Sunny Skies Ahead

Over the wing on Fi-Fi coming into Pearson 24R


What a gorgeous day perfect winter weather in my opinion, the canal will be open again in no time. Here is the current METAR:
CYOW 291800Z 27013G20KT 20SM FEW020 M19/M27 A3027 RMK CF1
SLP262

I just got in from a gorgeous bike ride from my father's place in Barrhaven back to my place. My trusty pedal-powered vehicle performed beautifully with her new tube in place. I would love to be among the lucky few I saw doing pattern work in some hard crosswinds on runway 22 but for now I am happy to watch. I am going to be flying to Thunder Bay later today and I will post why when I return. I'll let you know what I was wearing from top to bottom for the ride today because I was perfectly comfortable the whole time:
-On my head I wore my ski helmet and underneath that I wore a thin balaclava that covered my nose and face but is permeable to allow breathing. I also wore a pair of cheap sunglasses because it would have been blinding without them. I carried a scarf but did not wear it, allowing the warm air being generated by my core was to escape and preventing me from sweating.
-On my torso I wore a dry fit t-shirt and on top of that a dry fit long sleeve. I always recommend two layers of wicking fabric to remove as much moisture as possible from your skin. Over top of that I wore a light ski jacket with the armpit vents open.
-For my legs I wore underwear, a pair of light long johns, and light snowpants over top.
-For my feet I had a pair of athletic socks with heavy wools socks over top and insulated gum boots to keep my feet dry.

Now that thats out of the way let me tell you a bit about myself and what my blog is all about. I am 23 years old and I live in Ottawa with two fantastic roomates and a 1 1/2 year old Siberian Husky who is a wonderful companion inside and outside. In the past few weeks for the first time in my life I have really discovered and decided what I love and plan on doing for a living. Right now I am studying Mathematics at the University of Ottawa and plan on continuing in the Systems Science graduate program next year. After that I would like to study computer science and software development at the University of British of Columbia. The goal of this education will be the ability to work for an aviation company working on aircraft performance and control systems. I would eventually like to become self-employed like my mother and work as a consultant from home when I start a family and have my own property.

Until last year I was studying economics preparing to do an MA and possibly a PhD but one of my elective credits was a Mathematical Economics course that dealt with dynamic optimization and optimal control. I instantly fell in love with the subject and have since been trying to practice and learn as much as I can about optimal control theory since. This has involved me filling up all my remaining credits with courses like Algebraic Structures, Real Analysis, and Applied Probability. Also it requires me to take summer school and an extra school semester.

For those who might not have heard of optimal control it is the branch of mathematics that involves choosing the trajectory or path of a number of control variable over time in order to maximize a performance index. Some real world examples might be controlling a chemical reaction to achieve the most end product with the least input of energy and precursor chemicals. Also you might want to minimize the amount of harmful byproducts produced in the reaction as well. Another example would be finding the best route for an airplane to follow that minimizes the amount of fuel burn and time traveled. This is done by considering engine performance, winds, and of course avoiding the other aircraft in your way. The examples are endless.

As far as my personal life I am truly blessed to have a beautiful and talented girlfriend that is passionate about creative writing and documentary making. I could not imagine a better complement to my interests in science. We also share a love for the outdoors, cooking and our parents cottages. I also feel extremely fortunate to have a very diverse, dynamic and ultra-supportive family because what I do would not possible without their assistance and advice.

I have a love for aviation and flying that dates back to my role model, my grandfather Allan Raymond Buchanan. He owned and operated many planes throughout his life and began flying in Aruba at about my age. He was an engineer and worked for a few aviation companies before starting his own business and retiring at an early age to enjoy traveling and the outdoors. His family was always his top priority and I hope never to forget that. I will write a post about him some day.

I am a total outdoor junkie in every season and I could not imagine a better country to live in then Canada for that reason. My favorite activities right now are biking, hiking, canoeing, camping, snowboarding, waterskiing, surfing, snowshoeing, skating... this list goes on and on. But the sport I am most excited about is skijorning for which I plan to own a beautiful female Siberian Husky in the next few years. In the future I see myself working from home, living near mountains and water and owning my own bushplane. So like I said sunny skies ahead.

If one of your courses has this as a marking scheme....you might be a math major

Marking scheme. The final grade will be made up as follows. The two term tests are of equal weight. The contribution to the final grade from the term mark will be denoted T and that from final exam, F; both are taken out of 100 for the computation below. The term mark, T, will be composed of marks on the problem sets (more or less weekly; best n out of n + 1) contributing 10%, and two term tests contributing 45% each. The final number grade, M, is obtained from the formula
M = .6F + .4T if F ≤ 60 or F^2/100 + T(1-F/100) else;
subject to the constraint that a passing mark on the final exam is necessary to pass this course. The letter grades will be determined (modulo the constraint) from M via the standard translation, except that D will be given by 49–54, E by 45–48.99, and F, less than 45.

Gray Rocks

Well as expected Dan, Brodie and I had a fantastic time camping and skiing on Gray Rocks. Gray Rocks is a great little ski hill near Mont Tremblant, Quebec, the only catch is they went bankrupt last year so the only way up is climbing skins or snowshoes which suits us just fine.

We left Friday at around 6 pm under a cold blue sky and temperatures hovering around -10 C. A lot of preparation and planning had gone into this moment and it felt great to push back. Of course we turned around a few minutes later because I forgot my gloves but that's the way she goes. We arrived in pitch black at the foot of the hill and found a parking spot right next to the abandoned chair lift in a snow drift. Perfect. We had a pretty good idea of where we would find a campsite by studying an excellent topo map of the area. After a bit of a Charlie Foxtrot trying to get everything I needed on top of my back (including some last minute beer purchases) we started up the trail.

Now it started getting interesting. My pack was so heavy it was cutting off all the circulation to my arms rendering my poles useless. Thankfully, we took our time and only trekked about half a kilometer. We turned into the woods and down a slope and found a small area for a tent. Now the fun begins, it's time tramp down your site, set up your tents, clear brush, gather wood and start a fire. No time to film, we worked at a steady pace for a few hours careful not to sweat. The last thing on your mind is the cold because your mind is racing and full of adrenaline. Pretty soon we had a nice fire, tents and sleepings bags all set and we were munching on fire roasted sausages and sipping Heineken. Success.

The next day we woke up to a perfect winters day with wall-to-wall sunshine and temperatures around -5. There was a system moving in that would bring +8 temperatures and 47 mm of rain the day after we left. Here is a clip of me enjoying being on top of mountain:



and another of our campsite:



The first day was really incredible. We could not have had nicer weather and we ran into plenty of nice people enjoying a snowshoe or ski. I think we did about five runs in total and had a delicious hot lunch with a fire and a few wobbly pops. That night we spent the last hour of daylight gathering wood and prepared a huge fire. We were so tired I think we were probably in bed by about nine.

Sleeping worked out pretty well, lots of layers including a toque and scarf and I stayed warm all night. We did end up with a lot of condensation on the insides of the tent which was unpleasant but not a huge issue. The following day we slept in packed up camp first thing so we were not stuck with packing up after being exhausted from skiing. This was definitely the right thing to do and will be part of our routine from now on. The biggest problem we encountered was keeping the liquid (beer and water) from freezing solid. The best way was to keep a 1 L bottle of water in your sleeping bag. Overall we were very well prepared and happy with the location of our site for subsequent trips. Here is a clip of my last run:



Hopefully we will get a chance to do a few more weekends this winter. The weather so far has not been cooperating, we got 45 mm of rain which melted a ton of snow and closed the canal. Next dump of snow we get you know where I'll be.

It could have been worse...

Here is a shot I took on one of my rides home this week of a science experiment gone wrong at Carleton University. Remember your safety glasses kids!


I had my first setback to the season today in the form of a flat tire. I should remember I weigh 200 lb and should not be biking like a 13 year old. I should also remember that the spare tube I keep in my closet is no good to me in the closet. Anyways, this happened about 10 minutes into the ride so I already had about 4 km behind me and the last thing I felt like doing was walking home and starting my day all over again. So now I am stuck and I consider four options:
-Just take the bus: Well if there was one I might be able to. But our city's bus service is in shambles thanks to a mayor who could not manage his own paper route.
-Call a cab: I would if I had an important paper due or exam.
-Jog: Not happening considering I have a helmet, large bag filled all kinds of food and drink and gum boots on my feet.

So i settled on the Heel-Toe Express for the next 7km or so until I can put the skates on. I accepted the fact that I was going to be Late and I would have a totally unique excuse for my professor. Here is a shot of the welcome first glimpse I got of the canal this morning:



Skating never felt so good.

On another note I leave for my backcountry ski and winter camping weekend tomorrow. In order to make the snowshoe up a mountain through fresh snow with an 80 lb pack as easy as possible this has been my weekly training program since New Years:

-100 km of biking
-50 km of skating
-3 intense gym workouts
-2 hours of uphill snowshoeing with descents on my snowboard
-2 hours of x country snowshoeing

A couple of notes on this. It is very important to get enough calories and proper sleep to support this volume of training. I also save the high intensity for the gym and the uphill snowshoeing. Trying to do all these activities at break neck speed would go over like a lead balloon. My gym workout is short and sweet as I am usually in and out in 45 minutes. I am amazed by the number of meatheads I meet in the gym who look at me like I have six heads when I talk about core training and functional strength. It is also astounding how bad everyone's technique is. Please spend 50 bucks on a trainer before you start spending several hours a week attempting to injure yourself with bad form. This is why I mostly train alone and outside.

A couple of tips on winter biking before I go:
-Have a light and a back-up
-Have a bell and ring it like it is going out of style
-Have a helmet that easily fits over a warm toque
-Have an extra layer and a scarf to put on just in case
-You will want goggles for glare and for freezing ice pellets attacking your eyes
-If you do not feel cold when you start riding you are over dressed and will be overheating and dehydrating yourself
-Footwear is essential to staying comfortable - I wear insulated gum boots and think they are the cats pajamas
-Make sure you are prepared to become covered in mud and filth
-Have a fender because you do not want to become covered in mud and filth
-Try and have a good idea beforehand what the conditions are like and make sure your comfortable with them. I don't ride if there is a heavy snowfall or extreme cold because that would be asking for trouble.
-Have a good ride
-Don't forget your spare tire

I will be doing another post next week with hopefully a lot of great videos and stories from the trip.

The Great Winter Commute Season of 2010 Begins

Today is the day I have been waiting for since the winter school semester started. The Rideau Canal has opened for skating from Bank St to Ottawa U and I will be using it to get to and from school everyday. People that know me well know that I am dedicated biker and have been known to bike in everything from -20 to + 30 degrees Celsius in every kind of precipitation. So with that being said let me tell you about my route.

I live very close to Macdonald Cartier Airport in the south end of Ottawa and attend school at the University of Ottawa. The way I bike to school is more or less 8 km down Riverside Drive and then I join up with the Rideau Canal at Mooney's Bay and follow it for another 7km as it winds its way to my school. So each school day this winter I will bike down Riverside with my skates attached to me somehow, drop off the bike and glide all the way to class. I will leave my front door about an hour and a half before class starts to give me lots of time to really enjoy the commute and not feel rushed.

Now let me tell you a bit about why I choose this way to get school. First of all I detest driving in traffic, I swear, I talk and text and become extremely irritable and that does not even cover parking! Second of all the bus just does not do it for me I do not like rushing out in the morning, its not convenient from where I live and it is crowded. Now biking and skating replace two activities that I loathe with vigorous low impact exercise that at the same time allows me quiet time to think about my day and most likely some tricky math question my professors came up with. There is no such thing as being late becuase you got stuck in a bike jam or missing your bike and having to wait for the next bike in half an hour. So to sum up what I'm doing is:
- Replacing a frustrating sedentary activity with an enjoyable active one
- Finding time for quiet reflection
- Putting a silly grin on my face whenever I zoom by a bunch of cars bumper to bumper
- Enjoying the outdoors and the recreation facilities that my city provides
- Making the most out of winter

Hope this might help convert a white knuckle driver out there or at the very least help some of you understand what we crazy people are doing biking in the winter.

P.S. Flying is on the backburner right now because of school and the afformentioned winter so this is going to be more of an outdoors blog for now.

Posts to come:
-A primer on winter biking
-A trip report from the winter camping and backcountry ski weekend Dan, Brodie and I are planning in Quebec in a couple of weeks and hopefully another video
-A little more about me and what my goals for the blog are.

why i love winter

here is some footage of the backcountry powder day at camp fortune with my roommate Dan and his husky Brodie. I'll shut up and let you watch it.