Author: gfox (old content)

Bullit Break

Yesterday I was supposed to do a training ride. I was originally planning on logging around 3.5 hours. When I got up though, my legs were feeling pretty burnt out. I was up too late the night before, was feeling too tired, and was completely unmotivated.

I decided to grab a mountain bike and hit the trails. Heart needed a run too, so this would get a two things accomplished. I packed up all my gear, threw the bullit in the back of the truck and headed to the dump.

The sun was out and it was warming up nicely. It was glorious to be out there. I started off and let me tell you, I love riding the bullit, but it is nothing like the road bike. The bullit definitely prefers being pointed downhill. One of the first trails at the dump is a technical uphill trail. My lungs and legs were screaming after that one. Not a great start.

I kept going and hit a few fun sections of trail. I climbed some more and really pushed myself on the climbs. A few months ago I would have been walking most of those climbs. I went all the way up to Snakes and Ladders. While taking a break there I got to thinking about all the errands and tasks I wanted to get done that day. I took off, then did a few more trails. I finally decided to head back to the truck, and as I was making my way back I realized that my legs had finally warmed up and I was feeling pretty good, and pretty strong.

Back in the truck I saved my map.


View Tour de Victoria, April 30, 2011 in a larger map

Total Distance: 9.60 km (6.0 mi)
Total Time: 1:44:09
Moving Time: 1:09:44
Average Speed: 5.53 km/h (3.4 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 8.26 km/h (5.1 mi/h)
Max Speed: 29.30 km/h (18.2 mi/h)
Min Elevation: 112 m (366 ft)
Max Elevation: 290 m (952 ft)
Elevation Gain: 419 m (1374 ft)
Max Grade: -3 %
Min Grade: -6 %

When I got home I looked at the stats. That made me disappointed. Argh. Less than 10 km? What the hell? Now I am all mad at myself for not riding longer. I enjoyed myself while I was riding, but my I put my to-do list ahead of my training.

Songbook Scream

Friday night was one awesome concert that I was looking forward to for a very long time. Not something I say very often. Chris Cornell came to Victoria on his Songbook tour. This was a solo tour with him playing mostly acoustic.

In a word: wow.

The show was awesome. One of the best concerts I’ve been to. It helped that I got some pretty awesome seats, about 10th row, almost centre.

He played a bunch of Soundgarden songs, some of his solo work, a couple tracks from Audioslave, and a few covers too. It was mesmerizing to watch him play and hear him talk. He bantered with the crowd quite a bit and was quite funny at times. Listening to him sing was the reason we were all there though. His voice sounded great the whole night too. He has such range, and power throughout his entire range. He still has his signature scream that he can hold for a long time.

Hearing so many of the songs done acoustically was interesting. Sometimes it took me a while to figure out what song he was playing, and other times I knew right away. The most surprising song I heard was Mind Riot. Loved it. Hunger Strike was fucking amazing. That for me was the highlight of the show to hear that one live. Seasons was a great song to hear.

Were there any disappointments? No. Every song was enjoyable. I was surprised to not hear Spoonman. I was hoping to hear Outshined too. At the end of the show I was thoroughly happy to have spent the money on the tickets. He put on a great show, sounded great, and was very entertaining.

The setlist:

  1. Be Yourself (Audioslave cover)
  2. Ground Zero
  3. Redemption Song (Bob Marley cover)
  4. Sweet Euphoria
  5. Can’t Change Me
  6. As Hope and Promise Fade
  7. Call Me A Dog (Temple of the Dog cover)
  8. Sunshower
  9. Fell on Black Days (Soundgarden cover)
  10. Burden in My Hand (Soundgarden cover)
  11. I Am the Highway (Audioslave cover)
  12. State Trooper (Bruce Springsteen cover)
  13. When I’m Down
  14. Seasons
  15. All Night Thing (Temple of the Dog cover)
  16. Thank You (Led Zeppelin cover)
  17. Man of Golden Words/Comfortably Numb
  18. Say Hello 2 Heaven (Temple of the Dog cover)
  19. Mind Riot (Soundgarden cover)
  20. Like Suicide (Soundgarden cover)
  21. Like a Stone (Audioslave cover)
  22. Doesn’t Remind Me (Audioslave cover)
  23. A Day in the Life (The Beatles cover)

    24. Encore:

  24. Scream
  25. Hunger Strike (Temple of the Dog cover)
  26. Better Man (Pearl Jam cover)
  27. Billie Jean (Michael Jackson cover)
  28. Black Hole Sun(Soundgarden cover)
  29. Imagine (John Lennon cover)

via setlist


  • Disaster Knowledge

    Well, tonight was the last night of the courses I was taking.

    The first course was an emergency preparedness course. It was the second one I had taken and was still a very useful course. There are lots of things around the house that we need to do to be prepared for a disaster. Sue and I still need to prepare our go-bags for our vehicles and work. There are still some things we need to get into our home kit. There are still more things to do around the house to make it safer. Still, we are ahead of lots of people, and we have something.

    The second course I took was a disaster first aid course. We covered some basic first aid techniques, some slings, some carries of people, basic patient assessment, then we got into triage. Wow, the last two were eye opening. Even knowing that people were faking injuries caused me to freeze up and to totally forget what I was supposed to do. I am going to spend some more time on what I learned there. Just taking this course made me want to take more first aid courses though. Handy knowledge to have no matter what you do.

    The last course I took was a Light Urban Search and Rescue. Tuesday night was the 3 hour classroom sections. We learned about basic damage assessment (whether or not to enter a building), search techniques, and more patient carrying techniques. Tonight we did the hands on search portion of the course in an old building. What an amazing experience that was. Searching the building for victims with the building completely blacked out, and a smoke machine inside to simulate dust. We couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of us. For our last entry they cranked up the machine and I could not 6 inches in front of me. Intense. We learned how to quickly search a room/floor/building and to locate the victims and how to report back where they were.

    I had lots of questions about tonight’s session and got them all answered. This is one of those things where I hope to never need to apply this knowledge, but I have it just in case. I plan to review the material every so often. It helps me feel more prepared for when a disaster strikes our area.

    Sprinted Back

    This past Tuesday I got into the pool for a swim, my first in a few weeks. I felt great. I busted out 700m like it was nothing, and really sprinted the last 50. I should have kept going, but I needed to get some work done that night. It sure was a quick workout.

    Yesterday, while in Langley, I went for a ride. I was planning on 3 hours, and I wasn’t planning on any distance. The terrain in Langley isn’t like home. Very flat with rolling hills and straight, very straight. This meant I kept my average speed up.

    My route took me along the border to the US. At one point there was a tiny 3 foot wide ditch and then another road with a 36 mph sign on it 🙂 Kinda weird to think how close I was to another country, and how easily one could cross there if they wanted.

    My route was an out and back, and on my return trip I saw evidence of a beaver. A bunch of trees had been felled by a beaver, and one of the trees had taken out a fence. On the other side of the road was a large pond, and that was when I noticed the lodge in the middle of the pond. Very cool Too bad I didn’t see the actual beaver though. Further down the road was a family of geese, two adults and eight goslings.


    View Tour de Victoria, April 22, 2011 in a larger map

    Total Distance: 77.86 km (48.4 mi)
    Total Time: 3:00:44
    Moving Time: 2:57:30
    Average Speed: 25.85 km/h (16.1 mi/h)
    Average Moving Speed: 26.32 km/h (16.4 mi/h)
    Max Speed: 55.02 km/h (34.2 mi/h)
    Min Elevation: -3 m (-9 ft)
    Max Elevation: 92 m (302 ft)
    Elevation Gain: 528 m (1732 ft)
    Max Grade: 9 %
    Min Grade: -7 %

    Conditioning Speed

    Today’s ride was supposed to be between 75 and 85 km. I was looking forward to the distance, but the few days before the ride didn’t lend themselves to good conditioning. I was working lots, not eating very well, and definitely not drinking enough water.

    Still, I got a good sleep last night, so I hoped that would be enough. After a good breakfast I was out the door and riding. I met up with a friend and we started off. Once we got to Prospect Lake road though, I started to feel my week. My legs didn’t have much power and my heart rate rose pretty quickly. I powered up a few hills and willed myself to keep going when I really wanted to take a break.

    I’m pretty happy with the ride stats though. 80 km, average moving speed over 23 km/h. Max speed of 63 km/h, weee 🙂

    By the time I got home I was thoroughly exhausted. I had some lunch, had a nice, long, hot shower, and now I feel much better.

    The big decision I have in the upcoming weeks is what do I do about the Tour de Victoria ride. Do I do the 90km ride with Sue, or do I push myself a little and try for the 140km ride?


    View Tour de Victoria, April 16, 2011 in a larger map

    Total Distance: 80.99 km (50.3 mi)
    Total Time: 3:47:04
    Moving Time: 3:28:02
    Average Speed: 21.40 km/h (13.3 mi/h)
    Average Moving Speed: 23.36 km/h (14.5 mi/h)
    Max Speed: 63.00 km/h (39.1 mi/h)
    Min Elevation: -17 m (-55 ft)
    Max Elevation: 247 m (812 ft)
    Elevation Gain: 1149 m (3768 ft)
    Max Grade: 15 %
    Min Grade: -16 %
    Recorded: Sat Apr 16 08:36:53 PDT 2011

    Parkway Time

    Sue and I went for a ride today. We decided that since we were going to be in Nanaimo that we would try hitting the Parkway Trail. From the start we hit a hill and climbed. When we got to the Parkway Trail, I was pretty surprised that it was so hilly. I was used to the Goose in Victoria and how flat that trail is. The Parkway Trail was built alongside the highway and isn’t a converted railway like the Goose.

    The weather today was great, almost sunny, but no wind. We rolled along nicely and got to talk along the way too. Near the end of the ride, we weren’t at our target time, so we went exploring through upper Lantzville. We only got a little lost, but managed to fix that.

    One thing that I tried to do on the return trip from the South end of Nanaimo, was to stay in a higher gear and work on building some power in my legs. By the end of the day my legs were pretty tired.


    View Tour de Victoria, April 9, 2011 in a larger map

    Total Distance: 57.79 km (35.9 mi)
    Total Time: 3:16:13
    Moving Time: 2:56:18
    Average Speed: 17.67 km/h (11.0 mi/h)
    Average Moving Speed: 19.67 km/h (12.2 mi/h)
    Max Speed: 51.30 km/h (31.9 mi/h)
    Min Elevation: 7 m (23 ft)
    Max Elevation: 134 m (441 ft)
    Elevation Gain: 555 m (1820 ft)
    Max Grade: 11 %
    Min Grade: -13 %

    Three Speed

    Yesterday’s ride was a three part affair. My goal was to ride to the ferry terminal, catch the 11 am ferry, then ride to Ganges on Saltspring Island. Good goal I thought, especially since Saltspring is a little hilly.

    The first section was the flat easy ride. Except for one part. I left a little late, and quite quickly realized that it would be tight on making the ferry. Riding on the Lochside Trail I put the hammer down and rode as hard as I could. I kept having to slow down to pass people, but I would quickly get back up to speed. In Sydney I knew that getting on the ferry was going to be tight, so I started doing an almost all out sprint the last couple km’s. I got on the highway and as I climbed the final hill to the toll booths I could see a police officer on the side of the highway. I could see him raising his laser speed detector, yet no cars were passing me. As I passed him he informed me I was doing 25 KM/H up the hill.

    At the booth I though I would have enough time to pay and hoof it down to the ferry. As the window opened the agent asked where I was headed and as soon as I said Saltspring, she sadly let me know the ferry had left the dock at 10:55, and the time as 10:56. The ferry was supposed to leave at 11! Just then my phone started ringing and I knew it was Sue. I was so out of breath I could barely talk. Nothing like riding hard for 1.5 hours to do that.

    I then figured I would go for a shorter ride, then get on the 1 pm ferry to Saltspring.


    View Tour de Victoria, April 3, 2011 Part 1 in a larger map

    The stats for the first leg of my ride:
    Total Distance: 34.17 km (21.2 mi)
    Total Time: 1:17:30
    Moving Time: 1:13:43
    Average Speed: 26.45 km/h (16.4 mi/h)
    Average Moving Speed: 27.81 km/h (17.3 mi/h)
    Max Speed: 43.20 km/h (26.8 mi/h)
    Min Elevation: -17 m (-56 ft)
    Max Elevation: 76 m (250 ft)
    Elevation Gain: 360 m (1181 ft)
    Max Grade: 19 %
    Min Grade: -25 %

    Pretty decent average speed.

    The next leg of my ride I had no clue where to go, nor where I would ride. I ended up riding along Land’s End Road until I hit West Saanich Rd. I knew where West Saanich would take me so I went down there. As I got close to the airport I took another left and headed into Sidney to stop for a coffee and a snack. Then it was back out to the terminal.


    View Tour de Victoria, April 3, 2011 Part 2 in a larger map

    The stats for leg 2 on the day:
    Total Distance: 19.85 km (12.3 mi)
    Total Time: 1:07:52
    Moving Time: 51:15
    Average Speed: 17.55 km/h (10.9 mi/h)
    Average Moving Speed: 23.24 km/h (14.4 mi/h)
    Max Speed: 44.25 km/h (27.5 mi/h)
    Min Elevation: -11 m (-36 ft)
    Max Elevation: 41 m (135 ft)
    Elevation Gain: 176 m (576 ft)
    Max Grade: 7 %
    Min Grade: -7 %
    Recorded: Sun Apr 03 11:01:23 PDT 2011

    At the terminal I grabbed a sandwich, a drink, and a chocolate bar, and tried to stay warm. I was so grateful that the lounge on the ferry was heated.

    By the time the ferry docked and I got off, my break time was close to an hour. Right off the bat there is a largeish hill. Uggh. My legs felt a little full of lead. I got warmed up pretty quickly and tried to hammer hard and meet up with my family. Then I met my match. A large hill coming out of Burgoyne Bay. I actually stopped partway up the hill to take a breather.

    When I finally started the descent into Ganges I was feeling pretty fried. In Ganges I had something to eat, and caught a ride with Sue back to her Sister’s place where we had a great visit.


    View Tour de Victoria, April 3, 2011 Part 3 in a larger map

    The stats for leg three of my ride:
    Total Distance: 14.59 km (9.1 mi)
    Total Time: 41:21
    Moving Time: 36:48
    Average Speed: 21.16 km/h (13.1 mi/h)
    Average Moving Speed: 23.78 km/h (14.8 mi/h)
    Max Speed: 61.20 km/h (38.0 mi/h)
    Min Elevation: -53 m (-174 ft)
    Max Elevation: 106 m (349 ft)
    Elevation Gain: 199 m (652 ft)
    Max Grade: 8 %
    Min Grade: -8 %
    Recorded: Sun Apr 03 13:32:25 PDT 2011

    The total mileage on the day was 68.61 (though my bike computer recorded over 71KM). What a day of riding though.

    Anniversary Office

    Today marks the 1 year anniversary of Yoshi’s death. I still think about him a lot, and I still miss him a lot. He was a great dog, and even though we have Heart now (who is another great dog), the hole he left behind is still there. I find it hard to believe that a year has gone by already. I still distinctly remember his last night with us, and the awful trip to the vet’s office.

    Having Heart around does help since she is so similar to Yoshi, but her differences make me think about him. I kind of like that. I never intended to replace him.

    Reasons Season

    I just finished signing up for summer league ulti. For the first time ever I joined the men’s league and not the co-ed league.

    There are a few reasons for this.

    1. Wednesday is the day Sue has the kids all day, so making it even longer by me going to play utli was hard.
    2. I was hoping to step up my game a little and play in a more competitive league
    3. Seriousness. Some of the co-ed teams I was on lacked any drive, or any seriousness. Don’t get me wrong though, I want to play to have fun, but I also want to play with other people there who actually try, and actually want to learn.

    This summer should be interesting too. Since I have been training for the Tour de Victoria, I will be way more fit at the beginning of the season than I ever have been before. That can only mean good things for me.

    The season starts in May and runs until August. Every other year the season has cost $60. For some reason this year the cost is $100. Quite the jump in price.