tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1590759189509375552024-03-19T05:00:53.246-06:00Edmountain Ski-Motraining for mountain sports in the big cityEdmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.comBlogger356125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-83439446965771617722023-06-29T13:20:00.001-06:002023-06-29T13:20:14.474-06:00K'NexIn parallel with Lego, I got back into K'Nex and Meccano. My history with K'Nex and especially Meccano was different than my history with Lego. More time consuming building with Meccano and less realism with K'Nex limited how many creations I made with either of those mediums compared to Lego.<div><br /></div><div>K'Nex and Meccano sets contain instructions for many alternate builds (5+) compared to Lego where many sets have none, or just have suggestions for alternate builds on the back. Like Lego, I rarely took apart built models which limited me from discovering the alternate builds. We also had large K'Nex sets like the Big Ball Factory, Screamin' Serpent, and Saturn V which remained assembled having never built the alternate models, but collecting dust. We even had a pinball machine, but that one is gone after it must have broken.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQ_RF5cQQ6g3KdwHcILgsz8KJvKOZIgMlya5RONjKIdDpj33Sdk5LwEDDBxRbW2GxTK5IHX8kOcjHw2bentAMoDJrcVVhclAVthbz55u0F2BAlwXH8ncCXSR-lCjUELu6fM2YLYBfq1Ng-GrXBmqOVa9xJrJaKAx5m4YtVJIxO2M7GZNXoD2tQenBQuk7/s4000/20230408_175634.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQ_RF5cQQ6g3KdwHcILgsz8KJvKOZIgMlya5RONjKIdDpj33Sdk5LwEDDBxRbW2GxTK5IHX8kOcjHw2bentAMoDJrcVVhclAVthbz55u0F2BAlwXH8ncCXSR-lCjUELu6fM2YLYBfq1Ng-GrXBmqOVa9xJrJaKAx5m4YtVJIxO2M7GZNXoD2tQenBQuk7/s320/20230408_175634.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Building the Big Ball Factory on Christmas, losing the race against daylight</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizpxlzF-CvCv8_wDjqDFjeXKcXEVfQDyJ2uYZ5P88NMXNMfjJ1x0lpx-B6yC_sgES2Z7xANu9LsSQY5_sSfBo9lVMvfTEOlAa7wKA3iTiU31JIgNYQ3PMLhKXRwQp6vV0MJDbuHqAO50VGBiWZcif4x5ePQ7OosaEu4UCSSYs5-d8ZH4fUXW0e9nEW2dH3/s4000/20220927_223912.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizpxlzF-CvCv8_wDjqDFjeXKcXEVfQDyJ2uYZ5P88NMXNMfjJ1x0lpx-B6yC_sgES2Z7xANu9LsSQY5_sSfBo9lVMvfTEOlAa7wKA3iTiU31JIgNYQ3PMLhKXRwQp6vV0MJDbuHqAO50VGBiWZcif4x5ePQ7OosaEu4UCSSYs5-d8ZH4fUXW0e9nEW2dH3/s320/20220927_223912.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screamin' Serpent</td></tr></tbody></table><div>While there is a scan and inventory for pretty much every Lego set, finding information on older K'Nex sets is harder. There are a bunch of instructions saved on a website on archive.org. Basicfun.com also has some instructions. Perhaps someone has uploaded a scan to youtube, manualslib or instructables. But it isn't hard to come across sets where one can find pictures and set numbers but no evidence anywhere of instructions. Fortunately, Meccano has a more complete history, even including scans of magazines.</div><div><br /></div><div>My reintroduction to K'nex began with the K'Nex Dinosaurs multi-set. The walking motion and the way that the dinosaur heads, spines, and tails were created in 3 dimensions with K'Nex was mindblowing. I quickly worked my way through all of the builds. </div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcp1uk1eU1ADwduAueZ-zDCjTEwLR3JC7QpgkczCyOUMUECQKaZ2fxZjTxCzBieq9F58SWcApeWlLeoUMiGjSLFGAIuWkdAc_pqrj41FVcweT_q0D-hzydDu7pBfIRes9lN2Yolg9h7od-NQ4GXumj-hQb30qyFjEDvXJaCwJFe0uYQ66_H54XENhgvqJX/s4000/20220621_220447.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcp1uk1eU1ADwduAueZ-zDCjTEwLR3JC7QpgkczCyOUMUECQKaZ2fxZjTxCzBieq9F58SWcApeWlLeoUMiGjSLFGAIuWkdAc_pqrj41FVcweT_q0D-hzydDu7pBfIRes9lN2Yolg9h7od-NQ4GXumj-hQb30qyFjEDvXJaCwJFe0uYQ66_H54XENhgvqJX/s320/20220621_220447.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The head on the T-rex really opened my eyes to the 3D potential of K'Nex</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuQbHE3ClP6SVGk-lEgyaZ5-eEnDcKslOoAwV1xCHSBbmQkY03Ik8lmQbIBmz4A5eiOHdalQGz2qKkppmIeLUtsNOCDCqed1hQOGTD_OTyJHDgAAhrtr8F76O4mFnx-xU5NrzY2eDkeFBPBK07WyozFYNPEm6I4BSvGicHg85wi_PY7mE0fEY5EoaijCW2/s4000/20220430_084017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuQbHE3ClP6SVGk-lEgyaZ5-eEnDcKslOoAwV1xCHSBbmQkY03Ik8lmQbIBmz4A5eiOHdalQGz2qKkppmIeLUtsNOCDCqed1hQOGTD_OTyJHDgAAhrtr8F76O4mFnx-xU5NrzY2eDkeFBPBK07WyozFYNPEm6I4BSvGicHg85wi_PY7mE0fEY5EoaijCW2/s320/20220430_084017.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ears and trunk on this Wooley Mammoth as well</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Inspired by the dinosaurs, this ultimately led me to conceptualize building a K'Nex version of Grogu from the Mandalorian with Jenny (who was also inspired by the Wooley Mammoth and the master behind the head and ears).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg-u40__keJzE1pw5eS47aAaVDn8svaO44eHQYDbmaEUtsLVwdAGgAbSKNGxJU17MGBogzxMlueoYU87MiyheOG8qYl8qCp3knPWs0MZc1vODMBBLxCaUjOaQaemblntCi7EQBXxUID2RUcQTrIDxCSCKXmRuIwOtutdebb_0stu6z3GzcMIJksAYQwb-d/s4000/20220722_230623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg-u40__keJzE1pw5eS47aAaVDn8svaO44eHQYDbmaEUtsLVwdAGgAbSKNGxJU17MGBogzxMlueoYU87MiyheOG8qYl8qCp3knPWs0MZc1vODMBBLxCaUjOaQaemblntCi7EQBXxUID2RUcQTrIDxCSCKXmRuIwOtutdebb_0stu6z3GzcMIJksAYQwb-d/s320/20220722_230623.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The next K'nex set I rebuilt was a Robot World Set. I received this set when I was a teenager and was disappointed at the time because in my mind, it was not a robotics kit like Lego Mindstorms. I only built one of the 10 models and unfortunately I deconstructed this model to build the others before I realized that the actual model I built was absent from the scanned instructions I found. Oh well, after building all of the others, I had to re-create it based on a couple of pictures. While this set was disappointing when I was younger, I was amazed by the walking motions and the clever use of parts to create ratcheting mechanisms.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXzwo-4CICBSAL9_h3F-l2_5iPhwJ7BzI3V_VaE5aaOjJgAh5bhLr5XNurirKkfRCIwXEYW0e18GyDquJVbHHNPBFTj4a3Wt11H3wg_2a5r3zADPLnDp-OwDXGlVGk7ER5iQpcPmmepaUAgMwy9qA5-hf1Sb7dhP2k7jbKTbI70BtP6E_pfagsBizmyaCT/s4000/20220824_221930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXzwo-4CICBSAL9_h3F-l2_5iPhwJ7BzI3V_VaE5aaOjJgAh5bhLr5XNurirKkfRCIwXEYW0e18GyDquJVbHHNPBFTj4a3Wt11H3wg_2a5r3zADPLnDp-OwDXGlVGk7ER5iQpcPmmepaUAgMwy9qA5-hf1Sb7dhP2k7jbKTbI70BtP6E_pfagsBizmyaCT/s320/20220824_221930.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robot World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div>With K'Nex, there are actually not that many unique parts, so like Lego, I looked for possible sets that I could rebuild. I discovered the massive Hyperspace Training Tower builds as well as smaller builds. </div><div><br /></div><div>I set off building the Hyperspace Training Tower. It was a massive set and I did exhaust my supply of some parts and had to borrow from Jenny's childhood K'Nex sets. It was time consuming to create, but the final result was a 6 foot tall tower with 9 different stations to clip a K'Nex figure to spin around on and I was again hooked.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6LlaLBpsnezir098C6vgshcn7lP4OsMUiTqDDrLKGAK0BkyWLmKGiLggZz4z7wCrIREmyWXMEr7FUW3SR52DkJbLaSJiRjDAJrkPIgQfF-Yc3dZlSj2csfVtG750RuCpUj0hPpWdtarirg4oY5u6xZREI5z0j-2otsP-ATOuasiCWOU335viKoDcEgJYM/s4000/20221011_204918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6LlaLBpsnezir098C6vgshcn7lP4OsMUiTqDDrLKGAK0BkyWLmKGiLggZz4z7wCrIREmyWXMEr7FUW3SR52DkJbLaSJiRjDAJrkPIgQfF-Yc3dZlSj2csfVtG750RuCpUj0hPpWdtarirg4oY5u6xZREI5z0j-2otsP-ATOuasiCWOU335viKoDcEgJYM/s320/20221011_204918.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hyperspace Training Tower</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Next up was the Power Tower Crane, which is a ball machine that uses a crane that can lift and rotate to pickup balls and move them into the chute. I found the ball picking up and release mechanism neat and also liked the sturdy crane rotation bearing.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnecyJodYfBCN_1sHx1DqhIKH5OrSfLHrcH5klHIFO2vYu8QdJXAJoEbb3NULBApMo06O7989r-5ovIuM-pdoXXWTci-Bj3FVu37K0sKkl3pyqNikISqEmC8i_vlhbmUpgwnZOSnfznWlf336BtMPBDKfGoQeTb7O3_SRH4hwBqDp5I4w3RA47iMRf3OLl/s4000/20221029_181900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnecyJodYfBCN_1sHx1DqhIKH5OrSfLHrcH5klHIFO2vYu8QdJXAJoEbb3NULBApMo06O7989r-5ovIuM-pdoXXWTci-Bj3FVu37K0sKkl3pyqNikISqEmC8i_vlhbmUpgwnZOSnfznWlf336BtMPBDKfGoQeTb7O3_SRH4hwBqDp5I4w3RA47iMRf3OLl/s320/20221029_181900.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Power Tower Crane</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div>I then started to build a couple of roller coasters, scaling up some of the K'Nex designs so that I would not have to cut the track from my Screamin' Serpent. I enjoyed these builds as they went quicker and created exciting results.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDUGzWAXyexhp35QVgSViZz0lWCUTkMacQawqlFemQoU0BeazECOwYaiRW-uY0mouckbbig3rGg9uP9zERxtxlZUtV8OrTEfQIvk26k5igvm_ZCnsPICWqNn4Z2Xowy-EAWB7H4IIdu-4iurqyowzKDknaMZLMOp-3AsF5RbBWGbpoD44aM9Li8Fbtkem/s4000/20221119_114955.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDUGzWAXyexhp35QVgSViZz0lWCUTkMacQawqlFemQoU0BeazECOwYaiRW-uY0mouckbbig3rGg9uP9zERxtxlZUtV8OrTEfQIvk26k5igvm_ZCnsPICWqNn4Z2Xowy-EAWB7H4IIdu-4iurqyowzKDknaMZLMOp-3AsF5RbBWGbpoD44aM9Li8Fbtkem/s320/20221119_114955.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorceror's Revenge</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>Roller coasters led back to ball machines and I built all three models of the Trampoline Tower.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitKnqEeaRJso34DafHEuGOHr7aiVN3K_7IvLY9XmU3sDIQELpdnbzq8lIUqd9mBkO8cfL_tqV2xsC1s_c_2DPK7oykQwwcsqfqG5f7ICV9kLBndAafq7p_85Aof-E0tVOa8n5IJ7mG704NIHiLGrCm_HRasfIoIcHUvqiDWi4zDH4cyy6eAqeqJXXO5hJW/s4000/20230320_194924.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitKnqEeaRJso34DafHEuGOHr7aiVN3K_7IvLY9XmU3sDIQELpdnbzq8lIUqd9mBkO8cfL_tqV2xsC1s_c_2DPK7oykQwwcsqfqG5f7ICV9kLBndAafq7p_85Aof-E0tVOa8n5IJ7mG704NIHiLGrCm_HRasfIoIcHUvqiDWi4zDH4cyy6eAqeqJXXO5hJW/s320/20230320_194924.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trampoline Tower Ball Machine</td></tr></tbody></table><div>With most of the big builds on my list behind me, I plan on making more vehicles.</div>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-5935526647559873242023-06-29T13:12:00.004-06:002023-06-29T13:12:59.358-06:00MeccanoCompared to the other two construction toys, I spent the least amount of time in my childhood building with Meccano. Meccano is much more time consuming to build as you have to fasten each plate and bracket together rather than just clicking them into place. It can also be frustrating to install hard to access nuts in tight spaces. Over time or with play, the nuts also have a tendency to loosen, requiring using the wrench to reach deep into the model to tighten them up, like a bucket of bolts.<div><br /></div><div>I received 3 different sets around the same time, Evolution 4 (which also contains instructions for Evolutions 1-3 allowing for 40+ different models to be built), Evolution 2 (which is redundant because Evolution 4 already had the parts and instructions), and a knock off MekStruct set. The first issue was that I wasn't sure how the flimsy styrofoam trays and cardboard boxes would contain all of my parts, so I made my dad buy me a proper red metal toolbox to store these sets. The next problem was that genuine Meccano used British threads while the knock off MekStruct used metric threads. I didn't know this at the time and ended up mixing all of the pieces together. Worse than MegaBloks in Lego, there was no way that the two different threads would work together and it was difficult to tell them apart. As an adult, I have to look closely at the threads and nuts, the more uniform looking ones are Meccano while the others are MekStruct but still occasionally I have found some parts that make it pass this test and require a test fit.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the end, in my memory, I only ever remember building one of the Evolution 4 models, a buggy, and the model sat in the toolbox. Occasionally, I must have picked it up and assembled a couple of plates together but that was it.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1_Xce-SjWZXum7-_YF_gRMIq6y6j5bYUfFIKZERDklgP5CoMfSzVetdAvy8PaSZ3Jzez-Rv4L6X91Sl2kurNqRhlil6-caLAFrctghtpOaKjYikQdSFsyYIbJ5XRZfNzEf7sBiuYVvFFuOSI7x-NsOFwipT6yDIRtusMJ_KMDPlB0y8mZvCHYrIdgSxnc/s4000/20220530_181106.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1_Xce-SjWZXum7-_YF_gRMIq6y6j5bYUfFIKZERDklgP5CoMfSzVetdAvy8PaSZ3Jzez-Rv4L6X91Sl2kurNqRhlil6-caLAFrctghtpOaKjYikQdSFsyYIbJ5XRZfNzEf7sBiuYVvFFuOSI7x-NsOFwipT6yDIRtusMJ_KMDPlB0y8mZvCHYrIdgSxnc/s320/20220530_181106.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The only model I ended up building as a kid, rebuilt as an "adult"</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div>I did receive a much larger crane set for Christmas one year from my grandma. I was probably near the upper end of the "age range", but I spent the time putting it together and was impressed with the results and the functions (the transmission to change between modes on the crane was interesting). But again, I left it constructed and did not build any of the other 24 models. </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpVuP_RMTp5gcrJVb7C14fdsTghs5TuRXppV1DVkcVBLhIO4Hdplxd1tr9s5i3oBLGLe7KT7essg7SpPfRChQbN6y4Jf7Qgcck8B_HWP9JXicDXQDJKWJxdGJohaiNJN8a4kmYfCeMJcMvnNyIZE9iwtAAGThAlr8LGoY-UcSZnOBkBhUv-WL6OOz6pCA_/s4000/20220628_193658.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpVuP_RMTp5gcrJVb7C14fdsTghs5TuRXppV1DVkcVBLhIO4Hdplxd1tr9s5i3oBLGLe7KT7essg7SpPfRChQbN6y4Jf7Qgcck8B_HWP9JXicDXQDJKWJxdGJohaiNJN8a4kmYfCeMJcMvnNyIZE9iwtAAGThAlr8LGoY-UcSZnOBkBhUv-WL6OOz6pCA_/s320/20220628_193658.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The one model of the crane I built as a kid, rebuilt, along with the 24 others as an adult.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><div><div><br /></div><div>Meccano can be used to build sturdy models. In university, I did use Meccano to make a simple prototype in the 2nd year design course. I struggled with the geometry and construction, opting to use the MekStruct motor with the built-in drivetrain so I wouldn't have to build the drivetrain from Meccano. I made a camera cable car as well, where I wasn't sure if Lego or K'Nex could handle the weight of the GoPro.</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>After I rediscovered K'Nex and Lego as an adult, I finally picked up Meccano. Upon opening that red toolbox, I was unimpressed. The plates were of course all sitting flat on each other and it didn't look like there could possibly be enough to make a full set. It was only after counting them and comparing them to the inventories that I realized that they were mostly all there! </div><br /><div><br /></div><div>I started building and I enjoyed the challenge of installing nuts in hard to reach places. I enjoyed watching how the brackets were used to allow for the ability to install plates on different faces similar to Studs Not on Top (SNOT) construction in Lego. I also liked "tuning" the models so that the axles spun more freely, panels were aligned better, and gear trains were more optimized. And the sound of the motors and meshing gears. As soon as I completed one model, I would tune it, run it, and then take it apart to build the next one.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQDey_RiFyuI4GmeTkC9sAvOleTeaW2-HNFvGDFm7vpOHiWRP3dHB3O0R_dDvZvroWwcaaoMR04BA3fl_hOWGLJJAZaoDMP_sUDFXWWlkOhzX7jQrYwslNdyWyx5_8mVEyaJguyS7uY4XoQFzJAgsWK7Akzyc1N1BZALoq_ltvI5OBvjidS1ELgXHL1rN/s4000/20220524_221655.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQDey_RiFyuI4GmeTkC9sAvOleTeaW2-HNFvGDFm7vpOHiWRP3dHB3O0R_dDvZvroWwcaaoMR04BA3fl_hOWGLJJAZaoDMP_sUDFXWWlkOhzX7jQrYwslNdyWyx5_8mVEyaJguyS7uY4XoQFzJAgsWK7Akzyc1N1BZALoq_ltvI5OBvjidS1ELgXHL1rN/s320/20220524_221655.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ywly9Dzd4onQxe4Spmw_y7EPpHCbj5TySj0A0nJo1fl12Y7fzkQTXJzH5yamitfc2q_G3zdsoP3OeCm4G6ILw5FbuQtAtqPt2DujSXSQi7s_rA5WSRjDyJyFFikh8OfcjHmuETuVoiyedwTKDbcUDgoJw_zU7C85VBd4ykHDO3Tz2-BJ1OKUHtEXgdm1/s4000/20220601_163615.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ywly9Dzd4onQxe4Spmw_y7EPpHCbj5TySj0A0nJo1fl12Y7fzkQTXJzH5yamitfc2q_G3zdsoP3OeCm4G6ILw5FbuQtAtqPt2DujSXSQi7s_rA5WSRjDyJyFFikh8OfcjHmuETuVoiyedwTKDbcUDgoJw_zU7C85VBd4ykHDO3Tz2-BJ1OKUHtEXgdm1/s320/20220601_163615.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I added extra gear reduction to this truck and it allowed the motor to start the vehicle better</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>As I had multiple Meccano sets that each had multiple models that could be built I had one set to build in Canmore and a couple to build at home, so wherever I was, I could be building! My brother had received a couple of sets in adulthood and I rebuilt those too!</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAhlrbqlrCrjZ8lNHUBml4052-sgmIOA9EeJJf7RNlGXrm2ezjYgFJCNAsZHGsk4ThFE_7IphmFMZKZ8XmgYgvwGgYjI5Lp6Fcvjesud2zgCT2nZCbk3UM6TehZMbJrKqWwA8Egarf89jgs5Ur4QA7-LsDxiI8KrkolYWXqCAo3YIgld3uhUyvRhXsgcQ_/s4000/20220701_220502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAhlrbqlrCrjZ8lNHUBml4052-sgmIOA9EeJJf7RNlGXrm2ezjYgFJCNAsZHGsk4ThFE_7IphmFMZKZ8XmgYgvwGgYjI5Lp6Fcvjesud2zgCT2nZCbk3UM6TehZMbJrKqWwA8Egarf89jgs5Ur4QA7-LsDxiI8KrkolYWXqCAo3YIgld3uhUyvRhXsgcQ_/s320/20220701_220502.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My brother's 30 model "Motion" set contained my favourite builds</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div>One interesting aspect of Meccano sets is that they claim that the sets can build 20, 25, 45 (+ more from your imagination!) models but they actually only include instructions for 10-15 models. The rest are built from examining pictures, similar to a back of the box Lego build. Upon finishing the models with included instructions, I enjoyed the challenge of building these models based off of the pictures. I found the best technique was to build up all of the aspects of the model that are visible in the picture and then use the remaining pieces to deduce what is going on with the rest of the model.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some modern Meccano sets use plastic panels, a controversial topic among Meccano enthusiasts. I understand there is the worry of less durability, but the benefit of the plastic panels is that the thin ones bend easily to form more contoured shapes and the larger panels have a square, nut shaped recess on one side so that bolts can be tightened without needing the wrench.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5qMhl7A1JPlo7w79LIMcxmGAxtTvaCprFmE4x36JVqhSAcyNvgDYcD5UOdxJNU5dhmuyFg00VFb54f3p2EajoAvjmKZIDuGqmH_QVeratfo349UA0tvUVjcR0CkqqOkQbhyWmjr7r-naoAVGYd6YuRitUOXB3UYKwatXVfzYesNvrqtTuSj_7WFWoMs8n/s4000/20230520_213319.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5qMhl7A1JPlo7w79LIMcxmGAxtTvaCprFmE4x36JVqhSAcyNvgDYcD5UOdxJNU5dhmuyFg00VFb54f3p2EajoAvjmKZIDuGqmH_QVeratfo349UA0tvUVjcR0CkqqOkQbhyWmjr7r-naoAVGYd6YuRitUOXB3UYKwatXVfzYesNvrqtTuSj_7WFWoMs8n/s320/20230520_213319.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Modern plastic Meccano car</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgljaWcEo6iPnK25u3m6hF4jyaRv5wUALRQ3rGbQ4I1ZKh_8gnGWZf8Pd1XHGBhmlhdAd7Do3ocflN6BPICBaK7S7L05jz0VEREA8HNWg0VpqBAFn2BEKjenkGvHvx9FShsGDTa6BrhLp8JabeAYKudusgArURFXu1-NMnawmqPtBhETv-S2PqzwQf6Bp8F/s4000/20220619_094137.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgljaWcEo6iPnK25u3m6hF4jyaRv5wUALRQ3rGbQ4I1ZKh_8gnGWZf8Pd1XHGBhmlhdAd7Do3ocflN6BPICBaK7S7L05jz0VEREA8HNWg0VpqBAFn2BEKjenkGvHvx9FShsGDTa6BrhLp8JabeAYKudusgArURFXu1-NMnawmqPtBhETv-S2PqzwQf6Bp8F/s320/20220619_094137.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plastic Meccano Excavator with hydrualics</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Building these Meccano sets has inspired me to attempt to build some classic Meccano mechanisms like a Meccanograph as well as a Millennium Falcon, the classic "bucket of bolts".</div>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-10417631424896811712023-06-29T13:05:00.005-06:002023-06-29T13:30:36.714-06:00Re-discovering Lego<p> <b>Resurrections: Emerging from the Bin, Technic, Mindstorms:</b></p><p>There is a term for the period in one's life between when one loses interest in Lego as a teen and when one rediscovers it as an adult and becomes an Adult Fan of Lego (AFOL): The Dark Ages. Mine lasted until I was 33, while quarantining at home after being hospitalized with covid while undergoing chemotherapy. I had thought about playing with Lego again while undergoing chemotherapy, but thought that the construction would be too hard on my fragile skin.</p><p>The sets were still there, still built in my brother's room. I was a little curious if I could find information on some of the sets. I discovered that there were various websites dedicated to Lego that would help me find information on these sets: number of pieces, original prices, inventories, and instructions. I was re-entering back into the world. There were actually less sets produced each year than I expected and we actually had a good representation of the sets at the time.</p><p>As I mostly kept my models fully built, I never build up the alternate models or suggestions on the back of the box. So first I rebuilt the 735 Fire Truck alternates. My next goal was to rescue 8277 from the bin. The build that I never got to do. I started by removing anything technic related from the bin, then moving on to any interesting parts from the bin. Alongside 8277, I found parts for 6835, 6879, 6898, 6889, 6852, and 6341. As mentioned earlier, these sets were early in my Lego life and I didn't even remember them but by cross-referencing that special parts that I found, I was able to deduce that those parts came from these sets. I built those sets and any others that had found their way into the bin as best as I could. I made a spreadsheet listing all of the sets that I suspected were in the bin. I added the sets that were in my brother's room to the spreadsheet. Even a Lego Znap set 3571 Blackmobile is interesting because it contains instructions for many different models!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgha_zlnYVpcG2dCfbloBB2y4C_p49g4nE0ot0NUdHmydiIvOqZP2FoWuI-bPED6Z29zy4SRqR6I7yywWpLJVmkqMCYe2fnULshtPPDlhp4_WCGHTNPwMoLdXiR1d2iHOAOgcW0TbSdOQNi-Qdvt4o0nGpTTvsD-DVrAQstLbsHWbtXiiq16T7PXIGfleC1/s4000/20220415_172931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgha_zlnYVpcG2dCfbloBB2y4C_p49g4nE0ot0NUdHmydiIvOqZP2FoWuI-bPED6Z29zy4SRqR6I7yywWpLJVmkqMCYe2fnULshtPPDlhp4_WCGHTNPwMoLdXiR1d2iHOAOgcW0TbSdOQNi-Qdvt4o0nGpTTvsD-DVrAQstLbsHWbtXiiq16T7PXIGfleC1/s320/20220415_172931.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOXLZ2l91Wamm-vjZNtQLq6OGwewZ_HBPzqdPweXskFni3rJGpCdBJ8kzRg5ftoGJldvyZnGmy3qg6YEp55dxgcL8QDysac7f8dJOcuuxqTSe0b56sX0vtXKf0YvPF4KP7nMMjqti4Sogk918b7oxtdNTH3tdE8SCIbHJ-ns48p6ZjQEEf6f8EJ3h7BstA/s4000/20220417_130748.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOXLZ2l91Wamm-vjZNtQLq6OGwewZ_HBPzqdPweXskFni3rJGpCdBJ8kzRg5ftoGJldvyZnGmy3qg6YEp55dxgcL8QDysac7f8dJOcuuxqTSe0b56sX0vtXKf0YvPF4KP7nMMjqti4Sogk918b7oxtdNTH3tdE8SCIbHJ-ns48p6ZjQEEf6f8EJ3h7BstA/s320/20220417_130748.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Helicopter</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR9GjhMZHu-LTRdi0dt5xGc-CpJbiJD-1AfPGlxZ1R8hda_R5BmCijosAhoLfaxOjYHCOx1BcRqmI5Z9Wzu-aDh99U7sg9kMJ9Hby4CvdR74YhQY7aukK15P1cM9lLZQzSZr4-8c0HJ5plFajmaKw4_jgV7DxU6GahHusRrLVG-xyQac9R4H-Y-kULAe12/s4000/20220417_185940.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR9GjhMZHu-LTRdi0dt5xGc-CpJbiJD-1AfPGlxZ1R8hda_R5BmCijosAhoLfaxOjYHCOx1BcRqmI5Z9Wzu-aDh99U7sg9kMJ9Hby4CvdR74YhQY7aukK15P1cM9lLZQzSZr4-8c0HJ5plFajmaKw4_jgV7DxU6GahHusRrLVG-xyQac9R4H-Y-kULAe12/s320/20220417_185940.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giant Model Set Robot</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz7Cgvu2fl4l1j57dKKixTC0iVZzbjXfIGdUH8pb-2Q_IznKtOr9feuGwH-qs__CIqtFGLadXc3roD6PZ0zKh9HtE16xvogLb0PSCoFJQDHuaI1MgjeTR2zs-UAdTSTCjSM18vMfQC6TWmKPR3WdyIX83iVo1ukcGoVZ6nwhr1UVdcOBpwZH5zvmRBakxD/s4000/20220421_212144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz7Cgvu2fl4l1j57dKKixTC0iVZzbjXfIGdUH8pb-2Q_IznKtOr9feuGwH-qs__CIqtFGLadXc3roD6PZ0zKh9HtE16xvogLb0PSCoFJQDHuaI1MgjeTR2zs-UAdTSTCjSM18vMfQC6TWmKPR3WdyIX83iVo1ukcGoVZ6nwhr1UVdcOBpwZH5zvmRBakxD/s320/20220421_212144.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>I finished all 6 alternate models of 8277. The large models were impressive. The scale of the 16L bricks combined, and the functions led to a thirst for more. I rebuilt the alternate models for 8445 and 8446, the bricks dusty after sitting on a shelf for so long. Next, I collected all of the remaining technic sets from my brother's room and rebuilt them and their alternate models. Rather than leaving sets built up, I was excited to take them apart so that I could build the next one. At first, the disassembly process was hard on my hands, but now they are tougher. Rebuilding the sets has been another highlight because when I was younger, I would get into a trance while building, but neglect to appreciate the part usage and functions that are hidden from the completed model.</p><p>While playing with Meccano, I had another revelation. Meccano has a limited number of unique parts and if one had multiple Meccano sets, it is conceivable that one could build even more official Meccano sets by combining the multiple sets together. Meccano has a similar database of instructions and inventories but what I found was a little disappointing as while they don't release new sets very often, they do update their shapes from generation to generation and larger sets also have larger parts making it hard to build different sets.</p><p>In a similar vain, the larger Lego sets did include some specialized pieces that I did not have in my entire collection. But while closely examining some Star Wars sets, I noticed that they included many very old Classic Space elements. From before my time. This led me down an ever expanding rabbit hole. Not only could I build some space sets, there were sets from other themes like Castle (including the classic yellow castle 375, which I did build) and Town that I could build. I could build the skulls from Pirates. I could build classic Technic Sets. My spreadsheet has expanded to include an ever increasing list of sets that I can build although I doubt I will have the time to build all of them. My current interests are the technic sets that are a larger scale and have good functionality and space sets. My experience with Town Jr. has made me less interested in boring town sets. While I had originally cleaned out my brother's room of all technic and space sets, I cleaned out the rest of the Lego to add to the part collection I could use for building other sets.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ8zQl_sCYlG2VIrXTzDbx_11ZLueIoicutKpwDGKLUliaGYYsynBjeeSAHzY49eNZjcbytVXNrsJZFuJXyDw6FWXTMAmes7gmjBrMgRy6pSIYU8bYdOM6eKrYhhy-kBJjT_HEkihOQrSw9oPA269AApKXHFPJIRgUtHHH6gAtqSJXfhAmqPHPwSgsm-1F/s4000/20221026_222201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ8zQl_sCYlG2VIrXTzDbx_11ZLueIoicutKpwDGKLUliaGYYsynBjeeSAHzY49eNZjcbytVXNrsJZFuJXyDw6FWXTMAmes7gmjBrMgRy6pSIYU8bYdOM6eKrYhhy-kBJjT_HEkihOQrSw9oPA269AApKXHFPJIRgUtHHH6gAtqSJXfhAmqPHPwSgsm-1F/s320/20221026_222201.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Classic "yellow" castle</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Next to make up for my dark ages, I looked for Lego Mindstorms. Mindstorms had evolved 3 generations since my time and I was able to pick up a set from the 2nd generation NXT for pretty cheap. Alongside the software which included instructions for 4 builds (and more with the education package software), I discovered more websites dedicated to this model released back in 2009 and was able to build and program even more models. Some of these models shared similarities to my other technic builds, cranes, steering vehicles and a switch was turned on in my head: motorizing my sets with the NXT!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwPJDlpcLBaolHcBKiMjHbM_WFLELDX5cfjNZNNfYMys-8O1bI4Ihz_ir_lHsO2OljezJhUJvFj-QXdxx1wnY8FVm3wxaYT--dWm6ELmsn38X2hEQt9WIr-KZKcyLlYYsW9ApPfWB2vrFMuZ9yQLti9pXoVfcfc2SLCrhsub-kDxiv3J7E38DeUEWXoOwZ/s4000/20220812_211909.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwPJDlpcLBaolHcBKiMjHbM_WFLELDX5cfjNZNNfYMys-8O1bI4Ihz_ir_lHsO2OljezJhUJvFj-QXdxx1wnY8FVm3wxaYT--dWm6ELmsn38X2hEQt9WIr-KZKcyLlYYsW9ApPfWB2vrFMuZ9yQLti9pXoVfcfc2SLCrhsub-kDxiv3J7E38DeUEWXoOwZ/s320/20220812_211909.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lego NXT Alpha Rex</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The first build I attempted with my parts collection was 8450 The Mission. A fairly large technic set, I brazenly begun grabbing parts from sets in my collection, keeping track in a spreadsheet. This familiarized me with the parts in my sets, knowing the limitations. It was a time consuming process, but eventually I got it finished and fortunately never ran out of parts or encountered a roadblock requiring a special part. The finished model was amazing and again I was impressed by the scale and features. The time was eased when I was quickly able to build the alternate models because the parts were already sorted out. I refined my system for later parts bin builds by choosing a more similar Lego bag to base the build out of and taking greater care into making sure that I had the parts to complete the build.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZRY-cHzyQsC-JC8G32nVqag3K7sjOCFWII2IeBMugz5zbBJ6NxTMMTcD3YM_SiSpxqPFZvqWbaFfLqAfRvRQNrquyb10yHfKEZ4GxVDkXh1PxEWCqPnAmdUbIATjj2Z4vtYYpasYqCIpUl-B5W8kV6uyh8ME52YFRmGLx7l6Vam9Nk6G_abgQkURu_ugb/s4000/20221014_203656.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZRY-cHzyQsC-JC8G32nVqag3K7sjOCFWII2IeBMugz5zbBJ6NxTMMTcD3YM_SiSpxqPFZvqWbaFfLqAfRvRQNrquyb10yHfKEZ4GxVDkXh1PxEWCqPnAmdUbIATjj2Z4vtYYpasYqCIpUl-B5W8kV6uyh8ME52YFRmGLx7l6Vam9Nk6G_abgQkURu_ugb/s320/20221014_203656.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">8450 The Mission</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglBA1pKv_gTiRMTDw8CU82v0k9lYyO0d26G_M-xRwa-8ksP_9EEWvuycNwphwjeOTITF0mCPZ2rp7_-AFTYRCJhJdYCFnIhhwniYQ-etC1s0FG-DEwIzlMM4uohfU7ZruhOpco3yRRM7E2qlj8j-jDv8rbACleolKHRzPBr1q0RiV1Ac8T6ewfyaDk-fIL/s4000/20221106_220239.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglBA1pKv_gTiRMTDw8CU82v0k9lYyO0d26G_M-xRwa-8ksP_9EEWvuycNwphwjeOTITF0mCPZ2rp7_-AFTYRCJhJdYCFnIhhwniYQ-etC1s0FG-DEwIzlMM4uohfU7ZruhOpco3yRRM7E2qlj8j-jDv8rbACleolKHRzPBr1q0RiV1Ac8T6ewfyaDk-fIL/s320/20221106_220239.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">8855 Plane</td></tr></tbody></table><br />These builds introduced me to many different building techniques and interesting ratchet mechanisms. The time that I had sunk into building these models encouraged me to troubleshoot these models to make them work with the parts I have.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpTxel8ejDPaOH_FLffuwp35uwXKL3x3_fec58WhBW0cds0cmSaPx_8nT1qx1DajfXJv6EPgar8rMWNslnLx-6O-UDl_wtcj88bWVPvkWs2lTR-AMbc-GSHvqq-KpQGi9jfwlB-DVC5PGJhcPi-xSgjJT31OczLXQz3ixcl8cJp6mQsQ9gxaJZwx-0r9EQ/s4000/20221027_120727.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpTxel8ejDPaOH_FLffuwp35uwXKL3x3_fec58WhBW0cds0cmSaPx_8nT1qx1DajfXJv6EPgar8rMWNslnLx-6O-UDl_wtcj88bWVPvkWs2lTR-AMbc-GSHvqq-KpQGi9jfwlB-DVC5PGJhcPi-xSgjJT31OczLXQz3ixcl8cJp6mQsQ9gxaJZwx-0r9EQ/s320/20221027_120727.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Battle Droid. These Technic Star Wars models aren't very well liked, but I enjoyed the non-machinery application of Lego!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>While I hadn't integrated the NXT into my sets yet, I started to integrate it into my parts bin builds, perhaps starting off with the most ambitious: 8094 Control Center. It was here that I found the limitation of the LabVIEW like NXT-G software, mainly with math required to draw circles and a feature from the original set: being able to store and replay chains of commands. I discovered that there were other ways to program NXTs using text-based software that would be much simpler. After hours and hours of learning and programming, I was able to create programs for both of those tasks among the builds of that set.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHPqt6DP5PYetmSwDICbySU078VC5co8f-IKaS5G0yU9BzAAP5Rs5SAcxS8EgYovdTx1oHIocQgz_XBQ8vzkArb5QMYapDkb-m5pfumG4ktWd5wmxWBy4HcNln0VEo8GioN9fl7xmSdGKOQPs7l0_KOO3BqPRxxCUrUafI3Hp8rKw7wu74nJATw6jAMtSw/s4000/20221204_110038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHPqt6DP5PYetmSwDICbySU078VC5co8f-IKaS5G0yU9BzAAP5Rs5SAcxS8EgYovdTx1oHIocQgz_XBQ8vzkArb5QMYapDkb-m5pfumG4ktWd5wmxWBy4HcNln0VEo8GioN9fl7xmSdGKOQPs7l0_KOO3BqPRxxCUrUafI3Hp8rKw7wu74nJATw6jAMtSw/s320/20221204_110038.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Control Center</td></tr></tbody></table><p>While that was my most ambitious NXT program, my most ambitious build was 8479 with over 1200 parts. After a couple of weeks, I was able to build the main model and then the alternate models came quickly. The programming was fairly easy. The original set was based around the older 9V system with smaller motors. To incorporate my larger NXT motors, I had to remove some of the aesthetics of the models, but the spirit of the model remained. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5IMqt_FygX4ofHC8jHK82ExTYpSAIHABNoQEfgD3M59Sv-usEw0q016r2buw6cwm6XUQ2KTzKcQGTonkJm1hI1h3ch-5Qm6ShRTjAlkrzxXgtNmAeQtWUGsm3vREGdhrT0rEjfNXx0XhgCjxbBB-7CdwNoB5Neen_dIIthHdJik5kIbb-9TNjf_tpYVUC/s4000/20230426_222442.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5IMqt_FygX4ofHC8jHK82ExTYpSAIHABNoQEfgD3M59Sv-usEw0q016r2buw6cwm6XUQ2KTzKcQGTonkJm1hI1h3ch-5Qm6ShRTjAlkrzxXgtNmAeQtWUGsm3vREGdhrT0rEjfNXx0XhgCjxbBB-7CdwNoB5Neen_dIIthHdJik5kIbb-9TNjf_tpYVUC/s320/20230426_222442.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barcode Multi-Set</td></tr></tbody></table><p>With 8479 coming close before the release of the original Mindstorms RCX sets, it shares many of the same parts, so I have been able to build many of the builds from those sets without having to sort more parts. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYMvgX0GSNqBEMqYXsL4YHmlLi1ovoQwCgK5P319kFlAuXdvC_3capPU2emqrGyxDjJw6O9afLnH2MclPYLO-hipnXcvwt0olDwFLyJHCTo8LMIC7BXNox2m5Ls39dfgQJ2Y27eKX0CqqDssZjC6Ax7FKOs53YxsNDvS8GqD9U6uBijvYK-L8aRo6iyj9_/s4000/20230529_224856.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYMvgX0GSNqBEMqYXsL4YHmlLi1ovoQwCgK5P319kFlAuXdvC_3capPU2emqrGyxDjJw6O9afLnH2MclPYLO-hipnXcvwt0olDwFLyJHCTo8LMIC7BXNox2m5Ls39dfgQJ2Y27eKX0CqqDssZjC6Ax7FKOs53YxsNDvS8GqD9U6uBijvYK-L8aRo6iyj9_/s320/20230529_224856.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">RCX Grabber Arm</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I asked for and received Lego 42128 Heavy Duty Tow Truck for Christmas, which is notable for a couple of reasons. It is over 2x the size of any set that I had when I was younger, and it contains pneumatics and many interesting functions. Parts that will be useful in other parts bin builds.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNyC7LkMB79mvCBTmLFl5xKkqI5Ci5siFeL7WTchOL5vrm1SdCnH3hMxVMXenWlskqFgEie9IvPdjP-B4HQmXAMretVsLV1lXECANX4w2duPhLcQKXme1flsntqP0kYbbserRQzHHv084hHCA8v5nDzppcuoqf8zPixT0Pp6gCanMiq1DNur__KpT3Py28/s4000/20230109_220410.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNyC7LkMB79mvCBTmLFl5xKkqI5Ci5siFeL7WTchOL5vrm1SdCnH3hMxVMXenWlskqFgEie9IvPdjP-B4HQmXAMretVsLV1lXECANX4w2duPhLcQKXme1flsntqP0kYbbserRQzHHv084hHCA8v5nDzppcuoqf8zPixT0Pp6gCanMiq1DNur__KpT3Py28/s320/20230109_220410.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heavy Duty Tow Truck</td></tr></tbody></table>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-83176107065064912032023-06-29T12:52:00.002-06:002023-06-29T12:52:17.767-06:00My Lego Journey<p>When I was young, I was very into Lego, definitely a Lego Maniac. Here I dive into my history with Lego. </p><p><b>Early Beginnings: Duplo, Small Sets, MegaBloks, Azam:</b></p><p>Of course, I started with Duplo, but I don't remember this phase. My earliest Lego memories start with a tub of bulk Lego pieces (1708, 4162) and some small sets. My parents informed me that they would have to do most of the building of the small sets at this stage but a friend from down the street, Azam, would come over and take them apart and the pieces would end up with the rest of the bulk Lego. I don't even really remember the sets as they were built because they would quickly end up in the bin (6835 Saucer Scout, 6879 Blizzard Baron, 6898 Ice Sat V, 6889 Recon Robot, 6852 Sonor Security, and 6341 Gas 'n Go Flier) but I remember using the parts in the rest of my builds (My Own Creation or "MOC's" as adults call them), the "best" one I built at the time being a car-carrying ferry among numerous spaceships. Sets that I was absolutely drooling over because friends had them were 6195 Neptune Discovery Lab and Lego 6959 Lunar Launch Site.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYFnwMy0rkytbFKON51gWPFG5RL9_0YC-jv61jQUBUgR3a9Ne9IQDIQ1ld61bpWrXcnGYrT7_mZ9uZFWw_oM-EyPufil2aW8a5YRmAnkHTk1Umgp44YkqMzxelKnyI47Mku8dihH1JNuNCxxVtEi7b1areYbao7uENYM-omPYZfdhXRKTC_sJ8fUdR7xzr/s4000/20220416_114934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYFnwMy0rkytbFKON51gWPFG5RL9_0YC-jv61jQUBUgR3a9Ne9IQDIQ1ld61bpWrXcnGYrT7_mZ9uZFWw_oM-EyPufil2aW8a5YRmAnkHTk1Umgp44YkqMzxelKnyI47Mku8dihH1JNuNCxxVtEi7b1areYbao7uENYM-omPYZfdhXRKTC_sJ8fUdR7xzr/s320/20220416_114934.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Recon Robot and Sonar Security</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ZTnHqKWbOXrjTl27wpoKNCon1hyTEvX2JawrKYQmynRkHkjmNOASOQW8B9i6DEoYQ_j7vfx6ZX2vp_livo-qcJQVWPrm2Q--2T6sISnHqvgfc0yk6uzyBCSr2Txm8kj6777mCLIyFLteHPucLZlJFgOA_b1zUTiLXLYDAZ7SMVwHuF8YSvxHFtsAW71d/s4000/20220414_150744.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ZTnHqKWbOXrjTl27wpoKNCon1hyTEvX2JawrKYQmynRkHkjmNOASOQW8B9i6DEoYQ_j7vfx6ZX2vp_livo-qcJQVWPrm2Q--2T6sISnHqvgfc0yk6uzyBCSr2Txm8kj6777mCLIyFLteHPucLZlJFgOA_b1zUTiLXLYDAZ7SMVwHuF8YSvxHFtsAW71d/s320/20220414_150744.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blizzard Baron</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMFOhj6a1k4rYYGkq28DNkLoN91ILyE0DFPoSbYyARgTjRgkiJ41AM4JSLS91N6vG1DGNP7l0TUbr0xdHlnL39DQA_66O8NHlbEiJLX4SScnO_PiMfJ9s2lYl5nZ2dDTyDm73wGkLryKylxmUqvgvwODNwCfGZ5-m4MKzMxiLAqJBnNbPHccgB5j8Q8AP6/s4000/20220517_180057.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMFOhj6a1k4rYYGkq28DNkLoN91ILyE0DFPoSbYyARgTjRgkiJ41AM4JSLS91N6vG1DGNP7l0TUbr0xdHlnL39DQA_66O8NHlbEiJLX4SScnO_PiMfJ9s2lYl5nZ2dDTyDm73wGkLryKylxmUqvgvwODNwCfGZ5-m4MKzMxiLAqJBnNbPHccgB5j8Q8AP6/s320/20220517_180057.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ice Sat V</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I also received some MegaBloks for Christmas. MegaBloks, while touted as being "Lego compatible" and subject to a lawsuit for that reason, was not created to the same standards as Lego pieces and either fit too loose or too tight to each other and to Lego pieces. One set we received was neat Castle with many small, decorative pieces that were to be attached to exposed studs on a castle shaped shell. The many small parts were probably too much for me to handle at the time and I have no memory of the castle in its final built form, but more of the poorly fitting parts making their way into the bin. Another set came in a rocket-shaped container which contained many neat transparent pieces but were not much use for adding to my Lego builds.</p><p><b>Middle: City Building, Leaving Them Built:</b></p><p>As I got older, I was introduced to the Technic Theme. For my 8th birthday, I received a fairly large (for me at least) Technic set, 8277 Giant Model Set. Like larger sets at the time, it came in a box with a flap and the pieces were organized in trays. More commonplace now, the set also featured multiple instruction manuals. The set required the construction of a central core (with one of the instruction manuals) followed by building up to 6 different models around the central core using the other instruction manual. In my excitement, I started building with the big, bright yellow pieces for the 6 different models, skipping the construction of the central core, that manual may have never made it outside of the box. I quickly hit a roadblock once it was time to start building around the central core, which magically appeared already build on the instructions. The thought crossed my mind that the central core was actually part of another set, like a motor, and I lost interest in the set, the parts made their way into the Lego bin. I used the many 16L Technic bricks in my MOC's but I never got to experience the large models of the Giant Model Set.</p><p>I received many other sets, this time leaving them build in their original form. Space themes were my favourite and the highlight was 6949 Robo-Guardian. 6544 Shuttle Transcon was also a highlight with both a space shuttle and an airplane with many special airplane parts. I received the Lego Club Magazine and was kept up to date on the themes and also had some Adventurers featuring Johnny Thunder sets . Western sets were also of interest (my brother had 6761 Bandit Secret Hideout, which sadly ended up in the bin although the interesting parts lived on in our MOC's), I even built a MOC of a fur trading fort for a school project, but I was surprisingly not interested in the castle sets at the time.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAVZmgJGKsr_nLy0Wk1lH79H-l80IJHIxaP_Ny-OQgF1T3sXgONSoVQS5-SnFWuOfVD3RP_6M1_NaazPBs4PVwMlSROAcQAAXKNzsN-UTzuvGJ8Gabxo0BHQ6ONaS1cTUUtkLkGhFVPk67C_TfDMlL0vmBm-IwhfI6LGkqG7_BS1XBSu857K_1oQjxfpM4/s4000/20220428_211356.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAVZmgJGKsr_nLy0Wk1lH79H-l80IJHIxaP_Ny-OQgF1T3sXgONSoVQS5-SnFWuOfVD3RP_6M1_NaazPBs4PVwMlSROAcQAAXKNzsN-UTzuvGJ8Gabxo0BHQ6ONaS1cTUUtkLkGhFVPk67C_TfDMlL0vmBm-IwhfI6LGkqG7_BS1XBSu857K_1oQjxfpM4/s320/20220428_211356.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robo Guardian</td></tr></tbody></table><p>My brother and I had a table with L-shaped baseplates surrounding a 'pit' with a net. Our part collection overwhelmed the net and made its way to a big Lego bin. The table with the baseplates quickly became home to a bustling Lego City with multi-story buildings, replicas of local landmarks (like the Butterdome) and even an attempt at an elevated railway. Windows and panels from deconstructed sets that found their way into the bin were the highlights of the builds.</p><p>We also had a fairly extensive (and expensive) HO train set at the time, so never got into Lego Trains, but it would have been great to have been able to build rolling stock, tunnels and stations instead...</p><p>Visits to grandma and grandpa often included Lego sets, but breaking open the box, building, and then glimpsing at the mini-catalog inside only fueled the desire for more sets: 6451 River Response leading to 6473 Res-Q Cruiser, 8226 Mud Masher leading to 8252 Beach Buster, and various Tech-Play sets: like 8229 Tread Trekker, 8215 Gyro Copter.</p><p>The big thing in this era for Lego was Star Wars, and I had a couple of the early sets, 7141 Naboo Fighter and 7110 Landspeeder were highlights.</p><p>My Lego sets peaked around my 10th birthday with my "Big 3": 8445 Indy Storm, 8446 Crane Truck, and 5563 Racing Truck, with the 735 Light and Sound Fire Truck getting an honorable mention. Of note is that aside from the big 3, there were many sets with piece counts between 100-300 that were very memorable which is important to remember when comparing against the many modern modern sets where even 1000 pieces seems small. Lego Mindstorms was in its early days, I definitely wanted it, but the $400 price tag was a lot. I don't really remember lusting after many other large sets at the time.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUkdE7M4BUEyg1PNba6t7nhrpi8unIIhuZU8J8visDi2Jz8myzrytXKA8_bAl6b-43ZmQQ182c8-bC5sDRyN2qQKhLfZNCrb6dS5ZZABvL0Z8BJ3-Tn0d21CD_kD_4a0hkVtqW6rmhGcR4pnMH1AWDP7632zhT0I6dlJQqA1gubpNTUMf8Y8k1RmyVq97e/s4000/20220427_223755.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUkdE7M4BUEyg1PNba6t7nhrpi8unIIhuZU8J8visDi2Jz8myzrytXKA8_bAl6b-43ZmQQ182c8-bC5sDRyN2qQKhLfZNCrb6dS5ZZABvL0Z8BJ3-Tn0d21CD_kD_4a0hkVtqW6rmhGcR4pnMH1AWDP7632zhT0I6dlJQqA1gubpNTUMf8Y8k1RmyVq97e/s320/20220427_223755.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crane Truck</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVdSqITLEKuXwH_laguu6gYczROri9sqnO9cl-UkzW-DogUiCdVMIy3tcHga0_VDxtp7PEb04ANXH36_USI_ks7OSmGQF9xYxQijvUcjreb-D6Mq0hwne-7wpET1nsc7Y_Y-vgVEDChbFXrUtHUYWHZoFLeXqB-eVITz2spZxnGEpGfa5m6pZ-CRIvOdP/s4000/20220424_224527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVdSqITLEKuXwH_laguu6gYczROri9sqnO9cl-UkzW-DogUiCdVMIy3tcHga0_VDxtp7PEb04ANXH36_USI_ks7OSmGQF9xYxQijvUcjreb-D6Mq0hwne-7wpET1nsc7Y_Y-vgVEDChbFXrUtHUYWHZoFLeXqB-eVITz2spZxnGEpGfa5m6pZ-CRIvOdP/s320/20220424_224527.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Indy Storm</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB6nV68KhPTzKFR90NCwWw0Ui0TGL4QZuYp05RT17iL3ejJLZGfnIAqmW8LMLytUv_OnIN-cBWjYfcC2Cg2wX5fxeR2l7mlf2fxkKFcp97i691Ehz4crd0FENZoffgnQZPDMUOsHuD7ngB8kjWWAw8m6AGiw4ej0Wct6lH0329sqWd4HhnWes3Rv7_u8RY/s4000/20220411_214643.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB6nV68KhPTzKFR90NCwWw0Ui0TGL4QZuYp05RT17iL3ejJLZGfnIAqmW8LMLytUv_OnIN-cBWjYfcC2Cg2wX5fxeR2l7mlf2fxkKFcp97i691Ehz4crd0FENZoffgnQZPDMUOsHuD7ngB8kjWWAw8m6AGiw4ej0Wct6lH0329sqWd4HhnWes3Rv7_u8RY/s320/20220411_214643.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Basic Building Set. The fire truck is less basic than the name suggests</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I stored sets from this time built up in a rolling cart and would take them all out and arrange them to play with them. I would never take them apart to build alternate models, and tried to limit them having parts falling off beyond repair and ending up in the bin. A Lego Book, Krazy Action Contraptions included some technic parts and instructions for many builds, but again, I only built one, a cable car that traversed my bedroom for a while.</p><p><b>End: Constraction, Regrets, Town Jr., Soccer, Games</b></p><p>Throwbots. They were cool. I didn't have any Power Rangers action figures when I was young (but I had Batman and Star Wars figures), so there was something about an action figure that was novel for me at the time. The throwing feature was neat, but the worm gear head movement was underwhelming due to the slow nature of worm gear drives. We had lots of these and Robo-Riders as they were priced within reach of an allowance or two. Sadly, while my mom has kept all of our Lego and other GOAT level toys (Brio Trains, K'NEX, Hot Wheels, and lower tier stuff like Playmobil), except for one set 8523 Blaster, the Throwbots and Robo-Riders were the only sets to have been donated or end up at garage sales. Which is a shame because they contained some unique parts that were used in other Technic builds from the time.</p><p>Which brings me to the major Lego regrets from my childhood: Chasing after sub-par sets. First up was Lego Soccer. Going to lots of football games at Commonwealth Stadium, I was fascinated with stadiums and when the Lego Soccer line came out, I was inspired to make a stadium, using many of those previously mentioned 16L technic bricks. We eventually got the 3409 Championship Challenge soccer set, but I then wanted the stadium sets: 3402 Grandstand, 3403 Grandstand with Lights, 3408 Super Sports Coverage, a field expansion 3410, and 3 fricken team buses. The sets were as underwhelming as their names with empty builds featuring large panels.</p><p>The other regret was Town Jr. I didn't even notice the "Jr." in the name at the time. These were sets with larger bricks and panels and pre-built vehicle chassis with simplified building intended for younger builders. These parts were actually the subject of much criticism of the Lego of this period and the many large, specialized parts are said to have contributed to Lego's near failure years later. My brother received 6554 Blaze Brigade, 6330 Cargo Center, and 6556 Bank (actually the most decent set of the bunch as it is way cheaper, while despite being similar built size). These were multi-story town buildings that seemed large and impressive and I wanted my own for my Lego City. I was probably 9 or 10 at the time but I got 6332 Command Post Central. The 3 story building that was quickly constructed was very underwhelming. I found the open back and lack of stairs to get between floors unrealistic.</p><p>Compared to my L-shaped baseplate donut city which was a 100% Lego environment, these Town Jr. and Soccer sets featured separated buildings with open backs on small 8x16 baseplates that could be slid around on carpet and arranged how one wanted and either played from street level with the buildings acting as a facade or inside the interior with the open backs. I didn't want this, I wanted realism with enclosed buildings in a Lego environment. Similarly sets with many small builds (carts, small landscapes) scattered about to get lost about my Lego city versus putting all of those parts into one solid vehicle or building frustrated me. My approach at the time had more in common with modern Lego cities with modular buildings rather than the sets at the time. The regret comes from what could have been: Insectoids, Aliens, technic or even whatever the castle subtheme was at the time (although castles do feature large panels that remove many of the joys of building). </p><p>Probably due to other interests: video games, skiing, peer pressure, I got out of Lego. After Robo Riders but before Bioncle came the next year which is a shame because the bevel gear action of Bionicle and parts are a large step up from the slow worm gears of Robo Riders and Throwbots. The last bit of life in my Lego was 8353 Slammer Rhino, a decent technic for the price but underwhelming compared to 8445 or 8446, which still stood proudly on my shelf.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2DraNu0GiDHQP__yHTWj_ZaCCPfTlev5XuDP16mdJuhFkD-wEz73DCDwCoPaZNjKffvdTVqD-wy1MmYwVwGHvowZEdeDCLnlTiK7MvoEygcxHFaCG2GHzYVzDO-E-7qssqMnV7IHXpkgZIxFFM9DZl3t99n2ybVcOaWmOBw9nERiDb-fY6Fz9lkaxPe1/s4000/20220525_135832.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2DraNu0GiDHQP__yHTWj_ZaCCPfTlev5XuDP16mdJuhFkD-wEz73DCDwCoPaZNjKffvdTVqD-wy1MmYwVwGHvowZEdeDCLnlTiK7MvoEygcxHFaCG2GHzYVzDO-E-7qssqMnV7IHXpkgZIxFFM9DZl3t99n2ybVcOaWmOBw9nERiDb-fY6Fz9lkaxPe1/s320/20220525_135832.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slammer Rhino</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Lego video games were also a highlight at this time, Island, Loco, Chess, Racers, and Rock Raiders. </p>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-49863043600729645312023-05-03T12:14:00.000-06:002023-05-03T12:14:09.689-06:00Finding vertical where it isn't expected<p> Those that know me or follow along on Stava probably notice that when I leave Edmonton on the weekends, I don't intend on hanging around on flat trails. We have enough of those in Edmonton. I seek out elevation gain and other than total activity time, elevation gain is the main stat I chase when I am out. </p><p>So, I "gravitate" towards big climbs, which of course lead to equally big descents. Of course, having rested on Friday to travel to the mountains, I am somewhat rested and ready to race up challenging climbs. I don't complain, I don't beg for shuttles and batteries. When I am tired and when I get old and frail, I'll ride the flat trails that I currently bypass.</p><p>My main activities are mountain biking in the summer (with running and road cycling becoming more prominent) and ski touring in the winter. Ski touring obviously lends itself well to climbing. Modern mountain biking is trending more towards continuous, one way, downhill trails that require continuous climbs, rather than loops and out and backs. </p><p>Cross country skiing has also increasingly crept into my weekend activities and although most popular trails are flat, following summer fire roads or trails along rivers and creeks. Slogging along the flats isn't interesting to me: in classic skiing, it is heavily reliant on the upper body for double poling and skate skiing is reliant on balance and fast conditions. Fortunately, there are a couple of longer climbs around and it has been fun to race up those as well. </p><p>I am a bit of a fan of World Cup Cross Country ski racing and in the leadup to the Holmenkollen 50km race, I saw it mentioned that the course also contained 1800m of climbing. So not only are those athletes covering 50km in just over 2hours, they are also doing that while climbing 1800m! </p><p>When you put it that way, it makes you realize that climbing is an essential component of competition cross country skiing. It's not just double poling in classic technique or riding the glide while skating! Now you have my interest. In a similar way, cross country mountain bike racing is requiring an increasing amount of downhill skill to put in fast times on the courses and at the competition level is removed from what one would think of when they picture typical cross country mountain bike riding (aka, going across the country on easier trails).</p><p>The Canmore Nordic Centre hosted the 1988 Olympics and has since been upgraded with a more modern set of competition trails that feature shorter loops. They all feature roughly 30-40m of climbing per kilometer. Like any good international governing body, FIS has created its own bureaucracy requiring that courses be certified to meet certain climbing statistics before a race can be held. Compare this to cyclocross or mountain bike, where we make changes to the course as we are setting up the night before!</p><p>This means that course maps are published, although it can be hard to find maps from the earlier days of the internet. </p><p>At Canmore, the older loops can be up to 15km long (the 50km race had a 10km loop followed by a 15km loop) while the newer, more modern loops top out at 7.5km. While the climbing per kilometer is approximately the same, the newer courses are wider to allow for mass start racing and have shorter climbs (105m climb on an old 15km loop vs 45m on a newer loop). </p><p>So, I was recently able to throw myself at various loops, racing 10km, 15km at a time. I was curious if having a course punctuated by climbs that I could run up and then coast a descent would actually be faster for me than double poling or skating the flats. I didn't have ideal snow conditions, but I think I might have been faster. And it was a blast. The climbing was a major portion of the loops, while the descents were a nice rest (compared to sprinting out of corners in a bike race), although requiring some commitment to go fast. </p><p>Something I'll look forward to doing more of next winter and there are a bunch of possibilities for comparison. Classic vs. Skate. Flat vs. proper course. </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj703veoD2n3B-8Fff0YduRYO_JwfOFOAhqQuiJzOIoKNW74UM1gKU-s3VkpC3sBkayxDKeRRp_26hjYzakBOrJ0EgRd1ofoXY4HHFrTGn8jZKyWJ3foO-KAxXCKhCKfcF1pSq1VV5FCT2GHTmOnaqvp3OyR2Md5JlpVLgmoeSPsKkJiZje37ab0vBvtw/s687/7.5kmMapProfile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="687" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj703veoD2n3B-8Fff0YduRYO_JwfOFOAhqQuiJzOIoKNW74UM1gKU-s3VkpC3sBkayxDKeRRp_26hjYzakBOrJ0EgRd1ofoXY4HHFrTGn8jZKyWJ3foO-KAxXCKhCKfcF1pSq1VV5FCT2GHTmOnaqvp3OyR2Md5JlpVLgmoeSPsKkJiZje37ab0vBvtw/s320/7.5kmMapProfile.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An old course map with stats and elevation profile</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-26926758699484667652023-04-12T12:39:00.001-06:002023-04-12T12:39:34.027-06:00Dynafit Speedfit Pro Boot ReviewDynafit's TLT5 boot was revolutionary. It brought decent ski-ability to boots barely over 1kg and simplified walk-ski mode transitions. At the time, only the Scarpa F1 (with the bellows) and Garmont Masterlite (that didn't last long), were similar in weight, but well behind in skiability (for the former) and durability and simplicity (for the latter). They were light enough that I used them as 1 boot quiver for 1 year as they were as light as the F1 Race they replaced and were able to drive bigger skis like a 95mm x 187cm Dynafit Manaslu.<div><br /></div><div>The design was refined slightly with the TLT6, losing the miniscule forefoot flex that didn't do much and better buckles. I skied the TLT6 from 2014 until 2020. The liners were getting worn, and buckle hardware loose, so I looked for a replacement.</div><div><br /></div><div>As with the skis, there were lots of options of boots around 1kg in 2020, but again, the unfavourable exchange rate made the boots seem much more expensive than I remember from 2014. And at the time, Dynafit was experimenting with boots without toe welts with the Dynafit TLT7 and TLT8. I don't use crampons very often, but it would be nice to not have to buy new hardware on top of having to buy new boots. </div><div><br /></div><div>Fortunately as part of their budget Speedfit line, Dynafit sold a slightly modified TLT6 in 2020 branded as "Speedfit", with both composite (fiberglass instead of carbon on my TLT6) and plastic cuff versions. Like the Ski Trab Stelvio skis, the Speedfit Pro boot brings the performance of carbon...er fiberglass at a lower price. Combined with the Stelvio skis and the Dynafit Speed Turn bindings, they make a great high performance budget setup.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are a few notable differences between my Speedfit Pros and my TLT6. My TLT6 had the thicker liners and the lighter weight and less cuff restriction of the Speedfit liners is noticeable on the way up. The Speedfits on the other hand, lose the capability of installing a plastic tongue to stiffen up the boots for the way down. I only really used this feature of the TLT6 during infrequent ski resort days or when touring on bigger skis like. But that brings me to another knock on the Speedfits. The cuff feels less stiff, so I definitely miss being able to stiffen them up with the tongues during the rare times I feel like I need to (last lap of the day?). Fortunately, the Speedfits feature an awesome powerstrap. I never bothered with the velcro powerstraps on the TLT5 and 6, leaving them undone. My TLT5 strap didn't like being loose under my pant cuff and actually ripped itself out of the eyelets. The powerstrap on the Speedfits is a cam lock design that can be tightened by pulling on the tail of the strap (once fed through the cam) and loosened for the next climb with a pull loop. I definitely don't use the powerstrap for short laps, but it doesn't slow things down at the transition area that much for bigger laps.</div><div><br /></div><div>So you have thinner liners, and can't install tongues to stiffen them up, and the cuff isn't as stiff to begin with, but the powerstraps are much better to use so they have that going for them. Aside from the uphill performance, which is a little bit better due to the lighter weight. Again, a decent budget boot that probably skis better than the plastic boots in the same price range.</div>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-80107294035543316622023-04-12T12:19:00.001-06:002023-04-12T12:19:28.869-06:00Ski Trab Stelvio 85 Review<p> <i>I am a couple of years late and this ski is now discontinued, but I thought I would share my thoughts on this ski if you can find a pair on clearance somewhere</i></p><p>Before I start this review, we have to travel back in time to 2014. The Canadian dollar was at par. I had just spent a long weekend following Reiner Thoni around the three mountain ranges that surround his hometown of Valemount. I was on a 95mm underfoot, 187cm long ski weighing in at around 1700g per ski. He was on the Dynafit Cho Oyu: an 88mm underfoot carbon ski that weighed under 1200g per ski. I stood a chance when he was breaking trail, but as soon as we hit the broken trail on lap 2, he was gone. I knew I had to get a pair, and I did in the fall.</p><p>I had those skis for 6 years. They were great. They were light enough to let me get an extra lap or two in, but easy enough to ski that I could still enjoy that final lap if my legs were shot. The rocker and tip taper were not fooled by breakable crust or windslab. The tight sidecut, while quirky when trying to open it up also allowed for some fun to be had in less than ideal conditions. The 88mm waist and 182cm length offered enough float for the Canadian Rockies. All in all, a great ski. But with a such a light ski, durability was a weakness and after those 6 years, sidewalls were compressed and opening up (from hitting buried avalanche debris). So it was time to look for something new.</p><p>In those 6 years, lots of new carbon skis came to the market, but with a poorer exchange rate and 6 years of inflation, they demanded a higher price. And I would rather ski my Cho Oyu's until they explode (I still use them as rock skis) than take the weight penalty of a full wood core ski at this time.</p><p>Then I saw the Ski Trab Stelvio 85. A carbon ski for the price of a wood ski. 120g heavier than the carbon variant but cheaper. 85mm underfoot to provide that perfect compromise between weight and float for the locations I ski, similar to my 88mm Cho Oyus. I picked up the 178cm and mounted them with another great price-weight compromise: the Dynafit Speed Turn binding, for another great price-weight compromise the Dynafit Speedfit Pro boot. A brand new budget setup for hundreds of dollars less than the best carbon.</p><p>I have now put in a couple of short seasons in on these skis. Another benefit of being similar dimensions to my Cho Oyus, I was able to use the same pair of Pomoca Climb Pro skins that I have been using since 2014, with just a minor trim at the waist that does not affect their ability on the Cho Oyus during rock ski duty. The verdict is that the Trabs are still light on the uphill, but require more aggressive and attentive skiing on the way down. They are simply stiffer and with less sidecut than the Cho Oyus. In predictable snow like hardpack and powder, this is fine, but in the chop, breakable crust, or slabby snow, I'd rather be on the Cho Oyu's. That said, I am still able to get in that extra lap with fresher legs compared to a wider and heavier ski. </p><p>Durability-wise I am not sure if my skiing habits have changed since 7 years ago, but through the 2 seasons I have used the Stelvios, they have held up a lot better than the Cho Oyus through the same period; the sidewalls are still intact. </p><p>All in, a light, budget ski, but it doesn't live up to the skiability of the Cho Oyu. Ski Trab made the Gavia at the same time as the Stelvio which is even softer, and I would be curious to try those if they came in a 178cm.</p>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-2684935020093410452023-04-05T12:02:00.001-06:002023-04-05T12:02:29.706-06:00The road back<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLwKBbnHCyU1Y_UojQGlq5Vfl88lF18HMj0g0YLsQuMx4ovJewT6xcBnTKfHtxfg_snn6z0BBEzukvqYoZh7dLEKQ7PHJXWyNBWEp-oPvieyWK4ycgGyVHUHX-iDKt19ZGHHPeUND4bSWUNuOWvZ2cJ7LRQKoX7iy2nnU0oBJ_736Wh2Tn27SjVbXiig/s2048/337878639_167089389573222_1489420734640764052_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1542" data-original-width="2048" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLwKBbnHCyU1Y_UojQGlq5Vfl88lF18HMj0g0YLsQuMx4ovJewT6xcBnTKfHtxfg_snn6z0BBEzukvqYoZh7dLEKQ7PHJXWyNBWEp-oPvieyWK4ycgGyVHUHX-iDKt19ZGHHPeUND4bSWUNuOWvZ2cJ7LRQKoX7iy2nnU0oBJ_736Wh2Tn27SjVbXiig/s320/337878639_167089389573222_1489420734640764052_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I took my time getting back to activity after covid. Fortunately, I didn't really have any symptoms. I did the full quarantine for a bit, then got out for some walks. Then I started to go for easy bike rides and runs. I kept busy sorting through my old Lego bin, pulling out parts and building long lost sets from the mixture. It was time consuming enough that it kept me distracted. But I really wanted to see where I was at fitness wise because I wanted to get back to riding up mountains.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've never really taken a long break from training that was enough to notice a drop in fitness. I've also tried to avoid pushing myself really hard while sick, hard enough that I would see how much the sickness has taken out of me. I have never found myself saying "that sickness/work trip/family trip took 10 Watts off my FTP!".</div><div><br />I was starting at my bottom. This wasn't a matter of some breathing obstruction disappearing. I had few red blood cells. But you have to start somewhere, so I did a ramp test. The result was about 80% of my pre-chemotherapy number. Not too bad, probably similar to the average recreational rider out on the trails. But the mountain was daunting. It was late April and if I wanted to get back to my pre-cancer levels to crush some big rides and runs by the end of August, I would need an improvement of 5W per week, 20W per month. Breaking it down like this made it seem unrealistic and impossible.</div><div><br /></div><div>In Edmonton, the maximum height difference in the river valley is about 40m. It's not a lot to work with and serious racers only get their fix of high intensity by sprinting up them in under 1 minute. If I wanted to ride easier, I had previously been able to sit and spin up them, even if it took 2-3 minutes, it wasn't long enough to make me hurt. Now, that 2-3 minutes was pushing me over my threshold. It was eerily nostalgic of my earlier days cycling and something that a lot of recreational riders feel. It made me appreciate all of the training that I have done that has allowed me to not have to suffer up every climb. It seems weird that recreational riders are afraid of a little voluntary intensity, otherwise known as "training", and just accept that every hill they encounter will make their legs hurt!</div><div><br /></div><div>I was at the level of the average recreational rider, but I was lacking endurance. Before, I would be able to ride at an easy for me pace for over 1 hour with little more than water and a couple of cookies. Now, I was bonking after an hour and those cookies weren't going to save me. Going for a ride now meant bringing more snacks! It was nice to encounter friends who had heard of my battle and encouraged me. Thanks for all of the messages!</div><div><br /></div><div>I used to be able to go into a weekend, guns a blazing. Now, I had to stick to the plan, just making sure that I was putting in the right amount of hard work. Now was not the time to focus on the summits, because they wouldn't be anything spectacular at this point, but the process. All I cared about was getting back to my previous levels.</div><div><br /></div><div>In May and June, I was actually able to manage to improve at about 5W per week. Week by week, I didn't seem to be making that kind of progress, but with regular periods of rest, my body was able to recover and produce those extra watts the next week. In early June, I was starting to feel strong again. I was the only one to complete 2 laps of the upper deck of Commonwealth Stadium (The Gristle) with the November Project, and I had a wonderful day where I ran up Opal Ridge in the morning, then cycled up to Highwood Pass in the afternoon. By Canada day weekend, I found myself back to being able to put in some solid days in the mountains. I finally felt like I was back in my element.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then my progress stalled. I was still at least 5% short of where I was. But I was able to complete a goal that had been on my plate for a while: I ran the 55km Rockwall Trail. After a couple of years without races over the pandemic, this was the first day in a while to really take a lot out of me. It would take weeks to fully recover from, but it was so worth it.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the fall, I experienced another setback: Reynauds syndome. My fingers and toes would go numb and white when experiencing slightly cold weather. It puts things into perspective because it is worse than not being as fast. I had to buy heated socks and mitts. I have to be careful going outside in the cold. It has taken away some enjoyment of winter.</div><div><br /></div><div>It has been difficult to progress above the plateau. I was comparing myself to my previous all time cycling numbers, but these were from the pandemic, when I had little comparison to previous running and skiing performances at the same time. I was always a little hesitant to compare to my previous mountain running or skiing performances because I can't do such a test during an evening after work in Edmonton. I have to use one of my weekend days to test in the mountains. While I have been able to get within 5% on the bike, I seem to be a little further out on the run, especially with shorter efforts.</div><div><br /></div><div>Typically, the Christmas break is a time when I can string together a bunch of really good skiing days to prepare for the rest of the skimo season. Unfortunately, this year the ski conditions were not very inspiring over Christmas and I felt I wasn't able to ski confidently or frequently enough. Conditions improved by the time I took my winter vacation later in February and I was able to put in some back to back days more characteristic of myself pre-chemotherapy. These days gave me the confidence that I lacked going into the later part of the race season.</div><div><br /></div><div>Aside from some midweek bike and running races, my return to competition would be with ski mountaineering. It was 3 years since I last raced. The level of competition has increased since I last raced and I find myself in some deeper battles. I qualified for World Championships, but after lengthy contemplation, I declined because I wasn't feeling it. I wasn't feeling like I was downhill skiing very good yet. I wasn't feeling confident that I would have the ability to survive the back to back days of competition. Lastly, I wasn't feeling like I had the ability to launch myself into uncharted territory: to improve on my previous world championships results to race in the groups that are normally ahead. Instead, I would be in familiar territory and I didn't see the point. </div><div><br /></div><div>The last races of the season went well at Steep Dreams and Marmot's Revenge. I capped off the season with a win in the vertical and a hard fought 2nd in the individual at Marmot's Revenge. </div><div><br /></div><div>After successful treatment by chemotherapy, a 5 year monitoring process begins. In the first year, there are CT scans or chest x-rays along with blood tests for the tumour markers every 2 months. As the years go on, the frequency decreases. A failed test could mean additional chemotherapy is required, likely a different, more unpleasant treatment because the cancer was able to beat the first treatment. At the beginning, I was struggling to envision myself committing to any trips or long term goals, instead focusing on making the most out of more local adventures. Now I feel a little more willing to plan ahead, though I would prefer to ideally squeeze everything into the growing gaps between tests.</div><div><br /></div><div>Before starting treatment, I had a phone call with another cancer survivor and he said "your body won't be the same, but that's ok". I ignored and still continue to ignore this while believing I will return to my best. </div><div><br /></div>I guess in a lot of cases, people who go through a health crisis see it as a wakeup call that they need to make major changes to their life. Because factors in their life directly led to the health crisis. Perhaps I am living in denial, but nothing about the lifestyle I have led has proven to increase the risk of cancer. Instead, I feel like some of the choices in my life have been confirmed and I wish to spend more time of what could be reduced life expectancy (because of the toxic chemicals that were put in my body) doing those things I love to do and not wasting time and money doing the things I don't want to do. People have asked me how I was so motivated to come back. I guess it's because I was doing stuff I wanted to do.Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-81590616545195266342023-03-28T12:13:00.002-06:002023-04-13T12:00:41.762-06:00Rock bottom<p> I have no symptoms other than a bit of a sore throat and a fever, but I take a rapid covid test. It shows a faint line. If you are on chemotherapy and have a fever, you are instructed to go to the emergency room because your immune system is weakened and can't fight infection. I "only" had to wait for just over an hour (compared to 12hr+ waiting times. I am admitted to my own room and a blood sample and covid swab (for a PCR test) are taken. Then I am started on anti-biotics to eliminate a bacterial infection, if there was one. </p><p>The emergency room is a contrast from the CCI. At the CCI, there are fewer patients per nurse. When the infusion pumps beep, they are quick to be attended to, whether there is air in the line or if the fluid is finished. In the emergency room, the staff have to manage many more patients. Pumps are constantly beeping and I can hear screaming down the hall, but the nurses are already busy attending to other patients! </p><p>I spend the entire day in a room in the emergency department and it becomes clear that this might be a multi-day thing. I call to let work know that I won't be in tomorrow either. I call the CCI to let them know that I'll be missing my final chemotherapy treatment, bleomycin. I get my dad to drop off some clothes, snacks, and a book. I meet with an infectious disease doctor who is actually very interested in something that showed up on one of my heart valves during a CT scan in January. Eventually around midnight, the results of the PCR test have come in and confirmed that I am positive with Covid.</p><p>At the time I was vaccinated 3 times (and have since been vaccinated 2 more times). It was my first time having Covid, I did not know how my body would react with a depleted immune system. Blood tests prior to beginning my final cycle of chemotherapy had shown that my white blood cells were below the normal range. </p><p>I was wheeled (along with my pump, still pumping antibiotics) to the ward for Covid positive patients. It was dark, it was late at night. Over the door read a sign that said "Intensive Care Unit". I was wheeled past rooms enclosed in glass to my curtained partition room at the very end of the hall. The head of the bed looked a little more complex with switches, control panels and places to connect cables and hoses. Nothing was plugged into any of these sockets but I was freaked out. Why was I here?</p><p>As I lied awake, I felt my chest tighten, as if something was clamping down on my entire rib cage. I was sure that I was not going to die in the hospital with help not far away, but I was wondering if this was Covid's way of taking over my body. I thought of losing all endurance abilities, never being able to even manage skinning up for one lap. </p><p>It was here that I thought about all of the wonderful moments in mountains I have experienced in my life and how the recollections of all the views, skiing powder, and topping out climbs dominated my memories.</p><p>A lot of stuff you do in life is maintenance stuff so that you can spend time doing what you love. A life consisting purely of those activities that you love would be considered "hedonistic", so society has a way of pressuring people to conform to some standard that only breeds mediocracy and stress. Cancer doesn't care if I make my bed everyday, pick up clothes off the floor, or clean the baseboards in my house. It doesn't care if I live my life modelled off of a 90's sitcom and go out to restaurants 5 days a week. It doesn't care if I follow the unwritten rules. All I wanted to do was to ski again. I wanted to strip the maintenance stuff down to the bare bones. I clean the previous day's dishes so that I can bake and make food for the next day so that I can be fueled for my bike or ski.</p><p>Fortunately the tightening disappeared, but the first night was sleepless. And it turns out, it was a former ICU that was being repurposed as a covid ward.</p><p>They didn't want us sharing bathrooms because we were covid positive, but being pumped full of liquids, the jug with the desiccant bag that I was provided was soon insufficient so I staked my claim for the washroom. The women in the partition next to me had a habit of walking around naked, so I made sure to keep my curtain closed.</p><p>Although I was in better spirits after eating and napping, I still felt vulnerable. I didn't leave the house for almost a week and yet I still got sick. How long will it take my immune system to recover from chemotherapy? When I am finally discharged, will I end up back here? Binge watching Tallboyz on CBC kept me going. I did a deep dive on Instagram and found some pictures of someone (I can't remember) having fun ski touring and that reminded me of how good the days can be. My hospital stay reminded me just how vulnerable I am, and how important it was to make the most out of those moments where you do feel strong.</p><p>I was to be there for 5 days until the run of antibiotics finished. 5 days of dragging around a beeping pump and no fresh air. 5 days in the hospital because people didn't want to wear a mask in the grocery store. I had to ask to get the covid anti-viral treatments which were approved for immunocompromised people. And finally, I received an injection which magically started to increase my white blood cells back to normal levels. My parents visited me each day, they had to wear disposable robes, masks and face shields, just like the nurses in the covid ward.</p><p>In addition to my last chemotherapy treatment, it looked like I was going to miss a CT scan scheduled in a week at CCI while isolating and I was able to reschedule that to happen during my hospital stay.</p><p>Finally, after 5 days, it was time to get released from the hospital. I was to isolate in my parent's master bedroom. Fresh air was brief but fantastic. It only consisted of a short walk to the car and sticking my head out of the window on the ride. For those that have been following along on Instagram, it is here that I opened up my childhood Lego bin and began building.</p>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-25726891808535138502023-03-22T12:06:00.004-06:002023-03-22T12:23:29.212-06:00Into it<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qPiPN_f7MN3jQwCiDwdiPJ6zFlmq6KLB8OF_QvXwu7rDjF-9Y873FzObHIxvN0YcRCtSTys41_mjIzuYlxRx52WPN9D3E_MH11gFK6BJG-alo69Bxxoddf9izElmep9NSQWdsGCy-fFoQjzTLgOV9Aj_fOCuCEuvL1JyrmxVvjmkQ27fMVzOciJB0w/s2048/274988394_10166080811325128_5691397663604712761_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qPiPN_f7MN3jQwCiDwdiPJ6zFlmq6KLB8OF_QvXwu7rDjF-9Y873FzObHIxvN0YcRCtSTys41_mjIzuYlxRx52WPN9D3E_MH11gFK6BJG-alo69Bxxoddf9izElmep9NSQWdsGCy-fFoQjzTLgOV9Aj_fOCuCEuvL1JyrmxVvjmkQ27fMVzOciJB0w/s320/274988394_10166080811325128_5691397663604712761_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />I go up to the 4th floor and into a room full of lazy-boys on wheels. There are windows on 3 sides and it is well lit and not too crowded. I take my seat. A nurse comes over to put in an IV, fortunately it goes in on the first try. The first 1L bag of fluid to be administered is connected to the pump. It is just saline, intended to hydrate me to avoid hazardous side effects from the first chemotherapy drug, cisplatin. It will be pumped into me over 1 hour. There are 3 chemotherapy drugs today. How long will I be here?<p></p><p>Cisplatin is in a 750mL bag administered over 1hr. Etoposide is in a 750mL bag administered over 1hr. Finally Bleomycin is in a small bag that is administered over 15 minutes. Bleomycin is described as being toxic to the lungs. Lance Armstrong opted for alternative treatments to limit the effect on his career as a professional cyclist. Before starting treatment, I have done a lung function test to define my baseline numbers if anything were to happen. </p><p>Chemotherapy drugs kill cancer by limiting cell division in the body. This prevents cancer cells from dividing rapidly, but there is collateral damage inside the body. Division of white and red blood cells and skin cells in the body is also affected by chemotherapy drugs. This is the reason for side effects such as fatigue (from lack of red blood cells to transfer oxygen through the body), being immunocompromised (from lack of white blood cells) susceptible to infections (like COVID), and cuts that heal slowly outside and inside of the body. </p><p>4 hours later, I get back to my bike to ride home. My body feels swollen from having taken on 3L of fluid, so much that my knees hurt when I crouch down to unlock my bike. The first day, I go for a fatbike ride in the evening on the flatter Oleskiw trails. Mostly I feel bloated from the fluids. So far, side effects are excessive hiccups that keep me up at night (fortunately I can watch the Olympics on TV), the odd headache and that the couch starts to feel like it has a gravitational pull.</p><p>The first weekend, my taste buds are shot. A carrot becomes inedible. After that, just try to eat pizza and pasta, foods I enjoy. I eat waffles every morning as they are softer on the gums. I call it "living my best life" so that I don't lose weight because of a poor appetite. Fortunately, my taste comes back after a day.</p><p>One cycle for me was 3 days in a row of cisplatin and etoposide with bleomycin on the first day of those 3. Then bleomycin on 1 day of each of the next two weeks. Some blood tests to make sure that the kidneys are still functioning and blood cells are at reasonable levels then the next cycle begins. I did 3 cycles total over 9 weeks.</p><p> In each cycle, the 3 days in a row hit hardest, but the effect is delayed until the weekend and early the next week. For instance, the Tuesday following always brought a headache and nausea, relegating me to the couch for the day. In the following weeks with just the bleomycin infusions, I start to feel better, but then the next cycle begins. </p><p>The message throughout the treatments is to try to continue my normal levels of activity. Well, I know better than that and definitely dial it back, limiting things to 1.5 hours if I am having a particularly good day. The weekend before the beginning of the 2nd cycle, I do a 3 day stage race on Zwift. I am curious how much fitness I have lost. The first day, I start at about 95% of my pre-chemotherapy numbers, but blow up and finish at an average of about 85%. It doesn't seem like much, but it is striking how much just 1 cycle has taken out of me. The next day, I smarten up and try to pace at 85%. I'm at the back of the pack, and I see someone using the sticky-watts (exploiting the game by surging for 2-5 seconds, then easing off) cheat pass me. How pathetic. I finish the 3 days, but decide that it's not worth pushing myself for such meagre numbers.</p><p>I start to lose my hair just before the start of the 2nd cycle. The hair on the side of my head is starting to fall out, there is hair all over my pillow and my toques, so I shave the rest of my hair off. Other parts of my body and my finger nails are becoming extra sensitive.</p><p>I arrive the morning of the next cycle and there has been a bit of a mix up. After my initial weigh in, someone along the way interpreted my weight as being 90-something kg instead of 70-something kg. That means that during the first cycle I was given a much higher dosage of chemotherapy than proposed. There is a bit of a delay as they have to mix new bags at the lower dosage but I am glad that error has been caught!</p><p>After the first treatments of the 2nd cycle, I discover that the gravitational pull of the couch isn't because it has suddenly gained a large amount of mass. It is the nausea. It's not like the nausea you get when you've had a few too many beers. It feels different, but it has the same effect: it makes you want to lie down. I have been provided with prescription anti-nausea medications, but they only work so well.</p><p>I start to notice the effects of having less red blood cells. I get head rushes if I get up too quickly. My heart rate races even if I go up a flight of stairs. The stairs on my bike ride to the CCI is starting to require more from me. One day it snowed and it was a really difficult ride to get to the CCI. On the way back, the final hill out of McKinnon ravine up to 142 street always required some strategy to be able to make it up: resting on the flat section.</p><p>I didn't mind sitting on my indoor bike and grinding it out at 35-45%. Besides the Tour of Watopia group rides were going on. But I found that if I exerted myself too hard or for too long, I would get a bit of a sore throat. Nothing that couldn't be soothed with some tea, but I was always worried that that would be the precursor to something more serious.</p><p>In February and March 2022, we are still in the midst of a pandemic. Being immunocompromised from the chemotherapy makes me exceptionally vulnerable to Covid. So I've had my partner do all of the grocery shopping and I didn't go to any indoor public spaces aside from the CCI, where I've been wearing an N95 mask. </p><p>Think about the political background at the time. February was marked by anti-mask and anti-vax, and anti-whatever (progress) occupation of Ottawa and blockades of border crossings. Basically selfish people who were fed up with having to do the bare minimum required to participate in a civilized society. I felt like I didn't have a choice about whether to put toxic chemicals inside my body and get several needles a week and these people were scared of a little vaccine. The government caved and mask mandates lifted. There goes another level of protection.</p><p>Near the end of the 3rd cycle, with one last treatment to go, I didn't have to leave the house all weekend. My parents dropped off some food, I was happy to spin for 1.5hours at a time on Zwift. My partner had gone away for the weekend to go skiing, only stopping for gas and a short grocery shop. The Tuesday after she got back, I woke up with a bit of a sore throat...and a fever.</p>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-50020442519022477712023-03-15T12:59:00.001-06:002023-03-15T12:59:07.436-06:00Prelude<p> I didn't know much about cancer. It didn't seem to affect those close to me. Sure I had heard words like "tumour" and "relapse", but I had never even heard the word "remission". I didn't know that it typically spreads very fast and also more commonly affects older people. </p><p>In the fall of 2021, I was coming off a summer of being in perhaps the best shape I had ever been in. A winter and spring and summer without the <i>distraction</i> of races (or travelling to races) and other commitments meant that I could focus on executing a training plan and more importantly prioritizing proper rest weeks and progression. The result was that I punched through plateaus, at least with my cycling, setting PR's and KOMs. I was excited to take what I had learned in that year of the pandemic and apply it as races returned to the calendar for 2022.</p><p>September 29, I was sitting in my desk at work and I experienced some severe pain in my left testicle. It was hard to focus on work and I made a couple of trips to the washroom to sit on the toilet to examine what was happening. This was the day before a long weekend for the new Truth and Reconciliation Day on September 30, and as someone who works 40 hours a week and lives for those precious weekends, I didn't want this to ruin my long weekend at the emergency room, I had <a href="https://knightisright.blogspot.com/2021/10/forgetmenot-rounder-with-additional.html">big plans</a>. Eventually the pain went away and I was able to<a href="https://knightisright.blogspot.com/2021/10/moraine-lake-and-ross-lake-trails.html"> enjoy</a> my weekend. </p><p>The pain would come and go. Kind of like a stomach ache. Except the state of your digestive system is constantly changing. I don't think your testicles go through cycles. My testicle seemed bigger and had some flappy things poking out of it. But nothing I would call a "lump". TMI, but besides, my other testicle seemed to be weird for my entire life and it didn't seem to cause issues. I had a busy fall with midweek races and training for skimo season, so I didn't think to book a visit to the doctor until mid November, when my girlfriend finally twisted my arm. </p><p>I had not been to a doctor very regularly at that point. I went to a walk-in in early 2020 because I had noticed some 200+ bpm heart rates now that I had a watch I could wear during a skimo race. And before that I had found a new family doctor in 2017 who had had me do the battery of tests, but his clinic moved to an outlying suburb. So I had to find a new family doctor.</p><p>"Oh, by the way, my testicle has been giving me some pain, seems swollen"</p><p>"We'll have you book and ultrasound"</p><p>I got the ultrasound done in the morning and not even in the afternoon, I already got a call to go see the doctor. He tells me that it doesn't look good and that a urologist will be in contact with me soon, and gives me a requisition for some more blood tests.</p><p>The urologist calls and I am to meet on Wednesday. He gives me the rundown of what is going on, how the blood tests show that it is likely cancer, what they are going to do, what the recovery time is going to be like, and that they could even do the surgery that evening...or on Saturday. It's kind of gross, a lot of information to process at once, and I am already really hungry so I decide to schedule it for Saturday with another urologist. Because they cut through the abdomen to extract the testicle affected by cancer, the recovery time can be long to avoid putting too much strain on the incision. It becomes apparent that I might miss skiing over Christmas break, and I feel silly for holding off so long in the fall only to potentially lose out on a week of skiing.</p><p>I spend the rest of my week going for some last bike rides and cross country skis and have some pizza at midnight the night before surgery. Although the urologist went EXTREMELY into depth on the side effects, I am not too nervous because I am excited to get that thing out of me.</p><p>The day arrives and I head to the hospital. I wait around the entire morning but eventually the surgery takes place in the afternoon and I am wheeled off to the operating room. I remember shifting myself onto a different bed in the operating room and then counting down as I am put asleep, then I wake up in the recovery room. I ask the nurse there if it was a boy or a girl, referring to my testicle, I don't think she got the joke. Then I am transferred back to the room from the morning.<br /><br />I don't know what is wrong with the roommate in my room, but his breathing sounds labored and he doesn't want to eat his hospital food. It sound like he has diabetes and COPD and I hear him promise to his partner that maybe he will quit smoking. I can't help but be pissed off. Here I am, I have made much healthier choices in my life and I still end up in the same hospital room... Before I am allowed to leave I am supposed to demonstrate that I can pee, I guess to make sure that everything works. I drink up knowing that if I am able to pee, I will not have to spend a night listening to my roommate whine and wheeze.</p><p>Recovery from the surgery happens step by step. For the first week, I try to get outside and walk 2-3 blocks every day. Don't want to over-do it. In the 2nd week, I return to work from home and work my way up to longer walks, sometimes 2 hours at a time. In the 3rd week, I feel up for some indoor cycling and I do a bunch of 2.5 hour rides because I was bored. My heart rates seem high for small amount of power I am producing, but I see quick progress. </p><p>Throughout this time, I went into the depths of google, looking at what the treatment will involve, options, and outcomes. Podcasts, blogs, publications from regional health services. The stats are interesting. 9000 Americans a year are diagnosed with testicular cancer. By extrapolation, that's probably 900 Canadians, and 30 from Edmonton. The 5 year survival rate for testicular cancer is 95%. 95% might be a good result on a test, but a sobering way to look at that is that 1 in 20 die...</p><p>I meet with the urologist at the end of the 3rd week for a follow up. Contrary to the warning from the first urologist, I am able to return to activity a lot quicker and it looks like I'll be able to ski during Christmas break. Yay. I am provided with a requisition for a blood tests and will be referred to the local cancer clinic, the Cross Cancer Institute (CCI). The blood test is to see if the levels of tumour markers in the blood are dropping after removing the testicle or if they are increasing, indicating that the cancer has spread.</p><p>I went to the CCI to pick up more weekly test requisitions. Upon my first trip into the CCI, it felt welcoming and close knit. I would jokingly refer to it as "Hogwarts", although instead of having magical powers, I had cancer.</p><p>So with a more official go-ahead from the doctor, I was able to start playing around more outside. I went cross country skiing, Klaebo-running up the smaller hills. I did a massive ride on Zwift. It was extremely cold over Christmas break, even with some highs of around -30C, but I didn't care, I just did warmer activities like cross country ski and run. When it did warm up, I was able to put in some big days. I was not expecting to be able to race the skimo race at Castle Mountain, but things were looking good.</p><p>The first weekly blood test looked good, with tumour markers decreasing dramatically compared to pre-surgery.</p><p>And the racing did go well. I skipped the sprint because I had not done any hard efforts since the surgery. The vertical and individual were affected by trailbreaking that kept the group together making things more tactical. I didn't feel like I was at the top of my game, but I got a couple of podiums.</p><p>The next weekly blood test showed some increase in the levels of tumour markers. I had a meeting with the oncologist. to discuss the next steps. More blood tests, another CT scan, and likely chemotherapy starting in February, finishing up in May.</p><p>Chemotherapy treatments are almost synonymous with cancer. The image of hair loss, weakness, and nausea are what you think of when you picture a "cancer patient". I wasn't sure how I would recover from losing a body part that literally produces performance enhancing drugs (testosterone), now I had to worry about how I would recover after nuking my body with chemicals. </p><p>In order to enjoy my body while I still could, I went to Canmore to go skiing every weekend until I began chemotherapy. I was able to put in some great days on the skis. I even snuck in another race on a Saturday night at Norquay. Interestingly, blood tests showed my red blood cell count took a hit from surgery and was not quite back to pre-surgery levels at Castle, but by the Norquay race, they were back, and I would say that I felt pretty good. </p><p>I also took a week of vacation to get the most out of more days in the lead up. Near the end of my vacation, I schemed up an "event". A grande course worthy skimo race at Rogers Pass: Peter's Mental, a play on the famous Pierra Menta. There was an amazing turnout. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpwzAlVGJqspPWA7HiXGhQGG2ZD9cgSGUtKTavFUJ9P7WJgjqVTl6utRahoo_5fwe3DTAajTFkPXKX3Go_5jFmnbsP-1M2QY_bSonOdxBfW7wWirJg1bBm3i4eicoDROFcrbN9GlnbtLG36HzzMUjoowY9EfxRBPnWFtC7pOaY2WI6BIdVa_FcVNfhpA/s560/peters%20mental.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="560" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpwzAlVGJqspPWA7HiXGhQGG2ZD9cgSGUtKTavFUJ9P7WJgjqVTl6utRahoo_5fwe3DTAajTFkPXKX3Go_5jFmnbsP-1M2QY_bSonOdxBfW7wWirJg1bBm3i4eicoDROFcrbN9GlnbtLG36HzzMUjoowY9EfxRBPnWFtC7pOaY2WI6BIdVa_FcVNfhpA/s320/peters%20mental.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter's Mental!</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I then nervously pedaled my bike to the CCI. I had no idea what to expect.</p>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-69597116226415338982021-11-08T10:09:00.002-07:002021-11-08T10:09:11.426-07:00Canadian Rockies Bike FKT's?<p> Although larger in-person events are starting to return as a result of more people getting vaccinated, chasing Fastest Known Times or FKT's is still increasing in popularity. The objective is to complete a route, trail, or loop faster than anyone else who has decided to share their experience. Strava makes it easy to share and rank attempts but of course there is a history of attempts from before GPS use was common and there are "luddites" who I think it has always been more of a running or climbing thing (and even a skiing thing). </p><p>The concept of an FKT has become more established in the mountain bike community with videos of attempts of various routes: Kokopelli and White Rim in the USA, and West Highland Way in Scotland for example. </p><p>Locally, running FKT's like Rockwall and Skyline trails have provided motivation for me; even though I am not capable of taking them, I would love to make an attempt. But on the mountain bike, there isn't much out there to motivate me to continue hammering over the hill that I have just climbed, and instead I have been contriving out and backs and half laps so that I can meet up with my girlfriend.</p><p>Locally, there are some possibilities for the creation of popular FKT segments. The routes used by TransRockies already demonstrate how towns and campgrounds can be linked together. In fact, the actual network of trails is so complex that an endless amount of options are available and it is difficult to confine what could be the go-to Canadian Rockies Mountain bike FKT to one route. </p><p>Racing through the wilderness is controversial. Is it responsible to go fast on trails that shared with other users and wildlife? Where the terms "fast and light" mean carrying less or forgoing first aid and repair equipment. Where racing means riding on the edge of control and around blind corners. Although my familiarity with the above mentioned international FKT routes all seem to have frequent access for support crews, which is a big reason why videos of the attempts can be made. They are also around 100miles, which would slow things down a bit on flatter sections. FKT's also commonly start and finish from a prominent location, ideally a town centre for maximum exposure.</p><p>Anyways, here are my ideas of what could become classic Canadian Rockies FKT routes. I think they represent the brand of riding that is possible here in that the rough singletrack excludes most production gravel bikes:</p><p>Old Bow 80 course: ~80km, 2200m climbing. Sulphur Springs-Elbow Valley-Powderface Creek-Prairie Link-Prairie Creek-Powderface Road-Jumpingpound Ridge-Cox Hill-Tom Snow. Definitely classic, and the FKT is probably the course record from the race. </p><p>Bragg Creek to Canmore: ~100km, 3000m of climbing. But how do you narrow down the options? Tom Snow to up Cox Hill (ugh...) or Elbow Valley-Prairie Link-Powderface Road-Jumpingpound Ridge? Baldy Pass? Jewel Pass or Skogan Pass?</p><p>High Rockies singletrack section: ~65km, 1200m of climbing one way (and an existing Strava segment). I think an out and back could be a good candidate as it would be closer to the 100miles, and the existing one way times require riding really fast on the flat singletrack sections. </p><p>Various TranRockies/Doug Eastcott routes that are more remote: </p><p>Elkford to Etherington over Fording River Pass. </p><p>Etherington to Sandy McNabb or Turner Valley? over Grass and Sullivan Passes</p><p>Turner Valley to Bragg Creek: Volcano Ridge-Wildhorse-Ford Creek-Powderface Creek-Elbow Valley.</p><p>Sheep River to Elbow River sufferfest. How fast can you run up the middle of the Sheep River?</p>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-22163881888814681922021-11-03T12:50:00.003-06:002021-11-03T12:50:27.262-06:00Coros Pace 2 Review<p> Ever look at the price of most GPS sports watches? Eyewatering. Imagine spending more than you would on a laptop and it might not even be able connect to your cycling power meter. It's ok, it will read your text messages to you (which you need to carry your phone with you to use), play music (so you don't have to carry your phone?), tell you when you need to rest (I can tell how my own legs feel thank you very much). </p><p>The Coros Pace 2 watch comes packed with a bunch of useful features rather than the fluff found on Garmin and Suunto watches around $300. For someone who bikes and runs, power meter connectivity is pretty key so that you can replace the stand-alone bike computer. All I ask for is the kind of features that are on a 10 year old Garmin Edge 500 (Power meter capability, Barometric Altimeter) with an update of whatever 10 years of technology is and a watch strap. After almost a year of use, I will summarize the main benefits that I see of this watch:</p><p>+BluetoothLE and Ant+ connectivity. Not only can you use a wider range of devices, but this is also adds a layer of reliability. I sometimes notice especially if the battery is low on my power meter, it will have trouble connecting in Bluetooth but not Ant+. Ant+ connectivity allows me to go longer without changing batteries in my power meter.</p><p>+Barometric Altimeter for accurate elevation gain statistics. Devices with GPS only elevation will not count the small rolling hills you still have to climb. </p><p>+Impressive battery life. You can easily leave the charging cable at home for a long weekend and not worry about losing it somewhere. Or spend all day Everesting. Or go on a long ski traverse.</p><p>+App is excellent. Perhaps it is also my new phone with better battery life so I can leave Bluetooth on, but uploading rides off of the app is fast, easy and mostly automatic. </p><p>+Wrist HR seemed like a bit of a gimmick to me, but its use has grown on my. Sleep stats are somewhat interesting. I don't think the wrist HR is accurate enough for doing intervals, but for general runs, bikes, and skis, I can leave the heart rate strap at home and use the data from the wrist HR to measure a general training load.</p><p>+Improved GPS accuracy. Not only important for Strava KOMs, but also for accurately measuring run pace, which for runners is important for their version of "power".</p><p>With a few negatives:</p><p>- I have the version with the velcro strap. I don't particularly like this strap. It gets caught when I take sleeves on and off. I wonder if it is less durable, not only from the loops getting pulled, but I have also had to re-apply glue to keep the hook patches from peeling off. Also the strap is designed so that it won't pull out of the loop (which is good so that it won't fly off your wrist if it comes loose), but this means that you can't put it on your handlebars because you can't fit the strap over shifters, brake levers, and cables.</p><p>-Compared to my cheaper ($200) and older Lezyne and of course the more expensive Coros models, the Pace 2 lacks breadcrumb mapping. The map of your activity shows up on the watch screen when you save the activity. I am unsure why they can't have this capability, but it is nice for not only seeing how cool your activity map is going to turn out, but also seeing how close you are to the car at the end of a hard day. </p><p>-I did notice some potential power meter dropouts with the watch on my wrist. This was evidenced by a lower average power recorded by the watch than with my Lezyne Micro GPS bike computer. </p><p>-To get rides onto my computer to upload into non-web based software for which there would be an App, I have to email them to myself and download them to my computer. This seems to take longer than plugging in the watch and dragging the files off of it as it it was a USB drive. </p><p>-No custom activity profiles. It would be neat to clone an existing activity type (bike, run) into to create a custom display/autolap arrangement for other activities such as trail running, backcountry skiing, and cross country skiing. </p>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-4679156240537671462021-10-25T07:40:00.002-06:002021-10-25T07:40:31.278-06:00Climbduro for real and Virtual<p> The Climbduro events captured what I love about cycling while hiding me from my insecurities (racing down trails, fighting for position), and have really defined how I choose to ride. My impression of the two editions that I did was ripping the legs off of each other on the climbs, each race starting with a wide gravel road, riders are free to move up <i>and blow up</i> as they wish, followed by a "party lap" back down. For most of the last 4 summers, I have targeted longer climbs while taking time to enjoy the descents at my own pace and contriving loops so that I can meet up with my girlfriend for her descents. </p><p>When the pandemic took hold in 2020, virtual racing became the main form of competition, with race organizers shifting to encouraging time trials following a GPS track. Climbduro was already ahead of the game, offering this in 2019 to complement their real event. Attempting these time trials, the rides became memorable, offering up the chance to "race" on tracks where logistically it wouldn't make sense to race, in addition to experiencing the views and the descents that came after the timed climbs. </p><p>2018</p><p>The first edition happened under smoky skies. The route, 2 stages, the first up the open to traffic section to its top, the second up to the top of the Moose Mountain summit switchbacks. Bike choice was a hot topic but mountain bikes ruled the day, offering more gearing, and requiring less precision on the Summit doubletrack, and could make it down the untimed Moosepackers to the finish. Quite a surreal place to race up to the (almost) top of a mountain! I was just outside of the top 3 on either segment, but what was interesting was that a bad shift on the transition between the two stages bent my derailleur and I had to stop and repair it between stages and even then only had minimal working gear combinations.</p><p>2019</p><p>Construction on the summit trail required a different route but it still delivered. The first, a steep climb up the Husky Road, followed by an untimed descent of Ushoulda. The second, starting on the singletrack of Family Guy (it IS a climb trail!) and finishing on the upper sections of the Moose road. The pecking order was set after the Husky climb, and we staggered our start of the Family guy climb, so no problems were had on the singletrack. 3rd on both segments with great legs!</p><p>Prairie View-Jewel</p><p>Prairie View- Jewel pass is a classic loop, especially when combined with the Camp Chief Hector Descent and/or Razor's Edge. I'd never really hammered it before but had been meaning too. On a long weekend to boot! The initial switchbacks are steady but not steep, but then the climb really turns into a wall. Good for keeping the gas on!</p><p>Jumpingpound Summit + Cox Hill</p><p>My preferred way of riding <a href="http://knightisright.blogspot.com/2013/08/alpine-season.html">Jumpingpound Ridge to Cox Hill</a>, is actually to ascend to the ridge at the Lusk pass climb, ride to the summit of Jumpingpound as an out-and-back and then continue to Cox Hill. The Summit trail climb was new to me. After a slightly longer but enjoyable spin out on the gravel with some great views, I blasted up the Summit trail. Starting off easier on some nicely rerouted singletrack, it soon takes on a steeper character similar to the other Jumpingpound climbs. After topping out and then riding along the ridge, I actually beat my brother to the Cox Hill Junction! After a brief descent, the Cox Hill climb starts immediately and becomes steep and loose near the top. I couldn't clean this section. After re-grouping with my brother, we headed down. This descent is awesome.</p><p>Sulphur Mountain Backside</p><p>If you don't have a small enough chainring, the backside of Sulphur Mountain can be a real suffer...er sulphurfest. The pitch is so steep that you'll be spending some solid time in your easiest gear, or next easiest, and that is at a hammer pace! Great views up the Bow Valley on the 2nd last switchback heading up. Once at the top, the solidarity is over as you are immersed in the crowds at the boardwalk.</p><p>Moose Mountain + Ranger Summit Linkup</p><p>The Pneuma climb has a reputation of being tough, not necessarily because of the pitch but because of the roots and switchbacks on the way up. At a race pace, it isn't bad as you float up over the roots and have short recovery sections on the slight downhills. It's not a trail where you go and set a personal best VAM, but a climb that is more than just a means to an end. It still makes a great hammer, you just might not finish as high above your start as you think you have. </p><p>Connecting to the West Bragg Creek trails is easy after descending Race of Spades. The Climbduro Quattro route featured a shorter climb on Ridgeback, a bigger climb up Bobcat and finally a couple of smaller climbs on Boundary Ridge and Snagmore. As if that wasn't enough I added in a bonus climb up Sugar Daddy before finishing off on Sugar Mama and spinning back to the Station Flats parking lot. It was around 1900m of climbing, much of that on singletrack!</p><p>Ranger Summit Linkup Redux</p><p>From the main West Bragg Creek parking lot, up Ranger Summit, then an out and back on Bobcat, followed by Sugar Mama. I had intended on starting the Triple (Sugar Daddy, and a repeat of Boundary Ridge and Snagmore) but I started in the wrong place so the route wouldn't have counted. The consolation of a lap down to the bottom of Snakes and Ladders and back up was a highlight though. </p><p>By combining Climbduro segments together, I was able to create some memorable days on the bike.</p>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-62172515228676046042021-10-19T14:05:00.001-06:002021-10-19T14:05:38.588-06:00Rye Ridge and another go at Fording River Pass<p> It has been <a href="http://knightisright.blogspot.com/2012/09/cataract-creek-exploration.html">9 years since I was last</a> in the south-Highwood area. Well, I guess I was close with recent trips to Mist Ridge, Loomis Lake, and an <a href="http://knightisright.blogspot.com/2017/10/around-misty-range.html">ill-advised trip Around the Misty Range</a>. Recently, the exploration bug has hit me again and this area serves up healthy helpings of exploration. There is definitely more than a long-weekend's worth of unfamiliar trails to explore out there, but with many closer options for day trips and more reliable options (like Fernie) for weekend trips it is hard to commit to making a trip to the Cataract. </p><p>Three sections of the Great Divide Trail (GDT) thru hike provide motivation for mounting biking in this area: The Oldman Divide Section, Rye Ridge, and Fording River Pass. Hailstone Butte and Plateau Mountain are on my gravel hit list. Mt. Burke and Rye Ridge are fun downhill rides after pushing your bike up. And then there's the unknown of going over Grass Pass, down Wileman Creek to Flat Creek and the Sullivan Pass-High Rock Range loop. </p><p>The "standard" Rye Ridge loop is probably the easiest bite to chew off in this area as the Cataract Creek snowmobile trails are actually well maintained (bridged creek crossings, very few logs). Clocking in at around 30km, I knew I would want to tack on something else, and the network of logging roads in the area provides easy ways to do that. Baril creek is in the next valley to the north and goes up to Fording River Pass. Fitzsimmons creek in the next valley over. And so on. Thanksgiving weekend, with winter approaching the still snow-free 2300m+ elevation of Fording River Pass was intriguing.</p><p>After the long drive to Etherington PRA, driving past multiple overflowing trailheads at Galatea, Elbow Lake, and Highwood Pass, we arrived to an empty parking lot, well empty except for 3 different vehicles pulled in, stopped to inspect a sign or the outhouse and then left...</p><p>The ride starts by rolling along the minimal washboard and slightly loose gravel of Forestry Trunk Road south to the Rye Ridge trailhead (just north of Cataract Creek PRA). At the Rye Ridge trailhead, the Rye Ridge trail almost immediately forks off to the right after the gate onto another smaller doubletrack marked with a cairn. But our ride would continue onto the logging road, descending first and then into some rolling terrain. The open valley provides wonderful views and also a bit of a headwind. The logging road eventually had had enough and it was time to stick with the Cataract Creek snowmobile trail. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivbpGCJngNst4fXf5VWEtvrroSA1K7PLYw6YGKXiJ_z35H-5k0fNJKkwrkcTHcI5veemoCPIH-lCcQbUbsvMiiuC45PginIEeJ7Qu2e_f6kyF-QBhZqLX5_g-QsRyAzvPNUPDCT3bShHea/s4000/20211009_122856.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivbpGCJngNst4fXf5VWEtvrroSA1K7PLYw6YGKXiJ_z35H-5k0fNJKkwrkcTHcI5veemoCPIH-lCcQbUbsvMiiuC45PginIEeJ7Qu2e_f6kyF-QBhZqLX5_g-QsRyAzvPNUPDCT3bShHea/s320/20211009_122856.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>Grassy doubletrack is the name of the game for the next while as the trail travels further up the valley, crossing the main creek on a bridge to a junction with another snowmobile trail, climbing, and then descending back down to another creek crossing. A few logs and some mud spring sections require a bit of walking, but otherwise the trail is steady cruising.</p><p>The Cataract Loop shortcut appears and while it might be enticing to cut off a whopping 0.2km off the loop, it looks steep right from the start. After, a cabin is easy to miss in a small meadow, in this case more visible because some snowmobile club people were busy trying to put an outhouse back upright!</p><p>Another muddy creek crossing and then the fun begins with an absolute wall of a climb. Hmmm maybe the Cataract Creek Loop shortcut might have been a better option. The climb continues, at a gentler grade, snaking through the trees, very reminiscent of skiing up to the top of Silverstar from Sovereign lake. As the GDT now follows this part of the route, orange markings on trees are plentiful. And near the top while the snowmobile trail curves to the right, GDT markings bring you straight up onto the ridge where the views really open up. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwf2Bm-wspDKiv5y4uZRizh8WDP_gK1rTZRtGhY6_O4VUATy8mPTFu4p0BNicgAOIMBplDID3C9CDxN5up6N-THDqE6bmrsiNEdRB4ItqQhEBDTLH1QlPrepyIs3zZyeSkQVKqYDhFAiZz/s4000/20211009_141129.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwf2Bm-wspDKiv5y4uZRizh8WDP_gK1rTZRtGhY6_O4VUATy8mPTFu4p0BNicgAOIMBplDID3C9CDxN5up6N-THDqE6bmrsiNEdRB4ItqQhEBDTLH1QlPrepyIs3zZyeSkQVKqYDhFAiZz/s320/20211009_141129.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>After what seems like an all too brief stint on the ridge, the GDT heads back into the trees to rejoin the snowmobile trail before a short slalom down (also reminiscent of the Sovereign Lake ski trails), before the GDT again forks off to the left onto some singletrack to climb back onto the ridge.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpf8E7tFNgE_tA5m53SxztikMoP-feYPCQn5HOLnSQAF8hD5s-vArEI_8tRJldfjsib3lyNKHnxkzHPI31o9-Wl79NbnwctSeKsoPJgjUa2CrYkxRZ_Ukj0a_xA2go0tgFXtXbIy_v_5Wz/s4000/20211009_141006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpf8E7tFNgE_tA5m53SxztikMoP-feYPCQn5HOLnSQAF8hD5s-vArEI_8tRJldfjsib3lyNKHnxkzHPI31o9-Wl79NbnwctSeKsoPJgjUa2CrYkxRZ_Ukj0a_xA2go0tgFXtXbIy_v_5Wz/s320/20211009_141006.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Perhaps the best part of the day is the descent along the ridge. Never too steep but with some rocks to keep you on your toes. After a long descent along the ridge, the trail plunges into the forest where the fun continues on soft-pine needle singletrack but it is sometimes interrupted by fallen trees.</p><p>At a crossing of a reclaimed logging road, the snowmobile trail is not too far to the right. We continued down the GDT to the creek crossing and then started working our way up the other side, hoping to intersect another snowmobile trail, but with some walking over downed trees, progress was slow and we decided to return to the reclaimed road. </p><p>The snowmobile trail was a quick cruise down to the creek crossing, but repair efforts after the 2013 floods necessitated cutting a trail higher above the bank on the other side so make sure to leave something in the tank. At the first junction with the Baril Loop trail, I wanted to traverse over to ascend up to as far as I had time for towards Fording River Pass, while my partner continued down Etherington Creek, reporting no further difficulties. If I had checked my map, I would have found that that it might have been a better idea to take the East leg of the Baril Loop as the West leg gained some additional vertical before descending down to Baril Creek.</p><p>Transitioning off of the grassy snowmobile trails to the faster rolling gravel doubletrack down to Baril Creek was a welcome change. Baril Creek Trail immediately hits you with steep, punchy, rolling terrain as you work your way up the valley. And while I had managed to keep my shoes dry for the entire ride over Rye Ridge, numerous creek crossings on Baril Creek forced me to abandon any plans for dryness. It wasn't a warm day either as I spent the day wearing a cycling jacket.</p><p>Time alone on the bike is time to think. Think about what I look for in a ride. I like climbs to get you up high and out of the muddy valleys immediately. I like being able to go ahead on my own and loop back to meet my girlfriend at different points and descend together. I don't like slow rolling resistance that saps your power. I don't really come to the mountains to ride rolling terrain, I prefer racing up steady climbs. When I'm riding with my girlfriend, I like to do less waiting when we ride a trail: that she doesn't have to get off and walk hard sections, creek crossings or logs. While this ride had amazing views and explored some seldom ridden terrain, only a short section in the middle up and down from Rye Ridge really impressed me. Nevertheless the pull of the pass that I knew I wouldn't have time to make it up to kept me going. </p><p>GDT blue blazes (for the Baril Creek Access) and snowmobile trail markers provide guidance in this section, the only warning is to stay on the snowmobile trail instead of going on the GDT towards James Lake. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6QJUw7-f7f2tgabEO9cyNajF1mcAenk5O7xRnKjmCdC1KNDG295_tX8Mjd3jDvGSaKlkNm2XZ5xCmpHQmNA0lLY75eG9QH3cofrQ8qoKfk5M1ag9IL3xHyFUdl7IeiCBA9VMQ_FYV86G/s4000/20211009_162514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6QJUw7-f7f2tgabEO9cyNajF1mcAenk5O7xRnKjmCdC1KNDG295_tX8Mjd3jDvGSaKlkNm2XZ5xCmpHQmNA0lLY75eG9QH3cofrQ8qoKfk5M1ag9IL3xHyFUdl7IeiCBA9VMQ_FYV86G/s320/20211009_162514.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice spot above James Lake before yet another descent on the way up.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After another descent on the way "up" the trail really steepened, requiring some walking. But I was close to my turnaround time and motivated to push as high as possible, so I broke into an uphill jog. </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoaHs4D-39q0mCE47Tq1wWi3cSoaUCXB02-s7ZCNtTEIvWvjB7l0M7n3wGn1TdB9v9h3wMp39ANKCXvwUuqqqx5TQjEpP4auJ6Rt8ofUrXGn8DOfRS7_Ko1wanxQzle9aFmQGAcNHKDetE/s4000/20211009_164011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoaHs4D-39q0mCE47Tq1wWi3cSoaUCXB02-s7ZCNtTEIvWvjB7l0M7n3wGn1TdB9v9h3wMp39ANKCXvwUuqqqx5TQjEpP4auJ6Rt8ofUrXGn8DOfRS7_Ko1wanxQzle9aFmQGAcNHKDetE/s320/20211009_164011.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from my highpoint. Actually very close to my highpoint from 9 years ago.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Pointing my bike around and dropping into the steep doubletrack filled with loose rocks, doubts about the quality of this ride vanished and a large grin appeared on my face. Uphills on the way back were inconsequential and the downhill on the wide doubletrack was beckoning me to go faster. My feet were already wet so creek crossings didn't bother me. After the Baril loop junction, the long, downhill cruise continued on without penalty where I arrived to my waiting girlfriend.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicXjGINruI3-5aiq_xW0ry5DMOYsN0JAkDmyJ6HpaSnNgUXSlLrO1nZOvd72Jzt3-FLQv0_PFcqLfUMGYB7CzUV8Jks00C92rIDOm6BvX6ZzNUhrhdjCOd4fOXl4v1TMbV8vAteUE4Oeb_/s936/fording+river.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="936" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicXjGINruI3-5aiq_xW0ry5DMOYsN0JAkDmyJ6HpaSnNgUXSlLrO1nZOvd72Jzt3-FLQv0_PFcqLfUMGYB7CzUV8Jks00C92rIDOm6BvX6ZzNUhrhdjCOd4fOXl4v1TMbV8vAteUE4Oeb_/s320/fording+river.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>I'll be back to Fording River Pass and a little beyond, hopefully sooner than 9 years from now.</div></div>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-39916338459600582522021-10-13T10:56:00.001-06:002021-10-13T10:56:31.265-06:00Moraine Lake and Ross Lake Trails<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYTeLg1uwdixuoivggr_3k1Ab5UGw6zqJlqWq09ptWb4aIgs8fY2T8ALe4l3uz9JyiBq3dgsLGhm1laizXCY0dLomhFcZ5HU9q-HleBSj0lS0R-WjvUoYypGFrfooYUcQSYpgGpkUdfSKp/s4000/20211002_134230.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYTeLg1uwdixuoivggr_3k1Ab5UGw6zqJlqWq09ptWb4aIgs8fY2T8ALe4l3uz9JyiBq3dgsLGhm1laizXCY0dLomhFcZ5HU9q-HleBSj0lS0R-WjvUoYypGFrfooYUcQSYpgGpkUdfSKp/s320/20211002_134230.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The views are spectacular once you emerge from the trees</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p>Moraine Lake, made famous by Instagram and computer desktop backgrounds, is also known for its small parking lot filling up before sunrise each day so that photographers can wow their followers with a picture of the sunrise and so hikers can get an early start on the objectives in the area. Access during the fall larch season has always been competitive but in the last couple of years the pressure has been on all summer while the road is open. But what was once reportedly a terrible road to ride on due to cars circling for parking spots has now been transformed into a quiet ride with maybe a couple of shuttle busses and 10 cars passing the entire ride up.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAigaSDuKRQM1nkiDVCFy93SCsXEsE33EdWjdAKK2IflPaXZ3wNcQ2fn9DrKKwctam5EQyK3ZS2-NZtK1SuQLoHwV5dZiwoK_KNbI4eUe6s40JQYURnUnpm2e-VAUWAdGGP35I_ZYZh2mR/s4000/20211002_122424.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAigaSDuKRQM1nkiDVCFy93SCsXEsE33EdWjdAKK2IflPaXZ3wNcQ2fn9DrKKwctam5EQyK3ZS2-NZtK1SuQLoHwV5dZiwoK_KNbI4eUe6s40JQYURnUnpm2e-VAUWAdGGP35I_ZYZh2mR/s320/20211002_122424.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moraine Lake</td></tr></tbody></table><p>While mountain biking in Banff National Park is limited, especially compared to Jasper, the Moraine Lake Highline trail remains open and provides an additional way to access Moraine Lake without having to worry about parking or shuttles. The Tramline trail from the Lake Louise townsite provides a gentle climb to Moraine Lake road.</p><p>The Highline trail is rooty, rising up to its highpoint around midway through, before its character changes, first becoming a smooth trail winding along the sideslope before emerging out into the avalanche paths coming off of Mt. Temple where bigger rocks embedded in the ground provide technical challenges that continue all of the way down to Moraine Lake. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGJFW5CT5eW9-gEeXRL03VU1VJQGQl8U1pzivqRMVoK-_otOaVlB5cXo1oHlaXrzmiAf0DTbAKlIIfdJEsn8-UEBS97A-4vUBCI22mIxL0zFArT6TArc5_rmImw3miQujzdxM1mn8W01N1/s4000/20211002_141927.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGJFW5CT5eW9-gEeXRL03VU1VJQGQl8U1pzivqRMVoK-_otOaVlB5cXo1oHlaXrzmiAf0DTbAKlIIfdJEsn8-UEBS97A-4vUBCI22mIxL0zFArT6TArc5_rmImw3miQujzdxM1mn8W01N1/s320/20211002_141927.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The smoother midsection of the trail</td></tr></tbody></table>The return trip is only a little different with the rocks more challenging on the way up, but the roots do little to prevent a fast cruise on the way down.<div><br /></div><div>The other main ride in Lake Louise is Ross Lake. Back at the bottom of Moraine Lake road, we continued up the Tramline and crossed over to the other side of Lake Louise Drive and headed behind the staff accommodations where the trail started. Ross Lake trail starts wider and gradually narrows as it traverses around, crossing multiple drainages. Near the end as the trail dropped down to the lake, rocks provided technical challenges and despite the "intermediate" rating, required harder moves than anything on Moraine Lake. The last couple of pitches were steeper and although I was intending on riding back on the Ross Lake trail by myself, I figured they would require walking anyways, so I resigned to ride back on the Great Divide trail with my partner. For the better because the descent from Ross Lake to the road was fast and fun. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_sS2ImhC34ANBxRF52JEctdWH4GOle608PVqIefZMYoU5YJU9Aur6neuBTVc_yN6slQflbD_5LxJMt8AzEH6WrMxqiIGFvFqVOmDCL9REI9J3NhexHijClPbONA4owXtVNByyy7t0kv_c/s4000/20211002_161411.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_sS2ImhC34ANBxRF52JEctdWH4GOle608PVqIefZMYoU5YJU9Aur6neuBTVc_yN6slQflbD_5LxJMt8AzEH6WrMxqiIGFvFqVOmDCL9REI9J3NhexHijClPbONA4owXtVNByyy7t0kv_c/s320/20211002_161411.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ross Lake below the headwall below the hanging valley that is used to ski up to Popes Peak col in the winter</td></tr></tbody></table><p>With all of the hype about the section of the Bow Valley Parkway near Banff being closed to cars, seeing cars overflowing the ditch right by the gate, and the outcry as the road was reopened to vehicle traffic, having a quiet Great Divide Highway to ourselves seemed ironic. Aside from some culverts closer to Lake Louise, the pavement wasn't in too bad of shape and we cruised back. Combined with the gentle climb up Tramline trail, the old highway would make an excellent family ride.</p></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu0YHvuA7ISw6xTf3ce8kw62a0Gl3TxbLBdja6PYD2FnSCmjMO8W3cwLB7y8bVMnCr4HV2p3UrFwR7fbusWo6Wh-tMRe2IjzzBbr7RB17C8QAmzVBHG49kPu7JJNWqxpD7kRIZ161T3h7N/s4000/20211002_163435.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu0YHvuA7ISw6xTf3ce8kw62a0Gl3TxbLBdja6PYD2FnSCmjMO8W3cwLB7y8bVMnCr4HV2p3UrFwR7fbusWo6Wh-tMRe2IjzzBbr7RB17C8QAmzVBHG49kPu7JJNWqxpD7kRIZ161T3h7N/s320/20211002_163435.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Passing over back into Alberta on the quiet Great Divide Highway.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwepVs9uOTMVtGdCuRZprxIAwhDnc9b2IqvTouExsGiZvBu-lTHu9pBubEw_gpc_x-xdyiinSM5s0b6aeUUevVK0R4erLVnlf218_8Fwwx1ct-N8xbTXV0UUS2cdDU324-FokOrQV7DvIa/s882/moraine+lake.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="882" data-original-width="838" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwepVs9uOTMVtGdCuRZprxIAwhDnc9b2IqvTouExsGiZvBu-lTHu9pBubEw_gpc_x-xdyiinSM5s0b6aeUUevVK0R4erLVnlf218_8Fwwx1ct-N8xbTXV0UUS2cdDU324-FokOrQV7DvIa/s320/moraine+lake.JPG" width="304" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-62581609924492897992021-10-13T10:26:00.002-06:002021-10-13T10:26:28.809-06:00Forgetmenot Rounder with additional Volcanos<p> There's no denying the siren call of easily accessible, machine built trails designed with bikes in mind. Never too steep on the way up, and take your pick of either fast and flowy or steep and technical on the way down with minimal meandering. Smooth where it needs to be, rough where you want it to be and well marked so you can make loops on the fly to extend your ride as your window allows. These new trails have allowed riders to pack more trail into a shorter amount of time and effort making the sport more accessible on more days. In most cases, riders can avoid rocks, roots, and steep climbs, staying on their bike instead of having to get off frequently to walk.</p><p>The trails that mountain bikers had previously inherited in as their trail systems in the early days are still there, although the conditions have deteriorated after floods, grazing cattle, use in muddy conditions, and neglect. Frequent creek crossings and mud bogs. Deep ruts. Sand. Big roots sticking out of the ground. Washouts. Overgrowth. </p><p>Mountain bike have improved quite a bit over the last while and while fragile bits like tires and rear derailleurs have gotten more expensive, it does seem sad to confine them to increasingly busy trails when we have 29" wheels, wider tires, slacker angles, and more suspension to easily roll over the rough stuff and explore beyond the confines of a trail system. </p><p>Which brings me to the Forgetmenot Rounder. It's a classic loop, described in both Mountain Bike! the Canadian Rockies by Ward Cameron and Backcountry Biking in the Canadian Rockies by Doug Eastcott of 45ish km. </p><p>An October ford of the Elbow River is barely shin deep, no need to let that deter you from exploring across the river. The first pitch of the Threepoint Mountain trail is intimidating, with big rocks and roots sticking out among loose sand. Not promising off the start, but after walking a bit, the trail snakes its way up a ridge through a spaced forest. I gun it for the top of the climb, focussed on putting the power down and riding as much as possible, but definitely taking notice of the Big Elbow river appearing below to let me know how far I have already climbed. The trail crests and descends slightly to a muddy creek crossing: a theme for the day, but they are either rideable or involve just a quick dismount and hop over the creek before continuing on the ride. Mud section pockmarked by cattle hooves, easy walk, no problem.</p><p>After a couple of crests and creek crossings, the trail emerges in a meadow with a wonderful view of Threepoint Mountain. I don't mind a dismount here or there, but the biggest annoyance at this part is striking my pedals in the deep rut, which either sends a jar that bounces me off my saddle or ejects my foot from my pedal and sending my ankle into my chainstay.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUFN2wK42NmlNX3Y47gAlG867nv2NZ7jHZQXJ2pD4Mw5Uq3J0sx3zOT01y8U0dVKkEWmS8nelWuiFhVh7k044tuWChEs58h6q9BMMfsO_z62XjJcnq794E3luaP0BsFo9wLfj-dXMl1tny/s4000/20211001_114219.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUFN2wK42NmlNX3Y47gAlG867nv2NZ7jHZQXJ2pD4Mw5Uq3J0sx3zOT01y8U0dVKkEWmS8nelWuiFhVh7k044tuWChEs58h6q9BMMfsO_z62XjJcnq794E3luaP0BsFo9wLfj-dXMl1tny/s320/20211001_114219.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A great view of Threepoint Mountain from the meadow</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Both books warn of the trail deteriorating after Threepoint Creek, a junction marked with a signless post. But it was actually quite pleasant, just more of the same. Eventually we reach Volcano creek and it is time to start heading west. While the existing trail tread carries you past an unmarked junction, it might be worth turning right 1km sooner, heading another 1km south to Volcano Creek where it meets Gorge Creek at the aptly named gorge. But we long pass the unmarked junction and reach the marked junction for a snack break. The trail narrows at Volcano creek, the tree needles scrape our arms and grass occasionally obscures boulders that we bounce off of but we make it to the next junction.</p><p>From here, the traditional Forgetmenot Rounder would climb up to the top of the bank of Volcano creek and start heading north. But being so close to the Sheep River trail system where I have never been before, I had schemed a 10km extension that would allow me to see Volcano ridge and also the "new" (ca 2008) Volcano Link trail, ironically riding about 30km away from the road to ride a machine built trail. At the junction, Volcano ridge trail is indistinct, forcing you into Volcano creek before appearing on the opposite bank. We make mental note not to carry too much speed into the unsigned barbed-wire fence but the baby head sized rocks will prevent us from coming in with too much speed. The trail is never too steep but follows an arrow-straight cutline up to a pass, with the intersection of Volcano Link coming from the east. Turning east, another cutline brings us down and then up to another bump, where we emerged in a meadow and a nice spot for a lunch break.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAaduhSUqLn3EHWg2vbcG9-hgF_DB7gcN1z4Z_yhRxMNeh0VCY2dty-1zPgpro_QHekcAzWr1nfmg3_PIvz4JRWDiCGKDlPQXYYitk9UEZAvpAabta1tuGr9X3nahiIhuoQxg8MTp7VU9F/s4000/20211001_131040.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAaduhSUqLn3EHWg2vbcG9-hgF_DB7gcN1z4Z_yhRxMNeh0VCY2dty-1zPgpro_QHekcAzWr1nfmg3_PIvz4JRWDiCGKDlPQXYYitk9UEZAvpAabta1tuGr9X3nahiIhuoQxg8MTp7VU9F/s320/20211001_131040.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">South Volcano Ridge. A nice lunch spot</td></tr></tbody></table><p>After lunch, we start descending to the east, passing a marked junction with an obvious singletrack, but one that seemed too narrow to be a machine build and instead continue straight. The trail, still following a cutline, although one that turns at diagonals drops down steeply, loosely, and with some encroaching alders. It definitely met the description of the old trail. Eventually we hit the valley bottom and roll on the Link trail towards an old, closed parking lot just off the abandoned Gorge Creek road. I intend on racing up the new Volcano Link trail, but first I have to actually find it! I know the junction is a couple hundred meters south of the old trail we descended. Racing back up the Link Creek trail, past the old trail junction, I keep my eyes focused to my right looking for a machine built trail to climb up. I spot the machine built trail at a 5:00 direction but the junction is signed. I hammer up the trail, while being of a more modern build, it is definitely steep. The trail wound its way up the slope but a treed ridge loomed discouragingly high above. Eventually it got closer and the trail emerged at the junction as the singletrack that we had previously ridden by. </p><p>The backtrack to Volcano Creek was quick for the Volcano Ridge trail is in good shape, dry and with waterbars to experience some negative g's. The previously mentioned babyheads kept our speed in check so we wouldn't rip through the barbed wire gate. Back on Volcano Creek, the suffering continued from earlier in the day, but instead of being narrow, it involved multiple steep, punchy hills with loose rocks out of creek crossings, requiring more effort than the elevation profile would suggest.</p><p>At Threepoint creek, the trail descends into the creek facing upstream. We are unsure of trusting the accuracy of the GPS track through here but eventually deduce that we have to pick up the track heading upstream, cross Threepoint further upstream, before a big climb out to the top of the bank on the north side. Here we spotted some wild horses, who appeared quite jumpy.</p><p>Threepoint trail was an improvement from Volcano Creek, although passing through a clearcut. The anticipation for the gorge was building and eventually the trail started to roll along it's edge, I wanted to snap a picture but we were cruising too fast to stop, but eventually, right at the intersection with Wildhorse Trail, we had a chance.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQYxtHCmxmlb6QgBjDxcKTN14qX9ehY75hZzqGn3cmv3TmAMwCbbGwPXjQESVNKgkq3MMPB9IqHNC8BuSDzcxbbx2OJ2kVAzGLI7e8bzBWK0TlXKrA8K32L_q5qmVKX-Fk0ylfPm7yB1dQ/s4000/20211001_150623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQYxtHCmxmlb6QgBjDxcKTN14qX9ehY75hZzqGn3cmv3TmAMwCbbGwPXjQESVNKgkq3MMPB9IqHNC8BuSDzcxbbx2OJ2kVAzGLI7e8bzBWK0TlXKrA8K32L_q5qmVKX-Fk0ylfPm7yB1dQ/s320/20211001_150623.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Threepoint Gorge</td></tr></tbody></table>On to the final section of the day. I had heard that Wildhorse trail was tricky to find, but coming from the gorge, the junction with Quirk trail was defined, in fact turning left onto Wildhorse seemed obvious. The only remaining navigational SNAFU occurred just after the Quirk Creek shortcut comes in. We took the marked left turn, continued through some wet and muddy terrain for a bit before reaching an opening meadow. Instead of trending right through the meadow, we got suckered into a reclaimed logging road trending straight/left. GPS confirmed our mistake and soon we were back on track, finishing the climb up Wildhorse with a couple of creek crossings. </p><p>The trail still stayed doubletrack and as I had heard great hype about this trail, including being rough on the descent from erosion, I was wondering when it would become more rugged. As it crested over the final hill and turned down, it never narrowed, and with braids detouring around a big washout rut, it was a pleasant pine needle cruise down to the Elbow River. We were running low on time and decided against continuing on Wildhorse to the Big Elbow crossing and instead made another ankle deep ford of the Elbow and rode across the wide gravel flats, setting course for the Cobble Flats access road way off in the distance. The final cruise on Hwy 66 capped off this great ride.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl04xpLqXme0nvKiVI4QFQB_w6ahNIRdqlAa0B24_-zqAHNL3E4rlt-tWZX5mggDv8QpZ9WEf1NLFbAGUXShP3qt_-5TPCLasoja0Fwd9FAaBF7z7YWXfEd-6BL2FA68uHOi_8nHhwQvs9/s898/forgetmenot.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="828" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl04xpLqXme0nvKiVI4QFQB_w6ahNIRdqlAa0B24_-zqAHNL3E4rlt-tWZX5mggDv8QpZ9WEf1NLFbAGUXShP3qt_-5TPCLasoja0Fwd9FAaBF7z7YWXfEd-6BL2FA68uHOi_8nHhwQvs9/s320/forgetmenot.JPG" width="295" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p> Overall, a great ride if you don't mind hopping across a bunch of creek crossings and know how to use Trailforks and intuition for navigation, most of it enjoyable save for sections of Threepoint Mountain and Volcano Creek trails.</p>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-5562427218472866992021-09-10T13:31:00.002-06:002021-09-10T13:31:53.235-06:00Into the Mystic to Lord of the SquirrelsLord of the Squirrels in Whistler has been on my radar for a while, since before the climbing trail, Into the Mystic, was built and it was ridden or pushed as an out and back. I was, and still am intrigued by large descents, even more so when there is a climb to race up to connect it. <div><br /></div><div>Nearing the end of summer 2020, I found that I was full of motivation to ride but felt like I was running out of time before the transition into fall, where you the first snows prevent you from riding in to the tops of mountains but aren't enough to allow you to ski. I assumed that any ski mountaineering races that winter would be cancelled due to the pandemic, so I wouldn't need any vacation days to take Fridays off to travel to races and I schemed up another week long trip to grab some remaining rides that had been waiting on my list for too long. </div><div><br /></div><div>I hatched a plan for a quick trip to Pemberton, Whistler, and Squamish, picking up my brother in Kelowna on the way. </div><div><br /></div><div>While the summer had been relatively smoke free, there was some smoke in the air as we drove to Whistler. On the morning we were to ride up Into the Mystic, there certainly was some smoke in the air, I figured that I could kind of see up the mountains, and not really smell it, so it couldn't be that bad! But it was bad enough that my brother's friend didn't feel like starting the ride.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was going to attempt a hard effort up the climb, so we took it as easy as possible up the steep grind up the Flank trail from Function Junction. Not the easiest place to start this ride but we didn't know any better. Once at the start of the trail, the "race" was on. Absolutely flying on the traversing section along the bottom, powering up the steep switchbacks higher up and trying not to fade on the boardwalks up top. I reached the cabin at the junction of the trail and meandered up towards the actual summit of the On the Rocks trail at a much easier pace then turned around to meet Bill back at the cabin. I should have continued at a steady, but not hard pace but oh well. After regaining the summit, we decided to add on a loop of Rush Hour/Last Call. And we were glad we did. The trail was at a good difficulty for me and featured some fun, optional rock slabs to maximize the fun before heading down the Lord of the Squirrels. </div><div><br /></div><div>Lord of the Squirrels was a great descent. Never steep, but with lots of interesting rock and root features to keep you entertained on the way down. Below Chipmunk Rebellion, Industrial Waste, and Danimal Middle brought me to the roads, while Bill took harder trails. I wonder what an easy black option off the Flank would be? Roads and the valley trail brought us back to the car and our campsite where I could upload my ride and celebrate my KOM on the climb with a lukewarm beer and some pasta in the evening rain.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggVn1tQvExSiZbfJNqq4y6SDuJ8lfT9pMKlORlh_aJRHQANGncjR5UBQfwsVms_gwKtw8CrcAPTaAYtp_rMXcypzWS_CaDkIjsGTOEdFhiT1t9vQsurScY6whaS3cRNAoOCp8TwDx480ZR/s903/lord+of+the+squirrels.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="831" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggVn1tQvExSiZbfJNqq4y6SDuJ8lfT9pMKlORlh_aJRHQANGncjR5UBQfwsVms_gwKtw8CrcAPTaAYtp_rMXcypzWS_CaDkIjsGTOEdFhiT1t9vQsurScY6whaS3cRNAoOCp8TwDx480ZR/s320/lord+of+the+squirrels.JPG" width="294" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-71532413717420645132021-09-10T13:06:00.003-06:002021-09-10T13:06:34.590-06:00Lake O'Hara Alpine Circuit from the road<p> The Lake O'Hara Alpine circuit could be one of the best hikes in the Canadian Rockies travelling through some beautiful terrain and following the trail mastery of Lawrence Grassi. I have never been one to bother with lotteries, or the concert ticket buying experience requiring multiple computers, phones, and a twitchy trigger finger to nail the 8:00am reservation start time to book a campsite or bus spot. The hike itself is around 12.5km with ~1000m of elevation gain from the lake, though the rough terrain of the route: boulders, steeps will slow you down. Easy access to Lake O'Hara is regulated by a quota system: limited campground and bus spots are available and cycling the 11km access road is prohibited. </p><p>In 2020, the bus was closed due to the pandemic. While people could still hike to the campground, this meant that the area would be much quieter, although due to the previously mentioned quota, it is never very busy. As I had been increasing my run mileage, the Alpine Circuit was now an achievable goal for me. Access from the road requires a total distance of ~35km and 1500m elevation gain. I had been battling some injuries from downhill running in the past so I was nervous about whether I would survive the 11km exit uninjured. I was able to run this route in 2020, and it was so amazing that we did it again in 2021, and I added in a side trip to MacArthur Lake.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnTolz1GzogUZkidAcjG1AJZgbWWOkWY-AwfOCLjwj0ciGmP2zo5EbEmN7HFBV6yz6yN4fO7aESXGR0H6nwrS27dtMzqjFgEyu7SJ14MpfrJj0lRnImOOJo2w8q8obr5twtYCbqoMP9my8/s4000/20210725_134917.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnTolz1GzogUZkidAcjG1AJZgbWWOkWY-AwfOCLjwj0ciGmP2zo5EbEmN7HFBV6yz6yN4fO7aESXGR0H6nwrS27dtMzqjFgEyu7SJ14MpfrJj0lRnImOOJo2w8q8obr5twtYCbqoMP9my8/s320/20210725_134917.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>The 11km up the road was taken at an easy pace and didn't feel too draining.</p><p>As my favourite type of running is vertical K's, I took the opportunity to throw in a hard effort up the first climb to Wiwaxy Gap, a gain of ~550m in under 2km. Rising above the trees, it was hard not to turn around and see the blue lake below. The top of the gap came quickly and I had time to finally soak in the views. Looking across to Lake O'Hara and Lake Oesa, the rest of the route was visible. It snaked along ledges, sneaking its way through weaknesses up and down to avoid dead ends to beautiful meadows and lakes. In fact looking across at various points in the day made the exposure appear to be much worse than it actually was.</p><p>Once Jenny hit the gap, we traversed the Huber Ledges to Lake Oesa, at a much easier pace for me, with the rest of the day ahead looming big. Lake Oesa was a nice stop for a snack break although the horseflies were out. </p><p>From Lake Oesa to the Opabin plateau through the Yukness ledges was possibly the slowest section of the day, mostly because it required lots of going up and down over small boulders before hitting the dirt trail right at the Opabin plateau. </p><p>I decided to burn off what was left of my climbing legs on the traversing scree trail heading up to All Souls Prospect. Once topping off on the shoulder of the mountain the trail dropped straight ahead and steeply down the other side on a dirt trail with rocks embedded to keep you on your toes (or on your heels). </p><p>The second time I did the Alpine Circuit, I added in a detour to MacArthur lake. The trail climbed and traversed in a similar style as the rest of the Alpine Circuit, breaking through a cliff band before heading down to the lake. </p><p>Now the slog out begins. In 2021, we had the option of taking the bus, but being "only" 27km into my day, and with bigger routes on the horizon, I wanted to test myself by continuing on with the exit. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIrIUa8LY_OYUem0AtwfxY8l-8Y_AfIPQNKw9KJzRKvSgGJMhwjtPNDdcDhLN2oA0aZ3AO9tBpfZl71zWF-4ADCYe7IMybPTME7DdihCv2OvV8hAWi8HjVg0Wt9xbvSF2c53iWE2gMNqmT/s1048/lake+ohara.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1048" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIrIUa8LY_OYUem0AtwfxY8l-8Y_AfIPQNKw9KJzRKvSgGJMhwjtPNDdcDhLN2oA0aZ3AO9tBpfZl71zWF-4ADCYe7IMybPTME7DdihCv2OvV8hAWi8HjVg0Wt9xbvSF2c53iWE2gMNqmT/s320/lake+ohara.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-73715759947970079672021-09-10T08:10:00.006-06:002021-09-10T08:10:55.036-06:00Fernie Trail to Ale<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/WwDVDYg4S1_RcsfUEBVCs8HzvW_Tty4jvm1ivPZJGBw-2048x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/WwDVDYg4S1_RcsfUEBVCs8HzvW_Tty4jvm1ivPZJGBw-2048x1024.jpg" width="800" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.stagleaprunning.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/FTA_web-526x350.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="526" height="350" src="https://www.stagleaprunning.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/FTA_web-526x350.png" width="526" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The logo of the Fernie trails alliance features 3 prominent mountains as symbols of the wide range of trails in the town. In reality, the extensive network of trails occurs on more than just three mountains. The Fernie Trail to Ale challenge tackles three trail summits: Project 9 on Mt. Fernie, Hyperventilation on Castle Rocks, and Swine Flu on Mt. Proctor, and finishes with a free beer at the Fernie Brewing Company at the base of Mt. Proctor. On any given weekend, you are bound to find some early risers tackling Project 9 and encounter some still optimistic riders either starting or finishing with Swine Flu.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The only problem with the Trail to Ale challenge in that in its quest to tag three trail summits, you end up riding by other just as good trails. Why skip a climb up Lactic Ridge to S-Bomb, a descent off of the ski hill, or a lap through Ridgemont? The first time I did the Trail to Ale ride, I rode the minimum: Project 9, Hyperventilation to Southern Comfort (at the time Hyperextension was closed for logging) and finishing with a Swine Flu. It was in the middle of a long weekend and of course I had time to ride the other trails on other days. It ended up being ~44km, 1560m vertical, and took me 3:45 elapsed (definitely not a race pace).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh6E646NWDGG5km0dnNzQ8Ljc5gCDgmwM1kFobU5iw2BFQKrK1Nyggylpi_7BlzlqJULQHtOc-LGnwxOexHV1QaBffTTzbTom7BGFbMJWc5PnCIFqBeQnJC4cpgJ46Gr5UfBl3tB6e2n64/s1051/fernie+trail+to+ale+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="1051" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh6E646NWDGG5km0dnNzQ8Ljc5gCDgmwM1kFobU5iw2BFQKrK1Nyggylpi_7BlzlqJULQHtOc-LGnwxOexHV1QaBffTTzbTom7BGFbMJWc5PnCIFqBeQnJC4cpgJ46Gr5UfBl3tB6e2n64/s320/fernie+trail+to+ale+1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The ride through town to tag a lap of Swine Flu after a wonderful descent off of Hyperventilation seemed anticlimactic and left me wanting more than just a Swine Flu lap.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A couple of years later, with a full day open to riding, I started towards Project 9, with the intension of doing a fast lap up the climb. Getting the KOM on the climb at the time and descending down the trail, I met up with my girlfriend Jenny and started up Stove trail to Mushroom head, to Red Sonja, her favourite descent in Fernie. Well that was the nature of the plan, but in my style, I raced up Stove, Mushroom head, then Lactic Ridge and then down S-bomb, back to Mushroom head. A female group ride had just started up Stove, I'm not sure if they appreciated me racing by, but that's the way it goes. Jenny wasn't at Red Sonja yet, so I descended Red Sonja to where it intersects the Phat Bastard climb and then climbed back up to Red Sonja to descend with Jenny. After climbing back up to the campground for a lunch, I felt the urge to throw in a hot lap up Hyperventilation. You can probably guess where this is going. Well, after a wonderful descent of Hyperextension and Roots Extension, I felt like I should finally get a ride in on Contra, a jump trail.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After casing all of the jumps on Contra... It was time to finish off with Swine Flu and get my free beer. The legs were tired and it felt like a victory lap, especially with a huge crowd near the top of the climb. I grabbed my obligatory Trail to Ale selfie at the sign post and then dropped in. I had caught an older lady on the descent and she let me by when the opportunity arose, but yelled something at me. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After finishing off Swine Flu, I rolled over to the brewery for a First Trax Brown Ale. As I was getting back on my bike to ride back to the campground, the lady rolled up and told me that I should have waited longer at the top and given her more space before descending. I'm sorry, but I had time to finish my beer before you got to the bottom! Other people use the trail, some faster, some slower, you have to accept it!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Riding back to the campground, I still had some energy left, and the altimeter was showing that I was approaching 3000m of climbing on the day, although the battery didn't have much life left. Why not add in a final lap up to the ski hill, up Gorby, and finish off with a Black Forest, Mega Hurtz, Happy Gilmar and back to the campground to start making dinner. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ONZx1nkvr2qxKkFSz8lAyfBQLXM5X7LfwuBqIiUdxoZcEkwpAka_y3P7X2hJWn0SPnciO6n_iiuZEMC8KKt4OOGKuG9nW5qtyerHFeieqIKsoTXOvLWlSPmBFwiyonUr0mz_VO7kKSe_/s1043/fernie+trail+to+ale+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="1043" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ONZx1nkvr2qxKkFSz8lAyfBQLXM5X7LfwuBqIiUdxoZcEkwpAka_y3P7X2hJWn0SPnciO6n_iiuZEMC8KKt4OOGKuG9nW5qtyerHFeieqIKsoTXOvLWlSPmBFwiyonUr0mz_VO7kKSe_/s320/fernie+trail+to+ale+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">75km, 3000m climbing, 7:35 elapsed. A proper ride!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/jdbCxP4Ei-cbyXpp-hGZeKGncjOmPSLlYDlKEXW9DHs-1536x2048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="800" src="https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/jdbCxP4Ei-cbyXpp-hGZeKGncjOmPSLlYDlKEXW9DHs-1536x2048.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-61798817282202556052021-08-11T08:25:00.003-06:002021-08-11T08:25:34.989-06:00A bike that doesn't suck: Commuter-Bikepacking-Light MTBThe bike industry seems like it is in a race to the bottom, eager to make bikes that look good on the showroom floor but with little thought on the user experience after years of use. Replacement part cost/availability, maintenance, etc...<div><br /></div><div> Below is a spec list for a bike that would make a great, relatively inexpensive commuter and decent for bike packing. What makes it stand out from most bikes made by mainstream bike companies in this price range is a few key spec decisions:</div><div>Rigid fork for reduced maintenance, complexity</div><div>9 speed drivetrain. Cheaper replacement parts, better longevity</div><div>Mechanical disk brakes: Easier maintenance, more reliable</div><div>100mm and 135mm QR axles: more common replacements on the used market and better off the shelf availability in bike shops.</div><div>29x2.4" tire clearance: Bikes in this price range are either low-end MTB's with suspension forks or commuter bikes with anemic tire clearance. It shouldn't cost anything to add extra tire clearance for running Ice Spiker pros in the winter or MTB tires for riding on loose gravel.</div><div>Name brand parts where it counts: hubs. House brand parts where it doesn't: bar, stem, post, grips, brake levers, seatpost clamp.</div><div><br /></div><div>These spec decisions clearly reduce the showroom appeal of the bike, likely making it dead on arrival in most bike shops. </div><div><div><br /></div><div>Frame: Aluminum, Clearance for 29"x2.4" tires, threaded bottom bracket, tapered head tube, 135mm QR dropouts, external cable routing, 30.9mm seatpost, rack/fender mounts, 2 water bottle mounts.</div><div>Fork: Rigid aluminum, suspension corrected for 100mm, 100mm QR dropouts. Rack/Fender mounts. Straight steerer. Could be sold aftermarket.</div><div>Headset: Reducer cup on the bottom. FSA, Aheadset.</div><div>Crankset: 104mm BCD, 36T (although bike packers might want a smaller ring). Square taper, octalink, external BB, I don't care</div><div>BB: Threaded. Square taper, octalink, external.</div><div>Shifters: 9 speed. Alivio or Deore</div><div>Rear Derailleur: Alivio or Deore</div><div>Cassette: 11-42 9 speed</div><div>Front Hub: Shimano Deore</div><div>Rear Hub: Shimano Deore. Bombproof</div><div>Rims/Spokes: Tubeless compatible (weeds out a bunch of crappy rims), 19, 21, or 23mm width. Butted spokes because why not</div><div>Brakes: Shimano Mechanical with metallic pads (could go with Avid BB5 on a higher-end model)</div><div>Bars: Riser bar, at least 710mm wide</div><div>Stem: 70mm paired with modern geometry.</div><div>Seatpost: Rigid, 2 bolt</div><div>Grips: lock on</div><div>Saddle: I'm not too picky</div><div>Tires: 700x38 touring tires stock. Obviously clearance for 29x2.4" mtb tires, Ice Spiker Pros, etc...</div><div><br /></div><div>Geometry: Modern (longer top tube), head tube slacker than 68 degrees.</div></div>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-27534662085676835902021-07-21T08:05:00.002-06:002021-07-21T08:05:11.138-06:00The Tortoise and the Hare is the worst children's story<p> The children's tale of an overconfident hare racing against a humble tortoise is a staple of growing up. I'm sure there are multiple good lessons resulting from the story of the tortoise passing the napping hare for the win, but what stuck around for me was the saying that "slow and steady wins the race". Ultimately a good pacing strategy is a key to winning a race, but it is not a training strategy that will put you in a position to win the "race" in the first place. This mentality has been engrained in North American recreational endurance sport: so much so that people see it as more prestigious to seek out longer and longer distances that require one to go even slower and even steadier. Faster runners and faster cyclists are recognized as being able to hold a steady pace that is just less slow than everyone else. The idea of "steady" leads people afraid to feel even the slightest burn on hills even though they know the downhills wont require much exertion. </p><p>The problem is, the body doesn't really get stronger in response to "steady". It gets stronger in response to being stressed by a hard effort followed by some time to repair. In weightlifting, this idea has reached the mainstream. Nobody goes to the gym and carries around a 30lb weight for the entire hour they are there. No, they lift up heavier weights, put them down, lift them up again, take a break, and repeat with other motions. If they come back the next day, they'll lift with motions requiring other muscles, giving the tired muscles from the day before a break. The loading, unloading, and resting of muscles is anything but steady. Getting stronger requires getting uncomfortable.</p><p>People make a lot of sacrifices to be able to spend time outside. Maybe you don't have any racing or ambitions to push to the limit, but perhaps there is an upcoming cycling or running vacation where you plan on tackling a challenging route. You can spend some time now on your "training" activities exploring the fringes of your comfort zone on your own terms, throwing caution to the wind with regards to pacing rather than be forced into the deep end by the terrain too early into an activity while you are supposed to be on vacation. Whether you are racing or not, the steep climb to get up to the funner trails up high (as opposed to the more basic trails along the valley bottom) or the final climb to complete the loop and bring you back to where a nice meal is waiting for you will require you to dig deep, finding a "race pace" </p>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-66766481351997421542021-07-20T12:57:00.001-06:002021-07-21T12:23:36.693-06:00Ski Mountaineering in the Olympics<div>Big announcement this morning with Ski Mountaineering being included in the Olympic games starting in Milan-Cortina 2026. For some, it is a long time coming while others (obviously skeptical of the corruption associated with the IOC) are leary. What does it mean for ski mountaineering in Canada or the evolution of the sport in general?</div><div><br /></div><div>In Canada, I predict that interest will pique as many athletes who have been turned off of traditional Olympic sports; either they just couldn't make it, or were never interested; might give the sport a try. What they will discover is that the sport is very grassroots: The organizers, officials, and the racers are very passionate, doing this for the love of the sport. We are all trying to do our best with the conditions and opportunities we have. It is not club Hockey.</div><div><br /></div><div>Similarly to Youth Olympic Games (YOG) qualifying, a very select group of 24 men and 24 women will take to the start line. Qualifying spots are allocated at both the continental and world championships preceding the Olympics. </div><div><br /></div><div>If a similar criteria to youth Olympic games were used, the host country, (Italy, for Milan-Cortina in this case) gets an automatic 2 spots. Otherwise the rest of the countries finishing in the top 8 at world championships will get 2 spots. Right now, Canada and USA don't have much competition for the 2 spots (1 each) available at continental championships. Other spots are available trickling down at worlds, but you have to be the host or a top 8 country to get 2 spots. It is unclear if additional spots are available to create a full team for the relay. </div><div><br /></div><div>Right now, Italy (host), Switzerland, and France should be a lock to get 2 spots each for Men and Women. Austria, Spain and Germany will also very likely get 2 spots M/W. Countries like Andorra, Norway, Slovakia, Romania, USA, Russia (on the womens side), Sweden (womens side), will fight for the remaining 3 chances at 2 starters possibly along with Canada and Slovenia. So before you get your hopes up, I think Canada is pretty much a lock on 1 spot for the Olympic games, but it will take a great performance at worlds to get that 2nd spot. The 2nd ranked Canadian can share their disappointment about not making the Olympics with the 3rd ranked Italian, who likely finished top 6 at world championships!</div><div><br /></div><div>In terms of the evolution of the sport, fears are that similarly to mountain biking and cross country skiing, the adventure and technical aspects that recreational skiers associate with "ski mountaineering" will be lost as ski mountaineering competition enters the big stage. Courses are at the mercy of weather conditions and television schedules so conservative on-piste courses will likely be preferred so that they can be easily groomed and avalanche controlled so that the race will go off safely, fairly, and on schedule. </div><div><br /></div><div><div>Over time, mountain bike races have gotten shorter: winning times used to be around 2.5hrs, now they are under 1.5hrs. Laps have gotten shorter so that the athletes ride by camera positions and spectators more frequently. Those changes in isolation might be met with eye rolls from the purists, but over the past couple of years, courses have started to include some very challenging features. Winning requires not only fitness but superior bike handling skills. Regardless of what you think of the racing, there is no question that champions like Nino Schurter, Jolanda Neff, etc.. embody what it means to be a true mountain biker. </div><div><br /></div><div>Whatever the format becomes, I can see it still requiring incredible fitness, ridiculously fast downhill skiing and seamless transitions. It will take a couple of cycles for the youth programs to really get going. Countries like France, Italy, and Switzerland have mastered youth development, distilling the skills and fitness requirements of the sport into their programs.</div></div>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-20881947928396535622021-07-12T08:34:00.002-06:002021-07-12T08:36:06.877-06:00Where you are now<p> Last year, in the early stages of the pandemic when people were taking to the outdoors and clogged the trails in the river valley, I was riding home along a particularly busy stretch of paved trail and I saw a speed inline skater frustrated at having to slalom around groups of headphoned pedestrians. I would certainly question his choice of busy trail: he could have gone out to the suburbs and experienced relative solitude near the homes that these very headphoned pedestrians had abandoned to come of the river valley that evening. But I was grateful that when I was young, I took up cycling and skiing (and eventually hiking and running), relatively simple activities that do not always require flat pavement right next to the river on one of the most popular trails in the city. Activities I can do right from the front door on a variety of routes. It reminded me of a Pepsi commercial where a young Jimi Hendrix is decides to purchase a Pepsi from a vending machine in front of a guitar store rather than a Coke from a machine outside of an accordion store. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/afM6kzmW0RM" width="320" youtube-src-id="afM6kzmW0RM"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159075918950937555.post-72915573781278870072019-11-14T08:07:00.000-07:002019-11-14T11:01:42.276-07:00Used Ski Mountaineering Race gear, buyer bewareI've talked before about how I <a href="https://knightisright.blogspot.com/2017/01/is-ski-mountaineering-race-gear-durable.html">don't believe ski mountaineering race gear is durable enough for daily driver use</a>. Some breakage will of course be covered under warranty. But what if you are buying used, with no warranty support, and unknown abuse? While pretty much every brand and model of race gear has been broken, I've listed some notorious models below, that I believe that even if lightly used should be avoided on the used market. A good deal that breaks with limited use isn't a good deal.<br />
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First generation Dynafit Low Tech, Speed Superlight toepieces:<br />
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Normal Dynafit toe-pieces are fairly bombproof. The Low tech version swapped a steel base plate and toe wings for aluminum. Unfortunately too much material around the mounting holes was machined away and the toepieces often broke around the holes.<br />
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If you are buying used, look for later versions of the toepiece, with more material around the mounting holes. These are usually dark green, 1 yellow/1 blue, 1 red/1 green, or yellow (Fischer version).<br />
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Dynafit Low Tech Race (2.0) Heelpiece:<br />
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The plastic body of this heelpiece is notorious for breaking and is to be avoided. Look for the older 3 hole, all metal Dynafit/Fischer heelpieces or a different brand of binding instead.<br />
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Dynafit RC1/Pierre Gignoux Pack Ultimate Binding.<br />
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Containing both the previously mentioned heelpiece as well as a carbon toepiece that would also commonly explode, it seems that this binding was not designed with heavier North Americans in mind. Buy any other binding unless using these for verticals.<br />
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Fischer Alp Attack:<br />
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All race skis break. I don't have any data to back it up but it seems that these skis with a radically designed cross section and minimal sidewalls break more than normal.<br />
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First Generation Scarpa Alien:<br />
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Here, I am only referring to the very early versions of the boot with a wrap liner instead of the later sock liner. The skeleton-like rear levers were weak. Later versions of the boot with the sock liner had stronger levers. Make sure whoever owned the boot before you had the levers upgraded to the stronger ones!</div>
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Any other race gear to be avoided?</div>
Edmonton Ski-mohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15734300696011462349noreply@blogger.com0