A few months back (May) while I was out in Ontario, I got onto a Honda dirt bike, and within 60 seconds, promptly fell off. In the process of falling off, I broke my left collarbone.

The timing was awful, as I was all prepared to go kayaking on the Ottawa river with Liquid Skills. I have been wanting to do that course for the last 5 years. I had signed up for it, paid for it, and the week before going I broke my collarbone.

The recovery has been slow. Due to the fact that the bone was not splinted, exercise was pretty much out of the picture. Walking at a semi-normal pace was painful, and sleeping quite difficult.

It is later now, and the bone has healed. Still, my left arm is quite weak I have almost all my mobility back, but in certain ranges of motion my arm suddenly ‘tweaks’. For example, a few weeks back I was moving some furniture, I could feel the stress on my collarbone and the muscles. It was not pleasant, but not painful. Then, the other day, I picked up a cup of coffee with my left arm and felt terrible pain in my shoulder. I guess I just had the angle to make it hurt.

To top it all off I have been neglecting my Physio. So, last week I started it up again. I had hoped to run in some MOMAR races this year, but with my arm the way it is I can’t get trained up in time.

I will be ready for some trail races like the Gunner Shaw though. Well, that is if I don’t head off to South America during that time, but we will see about that.

I got back on the Cowichan today, it was a much smaller group of us. Jessica, Matt, Rob and myself. I brought my Super Ego out after working on the outfitting the night before. Instead of going all crazy with the contact cement (which I was considering!) I made a bunch of layers for my seat so that I could sit higher in the Super, and take out layers as required.

I fit better in the Super Ego than in the Jive, but due to the different design, I feel far less secure in the Super Ego. I did a few bow stalls in the current, and that meant that I had to roll of course. I tweaked my right arm rolling up. I always seem to do that in the Super. I need to work my back deck roll, and other rolls in the Super as it is so different to roll from the Jive.

The Cow had dropped again, but was still fairly similar to yesterday, and it was a good day out. I helped spot Jessica with her roll a few times, and really like the drypants for standing in the river to help with a rolling session. Nobody swam this day out, and everyone was on target.

Running final drop was a bit spooky as I was not in the Jive, so I was not nearly as lazy as before, and I went over with a good amount of speed. I leaned a bit too far back - as I am always concerned about the bow diving in the Super. I got squirted again, just like when I went over in the Jive. But, I did not have to roll.

The wave below Final Drop was great, and Matt had the best surfs of the day as he brought out his Fore-Play, and being in a long boat, he had the easiest time of getting into the sweet spot. I had a few good surfs in the Super, and while it was hard to work up and into the wave, once on it, the super surfed well. It kept trying to ride high on the wave, and I could feel the hull getting very loose and bouncy. It kept trying to flat spin of its own accord. I worked to keep it from doing that, while I like flat spinning, I knew there was a good chance of a window shade, or just general dunking if I tried to flat spin. I need more rolling sessions in the Super Ego to really get dialed in.

It was a good day, and I will be heading to the gym to do more training for next weekend and the Puntledge Festival coming up soon. After that, I will probably have to head off to the Wenatchee and Clearwater to get my whitewater fix in, so it will probably be back to Mountain Biking for the rest of the summer, or just lots of sea-kayak touring, and flatwater K-1 Paddling.

I have had a busy past week.

On Saturday I headed out to paddle the Nanaimo River again. On the river were Tim and his daughter Cara (or Kara?), Larry, and Jessica and myself. The level was good, but much lower than before. The level was dropping off fast. I had a good time, and did not have to roll once. In fact, in my last 5 runs out, I have not flipped once at all! (That includes Sunday).

Jessica did great for a relative new paddler, even after following me down a bad line at the A-Frame drop. I chose what was a good line at high level, not knowing that there was a massive pillow and rock in the center of the river. I boofed it, and the rock below, but turned back to wave her off, but she boofed it as well. Pretty good for someone who is just getting her roll dialed in on the river! Cara was paddling amazingly well - especially given her age. She gets to go to Montreal soon for Kayak Slalom racing. pretty impressive.

I was set to head out to Vancouver on Sunday morning, but my paddle on Saturday was so good, I elected to head to the Cowichan as well! On the river were a whole bunch of people. I did not get to know all their names. There was Gerald who took a picture of me just coming out of final drop. I look a bit weird in it as I am just recovering from a face full of water. There was also Jessica, Cara, Tim, and about 10 or so other people. I am meeting more and more paddlers, and this is just awesome. I hope to get involved in a subset of the VI club for the Victoria area so I always have people to paddle with.

The Cowichan had dropped considerably, and there were not many features around on it. Not for me in the jive anyways. Or i thought so. As we got lower down the river, I found a few fast surfing waves that I had to work to ride. Most everyone else was in the new smaller boats. Tim was in a kevlar C-1 Cara in Kevlar kayak, and Jessica and myself in Jives. So we had the biggest boats on the river.

After I ran last drop (as seen in the photo) I continued on down to try the wave below final drop. It was unbelievable. It was just a phenomenal wave. And because it was running so fast, and I had the Jive as opposed to the Super Ego, I could surf up a storm on it. It was a great ride. But then a guy swam, and I had to break off to go rescue him. Unfortunately I did not have my river booties (I thought I had lost them, but I had just left them in my car) and I had a long walk back to the take out after the rescue with no footwear. No big deal, except the rocks on the Cow are very sharp. Fortunately, the guy I helped rescue (I also helped him swim by encouraging him to try the wave - my bad!) came back down and carried my kayak back for me, because the walk back was taking me a long time.

My left leg goes numb often in my Jive because I am too tall for it. It was numb for a long time on Saturday, on Sunday I think I pulled my calf muscle while paddling, but because my leg was numb I could not tell I had cramped it up. I found that out starting Sunday night…

After heading back home, cleaning up my gear, I shot off to the ferry to get over to Vancouver (where I am as I write this) for my VMWare ESX/VI3 course. I have been so terribly busy out here. My brain hurts from VMWare information and the labs. I have had lots of requests to visit friends, but I sadly don’t have the time to see them all. I did get to visit Christine, but then I had to drop off her computer system! The VMWare course is great, I should be able to take the exam in Victoria soon. But I will have a good amount of study before the test to become VCP certified.

Other than that, because I finally have my first real cash flow card, and because I feel I have worked so hard, and made so many sacrifices, I dropped $1650 at Ikea today. You know you are an adult when you are exited about buying furniture at Ikea… What ever happened to wanting toys? At least I did it smartly, I got it all on credit for no interest, and I am taking the money I would have used to buy the stuff outright and putting it in a GIC so I earn interest, and pay off the card before the end date.

I hope there is more water to paddle this weekend… The island is drying up fast. Still, I can head out to Wenatchee and Clearwater to get my Whitewater fix on long weekends! Provided that I can walk normally once my calf heals up…

I am back at a Motel in Victoria, the commute was killing both me and my car. On the upside, I managed to tear through a large number of books. I recently got through: A history of the Nazi Party (lecture), The search for intelligent life in the universe (lecture), the early writings of Abraham Lincoln (lecture), Eragon (fiction), and Eldest (fiction). I went through a few more, but I cannot remember them at this time.

On the downside, the lack of exercise has been taking a big toll on me. In this picture:

I weigh 220 lbs. That was in June of last year. I have lost 30 lbs. That is what happens when you don’t go to the gym or train at all due to a hellish commute. Sure, losing weight is not something most would complain about, except in my case it has been losing muscle mass and general fitness! However, being at the motel now, I get free passes to the phoenix gym, and I have my running gear and mountain biking gear in Victoria now, so I can start getting back into shape. I am also looking at joining one of the kayaking clubs and getting back into racing.

On the finance front, I have been approved for another mortgage, so it looks like I should have no trouble buying a house in Victoria. Of course, the downside is the huge debt load I am about to take on in doing so. I have to take out an equity loan on my current home (selling it is a very bad idea, it puts me in a horrible tax position) and that changes the terms of my mortgage, and adds a huge amount to the monthly payments. But, I should be able to scrape by and get a place in Victoria by doing this. Still, it is a bit scary. I have already been around to look at houses in the Victoria area, but it seems like it is going to be a challenge to find a place where I can really work the numbers in this market. Still, I should be able to get fairly close to my goals.

I was back in the Okanagan over the holidays staying at my Mom’s place. It was good to be back there and see family as well. As my mother is taking care of Daisy, I had not seen her in months. I thought she was going to explode when she saw me. I have never seen her so excited. She followed me everywhere throughout the house. She was practically glued to me the entire time.

I barely recognized her though, as her hair is much longer, and she looks much more silver now than she did before.

For Christmas, I got some ski passes to Apex, and I spent 3 days up there getting back into telemark form. My legs hurt something fierce after the first two days. And one guy on the telemarktips forum said that: “Telemarking is Norwegian for ‘oh holy god, my legs are on fire!’” I would say that is just about right.

In other news, my entire yard is going to be dug up tomorrow, and my water main for my house will have to be replaced. That is not going to be pleasant. At least the leak in the water main is not as bad as I had thought, but the line still needs replacing.

I just got out and ran 5 km. It took me about 40 min. I felt better doing it than I had expected. I figure if I am going to get back into shape to run the upcoming MOMAR and Gutbuster races, I have to start training sometime. Besides, Kathy will be in the Squamish MOMAR, and I have to beat her! Which, of course, will be very hard given that she is currently training for the Canada Ironman in Penticton, and she has finished second in it before. I think I have my work cut out for me there. Still, goals keep you going!

Now I just need to find a gym near here that I can drop in at. My resistance training is shot as well. At least my aerobic capacity is not as bad as I had expected it would be. Probably walking to and from work from the hotel room I was at every workday helped out in that regard.

4 Gutbusters, 3 MOMARs. I have my work cut out for me again this coming year. At least I will have started training 2 months earlier, and I have a great deal more experience working with these kind of races now. Now I just need to get more biking in at the dump, and join a kayaking club in town to get all up to speed!

I finally got out to do something different from my standard commute.

Now that I am (mostly) living in Victoria, and I have my bike and running gear down here, I can start getting back into shape. The time I spent commuting from Nanaimo to Victoria turned me into a real couch potato. Basically, 3 months without exercise since the last MOMAR. It is annoying as I had been training all year long, and only took time out when I injured my knee in a Gutbuster.

However, on Sunday Dec 10th I got out to to the Hartland Landfill, it started out sunny, but turned overcast and drizzling fairly fast. I got out late, even though I was up early, as I felt a bit rough around the edges from the staff X-mas party the night before.

I had no one to ride with, so I just planned on heading up the fire roads to get some training in, just keep the distance and vertical gain up. I was using my SPD’s for the first time off road, and I must say that they are a huge help when climbing. The ground was very wet, and I was still able to get traction in areas that I did not expect to gain traction in.

While I was climbing, I met two guys, Colin and Kyle who were resting on a bench. I was tired too, and we got to talking. I did not have my map, so I asked where I was. They told me, and then invited me along for a ride. It was great. The people at Hartland are a bit friendlier than at Dumont I think. (Not that all Dumont riders are bad!)

Colin had a half Pomeranian and Collie. I asked if he had considered taking “Gimli” to flyball, and he in fact had. However, he and his wife felt that there was too much competitive pressure to perform, so they did not take up the sport.

I can remember I did one ride called twister, and I was going a good deal slower than I normally would. Things I would normally ride I was cautious of because I was really unused to the SPD’s. Trying to ride over something technical and get your shoes back into the SPD is really hard. At least, it is for me so far.

Much to my surprise I had no wipe outs, but then being new to the SPD’s I was very cautious. If I can get back into my regime, I should be good to go on the upcoming MOMAR and Gutbuster races. All of which, I plan to run in again.

Well, I lived through the 2006 MOMAR, and shaved just over an hour off my previous time.

It was a blast. And to think I almost did not want to go! I had hurt my IT band on my right knee in the final Gutbuster of the season, so I did not get nearly as much training in as I would have liked to, but then I remembered that I had set a goal to run all the MOMAR races and all the Gutbuster races for this year, and for me, the Cumberland 2006 MOMAR was the most important. My goal was to better my time from the 2005 Cumberland MOMAR, where our team finished in 8:03 - dead last. And I figured that even if my aerobic capacity was not as good as it had been during the summer, I was going to go and just get out there and finish.

I managed to get a surf ski from Ocean River Kayak Club, and this was a slightly new experience for me as I am used to Whitewater, Sea and K-1 Kayaks, but not so used to a surf ski.

On the upside, at the race start, the surf ski was fast, and had fantastic secondary stability. However, I have years of training bracing with the balls of my feet to help stabilize a kayak, in this surf ski, moving the balls of your feet causes the surf ski to steer! That, and the steering on the Speedster Surf Ski was very sensitive indeed, a slight touch on the pedals and you were suddenly turning rapidly.

I tried drafting other kayaks, but found that since the steering was so sensitive, I actually had an easier time paddling without drafting any kayaks. At the turn across Comox lake a big wind had come up, and waves were coming in broadside, and at that point I was really glad I did not have a K-1 to paddle, as the waves were coming over the surf ski, and I was soaking wet. Had I been in a K-1, it would have been swamped, or flipped at the very least! However, I had to brace far more than I would have liked, and I kept slowing down. That bothered me because kayaking was the one thing that I could train in while my knee was healing. However, I remembered something Sheri mentioned about the race, that the Kayak section is not all important for time. And she is right. Norm who regularly finishes first in the races does not come in first on the paddles, but he still wins, so that is something to think about.

Coming in to checkpoint 2, My hands hurt due to missing skin from the paddle, but other than that the Tylenol I took before the race was doing its job. I got off and running for the trekking section with the new map that was given to us, and instead of running pell-mell as we had the year prior, I set off at a slow jogging pace so I could keep moving, but also read the map at the same time. This, as it turned out was a very wise decision indeed. In previous MOMAR races I had made the serious mistake, and seen others make the mistake of trying to get each checkpoint as fast as possible, with less regard for navigation. In this Cumberland MOMAR, I knew my aerobic capacity was down, so I knew that it was silly to try to run as fast as I could. So, instead, whenever I came to a route decision, I would stop, look at the map, and then make my route choice.

What a difference. I now know that for the next MOMAR’s I run whenever I find a route choice, I am going to stop, read the map, make a decision, and THEN move on. I only made 1 route error, and I discovered it in about 2 min after the wrong turn. Sure beats 45 min of running full out to find Checkpoint 10 like at the Duncan MOMAR. By stopping to check your route you save energy, and a huge amount of time by just using your energy to think as opposed to running.

I elected to do the hardest checkpoints first as I really like technical running downhill, and I wanted to get the difficult running/hiking out of the way first. That was also a good choice, because when I had finished the higher altitude checkpoints, and was looking for the lower ones, I was tired at the lower checkpoints, but on level ground, so it was much easier to deal with them in that fashion.

(More coming to this post, but I am currently a ball of pain.)

It turned out to be a good choice to run uphill first, that way, it was out of the way. After striking a terrible “rockstar” pose at one of the checkpoints (it was one of the mystery events) it was time to start heading down. I made a slight route error, in that I did not go down on the trail that I wanted, but they both ended at the same place. The one I had taken was just a little longer, but I was already on it, so going back was pointless.

The Rockstar pose:

Penn and Teller’s award winning show Bullshit is fantastic. You simply have to go out and rent these shows on DVD, or watch them on showcase if you are able. Jonathan first pointed these shows out to me, and I am grateful that he did. Ironically, my views have become more libertarian (see lower post) since watching them. You might find that they use a large amount of profanity, and they do. It turns out that you can’t be sued for using profanity, but you can be sued for calling someone a quack or a fraud.

Season 5 is currently in production, and I don’t think seasons 3 or 4 are available on DVD yet, but you simply must check this show out. Probably the best thing around on television.

This video shows a great collection of Flatwater Kayak form, everything from K1, K2 to K4. Check out the torso rotation on all these paddlers:

I am bound and determined to get my 10 k flatwater time to under 40 min, if I can manage that in the next 2 months, my odds of coming in first in the kayaking portion of the MOMAR are very high. Given that I am paddling the Stealth K1 3X per week, I should be able to manage it. That, and my injuries from the recent Gutbuster seem to be healing quickly. I was able to walk Daisy the regular 2 k around my house, hills and all with very little pain at the end.