Spring review

So spring ends with a full gas summer heat wave. It’s hot out there today so it’s a good time to reflect on the spring that was and is now coming to an end. As has been the case for the last few years, spring tends to get pretty filled up with preparations for (Tamarack Homes) Race Weekend. This year was no exception as new routes, new sponsors and some new course “paraphenalia” meant some new twists and turns. On the plus side, the Saturday night races reverted to previous years routes (thanks to some downtown core construction) which we (and our route crews) know pretty well. Saturday always seems to be the harder of the two days to execute as the traffic is at a pretty high level as we close the roads… and drivers fuses seem to be shorter when suddenly faced with closed roads and barricades. Sunday morning we are close the roads before most people are awake so it goes more smoothly. Certainly my stress level drops dramatically after the Saturday night races are over... or perhaps its just the lack of sleep that means I have less energy to worry on Sunday morning ;) Overall I think most things went okay this year. The few problems that did arise were not likely noticed by the participants and we’ll work to correct them next year (along with a few other twists and turns no doubt). Planning for 2013? has already begun…


Runners cross the Alexandra bridge coming back into Ontario
On the hiking front, I did manage to get out a few weekends this spring. As I already posted, the hike up Bennies Brook slide was amazing and a couple of other hikes were nice as well. I usually try to go deep into the woods post Race Weekend - to grab a little quiet solitude - but weather conspired against me so that didn’t come off as planned. I did get a nice riding weekend in after spending a pretty relaxed night sitting around the campfire at Murphy’s Point with Bryan and fam. Got a little riding in around Perth before the Rideau Lakers overwhelmed the roads so that was a nice bonus.

Nice little fish

This past weekend was the first “work day” of the season on the Mt Adams fire tower project and I was eager to get back there and put in a little sweat equity. On the agenda for this trip was a little trail clearing, hauling up and installing the last of the window frames and getting a jump on some more of the safety fencing on the stair rails. We got a good sized group out to haul the window frames so the hike up was an enjoyable one with each person hauling only a few “sticks” of lumber. The punch list was accomplished in pretty short order as well so we’re staying on track. The day was just about perfect too with cool temperatures in the morning and only by day’s end did the heat start to get a little oppressive. As the heat mounted the biting insects came out to play as well. In a rare treat we had all three of your annoying biting insects on full assault. I’ve never had mosquito's, black flies and deer flies chewing my flesh all on the same trip so this was a rare treat - a trifecta of sorts!

Fording the Hudson river - with shiny new window frame parts strapped to our backs
Setting up for window frame installation

I must say the tower is coming along nicely. The big ticket "to-do" items are getting fewer and further between and the tower is looking better and better each time we go up. Next up on the work agenda (some time in July) is repair of the one concrete footing that has decayed over the years. Unfortunately the air lift of our concrete supplies didn’t happen this spring so… if anyone is looking for some excellent cardio/strength workouts to put in their summer training regime, I have 240lb’s of dry concrete mix to be hauled up a mountain! Drop me a line and I’ll hook you up with a quad blasting workout you won't soon forget! (P.S. you can carry smaller packages of concrete if you want)  Hopefully it won’t be on a +40°C humidex day like today though.

At least the orchids like the heat