Recently in Fighting Dharma Category

This year I broke off with dragon-boating. It was initially a conflict with the manager of the Club program over a protocol and has become a longer break. Some paddlers paddle dragon boats every summer from May to August. I have enjoyed the evening practices and the frantic transformation of couch potatoes into weekend warriors, but I have let it go.

I paddled Outrigger canoes (OC) through the winter, one or twice a week. In the spring, I paddled in some spring races and some longer races. It has helped me to stay active but I have not trained enough to consider myself a fit or strong paddler. I had hoped to paddle more this summer but many paddlers give up OC for dragon boat or to take canoe or kayak trips. There are a few diehards so we have been getting out about once a week. Dragon boat is winding up and there are going to be some races this fall, so I might get on a team and get into some tougher training.

I have been cycling more this year than last year. I haven't done many evening rides, but I have been getting some long rides in on weekends. I have had some work done on one of my bikes. I had upgraded some components on the Giant in 2004 but made the serious mistake of putting on 175 mm cranks. This may have been contributing to strain on joints, pain and fatigue. It may play a part in the stiffness in my right hip. We will see.

Team Loco Motion won silver medals in the Pearl event in the 2007 Victoria Dragon Boat Festival.  Our coaches and the experienced paddlers had tried to explain how this would work, but it wasn't real until I experienced a big festival. Now I understand why people stay with this sport. I saw our team work hard, compete with enthusiasm, overcome adversity, lift its spirits, support our friends and mentors in the Club, and applaud our competitors.

Loco Motion had some extroverts and natural clowns, who took the Loco name as a mission statement to have fun and create some entertainment.  We had funny hats, songs, pranks. 

After about two months of practice, VCKC Loco Motion made its debut in the Vancouver Island Island Championships, at the Gorge Rowing and Paddling Center. In the first heat, we were put in against Blu by U, a competitive team that finished 8th overall on the day, came in at 2:14. We were second at 2:33. This got us into the Green event. Our performances improved through the next two races partly through the influence of wind and tide, to 2:17, but the competitive teams ran between 2:01 and 2:05 in their finals. The difference between a serious competitive mixed team and a novice team seems to be about 15 seconds.

I can see what this sport is about now. A novice team can't seriously challenge a top team, but the race sorts itself into events that are challenging, competitive and rewarding. It rewards teamwork over individual effort. The boats weigh half a ton empty, and it takes 20 paddlers, working together, in time, with intensity, to move them.

I spent the weekend at the VCKC on the Sea Kayak Level One course, and this past Saturday (May 5, 2007) I paddled with the club from Agate Beach to Glencoe Cove.

The course was a certified Paddle Canada course at the VCKC clubhouse. (This picture was taken from Kinsmen Park, directly across the Gorge. The clubhouse is in Saanich, on Gorge Road, the park is in Esquimalt):

I had taken some courses when I first bought kayaks in 1999 and 2000, and more last year and I had been on some club paddles, so I was able to take the Level One without first going through the more basic kayak course. Level One was useful in identifying the areas in which information from reading had not translated to practical knowledge. The course information and several wet exits and rescues in the Gorge underlined the fact that all the salt water around Victoria comes from the bottom of the North Pacific, and is cold all year. I had bought some immersion gear last fall but I did not use it well. I went out after the course and got a neoprene farmer john - cheap, prone to getting damp and sticky, probably smelly, but effective.

The instructor, Dave Giuliani was a great teacher - enthusiastic about the sport, knowledgeable, experienced as a a guide, a paddler and an instructor. He also did a talk and slide show at the club last Tuesday on the subject of the wildlife visible along the shoreline and in the water around Victoria. He doesn't seem to Google up except in Club's newsletter and a paddling magazine site.

The club paddle was a blast. We went into the wind on the way out and pulled out in a little cove just north of Glencoe cove. We had lunch on a beach surrounded by cliffs with cliff-top houses.

Last Friday, at some point after I had dressed and started walking to work, my right hand went strange. I had no strength, and I could not bend my fingers and hit the keys on a keyboard, or manage mouse buttons. I couldn't double-click, and my attempts to single click turned into spastic clenches of all the buttons. The diagnosis seems to be carpal tunnel syndrome, and it has improved.

About six weeks ago, I bought a pair of running shoes. I had been putting on weight over the winter, because I have not been cycling or exercising, except walking to work, and consuming too many calories. I went for a first run on a Saturday afternoon, running over a kilometer, before breaking down and walking for a rest. I ran and walked back, and then I was sore for 3 days. The next weekend I worked on my kayak, pulling the old seat out, which involved lifting and peeling it off the glue - a prolonged resistance exercise. I was sore for another few days. At the end of that week, I was browsing in Munro's Books and found a remaindered copy of The Runner's World Complete Book of Beginning Running. It had a couple of chapters with programs for beginning to run. It looked like a useful book, so it was an easy deal.

Jasper Park was busier than Wells Grey. I stayed in the Wapiti campground, between the Icefields Parkway and the Athabaska River, south of the townsite. I hiked the trail into the Opal Hills one day, and Wilcox Pass the next. I did the Opal Hills hike on a clear sunny day, with good views for pictures of Maligne Lake and mountains to the east and south:

On Saturday August 5, I drove into Clearwater, and checked the information center for Wells Gray park.

Wells Gray has rugged rivers and trails. It lacks the iconic scenery of the national mountain parks but it is rougher and less spoiled.

I learned a lesson in Victoria living, trying to get into the Interior last Friday before the August long weekend. I had planned to pack Thursday night and get to the ferry early on Friday. One thing led to another. I had to sort through gear to make sure I had what I needed for a few days of hiking. I got to Swartz Bay at 10:50 AM, by which time there was a one sailing delay. I sailed at noon, arriving in Tswassen at 1:40. I thought getting across Vancouver to the TransCanada would be the hard part. The TransCanada was congested from Burnaby out as far as Abbotsford. The traffic would move at 20-30 kph, sometimes coming to complete halt. I think it took about 3 hours to get as far as Abbotsford. The radio news was full of stories about ferry waits, accidents and traffic delays.

Close to nature?