Author: gfox (old content)

Noticed Training

Last Wednesday I rode to work. Wow, not a lot of riding has happened since the Tour de Victoria and I sure noticed it. Hills were harder and I felt very slow.


View Sept 26 Commute To Work in a larger map

Name: Sept 26 Commute To Work
Activity type: cycling
Description: –
Total distance: 12.83 km (8.0 mi)
Total time: 36:41
Moving time: 32:55
Average speed: 20.98 km/h (13.0 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 23.38 km/h (14.5 mi/h)
Max speed: 55.17 km/h (34.3 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.86 min/km (4.6 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.57 min/km (4.1 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 1.09 min/km (1.8 min/mile)
Max elevation: 67 m (219 ft)
Min elevation: -7 m (-22 ft)
Elevation gain: 166 m (543 ft)

Name: Sept 26 Commute Commute Home
Activity type: cycling
Description: –
Total distance: 13.05 km (8.1 mi)
Total time: 34:07
Moving time: 31:07
Average speed: 22.95 km/h (14.3 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 25.17 km/h (15.6 mi/h)
Max speed: 57.42 km/h (35.7 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.61 min/km (4.2 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.38 min/km (3.8 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 1.04 min/km (1.7 min/mile)
Max elevation: 86 m (283 ft)
Min elevation: -7 m (-23 ft)
Elevation gain: 188 m (616 ft)

Looking at the stats, this is definitely slower than my previous rides when I was training.

As the weekend approached, I set up a ride with a friend who is training for Ironman. He was going for a slow ride, and I could join him for as long as I wanted.

We met at the Selkirk trestle then rode along the water to Mitchell Farm. It was a pretty slow pace, and flat, which was nice. I had planned on a 2 hour ride, but as we neared Mitchell, I was feeling pretty good, and I felt like completing a loop instead of an out and back. My friend turned around, and I kept going. I got over to Keating, then came back along Oldfield Rd, Interurban, and Tillicum. I was pretty proud of my ride which ended up being around three hours.


View 29/09/2012 8:31am in a larger map

Total distance: 69.19 km (43.0 mi)
Total time: 3:00:14
Moving time: 2:52:52
Average speed: 23.03 km/h (14.3 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 24.02 km/h (14.9 mi/h)
Max speed: 61.70 km/h (38.3 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.60 min/km (4.2 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.50 min/km (4.0 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 0.97 min/km (1.6 min/mile)
Max elevation: 125 m (411 ft)
Min elevation: -23 m (-76 ft)
Elevation gain: 1347 m (4419 ft)

After looking at the stats I was shocked to see I had gone 70km. Not bad!

Hockey Watching

Today was Elliot’s first hockey session. We signed him up for a once a week season that teaches hockey skills. There are a couple games throughout the season, as well as a couple of parent nights, but it is mostly about learning skills.

I was very impressed with how hard Elliot worked at it tonight. Sure he fell a lot, but he always got up quickly and tried again. It’s no surprise, but he also listened really well to the instructors and did everything they asked. They did lots of skating drills, and ended the night with a scrimmage. At the end he was very hot, had very rosy cheeks, and was pooped. He also had a huge grin on his face and loved it.

Here are some pictures:


All geared up and ready


Ferocious face


Two beautiful spectators.


Making sure we were still watching.


Doing a drill


Another drill


Water break.


One tired boy

Tooth Grounds

Two weeks ago, Elliot’s front tooth was getting, very wiggly. Like no resistance wiggly. So wiggly, that one time when he was moving it around, it got stuck in position and I had to put it back in it’s socket. Below is what it looked like.

He didn’t want me to pull it out so I let it be. Well, we went out for sushi one night, and while I was talking to someone, he reached over and handed me what I thought was a grain of rice. A little confused I looked over at him, and he exclaimed that his tooth had come out!

He is growing up.

He was proud of losing that tooth, and didn’t want the tooth fairy to take it. He left a note for her, and she obliged and still left a some money behind for him.

Today I picked him up after school right before hockey. He didn’t remember right away, but when he did he got a huge smile on his face and told me that his second tooth came out while he was eating lunch. While chewing his food, he felt something hard in his mouth, and when he spat it out, there was his tooth. I’m not sure why, but during the lunch recess he ended up going to the office because of the lost tooth, and they gave him a tooth shaped necklace to hold his it in. Unfortunately the lid wasn’t on all the way and he actually lost the tooth somewhere on the school grounds. We assured him that the tooth fairy still knows he lost his tooth.

I am proud of my boy for growing up and being such an amazing son.

Host Action

This year Victoria was host to the Canadian Ultimate Championships. Four days of intense Ultimate competition at four different venues. Teams from across Canada were there in many different age brackets. I heard that it was something like 72 teams comprised of around 1500 competitors. Very impressive.

Yesterday I headed out to the Lansdowne field yesterday to take in some of the action. I think there was 7 or 8 fields in play at any given time. In the sidelines there were lots of teams warming up too. I wandered around a while taking it all in and taking some pictures. Loads of action too. Flying D moves, dives for points, great catches, and all around good playing.

Below are a few of my pictures, but all of them are in a gallery here.


Inverted Flowers

Last weekend there was an airshow here in Victoria. It was dubbed the Biggest Little Airshow in Victoria because it consisted of model aircraft. Some of the models were insanely detailed. I can’t imagine how many hours somebody put into those creations. My favorites were the A10 and the Mars water bombers.

The incredible part was how well these planes flew. Many acrobatic maneuvers, inverted passes, low height passes. All done to scale.

The event was a fundraiser for a couple local charities which made any money we paid go to a good cause. They also had a full concession so we had some excellent burgers and hotdogs for lunch. They even had a face painter there, and Amy chose to get some flowers done. The lady did an amazing job.

Such a fun event. I can’t wait for next year. Here are some pictures I took.


Rims Idyllic

I had a great ride on Hornby today. I love the trails here because they are so different from home. Twisty, turny, smooth, fast. I entered the trail system from the fire hall and headed up. I took Walton over to Milo’s Meadow. There were a few steep, loose climbs here that proved quite a challenge. From here I went up Slick Rock, up Lox’s Bagel, then up Ozzmosis. Finally I took Hot Rims all the way to the highest point I could.

I took a quick break on the cliff overlooking Denman and Vancouver Islands. What a view. I wanted to hit up some different trails from yesterday, so instead of going down 4 Dead Aliens I instead took Purgatory down to Bitchin Camero. Someone mentioned there was a gap jump in Bitchin Camero, but I never saw it.

From there I went up again. Up Slick Rock, up Northwind, then back onto Hot Rims back up to the same rest area. This time I took 4 Dead Aliens to Test Tube. Test Tube was a great descent, I highly recommend to to anyone. As much as I love 4 Dead Aliens, Test Tube may be more fun. I had to hit No Horses one more time, then it was time to head home.

I ascended Washing Machine to Coltsfoot. I went up a different section of Slickrock to get back onto Milo’s Meadow. I exited near the firehall on Walton. Great ride, lots of challenging climbing, super fun descents.

Hornby really is an idyllic spot to ride. I can easily ride the trails several days in a row and enjoy them immensely. The trail system is pretty small though, so it you lived here, the draw might lose its luster after a while. Still, for the visitor, there is loads of fun to be had.

Oh, and buy the map from the bike shop. Indispensable help when picking where to go next.


Monster Snacks

Saturday I took Elliot to Western Speedway. This was his first time being exposed to this, and I chose a good night for it. Hit to pass racing, and Monster Trucks!

We got there pretty early, got some good seats (I’m pretty sure they have expanded their family section – very cool), and settled in to wait. Elliot was giddy with excitement. They had one monster truck outfitted with seats to take people for rides on. Every time he saw it he pointed it out.

He also asked me every few minutes when the racing would start. The waiting was tough, but he pulled through it. With some snacks of course.

It was a gorgeous night though, so that made it a little nicer. Soon it was time to line up for the national anthems.

First up was the demo truck trophy dash. As the trucks started their warm up lap, suddenly a car burst onto the track. The announcer was pleading with the driver to get off the track and calling for security. Then the car sideswiped one of the trucks, so the truck spun the car around. They kept doing this all the way around the track until they got to the front straightaway. The driver parked it and somebody hauled him out of the car. The demo trucks got out of the way, then the monster trucks fired up! Yes, the car was part of the show. The monster trucks demolished the car in a very spectacular way.

The racing was fun, and Elliot and I really enjoyed the action. But the monster trucks really stole the show. California Kid and Rockstar put on quite a show. I was sad when California Kid blew out the right front shocks. His night was done. But, they got a backup truck pulled out of their trailer and put Bucked Up into action. Unfortunately Bucked Up also broke. Spectacularly.

Here is a clip of the monster truck action before California Kid broke.

After the racing was done for the night, the set up for the Crazy Canuck. His plan was to jump three school buses and a firetruck.

He actually made it! Crazy, amazing, fun. Elliot was pretty tired by the time we got home but he enjoyed it. Maybe next summer Amy can come with us too.

Crack Bullit

Last weekend I took the Bullit out for a spin. Heart needed a run, and with my Chameleon having a crack in it, I tend to mtb with the Bullit more. As I was taking the Bullit off the wall I was dismayed to find a crack in the rear swing arm.

Two bikes, two cracks, not enough money for something new. This is a bad situation.

I still went for a ride, but I took it easy and checked the cracked area frequently. Nothing changed over the ride of course.

While riding though I contemplated what I really want in a new bike. I came to the conclusion that I don’t need a replacement Bullit. I love my bike, I have ridden it hard, we have been many places together, done a few races together, and I will be sad to no longer have it, but I just don’t need such a beefy bike.

I’m eyeing up the all mountain bikes. A long term goal of mine is to do the BC Bike Race. A hardtail would be out of the question for the BC Bike Race, and a pure xc rig doesn’t suit my riding likes all that well. An All mountain really does suit me best, allowing me to ride up hill, but still tackle everything I put in front of it on the downhill.

So I put out the call on Twitter for bikes to look into. I got quite a few good suggestions including the Banshee Rune, http://www.norco.com/bikes/mountain/all-mountain/range/Norco Range, Norco Shinobi, Giant Reign, Devinci Dixon, and the Rocky Mountain Slayer. I also pinged Knolly about their Chilcotin, but that is way out of my price range.

I have a lot of research in front of me.

This past Saturday I was out on a road ride with a buddy and decided to stop in at Straight Up Cycles to get my cleats adjusted (I was having some knee problems). While I was there I noticed that they have a Dixon on sale right now. Could this be fate? I don’t know, but on Tuesday I am going to take it out got a little spin to see how it feels and how well it fits me. Add in to the mix is that next weekend I head to Hornby Island.

What am I to do?

Well, the first thing to do is call Santa Cruz to see what they can do for me. Next is to test ride the Dixon. Then we go from there.

Woods Tent

A couple weekends ago Amy and I went camping. It was supposed to be an overnight trip since I didn’t know how she would fair out in the woods. It ended up being a two night even which was a lot of fun.

We arrived in Goldstream on Friday night (after stopping for a donut treat) and got our site. Through a long convoluted story we ended up in a double site with some people we didn’t know, and were going to have to move to a different site in the morning. Amy helped set up the tent and get the inside all situated. With the beds ready we made some dinner (bunny pasta), and ate at the picnic table.

We also went for a short bike ride through the campground. This was our first bike ride together with Amy not using training wheels. Very fun!

There were some rumblings of thunder, and I kept hoping that the rain would hold off. A movie was playing at the interpretive hut, so we took some snacks, a blanket, and a chair and went to watch the movie. Sure enough 15 minutes into the movie the rain started, but only lightly. The movie equipment was paused and put under cover. A camper brought out a huge umbrella, so after some rigging the movie was able to resume. By this point it was close to 8 and Amy was tired. There was still some thunder, and a little bit of rain now and then, but she wanted to go to bed. I read a book while she slept.

The next morning we made pancakes, took down the tent, stuffed everything into the truck, then checked in to our new site. In the new site we once again set up our tent, sleeping area, and camping area. Throughout the day we went for many bike rides, played some games, had a picnic in our tent, and visited some friends that were also staying at the campground. We also watched as some people in the next campsite used their car to tow each other around the campground on the skateboards.

That night we had hotdogs cooked over a fire. Yum. After dinner we had marshmallows, then Amy got ready for bed. I stayed up by the fire and enjoyed some relaxation time.

The next morning we had to pack up and head home. Amy had lots of fun camping with me, and I enjoyed the quality time with her. Next year I think I will try planning for a three night stay at a different campground a little further from home.

Elliot’s camping trip is going to happen later this summer.