A bucket list ending to summer

It was a mid-September night's ending to summer.  A summer of COVID vaccination bookings, masking self-distancing and waiting for lockdowns to be lifted and businesses to reopen in the new way of living life and doing business.  It also marked the achievement of several significant milestones for us.

The summer has come and gone in what seems like a few blinks of an eye.  It was beautiful summer though.  Every weekend seemed to be really nice.   We are fortunate to have a cottage destination to get away from the hustle, bustle and stress of the city.  It was an escape for sure.

Making bread, making gourmet lunches, riding bikes became the norm.  With no renovation projects planned (except for a new wood shed roof at the cottage), I had more time to do other things.  With bikes and bike parts really hard to come by these days.  Self-distancing was a big reason for riding.  Mostly solo rides, mountain, gravel or road.

I got convinced to get a 3D printer.  Took me a few weekends to finally get it to print successfully and consistently.  I still didn't really know what I would print with it, but I finally got it to print.  And really it's been so neat.  I've found lots to print.  Some things I couldn't buy, so I had to print them.  I'm still learning, but this is something I've always enjoyed.  And really you are limited by your own imagination.

In between rides, and other fun and games, there was a new roof that needed to be installed on the cottage woodshed.  Actually after looking at it.  It never had a roof on it at all.  It just had tar paper on it for 15 yrs.  I was surprised Tresa dad didn't fall through the old roof.  This thing was made with 2x3's.  Every time Kieran and I were up working away and Tresa's dad would come up to check on progress and we were all on the roof together, I was thinking to myself, I'm sure we were exceeding the weight limit of this structure.  Something's gonna give.  But it held us all up.

So instead of a shingle roof, I suggested a metal roof.  Maybe it was overkill, but once installed, I'd never have to do it again. I'd never installed one before, but I could always do some homework.  And also a hand.  The more hands the better. We ended up salvaging the roof panels from the next door neighbour's old woodshed that got it from their neighbour's cottage roof.  Believe it or not it was originally green!  Tresa painted it black and it looks fantastic and new again.  It's amazing how what is old becomes new again with some imagination and paint.  It was great for Tresa's dad to see Kieran helping and building stuff.  The stuff isn't rocket science.  Just a bit of gumption and elbow grease.

There was the AMD Ryzen - Gaming PC build that took a few weeks to select all the components.  All in the name of RGB lighting.  I had not built a PC in a very long time.  Probably at least 10yrs.  Things have changed a bit, and bitcoin mining had created a world-wide semiconductor shortage that was elevating prices for video cards and anything else that needed it!  

The amount of lights on this thing is more than an 80's night club.  The LED patterns must be affecting teen's brains.  In any case, this was a kickass gaming build.  Everything lights up including the RAM.   Hopefully it helps him with doing school work.  

I think it helped him get his G1 Learners permit.  Haliburton is a great location to take a driving exam.  As long as it's on a Wednesday.  For the G2, they take you around the block about 4 times.  No joke. I asked a guy who took it!

As soon as he got it, we did a short little stint behind the wheel up at the cottage.  We had installed a new trough on the driveway and I had him drive over it a few times to pack the dirt around it down.  He was so excited.  And I was so nervous, but tried my best not to show it.  We've driven a bit in Uncle Mel's work parking lot since.  It's huge!

Corn-hole became the new thing.  And it has been a lot of fun.  I can't even remember when we first tried this game but I remember it being a lot of fun.  It's amazing how a simple game that anyone can play can bring so much enjoyment.  Its origins come from the MAGA land south of the border.  The home of fast food, Monday night Football, and the Donald.  This game has become so popular I even see our neighbour here in the city playing it.  I can hear the thump of the corn hole bags landing on the boards.

  

It has become a cottage pastime and the neighbours have bought their own corn hole set, and eventually I decided to do an internet search on building our own set.   

A corn hole board is a fairly common DIY build.  24 x 48 inch boards with a 6 inch hole cut in the middle and 6 inches from the top of the board with back edge 12 inches from the ground.   Pretty easy-peasy for hours of fun.  You can buy one from Costco or even Amazon, but the best corn hole bags are filled with dried corn kernels.  Eventually this is what you will get in the end, cuz those bags made in china will disintegrate into white calcium dust after a while.  Most are built using 2x4s, but I ended up using 1x4s and it turned out great.  We now just have to personalize it as an offseason project.  So it'll be ready next year to prep for the Corn Hole tournament.

With things opening up.  We even got to see an outdoor concert.  What a treat that was.  Masks and distancing were mandatory.  Also mandatory were seniors shushing chatter-boxes.  Leisa Way and the Wayward Wind band.  It was cover band and history of modern music lesson in one performance.  And many wardrobe changes.  Mostly for the lead singer.  She was in and out like 15x.

Now that cottage season is winding down, and fallen trees cleared and septic tank hatches dug up for inspection.  There was one last thing to signal the end of summer and transition into fall.  It was the 8hrs of Hurtin in Haliburton.  I saw this on the list of gravel races last year and put it on my list of things to try in 2021.  I had signed up, but due to COVID it had already filled up!  But by July it had opened up again but it took an article in the Highlander and a text from friend to sign up for a M/F DUO team.

I had never done an 8hr race before.  This format is a bit different from the 24hr races I had done in the past.  They only had solo and Duo teams, that aims to do as many laps as possible in 8hrs, on a 27km gravel road in the Haliburton Forest.  I had looked a last years results and for Mixed Duo teams, and it looked like getting on the podium was possible.  But then again.  Anything is possible, but usually doesn't happen with me.

We only decided when we go to the race that I would do the start lap.  My goal was to follow a rider I could keep up with that knew the route and maybe get in between 65-75mins.  It was a great route, scenic and challenging.  I ended up completing my first lap in 63mins.

I figured my first would be my quickest, since I'd be fresh and full of adrenaline, on my second lap I just tried to maintain a solid pace.   I still got freaked out by bumps I could not see in the shadows.  I completed my 2nd lap in 66min lap.  As I was killing time, I checked the results and to my surprise we were in 4th place. 

What was even more eye opening was that we were 19s from 3rd place and 1 min from 2nd place!  My lap was 2min slower than the 2 riders on 2nd and 3rd place teams we were chasing.  But my partner's laps were roughly 2+ mins faster than the riders on her lap.  Every time she'd go out, we'd be in 2nd place.  Then I'd go and we'd drop to 3rd or 4th.  But everyone's laps were getting slower from fatigue.  It was now just a matter of staying consistent, and also not slowing down as much as the others.

I was in disbelief, we were within reach of a podium.  It was exciting!  As I waited for my teammate, I recognized the same fellow that passed me on the 2nd lap, waiting in the corral area with me.  My teammate had come in and off I went, while he was still stuck waiting in the corral.

About 6 or 7kms into the lap the other rider caught up to me.  So I tried to hang on to his wheel as best I could.  If I could see him, then I knew a podium was within reach.  To my surprise as the lap wore on, I caught him and stayed on his wheel.

There was also another rider that passed me on my previous lap, and noticed he had not caught and passed me yet.  So I thought.  Maybe we have secured 3rd place!  And now 2nd was up for grabs to whoever could muster up the energy to keep chugging along.  We had exchanged a bit of chit chat and he said he was fatiguing and this may be his last lap.  

He was slowing down with less than 6km to finish the lap, so I decided to pull out and pass him.  I said I'd lead for a while since I'd been on his wheel for much of the lap.  But when I looked behind I had dropped him.  I kept going and created more separation, and finished the lap in 66mins (a few secs faster than the previous).  We were now in a solid 2nd place!  This was amazing.  This was racing!

Now with each of us with 3 laps completed or in progress.  We needed to start the last lap 1hr before the final cutoff time and finish under the cutoff for the lap to count.  Based on how I was feeling I estimated I could do it in under 75mins.  It was decision time.  My last 2 laps were 66mins.  My 4th lap would be more than that for sure.  I was ready for beers.  I said that if she came in with 75mins to go, I'd go to secure 2nd place.  She came in with less than 70mins.  Oh boy this was going to be tough to complete in time.  But OFF I went!  I was going to do the best I could.  I was now the last rider on the
course trying to finish the lap before the cut-off time.  I was trying to maintain my pace and not put myself into the red.  It was going to be tight.  All I could think of was making the podium.  This was exciting.  I never had something on the line like this.  So this is what it feels like to race and be in contention.  It was also getting late in the day and getting harder to see the little undulations of the terrain. 

The big hill at 13.5km was gruelling.  It was long grind and the surface was loose sand. You had to sit down or else you'd slip sapping more energy.  But after that I could recover until about 5km to go when there would be a series of hills before one longish gentle grade with 1km to go that made my legs cramp when I tried to hurry up the pace.  Once I crested it was a few hundred meters sprint to the finish.  I felt like I left it all out there.  I crossed the line 4 or 5 seconds after the cut-off.  We still technically completed 7 laps, but for it to count i needed to get under the 6:15:00pm cut-off. Aw man, I just missed. I was so close!! Still in 2nd place though! I gave it all I could and the last remaining volunteers at the checkpoints and any park visitors cheering me on helped get me to the finish. 

I knew a top 3 finish was possible but there's always stronger teams it seems that would come out ahead.  But what an amazing thing.  I've never been in this position being awarded a prize for placing in the TOP 3 of a competition.

Lap 1: 4th (1st -1min 48sec,  2nd -1min 13sec, 3rd -13sec)

Lap 2: 2nd (1st -9min 41sec, 3rd +18sec, 4th +1min 48sec)

Lap 3: 4th (1st -13min 31sec, 2nd -62sec. 3rd -19sec)

Lap 4: 2nd (1st -20min 42sec,  3rd +46sec, 4th  +8min 37sec)

Lap 5: 2nd (1st -17min 50sec, 3rd +1min 33sec, 4th +9min 25sec)

Lap 6: 2nd (1st -30min 02sec, 3rd +10min 51sec, 4th +18min 58sec)

Lap 7: 2nd (1st -30min 50sec)

2nd place Team: Two Noodles

Time: 6hr 50min 45s (8hr 04s)

When we were were called up to the podium I smiled when people chuckled at our team name TWO NOODLES.  I thought it was funny too when we submitted it.  It was the first thing that came to my mind when asked for a team name. For getting on the podium we received a great looking wooden plaque, and a badge for the number of laps we completed (189km), and a prize (we each selected a pair of cycling gloves, something that I actually needed!)

I even lucked out on a cool pair of fake Oakleys from Kim's Jug City convenience store.  I thought I left mine at home.  I eventually found them later, in the bag with my spare gloves that were in my car.  For some reason I thought I looked in that bag,  But I guess I didn't tear it apart like I should have to find it.

It was an amazing way to close out what turned out was a busy summer for us.  Earning a spot on a podium - wasn't on my To Do or bucket list, but I checked it off anyways!

I wanted to have a beer to take home from the race, but they weren't allowed to sell beer unless i drank it there.   Instead i cracked open this one from a local brewery near home.

Photos

8hrs of Hurtin in Haliburton