Triple Crown
 |
| start |
 |
| climbing my seymour |
 |
| top of mt seymour |
We met at 8:30am at John Henry Bikes. We started off with riding our road bikes to the water for a true beginning of the sea level to mountain top ride. We first rode to the top of Mt Seymour. We all felt good, chatting away. We were a funny crowd: Paul looked like a road biker with the proper attire and bike, I was half way there with the carbon bike and spandex but sort of ruined it with my camelback, Brooks seat, and mtn bike bike shoes, and Andrew looked like a commuter on his frame he welded himself, straight bars, handlebar pouch, baggy shorts, and mtn bike bike shoes!.... I was drinking nuun and had some trail mix as my food/nutrition while riding. It seemed like the ride up Seymour was easy with all the chatting and sunny weather. I get nervous on steep curvy descents on my skinny road bike tires so I let the boys go ahead while I enjoyed using my brakes!
 |
| climbing the last bit of Grouse |
 |
| Top of Grouse |
Following some cinnamon buns and lunch at the car we switched bikes and headed up Mountain Highway to get to the top of Grouse/Fromme. We rode up the road until it switched to gravel, a place we were familiar with as it is where we have ridden many times for mtn biking. We then past the highest trail all the way to the very top of Grouse resort and onto the top of the peak chair near the windwheel. Grouse was rockin with tourists and tourist attractions from ziplines, to bear and log shows, paragliding, and hiking! We took a quick break and then made our way back down the mountain. I managed to fall on some of the gravel road so felt a little shaken and passed on the first actual trail down (the boys rode seventh) but then joined the boys down bobsleigh and then all the way back down to the water/cars.
 |
| Top of Cypress |
We took another food break and switched bikes for the final mountain: Cypress.. It was the farthest one out of town and had quite the climb from the water to the highway. Once on the hill climb I was starting to feel little pains in my back and neck... I needed a couple of quick breaks to get things stretched out.. Paul was a machine and zoomed ahead while Andrew and I plugged away pedal stroke by pedal stroke. It was very rewarding making it to the top and I was getting excited for our celebratory beer and food but we were still quite a ways from our car... we needed to get all the way down and across the north shore..... After a quick stop at Ambleside we finally made it to our cars at about 7pm! LONG DAY! It was about 10 hours and 20 minutes 3200m elevationa and about 140km in length! WHOA! I feel like I am now part of a special club.... Another CHECK OFF THE BUCKETLIST for sure!
 |
| Ambleside Beach |
In hopes of a quick recovery I kept myself hydrated with NUUN and beer! and filled my tummy with delicious Banditas burito! I wasn't too sure what else to do? I needed to recover quickly: in 14 hours I had a 15km SUp race.... I figured food and whatever rest I could get would be the best thing....
Pictures by Paul (thanks!) and a write up by Paul HERE
Board the Fjord SUP race
The wake up call came and I was nervous to see how my body felt. I surprisingly felt pretty good, just a little tired and really hungry. After coffee and some granola, fruit and yogurt, we were off. Andrew being the best hubby in the world dropped me off in Deep Cove. I kept hydrating with nuun throughout the morning and ate a banana about 30 minutes before race start as I remembered getting really hungry during round the rock last weekend. Following the race briefing I jumped on my Starboard BOP 12'6x26.5 carbon board (Thanks Trident Sports!) and did a little warm up paddle. It was flat out there... there were 8 females in the 12'6 category so some competition to be had! It was gonna be a constant push all the way to the end on the flat water.... I found my start position just beside the dragon boats... I was happy with that as there weren't too many people right around me and thus less chance of bump and grinding off the start line. I had a decent start and managed to stay in front of most of the mess. I found myself a rhythm and went at it. Being on a 12'6 board I was naturally slower than the 14s but still I found myself surrounded by a bunch of 14 boards which is cool. Eventually the pack spread out and I was kind of on my own for most of the race. Not having anyone around to chase or get chased by I did find myself day dreaming a little but was able to snap myself back in the game once I realized I was thinking about other things. The body felt alright, my back was a little sore throughout the race which was definitely from biking as I have never really experienced back pain in SUP race, and my arms felt a little more tired than normal but the legs weren't as shaky as I thought they would be and my energy felt pretty good. I kept sipping on my nuun and focused on my breathing. The weather was perfect really and the course stunning! It was a wonderful race all in all. I got to meet some new folks from washington state which is awesome and also enjoyed the company of fellow canadian SUPers...
I managed to win the 12'6 category which felt good, I am gonna have to keep on top of my fitness as the competition is growing! Thanks to everyone at Deep Cove Canoe and kayak Centre for making this happen and for all the SUP athletes coming out to support and race!
Pictures HERE
Thanks Nikki Rekman for my new Werner Grand Prix Paddle...can't wait to use it on the water!
live, love, laugh,..DREAM!
lina
No comments:
Post a Comment