Fall Riding is Here!

13kms of singletrack sweetness (red trail & beaver dam trail) and a broken seatpost clamp and night-riding = some intense riding! Okay so the broken seatpost clamp made the riding a little challenging as I needed to ride standing up or sitting way down low but the guys will back me up and say I still had an amazing ride. Also had a bit of tumble over an obstacle which resulted in an endo and a cloud of dust lit up by my lights. Gotta love it!

Renovation of our Landscape

We're in the process of making some changes to our property and instead of doing it on our own we've hired a local landscaping company - it's costing us some but it is looking great already. In a sense, my role as a professor is similar to landscaping only my focus is life renovation - I assist students with providing shaped information that helps them better understand their world, themselves, and their role in the world. It is a very rewarding job but tough work - working with people always is challenging. Thankfully, I feel that I'm better equipped at teaching than landscaping - but there is something invigorating about being creative in whatever we do! I've always admired people who work the land and have enjoyed my moments of helping on the farm - although it seems a long time ago already. It's a tradition that goes back to the beginning of time - working the land to produce fruit for the harvest, for survival, for advancement. So here I am in the midst of yet another new college year, renovating the landscape of freshmen - exploring new ways of learning, of growing, of exploring!

Some Helpful Information

Every now and then I come across something that makes me chuckle in a way that only the Far Side can. Which is why I own the entire collection hardbound. However, this is not Far Side but with such wit that I take pleasure in sharing the following and I believe helpful information concerning the preparation of kiwis.

Sunday Football & Cycling

So good to relax on the couch and watch my Packers back in action. Good to get a win out of it too - even if it was a bit of a rough start to the season. Also managed to escape for a nice short but intense road ride for 20kms. I love this time of year with the crisp cool air! Lots of great mountain biking ahead!

Sept Long Weekend Cycling

Life continues on and we decided to take a break from cottaging it and stay home for a change. It's a little chaotic packing for our family it seems - it almost be nice to just have a set of stuff always packed to make traveling anywhere easier. I did manage to escape a bit though - a 40km Giroux loop with road bikes - complete some significant winds that allowed us to hit & maintain 50kms/hour going north and unfortunately has the opposite effect when going south - around 26km/hour. Jason & I enjoyed the ride though! We had some friends over for a bbq on Sunday and it was good just to chill out in the amazing weather.

The aim for certain members of Team Bodydriven was to mtn bike the classic Ingolf route but a 40 percent chance of rain ended up coming true at about 9am - and it poured. The thing about Ingolf is that it is amazing riding when dry, with some super technical stuff - but when wet it is absolutely treacherous - sort of like riding on ice! The rolling granite (complete with obscene sections of boulders or split rocks & little drop-offs (a few big ones too) can get a little slick and if you don't trust the rubber on your wheels it can get a little dicey.

Thankfully we avoided any downpour for most of our ride (about 10 minutes of rain in the epic 2 hours) but we did our share of close-calls and minor wipeouts. No bleeding though. A total of 16kms may not sound like lots but it is all rough riding and my hands are still sore from clenching the handlebars. Tomorrow it's back to college - registering a whack of new & returning students - and I teach my first class on Thursday - communications, Friday - outdoor ed, and next Tuesday - interpersonal processes - wooh!