Gadget Blunder

We had another great team training day and we were joined by a couple of new people. I did not properly operate the GPS as I failed to log two distinct activities--the mountain biking and the trekking are combined as one and I was able to get the trekking only tract but the time is not accurate as it logged the time when I turned it on after we finished our trip. However, there is still quite a bit of useful information and you can get an idea of the bike leg by correcting the times on the trekking leg. The bike was out and back on Parker Road. We had a mechanical on the return trip. The trekking involved a lot of bushwacking and valuable navigation training by Dave. He placed several check points or way points for future use.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4679025 combined http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4679072 trek only

Ohlone Trail, Part 1

Went for a run up and over Mission Peak on and around the Ohlone Trail today. It was a very nice run. A little longer and quite a bit more climbing than last week. 15.5 miles, 4450 ft elevation gain. Track on MB.

The Ohlone Trail runs 35 miles from a trailhead in Fremont to Del Valle park near Livermore. My plan is to run the entire trail as a series of out-and-backs that get progressively harder (and more remote). Mission Peak is the easiest section and there is really nothing special about reaching the summit. Everybody and their dog (literally) was out there today.

What made my run out of the ordinary is that I descended down the back side of Mission Peak and continued on the Ohlone trail to Sunol Wilderness before turning around and heading back up.



The first time near the peak it was too cloudy so I skipped the peak (you take a short spur trail to it) and continued on. Instead of sticking to the main trail I took a longer alternate route that presented itself.



I caught a nice view of the valley on the other side just as I descended below the cloud-deck.



After the peak I saw nobody until I got back up to the peak again. All I had for company were some bovine friends.



Sunol Wilderness is another place I like to train. Perhaps next week I will climb up the peaks in this picture.



On the return trip Mission Peak is still socked in. I went up anyway and timer-shot this picture of myself. Kinda classic: muddy, wet, cold adventure racer huddled in the rocks. Cool.



Instead of taking the boring wide road down I took a steep technical single track on the other side of the peak. On the way down I caught a nice view of the crags below the peak and some sun breaking though the clouds. You can see the road as well.



And a view across the bay to the city.

New Airline Regulation on Batteries

Just saw this on Yahoo. You are now not allowed to carry lithium primary batteries loose in your luggage. I imagine this includes lithium AA/AAA as well as CR-123. Not really an issue, although both types are cheapest in bulk, which means they don't come in any consumer packaging. The article implies that safely packing them so they don't short (duh) is enough, but it is not clear.

Edit:
More information from the source. Basically, you can't have any spare lithium primaries in your checked luggage, and only two cells in your carry-on. What's worse is that they allow multiple lithium primaries installed in a device, which really is a fire hazzard. Google provides horror stories: [1][2][3].

The company I work for recently had some prototype lithium-ion batteries air-shipped from a vendor. They arrived in funky explosion proof canisters covered in hazmat labels. Neat!

Training Tool 60CSx

I have a Garmin 60CSx and didn't know about the motion based web site. Thanks Kent. I will confess to being a bit of a technophobe but I will attempt to log and record tomorrows session. What I have included here is the data from the last time I used the instrument.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4663046

New Training Tool

Santa brought me a Garmin Edge 305 for Xmas. Very nice. It logs all sorts of data - route, speed, heart rate, elevation and so forth. You can then upload it to the Motion Based web portal. See my Thursday ride here.

Nose Hill Prairie Park

Welcome to Nose Hill Park, my main training ground.

This park is located a few blocks from my house and is about 5 miles wide by 5 miles long. The park is my main training ground because, on moment's notice, I can be in there running or on my bike. I usually run all around the park which takes me about 1:45 for about 12 miles, I've never really measured it.

My usual loop includes 4-5 hills (picture) that are about 200-300 feet in vertical climb over 1/2 mile. I try to hit most of the long and tough hills most times. however, if there is one thing I hate is repetition and predictability. So every time I go in there, I run a slightly different loop, which is why I don't really know how far I go. I guess that's also why triathlons do not appeal to me and AR does!

The park is a Hill in the North West part of the Calgary. The park overlooks a good section of the city, including the skyline (picture) and the airport. Yesterday was a much "grayer" day than usual. Usually, at this time of the year, the "land of the big skies" live up to its nickname.

Now when I tell you that I went for a run ... you'll know where..

Dom

Ski Vermont

Well we just finished the excitement of the ski vacation in Stowe Vermont - and I even learned how to upload video to blogger (not that it is that difficult...). I've put a nice summary of it up at my blog at http://eaglinar.blogspot.com/ with video and everything.

Tunica Hills

This weekend we went to Tunica Hills and the Clark Creek recreational area to ride and trek in the hills. The area is appx. 2.5 hrs from New Orleans but well worth the drive. We cranked out 18-20 miles along a dirt road with a few granny gear climbs. I was not able to snap any pictures on the biking section as all my efforts were devoted to hanging on to the wheels of my teammates and keeping breakfast down. Next was trekking a couple of hours along the Clark Creek trails where these photos were taken. Next time we go I will remember the GPS for the elevation changes but maybe these pictures will give you an idea of what it is like to train in this beautiful area.

Rancho To Black Mountain

I went for my first long-ish run of the season on Saturday. 13.6mi, 3250ft climbing. The route was from the Rancho San Antonio parking lot to Black Mountain Peak and back. Map.

Instead of a strict out-and-back, I took the optional secret single track that connects the top of the PG&E trail with the black mountain trail.



The PG&E trail follows some transmission lines up the mountain. It is fairly steep, but runnable. I didn't run it today because I want to slowly crank up my workouts. No need to be a hero.



At the high point on the PG&E trail I could see all the way to San Francisco. This is only possible on clear winter days. There is too much smog and haze over the bay in the summer.



Here I turn from the beaten path and take a small singletrack that connects me with the main trail up to Black Mountain. It is marked with a sign that says "Please Bury Human Waste And Toilet Paper". Ick. Sadly, most people seem to think this is an impromptu latrine area and the first 10 feet of trail are littered with TP.



At the top I could just see out to the Pacific Ocean. It is hard to see from the picture. The recent rains are starting to turn the hills from golden to green. I'm looking forward to more runs like this in the coming weeks. From the top I took the main trail back to the parking lot. It is a few miles longer and at an easier grade. A nice smooth downhill.

Big Sky Country!

This summer I had the privilege of participating in a mapping expedition of the Continental Divide Trail along a portion of the Montana and Idaho border. I am looking forward to returning to Montana.

Henry Coe SP Ride

Went for a ride in Henry Coe SP on Saturday. Nice day, but very dry. That is unusual for this time of year.

18 Miles, much of it singletrack. 3500ft of climbing. Henry Coe is all hills. I grabbed some pictures along the way to share.



I started from the remote south entrance to the park. This is a nicer place to ride than the main entrance because it starts off low and ends with a downhill. The only problem is that all of the trails up are very steep. I usually take the Lyman-Wilson Ridge trail up, which is the most direct but also one of the steepest routes.



About half way up is an incredibly steep section of trail I have heared called the Lyman-Wilson Wall. The picture fails to capture how steep it really is. It gets steeper towards the top, with deep ruts in the steepest section. I didn't have my compass with a clinometer to measure the steepest part, but it is easily over 25% grade. I made it up without walking, but I did rest at the bottom to take the photo.



I made a turn about 500ft from the top to follow a nice single track around and up the mountain instead of straight up. I've never tried to ride the straight up way. There are many ridge roads like this in the park that are scary steep to ride down and pretty much unthinkable to ride up.



Wilson Peak is 1900ft above the parking lot. Here is the final section of road to the top.



And the view back towards the Bay Area. There is a nice, rarely used singletrack that drops off the back of the peak. That took me down into another canyon from which I climbed back out of and up to the top of the next ridge over.



The final descent back to the car is a 1500ft drop over two miles on the Jackson trail. It is a nice singletrack with many switchbacks. This is one of the preferred ways to get up the hill, but I think it is just too nice of a downhill waste. Preferred or not, I didn't see anybody on it. Come to think of it, I didn't see any other bikers on the whole ride. Just a couple of hikers at Wilson Peak. It is a lonely place.

A December weekend in New Orleans

The weather was warm and perfect for training. We started Saturday morning with a couple of laps on the bike trails in the Spillway. This proved amusing and a little scary as we came upon a group of bird watchers intent upon a gold fin (bird). The scary part was the hunter we came upon within the next 100 yards. We warned him about the bird watchers and he apparently disappeared as the park rangers were investigating the situation. Later, I paddled in a bayou along the spillway with a friend who is training for the Everglades Challenge. I have concluded that the golden eagle that I reported seeing earlier in the week was in fact an immature bald eagle. We also saw numerous alligators, nutria, herons and an osprey.

Orienteering in Florida

Team Blue enjoys the pleasure of having not one, but two good navigators. While Kent is finding his way around the Stanford campus (which is really neat) Ron was in Florida competing in the event at Kelly Park. Details and map are at the blog

http://eaglinar.blogspot.com/

The top 5 competitors in this race were all within 2 minutes of each other, when I left it looked like I was running second place - 50 seconds behind Bob Putnam. There were still some strong runners on the course when I left, so that could change. The results will be up at http://www.floridaorienteering.org/ some day so I will know. Whatever place I end up in - I know that I ran a great course (with the exception of control #2 - live and learn) with great competition - which is what it is all about.

Stanford Orienteering Club "C" Meet

The Stanford Orienteering Club put on an event this weekend on the campus. Although not exactly what I expected, it was still fun. The bike ride to Stanford from my house is nice so I rode instead of driving. It's about 12 miles, with only minor hills.


View Larger Map

The map for this event was very interesting. It was titled "Stanford University - A Campus Map" as if it was some sort of official thing you give to tourists. Although intricately detailed enough to be a major work of art, the map had absolutely no road or building names. Even the tower, visible from all over the campus, shows up as simply a rectilinear grey blob.


There wasn't much to see, but the course did run by by the museum. I collected these pictures afterwords on my bike instead of lolligaging on the clock.

The Gates Of Hell (yes, it is called that).



This is just north of the museum. There is a control hiding in the bushes behind it.



An interesting statue.



With a control posted on the back side.

Team Blue First Post

This is the blog for Primal Quest 2008 Team Blue. Information on Primal Quest is at http://www.ecoprimalquest.com/wp-primal/ The team is Ron Eaglin (Florida), Julie Ardoin (Louisiana), Dominique Drouin (Canada), and Kent Ryhorchuk (California).