Just getting back into the swing of things after a long weekend in Virginia and Deep Creek, MD. Sorry, this a not a post of brevity.
I finally got to enjoy "Extreme Driving + Weapons Training = The Ultimate Adrenaline Rush" as described by DC's own LivingSocial. And dag, was it. Hands down, the most fun I've had in years. It was a long drive down from DC (~3 hours) and after committing to Deep Creek, I knew that would only make the outbound drive longer but having Bailey picked up by a friend and taken to Deep Creek the day before probably saved me two hours of driving time.
In any event, I arrived at the facility more or less on time after stopping by the grocery for some last-minute lodge items. A group of participants was already assembled with Living Social folks coordinating waivers and emergency contacts. But really, what could go wrong with aggressive tactical driving and dozens of amateurs firing live ammo?
Finally, the bus that ferried people from DC arrived (~30 minutes late) and we were split into two groups: one that started on the range portion and one that started driving. My group started on the range and that group was further divided into two groups for the gun range and the tactical house infiltration. I started with the tactical house infiltration and being a single, was placed with a group. We were given a brief on how to enter a house and stay out of the doorway or "Fatal Funnel," "Stacking," and a few other things like "don't keep shooting the bad guy after he's on the ground." We could hear the actual flash bangs being used in the simulation and they seemed really loud. Finally, it was my groups turn to go and we were each provided an airsoft pistol with 20 rounds and a paintball-esque mask. Then outside for another brief on how to hold the pistol and some intelligence that there were an unknown number of combatants inside and we would need to rescue a diplomat held hostage.
With that, an instructor used a ram to breach the door, tossed in a flash bang, and after it went off we entered. Three people stacked on the first door in the building and a girl and I stacked on the next one. We were given the order to enter and I went in, identified a target and dropped three rounds in him. After declaring the room clear, we followed an instructor though a couple empty rooms, entering in same fashion and ensuring they were clear. Eventually we arrived at the door of another room and were given the order to enter. Inside, a "terrorist" held the diplomat hostage with one arm while holding a gun to his head. I strafed left in an attempt to flank and not risk hitting the hostage if I went for a head shot and finally the "terrorist" let go of the hostage creating some space and I dropped three more rounds, eliminating the threat. Room cleared, I escorted the hostage to safety. I tend to keep a clear head in intense situation but I must admit that it really got my heart thumping. As we were walking back to the prep house, one of the girls in my group lamented that I killed everybody. All I could tell her was that I got excited. In reality, I wanted to take control and act like it was real, although my communication sucked during the exercise.
In our abbreviated debriefing, one of the instructors complimented me on my use of the "sool" (sp?) technic for holding the pistol in this situation. I think I played everything off pretty well as to seem like I knew what I was doing.
Next up: gun range. We queued up to take turns shooting a Glock 17 (9mm), MP5 (9mm), and an M4 Carbine (5.56 NATO). The M4 had electronic optical sight mounted on it and geez, do they make shooting a target easy. Wherever the dot is, the shot is. And wow, 20 rounds sure go quickly. I took out some of the small round targets and the concentrated on hitting the "head" of some of the other steel targets; fairly satisfied with my performance. Next up: MP5. We were able to pick out one of four models, one with the same electronic sights as the M4 but I wanted to go with steel sights. After reviewing the options, I picked a two-toned beige and black model. The instructor joked that it looked like I was trying to pick a cigar. I told him I just needed something that fit my personality. With that, I was ready. The MP5 was incredibly easy and accurate to shoot. I quickly acquired and nailed a series of horizontal targets before moving right and quickly sniping a series of vertical ones. In the 20-round magazine, I may have only missed 2-3 shots. After exhausting my ammo (and resisting the urge to flick the switch to full-auto) the instructor complimented me assuming I must have done this before and gave me props for my Rudy Project glasses, the same brand he was wearing. We bonded. Finally, the Glock 17. Never been a fan of Glocks and prefer my S&W M&P 9mm so it took me a few rounds to sort things out but was able to quickly aim and fire with accuracy. Overall, pretty fun.
Next up: Extreme Driving.
After a bit of a wait, we were ferried over to the driving area and waited for the first group to complete their training. Finally, three large SUVs rolled up, decked out in roll cages and took us to out first evolution, J-turns. there were two Volvos set up and an instructor in each car took the wheel with 3 students riding along. He briefly reviewed the basics: right arm over passenger headrest, get to speed, swing the wheel, shift, and floor it. Then he did it. It's crazy how quickly the world spins when the car in which you're riding turns 180 degrees in a fraction of a second. And just as quickly he asked, "who's up?" Naturally, I jumped at the chance after practicing the moves in the air in an effort to try and instill some muscle memory. The instructor got out to direct activities via walkie-talkie and I took the wheel. Next thing I hear is "Gas, gas, gas, gas, WHIP IT!" as I follow along with physical action. Immediately, I swing the car around in a cloud of bluish rubber smoke, hammer down the gear shift and floor the car before bringing it to a stop in front of a little yellow traffic cone. Next thing I know, I'm doing it again in the direction from which I came. I roll to a stop, and the next student takes over. After we all take out turns, we leave the vehicle for the next group and get to watch the action. Also of note: a layer of burnt rubber resting on my arms from the maneuvers. Pretty cool.
PIT Maneuver. I first learned of the PIT maneuver watching COPS as it was a tactic to get a car to spin out. Like the first time, the instructor showed us once (one time getting spun out, the other time performing the PIT) and it was our turn. I again offered myself up first. After getting up to 25-30 mph, I saw the chase car come up, make contact and spin me out. I used the momentum and floored the gas to whip the car around and get into position behind what was now my object car. I got up to it, although it is incredibly unnatural to drive that close to another car. Once in position, I gently turned into the object car breaking their friction and floored it, watching them spin out of the way. Success and so much fun!
Next was how to crash through a car barricade in order to get away from a serious threat. Once again, instructor gives one example and we're ready to try it ourselves. This time, it was only two students at a time and an instructor would be on either side of the car giving instructions and then pull a gun. When it was my turn, I wasn't sure if he was giving instruction or starting the scenario so I balked at the "threat" when it was presented. I recovered and floored the car, hitting the right side of the car in the middle of the wheel with the driver-side headlight eliciting a healthy, deep crunch to a sufficient degree that it spun the car out of the way and allowed me to floor it the bring the car around for the next student's attempts. Again, I left with souvenirs from the exercise in the form of minute metal shavings on my arm.
The last evolution was the Backing drill. The course included an upside-down U-shaped course. The instructor showed us the plan, drive forward and turn right twice around each curve of the U until progress is blocked by an assailant. Throw it is reverse, turn around both turns in reverse, floor it and J-turn to escape. I let most people go before me and I saw that they were barely getting the the second turn before being caught. I took that as a challenge to get as far up the second corridor as possible before being stopped. In order to do so, at my turn I floored the car up and around both turns. Upon meeting the aggressor car, I threw it in reverse and shipped the car in reverse around the two corners and down the initial entry corridor. I had some good speed going and initiated my J-turn to escape the situation. Upon returning to the starting position, the instructor told me I "got a little close to the wall, but overall, pretty good." I also got a nice golf clap from one of the next participants, assured, in my head at least, that I had the best time of everyone in my group.
We had one last "scenario." An instructor and three students piled into a car for a "real-life scenario." When everything was ready, the instructor floored it, tearing up across the old airstrip with the car bounding minor curbs at what seemed like 100 mph but was more likely around 80. We entered the backing course where a person was shooting at the car with a shotgun. We sped past him the the far side of the U when another person opened up on us with an M4. Next, a car entered to block out way requiring us to back out of the course and attempt to evade. It was no use and our car tapped the brakes to get our pursuer ahead of us enough to PIT them out and deliver us safely to the BBQ provided by Smokey Joe's.
Overall, LivingSocial and G4S did a great job with this "Adventure." They structured the cost in tiers at $179, $300, and $600. Fortunately, I paid the lowest tier but I would have paid twice that. Best time ever. Here's a small taste of the day.
Weekend: Part Two
Drove about five hours up to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland for an outdoorsy training weekend. I arrived late Saturday planning to ride the Savageman Half Course on Sunday morning. I rode it last year and attempted the 31% Grade Westernport Wall unsuccessfully, failing in the last 20 feet. I was determined to conquer it this year and on the road immediately before, I took a couple turns to gain momentum and pulled to start my ascent. The road is extremely steep and crappy (potholes, slippery) but I made it, leading up the next three riders (2 successful). Unfortunately, I forgot to start my Garmin at one point but it was a relatively leisurely ride (as much as some of these crazy climbs can be) with lots of re-grouping stops. Sunday night was a fun Shrimp-boil hosted by the Yosts, the organizers of SavageMan and the Garrett County Gran Fondo followed by a fire with whiskey and s'mores.
Monday, I planned to do my long swim in the North Glade cove of Deep Creek Lake. Andrea graciously piloted the lead canoe with Bailey as a first mate. I did two laps along the docks and was shocked when my Garmin reported that I had completed the planned four-mile swim. I was skeptical and that was not unfounded as I used Google Pedometer and it figured the total course to be only 1.2 miles roundtrip meaning I only swam about 2.8 miles. I guess it still counts because it was the first time I've been in open water this year. That night, Andrea and I biked out to Mountain State Brewing Company with a couple friends for some brews and dinner. We ordered three pizzas but only one was something I would get again: the Fire on the Mountain. in addition, I tried the beer sampler and they were all bad. I went for bottles for the rest of the cornhole-filled evening. Called it a night after solidifying plans to ride the SavageMan Oly Course the next morning.
Not far into the ride and before leaving the park, I decided I wanted to push the pace and dropped my group. It's a beautiful course with only two major climbs, and I hit 50+ mph! Upon return to the lodge, I turned it into a Brick and ripped off a couple hilly miles. Finally, Andrea, Bailey and I finished off the night with a nice canoe trip. The weather was terrific: low humidity, moderate temperature and a calm lake. Perfect way to finish off the weekend.
tl;dr - performed car stunts, shot guns, and did triathlon training in the western Maryland mountains.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
Return to Running and My Beautiful Disaster
The past month or so has been pretty uneventful, I've continued swimming about three time per week and steadily increased distance via "long swims" on the weekends. Since I'm still not ready to sign up for a triathlon, I found something else moderately aggressive to train towards: the Maryland Swim for Life. I elected to do the 5 mile swim which I estimate will take me at least 2.5 hours to complete. So far, I've swum up to 5k at Wilson. Boring? Yes. But it's something. Being that the swim is a fundraiser for HIV/AIDS-related charities, if anyone reading feels so inclined, I would certainly appreciate any donations ($2-5 per mile) which can be transacted through this site.
Last week made a little more than 4 months since my knee injury. Wanting to closely follow Dr.'s instructions, I waited until Tuesday, May 1st to attempt my first run. Starting with an overwhelming .25 miles, I tried to ensure good running form. No problems with the .25, .50, and .75 miles I've done thus far but the knee did start feeling odd during the last lap of the .75 on the track. I probably need to move a little more slowly although I've just been going on feel and not worn my Garmin for any of these runs yet. Today should be 1 mile, so hopefully that goes well.
I've also added in some bike rides with mixed results. The knee feels awkward but the discomfort isn't necessarily painful and doesn't increase over time. I was hoping to jump right back in to cycling where I left off. That hasn't really happened. I definitely have some catching up to do.
-- Intermission --
With the arrival of May comes the annual celebration of all things Jessica McNiece. The theme for this year, in honor of the Russian Washington Capitals and Cinco de Mayo was "Cinco de Moscow." Establishing some overly ambitious and foolhardy goals is an occasional vocation of mine so I decided to undertake a themed cake for the occasion. To match the Russian theme, I settled on red Velvet Cake with buttercream frosting instead of cream cheese dressing. I thought cream cheese fosting would be more susceptible to heat/humidity and buttercream would be more resilient. the reality was much different. (Recipes at the end)
Thankfully, Jessica allowed me use for her Kitchenaid and I started working pretty much as soon as I got out of bed and walked the dog. The plan was to mix and bake the cake and then go for a run and swim while the cake(s) cooled. Originally, I planned to use cupcakes to compose the onion domes but was never really confident in that approach. Fortunately, another option came to mind.
Being predominantly a cook and not a baker, I did not have any cake pans and opted instead to use a couple Pyrex dishes. After application of some cooking spray and flour brushed around the glassware with a basting brush, I was ready to pour in the cake batter. Since I was using glassware, I reduced the baking temperature by 25 degrees and I feel it made a significant difference in cooking time. It should have only taken 30 minutes but actually took over an hour for both to be completely cooked (as determined by a toothpick in the center).
The cakes after baking. Off to Wilson High School for .75 mile run and 5k swim.
A little off the top to make for a flatter top. turns out the very center of the larger cake was not completely baked through so I had to excise a section and replace it with some of the cake removed from the top.
As you can see, instead of cupcake onion domes, I mixed up a batch of rice crispy treats. While warm, they are extremely malleable and proved an easy medium with which to work. At this point, I was shocked that everything had developed without a hitch. Thinking back, I blame myself for not immediately knocking on wood after having this thought.
Crumb layer with buttercream frosting. Then into the fridge to harden up. While chilling, I mixed my palette of frosting colors - red, brown, green, yellow, gold, and blue. This is the large rectangular cake after being sliced in two (the layers, obviously).
I frosted the individual cakes on their boards in order to preserve the look and limit any frosting that might have fallen onto my foil-covered presentation board. This approach also helped when connecting the base of the cathedral to the main part of the cake. As you can see by the beer bottle, some time has passed.
My Vision:
My Reality:
To finish it off, I frosted a note on the white section of the cake:
To my #1 fan
Happy J-Day
Love (in Russian)
A Semin #28
Not 20 seconds after leaving my house did the first of the domes come crashing down onto the cake and my person. Thankfully, I was able to save it from certain doom on the ground. The cake was pretty damn heavy and I didn't care to risk colored frosting on my still relatively-new car so I put it on the floor of the car and made my way to the host's house.
You never realize how bumpy seemingly flat road surfaces are until you watch a cake you spent 8 hours on bob, undulate, shake and generally threaten abject disaster until you gingerly drive 2.5 miles down the road. I finally arrived at the party and made some quick fixes with Stephanie Wade's help and managed to make some room in the refrigerator. I then bounded back up north to change clothes and bike back down to the party.
In the end, it was extremely well-received. I just need to learn to take some baby steps instead of plunging myself into cake boss-level projects.
Red Velvet Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pans
- 3 cups cake flour (sift before measuring)
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon red food coloring
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
Directions
Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-inch-round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper; butter the parchment. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
Beat the granulated sugar, 12 tablespoons butter and the vegetable oil in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the food coloring, vinegar and vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low; add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour, until just combined.
Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes on racks, then turn the cakes out onto the racks to cool completely. Using a long serrated knife, carefully slice each cake in half horizontally to make 2 even layers.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!) Ideal texture should be like ice cream.
- 3-4 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar, SIFTED
- 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- up to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
Instructions
- Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 package (10 oz.) regular marshmallows
- 1 package (10 oz.) Rice Krispies cereal
Instructions
- In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.
- Add KELLOGG'S RICE KRISPIES cereal. Stir until well coated.
- Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.
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