Last week on the Interweb we got an urgent memo notifying us of the desperate cold expected in Quebec for the time period of the Coast Raid August 21-24. Water temperature is expected to be ~3C. Although weather prediction for the region is spotty, the weatherman guarantees this particular prediction by 100%. [Seems like hypothermia is on our agenda.] To take advantage of the high life I've been living for the past week in Alberta and British Columbia on a class geology field trip, I started training today for the challenge of bum-numbing cold.

The specific location for the training exercise, supervised by honk-happy truckers and snap-happy tourists, was the ice-covered Moose Lake in British Columbia off the Trans-Canada Highway. Snow-capped mountains bordered the lake on either side, which practically guaranteed the desired and dreaded single-digit water temperature. Much to the consternation of my geology professor, I gracefully removed my hikers, rock hammer, two-layer sock system, 5-day-dirty sports bra, and other fascinating clothing items in order to wrangle myself into my hot-pink bather and my pack. The pack was necessary in order to simulate racing conditions.

The training experience can be summarised in one exclamation: AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lesson learned: polar bear dip is for polar bears only.

salut.
tess

Team Bios: TESS

Tess is a Canadian. Whoop-dee-do. The great-great granddaughter of a strapping woman who chased the bears off the land of her hunting lodge with a kitchen fork, she has stalked caribou across the tundra, explored for diamonds, and slept in an igloo. If you ask her about granite, she will wax eloquent for hours (don’t ask her about granite). Also, don’t ask her about the seal hunt. She holds some controversial and oft-neglected views. Not-so-fun-fact: Tess has tuberculosis. She intends to conquer it before dominating the Coast Raid. The TB is scheduled to die on June 25, 2008. As the mother hen contingent of Team Salsa Jets, she plans to make Andy wear sunscreen.