Still Snowy

I went for a ride around some of the Lakes in Whistler yesterday evening with my buddy Ryno and his awesome dog Summer.  Although the snow is melting in the village and I'm beginning to see grass again there is still loads of snow around, 2 or 3 feet deep in most places.  So it looks like the XC trails in Whis will still need some time to thaw.  I took the oppertunity to check out Alta lake that is still frozen over and got this cool pic.

First day of Spring in Canada

So today we got word that it was raining in Vancouver so the call was made to ride in Squamish. Tristan and I loaded up the truck and headed to Squamish to meet Berend and Evan and go for an XC trail ride, it would be the first ride for me in 98 days!  The closer we got to Squamish the less snow we saw on the road side but it began to drizzle more and more.  Rain wasn't going to stop us today though.  We heard from some other guys that the higher trails were still a bit snowed in so we headed to the Alice Lake trail network which had barely any snow at all.  I was super excited to get riding again and after a quick stop in at Canadian tyre to buy a sweet $20 skid lid I was ready to rock.  
The climb we rode was really good and I was feeling quite fit, i'm glad i've been putting the effort in at the gym and I feel on track for the race season.  The decent was so sick too, fast, tight, rocky, rooty, wet, a lot of fun.  I had the Go Pro with me so we got some footage and I put together this quick edit.  Enjoy...
More riding tomorrow, yeeeeeooooooooooow


http://vimeo.com/21334228

IT'S GO TIME!

Today has been a pretty good day.  Intense weight session at the gym this morning with Import then a shift in the kitchen and after work I picked up my XC bike.  CPI in Geelong hooked me up with a Meta 55, it arrived today care of "THE JAZZA WILSON" who flew back to Canada today after a trip back to Aus, cheers Jazza, I owe you.  So as soon as I got the bike home I ripped open the box, built up the bike and now i'm sitting on the couch admiring it.  The plan is to go for a trail ride tomorrow with some of the Whis Summer Crew down the valley in Squamish or maybe on the North Shore in Vancouver depending on home much snow is still around.  Really pumped to ride again and start doing a lot of XC training.  Big ups to Bill at CPI for helping me out with the bike and Jazza for lugging it half way around the world for me, Cheers.

Road ride through North Carolina...

I didn't start work until 2 today so I had a morning gym sesh with Berend after one of our amazing 'step it up breakfasts'.  I tweaked my back a couple of days ago and ended up seeing a physio to get it sorted out, nothing too serious though but I'm still going to rest it for a few days so I decided to just spin the legs on the stationary bike.  We got out the Spin DVD's and went for a ride through North Carolina, pedelled for just over an hour which was a really good work out.  Every time the cadence went up and the gearing got harder and I felt like slacking I kept thinking of the Garbanzo DH race in this years Crankworx and how harsh it was going to be, the thought of the 14+ minutes race track kept me motivated to push harder even though my legs were dead.  
I'm anxious about riding again, it's been nearly a 4 month break off the bike for me, pedalling on a stationary bike inside a gym while it's snowing outside is the only riding i've done.  I feel hungrier than ever to ride though and i'm constantly day dreaming about riding in the bike park again.  In a few days something good is arriving so i'm really looking forward to that, I just need the snow in the valley to melt away.  5 months ago when I saw it raining I was wishing it was snowing, now when I look outside and snow flakes are falling I want it to turn to rain so this place thaws out.

Unexpected photo finds...

I love getting a link sent to me by a friend who has stumbled across a sweet photo that i've never seen or can't even remember what day it happened.
This photo really sums up riding in Whistler Bike Park, two mates shredding trails and having fun.  Love this place
Thanks Ash for finding this one.
Photo by: ewanbachall.co.uk

http://sun-dog.deviantart.com/art/Crank-It-Up-182138730

First Post

I've been thinking about starting a blog for a while now.  It seems like the best way to keep everyone up to date with my 2011 riding season while i'm here in Whistler, Canada.  It may take me a while to work out how to use this blog thing but hopefully I can show you all how i'm going with my riding, racing and other good times here in BC.