Alrighty folks, two weeks has passed since the 2006 Salomon Adventure Challenge Canadian Champs at Bark Lake, and it’s high time that I write up my race report. No excuses anymore. Well, that and the fact that if I’m not careful, I’ll forget all the gory details, then what’ll you do? Also, with our trip to Argentina looming in about a week, I know that I’ll have bigger fish to fry in the ole blogosphere. Although I try to keep things on track when I write these posts, I usually get too excited, and ramble on, so please forgive me in advance, since this was a very interesting race, with lots of roadblocks to overcome. Have I whet your appetite yet? Well let me start off by saying that there is a saying in the adventure racing community, and that is that getting to the start line is the biggest challenge. Well, read on, and learn how this is so true. Wanna see pics of the race? Check out my folder on flickr. Most of those pics were taken on the race course with a disposable camera.
Okay friends and well-wishers, enough messing around with safaris and red bananas and lounging by a pool. It’s high time we got down the business of scaling some of the bigger peaks in Africa. This post will serve as the kick off for the first of our true hiking experiences during out African adventure. On tap first? Mount Meru, which at 4,566m high is Africa’s fifth highest peak. The purpose of us scaling this lesser peak first was primarily to assist us with acclimatization, as well as giving our lead guide for Mount Kilimanjaro a chance to see how we might perform when it came time to the big show. This climb would take us 4 days and 3 nights, although the only real climbing day would come starting at day 2 starting at midnight. On that day, we’d be going for the summit. However, before we get to that day, I’ll write a post for each of the days we spent on the mountain, but try not to make them too long ;-). Also, since we’re on a mountain now, I’ve got a map to share with you, as well as a set of pictures from the first day itself. Enjoy those, then click on back and read the rest of the story.
Click here for pictures from Salta. Howdy folks, well, I´ve got a rare bit of free time to write up a post in the sort-of middle of the day. It´s just around 4:30, and I just got back from my lunch, and have free time till 8pm, so let´s just pick it up where we left off and talk about yesterdays journey. I talked about getting on the train to the clouds, and then subsequently finding out it would be a mini-bus to the clouds. I´ll have to be honest though, sometimes, these little changes are just what you need. This tripped proved to be well worth it. Although by the end of the trip, we all agreeed that these particular clouds weren´t very soft and fluffy, and could use a spot of pavement 🙂 As it turns out, the road we travelled was pretty bumpy, and filled with lots of cargo trucks laden with lithium brine and borax. These are some of the things that get mined from the salt flats that exist in the altiplano at high altitudes between here and Bolivia. We got an early start to our day, boarding the bus at 8am. The trip was to last for about 12 hours, and we had a great guide named Pablo to fill us in on all the gory details of the areas we´d be seeing. read on…
Howdy all! Welcome to another edition of my race result reports. This report will fill you in on all the gory details of my recent Kayak Triathlon, the Ottawa Riverkeeper Kayak Triathlon. This race consisted of a 5km paddle, followed by a 20km bike, topped off by a 5km run. I raced in this one last year, and got a nice second place finish, just behind Mike Caldwell. This year, I had a newer, faster boat, a newer, faster bike, and an even greater desire to be victorious. Also, Mike wasn’t going to be in this one. So, I was planning to give it my all and not accept anything less than a first place finish. And that’s just what I got, or at least initially. I got the medal, I got the prizes, but then found out later that I actually only came in second place… again! Read on for the whole story. You can also check out some pics that the lovely Jody took at the race.
