Should have done Mountain View in the morning…

Know what this does to your skiing? Read on....

Well, we made it to Callaghan again today, even though the roads were covered in snow past Squamish. It snowed lightly when we got there and never stopped snowing all day – really beautiful day actually. Last night Jeff put grip tape onto my waxable skis, I just don’t trust my waxing skills one bit and combined with my limited skills in skiing I always seem to slip and slide when using grip wax. When I bought those skis they has grip tape on them and I loved it. Only used them in the Cariboo Loppet last year though where I had a good race. I didn’t use them in Salmon Arm 2 weeks ago because I would have had to use grip wax. And crowns will never be fast skis -and they are heavier. So for the next loppet I want to use my waxable skis again – hence the grip tape and me trying them out today at Callaghan. I started off going down to Porters Glide and was able to double pole a lot of it. So glide seemed okay even though it didn’t feel fast. But the tracks were full of fresh snow so seemed reasonable. I worked my way up Madeley Road and even though I had a couple slips I never had to get out of the tracks once. If I did focus on my weight transfer I really had fantastic grip. After a quick rest at Madeley Lake I headed back down Norwegian Woods and back onto Porters Glide. And even though I was getting tired I was still able to double pole as much as on the first lap. I actually felt okay and thought maybe I can do the Biathlon track even after I finish my backwards Mountain View. But here is where the story changed. This part of the trail is a bit lower than the Madeley Lake loop and it wasn’t as freshly groomed but still in good shape. It did not take long though and I thought what the heck is going on - I had no glide. I push and push until I almost did a perfect face plant since my feet/skis stopped dead – and I mean dead. I had to lift my feet to move forward on the flat. I took the skis off and saw a whole bunch of snow stuck to the grip tape. I tried to brush it off but it took the edge on my ski poles to get rid of that snow – it was so caked on. Oh well, I figured, now that they are clean again I can keep going. Yeah, for about 10m – rats. I tried stomping them on the ground and it helped a bit but then stopped dead again. I actually ended up walking all the way up Mountain View. Had a spectacular crash when I tried to take a picture of the bottom of my skis while they were still on my feet – luckily nobody saw me I could even walk downhill not slipping at all – well except for the cople times when all sudden the whole blob of snow came off unexpectedly and I slid down for a meter only to be stopped dead again in my tracks. What a nightmare!!!

I made it back to the car with an hour left in our 4hrs of skiing based on what Jeff said, him and John were going for. Even though I had my crowns in the car I just about had enough of classic skiing. So I borrowed Jeff’s skates skis for an easy lap around Nevermind. Him and John did one lap of skating first and than one lap of classic. It took a bit longer since this was only my second time on skates skis ever and there is nothing easy about skating. But I made it back to the car right on time. Apparently the boys had been back for 30min already thinking I probably won’t be out for that long. Honestly I had not planned on it - brought my book to kill time in front of the fireplace in the lodge :-)  Nevertheless, I was happy I went for that last loop – never end on a bad note. Mind you, I was tired. Not even the Guinness and Pulled Pork Sandwich at the Shady Tree in Squamish could revive me. Now I am looking forward to an early night and a nice paddle tomorrow.

Turnaround point at Madeley Lake - skis were still working well

Lots of snow at Callaghan not like other places across the province/country

 By the way, they canceled my favourite loppet, the Cariboo Loppet in 100 Mile, because of too little snow. This was the one loppet I was really looking forward to since I had so much fun last year. There are a few loppets on our list so missing out on one isn’t the end of the world but I would have rather had the Payak canceled. Two main reasons: First, the Payak is a Freestyle event and only few people do classic while the Cariboo is Classic only -  the later makes for better classics trail conditions. Secondly, the participants in the Payak are all damn near Pro Athletes while in the Cariboo I get to race with Mom and Pap, people my speed :-)

Last but not least, I was sick Monday/Tuesday this week. Just a cold with a  runny nose but my head was plugged up completely. I made it into work but didn’t really get much accomplished. Made for long hours again the rest of the week. And I had to bail out on my swim with Krista Tuesday – sorry – and my weight workout with Jodi Friday – sorry – the later because of trying to catch up on work.

Karma

Am I glad that I went paddling Saturday. What a miserable day yesterday with all that rain and strong winds – would have made paddling almost impossible. I went skiing instead – not for the 3hrs I had in mind yesterday but I did get some slow 2hrs in. My nose started running last night and body felt tired. So I only managed to do 15.7km in during those 2hrs. It was snowing hard and the tracks kept filling up with fresh snow to slow everything down. On top of that, the wind was gusting strong in some sections. So it was tough going for sure. I couldn’t see a thing since my glasses either iced up or fogged up – couldn’t take them offf either or the snow stung my eyes. The fresh air sure felt good though.

Lots of snow up at Cypress

I was ready to curl up on the sofa for the rest of the day but we of course had another curling match that night. We played the top team of the league – they never lost a game yet. But they almost lost against us last night :-) We were leading them 7 to 4 in the 8th end – they had the hammer – and missed the roll into the centre behind our guards which could have been the winning shot. At the end we finished in a tie.  We are still the only team ever taking points from them – twice now :-) Otherwise our record is rather average – still impressive giving my non-existing curling skills.  http://www.deltathistle.ca/index.php/our_league/sunday_mixed

Update on my Christmas Tree

It's still doing well and looks even prettier with snow on it (last weekends snow that is)

An almost wasted day – and then not

Yesterday was a pretty wet day in Vancouver after we had a whole week of really cold weather – the snow from last weekend stuck around till Friday. So I was glad to be able to take the car into work yesterday since I was going for a lunch workout at Jodi’s gym in North Van. It’s a bit of a drive but it is more fun working out with friends than on my own all the time. And Jodi kinda took it easy on us and we did focus more on right technique than heavy weight or speed. At least it was easy till the very end when we had 3 sets of deadlift/pushups (21/15/9) and 5 set of chin-ups (3 each). I haven’t done chin-ups in a LONG time so I was done after 2 sets. Except you are never done with Jodi around. If you can’t do real chin-ups then it is negative chin-ups with an additional 10lb of weights of course. My lats are screaming today

Nevertheless, today was to be a long ski-day at Callaghan except that we didn’t make it. It started off with that we overslept for an hour – although that was kind off on purpose. So we didn’t get going till 9AM. Maybe that`s why we never made it. The drive along the Ski-to-Sky HWY was already slower than usual – 3 cars in the ditch and another further down slowed down traffic. We made it to Squamish okay. But all the rain yesterday came down as snow north of Squamish - sounds great, doesn`t it? Well except that today it was raining onto that compact snow layer which turned the roads into ice. Traffic slowed down to snail pace – cars ahead of us were slipping and sliding. Once we passed a snow plow with an de-icing trailer who was stuck on the hill almost blocking both lanes I knew we were in trouble. Shortly after traffic complete stopped and we hardly moved for 20min. And we were still about 45min out of Callaghan and nowhere near yet the top of the hill. So we did the smart thing believe it or not and turned around.

We could have gone to Cypress instead on the way back but of course neither Jeff nor I had bought our ski passes. Why would you when you would go to Callaghan for skiing. Rats! So we talked about trying again the next day. But now we were home at just after 1pm – lots of time in the car for nothing – and didn’t know what to do. Since the weather was warmer than it had been in over a week and the rain actually had stopped I suggested to go for paddle. But Jeff’s back was too sore from sitting in the car. So I emailed my friend Jodi to tell her that I had to change my plans - we were supposed to go for a paddle tomorrow. And YEAH Jodi – she called m,e shortly after I send the email and said “Let’s go today”. So we went to Deep Cove for an easy 1hr25 paddle, it was flat calm, the sun made some minor appearnces – it was great. But see for yourself – we took lots of pictures today:

Jodi is showing off her new drysuit…

really showing off :-)

When I got home Jeff stood already in the door waiting for the car to go skiing at Cypress - we could have planned that a bit better rather than driving over to the North Shore for the 3rd time of the day – well luckily we have our Golf Diesel and get over 800km on a tank.

Crash and burn

For two days I managed to stick to my workout schedule - elliptical & weights Monday, elliptical & core/medicine ball and 2km swim Tuesday. And today I felt like someone beat me up.  How did I ever manage to do this every day for 6 days in a row. Gotta get back to that stage somehow. So I forced myself onto the kayak erg for 30min . The plan was 1.5hrs skiing.

While in the gym yesterday the TV was running in the background – the guys at work left it on. When I am on the elliptical trainer I prefer to read a book, while doing weights I usually don’t even notice it but when stretching my eyes always get caught by the screen. And guess what – they are already putting on commercial for Easter Eggs!!! Christmas is barely over. Can’t they give us a break? I will not spend any money on Easter eggs this year – that’s it. I can have my chocolate in a plain bar

Woke up to 2cm of snow today

We slept for 10.5hrs last night and woke up to 2cm of fresh snow – our complex looked beautiful under a blue sky. Originally this was supposed to be a paddling day but I was still tired and the frigid sub-zero temperatures don’t really lend themselves to a paddling. So we went for a long walk instead along the river – 2hrs 15min. At the end of that I was almost as tired as after the loppet yesterday. Took some nice pictures along the way.

Our complex

The Fraser River

The working river

Snow and ice

Ducks sleeping on the logs

Heron

Some bird

Leftover Christmas decoration

Tonight, after 1 month off we started up with curling again. Surprise, surprise we still seemed to remember how to do it and made better shots than the last game before Christmas. And we won!!

Why!? First Loppet Jan 14 report

Why do I always pick the sports that need a lot of skill and fitness? Why don’t I pick sports my body time is more suited to like … hm, don’t know! My back hurts, a couple of my toes are blue, my shoulder and elbow are sore… does that sound right?

Well, we did our first loppet of this season on Saturday. Jeff has 5 of those planned till mid March. This one was in Salmon Arm at Larch Hills. They had several choices/divisions from 2km for the young, 18km and 30km for the recreational skiers and 36km for the competitive skiers. Given my skiing expertise I should have gone for 18km but I am always better at long stuff than “short” sprints. So which one did I sign up for? 36km, of course. The gun went off and within 15 sec I lost sight of almost everyone – not because they were behind me. 5 minutes after the 36km start they started the 30km skier and I lost count of how many of those came flying by me – and not all of them looked like those super athletes. So I was already frustrated at that point. My back got sore about 1km into the first lap (we had to do 2 laps of 18km). The trail was a bit more hilly than I expected but for the first lap I had reasonable good grip and okay glide. I could double pole a lot which helped me to get ahead of a couple of people only to be passed again on the downhills and sections that required more diagonal stride. Overall the first lap felt okay but for my back which was killing me - I was close to quitting if not for this women who I had been trading places with who said: “Hey, it’s going to be you and me from here on and we won’t get passed by anyone else!” That’s so true if you are at the back. It’s funny though, usually I am the one always wanting to go a little bit further while everyone else is already and had about enough – now I know how it feels if you really don’t want to go for another lap but someone else talks you int. Jodi, Krista, Heide… this is for you guys. Lap 2 was a nightmare – an almost 2hr nightmare that is. Back was already sore but now the elbow started and that pain went shooting up into the shoulder (left this time not my usual right arm pain). So I could double pole less and less. I had no grip and also no glide any longer – it was a slog. I managed to stay with the woman who talked me into it till almost half way – that is till the top of the hill. After the downhills I never saw her again. I managed to pass a couple 90 year olds that did the 30km although they almost caught me near the end again when I could barely stand up any longer. But I finished!!! 3hrs40min - the winner did it in 1hr56min. Jeff did it in 2hrs 36min. At least I learned one thing – I will NEVER be doing a 50km loppet.

The organizer put on a great event though. The snow was good – a couple cm of fresh snow the night before, the temperatures were ranging from -7C to about -2C, the grooming was excellent, the trails nice with no terrifying corners and some beautiful view near the top, the aid stations were plenty and well staffed and they did a wonderful job giving out drinks and fruit and energy bars, they had cheerful signs near the end of the 18km lap (I read them all, Jeff only saw one ) and there were still people around cheering when I finally made it in as well as there was still food left for the late finishers – yummy roast beef bun.

The part we didn’t plan too well was the drive up there. We left Friday after work (which had been a surprisingly good day for it being the 13th) but didn’t make good time getting out of the city. We stopped for okay food in Hope but not what I would have prefered as a pre-race meal. It started snowing heavily on the Coquihalla and visibility was low. We didn’t get into Salmon Arm till after midnight and therefore didn’t get much sleep since we had to be up by 6:30AM.

The drive home was easier because it was during the day. It was snowing on and off between Kamloops and Merrit. We stopped in Merrit for an excellent meal at the local pub. Compact snow on the Coquihalla but we missed the heavy snowfall this time. Jeff was plowing down the Coq at 100km/hr – never mind the conditions :-). We were home by 7:30m the Saturday evening. A lot of driving though for a weekend.

Everyone is waxing their skis before the race – except us Crown people :-)

The startline and people testing their wax

Survivors in front of the chalet

Drive home: Whiteout between Kamloops and Merritt.

… and then again sun and blue sky

Playing with my camera on the drive home – Sepia settings

Different Types of Skiing – Winter at Home

…that’s what Jeff said today on our way to Deep Cove. We met with Jodi for a Surfski paddle. But the Cove was blown up by strong winds and the sea was white-capped. Not having been in our boats much lately we did the smart thing and went over to Cates Park to launch out of the wind. It was an overcast day and threatened to rain but it didn’t. Not the most scenic paddle ever but we got an hours of paddling in hugging the shore towards 2nd narrows. To me it felt good to be on the water again.

Back at the parking lot a bylaw officer stopped next to us asking if we had a launch pass, worth $8 each. There was not a single car in the whole frickin lot. We had assumed they would only charge in the summer. Jeff almost ripped the poor officers throat out but luckily Jodi intervened pleading innocence. By the way if we would have parked just in the lot to the right we would have been home free – now does that makes sense? Anyway, Jodi’s pleading worked and he let us off the hook.

Yesterday was a “real” skiing day of course. The weather hasn’t been very wintery lately – well, it actually has been a perfectly normal Vancouver winter but it is too warm for snow even in the mountains. A bit like the 2010 Olympic year. So more often than not it is raining rather than snowing in the local mountains. Luckily yesterday was a somewhat snowy day in Callaghan. The rain wasn’t suppose to arrive till today. Mind you it did arrive yesterday but it still snowed in the mountains. Guess the rain got here before the temperature went up. All good. Back to skiing. Jeff and I went once at Cypress during the week (again lucky no rain) and I didn’t enjoy being back to all the ups and downs again. Especially when the tracks are slick from rain. But it was okay and I felt my endurance did at least improve during the week in 100 Mile skiing 20km every day. Callghan yesterday was actually fun even though the snow was a bit wet and the grip varied a lot. We put in close to 3hrs - I covered more distance than usual doing the coirse backwards again and got a bit less tired. So maybe there is hope for the loppet next weekend (http://www.skilarchhills.ca/loppet/36km.html)? I am a bit worried – I am nowhere near 36km.  The guys were racing around the course twice in the time I did one loop (and a bit). Even though Jeff was complaining about sore legs from the run the day before he put the boots to John who was with us. I have never seen John getting tired – he was yesterday. The good food and a Guiness at the “Shady Tree” in Squamish after the ski helped with the recovery

Saturday Cross-Country Ski: Tracks were set nicely on Norwegian Woods

Still lots of snow in Callaghan

Still smiling

Sunday Surf Ski: On the way back to Cates

Lots of horse pictures

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I love the Cariboo – Trip Dec 26 – Jan 1

As already alluded to in my last post Jeff and I spent a week at The Hills Health and Guest Ranch at 108 Mile in the Cariboo region. What a place to go in the winter. They have a huge trail system for cross-country skiing,  a small downhill skiing area, a quite extensive tubing area, a couple of restaurants, a pool and hot tub, a whole bunch of horses as well as as much spa as you can handle. Obviously Jeff and I went for the cross-country skiing part. Unfortunately they didn’t have a huge amount of snow and on some days the trails were pretty icy but it was certainly enough to spend at least a couple of hours each day on our skis – mostly classic. Besides the trails around the ranch itself, we also spent time skiing at the 99 Mile trail system less than 15min drive away which is slightly higher and has some different snow to offer. Nevertheless our skis did get beat up a bit. Weather was dry all the time – some days overcast, some sunny - few flurries here and there but nothing substantial. Temperatures during the day ranged from +5C to -10C. All in all skiing was great – long stretches were you could double pole or maybe do a single leg kick. Few people on the trails if you saw any. I’ll never be a great skier but this was fun. I even tried skating once on Jeff skis and it actually wasn’t as bad as I thought – well the hills are just as hard as on classics

Only notable crash I had all week long was when I tried out some newly groomed trails around The Hills. Nobody had been on them and they started out as usual – flat and light up hills. No problem with the very soft snow. So I continued on that path until I noticed that the trail makers had changed from intermediate to advanced. Well how bad can that be around here? Well, I ended up on top of this huge hill with a sharp turn on the bottom, the track being really soft, branches sticking out of the trail all over – a real steep obstacle course. And of course I crashed – face first! But the snow was soft and I didn’t think anything of it, laughed it off and continued skiing – switching back to the intermediate trails mind you - for another hour. When I got back to the room Jeff looked at me and asked: “What the hell happened to you?” It turned out that I had a number of small cuts mostly on my nose and some across my face – one of them had actually bled a bit. I looked like a boxer after a fight – sorry no pictures:-)

Besides skiing we spent time around the horses and miniature donkeys - just feeding them carrots since they only offer trail rides in the summer (I have to be back in the summer!!), did some walks around the ranch, splashed around in the pool and hot tub, had a fabulous neck/back massage, played games and ate very well every day (most times at the on site restaurants).

New Years Eve we spent at The Hills, first with a really tasty sit down dinner at the Lodge put together by chef Richard, then outside for some tubing or sitting around the bonfire on the ski hill drinking hot chocolate until midnight. The Hills had their Snow Park open till 1AM (tubing, downhill, skating rink) and trendy music playing all night. At midnight they put on quite an impressive firework lasting for at least 15min.

New Years day began with a brunch at The Hills before we had to head back home, sigh! By the way, on the drive north we saw more than 20 birds of prey (hawks, falcons, eagles) along the highway between Vancouver and Chilliwhack - I don’t remember ever seeing that many, it’s almost equal to one bird for every 5 kms!!

Enjoy the pictures – there will be another post on just horse pictures

The Hills Health & Guest Ranch

Our accomodation

Lodge 1871 – great restaurant and coffee lounge inside

The Snow Park – the tubing lift

Jeff at the start of our first ski at The Hills

Me at The Hills skiing trails day 1

Jeff on the so nice a flat trails around The Hills

Jeff at 99 Mile

Me after the first day skiing at 99 Mile

The barn with about 15 or so horses

One of the many pretty horses

Feeding the horses

The miniature donkeys

Jeff is petting the donkey

Cariboo Impressions from around the Hills trail system

Cariboo Impressions from around the Hills trail system

Cariboo Impressions from around the Hills trail system

Cariboo Impressions from around the Hills trail system

Cariboo Impressions from around the Hills trail system

Jeff waiting for a lift back up – New Years Eve

Me with a tube – New Years Eve

New Years Eve Bonfire

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The Hills fireworks

More fireworks