Taxi to the West Coast Trail

So I didn't actually do the trail - but since Bamfield is on the way between Victoria and Comox :o) - I stopped in Nanaimo after nightshift to pick up Suzanne and Krista and we headed to Bamfield.
The road was awful, the weather slightly bad, the restaurant closed, but the campsite was empty so we set up camp, ate  quite edible convenience store food, drank beer and wine and spent 2 hours starting a fire in the rain. The dogs ran amuk... which is what they really prefer, and I love the word. Even if I can't spell it.

The next morning I started the hike with the two intrepid travellers but turned around after a few km because otherwise I was going to end up at the next campsite wondering why it was evening and I had no tent. I took lots of pictures, some of which even turned out. The dogs were not eaten by eagles or cougars and the graders had fixed about half the road for the drive home.


This is Suzanne and Krista walking across the beach on their way to 7 days of   beach, green forests, mud (lots of it) ladders, bridges and tsunamis.....

The trail is definitely back on my list of things to do...  !

duncan XC - for athletes, not adrenalin junkies....

This Sunday was the Duncan XC race, and since I was not working I thought I should race! Chris and Louise came as well - for their first mountain bike race. This was definitely one to remember, if not for the scenery...

The website said this was the "definition of XCO" - and now I even know what that means. Take your favourite trails and link together a 3 - 4 hour ride. Now remove all trails that have flat bits longer than 100m. Take out all flowy bermed trails. Leave in the ones that go up, down, change constantly, have logs and sharp corners. You want flow - do it yourself, the trail won't do it for you. If you did it right - you have a 35 minute loop left! THAT is the Duncan XC race loop!

Chris and Louise asked the race trail creator whether to race beginner or intermediate - and he replied that the beginner loop was missing some "really awesome singletrack" - so they elected to race intermediate and do 2 laps. I raced expert as usual, so 3 laps for me.

I don't know how many people showed up - but my feeling is all the slow people stayed away! The experts  started as a group, and then a few minutes before the intermediate men who are usually trying to ride over me. This made the start much more civilized! The first steep hill stretched us out nicely and into the trail, very soon to become uphill switchbacks. Having never ridden this trail, I didn't know how long the switchbacks would continue so pushed moderately hard (read "trying desperately to hold my position just behind another expert woman") More switchbacks, then more, then steeper, then steeper and shorter and never-ending - I came as close as I ever have to being violently ill while on a bike! Finally I saw the woman pull away ahead of me, and there was nothing I could do about it other than keep pedalling.

The first lap is really all about self doubt. All three of us were thinking "I can't possibly do this again (and again) I'm going to have to quit! Leading to "I hate DNF, maybe just a little further" and then - at some point in the second lap it starts to feel okay.

The "super awesome singletrack"at the top really didn't flow  - tight corners and dry crumbly ground and I just couldn't hold my speed. Brake, turn, stall, pedal - several corners and back to braking. Then the trail did become flowier and towards the bottom became quite fast - then lap 2. And then - lap 3.

Lap 3 actually felt pretty good - and I don't think I was that much slower although I forgot to check the time after the first lap. 2 laps was 1:15, 3 was around 1:50, so not much different I although I know I was slower on the uphills. More flowing? Who knows.

Unrelenting comes to mind. And I guess that's what XCO is all about?  Chris and Louise finished their first mountain bike race in good style, and all in all it was a 'lovely time'. I wonder if the 100km Hard Candy race will hurt more or less? Endurance vs. extreme pain - which will win?

 so then I picked up the bike.... and threw it into the clearcut... 

I couldn't help it - we'd been riding FOR EVER!!!  And I thought that would make it all better. But it didn't. I just made me have to rummage around a giant clearcut (great view or not) and find my bike.

What really happened is that Sarah Seads and I decided that what you really need to do on Fridays is some good solid bike time. 

I think a picture is worth 1000 words, and I have no other pictures. 

But I have a badly drawn map: 

A brief explanation - 4.5 hours, start on the road, then gravel up Branch 21, NOT my favourite climb but that's good for suffering, down awesome continuous XC trails to KMA, up cable hill, more down. Easy Rider - not so easy as I slid down a steep gravel chute yelling back to Sarah that it's a bit STEEP (apparently I mostly squealed rather than said "steep")   Twister was the final insult, with it's skinnies and technical beating, then back to Sarah's and home in time for dinner. 

This Friday I started tired because I foolishly tried to run 10 km Thursday. Doesn't sound like such a bad idea except I don't run. Sarah might have made me regret that choice! Slightly different route - and another bad map:  We thought starting on Twister would be better than ending with it - which was true and I even got over the giant A frame without incident (bailing off the top last time was a bit unfortunate) Up the road was nice and easy, then 25 minutes of fast and flowy continuous riding to KMA. White Rabbit linking nicely into the Puntledge plunge, and out Twisted sister for a little bit of extra technical when we're nice and tired... again 4.5 hours of fun.

I don't recommend anyone actually try to ride with my map - that's the geography that's in my head, and as everyone knows, that's NOT how the land actually exists.... But there you have it. 

This July there's a 100km mountain bike race in Port Alberni - guess we'll have to do longer training rides? 

Pippa's Adventures

Little Miss Pippa

went to Sooke Park to go exploring when she was in Victoria with me last week. Couldn't help herself - she had to run out and in on the log about a dozen times, which is good since I'm a bit slow with the camera!

Luckily she didn't get eaten by the warthog on the beach

Once home again she  got the harass the snow to surf team for the weekend, which she enjoyed greatly. Especially the part where she ran out of the yard and got to play tag!

On Monday things were a bit quiet so she had to entertain herself, something she's quite capable of. 

Last night we went to the beach and she went for her first swim!!!  She kept tilting over to the right or left, and then she got water in her ear and really tilted around, but she was pretty proud of herself!  I didn't get a picture, too slow!

the weatherman's a jerk

You CAN'T just go throwing hailballs at people on their bicycles! It's RUDE!!

taken AFTER I got home and had a hot shower....

Chocolate Gold in the Snow to Surf - Fig Rolls Racing Team Rocks 2010!!!

April 25, 2010

This weekend was the much anticipated Royal Lepage Snow To Surf Relay Race in Comox Valley, BC. This is a very cool race because it's really the only sports event of the year that seems to involve the whole town. Most races just 'happen' - you notice something is going on if you happen to be in Cumberland on race day, but in the very nearby towns of Courtenay or Comox you would never know. This race starts on Mount Washington, various sporting disciplines continue down the mountain to a lake near Cumberland, then runs through Cumberland where main street has one lane closed so the road bikers can scream through town, then to Courtenay where road bikers hand off to canoers, who paddle to Comox. And the required beer garden in Comox afterwards lets you meet up with everyone else you know or met along the race and discuss racing and todays successes or disasters. There are a LOT of locals that are involved in the race, and it seems that leading up to the race I am always running into people getting ready for the race, or helping friends get ready, or scrabbling to find a last minute teammate - do you happen to know someone who can (run? ski? paddle? ) that might be free on Sunday???

This year our friends found a nice canoe and brought it with them, as well as everyone's mountain bikes for Saturday, alpine skis for the first leg of the relay, a road bike, a surfski and all the associated gear as well as a very very fast surf ski racer. The cars were really very full! Our last year's roadbiker had an alternate commitment, but his bike made it to the race. Sunday morning Darcee (our phenomenal logistics organizer and driver) came to our house and Paul, myself, Angie and Kala all left with her to go up the mountain. Marc, Jacek and Johnny left to go to Comox Lake, and Andrew and Lina left for the kayak dock in Courtenay. I'm including some logistics in this story because I find it utterly mindboggling how we manage to do this and not lose someone.....

Paul took the chairlift halfway up the mountain for a practice run, and then left his skis at the very top. After standing around freezing for the required length of time, his job is to run up the mountain in a mass start through deep snow wearing alpine boots - snap into his skis and rip downhill to where the nordic skiers are waiting (that's me) - get out of his skis and run up along the line of skiers and hand an armband to me. He was down in a flash, and I left in the top 20 or so racers (out of 200 teams) and I left in a hurry. Other skate skiers left around the same time, and the first km I passed a lot of people meandering along the trail, to be left with a few racers pretty much my speed. The trail only has a few gentle hills, so the idea is to go all out - all the time - for about 8 km. Halfway out a few female racers I recognize passed us - a junior racer that placed second at the nationals this year, and another national level racer.. and I love how they walked past the men ahead of me! Fast people rock! The snow was softening considerably as the day warmed up and the altitude dropped a bit, and I really pitied the people who would be trying to ski in the deep soft mush we were rapidly turning the trail into. Passing took a huge amount of extra effort in the deep soft snow beside the main track of skaters, but I caught a few more people on the slow uphill climbs. Since this is only 8 km long, it is over pretty fast, which was good since I was maxed out the whole way. I gladly handed off to Kala who started down the road in the first running leg.

At this point Darcee and Angie had collected Paul - who collected me - and then we drove down to the second runner handoff. Angie looked at the threatening rain - or snow clouds and tried to decide how nasty the weather was getting. Kala did amazing an downhill run on pavement for 5 km - and handed off to Angie who had an 8 km trailrun. We picked up Kala and drove to the mountain bike start where Angie popped out of the woods after another awesome run and Marc took off on his mountain bike for road and trail just as the rain started. Then - we drove to Comox Lake, which is tricky when the fastest road access is closed. I got to the lake just as Marc rode in and handed off his bike to sprint to Johnny and help run the surfski to the water. Johnny took off like an arrow, passing 2 boats before the first turn. The leading kayakers were still visible on the lake as they turned the buoy marked switchbacks to head to the other side, which was really exhilarating! The water was calm and the rain that poured on Marc had stopped and the weather slowly turned into sunshine for the rest of the day. We (Darcee, Paul, Kala, Angie, Marc and myself) headed to downtown Cumberland where we arrived just in time to see Jacek rip through town on the roadbike. He was followed by far too many fast racers, some with full wheels and aero helmets and the whole racer kit - and then we were off to Courtenay where his 30 km roadbike loop would end. Johnny had to paddle back across the lake, and then he drove to Comox to meet us at the finish line. Jacek actually held off almost all the racers behind him, even though he is not a road biker and had never ridden this bike! We cheered Lina on as she sprinted the 1km between the roadbike handoff and the canoe launch - and her and Andrew paddled out strong and fast. We (Darcee, Paul, Angie, Kala, Marc, Jack and myself) drove to Comox harbour around the estuary.  We could see the canoes leaving the sheltered river to hit the estuary where strong winds and opposing water currents were making for interesting times! One boat was almost leaping out of the water with each paddle stroke! We headed to the harbour and arrived minutes ahead of Andrew and Lina!  Team reunited - and with an awesome finish!

Overall we were in 12th place! The first 11 teams were men's teams of various ages, and we were 1st in the mixed open category! And at the end of the day a lot of friends on other teams were on the podium for different categories, which makes me very happy. I can't believe I know such an amazing group of people that all like to play, ride bikes, run - and if needed, go really really fast! The medals - are chocolate,  and are extremely good chocolate at that.

Loppetting....

Who says bronchitis isn’t a good thing for a ski race? Well I can tell them differently, I can say...... okay, that they’re entirely correct. But that should never stop anyone from ski racing with bronchitis. Unless they’re smarter than me. 

It seems inevitable that I’m sick in the fall for cyclocross season and again in March just before Mount Washington’s annual loppet race. The fall is due to all the little kids going to school and passing cooties around - and then everyone gets sick - but why March? Nothing happens in March!

Unfortunately someone came to the Wilderness First Aid course with a nasty fever and flu - and it spread like wildfire. I thought we were homefree when we left the course healthy. I headed up the mountain the next day for a ski but somehow the ski was too good, suspiciously too good for someone that hasn’t had any exercise. It felt great - huge strong long strides, flying forward on skinny skis eating up the distance - it was awesome. And then came the fever and the flu, closely followed by the chest cold.  My asthma is not a fan of chest colds... 

At emergency the doctor suggested a whopping dose of prednisone for a few days might be just the thing, and I always do what the doctor says. Prednisone short term is wonderful. I would wake up each morning feeling great! I can breathe! By about 10 am I’d want to die again. Steady improvement through the week convinced me it would be a good idea to do the loppet after all, and today was the day. 

The above picture is not from today. Today was grey, slight drizzle, some strong winds, and overall it was pretty miserable. Luckily the course was mostly in the woods where the wind couldn’t reach us. Marc had done absolute magic on my skis, and they were rocket fast. Warm-up was nasty - windy, wet, snowy with ice pellets jabbing my eyeballs. 

Given recent illness, it seemed that if I was going to be stupid enough to race I needed new priorities. So new priority was to stay alive - no puking, dying or passing out allowed. Which meant I needed to pick a sustainable pace and stay there as much as possible. I easily confirmed that decision by briefly trying to sprint - which ended very quickly as my body immediately red-lined and alert buzzers started blaring. 

The start was a bit gnarly - I made sure to line up well back in the crowd to avoid the sprint start but somehow the racer kids had lined up along one side and all got mushed into the crowd racing up the first hill. The kids are strong and fast, but they’re little, and many of them got trampled. My friends will be happy to know I did NOT trample any small children :o) 

Up and around for lap #1 - a new course this year that I much preferred - rolling terrain for 12 km followed by steeper terrain in lap #2 for the rest of the 30 km. The first lap hurt more than the second, but I always warm up slowly. Every sprint effort had my body giving me up for a bad joke and drooping like a tropical plant in the frost, but I could sustain a fairly decent effort overall. Once in a while I could even get long forward strides that ate distance - but I couldn’t sustain more than 30 seconds worth, much less 2 hours. Eventually I zoned out, maintaining an even effort that was comfortable while my mind wandered around happily, thinking about everything but nothing. It was the most relaxed I’ve felt for weeks! I paced with other skiers for several km’s at a time until they either fell back or pulled away, and watched the scenery go by. Grey and foggy, with all the trees covered with a bit of snow frosting on their green limbs - it was surreal and lovely. 

At some point it had to end - not a bad thing all in all but I did have a nice pace going. I headed to the finish at my current relaxed pace - no sprinting or rushing. If I was going to rush I should have done that long ago, and that just wasn’t the point this race. 

My lungs are thanking me, as I’m not coughing worse and other than clearing out some mental cobwebs am none worse for wear. The race was more relaxing than I’ve ever raced, and although I hope to actually race next year, I’m very happy to have spent a few hours chasing my skis around in the snow. And - thanks to the new age group (or maybe only 3 skiers??) I came third... ! YAY!