Lead women at the ING Ottawa marathon

Lead women
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos

Well I managed to get through another Race Weekend here in Ottawa. Things worked out pretty well this year. Not a lot of sleep over the last week (seems like the last few months) but it paid off in the end. No one got lost, the course worked well, the weather gods gave us perfect weather (cool and drizzly) and the crowds (runners and spectators alike) had a great time. It's quite an amazing thing to see how big this monster weekend has become. We have a race committee of 25 people who organize the event. Once the weekend arrives this whole mass of runners, spectators, suppliers and contractors swings into action and takes over the downtown core. It can sometimes be tough to imagine there's any control at all in this beast... but it all ticks along without issue. Moving 30000 runners through the streets of town over two days of races is a sight to behold - not something you soon forget.

But it's over for another year... a few wrap up items to take care, a couple of days to catch up on my sleep and then time to plan some hiking trips for the summer.

May 2 4

may 2 4
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

Ahhh the first long weekend of the summer. Queen Victoria's birthday seems a strange reason for a holiday yet we celebrate it with vigour here in Canada. This usually involves a cottage (not important who's) some fireworks (the bigger the better) and perhaps a few beverages. Of course if you're up to the cottage (especially if it’s not yours) then there are chores to undertake to get it up and running for the summer. I got conscripted to help build a new dock at a friend’s cottage near Maniwaki. We spent two days working on "Super dock" and managed to get it about half done. We had several helpers come by to help with construction but this monster of a dock will take a few more weekends to complete. Saturday was warm and sunny but the blackflies were taking a serious toll (I’m scratching pretty bad as I type this) while Sunday was freakishly cold (8C), drizzly and windy (no bugs). Hard to tell what weather was more conducive to productive carpentry? My friend was pretty pleased with the progress. He still has the second half of the dock to get finished but he can putter away with it through the summer - most of the big jobs have been completed. At the end of each days labour there was some good eats (plus a drink or two), a campfire and a healthy sized box of explosives.

I had thought of perhaps making a run to the Adirondacks on Monday to get the first climb in of the season but I was pretty beat from dock construction. With the busy week ahead (it's Ottawa Race weekend coming up) I decided to stay home and relax. Much to do in the next few days…

Evening ride

Evening ride
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

The mountain bike trails are open once again for another season of riding. I grabbed the bike after work and went up for a ride. I've been riding on the road a little bit this spring but facing the short but very steep pitches of mountain bike trails is always a bit of a struggle first time out of the box. I managed to ride up everything (sometimes pretty slowly) but I didn't go for the truly steep trails (not yet at least). I'll get a few more rides under my belt before I go for the steep and deep trails. It was actually surprisingly cool out tonight. Single digit temperatures seem to have discouraged the bugs completely which was a nice treat. Two weeks ago they were getting pretty active but the cold has curtailed their activity. Stopped at the Wattsford lookout to take a picture of the evening light spreading over the city in the distance.

The end of a good hike

The end of a good hike
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

After Sundays great hike up the Eardley escarpment, Mike, Bryan and I couldn't restrain ourselves and headed back on Monday afternoon for another hike. Spring is the best time of year to hike - cool weather, no leaves blocking the views and no bugs. Well.... that last one seems to be coming to an end. Todays hike had the black flies out and a little more focused on their mission. They still weren't biting much but they were certainly starting to swarm around us. At the end of the hike we found a great spot on the edge of Lac Carmen and the cool breezes kept the bugs at bay.... but soon they will be stronger, highly motivated, organized blood sucking machines. As I mentioned yesterday it will only be for a short period so I'll let them take over the Park and soon enough they'll start to die off. It's kind of like fall colours... the "leaf peepers" come out, race all about in a flurry of activity and take over the Park - but you give them their 2 weeks and they start to dissappear again. Patience

Trash out

trash out
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

A couple of back to back hikes in the Gatineau's as spring starts to take a stronger hold on the situation. Sunday I went for a climb with Mike and Bryan up the Eardley Escarpment just below the Western ski hut. Well,... we didn't actually know that was where we would end up but as the trail got steeper and we entered a rockfall below the cliffs, we could hear voices above us... and it wasn't angels. Turns out the trail we had chosen climbed through the rocks to the base of the cliff that Western Hut sits on. As we got to the top there were several large groups having lunch and enjoying the day. Guess they took the easier trail from Champlain lookout. It was a great day to be out but I fear spring weather is about to change as the blackflies were starting to make an appearance. They weren't biting just yet but they were flying around so it won't be long before the woods become an unpleasant place to be - for a short while. Usually blackfly season is only 10 days or so... but then the mosquitoes come out... and then deer flies... and then I suppose the snow arrives so perhaps I should look on the bright side.

It also became apparent we were approaching civilization on our hike as we discovered a lot of trash in the rockfall below the hut. I assume it had been chucked over the cliff from the hut. Lots of beer and pop cans, a fair amount of broken glass, old buckets, signs and even a fire extinguisher. In the photo, Bryan is demonstrating how the trash arrived in this spot. We decided to take the extinguisher home with us. I have access to a "hazadous waste" collection at work so it would be best to properly dispose of it rather then leave it to decay in the woods.

Spring colour

daffodils
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

It always amazes me how quickly the spring colours come in. After four or five months of a monochromatic landscape the grass turned really (really!) green in the last few days. Also, these colourful plants start popping up adding splashes of colour everywhere. I'm sure, for the most part the colour seems dramatic because everything has been black and white (and salt stained) for so long. The grass is probably no greener then it will be in June, July or August.... but it seems really intense right now after the winter.

On another note, I thought flowers turned their heads towards the sun. These daffodills seemed to be pointed in almost every direction regardless of the sunshine..... strange. I found them at the side of the freeway so perhaps some of the flowers were put off by the traffic noise and exhaust and had turned their backs in disgust in spite of the sun.