Head clearing

What is 'head clearing'? It's when I do a download...a mind dump to get stuff off my mind.

Work - too much. I remember now why I didn't like having a 'job' and a boss. It's not either the job or the boss - I have two jobs now, and two bosses, and really like both. But it's the loss of freedom. I'm an entrepreneur at heart. I like to be free to make my own path, my own decisions and work - at least mine - just doesn't lend itself to that.

But, times are tough out there, and I need to feed my family, pay bills and take care of business - so I suck it up, shut up and go to work.

Kids - love 'em. I have four kids. They're all so unique and different and I love each of them for their own merits. My oldest son Cole is turning 18 today. Wow, feeling old right about now. My youngest, Jacob is 8. And I have two in the middle, Dylan 12 and Teddi my daughter is almost 16.

The older two live with their mom locally, and the younger two with me. The younger two keep me busy and unfortunately between their Baseball, Boy Scouts, School, and my two jobs, I don't see my older two very often. Add to this that they're teen agers..heck adults and they just don't really want to hang out with Dad too much. It's kind of a bummer - but life I guess.

Location - we've been trying to move to Big Bear, California for a few years now, but with the housing market stinking it up out here in California, it's just not happening. We talked with a mortgage guy the other day about refinancing and that's not going to happen either. So, the newest plan, save some money, pay off some debt and move to Big Bear and rent our home and hope and pray for the best renters in the world. Cross you fingers.

Racing - I haven't done any Adventure Races in months. If you've known me for long, I did 4 two years ago I think, and 7 last year as I recall. Love them...but need to be fit and honestly it's been tough...well if we're being honest - I've been lazy. With my schedule, when I did have time to train I usually opted not too. But, I'm back at it. I have a snowshoe race coming up in 2 months. I got third last year so I'm going to start shooting for that. I've been running 5-6 miles 3 days a week - either road or trail runs, and riding my road or mtn. bike the days in between. I usually don't do any workouts on the two days that I work my day job and then night job in the same day - my 'double' as we call it, pretty much zaps me. They're 16 hour work days and they're always back to back so I just can't do it. But other than that I've been pretty disciplined lately. I wanted to get some kayaking in again and some high altitude hiking to get my legs and lungs strong for the snowshoe race as it's up in Big Bear at over 6,000 feet to START and climbs around 1000 to 1500 feet from there.

Halloween came and went, before you know it Thanksgiving will be past and Christmas is just around the corner. Dang, it only reminds me we were hoping to be in Big Bear by now. Bummer. We booked a week up there at Christmas...keep the dream alive!

Ok, so you're all caught up. I'm busy, but doing well. Hanging in there - you do the same!

Say it... Ka-Too-La

That's Katoolah, the sponsor of the Snowshoe race I did awhile back in Big Bear. I was sure I'd written about it, and was looking back and realized I never did - doh!

Well, the entire Snowshoe The Bear event was awesome. I went up a few days early to help my friend Peter - the owner of Equada Outiftters get ready for the race. He was one of the sponsors and the event headquarters so he had his hands full.

I spent the days before hanging out at his Mountain Shop, helping stuff the 'goodie bags' with the Kahtoolah rep, and getting acclimated to the altitiude. I was fighting an ever-worstening cold but there was no doing that.

The day of the race I was working the registration table until 10 minutes before the race, and then headed up to the start/finish line.

I was so congested I could hardly breath, but I'd been waiting months for this race and wasn't going to miss it for the world.

I knew the course - I'd been snowshoeing out on the course several times. I knew it was basically straight uphill - and around 1000-1500' of climbing (guessing here). I also knew that all the other 'flatlanders' or those of us from 'down the hill' would start out too fast and too hard.

I decided ahead of time that I was going to race the tortoises' race in the "Tortoise vs. the Hare" story. Nice and easy...

As I predicted everyone took off running like crazy and I quickly found myself down about 30 places out of the 100 or so racers. I wasn't too concerned. I knew other than being sick, I was fit, and doubted that all of them were that much more fit than I was.

Turns out I was right, and within less than 1/2 mile they were already dying. I started picking them off, 1 by 1. Within a mile I was probably in the top 10 and by the time I hit the top of the mountain I was beat, unable to breathe and had moved into 3rd place.

It was now a mile and a half of basically all downhill though through the backcountry, and not on the nice groomed trail. I ran the entire way back and no one passed me. I didn't know I was in 3rd place, so I kept pushing hard.

As I rounded the last corner I was hurtin', but I could see the end in sight. I finished up just over an hour and "4th place". I actually got third we figured out later, but someone from the other race, had a wrong number, or went on the wrong course or something, and somehow their number was in 3rd in my race. When they got called for the awards ceremony and prizes they opted not to mention the error to anyone. :o(

Oh well, I raced well and I think had I had the advantage of living/training at altitude, like all of the winners, I'd be right up there with them. Not too bad for a 40-something vs. the college kids who won. I'll see you all next year punks! :o)

Snowshoeing.."If you can walk, you can showshoe"

That's what I'd heard - "If you can walk, you can showshoe". I figured they were lying and it had to be harder. I envisioned a bowlegged waddle. But what I found was that todays modern snowshoes aren't like that at all. They're lightweight, maneuverible and don't require any huge amount of technical skill. What I also found out, is while it's not extremely technical in nature, it can be exceedingly physically exhausting!

Nicole and I went up to Big Bear Lake, California to check out the course for the upcoming Snowshoe The Bear snowshoe race. We got our snowshoes from Equada Outfitters - an awesome mountain shop in Big Bear. I'm actually making them a website at www.EquadaOutfitters.com but it's not done yet.

Anyway, we got Kahtoola snowshoes, which are a pretty slick system. You just step into them, almost like a ski binding. You can wear your trail running shoes and you put on a hard soled neoprene over-bootie.

Unfortunately my left was a bit loose and started rubbing a bit early into our trek. By mile 2 my left heel was pretty sore. At mile 3 I pulled off my shoe and sock to find a big flap of skin where the 50-cent piece size blister had long since popped. I was prepared with my pack full of adventure racing supplies, so I had a fist-aid kit with duct tape in it. I put a bandage with duct tape over it and it immediately felt better.

But, by mile 4-5 I could tell it had come off and was rubbing badly on the decent. Add to that my right heel was beginning to develop hot spots and it was tough. We were out for 3 1/2 hours total. Much longer than we'd anticipated and it was much harder than we'd thought it would be.

I think it had to do with several factors. First - we were at 7000 - 9000 feet altitude the entire time. Second, the snowshoes we had are made for a light snowfall to pack, not necessarily powder. They had around 2 feet of powder the week before. So as our shoes would break the surface of the snow we'd sink 6-8 inches or so. Not bad, but then you have to lift your foot/shoe all the way out of the hole and drive it forward. It's a killer workout. We had water and some gels, but ultimately, not enough of either for nearly 4 hours of tough work.

But, we made it back fine. Nicole was such a trooper for what was an extremely tough outing. I'm glad she didn't have any issues with her feet or being cold. I had brought gloves and outer shells and beanies. It seemed pointless when we left, but after you begin to sweat and get up over 8000 feet it gets cold quick and by our return we were both fully dressed in all the attire I'd brought.

It reminded me what I already knew (but it's good to be reminded) - you can't mess around in the backwoods in winter. You have to be prepared for anything. If we'd gotten lost or hurt and were not prepared we'd be popsicles by morning. Just 4 days prior an elderly man had gone hiking in this same area. They got a call from his cellphone saying he was lost and then nothing more. They got all that snow after the call and now they're really just trying to recover his body - knowing that without supplies he has no chance of survival out there.

I always carry the essentials into the backwoods - even mountain biking, anywhere even slightly remote. Anyway, I got off topic...sorry.

Here's a picture of my left heel today (2 days after the venture).

I'd love to say it looks worse than it really is - but it actually smarts pretty good. I learned a few things. My feet sweat terribly with this amount of exertion. I need good quality sweat wicking socks - two layers and probably a second set in my pack.

As my feet got wet from the sweat they started not only chafing, but also started to get cold. By the end my toes were pretty solidly numb. Too much longer and I could easily have gotten a bit of frost-nip, if not frost-bite.

I also learned to take more water and more food, and even another under layer shirt per person.

Overall a great trip and something I've long wanted to do. I shot quite a bit of helmet cam video, but the camera was slanted at an angle and it almost makes me dizzy to watch it. So I made a short video with only a tiny bit of Nicole actually snowshoeing, but I thought I'd share it with you anyway. Here you go:

Sledding in Big Bear, California

Ahhh, sledding in Big Bear! We've been coming here for years to spend vacation time in our favorite place - Big Bear, California. It's a small mountain community at around 7000' elevation in the Mountains above San Bernardino.

When we first came here, years ago we used to have to hike up the sledding hill. For several years in fact - but it's improved. The first improvement was a rope tow up one side. You'd sit in your tube and grab on to the rope. One year they added log-like steps with hay on them. Then a big rubber mat. Then miraculously one year the rubber mat moved like an escalator. That got better for a few years and then last year, they actually covered the moving sidewalk so you're out of the elements for the 3-5 minutes it takes to get to the top of the sledding runs.

I've combined all the videos I shot this week into one sledding montage put to the music of AC/DC. :o) Enjoy!