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Thursday, October 13, 2011
Fall colours
While making a couple of trips to the Home Depot for a simple job (they always seem to require more than 1 trip!) I noticed that the fall colours were really nice on this rainy morning. As a result I stopped and took a couple of photos of the Bowmanville creek valley. These pics were taken from the bridge on Longworth between 57 and Scugog St. in Bowmanville, ON. Enjoy!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Adventure Racing 101
Over the years I have done quite a few 5K runs, a few 10K's, a couple of Half-marathons and half a dozen mountain bike events. I have canoed, hiked, biked across Canada and climbed Kilimanjaro. However, I have never done an adventure race! This summer, one of my neighbours asked if I was interested in doing the STORM THE TEN race Sept 17th. A group of his friends were putting a team together and were looking for warm bodies they thought might not perish during the day. I said yes!!
Well it turns out there were 8 of us who thought we could handle it, and that meant that we split our group into two teams of 4.
The two teams, 404,"Livestrong" and 405, "Is it over yet?"
I was the oldest by quite a few years,and also the slowest, the one in the photo above wearing the helmet.
We started the morning wearing just about everything we had as it was chilly!!!.
The event involved running, cycling, more running and more cycling, and then canoeing! Then you got to rest while the your teammates did their turn at it all. If you were in a team of four, as we were, you went in pairs, and did every second lap. Teams of six did every third lap.
The first lap, which my neighbour Murray and I did, also involved an extra 2K run to thin out the field, so that 200 people weren't all "bumper to bumper" coming out of the bike transition area, and climbing the first singletrack hill. It worked like a charm! We got on the bikes with just about everyone else ahead, so that we wouldn't get lost! Murray and I are both working full time with wives and children and our training was spotty. Not ever having done this type of race, we really weren't sure what to expect. The first run took a lot out of me, and the first part of the ride involves climbing the Niagara escarpment, in a series of switchbacks. By the time we got to the top, I was truly huffing and puffing. The rest of the lap is really not that outlandish, if you could start at the top of the escarpment. A few photos from the day follow. Some are from Murray, and others are from the rest of the team, as I didn't carry a camera with me!
Murray and I in the Canoe
Jen and Fiona being helped up the hill for the last lap by their kids!
Murray running from the bikes to the canoes.
Myself running past the finish line to the the canoes and dropping my pack on the way!
Relaxing at our site between laps
Pat, who organized our group of 8, coming through the finish line!
Murray and I, after the race!
Next year(OK, there is a big "IF" associated with that) we will train differently, with a lot more running, and a lot more hill climbing, on our bikes.
I have to say, also, that many of the participants chose to do this solo, doing every lap, one after another. Two of them, one female and one male, completed ten laps each. I am amazed at the fitness level of these athletes! As for ourselves, Team Livestrong finish fifth in the Coed Four division, while Team Is It Over Yet was proud to finish eighth, in the same division, completing six laps, or three laps for each pair! Oh yeah, there were 8 teams in our division!
It was a great day and if you want to learn more about it go to their website Storm the Ten
Well it turns out there were 8 of us who thought we could handle it, and that meant that we split our group into two teams of 4.
The two teams, 404,"Livestrong" and 405, "Is it over yet?"
I was the oldest by quite a few years,and also the slowest, the one in the photo above wearing the helmet.
We started the morning wearing just about everything we had as it was chilly!!!.
The event involved running, cycling, more running and more cycling, and then canoeing! Then you got to rest while the your teammates did their turn at it all. If you were in a team of four, as we were, you went in pairs, and did every second lap. Teams of six did every third lap.
The first lap, which my neighbour Murray and I did, also involved an extra 2K run to thin out the field, so that 200 people weren't all "bumper to bumper" coming out of the bike transition area, and climbing the first singletrack hill. It worked like a charm! We got on the bikes with just about everyone else ahead, so that we wouldn't get lost! Murray and I are both working full time with wives and children and our training was spotty. Not ever having done this type of race, we really weren't sure what to expect. The first run took a lot out of me, and the first part of the ride involves climbing the Niagara escarpment, in a series of switchbacks. By the time we got to the top, I was truly huffing and puffing. The rest of the lap is really not that outlandish, if you could start at the top of the escarpment. A few photos from the day follow. Some are from Murray, and others are from the rest of the team, as I didn't carry a camera with me!
Murray and I in the Canoe
Jen and Fiona being helped up the hill for the last lap by their kids!
Murray running from the bikes to the canoes.
Myself running past the finish line to the the canoes and dropping my pack on the way!
Relaxing at our site between laps
Pat, who organized our group of 8, coming through the finish line!
Murray and I, after the race!
Next year(OK, there is a big "IF" associated with that) we will train differently, with a lot more running, and a lot more hill climbing, on our bikes.
I have to say, also, that many of the participants chose to do this solo, doing every lap, one after another. Two of them, one female and one male, completed ten laps each. I am amazed at the fitness level of these athletes! As for ourselves, Team Livestrong finish fifth in the Coed Four division, while Team Is It Over Yet was proud to finish eighth, in the same division, completing six laps, or three laps for each pair! Oh yeah, there were 8 teams in our division!
It was a great day and if you want to learn more about it go to their website Storm the Ten
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Jake goes Camping
We just returned from three days camping in Arrowhead Provincial Park. This was Jakes first camping trip! There is nothing really spectacular about Arrowhead, it is just a really nice little Provincial Park just north of Huntsville,ON. There is a couple of smallish lakes, a few nice beach areas, a waterfall, some nice walking and cycling trails and an overlook over the Big East River. To a two and a half year old it was heaven. He saw some wildlife (deer, chipmunk, loon, raven etc), liked the waterfall and thought the beach was great.
It is so great to watch young ones fall in love with the outdoors. Between the two boys there wasn't a dull moment between the beach, canoeing, bicycling, watching the fire at night or Isaiah seeing the Milky Way for the first time. Not once was TV or video game mentioned.
Isaiah, at six is getting to be such a good paddler that I think next year I am sitting in the middle and letting him do the work! Jake is learning to sit in the canoe and got a real kick out of seeing a loon and a raven from the canoe.
Overall it was a great little getaway, and made us all look forward to our next trip !
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Bottle Lake Part 2
Bottle Lake scenery
For the second time in his young life Jake got to go for a paddle in a canoe! When he was just 8 months old I took him for a short ride in the kayak, which he did not like at all. I think it was the life jacket, more than the ride, that he objected to! Earlier this summer I took him for a short paddle out at the Garden Hill pond and he seemed quite happy with that. Isaiah, at the ripe old age of 5 is a seasoned veteran in the canoe and contributes mightily with his own paddle! Sunday, we decided to load up the family and return to Bottle Lake for a day trip. We packed a lunch, our life jackets, paddles, extra clothes, camera, first aid kit, etc. We needed the big canoe for this expedition!! After last week I had no problem finding the place, and the scenery of the drive during daylight was nice.
The big canoe weighs about three times as much as the little one, which meant the carry down to the water was a little rougher. I realize I am getting older when I start dreaming of a canoe that is lighter than the 85 lbs. of this one. I cannot complain, as it is 35 years old and is stable and seaworthy, both good qualities when you have young kids aboard. Today's materials, however make for much lighter boats.
As we pushed off from the beach it was overcast but the rain held off for us all day. We paddled down the lake, and Jake sat quite still on his own little bench for the first while as he took in the sights of the lake. Eventually he decided that he wanted to sit beside his big brother.
The boys!
After shifting things around a bit he was content on the big boys seat. We carried on down to the Sucker lake portage and stretched the boys legs with the short walk across. Had the weather looked more promising we may have carried the canoe over and done some exploring of this lake. As it was it looked as if it could rain on us at any moment so we decided to save that bit of the world to explore the next time. The boys had a great time climbing on the rock at the Sucker Lake end and had fun throwing acorns into the lake.
The intrepid explorers!
Kids just love getting out into nature and these two were having a ball! Eventually however we got hungry and headed back to the canoe. We paddled over to one of the campsites and broke out our picnic lunch.
Lunch!
The campsite was on a rocky point of land, and quite large, and although there was no real areas to put a large tent you could easily set up half a dozen small ones. It did have a fire pit and a picnic table and the fresh air had given us all a good appetite so we dug in to our lunch! After eating the boys did what boys like to do! Climb on rocks! I can't fault them as it is still one of my fave activities too!
Fun!
The canoe in the bay!
After lunch back in the canoe and a bit more exploring, checking out some of the sandy beaches, and looking at the colours of the trees we decided to head back to the landing before the rain came! On the way we were discussing future plans of returning in swimming weather, coming back for some overnight camping, bringing the kayaks, etc! That is one problem with visiting the wild areas anywhere in Ontario. It always leaves you wanting! Wanting to come back for more, that is! And we will be back! The boys both had a great time and so did Lianna and I!
Fall colours!
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