Ontario Cup #6
Well, it’s been a while – the last time that I wrote in here
would have been after the Nationals race at Hardwood, and since then a LOT has
happened (which has also had a great influence on my racing). First and foremost, I finished my work off at
the farm and had my first trip to Europe! Tori and I both went to Germany for
an interview actually (the company brought us over, and the understanding is
that we are a bit of a package deal). This was an awesome experience; Southern
Germany is so beautiful, and the food and beer is both plentiful and great.
Unfortunately for my cycling however, I spent much of the time with company
engineers drinking beers and no time on the bike. We left Germany on a Tuesday, and that night I
went to bed in Algonquin Park (one serious day of travelling).
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| They even rolled out the red carpet at our hotel in Germany! |
Now I’m in Algonquin working a 7 week contract with the
Ministry of Natural Resources living at the Harkness Fisheries Research Station. Harkness is kind of like staying at a 5 star
rustic resort; food is always cooked for me, I live in a little cabin in the
bush on Lake Opeongo (the largest lake in the park), and they actually pay me
to go hang out in a boat all day! The work I have been hired for is fisheries
netting, currently we are doing a broad scale monitoring program which involves
putting out and pulling in 18 or more nets every day. This means throwing out and
pulling back into the boat sometimes more than 100m of rope attached to about
80m of nets (which is tough on the hands!). A basic day at Harkness is: Breakfast at 7am
(which is cooked), pack lunch and fill boat with gas by 7:30-8:00, net till
6ish, come back and eat, then camp fires, slack lining, euchre, running, or
riding. Unfortunately again for my cycling, the food here is very good, I spent
the first week and a half without my bike, and there really aren’t many trails
that I’m allowed to ride on in the park. But I’m quite comfortable and happy
here!
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| With fish geeks like Claire |
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| Living on a Lake in our own little cabin village. |
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| And from time to time going on flights in planes with ridiculous names like the "Turbo Beaver" |
This past weekend was Ontario Cup number 6 at Duntroon, and
was the first ride over an hour and a half that I had in 3 weeks, which also followed
a 2 week hiatus from my bike. I have one great picture to sum up what happened:
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That is the look of pain and determination on my face,
because it sure took a lot of both to finish that race. Temperatures were a
scorching 30 degrees (compared with Algonquin Park which has been cold enough
for me to layer up to 4 layers while working), and the race was a doozy. Very
hilly, and fairly technical, with creek crossings, big rocks, and tight trees.
Normally I wouldn’t consider this a very technical course, but in my current
state of not having ridden bikes, I was hitting my bars off trees, and not
really riding as fast as I know that I am capable of at all. To compound
things, my poor, shocked legs were spasm-ing for 4 laps out of the 5 lap race,
ceasing up a lot. On the bright side, however, my bike worked flawlessly, I had
some great fun on the trails again (finally), and they had cool features like
this
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| The best part of every lap |
As well as uncool features like this
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| My face looks worse than my rear at this point. |
It wasn't my best race, but I finished a great
personal trial, and have a couple of weeks to build toward Provinicals and see
what kind of result I can scrounge out of a bit of an unlucky season! Anyways,
I start work in about an hour – Just another day in Paradise!
Always some great photos here
Always some great photos here
