Mike Doyle’s Rants&Raves

I travel quite a bit and am always surprised when I run into friends randomly at airports, restaurants even climbing areas. Obviously when I’m traveling for climbing I shouldn’t be that surprised to see friends at climbing areas but every so often I see an old friend at a climbing area that makes the day that much better and sometimes even at climbing areas the encounters are random.

Two particular instances of running into friends at climbing areas stand out. The first one was when I was down in Australia climbing at Mt Arapiles. Now I know Arapiles is a worldwide destination but when you happen to be at a house party and run into a friend from Canada that you haven’t seen in a few years it feels pretty random. This particular experience was hilarious. I was at a house party and arrived after dark just as they started serving food. It was a small house and I happened to be standing in the kitchen area when they started serving food. To try and get out of the way I stood outside the door on the poor but pretty much hidden by the open door. It was dark and I gave a quick glance around and there was one guy near me staring at me. I just gave a quick glance but didn’t expect to know anyone and looked away. This guy just kept staring at me so I looked back, finally focused in the dark and realized it was an friend from back when I first started climbing; Peter Arbic! Peter was a hero to me when I first started climbing and spent countless days putting up new routes at my home climbing area of Skaha in the mid to late 90s. This was now 2007 and I had not seen him since probably 2002. He was wondering how long it would take me to recognize him. In my defence he had a scraggly beard and it was dark out. We shared a few beers and got caught up. Great to see him down there.

Another climbing random encounter was climbing in New Hampshire. I was doing a quick afternoon multi-pitch climbing with my brother and as we were climbing I heard a friend, Ben Moon, shouting commands just around the corner. The funniest thing about this encounter is that we had a conversation for awhile but never actually saw each other. Unfortunately we never had a chance to meet up for beers that evening but I still remember being surprised to run into a friend 4-5 pitches up on what was just a last second decision to go climbing that day.

I’ve run into friends at airports, usually flying to or from climbing areas. This spring I was waiting to board a flight to El Paso from Denver, minding my own business when a booming “Mike Doyle” surrounded me. A good friend, Knut Rokne from Calgary was on the same flight and headed down to climb in Hueco. This was a late flight and I hadn’t seen Knut in almost a year. It was great to run into him and be able to make some plans to climb together the next day.

Probably the most random of encounters just happened this past week and lead me to write this post. I was in Colorado for work and our new office is in Broomfield about 10 minutes south of Boulder where most of my climbing friends live. I was staying in a hotel near the office and one evening I was headed down for dinner after doing a quick workout. As I left my room and headed to the elevator I heard a door close behind me and heard someone walking down the hall. I pressed the elevator call button, got in the elevator and then decided that to be polite I would hold the door. I didn’t know how far the person was behind me and when they came into view I saw it was Mason Daly, a friend who lives in California but is from Boulder. We ended up getting a beer and catching up. This was really random, a lot of things had to come together to meet up. First of all, Mason’s family lives in Boulder so why was in in a hotel in Broomfield (turns out his mom was there for a retirement party). Other factors; we had to be on the same floor, leave around the same time, I had to hold the elevator etc…

It makes me wonder, in all my travels how many times have I been in hotels, airports or climbing areas where friends are around and neither of us knew about it? Of course… facebook makes it easier to stalk your friends and know where they are all the time hahaha.

Posted on May 12th, 2012 by Mike Doyle
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It’s been almost a week now since I broke my collarbone while out mountain biking with a buddy (Rob) just outside of Las Vegas. It’s ironic that one of the reasons I don’t mountain bike very much is that I was always afraid of injuring myself and not being able to climb. The cost of a mountain bike was one of the other reasons.

On Tuesday, May 1 I woke up and went to ‘Club Tread’ for a quick training session. Feeling a little worked from the weekend I took it easy and was planning a long training session that evening at the climbing gym. I was feeling really fit, weighing as little as I have in my adult life and climbing well. The evening bouldering session was one of the best I have had in many years and I was excited about the prospect of competing at the Canadian Nationals in a few weeks before resetting my training and getting ready for the fall climbing season.

Initially Wednesday was going to be a rest day but Rob asked if I wanted to go biking for a quick ride. I had been meaning to get out and sample the riding around Vegas so I agreed. The ride itself was a casual ride, less than an hour, and we started out with the hopes of being done by sundown. We rode up a nice single track and I felt fine although I missed having clips for my pedals on some of the long spins uphill. On the way down Rob got ahead of me, he was on a full suspension and knew the trail while I was on an unfamiliar bike with front shocks that I knew weren’t stiff enough for my weight. Still, I felt good and was navigating the trail pretty well, even bunny-hopping obstacles and rarely braking. Right near the bottom I could see Rob and started pedaling hard to catch up. There was one last roller and it was gently up but apparently dropped off sharply on the other side. I took it pretty fast and all of a sudden the ground dropped away, my front tire was in the air and my back tire kicked up off a rock. I knew I was going down as the front forks compressed and started looking for a soft landing. Years of trail running, being clumsy and mountain biking growing up I knew how to fall. I was fortunate to roll a bit and take the brunt of the fall on my left shoulder. Immediately I heard a crack (or crunch) and knew I had broken my collarbone. I yelled for Rob, who fortunately heard me and he turned around. Before I even stood up I felt my left collarbone and there was a weird sharp ‘bump’ that wasn’t replicated on my right shoulder. I was walking my bike and had my left arm resting on my hip when Rob got back. We were near the bottom so he was able to ride to the car and I met him near the trailhead. It wasn’t that painful but I had to support my arm. Each movement of the shoulder, bump of the car etc… resulted in a discomforting grinding sound and feeling. Off to the hospital.

You can see the collarbone poking up just inside the shoulder.

Rob thought going to a hospital in North Vegas would have the shortest wait time and after filling out paperwork I was admitted within half an hour (we might have made some calls to friends to pull strings). Sure enough the x-rays showed a fully snapped collarbone (clavicle to be precise)  and the bones were overlapping, shortening my shoulder width by about 2 inches. I know enough about injuries that most collarbone injuries are not operated on or splinted. They just make the patient wear a sling for a few weeks and let the bones heal where they are. I did not want a shortened collarbone, I’m short enough and need all the reach I can get in climbing. Fortunately the orthopedic surgeon on call agreed and had an opening for surgery the next morning. I asked him if he could increase my reach but no luck. I was sent home for the night and had to return for surgery early on Thursday.

Wearing my first sling, waiting for x-rays

One of these things in not like the other... You can see the left shoulder shortened and swollen.

Fortunately I slept well. In fact the injury wasn’t painful unless I moved. While stable (lying down, in a sling etc…) it was fine. Uncomfortable but not painful. I checked into the hospital for all the pre-op checkups and blood work. Apparently a resting heart rate between 36-40 is a good conversation piece .  I wonder what it was during the surgery? I don’t know exactly what time the surgery happened since I had been napping throughout the morning. I just know I was getting hungry since I wasn’t allowed to eat. I have never had surgery before and one of my goals was to try and remember the feeling of the anesthesia when it entered my system. I was lying in the very bright operating room and the anesthesiologist said “You might start feeling a bit sleepy”. Boom, I was out. I woke up with a nurse by my side asking how I felt. How I felt? I felt groggy and sleepy but they wanted me out of there. They dressed me, rolled me into a wheelchair and had already called Rob to come pick me up. Just like that I was out. After a brief stop to fill a prescription I was back home and slept a couple hours before waking up and going out for dinner. I ate quite well and slept through the night.

I have no idea if the surgery was a success. I haven’t had a chance to talk to my surgeon yet. I don’t know what kind of metal is in me, I just know I have a giant scar above my left collarbone.

The dressing on the wound post surgery.

The incision with some tape over the staples. Should be quite a scar.

I was fortunate to be allowed to travel to some friends’ wedding in Boulder, CO on Friday. I didn’t set off the metal detector (darn) and the flight wasn’t so bad. Getting dressed for the wedding was difficult and I elected to wear my best formal black sling. The wedding was incredible (congrats Nellie and Cedar) and I am so glad I made it. I didn’t take any pain meds after 8am and had a little wine with dinner. I even danced a bit, without much movement which is normal for me .

Wearing my formal black sling for the wedding.

So it’s been almost a week. I don’t know the full recovery time but I won’t be climbing anytime soon and I won’t sure as heck won’t be competing in Montreal. I still have no feeling in my shoulder which I consider a good thing since I can see the staples and laceration and don’t really want to feel it. I can work just fine, typing isn’t a problem and I can do light exercises for my forearm and shoulder ‘pendulums’ on the injured shoulder. Considering all the possible injuries that could have happened I got off easy. I just have to relax for a few weeks (not easy for me) and then focus on geting back in shape for this fall. Of course, it depends what the surgeon says but what do they know? I’ll try to upload some of the x-rays when I get them.

20 mins on stationary bike and working grip master. Pretty much all I can do.

Next time, I’m going to ride the trail a little slower to get to know it before trying to race down it .

Posted on May 8th, 2012 by Mike Doyle
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The Vancouver Canucks have just been eliminated from the playoffs by the Los Angeles Kings and kudos to the Kings, they played well. The Canucks did not play well for 3 of the 5 games and deserved to lose. The last game was a good game and could have gone either way but unfortunately my favourite team lost. Oh well. At least this year they got it over with quickly and didn’t MAKE me wait around, drinking beer every few days and eating poorly until early June to get defeated. Now I have much more time to focus on training .

One of the big stories of the playoffs so far this year has been the dirty/illegal hits and the supplemental (or lack thereof) discipline. The Canucks were guilty of this in their first game. Byron Bitz got nailed for a two game suspension in the first game and deservedly so. However the complete lack of consistency on the part of the NHL baffles me. In the first game of the Detroit vs Nashville series Shea Weber (a big and very strong defenceman) grabs an opponent (Henrik Zetterberg) and slams his head into the glass after getting hit by Zetterberg. I immediately thought he was going to get a pretty big suspension. All year the NHL has been trying to eliminate shots to the head and here is a blatant display of disrespect for another player by attempting to injure him. Weber gets ZERO games of suspension and only a $2500 fine. A $2500 fine for Shea Weber is nothing, the guy’s salary is over $7mil per year.

Unfortunately after blowing that call the NHL made it very hard on themselves to justify other supplemental discipline and with the escalation of incidents in other games it came to a boiling point last week. Raffi Torres delivers an illegal check to Marian Hossa. Now Raffi has a history of these reckless hits and has been suspended in the past so the NHL has to do something about it so they come back with a TWENTY-FIVE game suspension. I get that it was a reckless and illegal hit but 25 games?? I’ve watched both videos several times. Torres’ hit was late (less than 1s late??), he left his feet, he made initial contact with Hossa’s head, Hossa was injured on the play and Torres has a history of suspensions for similar hits. I’m actually not arguing about the 25 games but in comparison to Weber getting a $2500 fine it doesn’t make any sense. Weber’s actions are not in the realm of a hockey play and were a deliberate attempt to injure another player. Torres’ hit was dirty but a body check. Should he have left his feet? No. Was he late? Yes. Did he target the head? Hard to say, at that speed the shoulder and head isn’t far apart. I’m not giving Torres the benefit of the doubt, he’s a multi-time repeat offender, I’m just saying it can happen in the game of hockey but Weber’s actions were blatantly more serious. Torres isn’t a superstar, Weber is. We’ll see what happens if a star lays a dirty hit.

To contrast, here is a “clean” hit on one of my favourite Canuck players; Henrik Sedin. I have “clean” in quotations because under the current rules of the NHL this is a legal hit. Brown hits him on the shoulder, doesn’t take any extra strides to hit harder, keeps his feet on the ice and at point of initial contact has his elbow down (he follows through the hit by raising his elbow but that’s normal). My only complaint about this hit is that Henrik was in a vulnerable position and was not expecting to get hit. I’m not calling this dirty, I think it’s a fair play based on how these players are taught to play the game from the age of 12 on. However it is a play that could easily result in a injury to a player. It was actually a friend of mine (yes Jeremy P, I’m talking about you) who brought up what might be a good rule change; if a player is already engaged with an opponent and fighting for the puck then you should not be able to hit them (hard). Fighting for the puck along the boards is hard and takes your focus from the people around you. Henrik was already tangled with an opponent and just as the puck gets loose is hit by Brown. Legal hit but maybe it shouldn’t be.

I think the NHL needs clearer rules for supplemental discipline. I’m making this up but something like:

• Leaving the ice to make a hit (even if shoulder to shoulder). 1 game. Repeat offender 2 games, 4 games, 8 games etc…
• Leading with the elbow to make a hit. 3 games, etc…
• Making initial point of contact with the head. 3 games…
• Was the act a retaliation. 2 games…
• Injury on the play. Out as long as the other guys is injured (to a maximum) or the minimum term of suspension.

The $2500 fine is a complete joke. It’s actually the maximum allowed by the NHL Players Association (NHLPA), the association that is supposed to represent the players. I think it should be a maximum of 1 game’s salary (for whoever the player is). Maybe you don’t deserve a suspension but you don’t deserve to get paid.

One other thing to think about is how can the NHL be cracking down on head shots but allow people to punch each other’s lights out and only get a 5 minute penalty.

I love the game of hockey. I love the body checking and physical aspect of it, I even enjoy watching a good balanced fight but I most certainly do not like seeing blatant attempts to injure and the disrespect of another player, another human. Something will have to change.

Posted on April 23rd, 2012 by Mike Doyle
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This is going to sound funny to anyone who didn’t grow up with fireflies but until recently I didn’t even believe they existed. As if little bugs could fly around giving off a bright natural light, impossible. Fireflies fell into the mythical realm of fire breathing dragons and fairies (except you Tinkerbell, I believe. Fly tink fly!!). I saw fireflies in movies, read about them in books but never actually saw any.

A few years ago I saw one and one only. It was in Kentucky on a fall night. I was walking back to my campsite when this light flashed in front of me. It seemed distant, like a tree waving in front of a light, but it was moving and I realized it was close. That was it, my first firefly and only one. I didn’t see anymore and had not seen any until a recent trip to Costa Rica.

I’ve been down to Costa Rica five times but I have always been down just after the rainy season, usually over or around New Years. This year I felt compelled to get down for another short trip over the last two weeks. I was surprised by how different the jungle atmosphere was. It was much drier, more brown and even the sounds were different. In addition to the usual birds and howler monkeys there was also the high-pitched electrical sound of cicadas piercing the air. The biggest shock to me was walking along a path one night and being surrounded by fireflies. I was amazed!

Right away I made it a point to try and catch fireflies in a jar. The first night wasn’t very successful. I caught four quickly and thought that might be enough to take some photos. The photos didn’t turn out so I went back the next night and in addition to a jar I brought a towel along to use as a net. A local security guard thought it was hilarious that I was trying to catch the fireflies and he actually helped me for about 20 minutes, thanks Eduardo!! I ended up with about 20 of them but at some point it is harder to add a single firefly to a jar without letting two or three escape.

All in all I managed to get a few photos. Proof that fireflies really exist. Next up, fire breathing dragons.

Posted on April 9th, 2012 by Mike Doyle
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La Puesta de Sol, or at least that’s what I think ‘Sunset’ is in Spanish.

I know it’s cheesy but I love sunsets (and sunrises). Some of my favourite moments driving, climbing and of course surfing have occurred during sunrise or sunset. Driving across Southern Utah while the sun is setting can be magical and I remember driving east across the US into the rising sun and just being mesmerized by the ever changing colours on the plains.

My favourite has to be surfing at sunset. There are many factors. Usually the winds have died down a bit so the waves form up a bit better and usually there are less people in the water as the sun gets lower in the sky so the surfing itself is more fun. What I really like though are the moments outside of surfing, when you are either just sitting on your board watching for the next wave, paddling out and duck-diving under a wave only to emerge in a wind-sprayed rainbow and of course paddling for a wave and as it forms it eclipses the sun for a moment so you are in this blacked out world all on your own. Surfing is physically exhausting so somehow that effort and energy juxtaposed with the relaxation of watching the sun go down just makes each evening memorable. Always a great way to finish off the day!

Here’s a few sunset photos from my recent trip (and a couple bonus photos). Pura Vida!

Posted on April 5th, 2012 by Mike Doyle
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