Mudride 2011

Once again - it's fall, the rain is falling and "dusty" is not a way to describe the island... so it must be time for our annual mudride. I believe this is the 8th? I will have to check on that...

This year the Remembrance Day weekend seemed like the best weekend for the most people, so we had 3 days off to enjoy the Island with friends. The usual suspects, Paul, Angie and Kala braved the trip from Vancouver along with Alex, and Joan, Michael, Lynn and Tim joined up throughout the weekend for great company, awesome food and spectacular riding in hail, mud, rain and snow....

Friday afternoon we started right after the surprise hailstorm and rode Cumberland in sunshine and LOTS of mud - Thirsty Beaver to 42nd street, across on Steam Donkey to Railroad, Crafty Butcher and across to Missing Link - very nice linkup for some awesome riding. 9 people, 5 dogs, a good time was had by all.

Saturday was time to take in Forbidden - despite the rainy start the weather improved to a pretty white frosting. The trail through the forest was clear but all rockfaces were a bit snowy until lower down. Once we headed over the cable hill hike-a-bike it was damp but lovely and after a few hours we were at Hot Chocolates yet again.

Sunday we headed back to Forbidden to check out Iron Horse and Goat's Head. Amazing traction kept us from falling off the edge of the world into the abyss through several mandatory and immediate left turns following steep drops.

We hit the road and then climbed back up Branch 21 to the Cable Hill hike-a-bike and over lots of wet but sticky rock to end up at the Drop of Doom. Whatever possessed me to follow Marc and Alex over the drop when Michael headed down the bypass.....  But all was well despite the terrifying slip all three of us had after the rollover before the bump ... and the screaming downhill rip after the bump down the wet slippery face.... Marc laid his bike down with his front wheel about a foot from the edge, then stood up to grab Alex by the arm with his front wheel about 2 inches from the edge - and I came to a screaming stop just behind. Over the bridges to the trail - and back to the house for leftovers, a quick pack up, ferries for some and xrays for others....

Xrays are clear btw, and today I'm heading back to Iron Horse for the Tuesday "Girl's Ride". Marc has to stay home and clean house since he can't work yet with his sore hand.

Out for a quick Run

Lovely sunny fall weather in the valley so I headed out for a quick run in my new shoes with my (relatively) new and improved ankle - but it was so nice I drove back, grabbed a jacket and some water and food and headed to Forbidden Plateau.

Up the skihill to the top - I've probably taken this picture every time I've done this hike...

 Little Miss Pippa

The hike up is a bit warm

Luckily it cooled down at the top - bubbles trapped under the ice

 Matilda running into the puddle - if you look closely her head is at the left (ear) and the brown streak is her LF leg

Pippa on wonky bridges

 I ate my Honey Stinger waffle... and got to add some blueberries... mmmm  Blueberry waffles anyone?

 I know, I've lost you already - way too many pictures 'n stuff for the average quick-peak-at-blogs-while-no-one-in-the-office-is-watching - but the lakes were so pretty.

What can I say? The best views for a short walk from home

Turn around time. Could have pushed on another 1/2 hour and been to the very top and back, but having been there numerous times I thought I should head out while the running was good. I did actually run all the not ridiculously steep parts - and the downs as well, which was very surprising. I stopped for photo-ops - which were numerous and possibly why I could keep running. But it could have been the magic shoes?

Amaze-balls shoes - sticky rubber, easy running with no ankle twists!

Up Forbidden to an inch of the summit in 2hrs 20, LOTS of pictures, some snacks on the way, errands before and after the quick escape - all in all a rather productive day. 

Thanksgiving Winthrop Style

I'm not sure how we got on the "distinguished guest" list for Winthrop this year, but given past reviews of the traditional Thanksgiving weekend riding I definitely wasn't about to turn it down! Friday night Marc and I screeched out of Comox after work in time for the 7:30 ferry, and found ourselves on a little windy road in the mountains before too long. Around 2 am we pulled into a house that had the right cars in front of it and bedded down quietly on the sofa, hoping that we were actually in the right place. If we were in someone else's house we only hoped they wouldn't wake us too early to kick us out.
 
As luck would have it, we were in the right home (very lovely) and the next day had breakfast with Aniya - the newest member of the European et al. invasion, Jacek, Gail, Paul, Angie and Chris, landlord extraordinaire. We stopped at the house down the road that was the temporary home of the rest of the intrepid travellers, and then started on our way for a lovely ride in the sun on picturesque Starvation Mountain, land of red fall coloured shrubs and charcoal coloured trees.  

 
After going uphill for a few hours I realized there was a reason not everyone else was going our way. After a few more hours I thought they might have had a good idea, and the thought of sitting in a window seat with a hot mug of tea and some apple pie seemed rather appealing. We finally popped over the pass at 7000 feet for the most amazing downhill I think I've ever ridden, and for once felt sad for those too smart to have joined us. 
 
The first 20 minutes of snow surfing on bikes was a blend of ridiculous and technically demanding biking with very cold fingers. After the snow melted off we followed a fast flowy trail that wound it's way around steep hillsides with pretty fall colours on steep slopes and painful consequences for staring at the pretty colours. A few creeks, a few more uphills to remind us of why we were happy to be done with that part, and the trail just kept going forever! Marc turned off his GoPro just before the near-miss-by-rampaging-cow that gallumphed along the hillside above and crossed the trail to her friends, but he does have some very cool footage. After about a half hour of downhill I had completely forgotten that there was an uphill first, and after an hour and a half of almost continuous downhill we arrived at the cars again.
 
Back at the ranch Gail had dinner ready for us, which was the most amazing welcome. Food was wonderful and I crashed into my lovely soft warm bed much earlier than I'll admit to.
 
Sunday found us feeling a bit mellower, and Paul, Chris, Marc and I eventually headed off to ride up along a ridge and then down through the canyon below. If I could remember the trail name.... it's not a secret, I just forgot it. 

The photographer at work

Looking at the canyon from the top of the ridge

Chris and Paul were on 29'ers, while Marc and I felt like kids on our little short 26'er bikes. Heading into the flowy trail I was trying to stay on Paul's wheel for some obscure reason. The corners were a bit tight for pedalling, so compressing the bike into the corners helped it leap out the far side to maintain this (excessive) speed - until my compressed front wheel touched something on the outside of the trail and I became airborne. I sat on the ground for a few minutes, took an advil and debated the wisdom of trying to stay with the boys after the injury riddled year I've had. Then I gingerly approached my bike and continued on. The trail wound it's way upwards to some amazing lookouts and down through rocky switchbacks which were really quite fun even when ridden with my newly discovered caution. I was quite sad when the trail ended at the double track at the bottom, but the ride back along the canyon floor was peaceful and pretty. And had cows, which did become a theme for the weekend.

Thanksgiving dinner was an amazing spread of appies, wine (traditionally drunk while cooking), salmon, turkey, mashed spuds, sweet spuds, candied sweet spuds, carrots, cranberries, stuffing... and three types of pie. When we couldn't move anymore the lights of the other crew could be seen randomly biking their way across the field to the house, and everyone piled in for a fun evening.
 
Monday morning I thought sitting in a comfy chair would be ideal, so the bike seat was a bit of an unwelcome surprise. We rode up a logging road in the drizzle for a while, encountering more cows (and cowboys this time as well) and then up singletrack for longer than I felt truly necessary. 

Clean pre-bike ride people

Bikes and Cowboys - and there is a herd of cows in front of the riders

Top of the uphill

Once again the uphill was completely forgotten once we hit the flowy fast trails through yellow grass and bright fall colours in the fog. Angie has suddenly become a downhiller without our knowledge, and she followed my wheel through several kilometers of flowing trails as we swooped our way around the hillsides. 

Andy in red zipping down the hill

Angie in blue ripping it up

The group way down below me

After the ride we piled our muddy selves into the car and after a shower and some awesome leftovers we headed back into Canada and onto the ferry. Home at 2 am - there's starting to be a trend with the 2 am bedtimes that I can't say I appreciate, and luckily - back to work to rest up a bit for the next adventure.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Big Dog Racing Team Rocks the MOMAR!

After breaking my ankle I was sitting (yet again) on the lumpy sofa feeling a little down, and a touch hostile towards the world of the normal walking people. Since I couldn't do anything, I figured I might as well just sit, watch more stupid movies and eat. I like eating. And if you're on the couch injured YET AGAIN it becomes very very tempting.

So I looked at the calendar and thought, if I don't eat my weight in cookies right now, I can do the MOMAR. And then I didn't eat the WHOLE bag of cookies, and I got on the trainer cast 'n all (crutch to side of trainer, slide casted leg over, drop crutches, wiggle up onto bike seat, start pedalling). The cast came off mid August, and I headed outside shortly afterwards. The YANA ride was my first test, and it went well, so on to the running bit. I managed 3 runs prior to the MOMAR, more than enough?

MOMAR morning was cold, foggy and drizzling, perfect day for playing in the woods. The paddle was really pretty with dense fog highlighting all the colours of the boats. Chris and Chanace paddled one boat and Joan and I paddled the other - and due to the last minute arrangement for me to be back on the team I have only paddled a double boat once (last year's MOMAR) and never with Joan. Next year we'll practice a bit first I think. We got off to an interesting start where Joan's paddle fell apart and we careened wildly into everyone else while she tried to put her paddle together an steer at the same time. Sorry fellow paddlers! Every few minutes she would put it back together and it would function for a bit.....  but we got to the end of the paddle leg without being completely thrashed and more or less as a team, which was the main objective.

The map for the rest of the course had me wondering if this was a 24 hr race...  The run started at the lake, down the road to the entrance to Pity The Fool and straight up the mountainside, along a trail and up to a lookout, up a road where Chris did her best nav of the day. Everyone was running up the road but on the map there was a "gravel road" intersection. We were on a gravel road, and the trail to the side didn't really deserve the same line on the map, but Chris said emphatically "IN HERE" - so we followed. This was the right way, sadly inconveniencing the large number of people that ran up the road instead, some going MILES out of the way. The "trail-road" ran up and then past the entrance to Grub, the highest trail in Cumberland, and the next checkpoint was on Grub. Down Grub we went, slippery rocks, wet roots, moss - and no trips or falls thank God! Then to the Lookout just past Stub and down the road to the top of the downhill course. Down the DCDH almost to the road, up to the exit of Mama Bear's on a logging road, down the road to Cumberland and down to Village Park. PHEW!

The uphill run was fine, especially with trails this steep where it wasn't really a "run" but a fast hike. The road just about killed me, and I may not have been the only person who hugged my bike at the Park.

The bike was great! Obviously I'm much more of a biker than a runner - but it was so much fun. Up to Bear Buns, down that trail to Sykes Bridge, up to lower Thirsty, down Thirsty to Teapot to Shortline, Blue Collar and then out through Cumberland to Cherry Picker, a bit of wandering around in the shrubbery, riding back for a checkpoint, out to the Lake and stash the bikes again. My favourite part of the ride was as we 'cleared' the downhill on Railway with an assertive "Rider's UP" and rode down and up the other side to the cheering of a group of women walking the steep section.  We did look pretty cool, 4 women wearing red ripping up the downhill/uphill and off to the finish!

The last orienteering at the Lake was brilliantly done! I say this knowing I had NO hand in the directions - which is why it went so well. We picked up every checkpoint easily and I don't think we went a step in a wrong direction, which is good because I was getting a bit hobbly by now.

The finish line came just in time. I could have paddled or biked some more, but I was really done with the running thing. And it was time for Nutella and banana sandwich. Time was 7 hours and ?minutes, which put us in first place for team of 4 women and got us some great sunglasses, an adventure race super-towel and some cool socks. And the glory of course! At the after race banquet we got to cheer on many friends on the podium and see a lot of people I seem to see only at races, and that was very nice as well.

It was a GREAT race! Awesome teamwork, as we pushed, pulled, carried gear, drafted each other and otherwise fought together to get the team to the finish. Amazing navigation meant we didn't go any further than we had to, and I'll have to include my ortho surgeon on my Christmas list. None of us could have done this on our own, and it was a great day of running around the woods.

Way to go Team Big Dog!

nashville, tennessee

For anyone who's ever sat in the South Terminal of Vancouver's Airport for several hours it will come as no surprise that I have a little bit of time on my hands. Where the Main Terminal at least has some miles you can walk and stores wanting to tempt you with food, books, chocolate and other witchcraft, the South Terminal has......  termites maybe, but that's it.


But that leaves me, tired as I am, some time to type. I just read Andrew and Lina's blogs about China - very cool and very daunting all in one! I have no pictures, but will try to keep this entertaining.


I have two updates. The first is our ongoing Momar team complications. The momar is this coming Saturday, and back in the spring we decided to have a kick-ass team of 4 women - Joan, Chris, myself, and....    an unknown fourth. We found Chanace in early July - fast, happy, unflappable as far as I can tell - perfect. Then I broke my ankle. Crap. So the team found another fourth. Who was in for a few weeks until her doctor told her not to race. So the team found another fourth. Who recently developed pneumonia and although she thought she'd be better she cancelled Monday. So I'm doing the Momar. Unless I have a horrible accident before the weekend or I ask my doctor's opinion. Don't tell Marc.


The other update is my trip to Nashville, Tennessee. The reason I went to Nashville was the Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Conference which is held every year, and I've gone every second year - New Orleans (cool!) Chicago (umm..... well okay) and now - Nashville.


I think Andrew and Lina probably have more luck finding vegetables in China than I did in Nashville. The conference center was wisely placed about 10 miles out of the city, to be sure that no attendees could shirk the hotel's restaurants and provide for themselves. I think any competition at all might have emptied the hotel restaurants immediately, so I can see why they did this.


I did head downtown twice over the 5 days. The first trip involved an enthusiastic technician that persuaded everyone we need to go to Coyote Ugly after dinner. I haven't seen the movie, but was pretty sure I was outclassed on the party-ability. I was, but it was the most interesting bar I have ever been to. And since I didn't have a say in the matter I could just be the innocent bystander to the train wreck.


The bar had slutty bartender girls dancing on it, and once in a while they would "let" a girl or two from the audience on stage, then kick her off 30 seconds later. They don't want to be upstaged I don't think. The enthusiastic tech got on the bar only to remember she'd forgotten to put on a vital piece of clothing, and therefore would not be able to dance without potential legal implications, so she hopped off pretty soon. She was probably back on later in the night, but thankfully I was back in the hotel sleeping by then.


No one else in the bar was dancing - they were standing about 8 rows deep staring at the Trash-sisters. The average male patron was at least 40, wearing a dirty worn out sweatshirt preferably with a Harley Davidson logo, and grungy jeans, and was a minimum of 50 lbs overweight. The average woman was the same - dirty, sweatshirt, jeans - but then the occasional woman was trashed up as far as humanly possible, and generally accompanied by a fat man wearing a sweatshirt....  There was a giant tinfoil casserole dish behind me with what appeared to be Chef Boyardee - maybe they have to serve food? At one point the senior's bus must have stopped by because there was a sudden influx of 70 and 80 year olds, who were having a marvellous time. I guess in the States little girls don't want to be the belle of the ball or the princess, they apparently want to be the trashy chick on the bar. Kind of like stripper bar meets truck stop, and now I don't need to see the movie.


The second night I went out with Stacey, Blair and Melissa from the Victoria Emerg Clinic where I worked and it was SO good to see them! We had dinner, almost explored the red light district (by accident, but it's only one block long) and went on a memorable if really painfully bad "ghost walk". Our tour guide almost got beaten up by two black kids that changed their mind in the last minute, but overall it was uneventful with no ghosts apparitions.


Overall the lectures were excellent, and I feel motivated and very smartened up. Seeing the Victoria crowd (including some other ex-Vic. people) made me miss the place very much, but then I guess we'll just have to catch up two years from now. Hopefully not in Nashville.


The flight home has been a bit long - I took a voluntary detour in exchange for a Continental Airlines credit and a $12 dinner credit. Nashville 7:00 pm - Charlotte, NC - Newark NJ in at 1240 am - 0700 to Vancouver - 14:30 to Comox. I was going to be overnight in Newark anyway to avoid another hotel night and still be able to get out of there.


If you ever need to sleep in the Newark airport - there's a 6 foot high metal box that's pretty clean on top and overall rather comfy. You look down on the heads of the security walking by, which made me want to yell "boo" but then I didn't, which is probably why I'm in Vancouver now.


Now, a nap, another flight (the fourth for the return trip) and I'll be back home. YAY!!! Goodnight.

Labour Day in Tyax

Tyax - the mythical campground in the Chilcotins with biking, swimming, the International Vancouver Connection....

Friday night saw us running for a ferry, pretty sure it wasn't going to happen.... and then - when we rolled in 3 minutes before the ferry was to leave we drove into the parking lot - and onto the ferry. I had to take a picture because that was soooooo unusual. And lucky! We rolled into Tyax at 1:30 am, asleep by 2am. 

The crew organizing after a brief drive up a logging road from the campground.

A leisurely 8 hr ride saw us riding up into the alpine. A long climb starts the day!

Miss Pippa SuperStar

Kala heading up the alpine meadow

Dr Seuss planted us some wildflowers

Margaret surveying the Kingdom

Maptime

 The way we came

Ugly place

Marc hopped on the floatplane the next morning for the shuttle to green Warner Lake.

Work calls, gotta go. 

the bad news about television

Everyone always said watching television is bad for you - and I completely agree. Last week I was on the couch proudly celebrating my cast-free followed by first road ride, second road ride followed quite rapidly by first mountain bike ride days - and watching television. Marc had found a documentary about an adventure race in South Africa, and the local team was carrying photo gear and providing commentary. The race started on foot and progressed through various stages including two 150 km mountain bike stages, a 5 hour paddle, several 5 hour bush wack hikes and such for about 5 days. The team slept once at a mandatory stop for about 2 hours, and once took a 10 minute nap. That's all the sleeping they mentioned, and they looked it.

So I thought after an easy and super fun day teaching mountain biking on Saturday that the YANA Century Ride should be a breeze. After all - I've slept, the ride is on a road and at whatever pace I chose, and there's no running/paddling or multiday requirements. It's only one little road section on skinny tires. Right?

Sunday was lovely weather and so my cyclocross bike Fiona and I headed down the road to Black's cycle where the ride starts. Marc was teaching the second part of the mountain bike course so he headed off to Cumberland at around the same time. Given the wonderful weather and that this is the 5th annual ride there were a lot of people present, from extremely serious looking to quite relaxed mountain bikers with suitably fat and knobbly tires. At 9 am we headed out.

I'd forgotten how great riding in a pack was! We fairly floated around the first lap, and given the number of people in the pack and my recently broken ankle I decided uncharacteristically to hide in the pack and not take a pull. That was probably a wise decision given my lack of knowledge of roadie sign language!

Unfortunately I missed the pack take-off for the second lap and rode after them too late to ever see my new-best-friends again. But I met new ones, which is the great thing about a road ride. Unfortunately there were several flat tires (not mine) red lights (mine) and other incidents which had me riding alone for about half the lap, and by the end my legs were getting a smidge tired out. I couldn't think of anywhere I would rather be than on my bike though, so I just relaxed and spun the wheels around.

Back at Black's before the next lap I looked for volunteers to ride the third lap, but most people had been lured by the BBQ and were looking far too relaxed to consider riding. I finally managed to find another rider, but our speeds seemed to alternate wildly, so I gave up trying to ride together and stopped for a stretch in the shade. I realize now that feeling that there was nowhere I'd rather be was merely a lack of imagination, because as the day wore on there were a LOT of places I could think of that I would like to be. I focused on Comox Lake and how lovely it will be to stand in the lake - and before too long there I was. A group of riders caught me right at the Lake but I couldn't forgo the cold water, not even for a group and the drafting possibilities it offered. The water was lovely, and for the next half hour I had new legs!


Shortly afterwards I ran out of water, and the last 20 km were a bit tough to get through. I was a bit worried I might have to walk up Comox Hill, but as usual the hill is not as bad as it seemed, and back to Black's I went.


The BBQ was out of veggie burgs, which had me briefly devastated but then I sat and drank cool drinks and recovered my composure. Les proceeded to order veggie burgs from the grocery store, and since I was starving this sounded lovely. Marc dropped by about 10 minutes after I got there to inform me that I had to get home so we can go to a beach picnic asap, and although I had trouble standing up I managed to hobble the bike home and get to the beach.

It was a lovely night on the beach with some friends and the dogs. Marc carried and paddled boats while I stared into space and looked like a zombie. But what doesn't kill you.....
Now - about that adventure race. What would I need to do to be in that kind of shape????
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Bike ride to nowhere

into each life.....  but I think this should cover the rainy season. No more time for injuries for at least the next 5 years? A sudden slip on a rock and a titanium upgrade later, I am again trying to get off the couch too quickly.

Despite crutching around I managed to spend money at Simon's cycles, purchasing a bike trainer for the living room. This morning I spent a few hours putting it together (1 screw, a bit of wiggling with bike wheel, several extra parts that had me confused) and then listened to some comedy while I rode my bike to nowhere. My mom called about halfway through, so in a way I went to Ontario for a while. Pippa was all excited when the bike came out, then not so much as she realized that she could stand beside me as I pedalled. Mattie slept through the procedure, seeing no reason to be involved. Marc was teaching a mountain bike course for the morning, which went really well.

This afternoon the cold island is raining some more and I'm back on my favourite couch after a few hours of crutching around the Courtenay sidewalk sale buying Birthday presents for family.

So far our Momar team doesn't have a definite replacement for me, so I have an incentive to not eat too much, and enjoy some bike time.  Tuesday night is paddling night this week, and if I can get my leg in (and much more importantly back out) of the boat I am really looking forward to some ocean time!

Marc and Nikki's Moab Adventure

Better to blog late than never.....  our most excellent May adventure details!

Our last roadtrip adventure has been so long ago….  it was wonderful to get in the car and drive until we were in the land of sunshine and rocks with bikes and climbing gear. 

Friday night saw us on the ferry heading off into the great unknown of Moab. Vancouver was cold and rainy as we drove through, and we continued on through the night alternating shifts until morning. Breakfast somewhere in the US, and more driving - into Moab around dinnertime Saturday night. YAY! Sunshine, red rocks and dirt, dry desert climate - foreign and lovely. 

Sunday morning we started by heading into the bike shop to get some direction. Hearing we were from BC he immediately recommended we start with Amasa Back, down Rockstacker and Jackson Trail. We purchased a map and guidebook and off we went. On the way to the trail I read the guidebook, which basically stated that only crazy fools ride Rockstacker and Jackson Trail…. uh oh. Up Amasa Back - a great climb that I highly recommend to anyone that hasn’t just driven for 24 hours and lives at sea level, and out to a great arch on top of a giant lump of red rock. This ride was also the first time I’ve almost been knocked over by strong wind, which was quite exciting. Down Rockstacker, where I quickly decided that 1. the bike store dude thought we were from the North Shore and brought BIG bikes, not Superlights, and 2. if I thought every time I walked my bike or fell off it was a personal insult to my riding ability I was going to die in Moab. This realization made walking nasty switchbacks with huge rocks less distasteful, and I could ride the other 95% of the trail without wounds or a broken bike. 

Jackson trail was amazing - narrow fast trail with giant dropoff on the left to the Colorado River below…  “death on the left” became a fairly common theme. The trail ended at a flooded creek crossing, so we headed up-creek as instructed until we hit a rock wall going straight into the creek. Since the creek was still extremely deep (I believe up to a tall man’s armpits since we met his group later in the week and they “waded” through) we went up and over a most exciting hike-a-bike on a cliff wall. I managed to not fall in the drink and we found the proper crossing and headed back. 

Monday morning dawned overcast after a night of high winds and rain, and we headed to town as thunder and lightening played in the mountains. After being reassured that Moab really doesn’t get rain and it should all clear shortly we headed to Slickrock trail, just in time for another thunderstorm at close range. We sat in the car and fumed for a bit, and watched several groups come off the trail wet and grumpy and then drove around to watch the weather for a while. After another 15 minutes the skies cleared and we were on the trail, watching the amazing clouds all day while riding bizarre rolling rock. The first two “lookouts” were awesome, and the trail to the second one had a section so steep I couldn’t get my bike back up it, although I had ridden down. We skipped the third lookout and headed around the trail, trying to clean as many of the uphills as possible. I realized when my left leg wimps out I skid down on my right elbow sliding next to my bike until the rock hill levels out, and maybe I need an elbow pad for my right arm…. but the day was great. 

Tuesday we rode up Poison Spider, another amazing trail - and I started trusting the uphill friction better and climb well. The “fool’s variation” is to come down Portal trail, where a sign clearly states that three riders have died here, please walk your bike. A great trail, with the most amazing drop straight down 1000 feet or so to the Colorado if you mess up, so we rode carefully, walked the really sketchy bits, and had another awesome day. 

Wednesday had more thunderstorms in the forecast, so we decided to wait with the Porcupine Rim shuttle and do a longish xc day instead. We parked the car at an intersection just out of town and rode up to Flat Pass, through the cattle field and up a road which became progressively more rocky and ledgy. Several creek crossings, sand, great views and about 3 hours later we were back at the car, had lunch and headed down Pipe Dream, a new trail on the other side of the road from Flat Pass. Pipe Dream is fast and flowy with sudden switchbacks and dropoffs, and amazing rockwork! It feels fairly flat, with short uphill and downhill bits and overall runs fast and edgy. We headed back up the pipeline road, calling it a good day all around and time to eat and relax. 

Thursday - the long anticipated Porcupine Rim shuttle! The shuttle van had 3 “celebrities” in it as the driver repeatedly informed us, but I couldn’t get myself to ask them who they were since they chatted and ignored the advertising. The driver also offered $20 to anyone who could keep them in their sights, which did have some appeal, since I will do a lot for $20. Marc had to work on his bike for a few minutes, so we were behind everyone else leaving. Snow up higher meant the shuttle goes as far as LPS these days, so I know there’s more trail for us to explore next time! It seems any decent Moab trail needs some evil switchbacks to start a ride, and LPS was no exception. But after the initial entry - what a trail! Fast, rocky, smooth with small drops, nasty dropoffs, great views, bigger drops and sharp corners, long open sections that are ridiculously fast, short powerful uphills - the trail’s got it all! Halfway down we met the downhillers as they were checking out some “easy 4 foot drops” and declined to try it as well, and Marc tried to stick with them as they started up again. I was almost as fast, but Marc and I dropped behind as we hit more bumpy rocky sections and our poor bikes bounced like ping pong balls. Caught them again on top of a steep uphill, lost them again - but by now we were in full race mode and were ripping down the trail. I kept hucking rocks because I couldn’t see what the drop was like, and remarkably, living through the experience. Unfortunately this reinforced my belief that this was a good idea. The downhillers succumbed to a flat tire, so we passed them and continued on down progressively more technical terrain to exit the fantastic trail after about 1 hr. 20 min…. Luckily the road back into town takes a few minutes so the adrenalin had worn off a bit. I don’t know if the driver owes us $20, or how we get it - but it was fun! 

Friday - time for a day off to go climbing! We started on what I later dubbed “mall rat wall” - and left as soon as possible. Looking Glass rock in the middle of nowhere was definitely an experience - 2 rattlesnakes, one on either side of the start to the climb, exposed 5.4 climbing with 2 bolts per pitch as protection, but as I reminded myself, I think we’d been riding 5.6, so just don’t trip and you’ll be fine. Some leftover gear from where a previous party had bailed, and after 3 pitches you wriggle down through a keyhole slot to rappel 180 feet through the middle of a giant arch. I’ve never been scared on a rappel before, but I had to stare at the rope for a bit because looking around made me dizzy and panicky. Awesome ! I took lots of pictures of Marc squeezing through and rapping down. 

Saturday - running out of time! Having ridden most of the recommended trails, we decide to go back to Slickrock and run it in reverse. This is supposed to be much more difficult, and I have to agree. Marc changed from super laid-back ‘n relaxed mode to climb-like-a-maniac mode, and although I rode almost every up I felt quite ill from the effort. I think we were riding for an hour and a half, which is really not long enough for that whole trail. 

Then we went back to Arches National Park (our dinner spot) and perched on Owl Rock after climbing the 100 ft 5.8 to get there. MANY tourists got photos, and the lady that got Marc standing on top of the rock at sunset with the almost-full moon just above him probably has a very very cool picture. I rapped off but couldn’t get a picture of Marc on top because the wind was ripping the ropes sideways, and I worried they’d wrap around rockbits and we’d never get them back, so stayed and held ropes until Marc was down. Another plan for the fall….

Sunday we headed to the Top of the World, and much to our surprise this involves a LOT of climbing. Not interesting ledgy difficult climbing, no - the boring continuous crappy climbing that suits me quite well. The ride from the first parking lot to the top is 10 miles and several thousand feet of elevation - for the most amazing view of the week.

Downhill was unfortunately disappointing since it’s the jeep road and gravel road out, and the loose rocks made it dangerous but boring. I hucked a ledge - only to square my front tire into the rock in my landing zone, my only endo for the week. Marc’s tubeless tire ate a stick, and we got another snake picture, and missed a snake picture as well as a giant anthill picture. 

We decided to drive back that night rather than Monday morning, which was wise since my car is stupid hot in desert temps and night driving was very comfortable. Another 24 hours, 2 snowstorms, one ferry, 2 hours of sleep (3 - 5 am I refused to try to drive) some more great landscapes and we’re home again! Very happy to see our pets and get a hot shower, sleep in my own bed - and repack for next weekend! 

Sproat Lake Marathon

Wow - it's been since March since I wrote anything!!!  Lots has happened in the meantime - we went to Moab for a week, and I do have a write up with pics but it'll have to come in after today's because I still need to read it through. We went to Penticton to ride and climb with some very fun friends, and that was awesome too!

Marc went to Squamish this weekend to subdue the Chief.... and should be home shortly. I had too many options - Squamish, which I was very sad to turn down, the party for the Incredible Anne Marie in Victoria which I was so very sad to not get to, a girls-getaway on the Sunshine Coast that I am also very sad to have missed, and the Sproat Lake marathon xc race in Port Alberni.

Lots of regrets that I am but one person and unable to time travel, but I've been hoping to be able to ride this race all winter, and since so far every "goal" has had to be postponed because my knee just wasn't ready I felt it was time to actually try to accomplish something. We did do the Snow to Surf - but my short 8 km xc ski was really not stressful enough to count as a race. I don't think it's really ready for this, but since it's essentially stopped getting better I thought "no time like the present" - right?

So, for my first race of the season......

Sproat Lake advertised a race much like the Campbell River 50, a sufferfest that makes you stronger providing you live through it. Being a longer (40km) race I thought it would be less intense than a short effort like Hammerfest, and therefore less likely to injure me. Lack of sufficient training aside, I think it was a great idea!

Gorgeous sunshine this weekend, and really the first hot days. I talked my friend Chris into riding a lap as well, so we drove out of Comox bright and early this morning and got there well ahead of schedule. A brief warmup followed by the anxious start line. Generally I look at the people around me and back up until I'm beside people that look like me - unfortunately I didn't see any. I don't know what the slow people were doing this weekend, but I could really have used some assistance! Out the field and into the trail I made sure to stay near the back of the pack, and before long we were all riding smooth flowy trails through amazing green forest. The first 10 km were super fun and flowy, and I can't wait to go back and ride again.

The bridges were AMAZING! There was scads of bridges - sometimes 1, sometimes 3 or 4 long bridges in a row, they were 6" wide or 3 feet wide, they were flat, over swamps, over deep creeks, uphills, downhills, there were skinnies with big bumps in them, and skinnies with little lumps sawn into the wood, and there were straight skinnies, or skinnies with giant corners. You get the picture - there were a LOT of log rides and I loved them all!

I caught up to Dave on his single speed at an aid station, and we chatted riding up the next bit of rocky doubletrack, which turned into a hike-a-bike rock river. Unfortunately while chatting we missed a turn - but not wanting to go back we headed onwards thinking to link back in to the trail although going further. Unfortunately it turned out we took a faster line that the race route, and as we hit the trail riders we'd been behind came into view. We waited for the rider Dave had been with, and then cut back in. That really took the "race" effort out of me, since no matter who I caught it wouldn't have been fair, and until now I'd been riding quite hard. In the long run that detour was my saviour because I slowed down, sniffed some roses and had a much better ride for it. Because this race certainly wasn't over for a long long time!

The middle 5 km became a bit burlier, and I stopped making it up all the hills, then the last 5 km of singletrack was truly evil when you're tired. I hadn't managed enough food and reminded myself that I was 1. just out riding my bike, not racing and 2. was going to call it a day after the first lap and have a beer. Of course I headed back out, but I did ride quite slowly and refused to feel inadequate about it.

The second lap started great and flowy again, and I realized the end of the first lap really was evil, not that I was just too tired to ride. And in all fairness, it was all rideable - I just couldn't ride up those hills that tired! By this time I was riding with Dave, the single speeder from Campbell River who would ride ahead, chat up the trail volunteers, and stopped at the aid station for some quiche and a beer. I would love to say I rode up all kinds of hills and made them look easy - but I didn't really do much better than lap one.....

I was pretty happy to see the finish. I had gotten into a flow, but my knee started complaining around km 35, and the total ride was 44 km, leaving a slight discrepancy. I tried to think if this was an adventure race could I continue - and thought that as long as there was no riding or running for a bit it would actually be totally okay. Paddling perhaps? But then I ate a veggie burger and some amazing salmon and we drove home before we were worried we'd fall asleep. Chris had a great lap - loved the bridges and the flow, felt the same about LazerShark trail as I did, and hopefully we'll both be back for next year!

Best race parts:
- the clearcut slash EVERYONE (including both me and Chris) walked into carrying their bikes following irrelevant blue ribbon
- all the pretty flowers, flowy trails and all the cool bridges
- the awesome BBQ at the end with salmon and veggie burgs!!!

Thanks SO much to all the volunteers, my partner in crime Chris, my other partner in crime Dave who I chased for a lap and a bit, and who then gave me a Tshirt, and Jeff at Trail bikes who made the whole thing sound like a good idea. Huge thanks to  ZZtop and his aid station partner, Lee and the team of  volunteers for the awesomely organized race, great trails and especially the encouragement.

SPOT sucks....

Drove an hour. Bought a SPOT for my mom so she can ride her horse in the woods and get help if something goes wrong...
tried to make SPOT work. Took hours. Spot's website NEVER EVER EVEN ONCE managed to email out my "i'm okay" messages. or the "help" messages, or the "custom message"
Lots of customer service phonecalls and several hours later........  cancelled SPOT
Now we get to drive another hour in a snowstorm and return SPOT

DON'T EVER BOTHER BUYING ONE!!! I think a whistle works better
 international.findmespot.com sucks

Mt Cain Telefest

This weekend Mt Cain telefest was the place to be! A group of adventurous skiers that we know from Vancouver and Victoria were all converging on Mt Cain, so Marc, Joan and I had to go and check things out! What started as a very small community event has gradually increased in popularity at this small skihill and on Saturday the hill was "packed" - with 400 skiers! Lift lineups are apparently unheard of, but given the perfect sun and snow I didn't hear a lot of complaining - after all, we all came on the busiest day of the year on the hill by choice!

The last few weeks the snow has been awful here on the island, so in time for the festival it cooled off and snowed for a week, which was greatly appreciated by everyone. Perfectly clear nights with a full moon and a great starry sky and sunshine all Saturday, no wind to speak of and tons of fresh light powder was enough to have Marc and I giggling all weekend. Since we don't know how to tele ski, being able to turn in giant fluffy snowbanks was amazing.

Saturday - the annual tele-race. Not just for people that know how to ski, somehow Marc and I were in this....  It was super fun, and we made a solid showing at the back of the pack. Did I mention we don't know how to tele-ski? The draw prizes at the end of the day were truly amazing - for a $5 race entry we ended up with a great ski backpack and a pair of bright nepali mittens!

Marc at the race start area

Marc, Suzanne and Meaghan on lunchbreak

What can I say about this one? 

Sunday had a lot less people, and we were floored by how tired our legs were given the easy day we had on Saturday! My left leg was definitely not up for anything anymore and spent the day snowplowing - snowplow left turn, attempt tele- to right, snowplow, repeat....  apparently works just fine! 

So, halfway through the day we decided to go ski the West Bowl! Brilliant idea! We had avi gear and the risk was quite low, the bowl "skied out" by fussier people's standards, but we have no preconceived notion of what it should be like so it was AWESOME! The east bowl and other areas were still pristine powder, but we had to stick to the easiest terrain for obvious reasons. 

Top of the saddle

View down the top part of the run

and then it got a little steeper!

Joanie giggling 

Coming down the bowl

View back up the bowl

 Wish there were more pics of Joan and Suzanne making it look pretty and easy! For obvious reasons my camera was buried in the bottom of the pack as I anticipated faceplanting and tumbling in my near future!

Looking back at the West Bowl and surroundings from the ski out

Suzanne never seems to be having fun.