Training Log Archive: Bash

Last year we saw our first blacklegged tick of the season in March. We’ve seen none yet this year but they come out when the temperature is above 4C so we’re back to doing daily tick checks and using sticky rollers on the dogs. April, October and November are big months for adult ticks in southern Ontario. In between, the much smaller nymphs are more common.

Geneticks has released its 2021 Canadian tick testing data. This is a private lab that identifies tick species and tests blacklegged ticks for Lyme and other pathogens. If you find an engorged tick on you, you can mail it to them. They only have data on ticks that were submitted to them so you can't generalize too much from their statistics. If you click to see data by Public Health Unit, some of the hot spots stand out.
https://www.geneticks.ca/tick-testing-statistics/?...

AdventureDog did a long run with 'Bent this morning so BazingaDog and I went hiking in Albion Hills. I met a few riders trashing the soft trails, which are closed to mountain biking at this time of the year for a reason. B-Dog and I steered clear of the muddy sections to avoid leaving divots.



It was great to be out there! I'm looking forward to riding as soon as the ground is dry. Conveniently, that should be about two weeks after the stitches come out of my hand (Tuesday!!!), which is when the doc said I should be able to start technical riding.

Pooch hike in Glen Haffy with 'Bent - the first time BazingaDog had ever been allowed to hike there off-leash. He kept his privileges until the last 500 m when he started to bushwhack and ignore our calls. AdventureDog is super reliable because he was abandoned by his previous owners and he'll be damned if anyone is going to abandon him again.

The Glen Haffy forest is so nice and scenic and always quiet. We only met one person on a Saturday afternoon. We saw our first wild leeks of the season - just starting to come up.

There are lots of rocks and roots and I had to plan how I would fall if I tripped (which I didn't) because I still have stitches across my left palm until Tuesday. Even then, I'm probably not supposed to smash it into rocks for a little while longer.

One advantage of limited activities due to the big incision on my palm: my income tax info got assembled and uploaded on the earliest date ever. Now I can get back to sorting through all the boxes of Orienteering Ontario files. They have to go to the Archives of Ontario in early May as per our contract, whether or not I’m done. Deadlines are good.

My left hand looks and feels fine other than the Frankenstein vibe. Stitches are expected to come out next week and if all is well, I should be biking four weeks post-surgery. :)

In other news, Covid has swept through my brother’s family. Ontario’s Covid Science Table estimates 100,000-120,000 new cases per day in a population of around 15 million. This week ‘Bent had a patient test positive the night before their appointment and another who was walking to the operatory when they were phoned by a newly positive household member, which meant they couldn’t be treated. We have to assume he has worked on patients with Covid over the last two years so three cheers for N95s, good ventilation and antiviral rinses.

Brisk tour of the Newmarket trails while catching up with Veinbuster before his next adventure. Time deducted for lattes on the Metropolis Cafe patio.