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Future in Triathlons?

Ironman Lake Tahoe 2015I can’t say the thought hadn’t crossed my mind. Back in the day I had a one-speed hand-me-down bright red road bike from my favourite cousin that I rode for a few years when kids teenagers weren’t shammed for riding their bikes on the sidewalk. Now I’m terrified of riding on the road and getting hit by a car. Legitimate concerns you guys. My husband cycles 7 days a week, sometimes twice a day. I constantly worry about rush-hour traffic knocking him down after a few close calls.

I swam a ton, until one day I failed my Bronze Medallion test for silly reasons so I quit in spite of that one coach. Lame on my part, I know. Another concern: race day – getting kicked in the head during a swim start. That can’t feel good.

I’ve always ran. Not to say I’ve always enjoyed running, but it’s something that literally doesn’t cost me a penny or need some fancy gear or bike fixing knowledge.

Ironman Lake TahoeAfter my husband completed his 6th Ironman triathlon last weekend he suggested I try triathlons too. Add to the fact he said “I think you would be fast.” Considering I’m a naturally self-competitive person, I’m kind of flattered he thinks I would be fast.

But man, I’m not sure I am ready for it! Training for three sports all at once, for one race? You guys, I hate racing! It gives me the heebie jeebies in the belly, and I perform terribly during a (running) race. Who knows, maybe tri’s would be different. But I need to start doing something regularly again (besides running) because I’m getting pretty self-concious about my appearance to be truthful.

prAna pants Lululemon topI always seem to jump into the deep-end with sports or trying new things. Not only that, let’s talk about the perfect temp’s year around here in California. Awesome for training! I guess only time will tell.

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Flatrock Fest, Newfoundland

HeaderDuring my visit home in Newfoundland, I’m bound to meet up with my friends who, conveniently enough, are all rock climbers like myself.

Lori, my climbing buddy (we were each other’s first climbing partners—19 years and going!) mentioned to me that she was heading down to Flatrock, a small town, minutes outside of St. John’s where she was going to be volunteering for the day and invited me. You know I had to go to that.

Flatrock Fest successfully finished up its third consecutive year of inviting regular climbers, folks who’ve never stepped foot on a climbing wall or rockface, and the others who have been itching to try outdoor climbing. For fifteen bucks you show up, get the gear supplied to you, sit in on sessions, and climb til your hearts content for a full day of climbing and rappelling, down at Flatrock.

Wallnuts Climbing Centre, amongst many more sponsors helped out in executing the event held by the Alpine Club of Canada. There were goodie bags handed out to the first 50 climbers who signed up. Inside the bags were a variety of prAna tee’s, chalk bags, Rock & Ice magazine, and a rock climbing DVD. I was not one of the lucky contenders to sign up in advance, plus I was volunteering so I didn’t think it was fair for me to grab one from a lucky attendee. I sure wanted one though! I did end up getting a sweet door prize (Evolve boulder brush) and a Black Diamond cam keychain.

setting-up-flatrock-fest

It has rained continuously throughout my trip back home in Newfoundland, but we lucked out weather wise and had a fantastic day down on the rock with over 150 people in attendance. The guys from Wallnuts worked hard putting the event together, with more than 20 top ropes for people to get on and climb.

Leo (the owner of Wallnuts, who is like an older brother to me. My brother and him go “way back”) ended up staying overnight in a tent down at Flatrock the night before the fest, working hard putting everything together for a successful day. I was told he knew the tide wouldn’t be coming in throughout night, so he was safe and sound. Still wouldn’t be me down there, scary stuff!Tent-in-Flatrock

Lori set up the rappelling station — which I had a go at multiple times. It scared the crap out of me, since I don’t regularly climb outdoors, if anything I boulder.  But after a few tries I easily got over the fear of leaning bum back over a cliff and use an ATC to rappel down. That’s me getting ready to go! About-to-rappel

There was a special guest this year, Black Diamond sponsored climber J.P Ouellet was there giving a few talks throughout the day on trad climbing. I sat in on one of his two sessions (can you spot me?), and asked a handful of questions. Flatrock2014-BlackDiamond_GSL-6055(photo from ACCNL)

I felt a bit silly at first when he asked everyone in the group how long they’ve been climbing. Some answered 5 days, a few months and up to a few years. He pointed at me and I squirmed, answering “ninteen years” — and here I am sitting in on a beginners session on how to use cams, nuts, and bolts. J.P was pretty great, funny and informative with his talk at Flatrock, so I’m glad I sat down to enjoy it.

I’ll leave you with a few more photos that I took throughout the day at Flatrock Fest:

Leo-and-JoostLeo’s a Dad!

Flatrock-FestI’m the queen of inappropriate footwear, so I had to borrow Lori’s 5.10 accents for the day trip.

waves-crashing-at-Flatrock

Flatrock-Fest-2014

JP-Ouellet

Waves-Crashing

Flatrock-tall-2

Friction-Labs-Unicorn-Dust

volunteers

scarpas

swag-bags-and-water-coolers

Flatrock

Black-Diamond-cam-keychain

ACCNL-volunteer

Looking-down-from-ledge

Flatrock-tall

LaSportiva-katanas

I’m glad I was home at the perfect time for the Flatrock Fest, and hopefully I’ll be back next summer for the fourth year.

Sponsors of Flatrock Fest 2014: Wallnuts Climbing Centre, The Outfitters, Black Diamond, Metolius, Rock – Ice, Flashed.

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Fab Four

4 is my favorite number, unsure as to yet if it is lucky or not. But I wanted to share with you all, four links that I visit on a daily basis for deals. I found three sister websites that cater to the outdoorsy people. Multiple deals all day long. Not just one.

Steep & Cheap: is for the outdoorsy type of person. Things you’ll find on this website during the day: Sunglasses, Tents, Sleeping bags, Hiking Boots, running sneakers, fleece sweaters, arc’teryx gear, north face stuff, prAna, ice climbing pants, winter jackets…

Chain Love: for the bike lovers. Whether you’re a road or mountain biker, you’ll find a crazy ton of cool things for so many % off. Bike jerseys, helmets, ACTUAL bikes lol, drink mixes for the ride, pedals, bike parts of all kinds.

Whiskey Militia: for the skater/teenager. A lot of DC, Volcom items on here. Board shorts, Snowboards, surf boards, sunglasses, t-shirts, skater shoes, dakine … etc.

Tram Dock: Their newest website yet. Caters to the skiier, snowboarder and ice climbers. In need of 59% off Goretex gloves? Oh they’ve got’em. Tram Dock also has a variety of Rossignol ski boots, and so on.

I’d advice that if you were going to purchase anything since it is listed in the U.S. that you make it worth while. The other day I purchased my great awesome purple Gravis bookbag (it came in the mail on Thursday! Yes!) on Whiskey Militia for $13. Shipping was $11 and the original price was something like $65.00, so I got a good deal. Shipping will always be around $11 no matter how light/heavy the product is. So make it worth while. However, there was a few times that I didn’t get charge shipping at all, which I don’t understand. But there’s also some items that cannot be shipped to Canada. It will tell you at the time of purchase when you enter in your Postal Code.

You cannot add items to your cart and purchase at a later time of the day. Pretty much impulse buys only, and you need to act fast because if it’s a great deal – it’ll go quickly.

These sites are different than Woot (U.S.) and Dipwa (CAN), because they aren’t just one–day deals. Sometimes the item can last 30 minutes listed on the sites occasionally longer, but if it’s popular they will either pull if off quickly just to pinch at your nerves while you’re trying to decide on a size to buy, or it will be sold out within 4 minutes. Not even kidding. It’s addicting refreshing those four sites, trying to get deals all day long.

So, I suggest you check all four sites out — your visa will either hate you, or you’ll thank me for showing you the great wonderful Winners-Like websites. ;)

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