Tough Mudder

Today every muscle in my body hurts. I was at the Shoppers Drug Mart at 8 AM this morning to get some Tylenol for muscle aches and pains. Going down stairs hurts like hell. That was definitely the first and last tough Mudder I will ever do.
The day started by picking up my buddy Aaron at 10 AM in Wasaga Beach. We then had to drive almost 1/2 an hour past Mt. St. Louis to the parking area and then be shuttled back to to the ski resort. We finally started the event at 2 PM. I had already decided at that point that I would never do a Tough Mudder again.
The first obstacle about 1 km in required us to lie on our bellies and crawl through mud. It was easy but the clasp on my fanny pack, which had to be removed for this obstacle,  jammed up with mud and it wouldn't snap back together properly. I took a fanny pack because it was recommended by this guy on You Tube giving Tough Mudder tips. It was bad advice.
We then ran back down the hill to near the start and jumped in a 20 foot long container filled with ice water which was a shock but at least it remove a lot of the mud. It also removed my fanny pack which I realized after exiting. I couldn't go back in so it was goodbye $30, gel packs and Aaron's and my gloves.
We then headed back up the hill for some more slopping through mud, jumping ditches filled with mud, swinging from rings (I failed that miserably) and trudging through a shallow pond.
After getting covered in mud trying to jump the ditches my soccer socks (the guy on you tube with the tips said to wear compression socks to save your calves but soccer socks were a bad substitute) weighed about 3 pounds each so I removed them. Now my problem was the grit from the mud ate at my feet. Not very pleasant. Also going downhill was harder because of the grit and my toes started sliding forward into the front of my shoes. Eventually I started taking my shoes off for some of the longer downhills.
We had to miss 2 obstacles, the 15 foot jump into water was lined up because someone was being put on a stretcher and the water slide down the hill was closed because a woman was cut open on it. I could have done those two easily.
I also bypassed the monkey bars and the two 12 foot high Berlin Walls because I was just too tired to try them. I think my legs started to really started to tighten up at about the 10 km mark.
The electric eel was one of the toughest obstacles because you had to crawl on your belly through water for about 12 metres with electrified wires dangling down a few inches above the water level. Aaron, being thinner than me was only shocked once but I was zapped 6 times going through. We exited there for a grueling climb all the way back up the hill. Then back down the hill and then back up part way, grab an 8 foot log, throw it on our shoulders and carry it another ways up the hill and then back down the hill to where we had picked it up. It was then to Everest where you had to run and try to get up half of a half pipe. I made it first try thanks to the guys on the top who helped out. It should be mentioned also that the teamwork aspect of the event was admirably demonstrated by a great many participants and so I send a thank you out to them.
The final obstacle was running through electified wires suspended from above. This one was not so bad and I was able to only get shocked once while Aaron didn't get zapped at all.
In total I think we climbed up and down the hill at least 5 times and the total distance was 16 kms. I'm glad I made it through although I really didn't becaused I skipped some obstacles. I have got to hand it to Aaron as well, he did everything and made them look fairly easy. At the finish he didn't even seem that tired and he certainly impressed the hell out of me.
I will have to just cling to the fact that I may have been the oldest person I saw participating. I'm  sure there were some people older than me but on average I would guess I was at least 25 - 30 years older than most of the participants.

It was quite the day. I will definitely never do it again but I am glad I gave it a try. Tommorow I turn 57 so hopefully that means I will start to act my age.

New helmet

Two days ago I made the trip over to Kamikaze bike shop to check out some helmets. I figured one of the reasons I was sweating into my eyes so much was that my inexpensive (cheap) MEC helmet did not have very big vents and therefore not enough cooling power.
My rule of thumb in the past when buying helmets has been "$40 helmet for a $40 head" Sadly over the years helmets have increased in price due to inflation and my head value has decreased due to loss of memory, loss of hair, loss of self esteem, loss of vision, loss of looks, loss of hearing......I could go on but you get the picture I'm sure.
Holly at Kamikaze helped me pick out a new snazzy looking helmet made by Giro. It was a real nice fit but as usual I looked like a doofus wearing it as I do with all helmets. I was a bit conflicted as well wearing it because I now had a helmet that was worth far more than my head. It was $109. My head is down to about $20 but the only $20 helmet there had flowers on it and was so small I looked like a gay rabbi with a balance problem. I had to get the Giro. I then came to the realization that there was no way I could buy this helmet. Why you ask? Simple. The helmet's model name was "Savant". Let's face it, there is no way I should ever be wearing a helmet called a Savant. Talk about being conflicted. The helmet would probably be picking my ride routes. Funny thing happened as well. Someone dropped a box of toothpicks on the floor in front of me and I had them counted in 6 seconds. Weird.
In the end I bought a Bontrager helmet with big vents that should help keep my head cooler. I'm not at all conflicted wearing this helmet either. It's a Bontrager Snail.

Sweat Gutr

Yesterday I tried out my Sweat Gutr for the first time. It is worn like a headband and its sole purpose is to channel sweat that is running down your forehead to the sides and hopefully away from your eyes. It is fully adjustable for just about any size head.
After my first ride wearing it my impressions are both good and bad. The first thing I noticed was it kept on getting pushed down by my helmet so that it was resting on my brow which was slightly annoying to say the least. As I heated up and started to sweat climbing Grey road 19 the Gutr did stop most of the sweat from running in my eyes. Most. I could feel small amounts of sweat at the corner of my eyes but for the most part it didn't get in my eyes until much later in the 2 hour ride. Twice near the end of the ride I had a bit of sweat run into my left eye which seems to be the eye I always have trouble with. One other problem I had was it rested on my ears and that was a bit uncomfortable.

Overall the Sweat Gutr gets a 7 out of 10 from me for keeping the sweat out of my eyes. This doesn't mean that score might not improve in the future because I think it will take a little time and a few adjustments to improve the performance of it. I will continue to wear it and try to fine tune the fit so that hopefully one day I can complete a ride without stinging eyes.