Bird Lake

Did you miss me?

I didn't think so...

Anyway.... I am back and I have a few things to catch all three of my readers up on...

The happenings of Tri-Guy and his wonderfully supportive family.

(yesterday by the Assiniboine River)

So we headed out to Bird Lake just inside both the province of Manitoba and Nopoming Provincial Park. On the way out we took the lovely scenic southern route that took us along the beautiful old number one highway to Beausejour and then up highway 11 to lac Dubonnet and then over to Bird Lake.

The trip out took about 3hours counting the bathroom stops and the getting lost and checking out Point Dubois before turning around after running into a construction crew that set us on the straight and narrow.

"Is this the road to Bird Lake," I asked?

"Nope. This is the road to Poin Dubois," he replied.

Cool. "I think I'll turn around then."

Sometimes life is that simple..... no?

The next morning we got up and began the morning rituals which, for Tri-Guy, involved a 10 Kish run to get things going. I brought along my fuel belt. I am experimenting with a new way of wearing it.... what do you think?

Lori says I look like a lactating buttercup... I am thinking more like an add for gay pride day. Either way... I think I would definitely provide some serious comic relief to runners as they came towards me on the last 20k of Ironman.

The run was great and, fueled buy the rumors of all the recent bear activity in the area, I posted a pretty quick run time. That said, I am not completely sure about the distance, as I think it was closed to 12k, but Google Earth is really hazy around Bird Lake, so I am just guessing. Either way, it was absolutely hilarious to look at my shadow as I ran. For the whole run, all I could see above my head was this mass of horse flies and deer flies. I was only bitten once, but I was definitely accompanied by a few hundreds throughout my tour of the scenic back country.

When I got home, I needed to cool down and to wash my smelly clothes. With a little good old fashioned intuition and some common sense, I was able to both at the same time.

Geronimo!

After a little light lunch, I was off for my 90 min swim. I ended up doing just over 5k in open water. That's a good solid swim. For those of you pool nerds thinking no worries.... let's contemplate this for a sec. That would be 200laps. Now that in itself is doable, now do it without pushoffs an in white-caps for half the journey.... that was my day.

Anybody thinking Billy Squier?

I was really lucky to have two of my friends join me on my quest in a canoe. That way, I could feel like there was a possibility that other boaters would see the red canoe and avoid running me down. It does happen. A few years back our guidance counsellor was run over while he was swimming in the middle of the lake. I wear my yellow cap, but a canoe can really help.

Hey... check it out.... I have a wake.... zooooom! I guess I will have to start making motorboat sounds when I exhale.

We had an excellent day on the water in spite of the rather large white-caps that seemed to join us for the second half. There were times that it didn't feel like my arms even left the water.... the waves were that big. Other times, it felt like I was flying through the air as my arm came out of the water at the crest of a big wave and I was crashing back down saved only be my rather large proboscis which ended up acting like a speed fairing or keel.

Regardless and it was a great time and we really enjoyed the hospitality of the Artesian Family and their hapless sidekick... angiospermous tree.

Back home on the northern route and made it door to door in under two hours. We quickly unpacked the van and then I headed out for a three hour ride and a quick transition run of 20 minutes.

The ride was out to my favorite bridge.

Do you recognize me yet? I mean I am on this blog at least twice a week.... no?

However, the news on this ride was the headwind.

The for sale signs give you an excellnt idea of the hell you are about to suffer through. And this one made me realize that I was about to do 40k straight into it.

The video does not have to be long to make you understand how intense yesterday's wind was. So I buckled down and came to terms with my fate for the day and gave it my best. At times I was lucky to se 24kmph on the speedometer. I really just took it positively as the same kind of resistance I would face if I were climbing up Richter and easily fell into a trance picturing my self back at the summit... aching for more.

The run was nice and simple. 20 minutes is just enough to get the legs warmed up to the idea of 23 more miles. I had planted and ice cold Gatorade for my return.... it could be ice cold swamp water and I would drink it down with a refreshing grin the size of Texas.

This morning, there was no rest for the wicked, as Lori and I took to the Centennial pool and got off a quick set. I was in for 10X200. It was nice to be able to see the bottom and I still get a kick as you fly out over the deep end and cross the expanse. The set went by quick enough without any major incident and the lifeguard swimming laps in the lane beside me was impressed.

I guess that catches you up on the happenings of Tri-Guy. Now, as if that trip to the cottage wasn't enough, we have accepted another invite to head up to another friends cottage tonight. So...... there will yet again...... be a slight interruption to our regularly scheduled program. This should be the last until Ironman. I apologize deeply..... well... not that deeply.