Tri-umphant!

Week 23: August 4-August 10

Bike: 67 km (40 on road and 27 on trail)
Run: 6 km
Swim: 1800 m

The Yukon's crazy summer schedule leaves many weeks where your taper begins before your recovery can end. After the Yukon River Trail Marathon, I had only 7 days to recover, prepare and taper for the Long Lake Triathlon. The bulk of the week was spent recovering from knee pounding downhills that left me barely mobile on Monday. It took until Thursday for me to move into the training stage of my event preparation cycle. Because of the fairly consistent schedule of running and biking, I knew that the only real gap for the triathlon was going to be the open water swimming. Although I've been practicing at Marsh and Long Lake, I wasn't convinced that the 1 km open swim was possible, let alone a good idea. To help build my swimming self-esteem, I biked out to Long Lake on Thursday night to practice in the water.

I have already spent considerable time on this blog moaning about the stupid temperatures of Yukon lakes. What I haven't talked about it is the potential for catastrophe due to unexpected water animals. It is true, I don't have to contend with the possibility of fatal shark attacks like those in San Diego. That being said, Yukon Lakes may be more dangerous than anyone actually expects, with frightening creatures ready to pop out and attack at any given time. On Thursday, I was the victim of such an attack, which Tony graciously captured on video (while he could have been saving me). In a perfect world I could have edited this video to be faster with the Jaws soundtrack playing softly in the background, but it's not a perfect world, so this will have to do:

Post swim I was feeling confident about the open water and ready to move into the taper/madly cleaning because Tony's Mom is set to arrive in 48 hours phase of the week. The only training left to do was wetsuit stripping - a very technical part of triathlons that involves the removal of the wetsuit and preparation for the bike ride. I was very lucky to have Ms. Alexis back for a visit from Vancouver and ready to assist me with all my transitional needs. On Saturday night, I jumped into the shower with my wetsuit, and then we practiced stripping it off as quickly as possible. When we got it down to 30 seconds, I knew I was fully prepared for the weekend ahead.

Tony, Alexis and I arrived bright and early to Long Lake. While I got dressed, Tony checked out my bike and Alexis laid on my towel and read (which I'm sure was helpful in some way). With about 10 minutes left until start time, Alexis perked up and abandoned reading to make fun on my wicked triathlon outfit - boy, I miss that girl...

Finally, it was race time. I tried to set myself right in the middle of the swimmers, mostly because I wanted to get kicked a few times, just to see what it might be like in a bigger group. Unfortunately, Yukoners are much too congenial and I remained unscathed throughout the swim start. As I moved through the water I realized a few important points of open water swimming. First of all - it's good to know where you are going. Not just in the 500 m out and back way, but really know where the turn around is. Otherwise, you do like me and just swim in one general direction, taking a longer way than necessary. Secondly, it's good to de-fog your goggles before you start, because not being able to see the buoy (which you haven't bothered to scope out) can be tough through foggy lenses. Despite these minor inconveniences, the swim went swimmingly and I came out of the water near the back, but feeling strong. The training helped and Alexis had my suit off and top on in 24 seconds, getting me on my bike faster than some of the girls who had beat me out of the water.

The next part of the triathlon was a 15.5 km mountain bike ride. This ride would have been much nicer had it not started with a ridiculous climb up a gravel road, and transitioned into a constant climb up soft muddy trail. The mud only ended with the loose gravel/sand began (which was conveniently located at the ridiculously steep downhills). I have decided that before I race another mountain bike ride, I'm going to get myself some sport glasses. Not being able to see the trail ahead is a major problem when mountain biking and bound to lead to my early death.

Finally we were at the run, which was a hilly run by normal standards, but reasonable compared to last week's marathon. This is the part of the race where I gained the most time. Although my bike was not strong, I seemed able to maintain the most energy for the final portion of the triathlon. This is a big improvement over last year, where I was physically done before the run even started. I did two loops of the course cheered on by Tony, his Mom and her friend Lee who were down for the visit.

The big shock of the day came after I rolled into the finish line. The miracle of all miracles seemed to have occurred through some cosmic combination of fates. I had actually posted the fastest female time for the race! For the first time in history (actually this might not be true, I think I won a ski race when I was 6) I won a sporting event. While I don't expect this phenomenon to repeat, I am happy to have tasted the sweet nectar of a gold!

Sierra posted this on Aug 14, 2008 from the outside | | permanent link

Rest and Run

Week 22: July 28-August 3

Bike: 39 km
Run: 24 km
Swim: 0 m

When the days are long it's hard not to be out and about enjoying the light. The choice of whether to rest or work is not always yours to decide. This week, my body decided to force me into relaxation by inflicting a horrible cold onto my respiratory system. For five days I slept more hours than I spent awake. This was a nice opportunity to catch up on long forgotten soap operas, whose plot lines stayed eerily the same, and to loiter in my garden. In honor of not moving, I finally put up the hammock that I bought in Belize and read in amongst the fireweed.

After five brutal days, it was the weekend and time for the Yukon Trail Marathon. Right up to Sunday morning, I wasn't sure what exactly I was going to run. The only thing I knew for sure is that we had some left over faerie wings from our 24 Hours of Light extravaganza that were begging to be re-used. Our team included Tracy, Lisa, Jenn and our special mascot Miss Annie.

The Yukon Trail Marathon is a horrendously hilly 42 km course that weaves along the Yukon River and through many of the trails that I frequent near Hidden Lakes. The first leg was run by Tracy, who was brave enough to start running straight out of her car and onto the course due to a slight timing error. Next up was Jenn, who took the run from the Miles Canyon Bridge along the river trail all the way to Chadburn Lake. Note the fairy wings that are helping her navigate the ridge:

Next, Lisa was nice enough to share leg 3 with me. To describe leg 3 as hilly is an understatement, and I was glad to have someone to endure the horror with. Back at the Miles Canyon bridge, Lisa rejoined the team and I continued down the final 14 km back to Rotary Park. I had managed to pre-run leg 4 last Friday, but soon realized that running that marathon course was a bit like childbirth...after you're done, you forget just how horrible it was. This selective memory issue caught up to me as soon as I got off the Schwatka Lake Trail and started into the hills of death. The run culminated with a brutal climb up "Heartbreak Hill", which should be called "Heart Attack Hill". This hill is located 3 scant kilometers from the finish line and involves scrambling up a cliff-like structure. I'd love to watch the front runners tackle this hill, because I can barely walk up the thing, let alone run it. Poor Jen was forced to walk up the entire hill just to capture photos of my triumphant conquest.

After 24 brutal kilometers, I made it over the finish line with a total team time of just over 5 hours and went straight into the river to ice my aching legs. Next up - the Long Lake Triathlon...

Sierra posted this on Aug 06, 2008 from the gym | | permanent link

Carb Loading

Warning - nothing that I write in this post was responsible, encouraged, or intelligent. Unfortunately, a significant amount of what I do falls under the categories of stupid, immature and potentially dangerous.

Week 21: July 21-July 27

Bike: 48 km
Run: 25 km
Swim: 750 m

An important part of training is nutrition and for the last couple months, I've been trying to figure out what the perfect nutritional supplement is for long runs and rides. So far I've tried Enduromax (good results - disgusting taste), First Endurance (good results - disgusting taste) and Gatorate (yummilicious, but not good in the long term). This week a group of us decided to investigate the qualities of a variety of carb loaded drinks.

As with any event - Jenn and I could not resist the temptation of dressing up, and dragged our friend Julie into our costume obsessed world. We decided to go as tarnished Beauty Queens and dressed accordingly.

The race course was set up on a flat path up near Grey Mountain. Teams were randomly chosen, although through some odd twist of fate the Beauty Queens ended up together. The goal of the event was to race laps of the course and in between consume carbohydrate loaded beverages. The beverages seemed to assist with the timing of the race, but had some odd side effects. It appeared as thought the beverages led to an skin irritation that caused the sudden removal of clothing. Even Starbuck suffered from this odd side effect when he lost his shirt to Tony.

In the case of the Beauty Queens, somehow we went in the forest wearing one outfit and came out wearing another...odd...clearly this is something that should be considered before using these beverages in a race setting.

The event finished with Ben, Jonah and Stephen destroying everyone while managing to retain all their clothing.

This week was a pretty pathetic training week due to work commitments that meant 12 hour days on Tuesday and Wednesday. Unfortunately it's not nearly as pathetic as next week will be. I've been battling illness since Monday (I write this on Friday) and have been out of commission.

Sierra posted this on Aug 01, 2008 from the gym | | permanent link

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Many people (and by many, I mean 1) have asked me where my garden posts have disappeared to. I've so far managed to avoid answering questions, but it is time the truth was revealed - my garden and I have broken up. To this day, it's difficult to talk about the ending of our relationship, but after 3 seasons I finally realized that the garden just couldn't commit. Every spring/summer we would have a great time and make all sorts of promises for the next year, but after a frosty winter, I realized that the garden just couldn't be there for me in the Spring. It was a tough thing to accept, but I just could not continue to live with the disappointment of disappearing perennials and late spring frosts. The straw that broke the camel's back was the 10 new daylily plants that failed to live and left me with an ugly empty plot of weeds and dirt.

As with most break-ups, it's been hard to let go and I have to admit to the occasional slip up where I've wandered barefoot into the dirt thinking that a few seeds and a new annual could heal all the hurt, only to wake up the next day and see the empty spot where my white columbines used to grow. While these temporary delusions have been hard to bare, they have also taught me that just because I couldn't be in a relationship with the garden, doesn't mean we can't be friends. I have tried to find ways to make this friendship work, outside of all the expectations of grandeur.

Distancing myself from the garden has been aided by the horrendous weather that Whitehorse has suffered this summer. The drive to loiter around amongst the flowers has been curbed by what seems like a continuous cycle of cold rain and gloomy skies. I should have predicted fate when on June 9th we were covered in snow while Ottawa basked in 30 degree heat.

There are a few parts of the garden that are doing well:

I've had fun growing some moon flower vines, which are, unfortunately, being overwhelmed by my overzealous cosmos.

I've learned that blanket flowers will not make it through the winter, but instead of being upset about it every Spring, I've decided to replace them on an annual basis.

The vegetable beds are doing well, considering the bad weather. It seems like lettuce and cabbage are the greatest benefactors of the consistent moisture.

I started these white begonias from bulbs in April, we will see if I can keep them alive through the winter and next year.

I decided last year to try out alliums, despite the fact I knew they wouldn't survive through the winter. I kept them in the fridge all year long and put them in the garden in May. Only one survived, but it was a special surprise.

Finally - the only perennials to truly perform are the globeflowers and delphiniums which are running rampant and threaten to take over the entire side bed.

I caution everyone to not feel too sorry for me, yes the breakup was bad, but I've met a wonderful new partner...actually multiple partners. I've decided that I'm not ready to commit myself to anyone had have been seeing a variety of bicyles and I'm definitely enjoying the ride.

Sierra posted this on Jul 29, 2008 from the garden | | permanent link

Ice Bath

Week 20: July 14-July 20

Bike: 129 km (100 on the road, 29 on trail)
Run: 36 km
Swim: 1 hour and 20 minutes in the lake

For many years, I spent my Alberta summers in Lac La Biche at the Maccagno cabin. While there, I was famous for lounging in the warm water for the entire days and spending the entire weekend in my swimsuit. Since moving to the Yukon my lake hours have been tragically limited. For some strange reason, swimming in glacial waters does not appeal to me...it must be something about liking to keep my body at 37 degrees celsius.

The sad fact about a triathlon, is that there is a swimming portion that is usually held in an outdoor lake/ocean/body of water. It is only in places like the Yukon where outdoor swimming could mean mass-hypothermia where a swimming pool is used in the first leg of the race. As I am planning to do some triathlons South of 60, I decided it was time to get in the water. (You'll have to watch the first 45 seconds of the clip to get my fabulous little joke).

Since I don't have Ryan Gosling, or a cute 50's style bathing suit, I needed to get a wetsuit. Thankfully the Polar Swim Shop in Whitehorse carries suits that are made for Yukon summers (or B.C winters). Because Mary-Anne, who owns the shop, regularly swims in the frigidly cold Marsh Lake, I fully trusted her opinion of appropriate outdoor swim gear. The only problem with this, is that Mary-Anne's expertise is widely known, so every other girl in the Yukon is sporting the same outfit - how embarrassing...

Cassandra and I bought identical suits and began meeting for open water swims. Our mutual fear of drowning made us perfect partners for swimming beside the shore in 3 foot deep water. In addition to some regular Thursday night meetings, we decided to take advantage of Mary-Anne's generosity and join her in Marsh Lake.

There is not much I can say about Marsh Lake - partially because I suffered permanent brain damage from immersion in ice water. The amazing thing about it is that between my ankles and neck, I remained relatively comfortable. It is really only those unfortunate areas left uncovered by neoprene that made me empathize with Sam McGee and wish for a furnace to crawl into. Despite the crazy cold, there is no swimming pool in the world with a better view to enjoy and no lifeguard that is as nice as Mary-Anne. PLUS, there were hot smokies and coffee cake when we got out - which was much better than the Cheetohs available in the vending machines at the Canada Games Center.

After the swim, I rode my bike 60 km back to Whitehorse with a super-triathlete. We had a raging tailwind that made the ride fast and fun. it was also an eye-opener to the advantages of training with someone faster, stronger, etc... I had my butt kicked up every hill leading into Whitehorse, and I certainly did my best to keep up - forcing myself to pedal faster than I would if by myself.

The only real tragedy of the day was using my waterproof camera to take some pictures. Turns out that my new Olympus Stylus 770 was waterproof until used in the water. I was excited when buying my Stylus because of its underwater picture abilities, so when I watched it slowly fill with water, it was a bit disappointing. On Monday morning I quickly phoned the Olympus warranty center (because in a great miracle, it had actually broken on day 89 of a 90 day warranty), only to be told that I had to magically transport my camera to Markham Ontario to be evaluated BEFORE the 90 days, or it would not be covered. Shockingly, I think that sounds slightly unfair, since the actual breakage clearly occurred within the covered period. I've sent it to Olympus and am hoping that they will get it fixed. If not, I will unleash great blog rage on Olympus.

Sierra posted this on Jul 28, 2008 from the gym | | permanent link

Saying Goodbye

A couple weeks ago a group of us joined together to say goodbye to a very special colleague and friend - the ass hatchet. As some of you may remember, the ass hatchet was an important part of the Triathlon team, although his butt paralyzing powers led to his retirement from cycling and the world in general.

The ass hatchet was born in a small factory in southeast asia. He traveled across the continent with a couple dozen of his closest family members. Life across the ocean was tough for the small ass hatchet, as his rough edge kept him bouncing from bicycle to bicycle. In March of 2008 he joined his final bicycle, the Ghetto Greyhound. At first, it seemed that the ass hatchet had finally found the bike he so desparately wanted. But, after 35 km in the triathlon, something horrible happened, and the ass hatchet started to cut off circulation to Ben's legs. The day after of the triathlon, the ass hatchet was replaced by a less horrifically painful seat.

On Ben's last full day in the Yukon, we decided that it was time to properly lay the ass hatchet to rest. There were lots of ideas - a burial in the backyard garden, a cremation along the triathlon route, or a crucifixion on the power pole marking the triathlon turn around. There was one problem with each of these suggestions - as Tony so astutely observed, they did not involve power tools. It was decided that the only way to integrate power tools into a ridiculously over the top burial was to host a Viking burial complete with a burning funeral pyre.

While Tony and Ben worked on constructing a floating pyre, Lisa, Jen and I collected other important funeral items - basically champagne. Once the pyre was ready, we headed to Schwatka Lake for the ceremony.

Unfortunately, we forgot one important item - matches. Tony and I worked hard to get the pyre going with a pathetic bbq lighter. It took us a while, but eventually the pyre was lit.

Using a long piece of wood, we pushed the pyre out to sea and watched as it left this world in a glorious sea of chemically enhanced (thank you fire starter) flames.

As the seat slowly melted away, we enjoyed our bottle of champagne and a final day with our friend Ben on the shores of Schwatka lake.

Sierra posted this on Jul 25, 2008 from the outside | | permanent link

I'm It

Jill from Juneau tagged me with this little meme that was originated by Elden from Fat Cyclist (a much enjoyed blog and excellent source of fashionable jerseys).

If you could have any one — and only one — bike in the world, what would it be?

Princess - the most favored of all the bikes. Princess is my Giant Cruiser and primary mode of transportation to and from work. While all my other bicycles (current and/or future) serve some sort of specific and much appreciated service, Princess meets my most basic needs by getting me to and from downtown. More importantly, you can easily blow bubbles, facebook your friends, or sip a hot latte while cruising down the street.

Do you already have that coveted dream bike? If so, is it everything you hoped it would be? If not, are you working toward getting it? If you’re not working toward getting it, why not? I do not have my coveted Cervelo R3 road bike, but no worries, I'm working towards it. I've officially done a deal with the devil...I mean Mom (who I should clarify is not evil, just really generous and would never ever back out on a promise to her lovely daughter). In exchange for the Cervelo R3, I will produce a grandchild of curly blond locks and piercing blue eyes. It's a great deal, because my womb is vacant and my garage has space available. Once said bike is in the garage, I have 2 years to either attach a Chariot to the back or the bike will be repossessed by the Grandma Brigade. If I knew I could so easily pawn my children, I'd have a house full of bikes and possibly a problem with a small man named Rumpelstiltskin.

If you had to choose one — and only one — bike route to do every day for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why? I'm not sure if it is a blessing, or pathetic that I choose the very path that I do ride everyday - the Whitehorse Millennium trail. There are lots of logical reasons I would choose this path - first of all it is paved with concrete and only 5 km around. This makes it ideal for a geriatric 85 year old woman trying to motor around her bright pink cruiser. See - I'm a forward thinker that knows that the favored 200 km stretch of road today won't be much fun when I'm on a diet of prune juice and mushed carrots. On a more positive note - the millennium trail is a beautiful route along the Yukon River that boasts flowers, wild strawberries and the occasional beaver or eagle.

What kind of sick person would force another person to ride one and only one bike ride to to do for the rest of her / his life? Either some demonic presence - or the same crazy person that pedals their exercise bike through the entire DVD collection of Melrose Place. Wait...was this a rhetorical question? Was I even suppose to answer that?

Do you ride both road and mountain bikes? If both, which do you prefer and why? If only one or the other, why are you so narrowminded? Yes I ride both. At the moment, I prefer my road bike. There is something about the constant pedaling, and straight concrete road that leads you to a place of meditation that $1500 worth of yoga classes never could. Plus - I have to admit, there is something comforting about knowing that the next endo is not just around the corner.

Have you ever ridden a recumbent? If so, why? If not, describe the circumstances under which you would ride a recumbent. I have never ridden a recumbent. In order to get me on a recumbent, you would need the perfect set of conditions - me and a recumbent bike. So far the universe has not aligned, but I have faith that someday it will all come together in perfect harmony.

Have you ever raced a triathlon? If so, have you also ever tried strangling yourself with dental floss? I have raced a couple of triathlons and plan to race a couple more. I have decided that triathlons are perfect for those people who aren't particularly talented at any one sport. Mediocrity at all three can somehow propel you right to the middle of the pack. Right now, I'm planning for 2 half ironmans and a full ironman in 09. Also - I have never tried strangling myself with dental floss, I don't suspect I ever will...I've got a bit of a phobia of the dentist and floss reminds me of my psychotic dental hygienist.

Suppose you were forced to either give up ice cream or bicycles for the rest of your life. Which would you give up, and why? Ice cream because there is still Frozen Yogurt, Gelato and Sorbet to meet my frozen dessert needs. Plus, if I stopped eating ice cream I could save thousands of dollars on trying to reduce my bike weight by 38 grams because I'd be so much svelter.

What is a question you think this questionnaire should have asked, but has not? Also, answer it. If you could destroy anyone in a 24 Hours of Light solo event and make her wish she was never born who would it be? Tough question, but I think I'm going to go with Jill from Juneau.

You’re riding your bike in the wilderness (if you’re a roadie, you’re on a road, but otherwise the surroundings are quite wilderness-like) and you see a bear. The bear sees you. What do you do? If I'm in a group, look around and see if I'm the slowest cyclist. Chances are I will be - and in that case jam a pump in someone's spokes and pedal like hell. I suppose if I was alone I would beg the bear to take me and spare my innocent bike.

Now, tag three biking bloggers. List them below. What do I do when the only biking bloggers I know have already done this. Was this question designed just to make me feel bad about my lack of internet based social skills? I'll have you know I have 138 Facebook friends, so it's not like I'm a total loser...just a biking loser apparently. That's it - I'm going to eat ice cream, it's going to take a whole tub to get over this incident... I will tag the one and only bike blogger that I know and that hasn't been tagged - Mr. Daniel Sessford superbiker of the Yukoner.

Sierra posted this on Jul 24, 2008 from the gym | | permanent link

Pinktastic

Week 19: July 7-July 13

Bike: 77 km (32 on the road, 45 on trail)
Run: 26 km
Swim: 1500 m + 40 minutes in Marsh Lake

What do you do when the garage has no room for cars and you are late every morning because you can't decide which bike to get to work with? Simple - you buy a new bike. Believe me, I realize that the last thing I need in this world is another bicycle. In fact, most of the winter/spring was spent pimping out my existing mountain bike into a pink goddess. You might ask - how did I give up Frederika the Wonderbike? Simple - I found a pinker bike. More importantly I found a pinker bike that rides like a La-Z-Boy.

Thankfully, I was able to sell Frederika to someone who I knew would value her looks - fashionista extraordinaire Barb. The best part of this little deal was that now Barb has an awesome bike, so I can force her to ride with me more often. In the end New Pike Bike + Friend With New Bike = Sierra Wins X 2. My new bike is named Shera Princess of Power:

The first few rides on Shera weren't fabulous, but after making some adjustments she has become a wonderful ride and threatens to convert me from a road rider....gasp.

In celebration of the new bike, I have been spending lots of time exploring the trails of the Yukon. Tuesdays, I've been joining the Dirt Girls on all female rides; and Fridays has become a traditional beer and BBQ ride out of our house. This picture is from the aptly named "Broken Truck Trail", about 15 minutes before this picture was taken a log left me with a permanent fear of wood. Riding after rain (and boasting about mad log jumping abilities) led to a slide-out crash that threatens to have me walking over ever twig i ever pass.

One of my favorite trails is R n' D, a loop located behind Copper Ridge and created by a work colleague's husband. This trail has some fun tricks that are easy enough for me (which says something). We tend to ride this trail with many stops to accommodate unexplained bouts of fear, followed by idiotic delusions of grandeur that result in retrying tricks. I am not nearly as brave as Jennifer, who somehow found the guts to ride the teeter-totter, despite what appears to be overwhelming fear.

Speaking of fear... this week also marked the arrival of Tony's friend Tony (it was a confusing week). We dragged Tony on his first couple mountain bike rides and learned that inexperience is not a deterrent. Little Tony was brave enough to try out jumps in the Riverdale jump park, some were awesome...some did not end so well...

The mountain biking week ended with a trip to Haines Junction and the Alsek Trail. I have to be honest, I do not enjoy riding the Alsek trail. In the end, it is about 30 km of riding on rocks that are slow and bumpy (even on a La-Z-Boy). The views are gorgeous, and some might say worth the riding (those some are probably not me). I did enjoy the creek crossings and was thrilled with the good weather.

Unfortunately the weather did not last and our plans to hike on Saturday were ruined by yet another day of rain.

Sierra posted this on Jul 18, 2008 from the gym | | permanent link

Trying it Dry

Week 18: June 30-July 6

Bike: 42 km
Run: 31 km
Swim: 500 m (but in the lake, so it should count for more)

After 2 consecutive bike event weekends, I was tempted to spend this weekend relaxing on my deck. But, it's the Yukon and it's summer which means if you aren't over-programmed and over-tired, you simply aren't taking advantage of the long days. This week-end was the Dry-Tri, an event that I'd never participated in, but had heard great things about. It was also an opportunity for Tony and I to actually participate in an activity together.

The Dry-Tri is a duathlon composed of a 4 km trail run, 14 km mountain bike ride, and 8 km trail run. I was planning on taking legs 1 and 3 (the two running legs), and Tony was going to conquer legs 2 and 4 (the mountain biking and beer drinking legs). I started us off with the run, which was a 2 km climb up a consistently horrific hill, followed by 2 km down a horrific hill. Thankfully, I had Cassandra to run with and she kept me powering up when I was seriously considering faking an ankle injury. On the final 500 m of the event, Cassandra screamed at me to lay down the hammer, which I was not really prepared for. I sprinted towards the transition zone and watched Cassandra race past me on the final corner (rumor has it she was shooting EPO before the race...). I'm getting my own revenge by posting this picture of her - you know the event must be good, normally people don't smile like this at the beginning of the race.

Cassandra and I then sat around the picnic tables and waited for our mountain biking team-mates to finish their portion of the event. Tony ripped it up on the bike and managed to pass about 20 people, before sending me back on the course to get passed by most of those people (and a few others). I'm worried that Tony might trade me in for a faster team mate next year.

We managed to finish in under 2 hours and got straight to the beer and salmon. The highlight of the Dry-Tri was definitely the post-event party. Lots of awesome Yukoners (and their dogs) were out and about, and we were lucky to have one of the nicest days of the summer. By the time the rain started, Tony and I were off to Beth and George's for a lovely pot of pasta. Weekends don't get much better than this! Plus I got to make out with Sid Vicious the wonder Vizsla

Sierra posted this on Jul 13, 2008 from the outside | | permanent link

Faerie Faerie Fast

Jenn and I as faeries...I don't know who the creep with the moustache is.

Week 17: June 23-June 29

Bike: 114 km (of trail)
Run: 0 km
Swim: 1000 m

As many of you know, I became Mrs. North of 60 almost 2 years ago when I married Mr. North of 60 (aka Anthony). Since that day I’ve enjoyed what most would consider wedded bliss - minus the occasional “disagreement”, when Tony can’t accept that I’m always right (even when I’m wrong). Some might be shocked however to discover that Tony and I suffer from one fundamental disagreement that threatens to destroy everything that we have built together. I am a “roadie” and he is a “mountain boy”. This great divide has resulted in a garage that contains an odd collection of bicycles - my half have skinny wheels and carbon frames, while his collection are big, tough and willing to run over anything that stands in their path. In an attempt to find some common ground, we have both tried to convert the other. In my case, the attempted conversion resulted in a pimped out mountain bike - I think Tony figured “build it pink and she will ride”.

This year, Tony has been wonderful about hitting the pavement with me, and we’ve gone on some nice long road rides, including our Golden Circle adventure. Now that the Kluane Chilkat bike relay was over, it was my turn to put away the carbon and bring out Frederika the Goddess of the Trail (my mountain bike). This weekend was Tony’s favourite sporting event of the entire year - the 24 Hours of Light. The appeal of this particular event is that it combines Tony’s three favourite activities - mountain biking, drinking beer and watching me walk around in spandex. Unfortunately for him, the cool weather curbed the spandex watching, as more substantial clothing was required.

While the 24 hours of Light has always involved some sort of build up, this year was particularly special with loads of guests coming out to participate in the big event. Jenn and Ben had recruited six friends from the South to ride on our teams and Jill from Juneau was here to defend her solo female championship; I had discovered that an old high school colleague was driving up from Edmonton to race with his wife, so we were expecting a packed house.

Before the actual week-end event, the entire gaggle of guests decided to enjoy the Yukon’s mountain bike trails, including a special trip to Montana Mountain in Carcross. Getting to Carcross with 13 bikes and riders was not something I’d like to attempt again, but I think the chaos of packing was ultimately worth the riding. With the large number of riders and skill levels, we spent most of our ride divided into two groups. The girls group had the elite riders who wanted to huck off massive jumps and nose-manual over catwalks. The boys were generally sissies that just wanted to climb up the massive mountain and brake down weenie trails - they were joined by Steph, a former pro-mountain bike racer. Yes, that was sarcasm - the difference in skill/technical level was evident from the start when we chose to ride “Old Wagon Trail” and they went down “The Rock Garden”…where would you rather fall off a bike?

The riding in Carcross was phenomenal, although the girls certainly chose to take more of a hike-bike-click approach. According to my Garmin watch, we spent about 1/3 of the time taking pictures of our crazy manoeuvres. The highlight was when Aisha walked back up a hill, so that 4 of us with cameras could stand at the bottom and catch her in all of her mountain biking glory. The result was definitely worth the extra time and multiple camera angles.

After riding down “Tin Cup Trail”, my favourite of the Carcross paths, we rode the railway back into town and stopped for the highlight of any Carcross trip - ice cream!

The next day, we woke up bright and early - ready for 24 straight hours of biking, drinking, eating and cow-belling. We had divided our teams along the same lines as our recreational riding - girls vs. boys. In this case, however, we got to keep Steph, our secret weapon. The girls team was named Faerie, Faerie, Fast and was composed of myself, Lisa, Tracy, Jenn, Barb, Steph, Aisha, and Heather. In keeping with our theme we decked ourselves out in faerie ears and sparkly wings. Barb, decorator extraordinaire, also brought fresh flowers for our picnic table and tulle to decorate our campsite. The boys, who had decided to go with the “Strange Brew” (Bob and Doug McKenzie) theme, quickly ruined all our faerie hard work with back bacon, beer and flannel.

The riding was great! Steph threw down the fastest girl lap of the entire race with a blistering 45 minute turn. The rest of us happily puttered around the course, a little bit slower, but just as sweaty at the end. Barb impressed everyone with her late night laps, and we managed to keep someone on the course for the entire time, except for 2 hours between 5 and 7 am, when I was cooking breakfast for all the riders (I will NEVER eat bacon again) and Jenn was getting ready for the first morning lap.

I had two highlights from the race - I successfully hit my sub-1 hour goal by finishing my first lap in 53 minutes (while wearing a skirt and faerie ears as displayed in my last post). I also rode the Kona Africa Bike. This is a 35 pound, single speed, steel bike that Kona makes and donates to aid workers in Africa. Each team was “allowed” to ride the bike in exchange for a donation, and each lap completed on the Africa Bike counted as a double lap. I knew that riding this bike would be difficult, but didn’t quite expect the pain that came with pounding up the hills on a single speed tank, nor did I expect the fear associated with tearing down steep hills with nothing but coaster brakes to keep me from death. Despite all this, I completed my Kona bike lap in an hour and fifteen minutes, while wearing a charming green skirt that I think complimented the cruiser-like quality of the bike quite nicely. If you are interested in donating to the Africa Bike follow the link.. Please note, that the look on my face is one of terror as I speed down a single track section with coaster brakes that aren't particularly effective.

Sierra posted this on Jul 09, 2008 from the outside | | permanent link

Back Smack

Dear Jill from Juneau,

I hope you enjoyed your stay with us here in Whitehorse. I hope you enjoyed the down duvet and feather pillows, not to mention the swimsuit you borrowed to use the hot tub. I hope you didn’t mind us touring you around the best Yukon mountain bike trails, and feeding you fresh lettuce greens from my garden. It is unfortunate that I didn’t have a chance to read the smack talk you posted on your blog before you got here – I must have missed it while I was frantically cleaning and cooking in anticipation of your arrival.

I have some good news for you – next year, if you dare to cross the border, I will be waiting to crush you in the 24 Hours of Light race. You may have set the new female solo record – but I will take that record and annihilate it. Starting today, I will methodically prepare for the day that I destroy you, using all my Yukon powers. I will stop shaving my legs to create a warm covering that will keep me moving through the cold Yukon night. I will make friends with the local bears and coyotes and use them to block your path and distract you in the early morning hours. I will use all 22 hours of light to train my body into an endurance biking machine.

I know that you are scared, I know that you recognize you are coming to the end of your reign as the Whitehorse 24 Hours of Light champion, but I have more bad news for you Jill from Juneau – I’m half American. That’s right Jill, I am the spawn of a full-blooded American mother, which means in addition to all my amazing Canadian skills – I know how to win. I will dig deep into my American self and I will do whatever it takes. If it looks like you are ahead of me, I will jam a pump into your wheels then bunny hop over your sprawled body. If your insanely fit body has more speed/endurance (which we all know it does) – I will accidentally make the wrong turn and shorten the course by a couple miles (yeah – that’s right, I know what a mile is). I will use every manipulative trick known to cyclists and beat you in the name of freedom and democracy. So be prepared Jill – be prepared to hurt!

Sierra from Whitehorse

P.S Can I still come stay at your place when I visit Juneau?

Sierra posted this on Jul 01, 2008 from the outside | | permanent link

Ridin' in the Rain

Week 16: June 16-June 22

Bike: 270 km
Run: 0 km
Swim: 1500 m

It was solstice weekend in the Yukon and time for more than 1000 cyclists to join together in suffering and complete the 240 km ride from Haines Junction to Haines, Alaska. This ride an be done in teams of 8, 4, 2 or as a solo. For the first time, I was attempting to finish the entire trip as a solo rider. Thankfully, I had my Dad to ride with, a seasoned veteran on his 4th full Kluane Chilkat bike ride. The plan was to ride together, and then I would sprint away in the final 20 meters (a skill I had learned from my Mother who had honed the maneuver during the Birkie ski race.

As a solo female rider, I knew I was going to be in a pretty small grouping. I was crossing my fingers, hoping that there would be less than 3 of us - guaranteeing myself a podium finish. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed when I got to the Captain's meeting and saw there were 6 girls - my hopes for the podium were gone and I was fairly sure a top 5 would be out of reach. At least I was going to finish in the top 10...

After 5 years my KCIBR planning skills have been perfected. This is after a 2 years of doing the full drive in one day (5 am drive to Haines Junction for the start and a post-race drive back to Whitehorse)and 1 year of 3 people sleeping in a 1 bed hotel room. This year, I booked the hotels one year in advance and took the Friday off work. This approach worked well - especially because I was extra careful and booked 2 rooms in both Haines and Haines Junction, so when Dad tried to check into the Alcan and there was someone already in his room, we were able to all sleep in the same room without too much trouble.

The Haines to Haines relay started with a Bailey's and Coffee early Saturday morning. I have decided that this is not an ideal pre-race beverage, as it didn't take long for my stomach to become displeased with me. My Dad and I started off slow (okay - we were the last ones to get up the Haines Junction hill), but soon took advantage of an uncharacteristic tailwind and starting flying towards Dezadeash Lake. It seemed like the first 3 legs of the course were over with quickly and besides a mini-breakdown at leg 2, where I thought my knee would cause me to pull out of the race, I was feeling good. My Dad and I were riding together and able to rotate pulling (with the Dad rotation being inevitably longer than the daughter ones). Even when we hit leg 4 and the big hill out of Million Dollar Falls, I was feeling strong and had a great ride up the hill with Wendy (thank God her bike was about 5 pounds heavier, 10 years older, and I was able to keep up).

The main job of my KCIBR support is to listen to me whine. I usually catch up with Tony and the Subaru every 20 km, which gives me almost one hour to think about all the things I could whine about. I create a mental list, which I then prioritize, just in case I don't have time to whine about everything. When I met up with Tony after leg 4, I started whining about my stomach, when Tony (correctly) pointed out that I'd only drank 1.5 bottles in 100 km of riding. This was a bit dissappointing because it ruined my perfectly good complaining with a solution. Then I whined about having to pee - Tony pointed out a bush for me to squat behind. I was almost out of ideas when it started to rain harder, and I began to whine about being cold. At this point I realized that my Dad still hadn't arrived, which was part of the reason I was getting cold. This led to some fairly heavy duty complaining that I didn't know what had happened to my Dad. Unfortunately, Dad did not have the complaining gene and had been suffering through some stomach problems and instead of whining had decided to take a quick nap in the ditch. I didn't know this, so I decided to keep moving on my bike, and leave Tony the job of finding my Dad.

Once I got back on the road, I caught up with George and his pack of solo riders who were kind enough to let me join their pack. I couldn't decide if the pack riding was good because it cut out the (now) headwind, or if it was a bad thing because the wet conditions were leading to grit and water being sprayed into my already wet face. Leg 5 of the race was definitely the most brutally slow and miserable, and I was happy when we got to the checkpoint and the last of the summit legs. At this point, I had to disembark from my pack of fellow solo-ites, as they were stopping for food and Tony was still behind me with the dry/warm clothes. I was nice and soaked and figured that stopping would lead to hypothermia and possible death.

Leg 6 started with a big climb, but my favorite "Steep Descent - 18 km" sign was at the top of the hill and I started to cruise down towards Haines. The hill was long, fast, rainy (picture being pelted with little spit balls at 50 km/h), and very cold. The realization that I was going to get to the bottom of this hill, completely soaked, and Tony was nowhere to be found started to sick in and I began to panic...who would be there to hear me complain about the freezing rain or road grit??? More importantly how would I ever warm up. At checkpoint 7 I found salvation in Beth's friend Margo, who was able to provide a warm coat; as I sped by the 50 car line up waiting at the border I realized this would be my last piece of dry clothing until the finish line.

The last 2 legs were long, flat, windy and largely uneventful. My IPod bit it with about 30 km to go and I suffered through the last hour and a half in silence. Tony managed to catch me with 20 km to go and we planned to meet at the finish line, so I could get some warm clothes. I happily rode through the finish, down the hill and into the waiting car. I stripped out of the cold, wet clothes (much too tired to be modest) and we headed back down the course to support my Dad through the final 20 km. Our hotel room was about 100 meters from the finish, and when Dad crossed the line we went straight for a warm shower.

The 5th riding of the KCIBR was a success. The big question will be whether I solo it again next year (a challenging, but relatively pain-free experience), or try it as a 4-person team and go with a fast, but insanely difficult event. Only time will tell...

Sierra posted this on Jun 30, 2008 from the outside | | permanent link