My Backyard

First off, I would like to start with a commercial that I've recently seen.

For some reason or another, people seem to think that if they were to win the lottery, all of their time would be spent outdoors, doing stuff that only "rich" people can do.

African Safari for 2, probably $5k to $10k, all flights and tours included. Pricey trip, but it's not out of reach for the regular working Joe, such as myself. If you plan to save for a trip like that, it can be done.

Jumping off a cliff into the water, free. There are places all around that we can do that. It doesn't take millions of dollars to "finally" do that.

Helicopter tour of mountains and volcanoes, $150/hour. If you live in Hawaii, you are lucky and don't have to travel far to see volcanoes (just look down, really). But if you live in western Canada, you can hire a helicopter for $150 for a 1 hour sightseeing tour of sights that are just as fantastic. You may not see volcanoes, but you can see things that are just as beautiful, if not more. (Moraine Lake, for example).

So the world instantly becomes your playground and backyard if you win the lottery. Well, I disagree. People need to realize at just how accessible these places are nowadays. You don't need to be filthy stinkin rich to do outdoor stuff. You don't even need much money at all. Just enough for gas, some beef jerkey and a sweet potato, and you can live like a millionaire everyday.

Sweet potatoes, ready for boiling. Mash up, and eat after working out. Endurace food to the max. Your muscles will dig it.

Here is my backyard. I went for run this morning up Moose Mountain. I had done this run before, but this is the first time this year. It was pretty wet, and there were some pretty snowy/icy patches. I had to be at work no later than 8:30, so I only made the first summit, but that's ok. I slogged up to the first summit as fast as I could, and going down was a blast. I kept telling myself this is "faaaaaaaaaantastic!!!", "I love this" and "woooooooeeeeeeeeeee" the whole way back.

GPS data can be found here.

View from the first summit, looking West towards the ranger station. I needed about an extra 1/2 hour total to make it there, but I did not have enough time today.

Looking south, down my beloved Rockies.

Looking north. It was so beautiful this morning, I could have stayed there all day.

I am currently training for some upcoming races. Some of the races I don't plan on completing (although I will if I can), I am just entering in them for a motivational carrot to be dangled in front of me. As the first picture shows, I have learned the value of using sweet potatoes as a recovery fuel after workouts, especially after runs. I don't know why they are more advantageous than regular white or red potatoes, but they break down quickly into glucose and replenish depleted reserves in your muscles. So that works very well for me.

I have also confirmed that I am indeed gluten intolerant. Not celiac, but if I wheat on an empty stomach, I'm done. So a paleo approach to nutrition is going a long way in my training. People say it is 60% nutrition, 40% exercise. Well I believe that a good routine is 100% of both.

And lastly, I am back at blogging. It's been on hiatus lately for no reason other than just not blogging at all. I can see from my site tracker ticker that I've reached 11,000 views on this blog, so that's totally awesome! Lat time I blogged, it was around 9,000. That's awesome (reiterated).

:-)

Commuting Fun!

As was my goal earlier this year when I bought my bike, I wanted to do a daily commute on the bicycle. Well daily doesn’t happen, but frequent does. Here are some photos (up until the point where my camera ran out of batteries).

 

Ok, the exposure settings suck, but there is a deer in the picture as I head west towards the mountains.

 

See, a nice deer! Blurry, yes, but definitely a deer.

 

Heading south on Horse Creek Road towards the tracks. This morning I had to wait for the train for 5 minutes, but most days there are no trains.

 

Riding through the neighbourhoods towards the intersection. Beautiful way to start the morning!

 

Coming up to the intersection, you can smell all the fast-foods being prepared. Not exactly the best choice for an active morning, but oh so tantalizing when you’re riding on an empty stomach.

 

This is passing the Tim Horton’s in town. It looks as if I’m playing in heavy traffic, but actually I am just passing parked trucks.

 

I used to take the pathways under the bridge, up the other side, across on the pedestrian walkway and then back under the bridge to the paths, but I realized it’s safe enough to just ride the shoulder.

 

Crossing the bridge over the Bow River. The river has been really swollen this year. Usually in the morning it is quite low then by afternoon it is much higher, but now it seems to be always high. It even floods the parking lot underneath quite often.

 

Rather than heading up the highway, I take a right at the lights into Bow Meadows (I think) and aim for Tower’s trail. Sure it’s an additional 10km, but it is so worth every minute of it!

 

Ah yes, Tower’s Trail hill. One of two major hills (if you want to call it major) on the ride. Major enough to cause me to pant.

 

At the top of the hill, the sun just peeks over Big Hill. Such a pretty way to start the morning!

 

At the top of Tower’s Trail hill, some rolling roads that turn into gravel. I figured my ride to be about 56% tarmac, 44% gravel. That’s why I have the commuter bike and not a road bike, as mine can handle the gravel.

 

And there I am. At my desk being a good worker.

Commuting on the bike is great cause it’s the perfect way to start the morning, then I spend all day looking forward to the ride home! Sure it may take 1:15, but it’s no big deal to me cause I enjoy it so much! A great way to get some fresh air early in the morning. Usually when I ride to work, it ends up rainy or stormy, but hey, it’s half the fun seeing whether it rains or not! So far this year, I’ve logged 530km, which I think is pretty good (considering I’ve only put 1600km on my motorcycle).

Early Morning Adventures

Who says that a full-time father, husband, employee and instructor doesn’t have time for himself? I think it’s a lie, something made to discourage us. Not that I always need time to myself, just that it’s great to get outside and do things while not sacrificing your time at home with family. All it takes is an early morning alarm, some good carbs, plenty of water, a picture perfect sunrise and some good company to make everyday an adventure.
Hike data can be found here.

Meet Prairie Mountain. Site of winter flying, very strenuous hikes (as described by the guide) and early morning outings.

Meet Sir M (unknighted though), aka Satchel, aka Patty O’more. Climbing partner, coworker and good friend (and fellow early morning adventurer).

Meet K-country, with such sights as Elbow Falls, Moose Mountain and Jumping Pound Trail.

Now put these three things together and you get yourself an adventure, all before the daily grind. We threw this idea together pretty quick, and now want to make a habit of regularly getting out to do this sort of thing pre-work. I think it’s great, cause you look forward to it in the days leading up to it, and you reflect on it in the days afterwards. Ahhhh…..

Last time I was here, there was much more snow, but some still lingered.

We made the hike more adventurous, with bouldering detours. It was early so M was still sleeping during the ascent.

The summit ridge. Last time, there was lots of snow. This time it was warm and melty, like a delicious grill cheese sandwich.

Hero Summit Shot.

More Heroic Summit shot.

An artsy summit shot. Nice one M!

The best part about summiting is eating while you are up there. But since we had to be in the office in about an hour (it was only 730am), we figured we’d keep the meal short and make our descent.

It warmed up quite a bit and I was very happy not to have brought my snowpants.

Kananaskis country. Empty. No one there. Except one dude we startled who was just coming up as we finished our descent.

M couldn’t resist this photo. This is why I hike with this guy. He’s fun and goofy.

My thoughts on the hike… well pretty serene. There is nothing like fresh mountain air at 6am. There is nothing like an endless narration spewing from me about our adventures as we climbed. There is nothing like sitting at the summit at 730am thinking, “In two hours, I’ll be plopped in front of my computer facing the daily stresses.” There is nothing like knowing that when I get home, I have all the time I need to spend with my wife and son. Life’s good. Make everyday an adventure. It’s possible, oh yes it is.