Caledon KOS 2012

Kieran was on his own this year.  I couldn't even help him setup in the transition area!  They are trying to teach/train the kids to setup their race.  It threw me for a loop.  But he was good.  Relaxed and calm and he setup everything on his own.  It's good to have done these races before.  Experience is everything.

I was hoping Kieran would do front crawl for his 3 lengths, but he started on back stroke and was doing very well until he and the kid he shared the lane with collided at the other end of the pool.  Once they sorted out the confusion, the volunteer gave Kieran a noodle which slowed him down so much.  I was trying to yell that he didn't need the noodle, but I had lost my voice.  I was sick.  A few days later I visited my family doc and he said I had pneumonia.

 In any case. I toughed it out.  Kieran finally got to his bike and he transitioned okay.  He didn't struggle with anything except for his socks.  Found out later he only put one on and the one that was on, was only covering his toes and jammed in his shoe.
He rode on the bike for a long way.  I was wondering if he went off course, but there should be marshals telling him to turn around.  Then I saw him coming back.

He dumped his bike, in a spot that wasn't his spot in the transition area and took off on the run.  No penalty.  Off for 1/2km run.  With one sock jammed in his shoe.  He ran the whole thing.  I could see from far away that he was running the whole time.
He needs to work on his strength.  I see it.  He's got all the skills, to place very high.  He was 63 secs from being in the top 10.

One of my good friend's Anil, his son Nico, placed 1st overall in the 6-7 age group.  He's 6.  He's so fast on the bike + transition 1 and 2.  His running is also very good.  We even ran into Tresa's friend Charka or Sharka...I dunno.  She's a Euro.  Her daughter Ella Blue is the little blonde girl in the photo link with Kieran.  I think she was 8-9 age group.   His older sister is also very good.  If you think I'm competitive.  I pale in comparison to Anil.  He and I go at it on the basketball court every Friday.  And it's fun.

Kieran placed 18th overall out of 39 kids, and 17th out of 27 in his division.

Only 1 girl beat him...Just barely.

He's in the top 1/2 almost.  Middle of the pack, kinda like me.  And that's without really trying to hard.  I know he's just trying to make it to the finish.

It's so exciting to see him race.  My heart was racing.  And it's not elevated because of my body fending off a virus.  Cuz I measured it 2 days later and it was 63 BPM resting.

I only wished I could have cheered him on.  I had no voice, but I tried.

He did very well.

He's got a calm demeanour when he races.  That's a good thing.  Or he was just tired when he finished. He did it and had fun.  I had fun, watching him.

It was cool.  Even if I was under the weather.

C3 Kinetico KOS 2012

Video of swim segment

Nitz and Natz

Guess what I'm looking for.
LICE!
I got a call today from the school that Kieran had head lice.
In any case it's not such a big deal
There's a few other kids in the class with head lice.

After I picked him up, we went to the drugstore to get the lice shampoo.  You put it in the hair dry for 10 mins.  Then you add some water and lather it up.

Then comes the tedious part.  The kit comes with a fine tooth comb.  And basically you search the eggs that are attached to the hair.  The instructions say to comb the dead lice and eggs out with the comb, but it didn't seem like it was doing a very good job, so I started plucking the hair out.

I got Kieran to sit down for about an hour while I combed thru his hair looking for white things stuck to his hair strands.  I felt like one of those colourful baboons picking bugs out of each other's fur.  Except I wasn't eating them after for protein.  I think those strands I pulled out with those things on it are the nits or the eggs of the critters.  They actually don't come out with the comb.  The shampoo contains insecticide so it'll kill the live lice, but the eggs sometimes survive.  So that's when the baboon technique come into effect.  The better baboon you are the higher the success rate.

Kieran sat there like a good boy letting me tear out his nice hair, strand by strand.  So I gave him a gelato cup for being patient.

Next thing to do is check Tresa's hair.
If I have it, I'll buzz my hair off.  It's summer time, I don't care.  It'll grow back.

Update.
Guess what.
Tresa has it too.  I showed Tresa what to look for so she can check my hair.
So far.  Either it's because I've because I've been really sick or they don't like 100% Filipino hair.   Must be all the swimming I've been doing.  My hair is like a wire brush from the chlorine.  It feels like I can clean our BBQ grill with it.  Ah...it's not that bad.  I have thick hair.  No bald spots!  Tresa and Kieran have finer hair than I do.

It's like the lawn.  If it's nice and thick, bugs and weeds have a harder time penetrating it.   I want my lawn to be like my hair.  Except not so high up on my forehead.


We had this lady from Lice Squad come over and do our hair.  She did me first.
Yep...I was clear.
Tresa was pretty good too.  Just empty casings.  Meaning the bugs were gone and moved on.  Either something she is using in her hair killed them.  Maybe my hair killed them?  She said men rarely get them.  Unless you are a Rastafarian.  Then you have a whole ecosystem living in there.
Kieran had the most.  She spent the most time on him.  She showed us what to do.  She also agreed the comb that comes with the shampoo kits, are useless.

Olive oil with a shower cap is apparently good at killing the bugs,  the oil apparently suffocates them.  What if I keep them under chlorinated water for 30mins?  That's how long I usually spend doing lengths.

If you've never seen what common lice are like or what you would expect to encounter, google it.  It'll scare you, but the lice you'll encounter are the size of a pin head.  Not the monster ones.
I think my cousin should write a movie screener on head lice!

Old reliable

After 6 years, we finally sold Ol' reliable.  It was a tough decision since we had been pushing and pulling Kieran, and sometimes a friend, in this thing since he was a year.  Memories of the Ride for Heart on the Gardiner, Terry Fox runs, Breast Cancer run, to and from daycare, then to and from school, to and from his summer camps.  And no matter how exciting the ride, he always manages to fall asleep. I only wish I could experience riding in a trailer.  I know it's fun, I can still remember pulling him and his buddy Xander in the trailer from school for a playdate and hearing them laughing behind me.  While I mashed it up a hill home.

But he just turned 7 and rides his bike everywhere within a certain distance.  Max is 7km one way.  And hasn't ridden in it at all this year, which is probably a good thing, because if he had, then we probably wouldn't have sold it.   I still used it up until last year because he fit although a little snug. The trailer is suppose only be up to age 5, but then there's a weight limit, but it's probably because in the US they weigh more.

Nowadays, Kieran and Yahvi and Samatva don't ride the trailer, they push each other around and either they're going to run into a car or they'll wreck the trailer and then I wouldn't be able to sell it.  In any case, it's being used by a 1 year old girl and a 4 year old boy.  In Brampton, of all places.  So I'm sure they are going to love riding in it.

I also managed to sell my first ever road bike frame.  I had it up for sale last year, but Tresa talked me out of it.  It had sentimental value, because it was a gift from Tresa after we got engaged.  My old bike was was too small and I commuted to work downtown.  And this was the bike we got to replace it.  It was so much better than my old red bike that my sister now has.  I kept the parts and recently just replaced them too with new Ultegra group.  After 11 years the shifting was going.  And the middle chain ring was worn.   The new components makes my bike feel like new again.  And the ride is so much nicer.

But it finally sold this week too.  An english bloke from Hamilton.  Which is ironic, because I got my Litespeed frame from a guy in Steeltown. The Allez was a 56cm and too big for either one of us.  I didn't know enough at the time what frame to ride, I should have listened to the fitter or they should have persuaded me a bit more.  I know they brought out the 54cm and it fit too, but now I know.  All my other bikes are 54cm. Actually we both fit a 54cm, with some slight adjustments. Which is convenient. You wouldn't think 2cm or almost 1inch would make much of a difference.  But it makes ALL the difference in the world.  I haven't ridden this frame in about 2 years, because I finally got a 54cm frame that feels just right.  I can ride it for many kms and many hours.

That trailer when I bought it was $260 + 80 for the stroller wheel, jogger and extra hitch.  It's now it's about $500 incl tax to get the same as what I had.  Most of the ones for resale, have been left in the rain, they're dirty and beat up.   Ours was well used, we logged a lot of kms on this thing and we brought it everywhere.  But I made sure we took care of it.  Here's a good lesson, take care of your stuff, maintain it and you can get a high resale value when you choose to sell it.  Be patient because someone will recognize the value.  And you could see it in the photos when I sold it.  Plus I don't think there were a lot of these MEC trailers for resale.  Good ones anyways.

Both are gone now.  Keep pedalling forward.

Night of the cougars

Lions and tigers and Cougars, oh my.  There's no place like home, there's no place like home.  Oh wait, I am home.

It was the eve of Mother's day and Tresa's friends came over for dinner.    I haven't seen them in a long time.  They still look the same. Only 1 was missing.  I think Mai is waiting for Target and Marshalls to open over in the Stockyards.
Too bad because I made the Thai fresh springs rolls and sauce that are always a big hit.

As you can see they devoured the food like animals. LOL.
And they brought ice cream, wine and a cooler full of beer.  They can come back any time!

This was the best photo.  They were commenting on the size of my lens.
Hey bigger is better, you know.
Imagine the look on their faces if I showed them my hammer drill! :-O
And all my other tools that I used to do the renos.

Happy mother's day to everyone.

Slovenska Sola

This is Kieran's Slovenian Kindergarten class photo.  They made pie plate faces and wrote:
"My name is Kieran, my eyes are brown."

As you can see, he's the only non-white kid.  You should see the looks I get when I pick him up.  People must be thinking that I'm in the wrong place.  The thai massage place is down the road.

I'm used to it now.  I just put my hat on and look straight ahead.  But I can feel the stares burning a hole in the back of my head.

His teacher is super nice.  And she gives me homework to do as well.  And I do it.

Today, Slovenian School is OUT!   At least the kindergarten level is out.

So his Saturdays are now free.  And his weekends are completely free.  So he's a happy camper.

Imagine he goes to school 6 days a week.  On Saturdays it's from 9 to 12:30.

We know some kids that go to Russian school from 8 to 2.

In the beginning, Kieran was ok with this, but after a few weeks, the novelty wore off.  And he was picking up on when we would ask him if he wanted to do something, it wasn't just a 1 or 2 time thing, it was a long term thing.  Now when we ask him about something, he thinks twice about it.  He asks some specific questions.  Because he knows now, what the repercussions mean.

But his Slovenian is really good.  He actually understands.  He translated the whole play for me that he was in.  I didn't understand a word.  I just thought it was funny.

They made a mistake on his Diploma.  It really reads "Kieran Garles", dang it. But I photoshopped it.  Can u tell?

Metric Century

I'd never done a ride this long...ever.  Well that's one off the bucket list. I almost didn't do it because of the length.  But the cycling club I just joined was planning this ride to the location up there in Markham to do a Time Trial.  I haven't ridden much this year.  Just a few hill rides.  Mostly running.  But running muscles are different from the ones you use for cycling.  Only thing going for me was cardio.  But after hemming and hawing I decided to giver a'go.  What the heck.

At least I'll know where I'm at and can check my progress throughout the summer.
The plan is that they'll do this a few times.

Only thing was that it was going to be nearly a 50km trek just to get to the location up at B to do the 8km loop.  I wasn't crazy about the route to get there either.  I normally ride by myself and when riding in a group of 21 riders, it felt safer.  Strength in numbers I suppose.  I knew a bit about riding etiquette from what I have been taught by my biking buddy/neighbour.  But it really becomes necessary to communicate in a large group.  You get alerted of upcoming dangers, like potholes, construction, stopped cars, buses, debris, you name it. It's very cool.

The group also takes up one car lane.  I'm sure the drivers don't like it, but we were going at 30+km/hr.  My plan was to hang back of the group and get pulled along, but for some strange reason I found myself at the front pulling the group for a stretches.  I was thinking to myself, what am I doing?  I'm a newbie.



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On the way home I was pulling the group down Warden, just cause I wanted to get home ASAP.  In the process however we dropped a couple of riders.  And had to wait.  It was 4+ hrs since I'd left my house.  And friends were coming over, and I needed to help get ready.  I was thinking to myself.  I'm going to be cooked when I got home.

But after eating like a ravaged animal and replenished my stores, with water, protein and sugars that I'd used up.  I felt ok.  My legs felt ok.  They feel ok today too.  But I ate a lot yesterday.  I needed to.

Out of 19 riders that did the TT, I came 15th.  Hey. At least I wasn't last, and I caught one guy who had started 1min 30s ahead of me.  Right at the end too.  On a hill.  But I got caught by 3 guys behind me.
It was a lot of fun.  I had to admit.  I wished it didn't take so long to get there though.  That's the only drawback.

I used to despise cycling clubs as elitist groups, but this club is a mix of beginners and experienced riders, a really nice bunch of folks.  One fellow's wife or GF even came up to the course to bring us bananas and chocolate milk.  So nice. Reminds me of our dragonboat days.  And they were cheering everyone on to the finish.  It was so cool.  I was hurting, but it was neat.

And not everyone had a $5000+ carbon fiber bike.  This one lady's bike was squeaky.  But who cares if you just want to ride.  Some were like me and just started riding with the club.  So it was very non-elitist.  Plus I now get a discount at a coffee shop.  A side benefit for I suppose the club being sponsored by them a bit - (Darkhorse Espresso House)?


May 5th 2012 TT results (8K loop) TT course

Start order - start time - finish time - duration - place

1 - Kari - 00:30 -15:53 - 15:23 - 17th

2 - Emily - 1:00 - 16:43 - 15:43 - 18th

3 - Ross - 1:30 - 15:49 - 14:19 - 13th

4 - Karen W - 2:00 - 16:30 - 14:30 - 14th

5 - Karen R - 2:30 - 16:32 - 14:02 - 11th

6 - Fernando - 3:00 - 18:15 - 15:15 - 16th

7 - Simon - 3:30 - 16:50 - 13:20 - 7th

8 - Matt - 4:00 - 16:58 - 12:58 - 6th

9 - Greg - 4:30 - 21:06 - 16:36 - 18th

10 - Charles - 5:00 - 18:29 - 13:29 - 9th

11 - Chris - 5:30 - 19:26 - 13:56 - 10th

12 - Ray - 6:00 - 21:03 - 15:03 - 15th

13 - Mark - 6:30 - 18:48 - 12:18 - 2nd

14 - Kris - 7:00 - 21:11 - 14:11 - 12th

15 - Andrew - 7:30 - 19:43 - 12:13 - 1st

16 - Cyprien - 8:00 - 20:28 - 12:28 - 4th

17 - Ash - 8:30 - 21:50 - 13:20 - 7th

18 - Michael - 9:00 - 21:36 - 12:36 - 5th

19 - Rob - 9:30 - 21:52 - 12:22 - 3rd