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. 

spring on the island?

Pick the sport - CAREFULLY - and if you picked the right one for the weather it's going to be awesome. Last week I started with skate skiing Monday - poor choice as the trails were very icy and the going pretty awful. Tuesday I thought a road bike ride would be best - and low and behold - I get the little sticker that says "you got it right!"

I took my camera and spent a fair bit of time trying to figure out where on my bike to attach it since I'm not wearing a backpack. If anyone knows the right location....   I was also feeling very green, mostly due to my bright green bike and my new green sugoi jacket. The sun was really warm when I stopped, and as soon as I was moving the super cold wind was trying to cut through me - but I was perfectly dressed for once! That never happens, so it was quite memorable.

Kye bay stop - I always have to stop here and just pause...

Comox Glacier

Happy Donkeys and Horses, thinking of my mom! (it's not an insult - she has donkeys and horses...!)

Swans in the meadow

it IS spring!

Then I picked work as the ideal way to spend my day - and despite some goings on didn't get any pictures or good stories.

This weekend - we picked tele skiing today! I guess we could have picked worse - I didn't do the skate ski race because I really haven't been able to train - and in a blizzard that would have been a poor choice. Mountain biking was probably wet but okay. Tele.... wellll..... not quite sure what to think of the day. But we really wanted to learn to tele a bit before telefest, and there was no lack of snow.

A bit snowy... Mattie trying to stand on Marc's skis as often as possible. Pippa stayed in the car snuggled on a warm oatbag. 

My pretty skis!

more lovely snow

trail breaking on the island

The way up actually wasn't bad, unfortunately the fluffy snow actually weighed a ton and coming down just wasn't steep enough and I could see my ski tips when I'd hauled them out of the snow, then I'd glide a bit but despite everything they would slowly start to sink - and sink - and then I was past my knees sliding and stopping - and the slog to the next steeper section took forever, so we had to flail back to the up- trail and follow it out.

Next week is telefest at Mt Cain - maybe I'll learn to tele then? I sure could use some tips.....

Winter on the island...

It feels like spring - and I haven't added any pictures from the winter yet! And what I really REALLY should be doing is organizing Big Dog Biking accounting....  oh what fun.

So I thought I'd post some pictures from the winter instead :o)

Way WAY back in January Marc, Joan and I took our tele gear to explore Mount Becher in winter. This is the easiest summer hike, and we've all done it multiple times, but I've never gone there in winter. Thankfully the pouring rain stopped on the drive out, and the weather was foggy but nice. 

The snow was not so nice, as you can see from the icy sheen.... but it was pretty!

 

 Matilda led the way, which unfortunately meant dropping through the snowcrust and she was really tired by the end of the day. Pippa was luckier, and she could run along the top of the snow surface without ever breaking a sweat. 

A well dressed dog is a happy dog..... Pippa showing off her winter coat

Marc on the summit

Joan, Matilda, Pippa, Marc - with me stalking behind. 

A good day was had by all. Pippa and Mattie slept for the next day but looked very happy..... Our next tele destination is Arrowsmith - but since the white stuff has turned to an icy blue we've been putting it off and going skate skiing and biking instead.

Till next time, I have to stop procrastinating now!

Happy New Year Pemberton!!!

I believe this is my first blog that involves an adventure in quite a few months! Christmas was spent eating, working and moving home, and then Dec 30 we headed over to Pemberton to play in the snow with the Vancouver International Club - Irish, English, Canadians from east to west - it was bound to be a good party!
Friday Marc, Matilda, Pippa and I went to ski Callahan's skate ski trails - which are AWESOME!!!  We had SO much fun and we skied with and without dogs, and although we didn't make it onto the longer or harder trails to not wear out my knee on the first day we still had a blast.

This is Marc and Matilda, Pippa is in pursuit.  Nice form Marc!

Marc being chased again

Me, looking ?? cool

Matilda and I, Pippa is the little dot behind Mattie. It was sooo pretty! 

Working on  "forward motion" - I'm very happy - it actually looks like I'm forwards!!!! 

Happiness

That night was New Years - and we did the best we could to eat, drink and be merry. It was wonderful to see so many of our out of town friends and meet some new ones! We had a great time! 

I got "sloshed" - which actually happened when Dave's hand and my hand holding red wine collided. We had a wine explosion, covering my hand, sweater and face, his hand and face, the wall in front, the wall behind......  and then we did some quick cleaning. MANY thanks to the sober cleaners the next day that finished what we couldn't get out the night of....  

Angie suggested I do a "red wine " stain to the whole sweater, which actually sounds pretty fun. I will have to try later! 

On Jan 1st we had the good fortune of tagging along on an adventure - up Joffre shoulder with Andrew, Paul, Lina and Angie. We've never done this before, so it was definitely an adventure....

We were told the trip would be "easy" . But then I said my knee was "fine".

"Easy" meant 3 hours up steep switchbacks trying not to slide backwards or sideways into deep holes, some with a creek at the bottom. Followed by a big snowy bowl, and "dog's breakfast gully" before heading back into trees. 

"Fine" meant "I don't want to talk about it. 

I think we're even! 

There is the lovely bowl at the top, and here we stopped to remove skins on skis and close zippers tight to keep out the snow in the expected tumble-down-the-mountain.  

I "stole" some of Paul's pics, I hope he's okay with that....! Thanks Paul :o) !!! 

Me in my lovely new jacket, (happy 40th to me....) Shows up nice for search and rescue.

Don't I look confident standing at the top of the bowl? I'm actually feeling ill looking down. 

This is Andrew, showing what it should look like!

This is me - no tele-turning for me today! But since I can't bend my knee yet, I'm pretty happy with this! I'll take what I can get for now...  had to leave the dignity in the car and try to survive, even if that means I look like a 5 year old. Yes, I am being defensive, why do you ask????? 

Marc, snowy but lookin' cool...

After the super-cool bowl it was into the gully - which was surprising mostly in that it was actually possible. Sliding over huge boulders covered in powder, I kept expecting a dead end where it would be a choice of "fall into creek" or "run into tree at uncontrolled speed" - but somehow it all worked out! 

Then back to the original track through the trees, and out to eat and drink and party some more. 

Our dogs were extremely lucky that day - as they got a lovely walk with friends. Thanks again!!!

The following day my knee was toast, so off to Callahan. Luckily for us, Dave and Geraldine wanted to try skate skiing, so we jumped at the opportunity to play along. They wanted to try the biathon range, and since I've always wanted to do this I got to play too. Marc took pictures galore! 

Geraldine, with a demonic smile. What she said was "I just want to shoot something".... Check out the #11 target!

Us red skiers three, lined up concentrating very very hard...

Standing up is much harder, but I did manage to hit a couple. 

That's all!!! Thanks for watching!

practicing "not- walking"

What did I used to do? Before mountain bike racing, I used to do something, didn't I? It can't all have been housecleaning and cooking and working. The dogs are telling me I used to scratch them, pet them on their fuzzy bellies, walk them, feed them, for hours and hours ... but I think they're exaggerating. Especially about the hours and hours part.  I can walk a bit, but it really doesn't help anything heal faster.

I did used to make cool glass things, and since the shed's not too cold yet to sit there to work with glass and my schedule is pretty open these days, I had to go play again. In order to do this I had to wait until I could bend my knee enough to sit and work, so it's only been possible for the past couple of weeks. But I love colour, fire, burning myself with jumpy bits of hot glass and listening to my ipod while I watch glowing glass melt and flow.

After a few days of just making round beads to remind myself how, I started to get fancier.