Training Log Archive: Bash

Possibly the last bike ride on the Kolapore trails in 2022. It was another gorgeous day. Most of the leaves are down now so the trails weren't always easy to see. I stopped a number of times to move fallen branches from the ski trails or remove tough maple leaf stems from my derailleur or chain ring.

I'm slowly getting more familiar with my new trail bike. I could hear Mr. Wonderful and JayXC in my ear as I was pushing up hills. Sometimes it worked and sometimes my tires skidded out on the soft layer of leaves anyway - but mostly it was helpful. :)

On flats, downhills and moderate climbs, I stopped choosing the best line and just went straight most of the time. Eventually, I started aiming for bigger rocks on purpose. This was just to learn how the bike responds; I'll go back to choosing better lines. The slack geometry and wider tires are more forgiving and I got over some rocky terrain that had defeated me before. I hit the limit a couple of times, which was useful to feel.

Now it's time for the temperature to drop. We're ready to ski!

Kolapore Church / Paradise Highway loop, running counterclockwise. My Achilles still isn't happy after I run but it's a bit less unhappy these days. My physio said I'm not likely to cause additional damage by running, which is the important thing. It was great to be out there today. It was cool and sunny, and I only saw one other person.

'Bent and I took the dogs for a late afternoon paddle on the Nottawasaga River. We headed downstream first through some minor swifts that made it hard work to come back upstream. The light was lovely.



The dogs were very concerned to see a fisherman standing in the river. That was completely outside their canoeing experience! Bark, bark, barkity bark.



They enjoyed the different smells on a new river but they've been canoeing so much lately that it's become very relaxing - almost meditative - for them. :)

Goose and Coach LD were interested in hiking on this beautiful afternoon and we successfully recruited them for a special assignment that suited their skills very well.



We wore orange because we're starting to hear gunshots in the woods even though it's wild turkey season and people should be able to find them close to home. Deer rifle hunting starts Nov. 7.

In the past few autumns, Kevin Walsh marked a snowshoe loop near Metcalfe Rock in Kolapore. Its purpose is to give Bruce Trail hikers a fun route that doesn't involve trampling the ski trails. Each spring Kev took down the flagging tape. Tragically, he was killed in a hit-and-run in July. Kev was one of those people who did so many good things that it has taken a village of volunteers to partially fill his shoes. 'Bent and I offered to take over management of the snowshoe trail.

We've only snowshoed the entire route a couple of times - and even then, we likely didn't follow the flagging tape exactly because it didn't matter that much. So we had a GPS track of sorts - and Angus found a different one on TrailForks - and we also had a map of sorts. It didn't matter too much if we recreated Kevin's loop exactly but we will need to use the signs that have already been painted so we had to keep our creativity within limits.



We bushwhacked and marked a nice first version of the loop with considerable discussion about micro-route choices. The blue flagging tape I brought was useless - like translucent strips of a recycling bag - so when we go back, we'll switch it all for a different colour.

The last part of the loop follows the Bruce Trail, which we didn't need to locate so we took a detour into the crevices around Metcalfe Rock. This involved a little climbing and descending. It's not something we can do with the dogs and probably not in winter either. I don't think I'd ever been through here.















I expected the view from Metcalfe Rock would have leafless trees and dull autumn colours by now so it was surprising to see such vibrant yellows.



Thanks to Goose and Coach LD for turning their planned hike into a work party to help out!

I found an embedded blacklegged tick on my stomach after our hike although I'm pretty sure it was imported from Palgrave and probably given to me by a dog. It's been a crazy year for ticks in Caledon. This one broke when I was pulling it out and I had to perform painful surgery to remove the mouth parts. Ugh, I hate, hate, hate the stupid things.

Best sleep in a long time. Resting heart rate 11 bpm lower than yesterday. No fever. Arm much less sore. It feels like my immune system has made peace with the bivalent vaccine.

Weights - a few sets before Zooming to the first meeting of the Kolapore Trails 50th Anniversary planning committee.

My post-vaccine day was less intense this time but I still had an elevated heart rate, a 1C fever, mild fatigue and a sore upper arm. Nice to know my immune system is learning its latest lesson.

Today I got Covid vaccine #5 - the new Pfizer BA.4/BA.5 bivalent. That should get some sweet anti-Omicron juice flowing through my veins before we have to get on a plane next week.

My first two Pfizers only gave me a sore upper arm. My next two Modernas knocked me on my butt for a day with fever and fatigue but it was worth it to get the benefits of brand mixing and the higher dose of Moderna. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring but I have to drive for several hours so I'm hoping for another sore arm. :)

The incredible - and somewhat freaky - late October summer weather continued today. Collingwood was the warmest place in Canada with a high temperature of 24.5C.

'Bent and I rode in Kolapore this morning when it was a little cooler - a concern we rarely have on Oct. 23. It was the first time I'd taken my new bike into the rocky terrain I'd bought it for. (Note: this is not a photo of the rocky terrain.)



It will take some fine tuning of suspension, rebound and cockpit position to get the bike just right but today's ride went pretty well. As a trail bike, I don't expect it to climb as well as my cross-country bike and that was noticeable, although I made it up most hills. Not this hill - but I can't do it on my other bike either.



I'm still getting used to how the bike responds so I'm not taking advantage of its abilities by "letting loose" on bumpy rocks. A cross-country bike requires more steering and control in this terrain and I'm still doing that. That should improve with practice but today was the bike's first real test.

'Bent was riding well as always.



The forest is past peak autumn colours but still beautiful.





We explored what appears to be a Crown Land camping area in Kolapore. We'll have to learn more. It's a beautiful location.

We had another gorgeous paddle on the Beaver River with both dogs. They're quite relaxed in the canoe now although they remain alert for interesting smells. Nice family outing. :)

Browner and I signed up for Raid The Hammer - and never mind common sense, we're doing the full 25K Raid even though we've barely been running. So of course I had to run today - and her Strava says she did too. :)

I've been feeling a little improvement in my Achilles - probably because I haven't used it for running. Enough coddling - today I ran half a Raid on a hilly, technical trail with roots and rocks hidden under fallen leaves. Well, I didn't actually run all of it. I hiked up any big hills. I also hiked when I got tired and when there were views worth photographing. But aside from that, it was my longest run in a while.

My foot felt pretty good while I was out there. My cardio, not so much, which is to be expected. My foot is sore tonight but not as much as usual. Tomorrow will tell the tale - the Limp Test.

Today's route went along the Kolapore Bruce Trail to Metcalfe Rock.



Down below, rock climbers were enjoying the spectacular day - sunny and warm.



The forest is past the peak of autumn colours but it's still beautiful. I wish there were an orienteering map of this area.





From Duncan Escarpment Provincial Park, I could see back to Metcalfe Rock where I'd come from.



It's a pretty stretch of trail.









Rather than looping back on the Bruce Side Trail, I ran back on hilly 9th Line.

More Kolapore trail work - this time on the Kolapore Church Trail near our place. We brought the dogs along to help. It was BazingaDog's longest hike in a while. He was impatient with all the stops to snip saplings and fling fallen branches off the trail.

'Bent and I headed out to do some trail work at the south end of Northwest Passage on the Kolapore Wilderness Trails. It was a beautiful but gusty day The trail director has discovered that we'll accept any assignment, even if it means hiking more than 2 km in rubber boots to get to the starting point of a wet, winter-only section. So those are the types of things they usually ask us to do. For a change, tomorrow we have the easier task of tidying up a nice trail section that's practically in our back yard.

Short hike to exercise dogs and pull buckthorn.

Finally a day with some free time but I'm not supposed to exert myself so soon after getting a dental implant. Also, I'm not getting vaxxed today, which had been the plan. Dental implant surgery can challenge the immune system so they give you antibiotics for a few days. There's no science on this but the doc and I agreed that it seemed like a good guess to postpone my Pfizer BA.4/5 bivalent vaccine until next week when it can challenge my immune system all by itself. Then I'll get on an airplane the week after that and *really* challenge my immune system.

Dental implant surgery. Fun.

I did a 5-hour return drive to Irondale (near Bark Lake) to deliver our H2O Slingshot 222 canoe to its new owner, Krista, who had a similar drive from the Ottawa area. We bought it in the spring and paddled it half a dozen times. It's a good canoe but we decided to pass it along and get a fast boat designed primarily for tripping - the Swift Keewaydin 17. The H2O is a racing boat that is also good for tripping and it wasn't the best fit for us.

After a relaxed and surprisingly rain-free breakfast by the water, we packed up and paddled back to the access point. The leaves were still spectacular.





There were shenanigans at the portage again.



Although we'd noticed that a handful of sites were booked, we didn't see any other canoeists all weekend. Anyone heading into the north end of the park would have to paddle past our campsite so I'm guessing that very few campers got to enjoy the hail thunderstorm up close.

The main reason our group headed into the wilderness on a weekend with a bad forecast was to give BazingaDog his first and possibly only canoe trip. The other 3 dogs are all experienced canoeists. B-Dog was an escape risk until earlier this year but he was a perfect canoe trip dog. He's on a lot of pain killers because of his spine issues but over the weekend, he seemed to feel and act a few years younger. We were so happy to see him so happy - and all the other dogs and people too, of course. :)

Today's forecast was nasty but we hoped to get out for a day paddle to see the autumn leaves on Spider Lake. First we set up tarps and shelters so we'd have a place to hide from the elements.



BazingaDog decided to help by holding down the tarp in the wind.



It was a day that couldn't make up its mind - bright sunshine, dark clouds, sprinkles and storms. The one thing that remained constant was the gusty wind that caused whitecaps on the lake. We never got out for that day paddle.

We took advantage of the sunshine after breakfast.







When we saw the hail scudding across the water, we dove into the shelter.







We had a hail thunderstorm although we weren't filming when that happened. As the thunder boomed, the dogs stuck together and looked extremely displeased. What the hell had their humans gotten them into?





That was the end of the lightning but we had a second hailstorm and several rain showers. In between, it was quite nice. In this photo, Scout and Contour were helping Browner make lunch.



After dinner, all 4 dogs decided to go into Storm and Browner's tent to sleep together for the rest of the evening. BazingaDog planted his head on Storm's pillow.



After another campfire, we convinced our dogs to come out and sleep in our tent. It was clearly their second choice.

Paddle and portage in Massasauga Park from Three Legged Lake Access Point to Site #2 on Spider Lake. It was a chilly day with a gusty wind and we had two heavy dogs on board plus a weekend of gear and food. The first open crossing was a little spicy. After that, we could just follow shorelines.

BazingaDog and AdventureDog were rock stars on their first canoe trip together! They wisely decided not to walk around and tip us over.



Not surprisingly, they loved the portage. It was B-Dog's first-ever portage and he became so attached to a big stick he was chewing that he just wanted to stay there.



After convincing him to get into the canoe, we paddled the short distance to our site. The autumn leaves were spectacular - not far off peak.









Hammer and Etoile stayed at the same site last weekend and they'd left it in great shape. :)





We settled in and waited for Storm and Browner to arrive with their dogs Scout and Contour, who are close friends of our dogs. As they approached, our dogs could hear familiar voices and possibly they could see or smell something. They stood at the water's edge, their eyes growing wide in surprise. The moment they realized what was happening, B-Dog nearly leapt into the lake in his excitement.





The sun sets early this time of year (about 6:40 pm) so we cooked in the dark and roasted marshmallows by a much-needed fire. Nice.

Packing, packing, packing for a canoe trip we've discussed for years. Storm and Browner are joining us for a 4-dog canoe trip in The Massasauga Provincial Park. AdventureDog is an old hand at canoe trips. We've been training BazingaDog by taking him paddling and introducing him to our tent. I think his mind is going to be blown - especially when he sees his canine friends. Given his mobility issues, this might be his only canoe trip so we're going in spite of the lousy weather forecast.

Tonight and last Wednesday were Zoom lessons 1 and 2 of Introduction to Orienteering Mapping with Jeff Teutsch. At 2.5 hours each with homework, this was a pretty good intro. The students who can get to Ottawa later this month will have a day of field work to make more progress on their maps but I won't be able to do that. I learned a lot and I'm interested to play with Open Orienteering Mapper some more.

Our dear BazingaDog went for X-rays today. Vets had suspicions about his right hip and left knee but it's his back. The poor guy has lumbar and thoracic spondylosis, a degenerative spinal condition. Dogs can live a full life with spondylosis but he'll need strong daily painkillers to enjoy his activities. We knew it was probably something like that but we had our fingers crossed that they might find something that could be fixed. :(

'Bent and I took BazingaDog and AdventureDog for a Thanksgiving Day paddle on the Beaver River in our new Swift Keewaydin 17 canoe. We were testing the dogs more than the canoe today since B-Dog will be joining us on a canoe trip for the very first time next weekend. We'll use our whitewater canoe for the trip since it's very stable and there won't be much portaging of the heavy boat.



It was a glorious day to be on the water - sunny and a little too warm at times. The Beaver River is less pleasant in August when the water level goes down and the weed level goes up. I hadn't realized that it gets nice again after that when the weeds die down. At a time when local roads are congested with autumn leaf admirers (including us), the river is quiet and colourful.







It was a great Thanksgiving weekend. 'Bent and I roasted our first turkey together. My parents always hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas, and Mom died the year before the pandemic started. Those family holiday dinners are gone forever but we discovered that spending time preparing a big meal made us feel close to my parents and really appreciate all the work they did to make our holidays go smoothly. The dogs were thrilled by the unfamiliar smell of meat cooking. And the leftovers!





We took back roads past Old Baldy on our way home. Note to self: never attempt to drive past Old Baldy on Thanksgiving Day. Everyone else did the same thing. But if we were up there on a Tuesday morning, that would be the hike to do!

Dee and I went for a catch-up hike/run in Pretty River Provincial Park on a spectacular autumn morning.

High point of the Bruce Trail - a regular stop



Lookout toward Georgian Bay



From the drive home when I told 'Bent to stop the car NOW!

'Bent was still running with Tarno and Alex when Dee had to leave so I did a short run on my own.

'Bent and I hiked in to do trail work on the southern part of Quiet Pastures. It's in pretty good shape. We snipped a lot of saplings, moved branches and sawed logs. We'll be reporting a couple of issues.

6-dog hike around the new trail loop with our Kolapore neighbour Darcie.

'Bent and I did trail work on the north part of the Quiet Pastures ski trail in Kolapore.

There was some spectacular autumn scenery.





There was some open field where we had to guess where the trail went last year. We couldn't do much in here. Someone will come in with a brushcutter.



There were some wet forest sections.



'Bent's pruners couldn't do much with this one. Even his hand saw was underpowered.

Dog hike in Kolapore. BazingaDog has been on different types of pain meds over the past two weeks. He's getting X-rayed next week but in the meantime, we're assuming his pain and mobility problems are due to arthritis. He's a large, 11.5 year-old dog who has been very active most of his life. It would be great news to find something on the X-ray that could be addressed but we're not counting on it.

Anyway... today's cocktail of pain meds seemed to give B-Dog wings - at least for the first 2 km. It was great to see him so energetic. AdventureDog is always energetic so he'll have to go running with 'Bent and Tarno tomorrow.

See Wilderness Traverse in 5 minutes! Great job as always by Luis Moreira, this year with drone shots by Chris Owen Halper.

First real ride on my new bike! 'Bent and I went for a Palgrave single track ride. We're still feeling stiff from Storm and we figured that a sunny Sunday afternoon spin would loosen us up. This bike is almost 4 lb heavier than my other one and I felt that difference a little on the climbs. What I noticed more were the longer wheelbase and wider handlebars, which meant I had to steer a bit differently. I clipped my handlebar on one tree but didn't go down. Looking at Strava segments that I've done on both bikes, I was usually at the slow end of my range but in the same ballpark, which is reasonable. I didn't buy this bike to ride Palgrave's fast, flowy trails and I think it will shine on more rugged trails. Riding less than 48 hours after a challenging adventure race may also have something to do with my pace! :)