Do you hate me?

Social dynamics have always been a funny thing to me; often I find my way of thinking is much different when compared to others. For the most part I have always tried to be nice. I figured that since I liked being treated nicely everyone else would. This theory worked satisfactorily, people just didn't seem to respond the way I had expected. People have always teased me, and I realize that I am no different from anyone else; everyone gets teased. What makes me different from the next person is how I interpreted the teases. I never really knew how to interpret them. Everyone always complimented me on how light-hearted I was; they often said it was amazing how much teasing I would take and brush off without saying a word. I was never really frustrated by peoples misinterpretation of my feelings. What frustrated me was, why was it so hard for me to comfortably interact with others. When interacting with others, I most frequently respond nicely, because I figure that is what most people would like. As mentioned previously, my results with this strategy were satisfactory at best.

These details made me think that, perhaps people could be put off by others who seem "overly" nice; as if thinking to themselves, "why could this person possibly be acting so nice." It is as if people have an alarm in the back of their heads that sounds when others are being overly nice. They just back off and cut you out, they no longer trust you.

Last Friday I went to a show that my friend was hosting at a local bar. My friend and I have very many friends in common, resultantly there were many people who I knew present. One of these people I met early on in the night and decided to try and interact with her atypically. In stead of constantly being nice, I made fun of her a bit. I said many things that I would usual deem insulting. She reacted positively; I couldn't believe it, she reacted more positively then anytime I had been nice to her. Over the coarse of the night I sporadically would poke fun at her to see how it would go over. After each she would seemingly come back faster then the last. She sought my attention that night bore then ever before.

This leads me to a potential theory, a theory which I am going to call the Stop Light (SL) theory. I call it the SL theory because of the way people stop positively interacting with you when you act "overly" nice. One possible explanation to this theory is that people are suspicious of others who are "overly" nice. Through my quest to find the acceptable amount of niceness to great others with, I have found that this stop light does not go off consistently. The stop light is completely unpredictable and you have to be on your toes to catch it going off.

Missing this light has a reaction similar to missing a stop light in car. There is going to be a collision; which leads the driver into thinking that there is something wrong with you. The more times you make this mistake, the more readily your assumed guilty of other faults. Be careful not to miss those stop lights because sooner or later you not going to be permitted to drive up to them. If you find this confusing than don't even think about starting from that red light, starting before a green lights repercussions will be just as severe as missing a red, if not worse.

Those who have trouble catching these lights are called poor drivers. As mentioned earlier I am a satisfactory driver, I frequently come on too nice, missing the red light and deeming myself untrustworthy. I don't know of any tricks that help identify red lights faster. To my understanding these social "stop lights" are random at best, with no "right" technique for fast identification. The only real way to figure it out is by trying other methods, which I will hopefully be able to find.

Later Days

Tim

Rants?

So hear I am citing in my kitchen, wondering, what should I write for these blogs I do not want to write? which transitions to reminding me of a thing I did not like. Tonight I spent a little bit of time outside. I felt chilled, cold enough to catch my self thinking about it several times. To the point that when I got into my friends car, I instantly looked to see what the temperature was. The thermometer read -1 degrees. I reacted instantly;" -1,?! Is that it? is this thing accurate?" To my disappointment he said, "yes, yes it is". Shortly after my brain unhappily reminded me of a few nights last year, a few really cold nights. Which scares me because if I am sitting here in a garage thinking to myself, "damn I feel kind of cold." What the heck am I going to do this winter if it does the same thing? I will tell you what I am going to do; I'me just going to have to find out.

Later Days

Tim

Summer is Around the Corner

School is beginning to race by, the days are getting longer, assignments larger, and days nicer. This all means one thing; the end of school is near and that summer will soon be here. I sit here today writing my blog looking out the window to find sunny sky that is supposed to heat the air up to a comfortable 14 degrees; not bad for the first week of April. Nights have been cool, but they have not dipped below zero in quite some time making for comfortable mornings.

The finishing stretch of school is shaping up to be a real short and steep one due to the usual procrastination of major assignments. It is going to be quite the grind to the finish, but once there the satisfaction of my first completed year of college will certainly sink in.

Recently because of the nice weather I have been able to get outside and spend a substantial amount of time on my bike. This makes me excited for whats to come. I am currently comfortable riding in a sweater each night when the temperature dips down to around five degrees. I can hardly wait for when the nice weather arrives and I am able to ride outside in a t-shirt always and be comfortable. Also having no school activities during the day or assignments at night will make for fewer time commitments making riding much easier. I will have a full time summer job, but it is at bike store with people who also ride. I am excited for this because it provides me with people who are eager to go on ride with me each and every day.

Another great thing about summer is, it means that it is time to go home. This I am especially excited for as I growing tired of living in Pembroke. Over the last two weeks I have probably hit every single spot that is worth riding more then once. I am excited to move back to a bigger city where there are more good spots to ride and different people. As much as I like my friends here I miss my friends from home and am quite ready to go back.

The thing that I am most excited for is complete freedom. Obviously when I go back for summer there will be responsibilities such as work and general housekeeping duties. But there will be beautiful summer days where I have nothing to do but enjoy myself. Those are the days that I loan for. Days that I can go out and ride for as long as I want, and when I get tired of that I can go swimming or just relax. You can have days like this in the winter but they are never as good because you simply can never be as comfortable. The preparation involved in doing outdoor activities makes them more of a hastle then the summer. Believe me I love to ski in the winter, but nothing beats being able to leave the door comfortable in what ever you have on. Not having to work to be warm is amazing.

In summary I am excited for warm weather, biking, friends, and no more school. I eagerly anticipate many long fun days of riding, the days where you and a group of friends push each other to acquire new skills. Summer is the one time that I find people truly live life to the fullest. Fewer people complain about life's day to day hastles and just look to have fun. As an outdoor loving person having fun is a lifelong goal of mine, and being around people who are truly enjoying themselves will make it that much easier.

Firts Impressions of WFR

This Tuesday marked the beginning of the winter semester's final skill, wilderness first aid training. All first years were scheduled to meet at 8:00 at Wesley United Church which is a few doors down from the college. The courses instructors are Jill, Laura, Ben, Greg, Shannon and Geoff.

We began with an introduction given by Jill. Here she provided us with an overview of what to expect over the next two day. She also revealed to us another hidden course fee. The thin paper textbooks for this course are forty dollars. This came as unpleasant news to me considering my house just got robbed.

After the brief overview we separated into three groups. Each group was to spend roughly 60 minutes at three stations. The first station was with Jill. Here we were given the hypothetical scenario of finding an alone unresponsive victim. Jill asked us to try our best to go through the scenario as if it were real life. We had to approach the victim and ensure that our surroundings were safe, and then we had to attempt to diagnose what is wrong with the victim and move them into a safe position. The scenario was concluded by us developing an evacuation plan. In this case we chose to airlift our victim out.

The next station was with Greg and Ben. Here we discussed the three vital systems. The Circulatory, Respiratory and Neurological. The circulatory is you heart, veins, arteries and capillaries. The respiratory is your lungs and the oxygen exchange that takes place in the aveoili. The final system is your brain and nerve system that transports signals throughout your entire body. We used the analogy of a three legged stool, without one system the others are as good as dead.

At the next station we discussed the importance of learning the details in patients history. These details are critical in properly diagnosing the victims problem. Sample is a slogan that helps first aiders remember the details. It stands for symptoms, allergies, medications, past history, last in/ out and Events. If a first aider fails to address these details they will not truly understand the depth of the task at hand.

The stations after lunch were dedicated to doing scene surveys. A scene survey is the entire investigation of the incident at hand. Soap notes are tools used by first aiders help remind them of all the issues that need to be address. It begins with a scene survey; in a scene survey rescuers check that state their group and themselves are in. They must ensure that the location will not cause any harm to themselves or their group. Next they try to diagnose the mechanism of injury. Did the environment cause the victims injury or is it an underlying medical condition? They must also establish a number of victims and rule out the possibility of a spinal.

After the scene survey has been completed rescuers must complete the primary survey. In doing so rescuers check the patients level of awareness, airway, breathing, circulation, look for deadly bleeds and check environment / exposure.

The secondary survey requires rescuers to observe the victims vital signs. These include LOA, pulse, respiration, ski condition, blood pressure, temperature and pupil condition.

Next to be addressed is the patients medical history. To do so the SAMPLE method is used. This stands for symptoms, allergies medications, PMHX, Last in/ out, and events. Once this is completed the scene investigation ends with a physical assessment and action plan.

This lesson was completed around four o'clock. For the remaining thirty minutes we discussed the legal implications of giving a victim first aid. We talked about when the rescuer can be held responsible and when not.

Biking

At last spring is here, this morning I woke up to birds chirping and yesterday I stepped on a few wasps that were walking on the side walk. The sun has been out constantly and temperatures have lingered above ten degrees for the last two days. The snow has been melting up a storm and grass is beginning to show itself.

My favorite activity is cycling. I can't think of anything more pleasant then riding a bike on a warm and sunny day. Unfortunately those not so warm days can be quite miserable on a bike. This week was luckily both arm and sunny and provided me with an opportune moment to break out my bike for the first time this year.

The one major plan with spring riding is the roads are often covered in street salts and water from the snow melt. This concoction can prove to be quite detrimental to the drive train of a bike. But with careful maintenance any damage from street salts can be reversed.

By last Sunday I couldn't wait any longer to go out and ride. So as soon as I finished work I went straight home, grabbed my bike, and went out for a rip. Dylan was also quite antsy to get out and I met um with him at the PMC arena.

We set out just to have a fun ride, mess around, and try to do some tricks. This is exactly what we accomplished also. We rode down to the East end mall stopping every where some feature caught our eyes. Tall curbs, banks ledges, jumps and other obstacles were what we were looking for. We found a fair number of features in the mall's parking lot and as a result we spent a decent amount of time there.

Once we got tired of riding there we headed down to the high school. In front of this school there is an excellent wall ride that I wanted to spend a bit of time on. After finishing up here we headed down to river side park and down town. Now it was around seven so traffic was not to much of an issue. We could ride features that crossed the streets without much worries.

Our first ride of the year came to an end as the sun sunk into the horizon. And I am quite satisfied with the way it went. The following days were also warm which gave me a few more chances to go out and ride. Now I can only hope that the nice weather is here to stay, and that it will keep on getting nicer.

Winter Ex

The last three days marked the end of the winter portion of outdoor skills. After finishing skiing last week we were left with the final task of winter expedition. Winter Ex requires students to hike, camp, and live outside for three days in the winter. If your anything like me this sounds like a daunting task. Don't get me wrong I enjoy being outside in the winter, but not for three days straight. On an ideal winter day I enjoy taking a few warm up breaks and at the end of the day going home to my warm bed. The preparation involved in living outside in the winter is simply something I would not do on my own time.

That being said winter ex is a mandatory portion of the winter semester and I had to suck up my distaste for it and make the best of it. So i packed my bags up and at 7:00 Monday morning set out by bus to wilderness tours' property. Upon arrival students broke off into their three groups, mine was led by Greg. The next task of the day was getting our cookware, whisper lite burners, and snow shoes. This is where myself and my partner Piers made our most regrettable mistake. After seeing how much snow had melted over the course of the weekend we made the decision to not bring snowshoes. We quickly found out that the snow in the woods was more then knee deep and the hiking portion of our trip quickly shaped out to be quite miserable. Every step we took we wasted energy by trying to propel ourselves forward and only sinking deeper in the snow. It was frustrating, slow, and incredibly tiring. Especially when the fifty pound pack on your back is pushing you deeper into the snow. The only good thing to come from forgetting snow shoes was how quickly I fell asleep each night.

The first day of the trip started at wilderness tours and brought us to a bay around 7 km up the Ottawa river. To get there we crossed many ponds, valley's, hills and even rivers. We arrived at camp around three and set up in a spot that situated directly within morning sunshine. I set up my sleeping system in a spot where the trees sheltered me from the wind. The set up I chose to use was a bivy bag over my sleeping bag. It wasn't supposed to be very cold, so I decided to just bring my bivy because it is compact and light weight. For dinner Piers and I made chili. After cleaning up I went for a warm up walk and went to bed shortly after night fall.

The second day was the hardest one by far. The entire day traversed hills through the dense forest which unfortunately had exceptionally deep snow. Occasionally I found myself sinking to my waist. When I tried to push out with my hand the combined force of the pressure I was exerting and my heavy bag would push my arms down also. It was really no fun. The last stretch before camp was by far the worst. Every single step I took sent me deeper then my knees in the snow. I was sweating as if it were a hot summer day. Luckily it was proceeded by camp and time to rest.

On this night we made side kicks for dinner, they turned out quite nicely and made plenty of food. After dinner I found myself in quite the predicament. My boots were completely water lodged and I was soaked. I had the chills and was quite tired. This combination was utterly miserable, and I was hating every second of it. To make it matters worse I began to rain making things even cooler and wetter. Luckily I had carried a tarp and set it up to cover myself while I slept the night. I went for a short hike before bed which warmed me up nicely. Once I was in my bivy I put on some dry clothes and was at last quite comfortable. I turned on some music and slept soundly until the next morning.

The third and final day was by far the most pleasant of the three. It began with about 4km of roads which were easy for myself and Piers to walk on. We modified our root so that we hit take out midway. This allowed us to drop our packs there and head into the bush alot lighter. This was amazing. For the first time in the trip I was able to enjoy the sights because I wasn't concentrating on my steps. I did sink in the snow but not nearly as deep and I had little trouble pushing myself out. This paired with the spectacular sight of the Ottawa river's rapids made for a great day.

After drinking in the view for a while we headed back to take out and had a brief reflection on the past three days. Looking back I can say that it wasn't all bad. I did have fun and saw many interesting things. On the first day we saw wolves running across the river. I slept well and also ate well. The real problem was that my boots were not waterproof (although they way they are) and that I did not have snow shoes. If I were to go on this trip again I would do a few things differently. Obviously I would take snowshoes but I would also bring more pairs of socks. Keeping warm dry feet is critical, which is also why I would bring more plastic bags, they can be be worn as boot liners. They can also be used to keep bags, clothing and food dry. The one other thing that I would do is I would de-layer more effectively. The second You feel perspiration you should take off layers in order to prevent yourself from getting the chills later.

This has been a great learning experience that has taught me many things which I will take with me into the future. These are things that I also passed on the friends in the second group. I would say they are pretty lucky.

Teaching

As I mentioned earlier I truly enjoy skiing and now that I have the opportunity to provide children with an opportunity to develop a pleasure in skiing also I am very excited. I remember how much fun I had as a kid racing down a ski hill aiming for every single bump and I hope that I can influence some children to do the same.

For the school programs Pakenham has a series of steps that progress never-evers from one skill to the next. The first step introduces children to their ski's, how to move around on them and how to slide on them. The second step asks the children to slide down a small slope and make a snow plow stoop. The third step is on a longer slightly steeper slope and it requires the children to make a series of snow plow stops. Step number four is further up the hill and it requires the students to follow an instructor making a series of linked snow plow turns through pylons. Once the kids have completed this step they move on to step five which is essentially the same thing but on a steeper slope that requires stronger snow plows. Step six is on a slope that is steeper and requires the kids to negotiate it by themselves controlling their speed with snow plow turns and stops. The seventh step is the last step, instructors at step seven teach the children how to ride the chair lift.

Once students have completed all of the steps they are required to do the star test. The star test requires the students to negotiate a slalom course with an instructor evaluating them. Once they have gained the instructors approval they can ride the chair lift and ski the runs on their own.

This method of teaching is most efficient way to teach hundreds of students but it is often confusing and impersonal. At every step there is a different instructor, each instructor often has their own way of teaching snow plow turns and stops. When jumping from one instructor to the next and being told different things it is easy for students to get confused. Part of the fun with teaching is for the student and instructor is the relationship they develop with each other. This relationship increases comfort levels and communication. This increase in comfort often makes learning for the student much easier and more enjoyable. When jumping from one instructor to the next it is extremely difficult if not impossible to do this. This is often not a problem, but for more introverted students it can make things really difficult. Their shyness often impedes their learning and they have trouble communicating with their instructors when no relationship has been formed.

These things said it is very difficult to see another way of teaching hundreds of students how to ski in a limited time frame. Pakanham does a decent job of managing this model and for most students it is effective. The instructors are also for the most part friendly and actively work to make their students comfortable in the time that they have. The thing that I think they could improve on is instructional uniformity. This will make skiing much less confusing for the students. It might also be worth while to dedicate one or two instructors to stay behind and work with the more introverted students through all of the steps.

Holiday Valley

After skiing at Pakenham for the past 5 weeks I was really excited to have a chance to ski somewhere else over reading week. A change in location and terrain was quite saught after. Holiday Valley in New York State is only three hours from my home in Guelph and provided me with a wonderful opportunity for some variation. Holiday Valley boasts 56 runs and nearly 900 feet vertical. Although that is nothing compared to the Rockies it towers over Pakenham's 260 foot vertical and 13 runs. Holiday Valley is also only a three hour drive from my home town so it is a much more feasible trip then out east or out west.

When I ariaved home in Guelph last saturday I was very dissapointed to find absolutely no snow. This dissappointment quickly dissipated on the drive to Holiday Valley. When we crossed into New York state I was surprised to find a substantial amount of snow. Holiday Valley seemed to be unaffected by the thaw that plagued Southern and Eastern Ontario. Not only were the conditions good, but so was the weather. The sun was out and there was not a cloud in the sky. The temperature was hovering just around zero which made being outside as pleasant as it can be while still maintaining winter conditions.

The only thing that seemed to be holding the day shy of perfection was the number of people present. It was the beginning of Presidents week in the states and it seemed like many people chose to celebrate the holiday on the slopes. Luckily Holiday Valley has a few very good chairlifts that managed to keep the lines down to a comfotable level. I also avoided the most popular lifts and runs to maximize the time I had to spend at the hill.

We began our day at ten thirty having our fist run down the extremely popular Mardi Gras. This is a long gentle sloping run that is great to warm up on. After completing a run down Mardigras we chose to avoid the Mardi Gras crowds and explor the rest of the hill. We worked our way over to the right side skiing some black diamonds, mogul runs and gladed runs. The conditions this morning were excellent, there seemed to be very few ice patches. Riding up the CCC lift we noticed something odd. On the right side of the chair many trees have Mardi Gras style beaded necklaces hanging from them.

After skiing the right side of the hill we decided to make our way over to the eagle lift to ski some of the central runs. The Eagle lift gave us access to some more challenging black diamonds. These runs were a welcomed change because they provided us with moguls, rolers and some steeps. There were also very few people on them which was also nice. Similar to the CCC chair the Eagle lift provided us with an amusing surprise. The trees on the right side of the lift were garnished in Bra's and Panties.

Once we earned our fill of the central runs we worked our way left. The left side of the hill gave me the opportunity to challenge myself in a vary well maintained Terrain Park. The Fox Fire terrain park featured a super pipe, many different kinda of rails and some amazing jumps. I did a few runs through the park and then decided to see what else this side of the hill offered. When riding up the lift at Holiday Valley you hear many people talking about a run called the Wall. The wall is a double black diamond that is so steep it does not hold very much snow. It is over 45 degrees and covered in ice.

I decided that I wanted to see what all of the fuss was about, so I skied my way over to check it out. Once I arriaved I could see that it was certainly steep and icy, but it was dissapointingly short. The pitch was no more then 50-60 feet long which in my mind made it easier. I waited a little bit for all of the fallen snow riders to slide their way to the bottom and then gave it a few tries myself. The ice certainly made it difficult to turn but it was managable. I did the run a few more times to concquer it as cleanly as possible.

As the day neared an end the temperatures began to fall and the conditions worsened. The hundreds of skiers that had adorned the runs for hours on end had chewed up everything and uncovered many ice patches. Runs that had been outstanding in the morning were now a little more sketchy. By five thirty my brother and I decided that were were content with the amount of riding we had gotten in and called it a day.

Overall we could not have asked for a better day of skiing. The weather was imaculent, conditions were good and the crowd was managable. The terrain at Holiday Valley capped the day off by providing us with a welcomed change. My only real complaint about the resort was that it costed me $31.83 for two hamburgers, two fries and two drinks.

Skiing

Since I was very young skiing has been something that I have enjoyed very much. I was one of those kids that would blast down the hill aiming for every single bump that I could find. The pleasure that I found in skiing as a kid has still never worn off. Today one of my favourite things to do is carving doan a run as fast as I can getting air wherever possible. Since I have been doing this for many years I am now a fiarly competent skier.

Skiing at Packenhem for me has been a love hate skill. The runs are short but I make the best of them by trying new skills like butters and unatural rotations. The conditions this week were also relatively mild but there was enough snow on the hill to make it not a problem. The terain park at pakenham has some decent features although many of them are poorly built and maintained. For example the bottom table launches riders forty feet on to a very flat tranny. To make a jump this size safer and more enjoyable the landing should be much steeper. Likewise a few of the boxes look as if the park maintinance staff built them out of plywood. All complaints aside the terrain park could be much worse and it does have enough features that one could spend many hours in it honing their skills.

My biggest issue with Pakenham is probobly it's runs and how few of them there are. Packenham has two "black diamonds" which gives an expet class very little terrain to work with. These runs are well taken care of but the lack of variety makes skiing quite repetitive. They also have many flat spots that snag all of your speed which is very undesireable on such short runs. I could complain for hours about this however nothing can actually be done about it. Packenham has made the best of their terrain but the geography of where it is situated certainly limits it. It just makes me upset that the politics involved with ODA limits its students to terrain like this when there are other much better hills near by.

Personaly I am not entirely sold on the ski school at Packenham. From my experience in the first two days it featured alot of mindless drills that had not been associated with any purpose. It seemed as if our instructor was simply using the shot gun theory and hoping one drill would help us out. Our instructor himself was a very competent skier and truly did associate the good of himself with the good of his group which is very admirable. But that being said I realy think that the way our lessons were planned should be re-thought. I feel that the ski instructors could learn alot from the snowboard instructors. My exerience with the snowboard school was nothing shy of fantastic. They easily identified our faults and quickly assigned soltutions for them. They gave us a drill to practice and alot of time to do so.

For me the way the ski lessons were ran over the last two weeks somewhat sucked the fun out of skiing. This is a shamefull thing considering how enjoyable skiing really is. I find this even more upsetting when considering that this is many students' first exposure to skiing and it could be associated as a unpleasant hobbby. Stopping skiers after every turn on every run is ridiculous. I do see the value in dong it once in a while to work on certain techniques, but when every run is the same ting over and over it is a little ridiculous. Ski instructors should try assigning a drill for a run and then giving a run or two to put those principles into practice. During this practice time they can give students feedback on how well they are doing.

The majority of ODA students are active learners and learn best by simply putting something into practice. This makes stopping four times per run to talk about drills questionable in its significance.. The instructors at Packenham are all very well trained and capeable of gearing their lessons more towards ODA students. During the lunch period I heard many of my friends say that they really were not enjoying skiing. Every one of them did not have a probloem with the task of skiing;; they simply hated they way it was being taught. This is very easy to fix, the instructors should talk to their pupils and alter their styles of teaching. I find that modern teen skiers are very similar to snowboarders. Ski instructors could learn much from the Pakenham snowboard school. My snowboarding skills by the end of the six day course had improved beyond my expectations. I am certain that if this teaching style is so effective for snowboarding that it would also work for skiers. Not only would it work but it would make skiing much more enjoyable and make it a life lasting passion for many students.

Crushed Dreams

Cycling is my favourite past time activity; it has shaped my lifestyle into what it is today. For a large chunk of my teenage years I aspired to make a career out of my beloved hobby. My life in grade 10 and 11 consisted of training and racing. On weekends when my friends went out to see movies and party I would be in bed early or out of town preparing for competitions. I had a coach who I consulted frequently and I was required to write down every food that I ate.

I worked hard and as a result I achieved some good results. As a cadet I came in 2nd at the Ontario Provincial TT championships. I won an expert level O’Cup X-C MTB race and I stepped onto the podium at a variety of road races. In 2006 I raced at road Nationals and earned myself a spot to race for Team Ontario at Tour de l’Abitibi Junior World cup race in Val’dor Quebec.

Like any competitive athlete I experienced many ups and downs in competition. I had some hard crashes and experienced many technicals (flat tires, broken parts, etc). The year 2006 was especially hard on me. I broke a very expensive wheel and had some untimely technical incidents. As these incidents added up one after the next the pressures that I placed on myself to succeed grew significantly. I would become sick at the beginning of races from nerves. I wanted to do well, and I trained very hard. But every race it was the same thing over and over again. I would get caught up in the thought of how much better every one else was doing and would mentally defeat myself.

Now that I have taken some time away from racing I can see that this was completely ridiculous. Riding is the most fun thing I have ever done and I was turning it into a completely miserable experience. The worst part about it was it was completely self inflicted and avoidable.

Professional athletes are very admirable people and at some point in life I am sure every person has wanted to be one. Unfortunately this is something not every one can be, hard work really only goes so far in the competitive world. Professional athletes are freakishly gifted individuals. They are people who simply enjoyed doing something so much that they did it as much as possible and their god given talents put them into a position that made an athletic career possible.

I can speak about this from experience. I was extremely competitive at the provincial level. In Ontario I worked hard and did well. My results took me to Nationals where there was a much larger pool of talent. My standings in Ontario on average were in the top 5 but at Nationals I placed much lower (27th out of 200 starters). The top riders at nationals went on to compete for Team Canada at Road Worlds in Europe. At worlds every member of the Canadian team was dropped and lapped. The level of competition and talent pool in Europe is much deeper then it is in Canada. The guys who seemed fast to me were in the scheme of things quite slow.

This experience has allowed me to grow significantly as a person. I may not be cut out to be a professional athlete, but that certainly doesn’t mean that I have no place in the cycling world. Riding a bike is fun and it is a great way to stay healthy. This is an outlook that should have stuck with me throughout my racing ambitions. If I had of been riding for sheer pleasure and not for success then I wouldn’t have gotten so down on myself and in the long run I would have been more successful. I would have had more fun racing and would not have burnt myself out the way I did.

This is an important point because I feel that many people are forgetting why they compete in their respective activities. Competition is a great thing when those involved are entering it with the right mentalities. But for those who are taking it too seriously it could prove to be very detrimental. It is to easy to become obsessed with winning, but really the best way to win is enjoying what you do so much that you just do it better then everyone else. This is a lesson that I learned the hard way.

Many other great things can come from racing other then competition. Racing taught me many great habits that well stick with me for life. These are things that should be emphasized over results. Activity is something cycling promoted for me and is something that I will always do. Racing also taught me the importance of proper nutrition. I know a lot about nutrition and balancing meals that many of my peers do not. I have also gained great insight as to what things are important to me in life and what sort of career I would like. Through my ambitions I have found that a professional career is not in the cards, however, I have recognized that I want a career that is active and that allows me to enjoy the hobbies that I love.

Snowboarding

My first real winter activity was downhill skiing. I began skiing at the age of three and have been doing it steadily since. The countless hours I have spent on ski's has made me a fairly proficient skier. I now have my level one instructor certification and have spent a year teaching lessons.



With the exception of a few times in Grade school I have done very little snowboarding. I began this winter's set of skills with the goal of improving my snowboarding skills and I would say it is safe to say I did so. This could quite easily be attributed to the competent instructors at Mount Pakenham.



I began the first day trying to ride a snowboard the same way I ski. I was hunched over and had my hands out in front of myself. My first instructor quickly recognized what I was doing wrong and outlined a few exercises for me to correct my issues. The exercises he outlined for me were very easy to understand and apply to my riding. When I finished each run he provided me with applicable feedback that was easily understood. By the end of the first day I felt like I had already improved.



This trend of good instruction and self improvement continued throughout the course of the snowboard program. Each instructor I worked with provided me with use full drills and understandable advice. By the end of the program I had gone from making intermediate level turns to carving which is more advanced. I was no longer riding like a stiff board; I incorporated fluid movements throughout each turn.

As a whole I would say that the snowboard instructors at Mount Pakenham are very professional and can easily get into the same head space as their students. They understood the needs of myself and the other students and did not teach us like they would teach a ten year old of a forty year old. They knew what was necessary too keep our attention.

My one complaint about the Pakenham snow school is how much my group got shuffled around between instructors. Over the course of the program I came into contact with three different instructors. This made it difficult for the instructors to see my progression and mark me accordingly. It also forced myself and my classmates to frequently adapt to different learning styles. That being said the instructors did meet up for evaluations and I received an appropriate mark for my skill level.

Pakenham Hospitalities

I would like to begin my first blog by introducing myself. My name is Tim Crosby, I am an Outdoor Adventure student at Algonquin College in Pembroke. Outdoor Adventure pairs hands on professional guide training with a practical business education. Students spend three days a week in class and two days a week off campus working on outdoor skills. In the winter months our practical skills training is hosted by Mount Pakenham.





One of the first subjects addressed in ODA is Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. Maslow's Hierarchyorganizes human needs and desires in a pyramid like graph. The most important needs are at the bottom, these needs are food, shelter and safety. For a person to be content these needs must be met. Once an individuals basic needs are met they can move up the hierarchy to seek the less important esteem needs; these are things like status and materialistic possessions.





ODA students are taught that in order to be effective guides meeting clients basic needs is fundamental. Guides are expected to limit exposure to risk, and guaranteeing the basic needs plays a critical role in doing so. If clients are sleep deprived and hungry they are exposed to mild hypoglycemia and sleep deprivation which significantly increases the chances of something going wrong. Clients are more likely to be short tempered with one another or make dangerous mistakes when exposed to extended periods of deprivation.





At Mount Pakenham, the ODA students training to become guides. Educators serve as positive role models for students to model themselves after. Likewise, the facilities used and services provided should also act as positive examples from which students can learn from and model their own guiding experiences after.





ODA students are similar to the clients they will be working for in the future because they are training in activities that clients pay to be guided in. Like ODA students adventure clients will have very high energy outputs and as a result will have high demands for the provision of basic needs.





For the past two weeks the provision of food at Pakenham has encouraged significant conflict among students and their instructors. Last week it was my duty to transport dinner from the cafeteria to our portable. Upon receiving the meal another student land I looked at the dish and said, "Is that seriously it?"





When we returned to the cabin we were met by sixty plus ravenous students and Shannon. We were instructed to "ration" the food out and if done properly it "should" be enough. We did as instructed and just like the previous week the food quickly ran out and the majority of students were dissatisfied.





In Outdoor provisioning this fall ODA students were taught the importance of meal planning and proper nutrient balancing. Our knowledge was put to test by an assignment that required students to design a meal plan that balanced meals ensuring that all food groups are incorporated and all nutrient needs are taken into consideration.





Last week's meal at Pakenham consisted of white pasta, tomato juice (or paste) and cheese. A homeless shelter would not even serve this meal. The lack of food quality and quantity at Pakenham is completely hypocritical. A school that accepts money to train students to become professional guides should completely embody what they are teaching. Like their future clients, ODA students are paying money for a service and it is expected that their basic needs are met. Like the guiding industry exposure to risk among ODA's significantly increases when their basic needs are not met.





Meals should not have to be rationed out. Clients and students alike should be able take their fill without worrying about leaving enough food for the rest of the group. Similar to quantity food quality is something that students should not have to worry about because it is the responsibility of the guide who in this case is Pakenham.





For Algonquin College to ensure the legitimacy of their Outdoor Adventure Program, then it should lead by example. The conflict created by the provisioning of food at Pakenham is avoidable and sets a poor example for students to model themselves after, especially when they are paying thousands of dollars a year to do so; it is completely unacceptable.