fluorineTRex

2010-05-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

2009-10-28T18:31:00.000-07:00

Making the move

2009-09-29T10:31:00.001-07:00

fluorineTRex is joining Spoking Sportsman.

See you there!

Too Busy! And for once it isn't because of work

2009-09-14T21:46:00.000-07:00

We've been keeping a busy schedule trying to fit in as much summer as possible before the autumn sets in. Activity level has been high and postings of our adventures has been demoted below keeping the cats fed and the cat box clean.

Since Scott moved to North Van at the end of July we've:

had 2 bikes stolen,

MIA Scott's Morgul Bismark Manx Surely the only one in Vancouver.

My Trek during a happy day in the Kootenays.

replaced 2 stolen bikes,

had a birthday bike ride,

had some birthday cake,

both been on week long business trips (Scott to Williams Lake, BC and I went for a week of field work for a coal project on Vancouver Island). Somewhere in this rain forest mess I collected a rock and water seepage sample.

visited very good and greatly missed friends in Colorado,

explored the South Chilcotins,

joined a gym,

rode big bikes in Whistler.

Time is flying by and the to-do list is not getting smaller.

We are enjoying the pleasure of doing the things that we love and sharing it all with each other.

BWR- Team Honey Sweetie Part 2

2009-07-08T19:49:00.000-07:00

Day 4 - Earl's Cove to Sechelt, 60 kms??

The first of 2 days riding on the Sunshine Coast. The Sunshine Coast can only be reached by ferry necessitating a 4:30 am start, 2 bus transfers and 2 ferries. I had been sleeping poorly since Day 1, especially Day 2 when a very strong ocean breeze collapsed our tent, so another night of 4-5 hours was par for the course.

There were lots of powerline climbs and logging roads in this course, and no single track sections really stand out. I think my road miles were paying dividens and the climbs were steep enough that Scott wasn't spun out. We were actually having a great day but I was enjoying the climbing a little too much. Scott's pace down a gravel road was beyond my comfort level, but we both stayed up right. He says it was out of his comfort zone too, but I had passed too many fast descenders on the climb and he wanted to avoid being that dolt who can't hang on the downhills. I have a lot to learn about racing! We rolled into the second aid station in 7th place, compliments on our climbing, and a flat tire. :( We took the time to eat and for me to fix the flat (no CO2 by my insistence) which cost us 3 places, but not smiles.

Day 5 - Sechelt to Landsdale, 60 kms?

The day we had been looking forward to!!! We know most of this route and most especially the last 12kms. The trails in the southern part of the Sunshine Coast are worth a trip to BC alone. They are more accessible to a wider range of riders, unlike the North Shore, but still technically interesting. Any mountain biker on these trails should be a happy mountain biker.

Again, we were having a good day, metally thrilled to be over half way done and knowing the trails that awaited the next 3 days. The course was shortened and avoided a boring 15-20 kms section of logging road which brought us to the first aid station within 15kms of starting. We pushed hard today so we could get a good postion for enjoying the sweet sweet decent. Scott took an endo right before the first aid station. When I came across him, he was laying off the trail checking his helmet for cracks (see his good race ettiqute? he cleared the trail of himself and bike). We spent the extra 15 mins to get him checked out by the medic at the aid station. We hit the trail hot again and it paid off. We had an uninterrupted 45 min downhill flow to the finish line. We finished 8th today.

Day 6 - Squamish, 55 kms??

What I learned about Scott this week. He doesn't complain, he knows how to suffer, he's got a turbo button when there's single track, and he gets stronger as the race goes on. Honestly? Who finds their legs 6 days into a 7 day race??? We know today's course and another singlespeed friendly start put Scott WAY up front. I don't have his race experience and am very scared of blowing. I fell behind early and it took a lot to get caught up. First up was the couple from Day 1 who does not like to ceede the trail. Got in front of them only to be slowed by the other co-ed team that had been nicknamed 'Push-Pull'. We were on a double track power line climb and she was struggling. There was probablt 8 or 10 of us stacked up behind her. She said one word (in French?) and he hopped off his bike, ran up and started pushing her up the hill at the same time as his bike!!! Fortunately, I did manage to get in front of them at the crest of the climb where Scott was waiting. And we were off. We bascially has a GREAT ride and easily rode into 6th position. The trails in Squamish are amazing. We rode some well established trails and a new one that was steep and long and yuumy good! Just writing about it makes me want to go back right now.

As if the single track wasn't reward enough.

Day 7 - Whistler, 29 kms

Day 7 smiles are as good as Day 1 smiles.

Short and hard starting with a nasty 300 m climb. It was just hard and fast today. Scott was in front and still strong. Again, who finds their legs on day 7? He worked me all day. After the first climb, called See Colors and Puke, I think, is a buffed, 15 km swithcback descent. The rest of the stage is hazy as Scott has me close to the redline. The final climb is a road climb culminating in a short staircase and then singletrack to the finish line. We hit the road climb just in front of another couple that we had been yo-yoing with all week. Scott saw them sit up on the road so we just kept spinning. On about the 3rd switchback, Scott looked back and saw that he was pushing her and the gap was shrinking. My ego took the hit as my singlespeeing husband, came along my left side and proceeded to push me up the hill! On day 7 and my geared ass is getting pushed up the last hill by my ss man! We kept the gap open and threw ourselves down the last singletrack to the finish line. The end.No more of these for a while! After a few days of this race you end up knowing the folks you are riding around. I am very chatty when riding, probably obnoxiously so, and very much enamored with Scott. Since we don't see each other very often we were very affectionate even on the trail. Around Day 4 or 5, as we came up on another rider he asked if that was honey-sweetie behind him. :)

It was a great week and a very different experience compared to last year. Last year I wasn't sure that I would finish. This year it was actually racing at times. Having shorter courses helped, having another year of riding and training helped, having an actually cross country bike helped. I don't have the desire to do this again. I know that Scott will help me come up with the next challenge.... yay.

BWR-Team Honey Sweetie Part 1

2009-07-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

BCBR 2009 is finished! Scott and I had a great race and even put up a couple of good finishes towards the end of the race. Yeehaw. The BCBR is a 7 day mountain bike stage race that strives to have the most and best singletrack of all the multi-day races. This is the 3rd year for the event and the race courses were better than the previous year's. I rode my new Siren which was a tremendous improvement over the Specialized Enduro I rode last year. Scott was on his trusty, utilitarian WaltWorks single speed (only 1 gear!).

DAY 1- The North Shore, 29 kms

The first day was short at 29 kms. Endless Biking designed the course. The race started fast, uphill, and hit a bottleneck within 5 kms. The first of only 2 climbs was the non-technical grunt up Old Buck. We had a bit of trouble getting past another co-ed team on the climb. He was pushing her up the trail and not sharing the trail. This is a very experienced team (La Ruta x 2, Trans Rockies, Trans Alps and Cape Epic!), and friendly when off the bikes, but not willing to let others by. Local North Shore ripper Wade Simmons was marshalling at the top of the climb and encouraging riders to drop the saddle before dropping into Severed Dick.

From a previous ride on Severed....

We both had good descents and rode off to the middle chain ring climb up Mt. Fromme. Scott was in the front and pulled in maybe 10 or 12 riders! We took the time drop the saddles for the Pipeline descent. We've both ridden this trail before, although in a different disguise...It was imposible to pass other riders, so I hit the 3 rocked in rollers to avoid the walk-around and managed to ride into an open gap. We kept riding well and finished 7th for the stage after getting passed in the last 500 m on the road. Me on the rollers on a non-race day.
DAY 2 - Nanimo to Parksville, Vancouver Island, 73 kms
The morning started with an early ferry ride to Vancouver Island. The trails were great today and we were enjoying the slickrock-esque steep pitches on super sticky outcrops and the views across Georgia Straight. We were riding strong and made up the time lost spent getting my chain unsucked (I may have commented on the upside of singlespeeding here). Then the singletrack stopped. The final 15kms of today's stage was a gradual descending logging road best ridden in the big chain ring. Scott and I worked together, but even with a bit of help from me, he was seriously spun out for all 15kms. Four fully geared co-ed teams passed us in the last 6 kms and we finished 10th. Here's the only picture we took during the race.
DAY 3 - Comox Valley, Vancouver Island, 56 kms

This is some GOOD riding even if overall the day was hard for us. I got chain suck again about 1 hour into the race and we lost 4-5 positions. We managed to regain our position on a 40 minute forest road climb and rolled through the first aid station in good spirits. Then I broke my chain, interupting a sweet, steep, rocky descent. :( Scott came to my rescue and we were rolling again, chasing down teams again. We faultered a bit during a long forest road section and Scott's legs took a beating. Combined with the 15kms at the end of Day 2 and this long, high cadence section, we took a break to refocus. Turns out all Scott needs is single track! He rocked the last 10 kms of single track which were nothing but bridges, short rolling climbs/descents and a few thousand roots.

Re-fuelling in Cumberland.

A good future

2009-05-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

From my bedroom with the shades half drawn you can watch the North Shore mountains brighten in the mornings until the frst direct rays hit the exposed ski runs on Grouse Mountain. Honoring the pre-dawn light, and rising as the sun comes up the city is subdued I understand why there are morning people in the world.

Morning people who move to northern latitudes need to be re-programed. I woke just long enough to note that Scott was out of bed and that it was getting bright outside. I woke a little bit more when coffee grinder whired and the kettle was set on the stove. Looked outside to a light blue sky but dark mountain tops. Looked at the clock. Big hand on the 12 and little hand spot on the 5. I stole into the kitchen, gave Scott a hug and a kiss and whispered that it was FREAKING EARLY. We easily made the 7:30 ferry to the Sunshine Coast for another day of riding and exploring.

We walked onto the ferry and settled in with a cup of coffee and our map. The plan was to take public transit to Roberts Creek and start climbing from there eventually finishing on the sweet descending Highway 103 and 102 trails back for the 4:20 pm ferry. Waiting to dismebark from the ferry we started chatting with a local who kindly drove us to Roberts Creek.
The fun beings.

Dave's Detour was a bit overgrown.
Caroline's Connector was buff and bermed.

We hooked up with anothe rider while looking for Mexican Jumping Bean. He had a different, but equally shitty map, that had not only different trails, it called the same trails different names and had no contour lines. Neither map had UTM coordinates! Trails that didn't connect or ended into nothing. grrrr to shitty mapping. Maybe 90 mins later and still looking for Mexican Jumping Bean -- maybe it was snowed in?
Sunshine Coast swoopiness. Lots of wood work. Lots of bridges. Or not.

A bar for enjoying CO whiskey.

Smiles all around.

According to Environment Canada on summer solstice the sun will rise at 5:07 am and set at 9:22 pm. That is 16 hours and 15 mins of seeing the sun. 16 hours and 15 mins of play time, not including pre-dawn and dusk. There is more to look forward too!

A hint of the future

2009-05-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

Last Memorial Day, Scott first visited BC. He rode gears and full suspension. He rode baggies and a full face helmet. We went on our first date. A year later and another visit to Vancouver. Scott rode his single speed with front suspension. He brought a lot of lycra. We went on another date.

He also brought my new cross country bike over the border. A rhodochrosite red Siren with fluorite purple bling-bits. Color scheme inspired by the Colorado State Mineral type locality from the Sweet Home Mine near Alma. It's cool to be a geek.

Scott built. We rode.

Unlike my all-mountain Enduro, the Siren actually likes climbing. The 29" front wheel rolls like a dream and doesn't wheelie up at the first hint of steepness. The front fork is still enough for how I ride the Shore and the soft-tail takes the edge off the roots and rocks. I'm loving the Ergon grips.

Saturday we rode to the North Shore Bike Fest for the Marathon XC race. The race was only 40 kms. It started by heading out on a paved multi-use path before heading back to the start line on double track. The course then headed across to Seymour Mountain on technical single track before the double track climb up Old Buck and the Baden Powell. Then my least favorite descent on the Shore- Severed Dick, a hike-a-bike up C-Buster, follwed by descending single track and a steep climb double track climb to the start area. The finish line was a decsending, big chain ring ripping, 5 km crushed gravel path.

I doubt this will ever happen again, but as the start and finish were all about pushing the BIG chain ring I got in front of Scott. He just about caught me on the Old Buck/Baden Powell climb. I heard his voice part way down Severed Dick and stopped to give him a kiss. We rode together for a while until he crashed (not a bad one!). I stopped until he reminded me this was a race. The Siren *loves* to climb so I managed to reel in a few guys on the last long climb :) If I can't descend worth shit I should at least climb well! Scott finished a few minutes behind me. It was not a good course for a single speed. I almost felt guilty everytime I shifted to the big ring.

I learned that some people are bothered by chatting on climbs during a race... that there are a lot of sandbaggers in citizen class... and that riding home from a race is hard.

Just Cause

2009-05-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

Sunny Weekend

2009-05-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

Vancouver is having more frequent sunny and warm days. Satuday the company I work for, AMEC, had organized a work-party at the Richmond Fruit Tree Project's Farm. The Fruit Tree Project started with people donating extra fruit from their back yard trees to the food bank. The project in Richmond has expanded and includes a few hectares of an urban farm. The volunteer argo-ecologist working at the farm thinks the farm donated either 2,000kg or 20,000kg of fruit and veggies to the Richmond Food Bank last year.

We weeded the strawberries that were just putting out blooms and hoed a few rows to make raised beds in one of the fields. AMEC provided an amazing lunch from One World Catering! A box lunch with zero throw-away waste, organic ingredients, cloth napkin, real flatware, turtle shaped salt and pepper shakers. Lovely. Yummy.

Sunday I was attempting a dirt double-double-- 2 laps on Burnaby Mountain, 2 laps on Seymour. Good weather again. Left the condo at 8:30, ride to Burnaby, up Pandora, down Nicole's, up Dead Moped and the TransCanada, down Pandora.

Tires back on the North Shore at 12:10. Climb to the Lynn Canyon Trails, across to Bridal Path, up Old Buck, down Severed Dick. Actually, scoping Severed to see just how much of it I will be walking when this is part of the XC course in 2 weekends. I'll be walking a lot.
I also bailed on a second lap in favor of a trip to the garden store. Must have been feeling inspired from working at the farm. My track record with growing plants is poor, so it was important to keep the captial costs low and recycle the box o' wine for the single tomato plant.
The boys checking out the kitty dope.

Rain Free Spring Weekend

2009-04-19T20:31:00.001-07:00

woohoo!!! So it is actually raining now. But not when I was on the bikes :)

Saturday, I took advantage of the not-rain and explored the sunshine coast on the road bike. The Sunshine Coast is only accessible by a 40 minute ferry ride from West Vancouver. After getting an early morning wake up call from Scott, who had his wheels rolling much earlier than me, I rode to catch the 9:20 ferry.

Time for coffee.

The road and (excellent) mountain biking starts from the ferry terminal and lasts all day. Some good views, lovely rolling climbs, some traffic but nothing like being in the city! I had hoped to get up past Earl's Cove to a couple of the provincial parks on the coast, but turned back to make the 4:30 ferry back to the mainland and to get home in time for my skype date with Scott. There is more exploring to do here SweeteSt.... Rode past this guy's place. He makes cool metal things and puts them in the forest....

Grasshoppers

Puppy

Bear

RAWR- Dinosaur

Yoga?

The POPE??

Back on the ferry with carrot cake to fuel the last 25 kms back to the apartment.

Sunday stayed cloudy but dry. I have been ignoring my mountain bike after experience the joys and happiness and pleasure of riding an actual cross country rig. The Enduro has gotten me back into the sport, but the love is gone for how I now want to ride (you know, faster on the UPS and the downs). Sigh, the Enduro doesn't want to fly and does NOT like to climb. I headed to Seymour for some north shore cross country. I miss the desert. :)

Ned's is a good xc ride. Most everything can be rolled and hucking not required. Not that I can clean the trail. It's still a tough ride for me.
The easier route... It's a fun roll!

Transport Space

2009-03-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

Image: Press-Office City of Müenster, Germany

2009-03-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

Slow, hungover touring on Saturday on surpisingly good snow. It felt good to be on the teles for the first time (!) this year. Plastic boots, touring bindings, forgiving skis and powder. mmm mmm good.

K swears there's a line. I only see a cliff. But that why she's K.

Trainer on Sunday. Commuting and afterwork ride during the week. Heading out of the office Thursday and realizing that I didn't have a rubber band to pull my hair back. Flagging tape was the solution. Yoga from home tonight. It took many tries to get this one...
For the last 2 Fridays I've attended a 60 min hip-opening class at 6:30am. The scheduling and focus of the class are ideal, but my inner yoga snob is fighting this decision. I have issues with the teacher since the first class I took with her months ago. I objected to her consistent use of the word 'booty' as the preferred label for glutes, bum, sitz bones, tail bone, etc and did not return to her classes. She's the teacher for the Friday 6:30am class and so I tried it again. The woman needs to return her thesaurus and check out a dictionary. She instructed us to 'palpate the earth with our fingertips' and to inhale a collective, juicy breath. When moving into a sequence of reclining postures, including reclining bound angle, she instructed us to splay our legs out, or was it flay, or fillet? I couldn't tell. Accoring to merriam-webster, none of those words really fit.

At 6:30 in the morning, she should also be using her inside voice.

The BCBR has added increased the race size to 500 and added new categories this year. There is a solo category and is enough folks sign up a single speed category. Of course, Scott will be riding HIS awesome Walt ss. I wish that I was strong enough/experienced enough to try the BCBR on a single speed. Based on the pain during yesterday's 40 km fixie ride I have a long loong long way to go before that is an option. sigh.

The race is also now starting in downtown Vancouver and spending the first day on the North Shore. That will be *interesting*. The logistics will be easier, but the "XC" on the Shore is a *bit* technical. Based on the written course description (no maps yet), the last trail of the day will be Pipeline. A great trail. Scott and I rode it last year on our first date weekend :) I also crashed and broke my elbow on it last July. A little less :) and a little more :-o

Work Day Daydream

2009-02-23T13:54:00.000-08:00

The Ay-Ups, especially the helmet mount, make me practically invincible but the cars on my commute are getting to me this week. The rain has returned and the sunrise is at about the midpoint of my commute. I think that the transition times are when drivers are the shittiest: sunrise, dusk, time changes, a return to the rain after a few weeks of sunshine.

I wonder if bike commuting is making me a meaner person. There is no excuse for drivers that fail to see me. Helmet and handle bar mounted ay-ups, planet bike red blinkie, reflective jacket, reflective tights, reflect booties, reflective tape on bike, helmet and rack, and a reflective rear triangle. Every extra precaution that I take reduces my tolerance drivers. I have been lucky. I have never been hit by a car at speed or had items thrown at me or been chased/followed/confronted. But somedays, I wonder if it's just a matter of time.

2009-02-15T14:54:00.000-08:00

Back to solo riding for the time being. Scott's back in Cali working even harder since I'm not there to distract him. It's also time to start thinking about training again. The weather has been unseasonally sunny though not warm. It is nice to be back in Vancouver. I rolled my favorite road ride on Saturday heading out to Whytecliff Park in West Vanvouver and then out to UBC.

View down to Horseshoe Bay in West Van.Sunday was even nicer so I took the green beast out. The Lynn Headwater Park is about 6-7 kms from the house. It's a great regional park with trails for hiking, running, mountain biking, lakes, fishing and a pedestrian suspension bridge. There is also a paved 10 km long paved trail that is closed to cars. The paved trail was the goal for today. That would give me about 30 or so km on the fixie most without the fear of cars.

At the start of the paved trail the warning sign seemed to have been left from the last storm....

However, just a kilometer further was the undeniable turn around point.
Oh well. I headed back through North Van and just did a lap around Stanley Park instead. The fixie is a lot of fun and I still haven't crash yet. yay. Scott, thank you for letting me take this bike back to Vancouver with me. I had a lot of fun today. Miss you.

Oskar-katThis was also a good week at work. I'm staying busy (read chargeable. I hate billable hours) and even managed to hand off some work to colleages. The BEST part is there's a chance that my favorite project may have some more work for me. This project was kind of my breakout project within the company and it was *THE BEST FIELD PROJECT EVER*. ever. 3 weeks, 3 good and fun co-workers as a field crew, an A-Star helicopter and a healthy budget.

It started with some really fun GIS work. I got to investigate the potential for acid rock drainage for a lateral transect across BC. Did I mention that involved three weeks in the field with a helicopter to do my bidding?

These days are when my job is very good. Very good.

I also turned 30 on this trip. We celebrated at Esther's Inn in Prince George BC. Esther's Inn has indoor water slides. Um, one of these is my manager. :)

words to come later

2009-02-09T22:30:00.000-08:00

now just some pictures for you, Scott, after tonight's XC ski. I miss you. *heart*

A great ride in San Fran

2009-01-31T22:08:00.000-08:00

We left Bakers-hell behind us, started the journey back north, and spent a weekend in San Fran at my sister and BIL's. Scott had a biodiesel conference and I had a rented SUV with three bikes in the back. While SS was off being smart on Saturday I met a friend from undergrad days. Cyndi and I were in the same sorority pledge class at School of Mines. She's now living in California staying busy a smart attorney for Apple and it seems to really suit her. She's also started road biking! With a smile like this, she must be having a good time!

Cyndi has signed up for her first metric century and her 2009 goal is a full 100 mile ride. We had 38 miles of beautiful riding starting at the Golden Gate Bridge, winding around the back way to Tiburon and then back along the water to San Fran.

It was a stunning day!
She was still grinning as we made our way back into town at the end of the ride.

Thanks for the ride! I had a great time. Good luck with the metric century and let me know how your training and rides goes this year. BTW-- Vancouver in September? There's ocean kayaking a 40 minute road ride, or 15 min drive, from my condo.....

Enjoying SoCal

2009-01-28T15:01:00.000-08:00

Loaded up and headed out of the armpit of California to mountains of fun.Scott and I signed up to do the 12 Hours of Temecula as a coed duo team. Even without a race resume Big Wheel Racing let me join their team. Thanks!

Scott, maintaining the title of best husband ever, let me race the Walt (again!) while he rode the Surly. We brought my Enduro just in case I felt the need for gears at some point. Although when a bike looks this good....and climbs so well....and there's only 2 teams in our race category....

Jeni, thank you for the BWR jersey loan! It's freshly laundered and on it's way back to CO.

Ohhhhh. Look at all the fast people.

And the fun people who are also fast. It was great to meet so many of Scott's friends and teammates. A fun and welcoming and smiling group of people.

Dave and Yumi, the t-shirts are very cool! Thanks for the hospitality and the beer and the wrenching! If we get into SSWC09 then we'll see you in Durango later this year.

All told, we each rode 6 laps, but since a few of the laps we rode together instead of as a relay, our final count was less than 12. I managed all the laps on the single speed and am more then a little surprised since that was greater than 50 miles.

We took the geo-tour route home. Scott had done some research and found a place with cool rock outcrops that was adjacent to the San Andreas fault zone. Reminscent of the Boulder Flatirons, but with less iron and therefore not the rusty color. Made me a bit melancholy for CO. We don't know where/when we're going to end up living but the front range of CO is on the (very very) short list.

In the meantime, go north young man. Further north. North of the 49th north.

How did we end up here again?

What a degree (or two or three) will get you

2009-01-26T13:03:00.000-08:00

Good thing I have those degrees in geo engineering and geology.... the colored pencil skills can come in handy.

Looks like Scott's PhD means he's too good for colored pencils. :)

I haven't looked at the start list yet. We got them in the mail the last possible day....

2009-01-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

I can't find the title block.....

A photo-light post. My camera batteries died and for some reason Scott's camera is kaput too.

We've settled into a lovely weekend routine since New Year's. Friday night we rode fixies to the climbing gym. Scott kind of glides up the wall all smooth and unconcerned. I look more like a fish trying to get out of a mudflat. flop flop gasp for air flop flop. On the upside, my hand remained on the belay when that catchy, pop syrupy sweet, Beyonce song was played. The one that contains the imperative to 'put your hands up!'.

Saturday was the Rio Bravo Rumble, a local off road biathlon. We talked about doing this as a team but couldn't decide who had to run the 10k and who got to ride the 16 miles on the Walt. The Walt (proper noun), is Scott's luuurveeely custom single speed with 29" wheels.

We both wanted to ride, neither really wanted to run. The only sensible solution was for both of us to do the full race. Pre-race smiles. And, check out the race gear.... It is mid January and I raced shorts and jersey. It's not going to be this warm in Vancouver until May!

I got the Walt :) I drank the kool-aid.
The 10k run hurt. It was in the foothills east of Bako and the hills aren't super long, but they can be steep. I survived the run only by walking the really steep hill and making airplane noises with my arms extended on the downhills. The bikes all lined up in the transition zone was a welcome sight. The ride was great fun and hard work. My calves started cramping and I wondered if I was going to finish the race. The first bit of hike-a-bike was excruciating pain in the calves and achilles. The rest of the ride was pretty good and the pain subsided a bit. There was some funky off camber "single track" (really a cow trail heavily pockmarked by cow prints) but in general the course was fast and fun. The Walt eats other cyclists. I swear. I think riding singlespeed made me faster then if I had raced a geared bike.

My husband is faster then me, so he had beer waiting when I finished! That and he had already cleaner up all my gear from the transition zone.

I stole this post-race picture from Scott's facebook. I really like that pint glasses were the swag for 1-3rd place. That and a nice 2.3 tire for my Enduro that should be good fun for the North Shore. Unfortunately, the pint glass wasn't presented pre-filled with beer.

My first singlespeed race. Just might try it again this weekend

2009-01-11T20:20:00.000-08:00

Another weekend in Central California and another weekend in denial about my return to Vancouver.

Friday night we ended up at the local climbing gym/bike shop where Scott got a good deal on a few wheels and I bemoaned the lack of 5.7 and easy 5.8 routes.

Saturday required an alarm clock to wake up for a group road ride with the Kern Wheelmen. The ride was in the mountains above the Central Valley fog. It was sunny and warm and I wish that my fitness was up for more than the 45 miles we managed to roll.Home by early Saturday afternoon and good thing as Scott has a few hours of work to get the fixies ready for the next morning. See, we've talked about having a lazy weekend with a cruise to the coffee shop in the morning. This vision required the right bikes and the right hipness (ya know, so we could, like, hang with the cool fixie kids in downtown Bako). *rolls eyes*

How many cranks do you own?!??!?!!!

Sunday morning was lazy and we slowly rolled the fixies to the local bagel shop. Scott rocked the perfectly rolled pants and argyle sweater! My intrinsic geekiness dominated. Sigh. Coolness constantly evades me. (BTW, a fixed gear bike means that there is no free wheel. If the back wheel is moving then the pedals are spinning. Conversely, if you stop pedalling then then wheel stops rolling and you crash. No coasting).

The weather here is warmer and sunnier then Vancouver has been since about October. After the morning on fixies we donned jerseys and shorts/knee warmers for the afternoon Southern Sierra Fat Tire Assocation group ride in the foothills. Scott continues to let me ride his Walt Works custom 29" single speed. I LOVE this bike. LOVE. Which means for the last 3 SSFTA rides Scott has been rocking his fixed Surly rat ride. Yup, fixied gear mountain biking. My sweetest rocks. Even if he didn't let me ride the Walt, he would still rock.

The Walt and the Rat Ride

All smiles before another descent into Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

Scott playing on a great banked wall.

Groovin' on the Walt and grinning down Mr. Toad's.

THE END

Christmas No. 1

2008-12-26T18:56:00.000-08:00

Christmas was great. Scott showed me how to ride a fixed gear bike on the quiet back streets of Bako after a pancake and fake bacon breakfast and two lovely, thoughtful gifts (one is a really big picture book of geology type stuff).
We've been spending a lot of time with family on both coasts (recently) and work (always) and were looking forward to 4 days off. Scott booked 4 days (!) at a lodge in Sequioa National Park where the package included cross country ski rentals. It was time to get SS on Skinny Skis. There are 2 entrances to the park; one from Visalia that involves 25 kms of switchbacks, and one from Fresno that requires an extra 30 miles of driving, but fewer mountain passes. We brought chains, added a few hundred pounds of sand to the back of the truck and drove via Fresno into the mountains and an "epic" (rolls eyes) snowstorm.

The short version is that we got denied at the northern park entrance due to road conditions after watching a tour bus get stuck due to a broke tire chain wrapped around the axle and blocking the snow plows from progressing up the mountain. The only options was to drive back to the southern entrance where the road was only open to vehicles with chains *and* 4 wheel drive. Short story is we spent Christmas night at the Holiday Inn, Visalia eating Wendy's (the *only place open besides Denny's) and drinking beer at the hotel bar. :( NO SNOW FOR YOU.

Scott taking the turmoil in a stride with a smile and a beer.

The next day dawned bluebird and we launched our second mountain lodge assalt. Got to the park, got up the switchbacks, got to the lodge!!! The lodge has lost power at 8 am Christmas Day, the pipes were frozen and they were about 2 hours from evacuating all guests and employees. NO SNOW FOR YOU :(

We still salvaged the day (my SweeteSt is a consistent optimist) with a short hike in the snow texas style (blue jeans) with whiskey. A bit of snow for us. :)

BTW--- This snow was nice, lovely, light, fluffy, 30-45 cms of fresh powder. It was tormenting to not have ski gear. We will make up for lost winter recreation in the future, but tomorrow is back to the mountain bikes. Yay. I may even be trying one of SS's Single Speeds.... wish me luck!

We stopped at a produce market on the way home. What do you do with a squash this big? That would be too much, way to much, squash soup.

Drafting

2008-12-02T16:03:00.000-08:00

I'm not riding solo these days.

Since coming to California a couple of weeks ago, we have managed a number of rides; dirt, road, commuting to yoga class, returning books-on-cd to the library.

This last Sunday, we drove to the east side of town and climbed up out of the central valley fog.

Out of fog and into sunshine. I hoped CA road riding would be like this.

It's fun and much faster to ride with Scott.

Oskar-cat during business hours.

The leftovers of our stuff

2008-10-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

Northern Manitoba, contintal shield, beautiful country

Old mine from the WW2 era.

Old mine tailings. Acid generating mine tailings.

Metal leaching mine tailings. secondary mineral precipitates. ooohhhh colorful.

The importance of controlling erosion. The orange layer is already oxidized and most of the metals have already leached. The grey layer is unoxidized and has a higher metal content. When the grey comes to the surface the tailings oxidize and the metals are released into the environment.

New mines, just like this old one, create tailings that must be disposed of and managed. One of the biggest differences is that new mines are MUCH much much BIGGER. I think mining can be done responsibly to reduce environmental impacts and limit long-term cumulative effects. But the easiest way to reduce the impacts from mining is to buy less stuff. Everything comes from the field, the mine or the oil rig.

Up in the High Sierras

2008-09-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

Thursday night we went for mexican food and margaritas and decided that we would not elope but maybe just get engaged instead.

Friday we picked up our backcountry permit and decided to make it a honeymoon trip. I love this door at the courthouse. Just don't use a fictitious name for your marriage license.
Getting mentally prepared (and hydrated) before finding a minister in Lone Pine, California. The Alabama Hills Cafe serves bottomless strawberry lemonade for $2.50.
Beverly (owner of the flower shop, photographer and witness), Scott, myself and Bob, the minister. When she couldn't reach Bob by telephone, Beverly walked to his house and woke him up from a nap to officiate our ceremony.

Off to the honeymoon suite at Muir Lake.

My wife makes the BEST instant oatmeal!

This cliff looked very Patagonian to me (view to the northwest, husband for scale)

Top of New Army Pass

Scott and the ergonomic rock.

Sunbathing in the high sierras

And just to keep this post on topic with the original intent of this blog, I've signed Scott and I up for the 2009 BCBR.

One Day at a Time

2008-07-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

Race officials weren't handing out blue books, but I'm certain that one day at a time is the only way I completed the BCBR. Getting into Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island for Day 0, seeing a heavily skewed segment of the population (I swear there was not a single person with more than maybe 3% body fat). Everyone looked fast and fit. DAY 1Day 1 was scary. My first time on a a start line since the Jasper-Banff relays during grad school. Thanks to some good advice, K and I were positioned towards the back of the pack off to one side in the start chute. We avoided the worst of the recently mowed grass, but experienced the full hurry-up-and-wait when a lot of racers hit singletrack early in the day. I don't remember much of Day 1 other than the heat. It was by far the hottest day of the year for southern BC. I wilted. Walking st that should have been ridden, looking at the computer and thinking how the hell will I finish if I'm already pushing my bike only 47 kms into Day 1? Thankfully K had her head on straight and pulled me through. The rest of the day was pleasant enough with a fast logging road descent the spilled onto 20 kms of rail grade to the finish. We had our first taste of mid-pack competitive at the end. We had joined up with a men's team and were riding the rail grade together and pulled through a co-ed team from Oz. They sat on our wheels until the last 2 kms when we hit road and then called out 'Thanks for the pull' and took off for the finish line. pffft. Wow, there are some FAST women here!!! Inspiring.

Day 2
Day 2 found us in the B start chute; being such solid mid-packers the B chute was to be our start zone each subsequent day. Day 2 was a long, hot ride that was all about putting in kilometers and getting further up island. Nothing much to say other than being thankful for all the road miles during the spring. We managed to get into a few pace lines early in the day. Yeah for drafting. We probably rode the final 40 or 50 kms by ourselves. The heat was taking out a lot of people though we managed to stay strong. My, um, personal race manager had counseled me to eat more and drink more than I though I needed. Very good advice. Kirsty kept rocking with the ipod. The day was filthy, dirty from the dirt road dust. Yeah to getting through Day 2 which according to my computer was 135 kms. K had terrible allergies from all the dust of the logging roads. It was also the furthest I've ever ridden on a mountain bike and the furthest (by 30+km) that Kirsty has ever ridden, road or mountain!

Day 3
Day 3? All I remember is still being on the Island. That and 2 stream crossings. The first of which was chamois deep...
...and I remember some shitty st. A bunch of kilometers of new, soft, energy sucking, bumpy, no-flow, exhausting, upper body burning st was built between snow melt and the race. The given names for the trails were steam donkey and entrails (?). Steaming pile of donkey entrails? The more established st was pleasant enough; a few bridges, some fat skinnies, lots of roots (thank goodness it was dry). K has wicked skills and I wish I could say I bombed down following her awesome line, but it was more of riding at my edge, pushing myself and still loosing sight of K. Also, I started to freak out from the social/people aspect of 400 riders + support. I like people, some of the time, but actually skipped dessert (ice cream cones!) and left dinner early to get some solitary time.

Day 4
4:30 am wake up call. Bus-ferry-bus-ferry-start line at 11 am. Actually the day was great. Canada Day. Lots of powerline climbs today, hot, exposed but the good rewarding descents for the climbing effort and great views. My first complaint about the race was dinner. After 3 great days of food on the island there was NO veggie protein at dinner! I actually went back to the tent and forced down a protein bar. ick. The race organizers remedied the problem by ordering a handful of veggie pizzas and wondering around tent city calling out for the vegetarians. What happens to the mid and back of the pack when 400 riders hit singletrack within 10-15 kms of starting. There was steep climbing today. K and I had our groove on and were riding great together. Her soul is on st and downhill so she'd go ahead and get her woohoos of bike happiness in on the downhill. My slower, but still woohoooing self would catch up on the climbs and road sections. By the time the next st section came I'd let K roll through. Rinse and repeat for 5-7 hours.

Day 5
Another early wake up. This time was 5:30 am wake up for an 8 am start just to catch the ferry from the Sunshine Coast back to the lower mainland that afternoon. This was the first day with hard cut off times at the second aid zone. If you didn't make the first cut-off time you missed the glorious 12 kms of pure st descending and had to ride down logging roads. If you missed the second, hard cutoff then you didn't get to ride at all and were trucked to the ferry terminal. Missing either cut-off meant getting a blue race plate and no official result (the nice way of putting the dreaded DNF). I think we rolled through with 40 minutes to the first cut-off!!! Yeah and onto the AMAZING SINGLETRACK. 12 KMS of amazing single track. banked corners, small ramps and ladders, smooth track, new chickenwire on the logs and bridges, dry trail, tight switch backs all under beautiful green canopy of the rainforest. My teammate is crazy fast descending and kept passing people. I was trying to ride safe and within, but at the edge, of my limits but I get very stressed when there's people on my back wheel. After passing another women's team, the stress manifest as a bad line and I took my biggest crash of the race. Kind of wrapped myself backwards in an arch around a tree... knocked my organs around a bit but got back on the bike and kept descending (no other choice really) but some of the pure glee has evaporated being replaced by practical, sensible riding. I actually went to the medics directly after crossing the finish as I had some concern for kidney damage/internal bleeding. It was a hard crash. No damage, just gave the body a good shake and stir. I really must stop crashing. The computer cable got severed at some point during the day when I laid down on a sandy switchback.

Day 5 ended with the ferry ride from the Sunshine Coast to Horseshoe Bay. I hadn't really thought about how close to home we would be...only 25 of my favorite road kilometers and I could be at my new condo with the kitties....and the new washing machine for freshly laundered lycra....

Day 6
Lots of reasons to smile today!! The Gear Jammer and Test of Metal mash-up. The BCBR wake-up call involved a rubber chicken and a megaphone. My personal wake-up call was a sweet text message originating somewhere in the armpit of California. Today I woke to the chicken but not a text message :( Uuntil I noticed it was a 5:40 am and not the scheduled 6:30 am. Oops. The chicken got quiet quickly.

Less welcome was the sound of rain on the tents. Rain + roots + man mades = snotty ridding. The rain stopped and thanks to the previous week's warm weather the ground soaked up the rain and the trails were actually in great condition, possibly even better as the moisture kept the dust down. I'd been having trouble with my front wheel and had the front skewer/quick release thingy replaced two day previously. But the front brake was still rubbing and the quick release kept coming loose necessitating 3 annoying stops before the first aid station.

Riding familiar trails was great and even *I* was passing people on the downhill. When we hit the puesdotsuga trail I failed to get my ass far enough past my saddle and did a running-over-the-handlebars dismount to which some random (and patronizing?) man said "need to get your ass further past your saddle, sunshine." The two feed zones were at the same criss-cross point of the course. The leaders had rolled into the second feed about 5 minutes before we got to the first!!!! The last challenge of the day was 9-mile hill, of which there is no need to remember. Then nothing but the technical goodness of Powerhouse Plunge, the flow of Crumpit Woods, and the finish line! The finish line was where SS was waiting with smiles, a quarter pound bag of peanut m&ms and Colorado whiskey! So many smiles.

Day 7
Only 47 kms today! Only one big, sustained climb. Heck the course profile almost looked flat. Day 7 was FREAKING TOUGH and cold. Started with a drawn-out climb up the Peak-to-Creek ski trail. 15 nice tight switchbacks, wiggly lovely goodness along the Cheakamus River then a joy-sucking road climb that finished with climbing a set of stairs (grunt, Enduro heavy, grunt) to access the st descent to first aid zone. Another day with hard cut-offs. We rolled through with over an hour before the cut-off, I think. Anyway, more cold, more road climb, more stairs (!), more short steep climbs to prove there was nothing left in my legs. But, Scott, thanks for smiling so brightly when you were walking along side of me as I pushed my bike up the hill, telling me how long and steep the hill was and how everybody was walking. I think you may have even giggled a little when saying how it got even steeper around the corner. Thanks, darling.

My mental game was thin today. I knew that there were only 22 kms left after the first aid zone; a totally doable distance, less then my daily commute. When we exited a bit of st at a road crossing and the course marshal cheered us on with "good riding! only 12 kms left!" I did cry. Thank goodness I didn't have a computer anymore or I would have fixated on how slow the kms were passing. However, the next section, A River Runs Through It (ridden backwards), was very very technical with lots of lifts and required total concentration. Pant, Enduro getting very heavy, pant. K is ahead of me since we just finished some st and there is a small climb so she keeps rolling and I start chasing. Until the full grown black bear walks onto the trail between us. There was some tough, old school very rocky riding right before the second aid zone. that was actually fun.

The second aid station was not only 5 kms of riding from the finish, it was also only 200 m from the finish as the exhausted rider pedals. Here's the crazy bit. K and I had been making the cut-offs, not by a lot, but consistently getting through so we were jaw-dropped flabbergasted that there was only 5 mins before the cut-off! That meant that a lot of teams that had ridden well all week were headed to DNF land. uber-disappointing (spoiler- race officials admitted they made a mistake and added 30 mins to the cut-off time and let a big group or riders go back and finish the course with official times! Very cool). But, we finished42 hours 25 mins and 57 seconds after the first start gun. Only 10 hours and 13 mins or so behind the first place women's team. SS was there with beer (such a good man!!). Yeah to finishing!

more delays

2008-07-17T16:31:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to have the BCBR write up finished this week...there were even going to be pictures as someone turned in my camera!!!

But I crashed ridding Mt. Fromme yesterday. My right radial head is broken. No cast, but a sling, lots of tylenol 3s (with codeine!) and physio starts next week to keep my range of motion and to keep from having to see an orthopedic surgeon. Crap. Movement hurts. And being right handed, i broke my right arm. of course.

I probably should have changed from clipless to platform pedals. I knew that the trails we were on were the edge of my ability clipped in, but I had wanted the extra kilometers of riding the Enduro from the office in Burnaby. time to re-evaluate this whole 'fitness' thing?

The upside, aside from the painkillers, is that my knees will get a good break from cycling!

Survival

2008-07-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

Kirs n Em Bikes survived the BCBR and made our goal of finishing with an official result AND with smiles and friendship and bikes intact! It was a great challenge and some of the riding, especially in the last 4 days, was amazing. ... like the solid 15 km of descending to the Day 5 finish line on the Sunshine Coast.

Right now the race is still a blur and I'm nowhere near having processed all the events. The two weeks leading up to the race included taking on a new project at work, moving into my new condo, as well as having my grandmother and sister visit. Dear SS was here for the last 2 days of the race and then spent the weekend in Vancouver. All this equals not enough sleep the last 3 weeks and having a brain that is about 3 days behind the calendar date.

We finished in 8th place out of 14 women's teams in 42 hours 25 minutes and 57 seconds. Thrilled to have a mid-pack finish as there are some VERY fast women out there! No pictures to post as my camera fell out of my camelback on Day 5 :( I'll try to add a short write up of the days but really need a few nights of good sleep first!

Disgusting!!

2008-06-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

How dare they!

Finally 100

2008-06-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

It's now less than 3 weeks to the BCBR!?!? Shit. I already had my first bad dream about the race...I should be used to this and know how to get my mind under control but I still have dreams where I think that there is some required coursework from undergrad that I never went too and turns out I didn't actually graduate from Mines. Then there was the night before my yoga teacher training final practicum. The dream was that my teacher pulled me aside and said, "Emily, we're sorry but you just don't have what it takes to be a yoga teacher." Argh! Who dreams about failing yoga teacher training?? The stupid part of this mental state is that our goal is to finish the race with the more smiles and woohoos than any other team. We're not looking to be the fastest, just have the most fun.

After a weekend with visiting family members necessitated short 2 hour rides last weekend, this weekend provided two lovely rides. Saturday was a road ride. It was great for four reasons. First, it didn't rain. Second, I finally climbed Mt. Seymour on the Orbea. Third, it was my longest ride ever on a bike -- 173 kms. Fourth, I actually ate enough during the ride to stay reasonably fueled. I've been too intimidated to climb Seymour since moving to a compact. Last year (still on a triple) I passed a guy when on Seymour and he made a comment about how he wished he still had a triple. Since then it's been in my head that it would be really really tough to climb this 1040m in 12.5 kms with a compact. It was a steady climb and there were a few times I noticed I was reaching for my shifters looking for another gear, but it wasn't an absurd climb. The downside is that it was cold, probably 5-6 C and foggy at the top. The leg and arm warmers were not sufficient and my feet were like bricks at the bottom of the decent. The rest of the ride was just lovely and pleasant and solitary; lots of time with my thoughts which have been lovely and pleasant the last couple of weeks. :) Rolled back home to North Vancouver in just under 7 hours of ride time (6 hours 55 min).

On Sunday I rode Fromme with my co-worker Andrew. It was raining and cold. Andrew has been in the field too much this last year and smoking to many cigarettes when in the field, so the climb was an easy spin. My legs didn't feel too bad but I was riding platforms so there is just no comparison with being clipped in. The plan was to ride Upper Oilcan, Oilcan and Lower Crippler. Oilcan is good singletrack, a little old school, with some excellent low consequence skinnies. From gutsploder.com....I didn't take a camera b/c of the rain.

On Sunday, with the rain, I cold have sworn some giant sneezed on all the skinnes and covered them with snot. If you even thought about touching your brakes your back wheel would instantaneously skid off. snotty. slimy. slippery. Lower Crippler was a new trail for me, having been previously scared off by the name. But Andrew is very encouraging, not too cheerleadery, and drops one or 2 little nuggets each time we ride that helps me get better. He said that I'm at the point now where I'm rolling most everything including the drops meant to be hucked...After the BCBR it may be time to go to a bike park and rent a super squishy ride for some true DH skills. I really want to ride this once the June Monsoon is over (I was just too scared this weekend and not willing to risk injury before the race).

Also from gutsploder.com

Field Work and Midweek Ride

2008-06-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

I've been low on chargeable work for the last few weeks (although this is dramatically coming to an end the same week I move into my new condo, have my g-mom and sister visiting and the week before the BCBR). One of my girlfriends at work was looking for someone to set up 2 evaporation stations at the Nickel Plate Mine near Hedley, BC. Hedley is about 4.5 hours east of Vancouver on Highway 3A and is the place with my favorite rock outcrop in the province on Stemwinder Mountain. Lovely layered sedimentary units, intermediate intrusions and skarn metasomatism. So I volunteered. The plan was to leave early in the morning, drive to site, set up the stations, and drive home. There was plenty of space in the rented truck (I've only had a car for one year out of the last 14) so I brought the Trek.

View to the west of Hedley and Stemwinder Mountain from the Mascot Gold Mine Instructions for the scenic route to the mine from the valley bottom highway visible in the previous picture: For the adventurous soul with a good car: On Highway 3A.....blah blah local geograhpy you don't know...This road is a single lane, dirt, steep, winding road not for the faint of heart, but with spectacular views. Stay on the main road, past the tailings facility and turn into the gate at the NPM mill facility.
I didn't get to the mill facility because of this. Who doesn't like mass wasting events?
I had to backtrack and take the long way around to the mine. Once on site, the set up went well with only a couple of hiccups (literally, airlocks in the lines between the evap pans and the water level logger). Got off site around 6 pm and went for a short 30 km road ride near Penticton. This areais the main produce and wine region in BC. It's also host to a large international ironman tri (read lots of good road biking) and Skaha, a great climbing area.

Spent the night in Penticton. It was raining when I got back to Vancouver Thursday morning. The June Monsoon is right on schedule.

My face muscles cramped from smiling

2008-05-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

This may have been the most fun weekend on mountain bikes since I got back into riding the fall of 2006. Actually, there is no doubt that it was the most fun. All because I got to go biking with fellow School of Mine'er Scott Sportsman. It may have been 10 years (10 years! OMG) since leaving Golden and the great friends and cycling but the memories have always been with me. sigh. memories. But now I have new memories, a better bike and stronger legs!

I was nervous to ride with Scott. He races. He races long distances. He races long distances without gears. He races long distances without gears or suspension. I'm a wannabe trying my first race with no experience or knowledge other than getting on a bike and pedaling. Of course, I only ever remember Scott (just like all the guys I rode with at Mines) being supportive and encouraging whenever we cycled in Golden. Nevertheless, nervous. What if he was bored with our trails? What if I really am a shitty rider and just have pretenses to mad skillz? What if he had to tell me I'm not ready for the race? What if he doesn't make it though Canada Customs and Immigrations???

A friend lent his Brodie Sauce to Scott who aptly remembered shifting and full suspension on the first day's XCish North Shore ride. We started gently on the Figure 8 loops in Lynn Valley and discovered that the brakes on the Brodie were insufficient, so we rode back down to sea level for a quick adjustment at the bike shop and then back up to Lynn Valley to start the climb to Mt. Seymour. The plan was to ride Fishermans to Bridal Path, climb up Old Buck and then drop the saddles, put on the armor and descend Severed Dick. I only got a little turned around, not lost, just added a few kms of backtracking a couple of three times.... I had to call for a rest break once we hit Old Buck. Maybe if there were more wildflowers for Scott to stop and take pictures of I wouldn't have been so trashed before the second to last climb of the day. The fully suspended ride down Severed was very tasty. Almost as tasty as the burger and beers at the local brew pub after the 5 hour ride. mmmm beer.

I may have a mind like a sieve sometimes, but am 99% certain (at 95% confidence) that Scott said he wouldn't have ridden that on his ss. Success!

Blurry Scott on Severed. I couldn't get far enough ahead to get a good picture! Due to the blur you can't note the full spandex with armor....Not the typical North Shore style of riding clothes...Obviously a tourist!
Since I'm kind (and training for the BCBR) I decided to ride Squamish XC on Sunday rather than show Scott more of the North Shore free ride stuff. That and I'm a lousy downhill rider. There was no goal for Sunday but turns out the Test of Metal course has been marked and once we found the single track there was nothing to do but follow the blue arrows. Of course, I still got us turned around and added a few kms backtracking especially when we rode into the area with active logging. I wasn't keen to meet a skidder or haul truck... Sunday was delicious riding! Though Scott did make wistful comments about not having his Walt today. The downside of riding together was it was not possible to take pictures. I couldn't get in front of Scott (who was now riding a demo Enduro from the LBS as the Brodie hasn't been ridden since my friend got married and had a baby 3 years ago and needed more attention from a wrench), long enough to document his geared and suspended hours. So I settled for his back wheel and attempted to take one-handed pictures on a section of flat wide loamy trail. The best trail of the day was Roller Coaster. Every bit as good as the name implies; fast, wiggly, goodness.
4 hours and a few advils later we decided to go to the Howe Sound Brew Pub for, well, burgers and beer. mmmmm beer. Summer days are long up north and Scott says his knee doesn't give him grief when running so we did a quick jaunt to the top of the Chief after quitting the pub. It's 550 m vertical over 2.5 kms to the top of First Peak. Rolled back into Vancouver around 8 pm and nibbled on crepes and grilled veggies for dinner. There was probably also beer.

I skipped work on Monday and Scott still had the Enduro and was booked on an evening flight. Plenty of time to ride Pipeline on Mt. Fromme. Platforms. Full face helmet. Full armor. Third easiest trail on the North Shore. Conditions were great, the trail was dry, the man mades were in good condition. I think it was a new pivot on the teeter-totter.... My only complaint was that full face helmets mask the smiles and muffle the woohooos. Scott's only complaint was I didn't feed him enough breakfast. We grabbed a quick bite at our much less tasty Chipotle's imitation and headed to the park to slackline; the perfect thing for those mellow in-between times with the added bonus of making Scott stationary long enough for some in-focus pictures. The only word for the weekend was amazing. The riding was wonderful. Probably 12 or so hours over 3 days of riding plus a hike. Scott provided some great tips on the race and some very appreciated confidence boosters about my fitness level/strength and chances of finishing the race. The conversations were fun-- nothing like a couple of Mines geeks talking 'bout the world-- though Scott's American accent often made me giggle. The time off the bikes was pretty damn great too, which turned out to be a relief as his flights out of Van got all kerfuffled and he was unable to get out of town until mid-day Tuesday.

Thanks for coming to visit Scott!! When and where is the next mtn bike get-together? I hear Moab is nice.

Dude

2008-05-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

Just like every weekend this year, I was out riding by myself today.

Catch up and pass a guy whose bike is making more noise than the 12 year old VW diesel getta I drove in high school. He smiles and I'm willing to exchange a few pleasantries. It is a lovely day. Yes, I am having a really nice ride, thank you. But dude. I don't know who you are and we are not going anywhere together today. I am going to Whytecliff Park. Alone. At my own pace. My pace which is faster than you on the climbs and very slightly slower than you on the descents. You descend faster courtesy of what is known as 'little g', your heavier bike and the extra mass around your mid-section that probably weighs more than my bike. It's a narrow road to Whytecliff Park and when I have to pass you the second time on the next little roller around the blind corner with the public bus behind me it is not fun.

You can't know that my huge(huge) pet peeve is men passing me on the downhills but being unable to keep the pace on the next climb. But when you pass me for the third time on the third downhill section.. just next time, please, spit down next to your front fork. Not out to the side at 30 km/h.

It was motivating to hammer the next 20 kms just to get away from you.

Regardless of the numbskull on wheels incident, the training is going great with another 100 road kms today. K and I went to Fromme for some mtn biking yesterday. I decided we should go all the way to 7th Secret to scope out the trail conditions. Trail conditions suck. The top 1/3 is still snow covered. We boot skied with our bikes. It was good we had armor as the snow was rotten and it saved our calves when we post-holed. Bottom 2/3 was great. K has wicked skills and it's a treat to ride and get tips from her. It's good the BCBR isn't a technical ride or I'd never be able to hang with her!

Does this count as tan lines?

2008-05-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

Burnaby mountain was muddy. After 5 days of not cycling, it felt really good to be back on the bike and ended up with a 5 hour ride. Right on schedule for BCBR training schedule (except for the 5 days in the field). There's not a lot of flow on the BBY mtn trails, but it was still tasty enough to ride Nicole's Pole and Cardiac hill twice.

Sunday--- Sunny skies and warm. Only knee warmers and arm warmers. Longest ride of the year so far! 130 km. Tired and hungry and in love with the Orbea.

There is town in north Ontario

2008-04-30T17:22:00.000-07:00

North Ontario is a subjective term. To Ontarians it means anything north of Toronto, which to the rest of Canada is below the 49th parallel and quite far south. North Ontario just means the northern part of the inhabitated bit of the province. If you look at a map of Ontario the exploration mining camp I'm at is geographic north-south middle of the province but quite close to the Quebec border which is an important influence on the regional cuisine.

Every year, I'm spending less time in 'the field' so even a week of hauling core boxes and bagging samples is good fun. This is not the glamerous field work I like to brag about and neither is the location. The Canadian shield is heavily forested rolling hills covered in lakes, muskeg, swamps, beaver dams, mosquitos, black flies and black bears. Over 1.5 meters of snow has melted in the last week so neither the bugs or bears have gotten too active. The snow has melted, but it hasn't stopped falling. It has been COLD until today. Today I only wore one pair of gloves.

There are 4 of these rows of core sheds and foundations are being poured for another 2 rows. Plus all the historic drill core archieved on the core library (aka graveyard). Lots of rock. Lots of $$ to drill and explore for metals. I am always amazed at how little metal costs when you look at the expense of finding a deposit, developing the prospect, defining the ore body, designing the mine, protecting the bugs and bunnies and fish and water and air, operating the mine, getting the concentrate to the smelter, smelting and then sending the metal to some manufacturing plant to make some dumbass disposable electronic device. If it can't be grown it's got to be mined and we don't (yet) pay the true price of for any goods. I either need a raise so I can buy new rain pants or just need to duck tape these so they last one more field season.I'm getting back to Vancouver tomorrow and straight onto the road bike and then eating a HUGE leafy green salad with spinach and drinking some beer! I bet my bikes have been lonely this week.

2008-04-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

It is lovely here in Vancouver.

Yeah. Sunshine and warm today. Everyone I saw on a bike today was smiling and friendly. Even the tri-geeks. Vancouver is like that; as soon as the sun comes out and it gets warm people get very happy. I still rode with knee warmers and jacket though. 100 kms today. Out to Whytecliff Park, around Stanley Park to UBC and then home. Wanted more. Life got in the way though. :(

Bike (isn't it lovely!?!)
Girl with Bike
The race is only a couple of months away! I alternate between thinking that we'll be fine and have no problems finishing the race. Then I have a shitty day on the bike and think that it's gonna be DNF from day 1. Good thing today wasn't a shitty day on the bike. So many riders out on the second nicest day of the year so far. 12 degrees C and light 15 kph winds.

At one point on the way to Whytecliff park a guy passes me and then the woman and other man riding with him come by. It was nice to take someone's wheel for a while as 95%+ of my riding is alone. Too bad they weren't faster and only had about 5 kms left in their ride. I do admit to being annoyed at getting passed, sitting on their wheel for a bit only to find myself going slower than I wanted on the next climb. It's like guys hate to have a woman in front of them..happens all the time on my commute. Wish I could be relaxed about it and laugh more!

Another thing I find myself doing is riding slower than I want because the people in front of me (who I've just caught up too) look fast. Nice legs, bike shorts/jerseys with logos and race teams. Did I catch up with them because I was drafting or are the actually slower or are they just between sets and having a short spin?

Final thought during riding today...if I ever manage to get a cycling boyfriend please please please kick me if I start wearing matching jerseys on rides! (However since the whole 'boyfriend' thing is just hypothetical right now....)

I didn't cycle this weekend

2008-04-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

Bring on the castigation. The goal of the blog is to hold myself accountable for BCBR training and I didn't get on any of my four bikes this weekend. No excuse but laziness and maybe a little sloth.

April has been unusually cold. It snowed (again!!!) on Friday. There was still snow on the streets Saturday morning and the high was only 5 degrees C. A friend made an unexpected weekend stop in Vancouver after working in Whistler for the week so we did 'city things' and sat in a cozy pub having pints and conversation. There was no snow Sunday and we exceeded the forecast high of 5 degrees to an impressive 6 degrees. I'm tired of wearing neoprene booties, two layers of gloves, full length tights with knee warmers underneath. Call me a fair-weather rider.

Consolation was found in crepes with strawberries, bananas, bittersweet chocolate sauce and whip cream.

Life is easy

2008-04-15T11:02:00.001-07:00

I sometimes feel embarassed or a little guilty about how easy my life is right now. Work is very slow and there is a lot of time for riding.

Saturday was the warmest day of the year so far. K really wanted to have one last ski for the year and we went to the Elfin Lakes hut. It's about a 24 km round trip in Garabaldi Provencial Park. There can be good skiing, but temps were at or just above freezing all night and you could almost see puddles in the skin track. We didn't even bother to yo-yo any slopes. The trail is very popular with snowshoes and novice skiers as you can get to the hut without crossing any real avalanche terrain and there are bright orange trail markers every 5 -10 meters for the low visibility days. The high traffic load has beat down the last 4-5 kms into a luge track. Kind of fun.

View back to Howe Sound
Mt. Garabaldi (it's a volcano. Part of the same chain as Baker and Rainer and Meager)
We got back to the car and joined another friend for a short XC ride on some of the lower Squamish trails. The BCBR training guide said Saturday should have been 3-5 hour road ride. We only rode for about 2 hours, but I have admit that my legs were 'a bit fatigued' and I wasn't too sad to have a short ride. Anyway, the shorter ride meant a shorter time to beer!

Howe Sound Brew Pub in Squamish has their spring Rasberry Wheat beer on tap for the season. Sunday dawned nicer than expected. I was lying in bed trying to decide whether to ride road or dirt. It's like trying to decide between having the chocolate croissant or the cinnamon bun. Tortuous decision.

Sent my buddy M a text asking if he was headed to Seymour for some mountain biking. He had ridden on Saturday and his wife won't let him ride both days on the weekend until he finishes building their kayaks. M gave me some suggestions on which trails to ride that are within my skill level. But, it was sunny out and I have a new road bike.... so I put in a quick 75 km ride (quick relatively speaking as I couldn't hang onto the back wheel of the guy on the Cervelo near Point Grey) and then changed clothes, changed bikes and attempted to exchange the mountain bike spds for platform pedals. Since I would be riding alone and on new-to-me trails it seemed prudent to have platforms. But I couldn't get the right foot pedal off. Why isn't there a rent-a-man service??

The ride on Seymour was very nice. Went up Old Bucks, a wide non-technical climb. Traversed along the Baden Powell trail to the top of Severed Dick where the downhill starts. On went the leg and arm armor, down went the saddle and I set the pedal tension very very low. It was a fun trail, pretty old school riding with just a few man-mades for trail protection. There are a series of 6-7 bigger drops on the bottom 1/3 of the trail that I walked though I'm sure most north shore folks not only ride the drops, but huck them.

In all, it was the best of all possible worlds this weekend! I was tired and hungry and happy by Sunday night.

Ooooff

2008-04-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

My belly hurts. Some days it seems like I can't get enough food. I know the vending machine isn't full of actual "food" just fatty, salty, tastiness smothered in chocolate. Lunch was wonderful (buckwheat soba noodles with tempeh, steamed veggies and homemade peanut sauce) but I broke down and had a candy bar and feel like....like it is a really good thing today's scheduled ride is 3 hours! Lesson learned: stick to the dark chocolate covered espresso beans in my middle left hand desk drawer.

It doesn't seem like I've been riding a lot, but this is likely the most regimented program for me since the university swim team in Golden (= long time ago). As I've gotten older, and a lot more comfortable with myself and body, my diet has changed. A lot more protein, though still all veggie based, a lot more oils and fats and nuts and my body hasn't really changed. I've weighed the same (+/- 5 lbs) since grade 10. The point of this paragraph being I wonder if I could have been a faster university swimmer if I'd had a better diet with more protein and fat and had been less worried about gaining weight? Nevertheless, it's a good thing avocados are expensive and generally poor quality here in Canada. But it would be nice to get some chilies peppers and decent Mexican food. Don't even ask about the margaritas north of the 49th parallel...

I think that the riding has been good and relatively consistent recently. No long rides this past weekend as my mother was visiting, but still managed a couple 2-3 hour ski tours and 5 mile trail run together. Lots of fun. I had a short 2 hour hill session Sunday after dropping mom at the airport. Monday was an easy 38 km. Yesterday was commuting and a short 1 hour hill session. Though with the new road bike hills are very enjoyable!

The forecast for the weekend shows Saturday as partly sunny with a temp of 21C!!! Perhaps a ride with just knee warmers and not full tights? One of my downhill mtn biker co-workers has promised to ride Mt Seymour with me this weekend. Hopefully hit Pingu/Pangor and maybe Corkscrew??

Picture from gutsploder.com where I spend hours of nonchargable time daydreaming. Wonder if I'll ever have the courage to ride this?

40 hours

2008-04-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

So this is what a work/life balance is! That is assuming you're balancing only work life and cycling life :)

Work has slowed down for a little while and this will be a 40 hour work week with no evening or weekend emails, report editing or meeting preparation. This meant that Monday's (mostly) off day from training was just my normal commute and I still had time to mommy-ify the apartment and read a book at night. Tuesday was a 'high quality' commute with an extra 10 km tagged on and I still had time to vacumn the cats. OK, not really just the cat fur equivalent from the sofa cushions. Yesterday I took the long way into to work and got 30 km on the NEW road bike before making it to the office, rode another 40 km after work and even made it to a friend's 30th b-day party. Wow. There is a lot more time in the day when I leave the office before 6:30 pm!

There should be applications of this revalation to my nonexistent Vancouver dating life... but I have a suspicion that my bikes are a much more dependable source of joy and excitement than another round of bad first dates courtsey of match.ca.

Cross Training

2008-03-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

Thursday it hailed as I was cycling to my weekly personal trainer session. Hard, biting pellets of solid rain with strong wind gusts.

Friday was snow.

Saturday dawned very nice but cold. Three degrees C. Kirsty and I joined up at noon (5 degrees C) to ride Burnaby Mountain. Taking the Trans Canada trail really makes riding Burnaby Mountain a lot more appealing than driving to North Road. But it is always nicer to ride from your doorstep than to drive to a trail. Had a great decent down Mels and Nicoles trail and then played on the wiggly single track back to the Trans Canada and some extra fun climbing Cardiac Hill again. You know, just for giggles. I've said it before but the Enduro is such a happier bike when I'm clipped in and not on platforms!

BTW. Saturday ended with MORE SNOW. We were so close to being home, just getting off the Second Narrow Bridge and the sky opened to solid rain. No ride pics as my camera battery did not like the cold temps. It was still a great 4 hour ride with a great friend and some great thigh burning.

When in Rome....
When it is snowing...go for a ski tour.

Kirsty and Neil scoping the routeThere is still amazing powder to be had on the North Shore! K, N, another friend and I toured Mt. Seymour on Sunday. The boys were on snowshoes and carrying their boards. Tough work! We skied out to the third peak putting in a couple short runs before a bomber route from near the first peak. The second best powder run of the year (after Kokanee Cabin, of course). The run is through perfectly spaced trees greater than 1 meter in diameter. Hugh trees. Safe slope. Powder. mmmmm deep powder.

Peek-a-boo view to downtown Vancouver

The boys were trashed after the hike back up. Of course, K and I being on skis only sank 3-4 inches when putting in the up-track. The guys were wading through knee to thigh deep snow for the entire climb back to the ridge. So the guys went to lay claim to a pitcher of beer while K and I went for another lap. When the snow is that good and you just put in the up-track the snow gods get angry if you don't do at least one more lap!

Yup! Our line started by ducking under the rope next to the Danger sign.

The day's training ended as all good days do sitting in the pub having a pint!
The only thing better would have been a post-weekend rub down. My legs were definitely fatigued during today's commute and short recovery ride!

Still snowing

2008-03-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

No more snow.

*stomps foot*

I'ts about 2 cm thick on the ground now.

Tomorrow's mountain bike ride will be wet.

Long Weekends

2008-03-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

A good week at work means not a good week for riding until the weekend. Spring has come even if the snow line is still low on the North Shore and I took the long way home via Simon Fraser University on Burnaby Mountain Thursday night enjoying daylight savings. The Trans Canada trail runs across the mountain and connects to my normal commuting route at the southern end of the Second Narrows Bridge. I was on my road bike and it was a good steady climb. I decided to take the Trans Canada trail down the hill instead of the road as I wanted to come back for a mountain bike ride on the weekend. My road bike still has the bomber kevlar tires that were purchased for the Kootenay tour last fall and I had no worries about being on packed gravel travel. The last pitch down to the road was quite steep and sore forearms from braking forced me to stop three times. In all the taking the long way home made Thursday's commute 45 km instead of the standard 26 km.

View towards downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park from Burnaby Mtn.

I went back to Burnaby Mtn Friday afternoon for a solo dirt ride. There are about 10 road kilometers to get to the trail. I was waiting at a stoplight and the guy in the low-to-the-ground convertible pulled forward and started talking to me. It took a couple of iterations before I realized he asked me "How do you get to the top of the trails?" and took me even longer to figure out he hadn't considered pedaling uphill. Odd. Vancouver is mostly a downhill and shuttle kind of town, but riding to the top of a trail shouldn't be a novelty. At the top of Burnaby Mountain there was a father/son duo getting in training miles for an upcoming Moab trip. Lucky guys. We rode the first bit of the Mels and Nicole's Pole trails together, but the father was on a hardtail.... This was my first time riding Burnaby Mtn clipped in, without armor, without a full face helmet, and without the guys from work. I have to say that the Enduro is a much happier bike clipped in than with platforms. It was nice to ride my own pace and not feel pressured to session the ramps and jumps. More a cross country instead of downhill frame of mind. Nicole's pole is a good intermediate trail for descending and there are ride-arounds on most all of the stunts. I climbed back to the top of Burnaby Mtn and took the wide, easy, swoopy Pandora trail back to the Trans Canada. All told it was about 3.5 hours round trip and 40 km (according to Google Earth).

Part of the Trans Canada trail

Saturday's ride was a late start after another trip to the physio. damn knees. Then the fiddling with the NEW ROAD BIKE getting the water bottle cages, the computer, and other bits set up. I hate fiddly things. But the Orbea was amazing. The downside is I've become that person. The person with too much money and a bike that is better than she is! My legs where tired from yesterday's ride but the bike was mocking me! It kept encouraging one more push to Horseshoe Bay, then why not go all the way down to White Cliff Park? How about a little out and back along Jericho Beach? Well, if you're already this far out, why not go all the way around UBC? So Saturday's ride turned into 100 kms at a decent speed. The one vegan cliff bar provided insufficient calories and I had to make brownies Saturday night. Yes, that is butter melting on the warm, homemade, fudgey brownies.

The appeal of the Orbea was shared by others. Three different people (not cyclists) cat-called when I rode by. That never happened with on the Trek. Odd. Because, honestly, spandex isn't sexy. Neither are bike helmets and neoprene booties. Maybe the bike's appeal will be so great that I'll actually find people to ride with! Or maybe a guy with great legs who will take me cycling every weekend and wash my bikes....

View of my bike storage, I mean, dining room.

I bought happiness

2008-03-22T20:07:00.001-07:00

Kootenay High

2008-03-18T11:59:00.000-07:00

How can a person not love a trip to the Kootenays? I have been off my bikes since Friday and dedicated the weekend in Nelson to 'cross training'.

View of Nelson from Pulpit Rock

I woke up at 5 am Thursday morning to get in a couple more hours of work and do a road ride before driving 7 hours across BC. Re-jigged my geochem model to calculated total metals instead of dissolved, cycled to Lighthouse Park in West Van and picked up the rental car all by 10 am. The hardest part of a Nelson trip is figuring out what toys to bring. I decided to leave my road bike home and ignore the guilt of not doing the scheduled long rides on Saturday/Sunday. Just brought my tele gear and climbing shoes on this trip. Rather, I brought most of my tele gear. At the Hope Slide, 147 kilometers from my apartment, I realized I forgot my ski pants. At Grand Forks, I realized I forgot a toque. Fortunately, Greg is only a few inches taller than me and had an old pair of pants and a toque.

We lift skied at Whitewater with another friend Friday afternoon. The runs are short and there was no liftlines. My legs where shot after 2.5 hours of trying to keep up with the alpine skiers in the trees seeking pockets of powder. Doesn't anyone ski nice blue cruisers anymore?? They consoled me with a jug of Nelson Brewing Company's Faceplant and a plate of nachos. Friday night was more upper body training at Mike's Pub lifting pints while watching the constant loops of bike and ski and surf porn on the big screen TVs.

A short, sunny hike on Saturday gave views of town. We watched 'The Great Global Warming Swindle" and "Into the Wild" that night. Greg in his role of shit disturber, was trying to spark some scientific, environmentalist indigenation from me.

The reason people live in Nelson is the lifestyle. Everything you could want is close. Hotsprings are 30 mintues away, mountain biking is out the back door, lift skiing is 25 minutes, ski touring is 20 minutes, climbing and kayaling are 15 minutes away. A lazy Sunday morning including breakfast at the Cornerhouse Cafe, forgetting gear at home and we were still touring at Evening Ridge by 11:30 am. My cardio for the weekend.

Top of Evening Ridge

View to the Ymir Bowl and Whitewater Ski Area

After the tour it was back to town to grab beers and kites and head to the beach. I was very excited try kiteing (sp?), but the wind was too strong for a newbie. Sitting on a Canadian beach in March means that you don't have to worry about having a killer bikini body underneath the goretex pants and puffy jackets. And the beer stays cold for hours.

Kiteing at 6 Mile

There is no scheduled date for the next trip other than a tentative spring climbing trip to Skaha :( At least that is one less thing to distract me from training for the BCBR and working. :)

Another sadness: None of the pictures of my favorite rocks along Highway 3A turned out. I can hear my sister's sigh of relief.

Night Rides and Expectations

2008-03-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

Even southern latitudes in a northern country mean that the winter nights are long. Thanks to an early switch to day light savings time most of today's after work ride was (mostly) in daylight. Left the office at 5:30. Got home, fed the cats, changed bikes, changed bike shoes, changed bike jackets, changed the bike lights from the commuter to the Trek. I almost look like a roadie these days and I wonder about the correlation between decent bike tights that keep my joints warm and a reduction in knee pain. But we all know that correlation is not necessarily causal.

What I am really struggling with is my expectations of training. The training program on the BCBR site is geared for a professional level rider. It says so in black and white. I'm not a pro rider (heck according to the province of BC, I'm not even a professional geoscientist yet and don't even meet the academic requirements with an undergrad in geological engineering and a masters in geochemistry. grumble. grumble.). My last and only year of bike racing was in the twilight years of the last century. Ok, it was Colorado 1998. A particularly good year if only b/c of excellent cycling friends. Nevertheless, I expect myself to try and follow this training program? It is probably the fear of the dreaded DNF driving me. Must train hard to finish. Managed 37 km after work + 26 km commute = not bad for a desk jockey.

OK, it is nerdy, but the previous plot shows the speed for each of last year's womens teams for each stage and the calculated minimum required speed for each stage based on 2008 distances and time cut-offs. There is consolation in the graph. While I've never been a winner in athletic competitions, I have generally been reasonably competitive (defined as not in the bottom 50%). Therefore, if of all 9 all women teams from 2007, there was only 1 speed less than the minimum required, then I should successfully complete this race. There are zero concerns about team mate Kirsty finishing as she is simply amazing.

Spring?

2008-03-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

I am no longer content waiting for Spring and am to welcome Summer and say goodbye to cold toes. However, I finally purchased a good pair of leg warmers and nice cycling jacket after realizing I've been commuting year round in a temperate rainforest climate with a single pair of knee warmers and a 10 year old pair of tights.

Unsurprisingly, I have not kept to the training program provided on the BC Bike Race web site, although my minimum distance every day is 30 km due to my commute. Managed 65 km Wed night by skipping the spin session and riding for 2 hours in the dark. I learned that the flashing bike light I use for commuting is insufficient for highlighting road hazards. It's actually insufficient for anything but making the white stripe and yellow stripe on the road visible for 3 meters. Took some hard hits along Jericho Beach near UBC.

My normal desire to wake up, drink coffee and then get on the road bike was thwarted by an 8:30 am trip to the phyiso. Thankfully, the best part of the day was the afternoon and went for a nice 3 hour road ride with my teammate Kirsty.

I've been looking a purchasing a new road bike....I lust over the Orbea Diva. Thankfully when I went to Speed Theory bike shop this afternoon they helpfully told me that the Diva with full Durace is $4500. I still lust. But it will be unrequited.

Not so Useful

2008-03-03T21:24:00.000-08:00

There are two things in my life right now: work and cycling. I've got a great project at work . I'm building an Excel based model to estimate the water quality in an open pit mine once mining has ended and there is a lake in the open pit. I say estimate rather than predict because (to me) prediction implies a precision that is unreasonable given the variation in the model inputs and the assumptions necessary to make the calculations.

Regardless, the model is being built and the file size is HUGE. It's at 50 MB and only 3 of the 10 parameters for the first scenario have been completed. It's way to big to email or put on an ftp site for my senior reviewers to get and is getting unwieldy to work with. The model isn't geochemically complex but there are a number of VLOOKUP and nested IF functions. and it does run on a monthly time step for 300 years. Our company has an internal microsoft support person. I thought maybe she could tell me what is acting as the suck for the file size, thinking that if I know what is causing the file to balloon then I can try to restructure the model. The response from our internal support landed me in a Dilbert cartoon. She suggested that I burn the file to CD when I'm done and even offered to help walk me through the process to burn the data file......

Dirt again

2008-03-01T21:21:00.000-08:00

Winter in Vancouver can be tough. The winter is not as cold or as long as the rest of Canada, but most days I would take -15 to -5C and sunny over +1 to +5 and rainy. However enough snow has melted in Lynn Valley that several of us got out the cross country bikes for the first dirt ride of the season. Winter isn't over and most of these folks will head to Whistler tomorrow for skiing. The ride was lovely and as cross country as you can get on the North Shore. The ride was slippery. Everything is wet here except for a few weeks in July, August and September. Slippery roots, slippery ramps, slippery logs, slippery skinnies, slippery bridges. Any thoughts of getting a hardtail have evaporated and the Enduro still has my heart. Now a new road bike....

Tomorrow I'd like to do a longer road ride but will probably keep it to 3 or 4 hours. The reason? I left data at work that I need this weekend. Not being able to work tonight means a shorter Sunday ride and a longer Sunday night.

Overall it was a decent week on the bikes. Wed spin class is challenging. Thursday at Kirsty's class is always a quality workout. Riding home through Deep Cove adds 14 km to the daily commute. Getting anxious for daylight savings. I failed to put in 2 laps around Stanley Park after work of Friday, only managed 1 as it was too dark (and I got creeped out riding alone through the forest).

Friday night, Priming the Bathroom

2008-02-26T16:56:00.000-08:00

The weekend before I had gone to the paint store and they recommended a special primer as I planned to paint over the worlds grimiest, dingiest texture blue floral wallpaper. Something about the primer being an alkyd. Picked a nice yellow paint. I'm cheap and try to be eco-friendly, so I didn't buy a paint tray just one of the disposable plastic tray liners. Friday night I come home from work, toss a frozen pizza in the oven, turn the music on, crack a beer and start taping the walls. I even took off the plastic covers for the light switch and electric outlets. Eat the pizza, have another beer, start priming. I finish putting the primer up about the time the third beer gets finished. PERFECT.

Go into the kitchen to wash the roller and tray so they can both be reused. The primer isn't coming off the roller so I get my hands onto the roller. About 3 seconds after I get both hands on the roller, completely covered in primer, it dawns on me why I had to use a special primer to paint over wallpaper; an oil-based primer. I know from chemistry that oil based liquids aren't water soluble. I now know from experience that alkyd = oil based.

I'm staring at my now chalky white primer covered hands. And the phone rings. Open the phone with my teeth, press the talk button with my nose and tell my sister I'll call her back. Soap will be useless to clean my hands... Where is the citrus cleaner I use to take kick wax and klister of my classis skis??? The only thing I can find is a citrus based aromatherapy called 'Refresh'. Dose my hands with Refresh. It forms enough of an emulsion that between the green plastic dish scrubbie, dish soap and another dose of Refresh about 75% of the primer comes off.

Water the universal solvent. Sometimes True

2008-02-24T16:49:00.001-08:00

Last year I decided that 2008 would be the year to ride faster. The best way to ride faster? Commit to a race.

The BC Bike Race is a 7 day mountain bike stage race starting in Victoria and finishing in Whistler. This will be a challenge.

The training program provided on the race website calls for spending 15-20 hours a week on a bike. I'm hopeful that ~~spewing~~ ~~sharing~~ cataloging here will make me more accountable to stick to the training regime. Because, perceived guilt and judgment by people I can't see should be motivating??

The best part of the current phase of the training program? "This is not the time of the year to make any moves to be lean, if anything over-eat."

Time for black bean nachos.
And I didn't go for a skate ski today...