Challenge Thy Self

Firstly this is not a blog or story for the main page, but rather a little tale for my friends about a self challenge that I set and completed recently.

This year I turned 37 ( I know, I look like I'm in my mid 40's, ha ha ), and for the first time I thought about my age a bit. Not the typical, "What am I doing with my life?" but more of a reflection on my health and fitness at age 37. Most of you know that I lead a really dormant work lifestyle, sitting in one spot staring at this screen for hours on end. While I thoroughly enjoy my work, my body is starting to weigh in on things a bit and it's telling me that I have to figure out a few things and manage my non work hours better or the aches and pains will only get worse with time. Basically I needed to alter my day to day, week to week routine and see how it went. This wasn't about weight loss/gains, long/short rides or becoming more fit, it was about finding some time each day and using it in a positive manner for my health - my routine after ten years needs updating.

I'm not sure about every one of my friends, but I consider you lot to be an active bunch and I think that I am active as well, but maybe not as much so as I could be. I sat back and figured that on an average week I'll exercise (read ride my bike as it's the only activity outside of snowboarding that I do) 1-3 times and net 6-25Km on the trails. But what if I tried to exercise everyday, could I do it, how far would I go and would it be fun? In order to not set the bar too high and line up for failure I figured a base ride would be necessary (minimum distance / time that I'd want to do and still have a fun ride), so on my 37th birthday the loop that was recorded is a fun one on Ledgeview and an easy quick lap for anytime after work. See ride info here:



With the first ride in the bag, the term of the exercise routine needed to be set. One week was too easy to do, but 100 days seemed unlikely (heck, I've never done anything remotely like this in terms of self goals besides taking a few months off of wobbly pops in my early twenties, but that's another story), so I took my new found age of 37 and set that as my goal - I was going to ride, rain or shine, light or dark, for the next 37 days.

Another first for myself on my birthday was going to a physiotherapist to look at the aches and pains I previously mentioned. Ya, it took me a lifetime to go, but I will stick with it as I need this body to enjoy a lot of years ahead. None of the aches will go away fast, but with 2+ decades of abuse, it'll take time to remedy. Maybe I'll see a masseuse in the next 37 years ha ha!

On day two I headed up to our newest office in Squamish and the rains started. Remember how I said a week would be too easy? Well, add in some rain and things are less pleasant from the get go, but with no other goal but to get out and ride, a little rain would only be a minor irritant at times. Living on the west coast I've acquired some wonderful riding gear for rainy days (read - all winter) and would put it to use over the next 5.5 weeks, but the majority of the days would be in my favour in terms of fair weather. The other notable thing about Squamish is that we've got a scale in the office, so I took a moment and weighed in at 228lbs w/ shorts, t-shirt and shoes on. Would things change over the challenge? In 35 days I'd know more.

Since I split my work week in Squamish and Chilliwack, that means I drive through North Vancouver twice each week and would be finding a way to incorporate rides there into my schedule. I was able to add my friends Kelly and Kelsie into my routine and discovered a lot of good XC trails on Fromme and the Demo Forest, as well as find out that not everything is gnar on the shore. The majority of my rides would be in the Fraser Valley (ie, the best dirt you'll ever ride), as Abbotsford is home.



Living close to some of the best riding in Washington, USA has its perks too (Day 11):

One thing that I didn't think about before this little idea popped into my head was just how much riding I'd have to do on the road (with my MTB) in order to complete a ride each day and how often I'd have to don a light to get in a minimum 4K (approx. 20mins) per day. But with failure not being part of the program, lights, road riding and friends were all called upon on a few occasions to finish a day off right. On one occasion while traveling to Alberta after a day in the office, we pulled over in Valemont well past a normal bed time, fired the lights on the bikes and rode around for about 25mins while the rest of the town slept - it was pretty cool to roll around at night while the town was silent and under the stars, all things that elude us when we live in the city. Other reasons for hitting the road during the daylight hours would be being pressed for time or being somewhere that I wasn't sure about in terms of trails and making efficient rides happen.


Having a supportive riding community is key to great trails and group rides. Here is a look at one of the recent Toonie nights put on by the FVMBA out in Chilliwack (Day 22):

Initially the rides were similar to what I'd expected in terms of my conditioning, but once I got past 15-20 days in a row I started to see some improvements in times with regards to trails that I regularly ride - and most surprisingly in the climbs. Seeing a few personal bests sure helps a person's mental state and makes the rides more enjoyable (even if you are hurting). Plus, I'd passed the midway point now and was on the downhill side of 37 days - time to start looking at some bigger rides if I wanted to break 300km for my total. Making time is a challenge for everyone and I think that this exercise was great for me; I stepped out of my routine and made things happen. Yes, some days were only 15 mins, but that was 15 mins that I took back and made myself healthier in doing so. As you'll see in the ride log below, I tracked distances and minutes through my phone's App - Strava, as I had some kilometre goals, but it was the time currency that would most surprise me in the end.

On day 27 the kilometre total read 244.1, that gave me ten days to roll in 55.9KM and that seemed like a win, so I was feeling pretty good that I'd be able to ride for 37 days straight and net 300KM. Over the next 6 days it was a breeze of fun laps and all of a sudden after day 33 I found myself sitting at 291.4KM and in a predicament. I was now obviously going to pass 300KM, but I wanted to push it to 350KM over the remaining 4 days - I should not have said that out loud as it was now a set challenge and I was getting a little tired! Now that 350KM was the new goal I knew that I had to go on some good rides to get the 58.6KM needed to achieve what my mind had set forth.



And as luck would have it, Day 34 would be the biggest ride of all 37 days:

The last three days were a bit of a blur between work and making 350km happen - I even snuck in a grocery run on my bike to collect a few kilomters. On Day 35 Kevin Landry took a small group of us on a loam patrol ride that really made us smile. It's mind blowing what modern bikes can do from the ups to the wicked downs, they truly are machines to marvel at. On day 36 I convinced Kelly to take me on an XC ride in the Demo Forest with netting kilometers as our goal. Again I want to re-iterate that the North Shore isn't all gnarly, ( but it's a little jumbly in places ) and I was pumped to learn about more trail options out there. I started day 37 like most with a smoothie and headed to work, all the while thinking about my last ride and how it would have to be 7.4KM or more in order to break 350KM. I was joined by Crystal, Karla and Brian for my final day's ride up on Sumas Mountain and it would be one of the more fun go to laps up there; up the road to Noah Fear, down both sections of Noah, along the access road to World Cup ( great updates on the last 3rd of this trail ) and then out via No Time Out ( this trail took a while to like and now it's a go-to for ending my laps on Sumas ). Back at the parking lot I wasn't sure if I'd passed 7.4KM for the ride as it was cutting it close, so I road out a few kilometers of road just to be sure and that's what I needed to break 350km. To celebrate ( 'cause celebrating is awesome ) it was off to the Keg for a nice meal out with the crew.

Since I did weigh in at the start, and a few times throughout the 37 days, I knew that I had to step on the scale one last time to see how the extra kilometrs had impacted my weight. The end tipping point was 229lbs - I'd gained one pound. I am glad that weight loss was not the goal, but this stung a little - ha ha! Maybe the next challenge will be to slim down, but I doubt it.

I am happy to have completed my self-imposed challenge and to have kept a ride log to see what I've been up to the past 5.5 weeks. I typically am the sort that likes to reward myself from time to time and I sat down and gave it a thought as to what I needed for doing what was set forth. The answer was nothing, I wanted to give after all this and have decided to donate the $ equivalent to kilometrs ridden, so the Alberta Heart and Stroke Foundation has received a donation to the sum of $352.90 on behalf of two of my Grandparents (Judd Groat and Tillie Maine) as well as a family friend (Peggy Armstrong). I truly feel that this was an exercise in personal growth and hope that a few of my friends set their own personal challenges and set forth to accomplish them. You're all capable of something cool, so make it happen!

See ya on the trails!
-Ty

37 Rides:
Personal Best on Vedder Climbing Trail

Day 1	Ledgeview	4.2 KM	33 mins	This would be my base ride
Day 2	Crumpet Woods	8.8 KM	51 mins	Lost looking for trails in the rain (228lbs)
Day 3	Fromme	4.2 KM	30 mins	Bobsled in the rain
Day 4	Bear	8.8 KM	62 mins
Day 5	Sumas	11.1 KM	82 mins
Day 6	Red	16.8 KM	135 mins	Hitting up the short XC course
Day 7	Ledgeview	5.7 KM	41 mins
Day 8	Squamish	7 KM	34 mins	First Strava glitch, but able to look at past ride for distance (230lbs
Day 9	North Shore	12.1 KM	64 mins	Demo Forest XC
Day 10	Vedder	6.2 KM	54 mins
Day 11	Galbraith	12.5 KM	90 mins	It's always worth a trip to Bellingham and Personal Best on SST
Day 12	Ledgeview	5.3 KM	38 mins
Day 13	Sumas	15.9 KM	114 mins	So much good terrain, so close to the house
Day 14	Ledgeview	4.2 KM	36 mins	Personal Best Golf Course climb
Day 15	Cat Lake	8 KM	51 mins	From blue skies to one of the wettest rids EVER (229lbs)
Day 16	Fromme	8.7 KM	60 mins	Exploring new trails
Day 17	Valemont	5.7 KM	23 mins	Making it happen with a light way past bed time
Day 18	Hinton	6.8 KM	47 mins	Checking out the rad Bike Park
Day 19	Brule	7.5 KM	30 mins	It's raining so the road will do
Day 20	Brule	9.5 KM	39 mins	At least it's not snow...oh wait...road again
Day 21	Ledgeview	4.6 KM	18 mins	Home late from Alberta, lights on again and to the road
Day 22	Tamihi	10 KM	79 mins	FVMBA Toonie Ride
Day 23	Squamish	10.6 KM	81 mins	(228lbs)
Day 24	Ledgeview	4.6 KM	29 mins	Drove home from Squamish for a quick lap before dark
Day 25	Chilliwack	9 KM	28 mins	Resort to road riding before dinner
Day 26	Vedder and Tamihi	17.1 KM	118 mins	Big group rides
Day 27	Vedder	19 KM	97 mins	Big lap from town and back
Day 28	Ledgeview	4.1 KM	15 mins	Home at 10:30PM, put on a light and hit the road and sprint
Day 29	Vedder	5.9 KM	48 mins
Day 30	Ledgeview	7.7 KM	63 mins	Hit a sweet new trail on Ledgeview
Day 31	Cat Lake	8.1 KM	43 mins	Staff ride (226lbs)
Day 32	Pemberton	7.2 KM	46 mins	Not sure why they call it Happy Climb?
Day 33	Pemberton	14.3 KM	62 mins	Mosquito Lake XC lap and Pemberton Meadows road
Day 34	Whistler	20.9 KM	129 mins	Mixture of trails and paths in Whistler
Day 35	Squamish	16.3 KM	108 mins	Pre-work road and post-work XC lap (225lbs)
Day 36	North Shore	14 KM	75 mins	Demo Forest XC lap
Day 37	Sumas	10.3 KM	73 mins	One of my favorite XC loops in the Fraser Valley (229lbs)
Total	Distance	352.9 KM	2226 mins (37.1 Hours)	In the saddle

*Check out all these cool ride stats on Trailforks.com


Notes:
- Big thank you's to Crystal, Brian, Karla, Kelly, Kelsie, and my co-workers that joined in on rides along the 37 days.
- Over the course of the 37 days I rode 2 bikes. 1 - Specialized Camber 29er for the first 26 days, and 2 - Xprezo Adhoc (650B) for the last 11 days
- Just like everyone, I preferred the rides that were for fun and not forced, but it was good to just make it happen as I will appreciate the fun rides more now.
- Proximity to trails (there is a Japanese man in this trail video that puts it best) is something that I'd like to improve in the next few years as it was pretty cool to just ride from the house in some places. While I like where I live, you can always make it a little better right?
- I'm not gonna lie, I did think that if I completed this I'd have lost a few pounds, but it was not the case. While it was never the goal, it would have been nice to see some results in that department too. Truthfully though I know that more than a little exercise is going to be needed in order to change my overall size, but I'll stick to it and chip away a pound at a time.