Training for Tele-Season

The weather is getting cooler and I am getting stoked for the winter and skiing. I have been doing a lot of biking, rock climbing and running some hills to make sure I am ready to hike for some turns in a couple months.

In the next few weeks I hope to get an outdoor rock climbing video put together. I just started climbing this month but I am really enjoying it and spending lots of time trying to improve and doing some cool lines inside and out.

Kiteboarding in Kincardine

I woke up this morning hopeful for the 25 km/h wind in the forecast but was dissappointed to tree tops standing still and water calm. Slowly the wind picked up and by early afternoon it was looking really good for a kite session on Bruce Beach. I met up with a couple other kiters and quickly pumped up my kite. The wind was blowing about 15 knots from the Northwest and I had lots of power on my 16m Ocean Rodeo Rise.

I launched the kite and got out to the sand bar to do some water starts. The surf was pretty big and it tossed me around quite a bit trying to get positioned properly. I did a couple big power strokes and pulled myself out of the water but had a hard time building enough momentum to really get going. A power stroke is basically starting the kite from high in the air and diving it low in the direction you want to travel. This movement exposes the full surface area of the kite to the wind which then generates power to pull you out of the water.

I had a blast getting pulled out of the water and riding the board but had lots of spills. This can present a problem for a couple of reasons. The first is you need to be thinking about where the kite is and what it is about to do as soon as you recover from the fall. A kite can pull you fast, hard and unexpectedly. The important thing is to make sure you stay facing the kite and are able to de power when necessary. Now remember while your worrying about the kite and what it is about to do your board is probably upwind of you and very hard to spot in choppy water. The next task is tack upwind using your body as a rudder to retrieve your board. Now you can try for another water start.

Starting a kiteboard is similar to getting up on waterskis, The difference is the bar now drives the boat and there is no letting go of the rope and coming to a stop. It is very easy to focus on your riding, forget about the kite and become underpowered and sink back in the water or get overpowered and fly over the board. The fun part is once you find the right balance of power the harness around your core takes the pressure off your arms and allows for long periods of riding without becoming tired or sore. The other cool aspect is the kite takes quite a bit of weight off the board so you feel a lot lighter than you would being towed by a boat.

I had about a five hour session and there is only one part that I would not consider fun. I was walking the kite out from the beach after a break and without warning my harness became unhooked . Now the kite is uncontrollable and quickly loops and crashes on the beach. The only option is to try and chase after it but it is hard to catch and the lines will become tangled. Eventually I caught up to it and spent a good half hour untangling the lines. Learning to kiteboard has been a lot of fun and a great challenge. I would recommend it to anyone that loves to board and is not afraid of a little excitement and a lot of power.

Mathematics takes us still further from what is human into the region of absolute necessity, to which not only the actual world, but every possible world must conform.

-Bertrand Russell

I have not had a lot of spare time recently but I can summarize what I have been doing fairly succinctly with a handy algorithm I came across that generalizes beyond mathematics.

1. Write down the problem
2. Think very hard
3. Write down the solution

Spring Riding

Sunset Snowshoe

We just had the two nicest days of March weather you could ever hope or dream of this weekend. One of the ways I decided to enjoy it was doing a couple trips around our local field which is about 4 square kilometers and a two minute bike ride from my house. I could not find any humans to accompany me on the trek but the Siberian Husky showed a lot of interest in the trip as soon as I reached for his harness. I was treated to a beautiful sunset Saturday and Sunday but preferred to leave my phone and hence camera at home.

Another treat for me this weekend was watching my roommate take off and land on his first flight at the Ottawa Flying Club on Saturday morning. Brodie accompanied me again but seemed to take a lot more interest in below ground as I gazed up at the sky. Other highlights were a trip to the Ottawa Bagelshop for hot bagels out of the wood burning oven. Also a trip to the World of Maps to order a custom map of the Quebec city area where a ski touring trip will happen over next Christmas holiday.

I mentioned a while back that I had a set back on my bicycle in the form of a flat tire. Well recently the roads have improved significantly and yet my bike has still been riding about 10 minutes slower on my commute to school than it normally would. Turns out I was riding a damaged rim and blown tire for the last month and blamed it on the poor conditions. Live and learn. The guys at Fresh Air Experience hooked me up with 30% off on a new rim and tire and a new tube for free, I attribute this to the good vibes I was giving out. So if anyone needs a bike go see Duncan at Fresh Air he knows his stuff!

I also felt very privileged to be able to attend a lecture called Painting With Parts given by my Uncle Pete at the National Art Gallery of Canada. Peter presented his life's work and I thought it was outstanding. The theme of the lecture was thinking of a building in terms of several main constituent components or parts. These parts can be designed very precisely by a computer and that allows greater competition among manufacturers to build each part. This simplifies construction and reduces manufacturing cost. In other woods....very cool. In terms of design one thing that stuck was the following. Turnover is very high amongst the brave souls that answer our 911 phone calls. My uncle designed an emergency response centre in Vancouver with a view of the North Shore mountains for the operators at their desks. The average length of employment tripled for these employees after this building opened. This shows me the power our surroundings have on us humans. This fact also serves as a perfect introduction into my next topic.

Before I begin I want to say my intention is not to be critical it is merely to present my own approach. I also do a lot of gross oversimplification partly for tractability and partly because of my own time contraints. One of the questions I get asked frequently is... Where do you see yourself in (insert number of years)? This comes up from friends, family members and in job interviews. It also comes up a lot at my house with my roommate Dan. Both of us have what seems like to us as a dramatically different perspective than the conventional view. I will define a few terms before I discuss my answer.

The lifecycle problem is a question that fascinates me and a lot of economists. In an abstract sense it means over your life how much and at what time do you consume, save and how much do you earn. The idea is to choose the level of consumption because that is what you control in order to maximize lifetime happiness. This could be for a person, a family or a country. For example the United States has accumulated 10 trillion in debt because it continually chooses to consume more than it earns. It can justify this by saying we are going to live a long time and we are going to make more money in the future. We have all seen what happens when people question these assumptions.

A conventional view to the lifecycle problem goes something like this. You begin your economic life at around 18 and your earning power will initially be very low. This is the perfect time to educate yourself in order to receive higher income later in life. The returns to education can easily justify the use of student loans. Next you enter the workforce and begin at a fairly low salary that will steadily increase until about age 55 or whenever you happen to reach the peak of your career. Over that period you typically accumulate a large amount of debt when buying a house. You then use the higher income you receive from increased workplace experience to build equity in your house and accumulate assets (savings) in preparation for retirement. At around 65 you hopefully have accumulated enough assets to receive investment income to support your desired level of consumption or you worked for a company that accumulated assets on your behalf (a pension). The key point in this analysis is that at any period you can use your income and credit or saving facilities to obtain some desired level of consumption and try to secure consumption in the future. Common sense but it is quite beautiful represented mathematically in an optimal control framework.

Okay back to my original question. The times in my life where I can remember being the happiest and can picture myself being the happiest are at a cottage or in the woods. I also perceive that everyone else around me is at their best as well. This could my grandparents cottage on Lake Temagami which my Mom and stepfather Paul have taken over. My Aunt Trudy and Uncle Mike's cottage in Calabogie. Going for a ski or summer hike and swim at Mont Tremblant. Fishing with my Dad and brothers in Northern Quebec. Hiking for turns, and winter camping with Dan. And more recently lying on the white sandy beach on the shores of Lake Huron at my girlfriends parents cottage. The point is this is what I love to do. Which now begs the question how does that fit in with my own lifecycle problem?

Well I am very fortunate to be blessed with a gift in life that I call enjoying math homework. Why that is such a blessing is that it can be done in essentially any location on the planet equally well. A friend from school recently told she performed most of her summer work for the math department outside on her deck. Taking a break at her leisure to go for a long jog. This is the type of lifestyle I anticipate being able to obtain with my education.

Another thing I encountered recently was having a bit of fun searching for property in Quebec city with Dan. The properties were listed as ideal locations to build a second "vacation home." Our view is why leave the vacation behind and go back to a non-vacation home. It looks like Dan is going to have the opportunity to own a nice sized chunk of Canadian playground in the next few years.

So my own lifecycle problem solution goes something like this. Spend as much time as possible in the next few years to receive the best quality education possible. I am not sure exactly form that will take but my guess right now is an MSc in Applied Mathematics and another MSc in Computer Science. Then obtain a job performing operations research and spend roughly 10 years building a reputation and developing contacts. Once I have enough money saved pick-up a large property and build a small house with the ability to have my own bike trail, and skijoring circuit. Ideally there would be water access as well. I would then be permanently on vacation and work on a consulting basis to support my outdoor recreation addiction. I never would plan to retire because the concept would have no meaning for me.

What is working in my favor? The Canadian population is continually becoming more urbanized putting pressure on house prices in cities and depressing house prices in rural areas. Canada has no shortage of the terrain I am interested in, quite the opposite actually. I also plan on working in a technical area that does not require me to be physically present in an office to do my work. So that pretty much answers the question where do I see myself in ...(insert number of years)? Too long of an answer for a job interview though.

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.