Skip to main content

Another season of hiking comes to an end


Those of you that have known me in the last few years know that I try and climb a local Vancouver mountain (Grouse Mountain) as often as I can. I hadn't tackled the grind since mid-September last, so I decided to have a go at it. And lucky for me, it was still open. The day was decent (no rain) and the trail wasn't busy. But then, by the half-way mark, there was ice. Everywhere. I fell a couple of times along the way and had a few more close calls. Suffice to say, I won't attempt it anymore this season. Of course, come Monday, they closed the grind for the season. So, I feel lucky that I got to go one last time this season.

This brings us to the end-of-year summary of the hiking season. It isn't so much that hiking season is over as much as Grouse grind season being over. But we shall overlook that simplification.  At the beginning of this season, I had set myself a goal of beating my best time from before. I didn't really come close.

Now, keep in mind that the record was shattered (yes, that is the right term) by one Sebastian Salas and it currently stands at 25:01. That's right, 25 minutes and 1 second. My best time was somewhere near 55 minutes. I have a few co-workers who can do it under 45 minutes. Keep in mind that you are climbing uphill the whole time and gaining 30 seconds on your time is something of a feat. So, here's how I did this year:
As you can tell from the graph, I briefly flirted with the 1 hour mark (I was off by 113 seconds as I recall), but then things went awry. But, if I may redeem myself, I have done better this year than a previous year, both in terms of the number of times I went to the actual times I posted. I don't really have much data from 2010 since I didn't go that much and was busy with home buying and what not. 

So, what's the take-away here? I need to sort out my time. If my co-worker who is nearly 20 years my senior can bound up the mountain more than 20 minutes faster than I can, I have some serious training to do. I think more data points would also help. I wish I had gone more often, I think I would have improved my times with practice. So, the eternal optimist that I am not, I will try and train up for the 2012 season in the hopes that I will a) dip below the 1 hour mark and b) beat the 55 minute mark. 

Here's hoping.
Labels:
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Being Happy

I wonder why there is so much unhappiness in the world sometimes. I'm currently reading R. K. Narayan's Waiting for the Mahatma. The world the protagonist in the book lives in is a rather harsh one. And he seems to be quite unhappy. What makes one unhappy? Some days, I ask myself what the heck I am doing here. Maybe its because I have worked for the same person for 4 years and the same company for over 6. This was supposed to be a short-term job that would bring bigger and better things. I don't know what it has brought. I mean, I am doing better things. I am doing bigger things. But I don't know if it makes me happy any more. I don't wake up with the anticipation of hurrying to work to learn something new and make the world a better place. I don't know why. I suppose I have the ability to do that to a certain extent. Is it the lack of ambition?  Reading back to some of the earliest posts on this blog, I gave myself the task of being happy. Like it is somethi...
3 comments
Read more

The shopping bug strikes again

I've been on a binge of late. I have been shopping for all sorts of stuff. I started with an apartment. Couldn't afford it. Moved on to smaller things. I bought a pair of black Diesel Remy shoes. Probably the softest shoes I have ever had. They are SUPER comfortable too. I got a pair of Merrell Mesa Vent II shoes for doing the grind. Very comfortable. Of course... my time didn't improve by that much. I got a Puma Beluga Football jacket. Its colour is officially Pompeian Red-Moon Rock Gray. Looks cool. I got a pair of quicksilver Slang shorts. They are awesome! I also ended up getting Jeans at Mark James (they have a summer sale on now). I got a pair of Diesel Clerby jeans (these are extremely soft) and a pair of 7 for all mankind relaxed jeans. They're both getting altered (hopefully, with the original hem in-tact). How much has all this cost? I would estimate it at over $500. Ouch. And hooray for our dollar being so much closer to being on par to the US one.
1 comment
Read more

Happy Birthday Canada

I have celebrated more than 20 Canada Days in Canada. While this nation is far from perfect and we have so much further to go, there is hope. We are a nation, at 153, looking at the future with a mixed record: we have immense prosperity, peace, safety and a relatively good standard of living for most . We are welcoming to immigrants, refugees and guarantee people with a wide range of rights. We are a leader in respecting people's human rights and punch above our weight internationally. We are also a country that is in the midst of a reckoning right now. We have systemic racism, we are at war with the environment - we are actively digging things out of the ground to sell to the rest of the world. Climate change is ravaging our country - we have floods, fires and drought.  Our past and present deeds towards indigenous people is shameful. We have a long way to go yet, but there is hope. In the midst of a pandemic, with social upheaval to correct past wrongs, or at least make amen...
Post a Comment
Read more