The Past Six Weeks

Yes, I have fallen off the blog train again but for good cause. I have been busy on a number of fronts including work, training, racing and travel. Here is mostly a photo log of my past weeks.

Mountain Biking Mt. Quimper with Doug

Doug Doyle and I headed out to Sooke to explore some of the Harbourview trails. It was quite the grind at times due to riding old access roads and riding (trying to ride) the hiking trail (the old main road) up to the summit of Mt. Quimper. We definitely had a gorgeous day!

The summit of Mt. Quimper

Taking a break at the summit before a bad trail decision for the descent.

Biking and Hiking up Mt. Whymper

This was a great trip organized by some local Prairie Inn Harriers running friends, Andrew and Sarah. Kim and I and Garth and Lara all hooked up and did the drive up to the Cowichan Valley to the base of the summit. There is a lot of logging in the area (it is still active) so you are able to cycle up some good elevation before you begin the hike. So, we all brought our bikes and went to it.

The Bike was pretty grueling but the views were well worth the effort.

Starting the climb up Mt. Whymper

The summit just ahead.

Sarah and Kim making their way up the climb

A good food break at the summit.

All Smiles!

On the way down.

Old spruce skeleton.

Ready for the fast descent down!

Sarah letting go of the brakes; sometimes ;)

Pumpkin Pull Ultimate Frisbee Tournament

The last couple of years I have started to play some Ultimate on and off and decided to finally commit this year and play in a Tuesday night league at the University of Victoria. It has been loads of fun and a great fast twitch workout that I normally to otherwise get much of. I also play after a speed interval workout with the Prairie Inn Harriers so by the end of the night, I'm pretty much played out.

So, along with the Tuesday night league, I joined some fellow teammates to make up a team for the Pumpkin Pull tournament. This is heaps of fun as the tournament coincides with Halloween and every team is dressed up in a theme. Some teams of note were Caddyshack (all wearing golf gear and cardigans), a DnD team consisting of a wizard and other crazy characters, and GoesInTight... Our teams theme was Cabaret and we definitely had some good costumes going on.

One of eight games over the weekend. Here we are playing Caddyshack.

Yeah!

Hovan and Christine looking all ready to take on the town.

Leon found this awesome sequined top.

Team Photo.

Halloween

On top of Pumpkin Pull, Kim and I dressed up in 70s gear and rocked out at Kim's dance Halloween Party and also as Paul's place (from Ultimate).

Keeping the 70s alive and kickn!

Rippn up the rock band (70s music only) at Paul's place.

Stratford Visit

For the last 10 days, I've been visiting family and friends in and around my hometown of Stratford, ON. I've been having a great time and have been getting in some great recovery but soaking up in my brother's hot tub on a daily basis followed by working out some knots in the legs with the foam roller. I've been working lots as well as I made the visit a working holiday but have still managed to have some good fun including some disk golf (of which my brother is currently obsessed).

After Scott picked me up from the airport, we headed over to a disk gold course for a short 9 hole game. Ah, the nice deciduous trees of the east. As you can see, the weather last week was just fantastic. 15 degrees and one day it went up to 20. I definitely came at the right time!

Scott letting a rocket go off the tee box.

Checking out the next hole.

Scott, Shanon (Scott's wife), and Jason (Shanon's brother) check out the lay of the land on Tee #3 at the Woodstock disk golf course.

Jason letting go of a strong left-handed flick.

We played best ball (best disk) in teams to make things go a little smoother and add some camraderie.

During my visit, I hooked up with Chris Piller for some mountain biking at Kelso and orineteering at Mt. Nemo to sharpen up the skills before Raid the Hammer (I'll cover this race soon; I promise!).

On top of Kelso, through a field of wildness.

Another nice day!

On top of the escarpment and top of the ski hill. Yes, there are some hills here but not much.


Today, I got out for a nice 18km run on some trails I have yet to be on. I started off on the avon river running by the now finished festival (for the season).

I kept following the avon up stream until I hit the Avon trail which then took me back on some country roads back to my brother place.

Winter has now officially arrived as temps have dipped down to freezing and I've gone from shorts and a shirt to tights, a long sleeve, vest, touque and gloves. No complaints here though. It was still a nice day.