August 2025 – The Indefatigable Iron Rogue

August 25, 2025August 25, 2025

Open Water Training in 2025

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Beggars can’t be choosers, I always say. Between wanting to train up for the 2025 Cultus Lake Triathlon (the Vancouver Triathlon was sold out before I got my act together), and wanting to swim 10k in August to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society (please consider donating), I knew I had to start getting some open water training in – my pool sessions from earlier in the season weren’t going to cut it.

Training in the Havel in Northern Berlin, proved challenging however – there’s lots of boat traffic, including river cruises, and the weeds grow thick and right up to the surface.

I used to track swims with a Garmin watch, but between keeping track of the charging cable and software reinstallations, I just can’t be bothered anymore. I felt I didn’t need that many serious metrics for most training tracking and I could get by with my phone for biking and running; but what about swimming?

I decided to look into wearing my phone in a waterproof pouch that would rest on my back, hopefully near the surface.

The pouch has 3 ziplock seals on it that are then folded over each other. I can say it did a good job protecting my phone, but I’m not so sure the tracking worked well.

I mean, I know I don’t swim perfectly straight, but that’s a little ridiculous. My wife began to worry about getting caught in the weeds and the boat traffic, so I opted to look into buying a swim buoy. I found one that could also house the phone.

I had hopes that with the tether attached to the underside of the inflatable buoy the phone would stay on top and thus track distance perfectly. Unfortunately the weight of the phone made the buoy flip upside down and the pouch was facing downward. I opted to flip it back upright at every turn-around to guarantee the location would be tracked at end points.

Looks like the location tracking worked better, but that moving time measurement is completely bogus – each of these swims was 20 min. I do recommend using a device like this though, as a just in case you get tired floation device in addition to making you more visible to boats or loved ones spotting you from shore.

August 19, 2025August 14, 2025

Connecting All of Abbotsford’s Discovery Trails

Abbotsford has several multi-use trails they label ‘Discovery Trail’, but since there are several, shouldn’t they comprise one network? The answer was never obvious from the trail entrances, but there is a website and a map:

Still, I had struggled to really understand how it could be used to cross from one end of town to the other. Until I made a concerted effort this July to get across town. Because I knew some sections were gravel, I opted to take my mountain bike. Having a gravel bike (my next bike – the correct number of bikes to own is the number you have plus one), would have been ideal.

I wore my Shokz Open SwimbPro Bone Conduction headphones to provide music for the long ride. I filled my hydration pack with a water/electrolyte mix and I set off to find the entrance to the first Discovery Trail West of Whatcom Rd.

Scenery/Musical Highlights

The Who’s ‘Baba O’Riley’ came on as I rode into an open field “Out here in the fields… I fight for my meals.”

On the way home, I had to do a lot of climbing. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” was playing (I guess I had a Classic Rock soundtrack for this ride). Most of the song (I’m sure you’re familiar) is slow and plodding, but right before the monster guitar solo, the singer says “Won’t you fly, Free Bird…” and that was the moment I crested a hill and started coasting down a well-deserved downhill run.

Challenges

One of the things that has kept me from being able to pursue this little project is the boardwalk West of the Abbotsford-Mission Highway has been in disrepair until this spring. I’m so glad they’ve fixed it and I’ve used it for some trail runs already. It crosses a beautiful marshy area.

Crossing the Highway itself is also a challenge – there isn’t a good crossing that is on the way, my best solution was to cross at McCallum and ride on the shoulder on the wrong side of the road until I could turn off toward the trail.

Whenever the trails peter out and you have to transition to a road, it’s good to have done your research to know which road will keep you on route to the next trail entrance. I didn’t leverage this website, but maybe I should have.

Since it’s an out-and-back, getting to the end was the climax, and then I had the long (and net uphill) ride back to look forward to, and most of it was the same scenery.

Nature Highlights

I saw 2 snakes (probably garter snakes) on the ride – it was a sunny day, and I think they enjoyed the heat. There was also a moment where I could swear a dragonfly was trying to race me – it flew alongside me for a few hundred meters.

I helped myself to some blueberries when my energy was low

I’m looking forward to doing this ride again in the future – perhaps even extending it.

August 7, 2025August 12, 2025

Return To Japan

We loved our previous trip to Japan so much, we decided to go back for more (and yet also something different) again in 2025.

Arrival – Kyoto

We hadn’t had a lot of time to pre-plan our entire agenda, so we chose the Kyoto Granbell Hotel again as for our first night. We had taken an Haruka trian from the Osaka Kansai International Airport to Kyoto, and immediately crashed (me, my wife, and the Lightning Kid) in a large bed.

I love starting my mornings with an Onsen (public bath) to feel relaxed. We started our day with an exploration of the Maruyama Shrine. We tried to be respectful of the space, and ended the tour with a quiz conducted by a local group who were promoting the concept of ‘touristship’ – a blend of friendship and tourism.

We went for lunch to a pancake which was delicious and decadent. After that, I “pig cafe” where you could pet pigs. Mine tried to bite me so I didn’t love that experience too much.

The next day we visited a Samurai/Ninja museum.

We also enjoyed a couples spa with stretching, scalp and regular massage.

Our final day in Kyoto had a lesson in Japanese archery. In Japanese archery (Kyodo or Kyujutsu) there are five steps:

1. face perpendicular to the target

2. turn head toward the target

3. raise the bow overhead (with one hand on the bow, the other on the string)

4. lower the bow into drawing position

5. release

The instructor kept telling me to view the target from “outside” with my viewpoint left of the bow rather than looking down the shaft. I found that hard, and my best shots had me seemingly aiming well below and to the left of the target.

Sapporo

We flew to the Northern Island of Japan, Hokkaido, to see parts of Japan we hadn’t experienced before and to escape the heat. We found Peach Air to be a low-cost no-frills airline that still worked efficiently and comfortably.

We visited a Chocolate Factory called Shiroi Koibito Park, their specialty is a cookie layered with White Chocolate. The tour had a whimsical fantasy element not unlike Willy Wonka, and the Lightning Kid got to take a baking lesson.

Getting cleaned up to go into the kitchen

While one of Hokkaido’s tourist draws are Lavender fields in Furano, it felt wasteful to take a bus tour way out of town just to look at flowers – we found out about a field more local to Sapporo that had a lovely view of the city, and we even got a free ride to the top of the hill from some kind strangers who didn’t think walking was plausible (I think we’d have been fine – after all, we live near the Rockies).

The next day we had a longer excursion planned. We took a bus tour to the Shakotan Penninsula, we had some small stops in Yoichi in the beginning and the Chocolate Factory again on the way back, but the real highlight was Cape Kamui – the ocean lookouts feature the ‘Shakotan Blue’ of the ocean. See below.

Shakotan Blue – From Cape Kamui and the Shakotan Penninsula

The next day we left Sapporo to travel to Hakodate, but we made a pit stop in Noboribetsu and the ‘Hell Valley’. Natural Sulphur springs gave rise to demons and other underworld influences. There are many statues to illustrate what kinds of demons you might encounter, and the Sulphur lake was other-worldly.

After a long hike around the crater, we stopped into the oldest public Onsen in a town full of them (the natural springs make for a great bathing experience). We got to experience waterfalls, sulfur baths, aluminum baths, sodium baths, some hot, some cold and altogether had a great period of relaxation.

In Hakodate, we enjoyed a sea urchin lunch, a trip to the Red Brick district shopping area (with a pit-stop to play with Lego), a Harbour Cruise and a Cable Car to the top of Mount Hakodate.

Our quest to find a beach in Hakodate the next day came up somewhat empty, as the signs said swimming was prohibited; but at least we got a massage in on our last day.

The next day was devoted to traveling back to Osaka to prepare for our flight home. Though leaving Japan was sad, we had an exciting summer to look forward to.