GNCTR 2014 in London, Ontario

This year's concrete toboggan race hosted by Western was the first since 2010 to held on the eastern half of Canada (due to the narrowly cancelled 2012 race) where it was hosted by McMaster in Hamilton. The team finally did not have to pay for flights to cross the entire country or ship the toboggan in a giant crate, which saved a lot of time, paperwork, and money.

The team took a totally new direction on the toboggan design this year after the team carpenter convinced the team that the frame should be built out of wood. They also went with a 2 front ski and 1 rear ski design which at first when it was constructed looked a bit unstable, but really solidified when the rest of the frame was installed. The concrete mix for the skis included needle reinforcement in a basic concrete mix with higher than average fly ash (for competition points). Two GFRP bars were cast into the skis along with the mounting plates to attach the skis to the frame. This was the 3rd year in a row where the Waterloo team used the Architecture CNC machine to create the formwork, which allows for some creativity in the shape of the skis and the running surface. A UW alumni called their shape "so 90's" whereas the design captain joked that it fit their theme of sailors and boats. The steering system was a scissor-type connection to the two front skis with a nice big handlebars in the front. First hand experience the one night in the E5 parking lot, I can say it steered very well and smoothly. The brake was a giant plate the width of the toboggan that was hand-activated by two vertical handles. This design was paired down by the GNCTR safety committee from having a horizontal grab bar at chest height to just the vertical handles at about 18" tall.

My hope was to make it out for the tech exhibit on the Friday, stay the night with the team in London and then see the race on Saturday morning. These plans had to get altered to just the race day because of work on Friday, so I ended up going to the Friday night dance in Toronto . I rented a car for the weekend since I was planning on also attending the Toronto swing dancing exchange on Saturday night and the Imperial social on Sunday night. There was a lot of driving planned for that weekend, and of course there was a snow storm forecasted. After a few hiccups at the rental place in the morning, I was on my way out of Waterloo around 9:45am and got to Boler Mountain at 11am. As I parked and ran to the hill with the dubstep music playing (obviously GNCTR and not the family-friendly area). Just as I got there, I see the large digital display with "Run 1 now: Waterloo" which made me exciting that I didn't miss it. Turns out this was their second run and because of hill conditions at the top, the brake was getting caught on the bump of the hill. Sadly, they were taken off the track, disqualified, and the next team went to race. Their first run at 9am that I missed came very close to being the top speed at 38 km/h. This is much slower than the 2012 race in Calgary, but there were also no major injuries this year.

After lunch was the the king of the hill race, where teams battle in an elimination style for the faster run. During the break after Waterloo's second run, they chipped some notches into the frame near the rear ski in order for the brake to swing forward and higher by even a 1/2" in order to not get caught in the snow. This did really well for them for two runs..until one of the eye bolts got pulled straight, a cable came undone and one of the welds holding the brake plate to the handles sheared. Originally being disqualified, the team's carpenter grabbed his circular saw, cut off the other weld to remove the plate, and the team convinced the safety committee that the two vertical handles would suffice as individual emergency hand brakes. In the end, they came out third, and had more runs on their toboggan than any UW team in the past 3 years.

Considering that the skis were cast less than 28 days before the race and there was no frame 2 weeks prior to the competition, the majority of the GNCTR organizers and judges being doubtful of the wood construction, they did very well and should be proud.

Congratulations UW GNCTR 2014! :D

PCL, one of their sponsors, is also interested in featuring their team and toboggan, which is a great opportunity for them. Super glad I could make it in the end :) Oh yes, the drive back from London was quite an adventure since the rental car had no snow tyres and I was not able to make it out of my driveway that night. Yay adventure!

My first half marathon

Halfway through the summer I decided I was running long enough and frequently enough (3 times a week at 8-10km each?) that a half marathon would be totally feasible this season. So! I signed up for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon on October 20th. 21.1 km, I was going to run all those kilometres.

Admittedly, due to my schedule in the two months prior to the race, I started to get a little nervous about if I'd get enough practice time. There had already been one trip out to Montreal in September and another planned for right after the race to Brossard to do instrumentation on the Daigneault Creek Bridge. The TA position had lots of lab marking to do and I was to try and polish/practice my presentation for the INALCO aluminium conference that was the day after the race. I figured out that the schedule would be tight after I signed up for the race since the date triggered something in my mind; six months ago I waved it off figuring I'd just come up with a solution, which I did, where I just had to sacrifice sleep. I was able to increase my confidence on my running when I completed a 17 km run the Saturday before the race and it felt good.

Unfortunately for out-of-towners, race packet pick-up could not be done the day of the race since there were 25,000 people signed up for the event (8,000 marathoners, 10,000 half-marathoners, 7,000 5 km runners). My dad was awesome and drove me out to Toronto on Friday night for the racing bib and then again on Sunday morning for the race. Having only the option to leave Waterloo around 5pm, I'd say we got a medium level of rush hour traffic, so we still got there before the event closed. The runner's expo was held around the CNE buildings where there were booths for sports fuel, drinks, clothes, magazines, and charities; it was huge. At this point I changed my corral colour from the 1:50 - 2:00 pace group to the 2:00 - 2:09 since my pacing was pretty slow on my longer Saturday run. I was also starting to get pretty darn nervous.

Saturday was a quiet day where I had to pack for my conference, field work, and CCX swing exchange in Montreal for the entirety of the next week. Luckily, I could give Pampa and Patrick a bunch of the supplies and clothes I needed for the field work so I didn't have to pack them in my carry on. This was also a day where I was careful what I ate because I didn't want to have to make pitstops that can be so easy while running past the university. I went to bed early-ish, it wasn't a super exciting day but I needed to relax. The biggest event of the day was that I found Hello Kitty ductape at Rona on sale.

Sunday was race day! I woke up at 5:30am in order to get picked up at 6:00 am and Tim a few minutes later. I slept vicariously through him because he sleeps so wonderfully in moving vehicles when he's a passenger. Approaching Toronto was when reality started to hit; I saw road closure signs, officials on Lakeshore Blvd setting up barriers, and people walking down Queen St. in colourful runners and leggings. Oh yes, and it was also something like 2°C in the morning so I brought everything from t-shirt to my winter running jacket. At the starting line, music was blaring, crowds were warming up and stretching, it was such high and positive energy. Keeping my coat and pants on as long as possible, Tim and my parents keep me distracted until the first group left. As the national anthem was being played, I was stepping side to side to keep moving and warm, and I reminded myself of nearly every hockey player in the NHL. Councillor Doug Ford sounded the horn for each corral, people clapped, and the guy next to me cheekily said if we're allowed to boo. I asked if him and his brother are running as well. As the horn sounded for my group, we walked forward for some time until we approached the starting gate.

My run felt light and easy, which was welcomed; starting off the race well. Figuring I wouldn't push it just yet, I kept that pace, but then I realized the 2:00 half-marathon pace bunny that was well ahead of me at the start was now at my side. Needless to say, that was a comforting thought. The race started at Nathan Philips Square, up University, west on Bloor, south on Bathurst, out west on Lakeshore to High Park area, back on Lakeshore up to Bay and back to City Hall. The full marathon extended on the other side out towards the beaches which my starting line neighbour told me is a nice section of the race.

A few things I noticed; there were way more onlookers and supporters than I ever imagined, being in a huge running group was a new and awesome feeling, and the 13 km mark was the biggest slog for myself and everyone else who I asked ran the half marathon. People with posters had everything from "Go random stranger" to "You're running better than the government". As for that 13 km mark, I wouldn't say I struggled, I just felt less peppy; it was out at the extreme end of the Lakeshore section, so either the fact that you're the farthest from the finish line or the grade, it just wasn't the happiest for people. Past the half way mark, I was starting to look forward to seeing the kilometre marker signs, not that I was ailing, but more like a mental count down. As for normally singing songs in my head, I had less of that because there were so many new stimuli that I was just watching. I did actually start practicing my conference talk around the 13 km mark, maybe that's why it wasn't as easy! Towards the end I was singing Nyan Cat to the beat of my cadence. I developed a good technique for drinking those water/Gatorade cups by 1) making a mess of myself the first time (which I only took advantage of around the 10 km mark) 2) stealing the idea from a guy ahead of me. Pinching the cup to make a V-shape funnel makes for a more effective drinking. Now you know.

People had made a big deal about the hill at the end of the race up from Lakeshore to City Hall on the race site forums, but it really wasn't bad if you're used to Waterloo. I'd say it was equivalent to heading north on King from University to Columbia. Having the last kilometre marked out every 100 m, I began sprinting at 300 m so that I know I ended strong. I was pretty darn happy. Took me a while to find my parents and Tim again because apparently a full marathoner came at about the same time as I did and everyone was going nuts because he broke the record. That's great and all but I broke my own record, 1:56:15, so...there. :P I got lots of hugs once I did find my awesome cheering squad, which was the best feeling of the day :)

Hiking to Eugenia Falls and Old Baldy

On the Saturday of Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, Tim and I drove out for a hike along the Bruce Trail. Knowing that he got a nice DSLR camera recently and had been playing with it lots, it was an opportune time with the fall colours to get outside. I also kept the location secret until we were driving!

Parking on a little street north of Eugenia (had to go a few places to find out that the parking was just on the dirt road where there was a bit of a clearing), we packed up out stuff; Tim with his camera, tripod, and binoculars, and me with the food, water, med kit, and map.

I'm just there for scale and light balance

Using the tripod!

The trail starts off at the 54.1 km mark going down the valley from the road, passing by a small empty green field along the left. Hooking to the south to go along the valley, the forest area was really colour above and underfoot.

The tree's on fire!

There was no one on this part of the trail, so it was very peaceful and we had all the space we wanted to take pictures. On either side of the lookout, there are two stone culverts that were used in an attempt to make a hydro station in the early 1900's.

I was throwing leaves and stuff in the air while Tim was doing something meaningful with the camera settings

Gotta love that 10 second timer :)

Needless to say, the lookout point was spectacular...

Going down after the lookout point was a bit funny because we lost the trail, we tried going down this gravel hillside that was a bit slippery, but then we heard voices and saw the other culvert arch so all went well. On the return I'm sure we lost the trail again, but it was easier to see the destination. Regardless, we may have cut off some distance to Eugenia falls that way, helped by the fact that the water is low from the dam and the season.

Looking at the edge of Eugenia Falls

Probably shouldn't step back

To the right of Eugenia Falls,

To the left of the falls, with the secondary waterfall

Looking down from the edge was really cool, I took off my glasses first

Tim looking pensive and wise

The falls  from top to bottom

Despite the lack of people in these pictures, there were many people at Eugenia Falls, most of them with really big nice cameras too. One of them offered to take this picture, but too bad you don't see more of Tim.

Just enjoying the view

Playing with long exposures

The trail continued downstream a bit to get a better whole view of the falls. That leg to the right is the whole part we skipped by going down the steeper hill on the way in.

It used to be much larger before Eugenia Falls, Hoggs Falls, and a few others were harnessed for hydro

This was my photo because when I asked for Tim to focus on the spider he thrust the camera in my hands

History of the dam

A really successful long exposure shot upstream of the falls

At the most upstream point on the trail, you cross a pedestrian bridge. I decided to test how it vibrates. Conclusion: it doesn't, well not that much. It was a wood deck/railing bridge with a few steel girders underneath. You could tell there was a lot of redundancy.

This one didn't want to come out of the water

Walking along the north shore near the falls on the way out

Knit by my mom, this little one was for my trip to the Rockies and has hung out on my current backpack wherever I go

We returned the way we walked in, but we got a couple of different shots along the way.

Tim found a nice rock where he did a few poses, but this was after he stopped posing. My favourite

After getting back to the car, we decided to go check out Old Baldy. I was hoping it wouldn't be paid parking because the map had a red P instead of black, turns out it just means a larger parking area. When looking up pictures of this place the week before, it seems this place is popular with climbers.

The climb up the hill by car was really darn steep and less than 1-1/2 cars width. We saw this cyclist on the way up and we both had so much respect for this guy.

This guy's such a trooper!

The walk to Old Baldy was really short so there were lots of people around not with intense hiking gear. What surprised Tim and I was the lack of signage warning of the steep cliff...even BC had signs when ridges and drop offs were coming. At its highest, Old Baldy is a 150 m drop, pretty darn sizeable!

No warning signs, but the view was excellent!

Holding onto the branch for some stability (I'm right on the cliff edge)

Tim was chasing some turkey vultures with his camera and then he got a few nice shots of Beaver Valley Ski Hill.

And the tall, skinny trees that look like they're on fire

Adventure pose!

Trying to get some depth perception on that edge, but it's difficult

Now we get to see the actual cliff part

Of course, sitting right on the edge of the lookout

I found the climbers! There are signs advising not to throw stuff off the edge

Big Ann, tiny trees

Perfect weather. Perfect scenery. Perfect company.
:)