5x5 Week

Decided to try paddling at least 5K every day this week.

Monday: 4.9K

Tuesday: 5.4K

Wednesday: 7.2K + a 6 min swim & a quick jog up and down the bluff from Bellamy Ravine to Sylvan Park. The lake is definitely warming up.

Thursday: 6.2K, according to Trimble Outdoors' AllSport GPS (downloaded OTA from BlackBerry App World). Trip map here.



Friday: 8.9K, from Galloway Rd past the water filtration plant southeast of Beechgrove Dr to the bridges at the south end of Colonel Danforth / Lower Highland Park. Max speed 8.6K/h, according to AllSport. Very brief dip in the lake at dusk, followed by a brisk counter-current paddle back home.

UPDATE: Here are some photos taken throughout June.

6+19

Friday: quick trip to and from Bellamy Ravine, including a brief catnap on the lake & a very brief swim just before dusk. Chilly but invigorating.



Saturday: beat Plants vs. Zombies. Rain sucks.

Sunday: Hiked up the Bluff w/ the dogs to test out Google Lattitude's accuracy. Not bad, but I think it's time to score a copy of Allsport GPS or Trimble Outdoors for my BlackBerry, if they work in Canada.

Quick 19km ride to and from Pickering in about 50 mins. Great speed on the way there (27km/h, terrible on the way back. Average 22.5km/h.

Rouge Beach to Frenchman's Bay

Beautiful day on Lake Ontario today. The wife and I did 7km from the put-in at Rouge Beach park over to the channel markers just outside Frenchman's Bay in about an hour and a half.

2x8

Finally slept enough to have the energy to get out paddling today, after a brief paddle a couple weeks ago that ended when I discovered a capsized kayak a little way out from me.

Altruistic thoughts aside, I towed it in to shore thinking, "hey, free boat!" only to discover that its owner was on the shore wondering how he might ever recover his boat. I lent him my Wheeleez so he could lug his leaky boat up the hill to civilization and back to the store from whence it was acquired.

So, today was the first time this season I actually managed to cover some distance on the water: from Bluffer's Park to my close-to-home put-in at the bottom of the big hill south of Galloway Rd, in under 2 hours.



After dinner I cycled the 8K back to Bluffer's to retrieve the car.

66K as I turn 33

Last week: 10K quick trip around the neighbourhood.

Friday: 31K trip to Pickering and around Scarborough.

Sunday: 6K from Gerrard/Coxwell to Bloor/Sherbourne, then 19K back home.

2009 Season Opener

After a total slacktastic winter, involving only a single use of my bike trainer, followed by a trip to California for EclipseCon '09 + meetings w/ my new teammates from Red Hat, JBoss, and Exadel, and then being sick for most of April, I finally got myself outside for my first ride of the season. There's nothing as exhilarating as a ride in the rain!

Unfortunately, I seem to have misconfigured my bike computer, so pushing myself as hard as I could, I only managed a reported average speed of 11.7km/h over 13km in a 66min period. Google Maps clocks the ride as being more like 21km.

If you ever want to inspire/motivate/depress yourself, try setting your computer to a larger tire size.

A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood

After being sick for the past week, I was finally feeling well enough to get out for a couple of longer walks with the dogs, first on Friday to Morningside Park...



... then on Saturday, to bluffs near my house...



... then to the beach, where construction is ongoing to extend the trail along the lakeshore...

From 20081018 Morningside Park And Lake Ontario

... and finally, by bike to my favourite spot by the lake.

From 20081018 By The Lake