure race I had participated in and my mind was racing, both proverbially and literally as Team Freaks of Nature began to power our way to the front of the pack amidst the loose sand and potholes.

During the first half hour, I was suffering from what I call “first ten minutes syndrome.” In distance events, the body can take a few minutes to settle into a stable aerobic pattern while in the mean time using the more inefficient anaerobic system. The result is very tired and lethargic feeling body for a short period of time. The key is knowing that the feeling passes and pushing hard through it.

Within a few minutes, Freaks of Nature’s hammering paid off as we took an early lead. The biking portion was our strongest discipline, so gaining this early lead was essential to our race plan; it was for this reason that we were so disheartened when we came over a hill 12km into the short 14km bike section to see the backs of Team Hunger. They had taken a navigational risk on an unmarked road that cut 2km off the route to CP1.

Only 40 short minutes after the start, we arrived at the first transition area only 1 minute behind the leaders and 2 minutes in front of Team White Squall. Although we left the TA to begin the hiking section first, we were less then 30 seconds in front of a ravenous Team Hunger and swift Team White Squall. The nine of us jogged lightly down the trail toward the beginning of the bushwhack section trying our best to ignore the presence of the other teams to avoid falling into the trap of making pace and navigation decisions based on the other teams’. Although the heat and the thirsty mosquitoes escalated, we failed to notice since the occasional creek crossing, constant movement and sufficient “game face” kept them both at bay. A very strong bushwhack on the part of our fellow competitors brought us out of the bush in third position to our bikes and fresh watermelon provided by race management.

At this point, a fire ignited inside me to reel the team in front in. Knowing full well that there was only 15km of race course remaining to catch the fleeing teams ahead, we vaulted quickly away from the TA for a fast 5km bike to the canoes.

Mechanical problems slowed our progress and smothered our remaining advantage because of the other teams’ strength in the water. During the ride, we screamed our strategy back and forth through the draft to allow us to make a swift escape into our boat. Our plan was well executed where we exchanged our bike for a canoe and jumped in while still wearing all of our bike gear. One by one, through gritted teeth because of our cramping legs from lack of water and electrolyte consumption, we changed into our running shoes in the boat to facilitate the portages remaining on the course. Although we pulled harder on the water more then we had before over a 10km paddle and ran the portages, our efforts were not enough as we beached our canoe between the finish line posts in third position for a finishing time of 4 hours 55 minutes. As we congratulated our opponents and recounted our race experience over the free post-race lunch, we realized that they had both competed in the open division because of their three-male team. Team Freaks of Nature won a nice new set of Salomon packs for our first place finish in the co-ed division!

The most uplifting part of the day was spent sitting on the beach congratulating the incredible number of teams crossing the finish line. Out of the 47 teams that started, 100% reached the finish of the tough bushwhack section, and 90% reached the finish line. A large number of teams were rookies to the sport and/or were complete rookies to one or more of the three disciplines of the race. Witnessing first hand every team’s amply joy of accomplishment as we all paraded across the finish line confirms my thesis that the sport is well suited for anyone. Fancy gear, mammoth lungs, cut build, expensive bikes, years of skills training and other such frills are not necessary to for success. All that is needed is a positive attitude and the desire to finish.

For more information on adventure racing, check out http://www.far.on.ca/ or http://www.raidthenorth.com/.

2005-04-13T10:23:00.000-04:00

Perception: the lens through which we see our world

“A book is simply words on a page. The interpretation of those words occurs approximately halfway between the reader and the page. That is why interpretation is so personal. Everyone is a unique individual and applies their own views and life experiences to those words and can read the same words to mean something very different from another reader.”

It is not a verbatim quote, but it is close enough to what my grade 10 English teacher Mrs. Boddard was trying to impress upon us. It has very real applications to our world. For example: the 5.5 hour exam (yep, five and a half hours of sitting on my duff trying to pull more and more equations from my a**) I wrote yesterday. I knew before the exam that we were all going to get smoked as did the rest of my class.
“I brought two jars of Vaseline for the repeated rapings this exam is going to give me” exclaimed a classmate. After the exam, one girl was shocked at the calm manner in which another colleague and myself were packing up our bags in preparation for departure to the outer world.
“I just got anally raped and am about to go jump off of a bridge and you two must have done well since you’re so calm right now” she said.
I replied “I got bent over as well, but I knew that we were all going to get bent over. The only thing that matters is whether your chin came closer to your knees than your classmates’. That’s who we’re benched against.”

Same situation, radically different interpretation. Conclusion: I am used to getting anally raped by exams.

2005-04-09T23:36:00.000-04:00

Drunk on fresh air?

I went for a ride today outside for the first time (wow!) and although I really took it easy (supposed to run 32km tomorrow morning) and thought I had enough sleep last night, I fell asleep during the middle of the day (pretty rare for me). Sure, the turbulent energy cascades I was studying at the time were extremely exciting, but I normally nod off just briefly...not for over two hours!!

I spoke with the guy I rode with and he fell asleep today as well. Did we really get drunk off of air that was just too fresh? Is it possible that my body was siphoning energy from re-circulated interior air all winter? Was my body just so excited to finally be in a wilderness setting and went so metabolically nuts that it tuckered me right out?

If so, it's going to be a sleepy summer!

2005-04-08T11:19:00.000-04:00

Adventure Racing: A Rewarding Sport

**WARNING, WARNING** This is an extremely long post, but a good one of course! This is an article that I wrote years ago for Imprint (Waterloo's school newspaper). Due to their inefficiencies, I was unable to have it published despite their enthusiasm for it. I decided it needed to be "released" after all this time. Note that this was two versions spliced together so it does lack continuity at one point. Meh! If somone wants to publish it somewhere else they deem appropriate, feel free!

Before June 11, 2000, I had no sense of what I was truly capable of. I knew that I was able to bike decent distances, run for decent amounts of time and canoe at a leisurely pace for a day, but what I lacked was a concept of a ceiling to my athleticism. The event responsible for turning the proverbial corner in this respect was Frontier Adventure Racing’s Raid the North – Mte. Ste. Anne.

I arrived at the base of Mte. Ste. Anne and my senses were overwhelmed with sights of towering slopes, the sound of mulling racers, the smell of Quebec’s various conifers and the taste of suspense. For a few months prior, I had tried to get some sort of a training regimen together, but between living in residence for eight months prior and the pressures of my first co-op placement had somewhat distracted me from necessary training and nutritional respects. With all of that behind me, here I was in amongst three team-mates and 47 other sets of eager racers from all walks of life. Friday, June 9th was a day filled with necessary gear, first-aid, navigation, bike and ropes checks to ensure that Team Maple Leaf had everything we needed to travel through this 36 hour race safely. The day flew by and concluded with a general meeting at the summit of Mte. Ste. Anne where we met the other teams, were given the necessary safety protocol, and were finally given the maps and co-ordinates of the course that would rule the course of the entire weekend. Once in possession of this invaluable information, although no gun had fired, the race had begun in a sense.

It was 7:00pm and we had until 1:00am to plot our course, get our individual gear packed and our support van packed. The next few hours seemed to fly by in even more of a whirlwind then the previous twelve of the day. At 12:55am on Saturday, June10th we were boarding the busses at the finish line to head to the start line with a small meal, a warm shower and 45 minutes of attempted sleep. The concept that the bus in which I sat would drive for four hours to a location that would take my team-mates and I 36 hours to return from was a little baffling, but the thought was quickly swept aside by the multitude of others lining up for my attention. Am I ready for this? Did I eat enough/too much? Am I wearing too much/too little clothing? Do I have all the correct gear? Am I really ready for this?

At 5:00 am Saturday morning, we disembarked the bus, paused for a picture or two, said a quick hello to our two support crew members and walked up to the start line. The first discipline was trekking and our team’s strategy was to not run off the line since we were all relatively new to the sport. The most important part was that Team Maple Leaf made it to the start line successfully; half of the challenge was complete. As I stood there stretching the thought crossed my mind that this would be the last time that I would be standing still for the next couple of days. No time for that thought though, my wristwatch informed me that it was 5:29am; less then a minute to the beginning of my virgin journey into the world of Adventure Racing.

BANG! We were off. At 5:30am on the cold morning of June 10, 2000, I took my first few steps into a new life. I have no doubt that the introduction of adventure racing in my life has changed the way I look at our green earth and my presence on it.

Team Maple Leaf began Raid the North Mont Ste. Anne by skirting a small lake on foot approximately 100km north of base camp. Along with 47 other sets of eager minds, we had visions of the word “Finish” printed on a banner overhead awaiting us at the end of this adventure.

As any adventure race begins, there is no way of avoiding the crowds and traffic jams, but after a neck high river crossing and ducking into the bush, we very quickly found our group of four intimate with nothing but dense pine needles and wind-swept brush. This first trekking section took us through some thick bush and over a few hills as we wound our way to the first transition area of the race. A few minor navigational errors on our part brought us to our support crew in 37th place at 11:32am.

Trying to make up some time, we quickly ate and rode off on our bikes for a quick 15km ride; 13km of which was downhill. Mechanical problems faced by other teams gained us a few positions along the way and our conservative nature on the extremely rocky descents kept us on our bikes, free of injury.

At the bike drop, we donned our wetsuits, grabbed two inflatable sport yaks and charged toward the raging river. We jumped in the boats and it was not long until we witnessed first hand the warnings we had received concerning high water levels and low water temperatures. Our boat succumbed to a three foot standing wave plunging a team-mate and I into the sub 10°C waters. After 5km of intense white water, we exchanged our tank-like boats for one that was easier to paddle and control: a canoe. As my weakest event of the race, I was not pleased that there were approximately 20 sets of rapids to negotiate in the 20km paddle. Although we were forced by race management to portage the severe ones for safety reasons, my inexperience and absence of a sense of balance plunged my canoe-mate and I into the water once again. My severe frustration nearly brought tears to my eyes, but I reminded myself that this was only day one of the race and dug deep to keep hammering.

The end of the paddle met us up with our support crew once again and we stopped for some hot food and a dry change of clothes to rid our lips of the blue tinge they had acquired throughout the watercourse.

When we left on foot at 6:31pm on Day 1, our bodies quickly warmed up as we climbed over 300 vertical metres without break. On the plateau of the hill, we broke from our trail and ventured into the bush, seeking the next checkpoint. Our average speed in this section of the bush was less then 0.5km/h - normal walking pace is about 5km/h - due to the thickness of the brush where the visibility was less then a metre. The temperature plummeted well below the freezing mark and a light snow began to fall as we searched for CP9: the ropes section.

After an unsuccessful session of looking for the zipline – quite hard when it’s snowing and pitch black out - our team was certain that it was not where it was stated to be in the racecourse instructions. We called base camp with our emergency radio to inquire about the incorrect placement of the ropes and were informed that the ropes company had made a mistake. The ropes were set up, just 1.5 km south of where they were meant to be.

Frustrated but undeterred from our goal of the finish line, we regrouped and found a route to the next transition area. The dip in the river earlier in the day began to take its toll as mild hypothermia hindered the ability of one team-mate to eat and even walk, let along carry his own pack. I too began to suffer and had to give up our radio and first-aid kit to our female team-mate to reduce the weight I was carrying. She felt much stronger at the time and this is what unselfish and supportive teams do – help each other throughout the adventure.

At 4:15am, the thick bush had completely disoriented us and we became completely lost. The previous morning’s first light had occurred at 4:30 am so we decided to stop and sleep for 15 minutes and wait for sunrise. Upon
awakening I was in the most confused and cold state I had ever experienced. However, the rising of the sun ignited a second wind inside me and we started making our way toward the next TA.

We arrived at 9:08am and were able to sit down in a relatively warm hall to discuss our team’s plans. The previous evening’s conditions had prompted a large number of teams to ‘throw in the towel’, but we decided to change into dry clothes and leave before the 10:00am cut-off.

At 9:58am, we were relieved to be moving forward and on our bikes to give our feet a well deserved break. The next 11.5 hours saw us climb steep hills for hours on end to arrive at steep and seemingly unending descents, one of which threw one team-mate to the dirt at over 30km/h. We also were forced to carry our bikes through a 2km section of former trail that had turned into knee-deep mud. The true feeling of teamwork kicked in as I was now feeling stronger and was able to push my team-mates up the hills.

At 9:36pm on Sunday, June 11 with less then an hour of sleep since 7:00 am Friday morning, Team Maple Leaf accomplished our goal and crossed the finish line as a group of four.

There were many occasions during the previous 40 hours that I had questioned as to why I would actually pay money to do this sort of thing, but I discovered as I biked under the “Finish” banner and over the days to come the answer I was looking for. Prior to that weekend, I had absolutely no concept of not only what my body was physically capable of, but what my will was capable of. Seeing superior athletes and stronger teams then ours pulling out of the race as we plugged on made me realize that the physical part of adventure racing is not nearly as important as the mental. This infectious concept of the power of the human resolve has plagued many completely unrelated facets of my life. Anything is possible if your mind and heart are behind it!

For more information on 8 hour, 36 hour and 5 day adventure racing see www.far.on.ca.

2005-04-07T10:40:00.000-04:00

The rest of my world revealed to me

In reference to my post on April 1st, although the melting of the rest of the snow and ice keeps making the city around me even more beautiful, around my building seems to leave much to be desired. The interlocking brick is nice...... except where threre are gaping muddy holes (approx. 3m by 1m by 50cm deep; that’s a BIG hole!). We have a nice patch of lawn in our front yard...... that has revealed itself to be a pit of stones that has spread over all of our sidewalks. We have some nice green space in our back yard with trees and bushes….. and garbage, and old construction materials, and the occasional homeless person.

Oh well, the interior is still beautiful!

2005-04-05T08:49:00.000-04:00

New Record!

I set a new personal record last night. The record was in short haul grocery return on a bike and the new record was set at $154. I feel that I had to set a new category since the task was somewhat easier than my long haul record of $120. To qualify, all items must be budgo brand bulk pack variety and all items must arrive in tact (most importantly eggs and bread).

I love being a student!

2005-04-02T18:04:00.000-05:00

Powerful words

They are among the two most powerful words in the English language, but only when they are said with conviction:

I BELIEVE

I’m getting there, but hopefully I'll fully get there before May 29th!

2005-04-01T17:21:00.000-05:00

My world revealed to me!

Even in my ways of perpetual moving over the past five years, something has happened to me this winter for the first time. As the snow and ice cloaking my new found stomping grounds in Ottawa begins to give way to the warming spring, so many new things are beginning to reveal themselves to me. City pathways are so much wider than I originally had the impression of, picturesque landscaping exists where deep snow cover only alluded to an open lawn, interlocking brick makes up all of the pathways around my building, the list goes on.

Now what will it look like with the summer sun on it? Can’t wait!

2005-03-22T15:21:00.000-05:00

They were THAT bad?

I knew that my running shoes were getting to the end of their service life, but I figured they still had a good number of kilometres left in them. Clearly I was wrong! I also figured that doing all of these kilometres in trail runners wouldn’t be that bad for me. Wrong again! I knew that I was going to get a reaction out of the Running Room staff when I showed them my shoes, but not THAT good of a reaction.

In summary, although I had blamed my recent (light) injuries and training difficulties to eating wrong and pacing wrong, it all comes down to (well, at least a huge part of it was) the lack of life in my shoes. After putting about 200km on them in the last couple of months alone, the previous two years of punishment has summed to one dead pair of shoes.

Hmmm…what is it going to be like now?!

2005-03-07T16:06:00.000-05:00

Funny Shoe Story!

About a month ago, I was walking home from school on a cool yet beautifully sunny Friday late afternoon. After walking across an incredibly busy Rideau Canal, I got to the top of the stairs to see a guy sitting on a parking barrier beside the road still sporting his hockey skates. We made eye contact, I said “hello” and he replied with “do you have a cell phone?” Personally, I don’t use my phone very often. I’ll use it every couple of days when the relay of pertinent information could really help either me or a friend out; my usage rarely exceeds 20mins/month.

Since my rates are not the best, I was a little hesitant. After looking at his lack of shoes, and remembering a time last fall when someone else helped me out, I decided to offer. Sure enough the guy makes a call to Kingston, but his reason was legit; his wife and friends were supposed to pick him up but were almost an hour late, so he left a message on their cell.

As I was leaving, he insisted on giving me $5 for the call. Since the call probably cost me about $1, I felt pretty bad taking the money. Since he was so insistent, I took it and finished my walk home. By the time I got home, I had determined that I couldn’t let him sit there in his skates, so I dug up my lawn cutting shoes, biked over and gave them to him. Although he was a little weirded out, I think he appreciated it.

So I’m walking home today and all of a sudden my shoes appeared hanging over a garden post. I walk that stretch most days and have not noticed them yet. I wonder what sort of journey my shoes had. Did they go back to Kingston then return the following weekend? How long were they used for? Did they do some sight-seeing? How many have worn them.

Oh if my shoes could talk!

2005-03-05T23:59:00.000-05:00

Overwhelmed by Activism

I’ll be honest in that I knew that Ottawa would be a centre for activism, but I also have to be honest in that it is way more intense than expected. It seems that every place I look, there is another poster fighting the signing of a bill, globalization, and a myriad of other causes that I had never before thought of. Although the bombardment is tremendous, it is also inspiring to see the number of people and organizations ensuring that our democracy is kept honest.

In contrast to my ultra-right wing hometown, the abundance of left in Ottawa is refreshing!

2005-03-01T21:32:00.000-05:00

Mountains sure are awesome, but…

After recently returning from a backcountry skiing trip in the Rockies with a friend from Calgary, I certainly feel a calling for me to go out there. The concept of backcountry skiing combined with winter mountaineering is so cool! The skis with climbing skins act like snowshoes on the way up so you don’t sink through the snow and don’t get as tired, once off the skis and doing the ridge walk, the ice axe provides (almost) constant anchors so even harrowing traverses feel somewhat relaxing, the views from the peaks are unreal, then on the way back down, the skis snap into downhill mode and you get to enjoy the powdery descent. What a cool sport!

HOWEVER, I know that I am prone to a “grass is always greener” mentality and have realized how special our province of “Onterrible” can be. The backcountry is so much tamer and geographically more accessible, our lakes are not glacial and hence tolerable to swim in much of the year, the beauty is still there but is just a little hidden, the adventure racing scene is a little more active here, my industry of interest is here, and there are too many friends and family here.

Summary: the Rockies are too cool, but will have to be an annual (or twice/year depending on finances) trip. Can’t have it all I guess.

2005-02-04T19:13:00.000-05:00

No idea. Absolutely no idea of what to think, how to feel, what to do. As a man of an objective mind, emotions don’t make much sense to me. I know that time heals all wounds, but what over time will I be feeling later that I won’t be now?

So confused…so concerned...so down.