Switchbacks Takeoff

another day in the woods

Sean and I headed out for a rip at the dump today. He brought Bosley with him, but I was Yoshi-less. Yosh needed a timeout. He overdid it a couple days ago, and was still a little sore.

The ride was fantastic though. The weekend was supposed to be rainy and gross all weekend, but the weather held out for the ride. Actually, the weather was quite nice all day. Blue sky, fluffy clouds every now and then, but muggy.

We headed up skull, up to C-Section, then up the switchbacks. So far I was feeling pretty good. My quadricep was a little sore, but I took it easy until I was really warmed up. The climb up the switchbacks was tough, bu tI made a few more corners than I normally do.

I set a new personal record on the log ride at the top of the switchbacks. I rode it completely 4 times in a row, including one time in the reverse direction. Very cool.

Taming twister we headed up towards phase 2, but cut off for Jelly Roll and Lumpy Pants. I had been on Lumpy Pants before, but this was my first time on Jelly Roll. Both trails have some great features. Each has a couple jumps that can be quite big if you get enough speed. Slow it down enough, and the drop is only 3 – 4 feet. The Jelly Roll drop is definitely the bigger drop on the two trails.

After eyeing up the jump, I decided that I was definitely going to do it. I got my feet set on the pedals, and started the roll in. As I neared the lip I was about to tap the brakes and chicken out. Mentally I told myself NO, and moved those fingers away from the brakes, and planted them on the bars. The takeoff was quite smooth. As the landing rushed towards me I extended my legs to get the rear wheel down first.

The impact wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Quite the contrary actually. It was pretty smooth. My back end did buck up a little, but a jab on the brakes, and everything was under control. Woot. It was fun, and I wanted to do it again. I refrained, and chose not to push my luck.

I must need to change my rear shock setup. That landing really caused a bad bucking action. Later on Lumpy Pants, on a similar drop, the same thing happened. On landing the rear shock rebounded very quickly, and control was limited. This time I turned into the slide, and regained control. I came very close to running into some logs laying on the fall line, but it was all good in the end.

After Lumpy Pants we followed the road back up to the top of Who’s Yer Daddy. I don’t this trail very often, and I always forget how much fun it is. After the first rock face that ends at the fenceline, the trail descends, and picks up the flow. You just let the brakes go, and weave throught the trees. Drop off a few logs, jump a few rocks. Fun, fun, fun.

At the end of tha trail, it was just down the fireroad, and a quick burn down Skull.

Lovely little ride today. I am feeling pretty fit these days, and am really enjoying riding. I just want to get out there and ride some more.

Overstepped Throws

the truck wasn't running, and neither was I

Last night was another Ultimate game. I have been pretty excited about this season. I am on what I think will be a good team. A couple of my teammates I have played with before, and another couple I have played against. I think this will be a fun season.

Last night started the season off on the wrong foot though. I was on for the first point, and even though I had warmed up and stretched I still over did it. I pulled something in my quads. I could feel it before the point was over. I sat off a couple points, then went on for another. It felt like if I overstepped just once it would really aggravate it. After that point I sat off for a bit, but I could tell I wouldn’t be able to play carefully any more that game.

I was pretty disappointed as I took my cleats off. Dammit. It was a good feeling to be disappointed though . It means I made the right decision to play again this season.

Walking back to my truck I knew I made the right decision. Every step sent shots of pain into my thigh. Getting out of my truck was a chore, and shuffling up the stairs was not good.

My plan for next week is to ride my road bike to the game. This should warm me up pretty good so that hopefully I won’t do this again next week.

My brain tells me that I should take it easy, but my body just pushes itself. I remember the speed I used to be able to play at, the moves I used to be able to make, and the throws I used to be able to complete. Things are different now and I need to ease myself back in to the game. I will need to be conscious of this next time. Can’t wait until Wednesday.

Treatment Crashing

Sue on a rock face

Sunday Sue and I went mountain biking. She hadn’t been offroad in quite a while, so this was just an easy ride to try and get her back into it. I didn’t want to kill herself on her first time back 😉

We started off with Shock Treatment which is a nice rolly trail with the odd challenge to keep you honest. After that it was an old school loop that went far over to the firehall side of the dump. Sue kept up to me very well. It definitely wasn’t her fitness that kept her back.

Sue riding over a log

Of course Yoshi was there too. He had lots of fun as always.

On one section, Sue went back to try it over. Yoshi started to follow, then stopped right in the middle of us looking between Sue and I. You could see in his mind he was trying to figure out who he should stay with. It was quite funny.

I am so proud of Sue though. On the last trail of the day, Skull Trail, there was one particular corner that I wanted Sue to give a try to. While I spotted her, she tried it several times before getting it. I can remember how tough it can be to go back and try a drop after just crashing on it, or not making it. Sue kept on it until she made it. Way to go Sue!

Proud Sue

I had a good ride too. It was good to get out and sweat a little. Riding is always so much fun.

me

Candidate Taxes

all candidates meeting

Just got back from the All Candidates meeting for Esquimalt. We were there for about 45 minutes or so, but it was definitely enough. There were three candidates

Each candidate definitely had their own style. Maurine’s opening speech was all about how the Campbell Liberals had screwed everything up, and the NDP would fix it. She basically attacked the Liberal party.

Jane went off on how the economic model was wrong for BC.

Tom introduced us to his latest work in the public office, and some of the problems he has solved, or is currently working on. Immediately you could see the difference here.

We only stayed for a small portion of the questions, but the NDP position is that the Liberals have a huge deficit, yet the NDP will fix the whole province, and not raise or drop taxes. In most of Maurine’s answers I just wondered where the hell she planned on getting the money from.

Jane usually answered her questions about how the economic model was wrong, and they would look at it, and change it so that it was better. Again, I wondered where they would get the money to change all these models.

Tom’s answers never attacked another party, and generally made sense. In my opinion he was the most well spoken of the three.

With 7 days to vote, Sue and I wanted to learn a bit on the issues, but we could only stand the rhetoric so long. No matter what the question was, the candidates still had problems answering the asked question.

It took less than an hour of our time, but it was still time well spent.

450 Passes

Just got back from swimming with Sue. I haven’t been out in a very long time, but I stil managed to get through 450m. This was my first time at the new Esquimalt Pool. It is pretty nice, and the salt water is a good temperature (IMO). Plus the hot tub is an excellent size, shape and temp. Prices are reasonable too. If we end up having a family, and living in Esquimalt, we will most likely get yearly passes. Anyway, nice and tired now. Time to watch a little TV, then off to bed.

Today is the big day!

Today is the big day! I am getting picked up in a couple hours, then I won’t see Sue until the big moment (sort of). The weather is overcast, but it looks like sunny breaks this afternoon. Everything is good to go. UVic is decorated, and looks awesome. The park is in full bloom. The bride and groom are just needing to get prepped.

Now if only the spammers would leave my galleries alone. I have had to disable commenting for now. :grr: