Peaking out in Stavanger

As I mentioned in my last post, I had to stop running for a significant time due to a toe injury. This all stopped when I went down to France and with no bike, I had to get in some aerobic exercise. So, I brought my running shoes and started to run. At first I was hesitant with my toe and took it nice and slow to get the muscles working again. No fast sprints and no fast paces; just easy strides with escalating distances up to about 16km. I got in about 10 runs during the three weeks and while my fitness increased on my feet, my toe did not make a whisper. It is a great feeling to know that you are back to 100% this fuelled my passion for running once again. So, when in Stavanger for the weekend, I was able to get in a small peak run and traverse overlooking the Stavanger area (as above).

The run started through this sweet orienteering heaven of open forest with large boulders EVERYWHERE! Would love to run a course in there!
Looking back at the peak I had just descended from

Nice backcountry lake with trail intersection

Nice open rocky trail back to the start

All in all, it was a great run and I am pumped about putting in some miles over the winter here. I even just made my own studded ice shoes for the super slippery roads and sidewalks in Trondheim so that I'll be able to stay on my feet and not injure myself again! Will review this process once I take them out a few times and take them for a spin. No ice yet but with temperatures pushing the zero mark at night, it won't take long until the streets turn into ice rinks (which is the norm here due to the weather hovering around zero all winter).

Happy Trails

TNO

How to Climb Faster on the Bike - Loose Your Gears and Stand

Due to toe injury I sustained last December, I had to stop running completely to give the time it needed to heal. Thus, since then, all I have been doing is putting solid time in on the bike. This has been great as it gave me the time to really focus on my riding and I can honestly say that even though I haven't been racing, that I reached another level of fitness. I think a large reason for the improvement has been a change of my riding style which was forced upon myself when I decided to ditch the front derailleur and extra gears and run a 1x9 setup. I've been really into the idea of single-speeding as it doesn't take long to figure out that people who ride single-speeds are powerhouses! Think of Jeremy Grasby who consistently puts in the best mountain bike times at the Cumberland MOMAR and does so with only one gear.

As I don't have the current means to add another bike to the quiver, I first started to experiment by leaving my 3x9 setup in one gear and not shifting. At first, this was very hard to get use to but soon enough, I found myself moving to higher and higher gears.

Then, another thing happened to me. My XTR big ring hit too many rocks and became useless as the missing teeth would skip the chain off. So, I now had a useless big ring and a granny ring that I never used anyway. So, it just seemed natural at this point to drop the extra rings and go for a 1x9. However, instead of using the 32 tooth ring that was getting worn out, I picked up a sweet 36 tooth Surly steel ring (unramped and no pins) to boast my high end and I figured, if the low end is too high... deal with it.

I immediately liked this setup. It was simple, the front ring was super solid and gave me better purchase than on a 32 tooth ring. And for the high end, I was still getting close to a 44x15 gearing and since I'm riding a 29er, this would by closer to a 44x12 (on an outdated 26er) ;)

I setup my bike like this shortly before I came to Norway and at first, I found myself in the low gear a lot (36x34). Eventually though, my riding style started to change as steeper than steep climbs forced me out of the saddle much like single-speeding does. I've always been one to like standing but now, I was standing more than ever and once the body adapted to it, I found that my climbing ability grew tremendously. As my climbing got better, I also started to push bigger and bigger gears to the point where before, I would be riding a 36x34 and now, I would be riding a 36x23 or 36x20 up the same section.

How to do the Standing Climb
Contrary to popular cycling theory, I think the standing climb is a winner and if you want to go faster than maybe this is your ticket. The sit and spin methodology way work best for road riding most of the time but for mountain biking, where much more instantaneous power is required, standing is the bomb. There are a couple of things to remember though:

First off, standing on the bike is much more of a full body workout. You use your forearms, biceps, triceps, shoulders, back, lats, and most importantly your core much more than you do while seated. Yes, these are all smaller muscles then in your legs but when used efficiently together, I find I can continually stand for long long climbs and do not get as wore out and more importantly, do not get a sore lower back which I always suffer from when climbing seated.

Secondly, you really need some bars ends to change your hand position so that you can really yank on the bars. This will widen your grip and give you more power to the pedals. For bar ends, you don't need those huge multi-position ones, just a small stubby one or some light little ones like I use from Singletrack Solutions.

Lastly, you have to find the balance while standing. Most people put themselves way too far forward when standing which takes weight off the rear wheel and causes you to loose traction. Move farther back on the bike, stay fairly upright and rock the bike back and forth without turning the bars much (don't steer as you rock). If you climb like this, you should have about just as much traction as you could while seated. Experiment with this on not so steep climbs and soon enough, you should get the sweet spot.

I would highly recommend going to a 1x9 setup or simply getting a single-speed to supplement your riding. A single-speed is a no options machine. You either give it your all or walk. If you're not ready for that kind of commitment, a 1x9 can do wonders or even just try it out on your 3x9. You'll hate me at first but if you stick with it, you'll be riding up stuff faster than you ever thought possible!

Cheers,

TNO

MOMAR 301 Clinic

I've been quite busy lately all around which comes with its ups and downs. I was exited to find out last week that after a low initial sign-up, my MOMAR 301 course was filled to capacity for this past Saturday's clinic.

As it was the first clinic that I have done, and since a clinic like this had not yet been done, I had to prepare all of the course materials and setup several courses to test the participants. I had a good course outline sketched out but knowing me, I had to make it as polished and complete as possible so I still found myself finishing it off the night prior and printed off all the maps.

In the end, I was really happy with how everything turned out and thought that the clinic went very well with a good mix of sit-down training and actual orienteering courses. I've had some good feedback as well which was good to see that the participants also got a lot out of it.

I'm going to try and get another course together before the Cumberland event as well. I don't have any dates set yet but was maybe thinking of September 13th. If you're interested, maybe give Bryan a shout through the MOMAR site so that I can gauge interest.

Thanks for those who came out and good luck at the Cowichan Valley MOMAR which is coming up fast!

TNO

Snow, Cold, Windy & Warm

After the prevous weekend of steller weather, I awoke early on Saturday morning to get in some miles on the legs. I geared up and by 6:30pm I opened the front door to be confronted with falling snow. Here it is mid April, on a weekend that not one week earlier topped 19 degrees, and it was starting to drop minus degrees on me.

I literally stood outside in an early morning haze trying to take in all in and decide what to do. I think I stood there for a least a few minutes despite the very cold air. I stepped back inside. What to do. Had I been still undressed, I think I would have crawled right back in bed. But here I was, all ready to go and the thought of backing out was just not strong enough. I think I knew that I was not going to be able to talk myself out of it but I still stood inside for a good five minutes before I was out the door again... this time to actually leave.

As I went, the snow continued and at times I had to stare my gaze downward as to not get hit in the eyes with the large flakes that were blowing down. I ran my normal flat run into the Colquitz River system and the trees overhead were a nice canopy to shelter me from the wind and blowing snow. Eventually I made my way out to the the Galloping Goose trail and headed over into Thetis Lake Park to meet up with the Harriers. It was a good 15km steady run and I arrived with enough time to fuel up and get my breathing down but not enough to get cold from not moving.

We had a good group run with Shane and Garth and I leading the way through some good rugged trails that Thetis has to offer.

Arriving back at the parking lot, the snow had somewhat subsided but this was just a teasing for what was to come. After a social breakfast, the snow really started to come down and soon, it was a winter wonderland out in Langford. Inches of snow had accummulated and it brought the highway speedlimit from 90 km/h down to about 50. Thanks to Lara for giving me a ride home!

The rest of the day was spent learning how to use an electronic punching system called Sport Ident or SI. This system is used in orienteering events and some adventure races and allows the organization to provide competitors with split times at multiple points along your route which is great for comparing results with other competitors. I'll be using this at the Camp Thunderbird Score-O event and needed to get a handle on how it all works. Leigh Bailey was nice enough to help me out and even had me over for supper which was very nice.

On Sunday, I managed to get in a good 2 1/2 ride with the Wheelers road bike ride and then spent some time with Kim on a nice but easy stroll through many parks around the area. In the end, we hiked around 12 km and saw lots of wildlife enjoying the sunny day that followed the cold (yes, it was now nice and all the snow was gone). There were many birds out including a large Pilated Woodpecker and a little hummingbird that treated both of us with a view of its nest!

Their nests are so small and so camalflaged that it is a pretty rare sight to actually see one. It sat in the nest and was extremely still as to not be seen.

After the hike, I got on the road bike again and did some hill repeats to work on my climbing.

Despite the snow, all in all it turned out to be a good weekend.

TNO

Sweet Weekend

What an amazing past weekend! With the weather being in the blah zone for the past month, the weekend, and in particular Saturday, was forecasted to be nice and hot at 19 degrees; it did not disappoint!

After Diez Vista, I wasn't feeling particularly destroyed (didn't have the Robbins shuffle) but due to my ankle, I wanted to make sure that everything was fine before I started running again. It took a few days before it was 100% again (which was weird since it went from absolute pain to being fine in a few days!) but my energy levels were definitely at a low. I spent the week eating like I'd been fasting for weeks and even if I was full, my body still felt like it wanted more. It's been a long time since I've felt like this and is probably attributed to going so far in the hole at Diez Vista; I depleted myself and was slowly replenishing my energy stores.

So, after a week of primarily biking to work and a group road ride with the Russ Hays group, I was looking forward to some good but not too intense weekend training.

I did my usual Saturday monring trail run with the Harriers at Thetis Lake and then after a good hearty breakfast, I was fuelled up for some long hours in the bush.

I headed out to Camp Thunderbird in Sooke to field check some locations for the following event that I'm doing the course for:

Event: Camp Thunderbird 3 Hour Score-O
Location: Camp Thunderbird, Sooke
Description: Collect as many controls as possible in a three hour time period
Info: Victoria Orienteering Club


One of the many Control Locations

Flowing Skunk Cabbage on the edge of Glinz Lake

This event is just one week before the Squamish MOMAR and is a must for tuning up your navigation or for just getting out of the City and into some gorgeous west coast terrain with some great views out across the Juan de Fuca Straight and to the Olympic Pennisula Mountains.

If you can make it to this Control Location, you'll get a sweet view!

After spending a good five hours in the bush and slicing open one of my fingers on a rock (don't worry, it's all bandaged up!), I packed it in and started to head home. Ok, I say five hours but a good 1/2 hour of that was spent lying on a rock outcrop in the sun with my shirt peeled off. Yeah! It felt sooooo gooood! Seems like a long time since last summer.

I was feeling pretty beat but suddenly decided to go up humpback road and check out Mount MacDonald. This peak is located just by Goldstream Provincial Park and right across from Mount Wells. I've been up Wells several times but had yet to go up MacDonald so... might as well be now then never. I had a great fast power hike up and up and up to the peak.

A large patch of Shooting Stars on the way to the Summit

The trail is nice and rugged but is mostly unrunable due to the steepness going up. The view from the top was definitely worthwhile as I had a great view from up to the highlands, to Victoria, to the south over the Juan De Fuca straight, and even out to the mountains in Sooke where I just was. I hiked and ran back down and then called it a day.

My Reward

Sunday I awoke again to some great weather. I geared up on the road bike and had a solid 2 1/2 hour road ride with the wheelers group. What started off as a decent pace and a large group soon turned into a faster and smaller and faster and smaller group. Eventually, we went down to just five of us and by the time we rode by my place, my legs were totally done.

I quickly refuelled and headed out again to Royal Road University for a middle distance orienteering event. This was a good event that had some good bushwacking, some mud, and some good open and fast trail running. Just under an hour of running and I was again done for the day.

I spent the rest of the day in a sleepy daze wishing to sleep but having to pack and make the ferry over to Vancouver to spend the next three days at a quality managment training workshop. With the ferry full, I cursed, fell asleep in the backseat of my car, and eventually made it over to my hotel by midnight! Arhh.

It was a good weekend! Ok, other than the ferry... :)

TNO

Good Training Weekend

This past weekend, I hooked up with my racing partner Gary Robbins for some good times on the road bike and on the trails. As Friday was a holiday, I headed up to the ferry on the road bike, took the ferry across, and then headed up to North Van from the Tsawwassen ferry terminal. It's a good thing I checked out my route beforehand as I found out the day before I left that you cannot go through the George-Massey tunnel. There is a free shuttle that does transport cyclists from one side to the other but.... it doesn't operate until April. My other option at this crossing was to pay a two zone fare and take the bus. I just couldn't do it so opted for the longer route over the Alex-Fraser bridge and eventually the Second Narrows bridge into North Van. Everything looked so easy on the map...

Leaving the terminal, I was ahead of all the ferry traffic (cyclists are the first ones off :) ) when not two kilometers from the boat... pppffftttttt. I flatted on one of the many sharp pieces of gravel littering the shoulder. The wind was blowing hard so I layered up, fixed the flat, and was off again in no time. Then came the wind again. It was one of those days where you just can't seem to find the right balance in the layers either. One minute it was cold with a blistering wind, and the next it was calm with a hot sun. After a couple of stops to change up the layers, I eventually settled on a minimal layer and endured the wind when it hit me.

The ride was going well until I got on the Alex Fraser bridge. Because you can't ride on the road, you have to find your way onto the side bike path and then continue on the other side through a convoluted network of turns to navigate your way to the next bridge to get off Annacis Island. Then there were no signs. I even had a map but if your not driving a car and need to find the next bike route, sometimes you were just screwed if you hadn't done it before. It didn't take that long to figure things out but it did get frustating.

I think I started cursing how much I hate Vancouver pretty early in the ride when I was almost run off the road by a big Ford F150. Then came many more incidents where if I wasn't cautious in my riding, I might be typing this from a hospital bed.

In 2 1/2 hours of riding, I had more close calls with cars then I have had living in Victoria for the last 3 1/2 years! Yeah Vancouver!

I did arrive at North Shore Athletics in one piece and then headed up to Squamish with Gary. The next day, after procrastinating leaving on our bikes and where to go, I made the call that I wanted to go up to Whistler. It had been a route that I have wanted to do for a long time and even though the weather was not the greatest, we decided to give it a go and turn back if things turned sour. We had some full on headwind almost the whole way up to Whistler but knew that the way back would be worth it (mostly downhill with the wind at our backs!). It was also much better having someone to ride with as we traded off pulling frequently which made the wind more bareable. The ride up was scenic, not too busy, and quite enjoyable. Lots of climbs but none of them too steep that would make you curse. :)

After a good stop in Whistler for some sushi, we headed back at a much faster pace and pushed each other much harder. It was a sweet return and a great day on the bike!

That night, we went to 'The Best of the Vancouver Mountain Film Festival' which had some good videos but was a little too much climbing focused for my taste. Enjoyable nonetheless.

The next day, we hooked up with some of the Montrail Trail Running Team, did a 2 1/2 run in the Lynn Valley, and then I hopped back on the road bike to return home. Here I learned to not bike on the Trans Canada highway on the North Shore (at least the section I was on anyway). I got on (no warning signs for bikes), had no shoulder to ride on and thus had to impede on the right lane, and shortly therafter I'm screeming down a steep section of road hitting 70km/hour into a strong headwind that starts shaking my bike as traffic speeds by in the fast lane at 120km/hour and I have a bus on my ass that's getting pissed. Not the best way to start out my ride.

Navigating the return trip on the bike was much better as I now knew the route and didn't end up cursing Vancouver as much. Of course, once I got to River Road, now I had a full South wind in my face! Strong too. I was cruising along at 32-35 km/hour and suddenly I'm doing 24 km/hour for the same effort. It was definitely a weekend of wind. Getting off the ferry was the worst of all. It was blowing so hard that I was being moved all around the shoulder of the road while I was being pounded by sleet! Some crazy weather but well worth putting up with it.
Hope you enjoyed the long weekend.

TNO

Countdown to Chuckanut

One week to Chuckanut, and fully recovered from my last weekend run, I had a great weekend lined up of some good training and some full on relaxation. I had a good solid run on Saturday morning with the Prairie Inn Harriers and then found myself doing odds and ends the rest of the day. You know, all those things that you continually put off until you just have a good full day to take care of it. So, I finally put up what I've been wanting to put up for a long time... my sweat ass, family size (ok, Mexican family size), tight weaved monster of a hammock! Yes Gary, it even fits me! :)

Ok, so I wasn't going to spend all weekend with my old friend. I woke up on Sunday prepared for a good road ride and headed out the door nice and early to hook up with the group. This was only my second real group ride ever but I think I'm already getting addicted. Ten minutes out my door and I knew that I was dressed way too warm. I dressed exactly as I did the week previous (yes, I did 75km on the bike the next day after my long run to work out the legs), but the weather had definitely changed for the better. Man, spring has sprung in Victoria. I turned around, headed back home and took off some layers before I headed out again. I ended up getting my time mixed up a bit (as we justed changed the clocks forward) but still managed to hook up with the group. During the last ride, I bailed out (as most people do) once I got close to my home (we ride right by it). But this time, I wanted to put in a longer ride which meant continuing with the nice seaside route, finishing in downtown Victoria, and taking a nice and easy 15km spin home. Well, I've always considered myself a decent biker but for the first time, it really hit home today that I still have a ways to go. The ride picked up near the end - especially when we hit the hills - and right at the 100 km mark of my ride, I just started to die, couldn't hang on, and was dropped! What hurts even more is that we were within 5km of finishing in downtown! Man, it's a pretty bad feeling when that group pulls away and there is just nothing you can do to hang on. Definitely good motivation to improve. Mind you, this was only my second group road ride ever, I haven't been training on the bike much (nothing over 40 kms at a time), and was riding in the end with some very good riders including a two time olympian and mtn bike world champion. Ok, I'll stop looking for excuses... :)

In the end, it was a 125 km ride with the last ride home being torturous. I didn't bonk as I was good and fuelled; my legs just decided that they were done and that was that.

Then came Mr. Hammock.


Then came, "I can't lie around here all day, I've got to get out of here". Soon, I was geared up again - this time with my runners - for an easy 16km run around Elk/Beaver Lake to work the legs out. It's amazing how you can feel beat but really the best thing you can do is get out for awhile (easy of course) and when you get back, you feel so much better. It was a great finish to an already sweet day.

Hope your enjoying this weather as well or if you're back East and experiencing the record snowfalls, I hope the X-country skiing is still bringing a smile to your face!

TNO

On the Trail to Chuckanut - 60km Day

Today, my goal was to put in a long and hilly day of running; one last long run before heading to the Chuckanut 50km ultra trail run in two weeks. I've been putting in some good k's lately with several 120+ km weeks to build up to my first real ultra. I have been on my feet for long periods of time in adventure races but these almost always involve bushwacking which is a completely different animal. While I had put in some good k's, I still felt that I needed to put in one long run with hills that would simulate race conditions and let me know if I'll actually be able to race for this distance. There's no question in my mind that I will be able to complete the event, it is rather a quesiton of how hard I'll be able to push.

I've had a long route in my head for a long time that I have yet to do; until today that is.

I started the route in Cordova Bay and headed down the Lochside trail until I hit Emily Carr Park. From here, there is a really sweet route that connects various parks taking you around bogs and following the Colquits River which eventually leads all the way down to the Galloping Goose trail. From here, I took the Goose to Thetis Lake park where I met some the Saturday morning Prairie Inn Harriers trail runners and got a lift to the regular breakfast place that everyone goes to after the workout.

After a good filling breakfast, I got a short ride to the entrance of Goldstream Provincial Park for the second phase of my run.

Trailhead - Goldstream Provincial Park

Group Camping Area

So, my route for the second phase was to connect three parks that I've always wanted to combine - Goldstream, Gowland Tod, and Mt. Work. These all consist of some serious climb (especially Mt. Finlayson) and my goal was to keep in on the easier side and power hike the hills that were either too long, or too steep. Basically, if I started to huff, I took it down a notch.

Mt. Finlayson Summit looking down at the worst disaster in the history of Victoria;

Bear Mountain - aka Bare Mountain

While it was nice to make it to the top of Finlayson, it was nice to move on and get out of the view of the worst development project in the history of Victoria. Built over some beautiful areas home to sensitive ecosystems (and some of the best mountain biking in the area) the area is now desolate with not one but two golf courses. Just another very unsustainable project brought to you by the City of Langford - the best creators of urban sprawl in the area.

Keeping up the kick on the Gowland Tod Trail

The run down the backside of Finlayson was great and by the time I hit up the Gowland Tod trail, the sun was fully out and the clouds were clearing out even more. While the day started with some rain, it was sure turning out to be a very nice day.

Going up Mt. Work - Look at that gorgeous day!

By the time I got to Mount Work, I was starting to feel the burn but I think it had more to do with running out of fluids. Luckily, many other people were out to take in the nice weather and some people were nice enough to top up my fluids in Mt. Work parking lot. The first steep sections of the climb seemed difficult but once I hit the upper sections I was eating it up.

Mt. Work Summit

View from Mt. Work out to the start of Phase II of my run

Mt. Finlayson is the round hump

Unbeknownst to most people, there is a trail that connects the Mt. Work summit trail over into the mountain biking area. You need to do a bit of route finding but it's pretty straight forward especially on a nice day. From there, I ran some of the biking trails, headed out of the park to transition onto some roads, connected in to Elk/Beaver Lake for a 3/4 lap, and then home at last!

Almost home - Yes, I felt like I look

After a 60km day, I was ready for some good recovery. It was so good to finally do a route that I had planned on doing a long time ago and I was greatful to have such a nice day to enjoy it. Now, if I can just work up to the other routes that I planned!

NUTRITION:

Carbo Pro Powder

NUUN - electrolyte input

EAS Energy Gel

PRODUCTS OF NOTE:

Helly Hansen Lifa - awesome next to skin layer

MEC Dervish Vest - a great MEC product

Montrail Continental Divide Shoes

MEC Kinetic Tempo Waistpack - a great waist pack for those who don't want anything on their back

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