EGMONT, a new special place...

This weekend, Andrew and I were going to Bike tour to Egmont.... the weather didn't cooperate and neither did my books and stress. Instead, we packed the car with mountain bikes and running gear. We were off to check out a potential wedding location..... it's beginning to feel real.. It's definitely a good thing.

We got off the ferry in Langdale and figured why not hit the mountain bike trails right here?!? The rain had temporarily taken a break so we quickly found ourselves changing in the parking lot of the Sproc Kids biking area.

We rode the Sidewinder trail and some... it was pretty cool, as the rain started to come down hard and we rode into the clouds... it had that spooky/haunted forest feel.



It was wet but the trail was in good condition... It was a great 2 hour ride and was the beginning of my destressing therapy.

We stopped in Roberts Creek for lunch, in Madeira Park for coffee and managed to make it to Egmont in the late afternoon but on the way found a cool log dock... Andrew almost fell in...haha




We were greeted with smiles at The Strong Water Camp site in the very small town of Egmont. One look around, a chat with Cheyenne and we were sold on the place. We took a little stroll to the community centre and the marina (about 2 minute walk)
and could picture our friends and family here partying and celebrating!



The cabins are cute and comfy too!



Sunday morning we were off (after our morning coffee) to run down the skookumchuck trail to watch the kayakers ride the world famous standing wave. Andrew checked the charts and we made sure we would get there at the peak of the wave's height. It was pretty impressive. The trail was great too....After some pics and checking out the paddler's tricks we ran back and made ourselves a hearty oatmeal breakfast.
We managed to run into Cheyenne and sealed the deal for the Wedding... YAY! It's gonna be awesome!



Cheyenne was worried about her duck Daisy that lived on Lake Klein so we told her we would go make sure she was okay and feed her. We found a little piece of heaven.... We borrowed her canoe and canoed around the lake alone looking for Daisy.
I really enjoyed the canoe...very relaxing and peaceful but to our despair we could not find Daisy. We docked the canoe a little sad that she might have died.... when there she was on the dock next to us.



So we managed to walk on some slippery logs and jump onto the sketchy but very cool dock with our multigrain bread(apparently she is a healthy duck, no white bread for this chick)... the docks around here are very rustic...generally it is pieces of logs tied together with rope with some random planks put randomly on top.



She eventually warmed to us and ate away...she felt like our little duck as well. I hope she is still there when we come back...



It was a fab multi sport weekend away... the sunshine coast is a special place... and I look forward to sharing it with friends and family.




live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Vampires...are they real?

Lots of lesson planning and school work for me but i did manage to take some breaks throughout the weekend. Andrew and I enjoyed a night before Hallowe'en watching "scary" movies with friends, and learning about zombies. If you ever come across one I think you need to shoot it in the head or cut off its head... good to know.

Andrew and I went for a long wonderful fall run in Lynn Valley. It was nice to get the legs moving for more than an hour. I missed those long runs. It turned out to be cool and sunny which was perfect for running. Although it was not raining at the time, it had been the night before and some parts of the trail looked more like a river rather than a trail. Andrew kept a good pace going, it was nice to have him push me on those long runs...

Saturday afternoon we carved our pumpkin and after some lesson planning got ourselves ready for some Hallowe'en fun. We were off to the Crossfit gym and Our Community Bikes for some dancing and good times. We made a good team costume this year. Andrew was a vampire and I was his most recent victim...in the process of turning into a vampire myself.




Following a night of fun we decided that a good way to release the toxins from our body would be a healthy, intense, hard cyclocross race. We drove over to Aldergrove in Langley to get a thorough thrashing. The course was 2.5km and we raced for 30 minutes. This race had an extra insentive... a 25$ prime on the second lap. First person across the line on the second lap would win the prize. I did not have many girls in my group but some nonetheless. I booked it from the start along with the others. Following the steep sand hill I managed to spring a lead half way through Lap 1.... and kept it for the rest of the race. I pushed hard to win the prime and definitely felt the remnants of last nights festivities. I pushed back the desire to quit right after lap 2 and continued to lead and work hard for another 3 laps to finish in 1st! Nice feeling! Hopefully there will be more cross races in the near future.



Live, Love, Laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Flying High

...quite literally really...I made it to my first circus session and absolutely loved it. I got up on the swinging trapeze and scared myself, hung from another on the double trapeze, played on the silks, the trampoline, and learned some more acroyoga moves... its gonna be a fun winter swinging high.

I was scheduled to do some cyclocross races this weekend but I got a last minute spot at the crossfit gymnastics certification hosted at our crossfit vancouver gym. Jeff Tucker from Texas was great and I definitely learned some new things to add to my gymnastics bank.

It is different being back in full swing with school and crossfit and life. I wouldn't say my training has suffered it just took some different turns. Due to my lack of funds and time (back at school) international racing is a little tougher to do for now and I am taking this time to experiment with other things that I have been meaning to do such as circus, crossfit, yoga, and well there are tons more but alas only 24 hours in a day.

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Thanksgiving weekend and UK weekend getaway

Winthrop Turkey Ridin’

It was the second annual Winthrop Thanksgiving riding weekend. A friend’s parents own a beautiful cabin/unbelievably gorgeous house in Winthrop WA. It is about a 5 hour drive with unpredictable border waits. There was a good crew of us out for the weekend. The weather was blue sky and sunny but the temperatures were brrrrr freezin’ (below freezing actually).



Saturday we rode the cutthroat trails. It is a there and back route through beautiful alpine mountains. We took our time and had lots of photo ops for the photo gurus of the group. I was feeling quite strong on the climb. The harder I pushed the warmer I got but then you have to find that fine balance of staying warm but trying not to sweat. It was about -6 so stopping for too long wasn’t all that pleasant in biking gear. The climb had a good mix of switchback, technical and smooth riding. It was a very rideable climb which sometimes makes it even more difficult. I think Crossfit has definitely helped me improve on my climbing power and strength. At the top we braved the cold and wind and scrambled to the top of the mountain and took some summit shots. The ride down was fun but very very cold. Even though I was wearing winter gloves my fingers froze.



The house is beautiful and an amazing place to come back to after ridin for several hours. We all cooked up a storm of a dinner.

Sunday was the BIG day. We rode Angels Staircase. I forget what the route we took is called but it was amazing and gigantic. We started off the day early and I think we were on our bikes by 10am. It was a huge climb through forest, meadows, sand, across frozen rivers and SNOW. All of our water tubes froze (which made drinkin even tougher than it already is for me). The backdrop was stunning and always changing. Again, I was feeling quite strong and good on the climb. The toughest part was descending Angels Staircase. I looked on in awe of my friends ridin down it all as I walked my bike down the tougher rocky, switchback sections. It didn’t matter though as smiles were all around. There was good sized hike a bike up the high point. We also hiked a bike to short cut through Horses pass as there were about 20 horses and 2 motorbikes at a stand still face to face…. We snuck away. Andrew had one of the scariest tumbles off his bike going UPHILL of all things. He did some acrobatics off his bike and his bike went flying down the hill and luckily into a bunch of trees. I also had a couple of silly falls clipping out of my wrong foot and the bike falling the other way down the rocky hill… but we all came out okay.
The descent was on the whole really fun despite the chilly weather but I think we were all pretty happy to get back to the toasty house for some turkey.

Monday a couple of us headed to the local cross country ski mountain and rode some fast smooth single track trails for about 2 hours. It was a perfect way to end of the weekend of riding. The riding was fab but winter is definitely on its way… it will be ski season in no time…

Andrew's photos here
Paul's photos here
Jacek's photos here


UK in a weekend....

Following my first week of obsevations at Kitsilano Secondary I headed to England for a super weekend. Andrew’s mom just got married. It was a beautiful little ceremony and so nice to meet his side of the family. They treated me well and despite I was only there for two days I feel like I got a lot done. I experienced an English pub, English beer, a couple fo runs in the new forest, I walked the old walls of South Hampton, went to a wedding, ate lots of food and took the foot passenger ferry from Hythe to South Hampton. I am now on the plane on my way back to Vancouver on my birthday. It’s kind of neat to spend my 29th birthday in England and Canada (and it is 8 hours longer due to the time difference…woohoo!)

check out andrew's blog for more pics and a write up

The adventures never seem to stop….and I love it.

Live, love, laugh,…DREAM!
lina

Local fun

It is fairly rare that we spend a weekend in the city or near the city. It was a good one. It is always such fun to find little jewels that are close to home.
Saturday Andrew and I raced in the New Brighton Cyclocross race. It was a 5 min ride from our home. It proved to be a sunny day but being fall the mornings are quite chilly. Cyclocross is a fun "off season" sport for cyclists or a "on season" sport I suppose if that is your only sport. Anyways, it is done in a crit style with many forms of terrain (sand, grass, road, rocks) as well as hurdles that force you to get off your bike and jump over. It was my first cyclocross race on a my new Giant TCX bike. I raced representing Steed Cylces in the women's C group. I was unsure of what the outcome might be and I was pleasantly surprised. I came second and got to battle it out with a roadie for the entire race. She would pass me on the road sections and I would catch up on the hills and technical aspects of the race. I think crossfit is really going to help me (has helped me) in this sport. The tough all out workoutsd we do at Crossfit Vancouver simulate the 30 min intense ride of cyclocross racing. Andrew did really well as well. We finished the day off with more biking around town and dinner with friends.

Paul's Pictures of Cyclocross here

Sunday we were going to race again in Vanier Park but opted for a long day of hiking/biking up Coliseum and Bruwell Mountain on the North Shore. It was a perfect day. Paul, Angie, Andrew, and I biked into the trail head to begin our hike. It was a steep climb up but very worth it. It's amazing what you can find in Vancouver's backyard. There are so many unbelievable little hikes all around within 30 minutes drive of the city. This one must not be missed from the list of favorites. I was a little annoyed to find my quad acting up on the downhill parts of the hike. So, it is not completely healed just yet and strenuous downhill hiking is still aggravating it.... I need to keep working on strengthening and relaxing it.

Paul's photos here, Andrews photos here

remember to keep exploring your amazing area around you.

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Merritt Mountain Biking

I am not on the ball with blogging. Busy times.

Last weekend after our little birthday/engangement party at ours Paul, Angie, Andrew and I headed to Merritt for a weekend of mountain biking and camping. The weekend was fabulous, sunny yet a little cool. Merritt although small and really known for its country singers and big music festival has some pretty stellar trails. We arrived fairly late on Saturday (had a little sleep in after the late night) and jumped on our bikes right away from the infromation centre. It was one heck of a climb and kind of really hurt. I wasn't sure if I knew what I was getting myself into but after awhile the trail became a little less inclined and a happier nicer climb to the meadows. The decent was fab, smooth, in the meadows, in the trees, by the river and some awesome little bridges. I felt proud to ride them all. I was having an "on" day. We managed to put in a second lap. ANdrew and I lost Paul and Angie for the first half of the descent but I truly impressed myself with riding some steep slab rides.... YAY! My confidence on the bike is getting much much better....



The night proved to be fairly chilly, we had the campground to ourselves so spread out and built a nice fire. I love camping! especially car camping... Andrew and I brought out the comforter and double thermarests etc. so comfy!

The following day we headed over to a different area. Had a nice sustained long climb with some minor bushwacking and log removal. It was my kind of climb... middle ring all the way...

the descent was great as well with a bunch of variety... we had berms, slabs, forest etc... Once again I was on it with my riding... I suppose my style of trails... Now, if only the shore would become my style of the trails...I'm working on it.

It was a brilliant weekend with great friends and fab riding.... woohoo!

more pics here (thanks Paul) and here (thanks andrew).

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Frosty 50km Trail Run Race

Okay, so I thought my last entry was rather lazy and maybe for my own benefit I have decided to do a proper write up from the race.

It had been over a year since my last "running race" of any sorts and a little over that for an ultra race. I really really wanted to enjoy this race. I wanted to get my motivation back up, I wanted to have another reason to train hard on the run and get back into the community.

Andrew joined me for the race. It was his first running race of any sorts. He did amazing... infact we crossed paths and ended up finishing together. I will get back to that but it was yet another learning and growing moment for me personally.

Finishing with Andrew was fantastic. I was proud of myself and so proud of him. BUT it is not something I would have done even a year ago. I was able to start the run/race off in the mind frame of it just being "fun", a practice, a run to get my game back and total bonus if I were to do well. I started like this, I then had moments of feeling good and wanting to push hard and then back to my first thoughts. Actually running with Andrew helped a ton to keep me in perspective. We ran well together. Being his first run though his joints and knees were becoming increasingly painful as the race was coming to an end.

About 3/4 into the race my energy level dropped dramatically as we were running/power hiking up and down steep hills on the top of the ridge. As we began to head down my energy levels got a second burst and I was happy to find that I was feeling great and had loads left in the bank. So, as Andrew was experiencing pain and slowing down I was gaining energy and wanted to give er until the end. Something I would have done in the past would have been to wave good bye and set off... what I did on Saturday was debate this in my head for awhile and then decided to run it in with Andrew and motivate him to finish with a smile. It was the right thing to do in my head and my heart and I am so glad I did.... now, maybe he'll run for ultras with me... hehe...

great race, great course. We summitted Frosty Mountain (I hurt on the power hike up the summit from sheer lack of proper training). Although, for the easier climb before the summit I felt like I conserved a little too much. I know I had it in me to run it all but didn't... I still need to improve my down hill running (I need to get it faster....practice practice practice). The second half was supposedly "easier" I didn't think so. Going through half way I felt pretty good. I kept a steady pace and then we hit another long sustained climb and again I conserved a little too much as I know I had more in me to run it. Once on the ridge I hit my bottom for the race. I was tired mentally and physically but thanks to Andrew here I pushed on up and down for what seemed like forever. As we started down I could just feel energy pumping into my body and at the last aid station I was back up and ready to fire... I am pleased that I felt the way I did with 10km left to go in the race. It gives me hope and confidence for my next race.

Andrew and I ran into the finish together holding hands...aw I know CHEESE... but I loved it. I ended up 4th female...not bad for really not expecting much and not going in at my peak.... only room for improvement.

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina