Category: mountain bike

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Our Adventures in BMX

Whenever I’m in a new place, I try to discover what kinds of recreational opportunities are around. Back in September, I was in the parking lot of Shark Boy’s gymnastics club, when I noticed terrain of a unique nature. It was a BMX park, with bumps and curved embankments forming a course that is completed in a single lap, although it twists and folds back upon itself rather than just being a circle.

My birthday happened to fall on a Sunday, so the Lightning Kid and I decided to give it a go, while Shark Boy was at his gymnastics training. For the footage, we’ll have to consult the Lightning Kid YouTube Channel:

I was on my hardtail mountain bike, which is not quite ideal for jumps and such on this track, or maybe that’s my lack of confidence talking. We did go back once, and I wore clip-in shoes rather than the trail runners you see me in during the video. We also got a chance to witness a race to end the season and see how it’s really done, with a mechanical gate to keep the starting line honest, found at a top of a ramp by the start of the course. A rep from the Abbotsford BMX club told us they would transition to indoors, and how welcoming they were to beginners.

Unfortunately, it took us a while to get back to them, and by the time we did, the Lightning Kid had lost all the confidence and ended up walking his bike around the ‘half-track’ which is the latter segment of the indoor course with smaller bumps. Shark Boy tried the whole racecourse but found his mountain bike wasn’t well suited to the racing gate, as he couldn’t sit in the seat and stay balanced while waiting for the gate to drop. He got to try a loaner BMX bike, but he hated how low the seat was – BMX riders typically stand on the pedals for the entire ride, and absorb the bumps by bending their knees and elbows. Shark Boy seemed to be doing well adapting to the bike and a new style of riding, but apparently he hated every second of it. I thought that would be the end of our foray into this sport, but apparently, the Lightning Kid was adamant about coming back.

On your first visit, you can get a 1 day BMX membership for liability reasons, but subsequent visits mean an annual membership. I have to admit I didn’t want to spring for one just to watch him walk his bike, but thanks to some great coaching by the staff at Abbotsford BMX, he got to ride the half-track the very next visit! Looks like I’ll be investing in the official protective gear (gloves, helmet with face covering, etc) for him, but I’m not sure if it’s something I will take up myself.

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The Death of the Etobicoke Creek Trail (?)

I’ve sung the praises of the Etobicoke Creek Trail many times in this space.  I use it for running, burbathlon, mountain biking and access to Centennial Park.  It even figures largely into my route when I bike to work.  When it was announced last spring that they would be doing some major construction to pave it, I should have been happy.  I steered clear for the period of the construction, and like this blog, I wasn’t being that active anyway.

When I was reminded that the construction was scheduled to end in the spring of 2018, I decided to take an exploratory run.   Where the trail begins from Fleetwood Park it has become a paved trail, which I have mixed feelings about.  I guess it’ll be safer for bikes, and cleaner, but the gravel was appealing to give an off-road, in-forest experience very close to home.

 

I guess the good news is that this would give me a paved path to Centennial Park, and when I want to bike to work, I could connect to Eglinton Avenue, where they have expanded and improved a separate bike path.  That means I could take a road bike which is lighter and faster than the commuter bike I’ve been using to avoid flat tires caused by gravel on this path and in my traverse of Centennial Park.

A little further up (i.e. going North) the trail there used to be a part that was not traversable by bike; you’d have to dismount and walk your bike past roots and stumps, etc.  I always liked this part because it offered a great challenge to navigate and was good training for the coordination needed for off-road running.  It looks like this part has been made more accessible by creating a smooth path by the creek shoreline.

After that, it used to be a gravel path all the way to Eglinton Avenue.  It actually still is, but the construction seems to be intended to widen the trail, and its made a real ‘moonscape’ of the area.

The trail’s access to/from Eglinton is still closed due to construction, so I guess there may still be work to be done to improve the look of this stretch of the trail (photos were taken March 24th).   Still, I feel a sense of loss, because I know running or riding this trail won’t be like the way it used to be.  I have a lot of good memories from the trail the way it was – many of which have been captured in this space.   I can only be hopeful that the end result will continue to make this an enjoyable space; the best case scenario is that the changes make it more accessible to more people, and help people be active and even aid in ecologically friendly transportation.

 

Has ‘progress’ destroyed/altered one of your favourite green spaces?

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This Summer’s “Training” “Schedule”

It’s been a bit of a rough summer so far.  In the Holding Your Ground post, I talked about how I wasn’t going to be breaking new ground in terms of distance or performance this year, and the way things are shaking out, I don’t think I’m going to do any triathlons this year.  I had thoughts of doing Bracebridge again, or maybe dropping down to the Sprint level, but I think I know I’d be pretty much limping through it, and needing the better part of a week to recover.  The concept of merely doing the race for fun and simply enjoying completing it appeals to me, but I know I’d be cursing how slow I am and everything that woulda/shoulda/coulda (Shel Silverstein shout-out!) happened this season with every stroke, revolution and step.



Immediately after getting back from Germany, I underwent a vasectomy.  The snip.  I’m thinking of devoting a post to it in case anyone was considering it and wondering about effects and impacts (don’t worry, there wouldn’t be any pictures), but for now, I’ll just leave it at the fact that I was unable to exercise (or even pick up the kids) for a week after a less-than-completely active vacation just as the summer was getting started.  A summer that follows a brutal winter, where getting/keeping a good base was very unlikely.  It also meant missing out on Band On The Run (at least the racing part, but the music festival/live concert was a lot of fun); I don’t think I’m going to post about it since it’s so long ago and I didn’t run it myself, but it’s a must-have for next year; family friendly, lots of fun.  


So here we are, without racing goals, without a formal training program, with a weak training base and the summer has been rather rainy, if you ask me.  Rain and storms has meant cancelling rides and open water swims at the cottage where I spend most weekends.


Still, I’m not writing this to describe what hasn’t happened, I’m here to celebrate what has been happening.  For one thing, like they say in the movie The Crow, it can’t rain all the time, so the cottage has been good for open water swims.  Unfortunately, due to some weird Garmin firmware crash (that my Forerunner 910XT has fortunately has recovered from) I don’t have any data to show you for it… the Garmin ate everything from June 23rd till sometime in Mid-July.  I can tell you that I did the first one sans wet-suit.
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That decision to swim without it was a good one, I got 1.4 km of swimming done in 33 minutes which made me feel good about where my technique, body positioning and endurance were at.  I had a couple of other swims, one of which was in very windy and rough conditions and was really unpleasant, but at least it would toughen me up for adverse conditions, right?

We’ve taken the kids kayaking a couple of times too. The first time was about 1km, the second we got up to two. They’re pretty good about patiently sitting still, to the point where our arm endurance is a bigger limiter than their fidgetiness (I just made that word up).




The other thing the cottage has been good for is using my mountain bike.  Rather than cart my tri-bike back and forth from the city, I just try and get out on the mountain bike, which I’m treating as part cycling training, part cross-training.  The first time I looked for a trail in the area I encountered a massive mud puddle which a little too much for this novice mountain biker…. but when I hit the same trail the week after, it was dry enough to ride through and I got a little further.
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Whenever I hit some challenging terrain (which, for me, is just about anything more than a dirt road) I giggle and hoot. I bet I sound like Daffy Duck out there.



Back at home, the Lightning Kid’s sleeping schedule has returned back to its horrible default condition.  He’s less accepting of me as means to get back to sleep, but the good news is that when I’m industrious and organized, I prearrange my running gear so I can get up, grab it, change quickly in his room, and take him out running before he can wake anybody else.


It’s been a great opportunity to play with fasted cardio, since I don’t take any fuel before I go (though it’s super important to hydrate before and during, because I wake up as dry as a bone).  I’m pushing the Chariot and taking it easy and just trying to kill 30-60 minutes so that the rest of the house can sleep.  I don’t push the pace, and I’m just happy to be moving, and even then, I find myself tempted to stop running or turn around early.  I’m training my body to recruit more of my fat stores, and training my mind to keep going even though I’m tired which is key for triathlon.

I wasn’t sure how much he was enjoying it, and in fact, when he starts asking for ‘Mama’ I know it’s time to get home quick, but I was surprised at how quickly he’s come to expect it: I got up early with him on Tuesday, and since I didn’t have my gear out and ready (and I was pretty groggy), I didn’t take him out.  He grabbed my running shoes and though I took him out on the porch for a few minutes when he asked to go outside (not for long, because it was surprisingly cold and we were just in pyjamas), he threw a tantrum when he found we were going back inside.  Sometimes when we’re out on the run if he starts to fuss I give him my water bottle to drink from.  He hardly ever drinks from it, but he does play with it a little.  The funny part is when he starts calling me to take it back; he’s like a little coach reminding me to hydrate.

So, though I haven’t exactly been lighting the world on fire, I’ve had some fun and that’s what summer’s all about… and it’s half over!

How has your summer been so far?

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My First* Time Mountain Biking

That “First” has an asterisk beside it, because I can think of another occasion that was my “first time” mountain biking.  I had been on a bike tour of the “Romantic Road” in Germany and on our final day, we climbed up the Alps on the German side and rode down on the Austrian side.  My bike did not have suspension but would still have been considered a mountain bike by some reckoning.  The year was 1994 – I was 21 years old.


I don’t think there’s been much since then, really.  Getting a mountain bike has been an oft-procrastinated goal for me, since I don’t know a lot about them and wouldn’t be sure what would be practical for me.  The general idea would be to get into training for an off-road triathlon (like The Muskoka Grind, which sadly won’t be taking place this year).  Based on my informal research a hard-tail (no rear suspension) would be best for that since the trails aren’t too technical/challenging (compared to hard-core MTB) and it saves some weight.  A bike swap seemed like a good bet to get a bike on the cheap, and I lucked out in having a little bit of free time for the Hardwood Hills Bike Swap.  I picked up this little number.  It’s a Trek bike with Bontrager components… like my current road/tri bike, so I guess, I’m either loyal or superstitious.


I don’t want to keep it at home – the garage isn’t secure enough and I don’t want to clutter the basement any further, so the long-term plan would be to keep it at the cottage and use it on weekends.  I’ve seen a few triathlon training plans that will put mountain biking as a weekend cross-training opportunity.  I think it could work for my schedule as a substitute for long rides – I’m not training for any long distance (half-iron or iron) events and short and intense works better for my family schedule, even at the cottage.  As of Easter, though, the cottage still has snow, but it was beautiful in Toronto on Easter Sunday, so when the kids went down for their nap, I decided to sample the Etobicoke Creek Trail (my main running route) from a different perspective…
View from on top of the ridge


From my sitting position on the mountain bike (which I will call by its model name, Wahoo, until I think of a better name), the experience was more comparable to my hybrid/commuter bike, so I was a little surprised to find the handling so responsive (by comparison).  The Wahoo has disc brakes, which I expected to be super sensitive; this wasn’t the case, and I wonder if they don’t need adjusting.  Still, I figured they were functional enough for what I would be trying in my novice’s trepidation.


The first part of the trail is some light gravel which I manoeuvred around easily.  When I had to climb a little into the forest, I had to deal with some roots and rocks, which made me giggle and whoop as I fiddled around them.  Local construction on Eglinton has blocked off access and exits to the trail in a way I find really annoying – right here I was going to go up to the top of the ridge where I know some mountain bikers have put some ramps and bumps.  Instead I carried on North toward the airport.


Shortly before I reached the highway, I came across a hill I’m well acquainted with from running.  This hill had a lesson to teach me – climbing hills on a bike is not just fitness/performance.  This is where bike handling technique comes in.  I’ve climbed much, much tougher hills on my road/tri bike, but I get into the right gear at the right time, I build up some speed before-hand, and I don’t get off my seat until absolutely necessary.  On my new Wahoo… I did none of these things and had to walk it to the top, and I wish I could say that was the only time on the ride that happened.
View from the top


It was on the way back that I found a way to get up on top of the ridge, and while I didn’t try any of the bumps or jumps, I did find more mud than I would have expected on high ground after 2 days of great sunshine… so I got dirty, in true MTB tradition.



I came home with a big smile on my face… let’s correct that and say a Big Kid Smile on my face, since I felt reconnected to that primal sense of fun a kid has when tearing along in abandon on a bike.  I don’t know if an off-road triathlon can be fit into my schedule this year, but I really want to make mountain biking (if only, moderate risk mountain biking) part of my training regimen.

Are you a mountain biker (of any stripe)? What should I call the bike?