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
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