It was certainly a busy Father's day. It started off with rain up in Oro country heading back home to TO, avoiding cyclists in trying to get to the 400 hwy, but it turned into a beautiful warm sunny day. It was also the Taste of little Italy and the church was at the end of the College St strip of little Italy. So parking and traffic could be an issue, but luckily it was ok.
Kieran's first concert was 1 year ago and he had just started taking lessons with Dorothy. Now he's doing solo's in his 3rd concert. He only knew 1/2 of Etude, which is why he stops his bow for the double time. But he probably just needed to practice more.
He likes his violin. But Pokemon trumps it.
Hopefully he looks at it as incentive to practice smarter. To learn the pieces properly instead of rushing through them so he can watch TV. Although he's played it many times, it wasn't very polished.
To his credit he was the person with the least amount of experience with the violin in that performance. Everyone else had been with Dorothy longer. But not by much. The asian girl to his left had only started a few weeks before him, but she may have been at another music school. That I do not know.
The lack of preparedness may teach him to focus more during his practices and lessons.
Why is it every race I register for, it ends up raining?
Last year I signed up for the Bracebridge Tri. And there were thunderstorms!
This year it's the Centurion C100K race. And guess what. It's pouring rain. Awesome.
I don't even ride with my club when it's raining.
Today I have to ride 100K in the rain. Plus it was Father's day. What was I thinking?
The map even with the elevation doesn't give justice to the terrain. It is hilly. The first 50k was ok. But after that, the hills seemed to be tougher to climb. Mostly because my legs were getting tired. But for the first two wet hours of the ride it wasn't the uphills that were worrying me. It was the downhills.
At the 7k mark, a cyclist had wiped out. The downhills were slick. I was testing out my brakes. Yep...they certainly weren't very good in the wet. And it was wet. It was going to be a long ride. I was hoping to be done inside of 4 hrs. But the rain + the hills. I gave us a 4+hr ride.
I was certainly glad for the 2 feed zones. The second one at 75k was a blessing from above. I needed a pee break. Plus I needed some food. I was getting tired of my soggy Cliff bar. It had finally stopped raining. But heading south west the wind was against us. That was the other thing. Without the sun, I couldn't tell which way were going.
This was the start of the race. Wet.
A rolling start from the staging area in front of Horseshoe Valley resort. I've only ever been here in the winter. Looks so different in the summer.
This is the C50K start.
I was saying to my brother. We should do this instead.
50K in pouring rain is better than 100K. I was wishing I was on that ride.
The bottom of the valley wasn't the official start.
We have to head up to the top of the hill to the start. What a way to warm up.
On a big incline.
This is how we looked prior to the race. A little damp. And smiling. Pretty soon after the start, smiles were gone. It was more like clenched teeth and stiff arms hoping to God that I don't wipe out on the downhills in the freaking rain. And end up in an ambulance.
After a while breaking on the downhills became less and less. Mostly because there was an uphill on the other side and the more momentum I could carry, the less work I had to do.
Plus I wanted this ride to over with ASAP. The finish was on an uphill. Since it was the last hill, I gave it all I had left. We had been catching people on the uphills all morning. Caught another at the finish.
This is us after 100K.
Soaked, sandy, but smiling. More like 'THANK GOD, I made it.'
I will have to make it to mass this week.
My trusty ride. And my new wheels. I was just happy I didn't get a flat or worse - crash. The rain made it treacherous. Mostly because I avoid the rain like the plague on our club rides. Now I had no experience racing in the rain except stay way from the lines. Cuz they get slick. Also when it's wet you lose 30% of your traction. Nice confidence booster when heading down a steep hill, eh? Also when it first starts to rain is the worse, because all the oil on the road is now on the surface making it oily water. Also it felt like my brakes were non-existent. I was getting passed like crazy on the downhills. Hey, I wasn't trying to get myself killed. We would catch them anyways on the uphills. There was this one lady on a cervelo tri bike that would pass us on the flats and downhills, but we would pass her on the uphills and inclines. Anyone can go down fast. But the inclines are where you show your strength. Anyways we didn't see her any more once we got past the 50-60k mark. Her and a lot of others.
Not sure if you can tell, but I've got lots of sand from the water being kicked up at me, mostly from me trying to get on someone's wheel to draft and catch a break.
On the uphills though my hill work with the Flyers was paying off. I was passing quite a few. My overshoes didn't help keep my feet dry, but they did protect them from all the dirt. Easier to clean the overshoes than your expensive shoes.
There was a KOM (if you follow Strava, you know what this is) somewhere in the 1st half of the course. It's basically a big hill that you climb. It was pretty cool to have it timed. I just wish I could figure out where it was on the route. So I can avoid it.
Well for the race course, Lou and I completed it in 3hrs 40mins.
But it's 100K from the Staging area and back to that area.
We started at 8am and completed just before noon.
I was surprised that we were able to finish the race at just shy of 4hrs.
But look at the top finishing times. 2hr 27mins. We had rain at least 2 hrs. These guys went this fast in the rain! Amazing.
I was pleased. Plus it meant I could get to Kieran's violin concert before it was over.
But there was lots of traffic heading south on the 400. Also I was beat and needed some Tim's to keep me alert.
I missed his performance (it's recorded) but I was happy to have made it to hear the last few performances.
And we got to go out for an early Father's Day supper with Marika, Anna and Max.
These kids are getting better and better.
They are so awesome at making the violin sing.
Glad I got to hear them.
It was a 2 birthday party day. What fun, sic! I thought. The weekend is gone. Being a kid has it's advantages. Not very many responsibilities, and parties galore. I didn't take any pics from the first party. I was too busy playing games. But the second party I did.
At first we were going to do a drop a run. But we ended up staying and hanging out. Glad we did. Luca's parents and family are super. So were the neighbours who told us about the neighbourhood, houses for sale, the rockstar that lived on the street and then sold his home for over $1M. Very informative.
And Lan stuck around to protect the animals from Jacob. Who was making himself right at home.
I was expecting it to be a critter party. Similar to what we had been to many years prior. But Luca's family already has many pets, from rabbits to turtles to lizards to snakes and now a kitty that was supposed to be a surprise. But you know how well kids keep secrets, when they find out about a secret. It very quickly becomes NOT a secret.
The first things to be brought out were the Amazon Macaw and the Parrot that was repeating everything the kids were saying. That was interesting. Especially with the group of boys from class and their ring leader.
The Chinese Showgirl chickens didn't like being held by an asian. Probably some fear of being turned into a main course, just after the shark fin soup.
Must have been a rescued animal from a Mandarin buffet place. And it sensed danger.
I had put on a boa in the last critter party, feeling it move was eerie. Kieran is super comfortable with all animals. But the boa was exciting, but was harmless. Unlike the red snake behind Kieran. I think it all has to do with the stigma associated with snakes. I touched the skin and it was cool to the touch. Not slimy at all. It's not a worm or a snail. And the body was so muscular. Incredible this thing moves and has no feet or legs.
Lan wanted Josh to put the snake on. And let it hug him.
This little asian girl looked like she had had turtle soup before. Nothing new here. She might have had some for dinner the other night. Well this was a tortoise not a turtle. Probably tastes completely different, plus it won't bite you. Turtles will. At least the live ones.
Can't have a Critter party without a critter. I was waiting for the big ass centipede, but a big ass cockroach is fine too.
Whatever you do, don't give it to the asian kids. They'll eat it like it was a big chocolate M&M.
The pinata was a turtle. It didn't quite work out the way they had planned but when it exploded to pieces, the free for all was like flies to _____. You know what.
Don't eat the cockroach. It's not a treat.
At this point it was hard to tell the difference between the animals and some of the kids. Good thing it was time for parents to get their kids. The one good thing about attending these parties is taking stock of the behaviour of specific kids. So you can filter the invites for the next bday party. If you get my drift.
This is probably the only Kids Tri we are doing this year. Just because many are far away from the city
and this is one of the urban ones that is close by. Although getting to the east end of Big Smoke can take longer than commuting to the burbs. Especially with all the summer road construction going on. It took me 2hrs to get to the Birchmount CRC and back in order to pick up the race kit. Mostly because they picked the ideal time of 4pm on a Friday for race kit pickups. NICE!
This is the course, no matter what age group you are. There are adults that do this race and most adult/kids combined races have the adults first since there are so few of them (these are Kids of Steel races, you know).
The swim is in the pool. The bike is in the parking lot and onto Kingston Rd, and the run is in the baseball field and track. So depending on your distance, you simply do more laps.
I did like how the transition was set up. Not just by age group, but by bib number. And this is consistent with all tri races. This way you can remember where you are simply by remembering your bib #. Now it was a matter of finding a spot and setting up the bike.
His overall time pretty much reflected his swim. Middle of the pack.
He was 5th or 6th out of the pool out of 12 kids. Good thing his lane was closest to the door. There was a long delay on the 1st 8-9 yo wave due to a change in the course from the 5-7 yo. It had delayed the 14th wave by 15 mins. If there were SNG kids in this one, the mothers would be going ballistic!
It was a good thing I was there when Kieran was transitioning onto the bike, because the Race Volunteer was walking away and there was no way Kieran would be able to pull down his bike from the rack as it was hung by it's seat. But the race volunteer didn't see that and helped another athlete with her socks instead. And then I had to yell again when Kieran was ready to accept his bike. Then the lightbulb when on. But it was ok as Kieran wasn't ready yet and he wasn't impeded by it.
Thanks for the bike, Jinn&Song! The larger bike with the gearing helped speed him along on the bike segment. There was a volunteer who basically rode in front of Kieran the whole way. It was great. Kieran just rode behind him drafting.
It was a 1 km run and doesn't seem like such a long distance as an adult, but these are 8-9 year old kids. I do not think I could do this race at their age. When you see their little frames running the distance it seems so long. And Kieran didn't stop to walk, he made it all the way. And he looked pooped.
So did Rachel and Xander after they finished their races. They didn't look excited at all. They looked dazed and confused. I witnessed many parents cheering their kids on, and if they stopped to walk they would strongly encourage them to pick it up, don't walk you're almost there. I think the parents would struggle with this distance.
This darn lady in the blue jacket kept getting in the way of all my finish line shots....What the HECK!
After Kieran's race we looked for Xander. I wasn't sure if he was on the bike yet or not, so we waited on the run exit. And finally we spotted him parking his bike in the transition area.
Kieran and I cheered him on from there. Notice he was on the right side of the cones. Kieran was taking the longer route.
I guess Kieran wasn't too tired. Or he was full of animal crackers, because he ran beside Xander for part of the way to the finish. The little girl beside them was pooped. I could see it on her face. She was almost at the finish. But she was done. That adult XL shirt wasn't helping her stride either. But we cheered her on so she could finish and get her medal and get her animal crackers, oranges and other treats.
There's that darn lady again! I'm gonna have to complain to the race director! She's always in my way. She would drive a Singapore mother out of the country for noodles.
Xander was tired too. Same expression of not exactly relief, but just fatigue.
And it was off to the treat table for animal crackers and whatever else they don't get at home.
Rachel was nervous. It didn't help to be beside the fastest swimmer in her wave. Who mentioned that she was taking it easy today.
No pressure.
And these two were right there cheering Rachel on as she did double the length on her bike.
Look at them cheering her on.
And again this lady appears right at the best Kodak photo moment.
Rachel was pooped. We tried to help her get to the finish by running beside her for the last bit to the finish. I asked her if it helped.
She said 'no'.
When you are tired, you are tired.
Junk food at the end will fix that.
Believe me this is probably the best photo of the lot with the 3 of them together after their races. You will be hard pressed to look through the slideshow to find one any better.
The forecast was doubtful prior to the race, but it ended up being a beautiful morning. Very little wind, it was warm with slight humidity.
I was very grateful to mother nature.
It was now time to celebrate by getting some Pho.
I took the data from Chiptime results and sorted the times in ascending order. I thought there was times for each segment. I thought in previous years it had that. But I must be mistaken.
It was certainly a busy Father's day. It started off with rain up in Oro country heading back home to TO, avoiding cyclists in trying to get to the 400 hwy, but it turned into a beautiful warm sunny day. It was also the Taste of little Italy and the church was at the end of the College St strip of little Italy. So parking and traffic could be an issue, but luckily it was ok.
Hopefully he looks at it as incentive to practice smarter. To learn the pieces properly instead of rushing through them so he can watch TV. Although he's played it many times, it wasn't very polished.
Hopefully he looks at it as incentive to practice smarter. To learn the pieces properly instead of rushing through them so he can watch TV. Although he's played it many times, it wasn't very polished.
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