Skating in Fresh Powder

This is a picture from my last skating day of the season. I arrived to a canal covered with a blanket of snow but still fun to skate on. The snow then turned to rain and had its way with the canal by the time of my return trip. The last few days have brought more rain so the Winter Commute Season of 2010 is officially over. However, the spring commute season is just beginning, with its own set of challenges and advantages. I am going to discuss a few things I have learned and accomplished from the last few weeks of getting to school and back:

-Skating on the canal is very special and brings out the best in people. I had many good conversations and good experiences just taking my skates on and off. A few that stand out are one with a fellow ski touring enthusiast, another with some Aeronautical Engineering students and also one with a visitor from Vermont taking his first steps on skates.

-I was able to significantly increase my fitness level in the span of a few short weeks. From feeling I am the most alert and awake person in my 8:30 am class to feeling the burn on the last climb before home, the body loves fresh air and exercise. I also had a streak of 12 consecutive school days without missing a bike or skate to and from class. The goal for next year is going to be to top that.

-I also accomplished all of the goals I initially outlined and one other which I did not mention. Namely, I had a great time and found an efficient way to exercise. My other goal was not to fall over. The way I accomplished this was to take my time and be careful. I think I can apply this philosophy to all other areas in life.

So now that I can close the book on Winter Commuting lets talk about the spring. The plan is to ride the bike every school day from tomorrow until April 29th when my exams are over. Modulo the constraint that I will not bike in icy conditions. (I am a math major remember) So what is biking in the spring all about? Trying to stay clean and dry at the dirtiest and wettest time of the year. Notice I say trying because if you plan on biking in the next little while you will get dirty and wet. What guidelines do I follow:

1) Gumboots: Kiwis know it and so should the rest of the girls I seeing wearing soaking wet UGS all day long.
2) Bike Safe: I saw a woman with a bike covered in Christmas lights, this woman is significantly lowering her risk of an unwanted vehicular encounter.
3) Dry Clothes: Bring them with you because they will make you and the people around you more pleasant.
4) Take care of your bike and it will take care of you: Wipe it down and lube it up.

So if you spot a guy biking through a giant puddle grinning like a Cheshire Cat, that's me.

Hiking For Turns

I woke up Friday morning at 6:00am with two things on my mind. One was I better study for the four midterms I have next week. The other was I want to snowshoe up Mt. Tremblant and ride my snowboard down. I hit the books for a couple of hours before I could wake up my brother and his friend with the sounds of Junior Senior's Move Your Feet blasting from my I-Phone hidden in their dark bedroom. We set course for the base of Mt. Tremblant my brother and his friend armed with lift tickets and myself armed with snowshoes and climbing poles. I was happy with my decision when I spotted the infamous 10:00 am gondola line.


The first half of the climb was really enjoyable. I hiked the side of a relatively untraveled blue run. I had a few people stop mid-run and ask me some questions that I tried my best to answer as I attempted to catch my breath. The temperature was mild and I was climbing with a long-sleeve t-shirt on with no toque or gloves. I reached the halfway point and spotted Gray Rocks looking lonely.


I was unsure about what route I would take for the second half of climb. I needed to balance distance, pitch, snow conditions, and popularity. I was looking for something fairly direct and deserted. I found exactly what I was looking for in the form of a narrow run that happened to be closed. I am pretty sure it was closed so that the tourists would not be able to track out the fresh snow. This run also had the benefit of being so narrow it kept me protected from the wind which howled as I continued up the hill.


The last part of the climb became so steep the snowshoes were actually hindering progress. I will have to get a pair of crampons next year. I used my resilient and durable climbing poles to maintain a positive rate of climb. I finally got to the top, quickly strapped on my snowboard, and had a blast on the way down. I stopped halfway and did another little hike to get to the top of Flying Mile. This is great run that allows you to pick up as much speed as you can handle. It is only accessible by its own chairlift or in my case the HeelToe Express. A quick ride to the bottom and it was time for a salmon burger and a pint of microbrew from Le Diable.

Just Another Day

The alarm clock goes off at 6:30, there is a hint of twilight in the sky but not enough light for the Circadian rhythm to help me out. My body is tired from burning the midnight oil studying integration and my legs feel like they are on strike after being put through ten straight days of hard workouts. Within a few minutes I shake off the cobwebs because a very busy day lies ahead and 16 km North. This is coincidentally the direction where the 20 km/h wind is coming from, which will be my next challenge. I quickly make a large fruit smoothie and pack my bag full of school books, delicious homemade Indian food and extra layers.

I set off for the University of Ottawa on my reliable Norco, my face is stinging and my chest is tight from the cold. Within a few minutes my heart is pumping, my legs are pumping and my body is warming up as I continue North into the wind. The roads are clear and dry and I feel like I am winning the rat race. Twenty minutes into the ride I feel the endorphins rush into my brain and give me an extra boost of energy and sense of well-being. Before I know it I am changing into my skates with steam coming off my head, arms and neck.

The canal is empty and justifiably so. The winds are making forward progress a formidable challenge and I feel like I am on an ice treadmill. However, I manage to make it to school just moments after the start of my 8:30 Statistics lecture where thankfully we are reviewing for our upcoming midterm. I hand in my assignment and pick-up the previous weeks 13.5/20, another pass. At 10:00 we are released and my next task is spending the next hour and a half studying for my Analysis midterm at 1:00. The studying goes well and I feel comfortable if not confident about the upcoming test. The next class is Differential Equations. I hand in my second assignment of the day. Our topic for the day is the application of second-order equations. The professor is an expert in biological modelling and an excellent instructor.

Next is the midterm. Before we begin my professor spots my smoothie sitting rather inconspicuously at the side of the room and asks the class if it belongs to anyone or if he should be concerned that is it some sort of toxic liquid. I reassure him from across the room that it is non-toxic and quite palatable and we begin the test. It goes about as well as I imagined it could but the time flew by and I really could have used an extra half-hour.

It is now 2:30 and time to meet my student. I manage to wolf down some lunch as I wait. The subject is second year business statistics and the student needs a lot of help. I go over some problems with him but he needs to do more homework. After an hour we devise a study plan and agree to meet again the next day. It is now 4:00 and the last lecture of the day is in Applied Probability. The topic is Markov Chains which is a fascinating and useful tool to analyze the evolution of systems. The instructor is good at what he does and has a very subtle self-deprecating sense of humor which I enjoy. He calls it quits five minutes early and now all that is left is the journey home. Just look at how bad the traffic is:

While you were sleeping.....

I was hiking for turns at Camp Fortune at sunrise this weekend.

What a fantastic week it has been. I was able to bike and skate to school and back Monday to Friday. I also made it up to Fortune Saturday and Sunday morning by 6:30 to "beat the crowds." Actually Dan, Brodie and I do that every weekend we are not at Gray Rocks and it is easily the highlight of our weeks (especially Brodie). I was also able to prepare or consume delicious homemade meals all week. I can not take the credit for this one it is a stuffed lobster prepared by my roomate Geoff whose working on his Red Seal in culinary arts:


This was a delicious chicken salad with a homemade berry vinaigrette:


I also found a few airplanes parked next to a Sleeping Giant in Thunder Bay:


This was a floatplane base in the dead of winter I stumbled upon. It was full of Cubs, Skywagons, Beavers and an Otter. They were all begging to be warmed up and taken for a flight. That is all for now.

David Drainville

My destination last weekend was Thunder Bay. The same destination of my great grandparents when they left the Outer Hebrides of Scotland to start a new life in the Great White North. I attended a memorial service for my Dad's first cousin and 29-year fire department veteran David Drainville.

I remember David as a child as being larger than life, my old man is 6'3 200lb and he looked like a twig standing next to David. He was a true outdoors man and you could find him pickerel fishing in Ontario or hunting wild boar at night in the Australian Outback. I remember him letting me sit in the driver seat of his fire engines and sliding down the pole. He was a family man that raised three boys in the house he built himself on the shore of Lake Superior.

The last years of his life he was able travel all across Canada and the United States. On a trip just a few short months ago he was crossing the border and was unable to answer the standard questions. The border guard was suspicious and the paramedics were called. Within hours he was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 57. The illness was considered a result of his career fighting fires. He was able to make peace with the world and accept his situation. He spent the rest of his life being cared for by a loving family. Let his story tell us to make the most out of everyday and connect with the people who matter most.