Golden Triangle 2005

Well it's the week before this years Golden Triangle Ride. I am a excited about this ride even though I did it two years ago. I haven't been putting as many hours on the bike and I wanted to because of life getting in the way... Needless to say I have been exhausted lately with two jobs and still tying to train!

I have my ride to the event arranged, thanks MOM!! Luck would have it that she has a convention in Banff. I still haven't figured out the weather, I am going to pack my rain pants but hope I don't need them, if didn't bring them I would be wishing for them :)

I am going to take my Palm to type in my journal at the end of the day and hopefully just paste it to this page... we shall see.

Decided to pack less on the bike this year mainly because I didn't need it then why now. Some people had joked that this ride was an excuse to eat because about every 30ish Km is a food stop. If I am not careful I could end up with 5 meals in one day... still trying to find the problem with that... Oh yah I am trying to loose weight!

My goals for this ride are simple. Practice with the aero bars, try to go for a run even if it ends up being 5km, and have one hell of a good time!!

Day1

Well what a start! I forgot my helmet on the kitchen table, the luggage driver suggested I speak to Deb the event Lady. She luckily had an extra one because this has happened before. The weather has been interesting, Rain, Snow, Sun. That has created some amazing views of the mountains when with the clouds and sun. At one point I followed ok I found a sucker to Draft off and was covered in mud. I had a wheel issue that made riding the bike similar to a Jackhammer. I felt like I just rode the spring classic Paris-Roubaix which is famous for hits mud and cobble stone roads. I have noticed that bikers need to learn to shoulder check, more than once someone crossed the white line to pass another cyclist to get a horn blast from a car. At one point I watched a guy try to pass three ladies riding side by side... How he didn't get killed is beyond me. Oh yah I almost forgot we saw two black bear cubs in different places, they were very close to the road. I even stopped for a photo, Yah yah I know I shouldn't have but least I didn't try to feed em.

Survived climbing Sinclair Pass and coming down on the ridiculously insane horrible disgusting shoulders to get to Radium, definitely looking forward to the hot springs. As I pull in I realize I don't have my lock. All GT'ers have a bright yellow ribbon on their helmet and a orange band on the wrist. So when I saw a couple with the same problem, no lock, we tried to find a solution, out walks another GT'er done with the hot springs. I walk up and ask to rent his lock he laughs and hands it over. We have two hours till we have to meet at the food tent to return this lock. Thanks... Jim?? The three of us took off and the lady had a bit of a crash in the parking lot... went a bit too slow when clipped in :)

Got the tent up and I am using the dome tent that I had in High School just so I don't win the smallest tent award again. But their is a strap missing to hold the fly onto the tent.... more about that later :) Once again they were serving a pasta night but this year I don't know if they overcooked it or what but it was not so great. Our mechanic I found out has some tires for sale so I bought a new one to fix the thumpity thump thump. It turns out that the rim tape has worked it's way up the side of the rim so the tire will not seat properly hence my bumpy ride.

I have discovered that this palm will reset when bat low so keyboard will not work. That would suck in France, glad I found out now.

Day 2

Holy wind batman!!!!! I don't think many slept last night. Breakfast was excellent but this tent sucks! I don't plan on using the fly if the wind picks up in Golden.

My back felt much better in am thanks to Advil (insert advertisement). There was a wonderful tail-wind to help us go downhill towards Golden. I bumped into a group from Grand Prairie and Melissa worked with my Uncle Howard small world! I Got a flat between snack & lunch. That seems to be the trend this weekend someone always seems to have a flat just before a food stop. I stopped to help Pavlov before snack #2 on Day 1. There was some crazy Rain at lunch. I had just finished eating when it started, I was wet already so I stopped long enough to turn on my rear flasher and kept going. I am surprised that my knees don't hurt like the did the first time doing the GT. The supper was a nice meat and potato meal that was much better than last night. That pasta sucked. I was a few numbers off from winning a prize. Took vitamin Advil & had a nap in the sun in front of my tent I think I am ready for tomorrow. Oh ya this Palm sucks, I wish the keyboard would work!

Day 3

I slept right through the trains that go by the campsite. This morning was very cool and the clouds don't look too friendly but the wind is in the right direction, two days of tailwinds SWEET!!! I was packed up and ready to stand in line (many lines this weekend that annoyed some but I think I did good with no evil thoughts) I think I was about #20 to get in for food. When I left the line was huge! I don't know why but I remembered Golden differently, I thought their was more hotels and businesses at the top of the hill. Golden is much larger than I thought as well, nice town. Oh that hill that is not a fun way to start the day, that thing was steep!! I spent a fare amount of time in the granny gear today. I dragged myself into the first snack and filled the belly trying to ward off the Bonk but it arrived anyway. 10Km before lunch life got goofy I desperately needed food. I knew my tire would give me trouble with no rim tape and of course it went flat before lunch a guy stopped because he passed me yesterday when patching a tire so he gave me a tube and changed my tire for me. Then I came across Ted from TeamX fixing his flat tire, this new Road Morph Pump is getting its workout this weekend, glad I bought it is a really good pump.

Arrived at lunch in Field and spent about an hour relaxing and filling my belly with good, cycling fight the bonk, food. For some reason I was expecting the climb out of the spiral tunnel viewpoint to be hard like getting out of Golden. I got to BC-AB border and knew it was mostly downhill from there. By snack #2 I was feeling great and got a last chance to say goodbye to some friends. As we got closer to the finish we found out their is a bear in the area so we kept a group together and the Bag Piper was at the corner to pipe us in. Mom was there with Juice for me and had already picked up my luggage. She had her own adventure this weekend and I was very happy to hear her tell me about the great time she had.

Aftermath:

As one can expect doing 330Km takes a beating on the body. I haven't suffered from the ride so much, but trying to keep up with my two jobs has been an exhausting adventure. With 5 meals a day I expected to gain weight on this trip but I lost a few pounds! I am starting to worry that I will not get a chance to fully rest before this weekends Triathlon, I skipped this weeks swim classes I hope that will be enough. But that is the next chapter in the life of Randy

Cheers!!!

Dive Night

May 6, 2005 a Team X Adventure

Wow what an evening! I have often wondered about Scuba Diving if I could do it what it would be like etc. So when James sent out the email saying anyone interested?? It took me about 2 seconds to decide and reply.

We spent time on the deck of the pool getting info from our instructor Allison, who I think spent time teaching kids at some point in her life because of the facial expressions she made when describing how do some of the tasks. Mind you we are all just large kids when learning something really neat!

It took me quite while to convince myself that I could have my head underwater and still breath. We were taught how to let go of our mouthpiece and put it back in to breath and how to clear our masks if they filled with water. I accomplished both tasks without panicking. Oh the most important rule is always keep breathing.

I was able to balance myself and go around at the same height, but not very well that is one thing I will need to do. I was even able to watch other swimmers from the bottom and see how they do the Freestyle stroke. That may help me in my attempts to swim. We spent about 1.5 hours underwater I think.

After the mandatory hot tub soaking and story telling ;) called it a night telling more stories and having fruit slurpies. It came out that Allison was IN the Tsunami in SE Asia this past Boxing Day. She was 25 meters under the water when it went by. She has her own stories of what happened that she shared with us. I felt better being taught by someone who had been through such an ordeal.

If I ever get another opportunity to scuba in the ocean I am taking it!

Long Run 2005

March 05, 2005

Well I did it again. Team X sent an email out saying a bunch were going to run 16Km for their Taper run preparing them for a marathon. Because I have missed so many LSD runs because I don’t get Sundays off, so I got by butt to the new Running Room in Eau Clair. James, Jamie, and a few other regulars I can’t remember their names were all there. Turns out there was a group there for the good Friday Run, must remember if there is a holiday people are getting together to run J. Everyone headed out the same way so I could decide at the last turn before the groups split how far I was going.

So I had a 10 or 16K run available. The first leg we had a nice tail wind to help us on, but then we turned into the wind. I fell back from the group's pace Jamie stayed with me to help me back. It’s amazing you let your heart rate drop for a bit and you recover and next thing you know you got the goods to catch up with the group. Jamie let me rest in the group for a bit and then said we could pick it up a bit you ready? Game on! We passed the point where the 10K turned and kept going. I did fairly well considering we skipped the walk breaks on the last 6K which started to hurt me at the 14K marker. I stopped and walked when Monty the Friendly Giant (Dog) stopped to say hello to another dog. I shouldn’t have walked because it hurt to get going again.

It did feel really good to get back to Eau Clair the square there just feels like a natural finish line. I didn’t experience the great need for food like the last 16K run last year. Overall I came out of the experience better than I did last year. Does this mean I am fitter even though I am a little heavier than last year?? Who knows I had fun. In a few hours I will head to the Friday Talisman Brick workout if my knee stops throbbing.

Long Run

Hello Fans, April 18, 2004

I have just reclaimed my "CRAZY" label. This was my first weekend off in month, so I finally get to join up with the Sunday Run Club. Sundays are the long slow runs that are very useful/helpful in endurance training. Today's plan was to do 8Km (run for 10min walk 1 min and repeat) I finished that off in 55 min @ 6.8 min/KM pace and was feeling really good and happy with myself because the furthest I had ran before this was 6 Km straight @ 5.4 min / Km pace.

Some of Team X (a training group I hang out with) were there and a bunch of people were going for more with the only rule that you could only turn back at a Marker (#Km are painted on the side of the path) I was feeling really good and they told me it was even a slower pace than what we just did.

"Um well, Ok what the hell I have the day off" I said. we started out with about 12 people and each marker 1 or 2 turned back. The conversation is always lively and entertaining but what's said on the trail stays on the trail :) We got to the 3Km (11 total) marker and we had one of our walk breaks and my legs instantly felt like jelly. Jim, Jamie, and Lisa all kept an eye on me and noticed I wasn't talking much. I asked are my legs suppose to feel like this?? the whole group turned and smiled at me and gave me that Oh this is your first time kind of a look. Jamie piped up and told everyone that they longest run I have done before was 6Km and I am working on a Personal best.

They cheered and I began to think of nothing but waffles. At the 4K Jamie, Lisa, and I turned back and Jim and the last 2 ladies went to the 5K.

I have learned a new language called listen to your body. The last 2.5Km of the run I felt much like I did on the Blueberry Pass last year. In short not good. My body was talking on a whole new level of swearing at me. The age old question "writing checks your body can't cash" was used as well.

We got back to the running room to wait for the other people to arrive, and I felt good that I finished the run without turning into a whiner. My whole body tingled and I could feel a headache coming fast. Once again I asked I am I suppose to feel like this? and a few marathoners that were nearby and Jamie all said you need to eat very soon. Then they said the magic words-- there is an all you can eat breakfast two blocks away. I got directions and staggered there and had 3 big plates of breakfast food no waffles but lots of French toast and crispy bacon and I feel GREAT right now!!!

I can't believe that in January I was worried because we were running for 3 mins then walking for 1 (3&1's) and the group leader thought we were doing 5&1's. Now here I am running 16 km or 10 MILES in 2 hours using 10&1's. I am just amazed at how the body is able to adapt, I have noticed as well I am no longer called "Big Guy" :) its great.

Now why could I have done this in high school :) !!!!

Cheers

Randy

2003 Golden Triangle

Day 1

Woke up at my usual time of 5:30 in the am to get my stuff together. Nic quite happily accepted a park pass for his fee to get me to Castle Mtn. As we drove up we compared his GPS unit to my altimeter and they weren’t that far off of each other on total climb and such. As we pulled into the junction we both realized that this group had their stuff together. There was a St. Johns First Aid unit there along with volunteers ready to get you signed in and your bag taken care of. Even the club president grabbed my bag from me and put it on the truck.

To the snack stop wasn’t bad I was cold, first in my hands and then my toes. I needed a second sock, which I am so glad that I tossed in the bike bag at the last second. I met Ken the Tri-athlete just before snack and kept pace with him for a while.

It was nice to see Lake Louise Ski hill again it brought back some good memories. I think I chased a train somewhere around here and lost J

The downhill from the great divide was anti-climatic, I didn’t realize I was over the top until it was too late and passed the signs. Snow was in the air and the wind was gaining strength in the headwind department. A lot of people complained about the snow and were shocked to here me say “didn’t notice, been through worse”. I was the only one to stop at Spiral Tunnels, and I finally got to see a train go in and out of the thing.

Lunch at Field was great! Clouds were on one side and sun was shining on the mountains in front of us as we eat. It was mostly downhill to the next snack where I kept getting stuck behind people that Braked on the downhill, what’s up with that!! I mean there was a headwind to slow them down for crying out loud. A word of caution those bridges before golden are not fun I hope they finish the road repair soon!

The town of Golden is built in two parts top and bottom, when on a bike and you have something to do at the bottom, don’t climb back up the hill if you don’t have to! There were people going up the hill with their luggage on their backs to get to their hotel, then back down for supper, up after, down the next day to drop off the luggage and start the ride. Silly rabbits!

Ken walked past my site before supper and we talked and exchanged emails, except I can’t find his now. Suppertime there was a slide show showing pictures from the last 20 years of the ride. I met three guys that have been doing this for a long time. Also a couple, the lady looked like Moe from work. And I would bump into these people more often than I thought. Good people just don’t know their names.

I came back to my tent and table and started to write in my journal for something to do so I didn’t go to sleep too early. All of a sudden this wonderful looking lady is walking towards me. I have just found my next-Tent-site-mate for the evening. We talked for a while until this older guy brought out a guitar and started playing old songs. Meagan (Me-A-gen) kept the fire going after I killed it by moving one log… I think I lost my campfire badge that evening.

Day 2

I arrived at the first snack stop before the food was out. I was quite shocked that I had that early of a start, I was certain there were many people ahead of me. I met up with Ken again and check out the average speed on the next stretch J But I didn’t look at the view as much as I intended. We kept seeing another group going the other direction and they were a lot of younger women on that ride!

The elevation profile lies!!! This looked like the flat stage but it wasn’t. Every foot up was the same down. I must have climbed a 50 foot hill 50 times after lunch. But I did crank on these hills so I was quite happy.

I made it into the Ball Diamonds at Radium and found Ken waiting on the fence asleep. Just after lunch he looked at me and said “I just want to crank it up and see what the legs can do today” that guy took off like lightning, to see him having a nap was quite funny to say the least. Then it dawned on me that we beat the luggage truck, oh crap! By the time the guy had the back door open there were two chains formed up ready to unload the truck. Some people didn’t pay attention to the 30lb limit, my back hurt from some of those damned bags. With half the people staying in hotels they shouldn’t be so many 50lb bags!

We ended up going to the Hot springs together on the first shuttle up. The hot springs are very nice, there were shall we say some “great views” J There were a couple of good looking women that could make you cry. We ended up having home made Kooteney Pasta and after supper just hanging out with those three guys from the night before.

Day 3

Woke up really early and made the mistake of opening the zipper on the sleeping bag. I discovered frost on the inside and outside of the tent. It was good enough motivation to do the bathroom run.

I knew this was going to be a hard day so I wanted to get a good start to the day. I was with Ken until I stopped to take pictures of the hot springs. Haven’t seen him since. Like I said earlier, he is like lightning. Well I climbed the 13.4 Km to the top of the hill in just under and hour and a half. Good grief that was a tough hill, guys were saying it was the hardest hill they have ever done. It was tough yes but I thought Bow Pass was harder because it was so much longer climb.

As I went up the hill I was stripping off layers to avoid overheating. Other people were not but it was what I had to do to survive. Now at the top of the hill you have to put it all back on because the wind will get very cold. Good thing I had my fleece gloves with me.

At the snack stop a lady went into the bathroom hut and the door lock stuck! It appears to have happened before because the bottom vent was kicked out and there she was on her hands and knees crawling out. It was funny to see everyone watching and then clapping when she got out.

Just before Lunch I noticed my right knee was in disagreement with me. It appears that I was climbing a false flat in the big ring clipped into the peddles. I was limping a bit at lunch and got some flack from a volunteer scolding me a little. She was right it wasn’t a race and there were vans there if you could not go on. I thought I could go slowly to the snack stop and see if it got worse or not. I really wanted to complete the whole trip but I was cautious. I found a cadence I liked and tried to stick with it (wish my cadence sensor was working it would have made it easier).

When I got to the last snack I asked a few people I had met how bad the hill was compared to this morning. I was told it wasn’t as bad just hang in there but hurry up. There was a storm brewing behind us and the tail wind that it was creating could push you up the hill. The climb has a false summit to it. I thought I was at the top only to go around another corner and see more uphill. I should have looked at my elevation to see how close I was but I was having problems with it earlier, I forgot to start the log right-away so it was still on baro mode for the first 3 Km which was all uphill!

The downhill was amazing, traffic must have had a hole just for me. I went down and there weren’t many cars passing me until I got to a slow lady braking again (argh!) As soon as a string of cars went buy I yelled “clear on the left” to two strangers and then Kranked on the pedals to get to 68kpH.

I got to Castle Junction to try and find Ken to get the ride to Banff but he had already left. So the tall guy from the trio gave me a ride to met Laura (from work). I was amazed to see her waiting at the gas station I thought she was going to be late for certain but it was me that was.

I am already thinking about the 21^st GT next year and how I can prep for it better than I did this year. Count me in, Sign me up, this loaner is hooked on this group experience.

Randy Miller

May 22, 2003