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Here we sit, ready for the fourth and final instalment of my series of posts from Iceland in 2016. Writing these up […]
Hello Friends! Well, as the title implies, I managed to pull off a podium finish in the Ottawa Riverkeeper Kayak Triathlon this past weekend. Now mind you, there weren’t thousands of racers in my category as there are in other races, but I still feel very happy about coming in 2nd place a mere 2min. 16sec. behind my friend Mike Caldwell. The kayak triathlon consisted of a 5km paddle, followed by a 20km bike, finished off with a 5km run. Now this is by no means as gruelling as the 240+km race I’m doing this weekend, but nonetheless I definitely had to push myself. I actually don’t like really short races. Generally speaking, the people that enter them are really friggin’ fast. I’m not. I prefer a race where you have to use your head, and pace yourself better. For that reason, I’m looking forward to the half ironman triathlon I’ll be doing later this year. 2.5km swim, 90km bike, and 21.1k run. At least there you have to pace yourself and not just go flat out! However, in this case, I did go flat out, and it paid off for me. My weakest part was unfortunately the paddling part. I was set up in my little red plastic kayak, which is definitely not known for its speed. Conversely, Mike was in a wooden kayak that had been raced in the 1976 Olympics! You just know that one is made to go fast. Not only that, but at the start line, a canoe paddled by an inexperienced team cut me off badly by accident, causing me to run into them. When I tried to push off them to get back on track, I managed to spin myself further off course. By the time I got clear, a lot of the kayak field was well ahead of me. So, had I been in a faster boat, and not had that snafu, I’m pretty confident I would have won first place! As it turned out, the records have me as the 6th kayak off the water, but then I was in 1st place for both the bike and the run! Pretty sweet. I think a lot of it had to do with my very quick transitions, where others may have dawdled. I’ve learned my lesson from other races.
Ok, so I wasn’t really biking in Hawaii, but I sort of experienced what biking in that neck of the woods might be like. This will in fact be a different sort of post for me, because it’s actually going to be… wait for it… a product review! What?! I’m sure you’re wondering why, and fear not, your questions will all be answered, and you’ll also get to laugh at me trying to do yoga, and read about a set of cycling DVDs that are new(ish) to the market. Yup, my tireless blogging and training has finally got me some notice. I noticed a comment on my site less than 2 weeks ago asking me if I’d like to review some spinning DVDs, as I’m a cycling blogger, and the gent thought I’d be interested. What follows in the next few paragraphs will explain how I came to get those DVDs, and just what I thought of them. I had to get cracking on it, because with the nicer weather, I didn’t want to stay locked up in my basement spinning anymore, so I sacrificed a Friday night to bring you this review and the associated pictures and videos, all of which you can check out on the flickr folder I put them in. But before that, you might as well just hit the read link, since I’ve embedded the videos as well.
Good day my friends. I thought I’d take a quick moment and write a blog post where the subject wasn’t purely about racing or training. I say not purely because I just couldn’t help myself from at least a little training on the one weekend that I had more or less free all summer. However, in true ActiveSteve style, I managed to combine my relaxing with the training for a truly spectacular weekend out on the Madawaska River at Jim’s property near Calabogie. Of course, I’m talking about his annual Mad River Float, in which he invites a whole crew of friends out for the flotilla on the river. Everyone brings a floaty thing, and we put in 3-4 km upriver of his cabin and leisurely float back, with the aid of tasty beverages. Afterwards, there is a super-tasty barbecue put on by he and Ali, then a roaring fire to finish things off. As per usual, I took pictures of the whole event, and you can check them out on the folder on flickr. Click on to read the rest of my little story, which won’t be too long, I promise!