Gear Review - SealSkinz Waterblocker Socks

Product Features and Impressions:
SealSkinz makes waterproof/breathable socks that, unlike Gore-Tex, are stretchy. The Waterblocker socks are advertised by SealSkinz as being the saviour to adventure racers in that they are totally submersible which allows you to walk through streams and wade across rivers without getting wet feet. I had been looking for a product like this for awhile and when I found out about these socks, I was completely stoked! I ordered some off the internet, along with a pair of gloves, just in time to race in the 2007 Baja Travesia expedition adventure race. In Baja, there was a canyon section that would take over 12 hours to get down and consisted of numerous unavoidable swims. This would be a good test for these socks but would be nowhere close to what the manufacturer claims they can do or of the countless testimonials on their website (ie: submerged periods of over 10 minutes with no leakage. I felt so smart. In fact, another competitor had done the exact same thing as me. He bought the socks specifically with the canyon in mind and dry feet would be had by both of us and we would all live happily ever after. The end.

But wait, after a couple hours of exercise, the socks felt pretty clammy and after the first dunking, they felt downright wet. It must just be the feeling, I thought, as sometimes your feet can feel wet when the outside is wet (a feeling that I get when using my Rocky Gore-tex socks). After the second dunking though, I needed to check for myself. Not only did I have water in my socks but lots of it. In fact, I had a good 1/2 litre from both socks which means that I was running around with a pound of water on my feet. Not only were my feet wet, but they were also macerated due to the prolonged submersion inside my socks. I'd agree that these socks were totally waterproof as none of the water that came in was leaving anytime soon. Cudos for not completely making false claims. I took out a regular pair of socks, put the SealSkinz in my backpack, and their next move was to the Hartland landfill. Funny thing is, the competitor who also used these socks had the exact same issue as me (lots of water in the sock and macerated feet from submersion).

Weaknesses:
These socks are completely useless. They did not keep water out and were very warm which makes them completely useless for any type of exercies (especially running). If you submerge them, you're left with bags of water on your feet. The only use that I can possibly see these having is if you are standing in ankle deep water and not moving so that you don't generate any heat and thus, don't sweat. However, if you're going to do this, you might as well have gum boots on.

Overall Impression:
Please do not buy these socks. Please do not waste your money. This is such a terrible product for what they are advertised for. If you want something to help your feet when it's wet, use a product like Vasoline or HydroPel to prevent foot masceration; if you use these socks, you're going to have to use a product like this anyway as your feet will still get soaked from sweat build-up and water getting in. I tried to contact someone at Seal Skinz but they never got back to me. Who knows, maybe the birds at the landfill will be able to make a good nest out of these socks.

Gear Review - Montrail Continental Divide

Product Features and Impressions:

This the best trail shoe I have ever used. Period. Many people consider the Montrail Hardrocks the best trail shoe and I used to agree; but in comparision, the Continental Divides are just a step above. The level of comfort and fit of these shoes (for me) is unreal. Almost any other shoe I have ever used had to be laced up tight in order to prevent heel movement; not with these babies. I lace these nice and light and have no heel play whatsoever. They molded to my feet from day one and have got better ever since.

In comparison to the hardrocks, these shoes are lighter and are a bit more flexible which makes running in them more enjoyable. Don't let the lighter weight fool you though. You still have a solid shoe with a full protection plate. The uppers are lighter duty (than the Hardrocks) but the Hardrocks were overkill anyway with the uppers looking great even after the sole was completely destroyed. The mesh in the uppers allows for cooler feet and better water drainage if you get them soaked. They also don't absorb as much water when dunked.

I was a little concerned with the grip on these shoes at first as the Hardrocks gripped wet rock and roots like nothing else. So, as the Continental Divides had a different sole, it took me a bit of time before I trusted them like the Hardrocks. My conclusion? These things grip like no other. They call their soles 'gryponite' for a reason. For those of you using shoes like the Saloman XA Pro 3Ds (as reviewed below), you have no idea what you're missing. No idea! Ziltch!

Weaknesses:

Functionally, I can not say anything bad about these shoes. Go for the gold/grey colour over the blue/red. That's all I can say.

Overall Impression:

This is an awesome shoe for anything from off-road ultras, to good hikes through rough terrain. If you want unparalled grip over a variety of terrain, look no further. If you're big and like to trail run, these shoes are for you. If you're looking for a light race shoe for sprint trail races, you may want to look at some of Montrail's lighter race shoes.

Gear Review - Salomon XA Pro 3D

Product Features and Impressions:

This is a very popular shoe that has some reason to be so. Most people will tell you that the fit of these shoes is awesome with blister free perfomance. I tend to agree as the shoes felt comfortable even during their first use; however, I find that in order to prevent heel lift, I have to tighten the quick lace system too tight which causes some foot discomfort. Thus, I would never use these shoes for long runs (>15km). I hear many people who have these shoes say that they're suprised that all shoes don't go to the quick lace system. My opinion is that there are benefits and some drawbacks to the quicklace. The benefit, obviously, is that it takes no time to tie up your shoes which is great for multi-sport sprint races like the MOMAR where time is critical. It is super fast but if you don't want the excess lace flooping around, you have to tuck it in the little tongue flap which adds time and doesn't give you much time benefit over a regular lace up. I find the main drawback to be the limited adjustability of the system. Adding additional tension tightens the lace everywhere. With a good lacing setup, you can customize the tension to your foot (ie: a loose toebox with a tight upper).

Weaknesses:

The grip on these shoes are terrible. Absolutely terrible. If you're running on something OTHER THAN roots, rocks, snow, leaves, road debris, loose gravel, branches, logs, wet pavement, wet concrete, wet anything, off-camber terrain, etc., than these shoes are ok. (read this as my road shoes grip way better than these shoes)

Overall Impression:

The fit and comfort of these shoes are very good. The quick lace system is great for multi-sport races where a few seconds saved in transition could win you the race; however, this type of lacing does not give you the level of fit as a good standard lacing system. The grip on these shoes is really terrible. No, extremely terrible. I still can't believe how many people wear these shoes and put up with how bad the grip is; especially on the west coast where it's going to be wet on the trail most of the time.

If you run on trails that you mountain bike on with slick tires pumped up to 60psi (not semi-slick, slick), then these shoes are the best.

Hatley Castle 8km Race Report

What an amazing weekend! Some fantastic weather will always put a smile on my face! I got a pedicure at the Aveda institute as part of a Christmas gift from Kim, did some errands and shopping around town (picked up a sweet new hoodie), watched a Capoeira perfomance at the McPherson theatre, and ran in the Hatley Castle 8km road race. This race was the 4th race in the Island Series and the second race that I was able to do. Kim and I hopped on our bikes in the morning and cycled the 25km out to the race start at Royal Roads University. It was really nice to cycle my old commute on the goose and revisit the school that I attended not so long ago. We arrived with just enough time to spare which was good as I don't like waiting around for long and was thoroughly warmed up from the ride. In no time, it was all go.

To put it bluntly, this race fn hurt. The Hatley race is the not much of a 'road race' compared to the other courses as at least 3km of it is on gravel and/or trail. Also, it probably has the most elevation gain/loss of any other course in the Island Series. I knew the course, had a race plan, and stuck it out as best as I could; this consisted of going really hard for the first 3km which is where most of the hills are, getting into a grove as best as I could for the next 4km, and leave a bit left to not die on the last two small hills before the slight downhill into the finish line.

I took off the start line and let the slight downhill take me as fast as I could to get a good position in the field. I felt really good and found myself hanging in around 10th place before our first climb. I found a comfortably hard pace and stuck it out until we reached the 'big hill'. I basically kept pushing hard and just tried to make it to the top without my lungs exploding out of my chest. I started to hurt but knew that as long as I could reach the final crest, without totally blowing up, I'd be able to recover on the flat. This strategy worked out really well as I was now in around 10th spot, had 3km of the hardest part of the course under my belt, and just needed to hang on to a pace that I could manage to keep till the finish. Over the next 4km, I had only four people pass me which I knew meant that I was just where I should be. I typically go out a little harder in races and tend to get caught by a handfull of people before the finish. While I've been told that it is best to keep your second half of the race faster than the first, I still haven't found that line although I'm getting better at it.

After a super fast downhill run on gravel, I hit the bottom and my legs became blocks of lead. My pain moved from hurt to suffering. I knew the race was almost over but also knew that there were a couple small hills left before the line. I had a small pack of runners ahead and some chasers in the distance which made me start to think, 'you can just walk the hill. Come on, you're dying here.' And I was dying. I was breathing so hard at the bottom of the hill that any harder and I thought I might collapse. After realizing that if I made any effort to slow down that I would be extremely disappointed in myself after the race, I pushed up the hill as best as I could, hit the crest, and ran down into the finish shoot. I say 'ran' but if you saw me it was more of a dazed and sloppy non-sprint to the line.

Kim came over and congratuated me but I couldn't even look at her let alone talk. I was huffing hard and knew that if I didn't lie down immediately, that I would lose consciousness and be lying down soon regardless. I spent the next two to three minutes in this post-race daze until my breathing subsided and I got back some mental clarity. I have NEVER died that hard after a race before!
I definitely did not leave anything on the course and came away with my best Island Series finish to date;
14th overall and 2nd in my age category in a time of 29:21 on the tough hatley course. I couldn't have been more happy!
TNO

GVOC Sprint Training Camp

This past weekend, I attended the Greater Vancouver Orienteering Club's (GVOC) Sprint Training Camp. It was a weekend of hard work and fun and consisted of 10 solid events to help everyone become a better orienteer. You can't help but be beat after this camp; when do you ever red-line it more than once in a day let alone five times like we did on Saturday? There was some good competition with several national team members and some fast Europeans (read this as European=reading maps in the womb).

All the events, with the exception of a race at UBC on Friday, were held on the North Shore in Vancouver. Some of the maps were brand new and all of the maps were new to me which made for some good events.

While I smacked my knee pretty bad on a sharp boulder early on Saturday - causing me to drop out of the first event - I was lucky that it wasn't serious and I was to continue over the weekend.

Here's some photos of the action:

Red-lining it in Deep Cove

Benoit, Nickoli and Magnus discussing their route choices

Thomas pushing hard off the beach

Benoit checking his route in the Dog bones event

A steamy finish!

I did well in the races consistently placing 5th overall which I was quite happy with. Compared to the top places, my times were much closer than in last years camp which shows me that I have made some good progress. I made no serious mistakes in all of the events and just need to refine my small route choices and work on being smoother coming into and out of controls. Running faster would also help!

A big thanks to all of the GVOC members who helped put on this awesome weekend and for making it so successful. I'll see you next year!

TNO

Hard At Work

Every month, I'm lucky enough to get out of the office and do some work that involves flying around to the Gulf Islands and over to Gibsons in a Cessa floatplane. I also seem to be quite lucky in that the day I have planned to go always seems to turn into a gorgeous day. Here are some photos to prove it!

The Crofton pulp mill

Overtaking a Beaver

Looking back at Salt Spring

The edge of Howe Sound

Howe Sound leading to Squamish

A BC Ferries Spirit Class vessel navigating a very active Active Pass

Mount Tuam - a predominant symbol of Salt Spring Island - overlooking the valley

Tofino Time!

It's hard not to have a good time in Tofino. While the drive up from Victoria takes a good 4 1/2 hours, it's definitely worth it. Soon, you find yourself on 'Tofino Time' where things just go a little slower and there's no rush to do anything. While we were anxious to get out for some surfing in the early morning, we all found ourselves sleeping in a bit, walking the beach to check out the conditions, and then go surfing... after a good breakfast of course!


While the conditions were not very favourable for surfing, it was still nice to float around in the ocean in warm and bouyant neoprene hugging your skin. Neoprene is never very fun to put on and take off but when you have a hot tub.... it makes it all worthwhile.

A couple taking a stroll on Longbeach

Myself, Kim, Andrea and Mike on Longbeach

It was a very relaxing weekend made up of a bit of surfing, some hot tub soaks, some good food, and lots of European sytle board games including Carcassonne, Puerto Rico, and the now infamous 'Power Grid'! (a game based on market trading and buying of power plants and resources). Oh yeah, I just turned 30 as well!!! That being said, I never thought 30 was old nor did I think that I would be 'over the hill'. In fact, I'm in the best shape of my life and still have people in their 40s keeping up with me! I want to be one of those dudes when I'm 45!

Cheers,

TNO

HOLA MEXICO!!!

This one's for you Tasaka!

We need a MOMAR here!

Well, I just got back from a 10 day trip in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and wow what a good time! The area there is absolutely fantastic. While the City itself is teathing with Gringos, you don't have to go far to see the true Mexican culture and take in the vast mountainous terrain. Instead of writing for hours, I put together a collection of some good photos that show the highlights of the trip. Enjoy!

Mount Rainier on the flight down

I had to include this one (especially for Gary and Megan). This is a shot of the last stage of the 2007 Baja Travesia including the last trek, last kayak, and finish in San Felipe. Just happend to be flying over!

The reason Kim and I went down in the first place was to attend and celebrate the wedding of Roger and Carol MacLeod. Both Roger and Carol have been MOMAR regulars with Carol having won every race in her category that she entered. I first met both of them in late 2005 and it was through them that got me into the my first MOMAR in Cumberland. We ended up winning the team of four co-ed and it has just gone from there. The wedding was very nice and it was great to meet some of their family and enjoy time on the beach with everyone.

Beach Time!

Iguana in Action


View of old Puerto Vallarta. Kim and I walked up some steep stairs that led by little Mexican apartments where the locals played music, made food in little hibatchees, or just hung out with some cervezas. This was the view from the top.

A beach sand Budda in Puerto Vallarta

Old cobble streets that you would think would just destroy the cars in this City. However, there are tons of old cars including old VW buses and bugs. They must either just fix them or they just don't care.

A group of us in the wedding party went on a 52km bike trip that led from this small town (I forget the name) to the beach village of Yelapa. The ride was primarily old road with lots and lots of long climbs. Very Fun!

From left to Right: tour guide helper, Me, Kim, Bob, Natasha, Matt, Roger, and our awesome tour guide Alexandro. Natasha is Carol's race partner (The Snot Sisters) and was our fourth teammate in the Cumberland MOMAR in 05.

In the mountains for the first time

A short break in a small Village

Matt pushing up the climb with Natasha in background

Bob feeling the heat (and I thought I sweat a lot!)

Another small village

A stop for some refreshments, some local stares, and a donky ride.

Look at that gorgeous flowering tree. Alexandro said that this is the biggest tree of this kind that he has ever seen.

Sometimes we had to watch what was around the corner!!!

After a sweat view from the top (the first photo up top), he headed down a super sandy and super fast road down into the Village of Yelapa. It reminded me of some bike videos where they're riding downhill bikes down the paths of the town.

The finish in Yelapa

Since Yelapa is a ferry in only Village (except if you Mountain Bike in :) ) we took a water taxi back to a pickup point.

Our great tour guide

ROAD TRIP!!!

We rented a small car and went on a road trip for four days to get out of resort town and see what Mexico is all about. We were not disappointed. The first place we stopped was the small beach surf town of San Fransico.

A sweat beach with a nice sunset.

When we were walking the beach we ran into a group of people who were part of a turtle rehibilitation program. They collect the eggs on the beach, store them in coolers with sand until they hatch, and then release them at sunset to make their way into the ocean. They are a type of large sea turtle.

In San Fran we stayed in one of these 'luxury' palapas

A nice view from up the coast

We headed in land and started to see the big mountains. There were many volcanoes including this one.

Nice countryside

We stopped at a volcanic information pullout where the area was covered in broken up lava flow rock. It was pretty cool. You could see the rock flow going all the way up to the blown off peak of the volcano.

One of the many small towns we visited

The City of Tequila where Tequila was first discovered. It is the most active distillery area with over 24 Tequila factories.

The towns in Mexico are all the same. There is a large public gathering area with lots of benches, trees and gardens for people to enjoy. Surrounding this is usually a large church, the 'municipal office' and several main shops. Mexicans definitely know how to make a town centre. They were always filled with people and were a gathering place for many different purposes.

Some locals enjoying the shade of high noon.

No visit to Tequila is complete without a tour to a Tequila plant. Tequila is made from the heart (or as they call it the pineapple) of the Agave cactus. Once they are slow cooked for three days the starches turn to sugers and the at this stage they actually taste quite good.

After a Tequila tour and diner which included no less than seven shots on the house (to try and get you to buy the restaurants sponsored Tequila) I was completely pissed! I did not sleep well that night!

The road trip continues.

Our last stop before our return to Puerto Vallarta was to the mountain Village of San Sebastien. The peak in the background is one of the highest in the area at probably around 2000m. We found out that there is a road that heads almost right to the top to a radio tour. We were debating walking the road all the way up but as I was still not feeling good from my night with madame Tequila, we decided to see what our mini rental car could do. Good thing it was a standard. 1st gear for 45 minutes of climbing.

The road going up to the peak was actually in really good shape in part due to the extensive cobble work done on steep sections of the road to avoid washout. It must have taken a lot of manual labour but I'm sure it will last centuries. Those Mexicans sure know what they're doing.

The road got pretty rough near the top so we decided to walk the rest. The top afforded some phenomenal views in all directions.

The number of small re-entrants (small valleys) in the surrounding mounatins was unreal. Lots of rain in the rainy season!

Another view with the Village of San Sabastien barely visible in the centre right.

Close to the top of the peak, with noticed a sign for a Village called Real Alto which means 'really high'. It's probably around 1800m and made up of several small homes and of course, a large church.

Real Alto.

Well, our road trip was over but we still had two days left to enjoy some tours around Puerto Vallarta. The first day we went on a catamaran sailboat out to some protected bird santuary islands for some snorkling. Of course, I got pulled into having a Macaw dig it's claws into my scalp. It was a bit of a tourist trap at the marina but the people using the Macaws were part of a conservation group that tries to educates people and rehibilitates stolen birds back into the wild (the birds are taken from the wild to be sold as pets since each bird can take in over $2000).

On the way out to the snorkle site, we saw lots of humpbacks as it is currently their breading season. They swim all the way down from Alaska to mate in the warm Mexican waters.

We had lots of dolphins playing off the bows of the ship when we were sailing. Some of them were huge!

The snorkling was a lot of fun but ended up being pretty cold. After a good 50 minutes, we were ready to pack it in. The bird santuary (shown in the background) is home to the blue-footed boobies which you might have heard before in connection with the Galapagos Islands.

Fish in Action

Coral, Sea Urchans and a flurescent blue fish

With the sails up, we head back to shore

Holy Sheeet! Our last day was spent in El Eden; a nice river valley going up into the mountains and the filming location for the movie Predator (yes, a classic Swartzeneger film). We went to do a canopy zip line tour which ended up being a lot of fun. There were 12 lines with each getting progressively longer and faster. They eventually worked up to a 500m line where you reached 100km/hour. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the zip lines.

After the zip lines, we made our way to the airport to finish off an amazing trip. I was reluctant about going to Puerto Vallarta at first but was truly impressed by how nice it was, how much there is to do in the surrounding area, and how genuinely nice and happy the locals are. Whether you're into exploring the countryside, or just lying in the sun at a resort, there is definitely something for everyone.

Mexico is the BEST!!! I'll see you next year :)

TNO