Singing Pass Adventures

We got tons of exercise the way I like it (outdoors) on Saturday as well as ski some awesome pow in return. We spent 4 hours up the singing pass and then up to Cowboy ridge before we got to take off our skins in preparation to head downwards. From all the hard work it was payback time and score some sweet turns in return... so worth it. The weather was pleasant and the snow plentiful. I love the long days of hard work and good fun. Yay for adventures in the snow.

oh and we got our christmas tree...i love the holiday spirit!

Live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Bikes and Skis on the island

Love it when you go away for the weekend with a car packed full of gear...

This weekend a bunch of us headed over to the island to play with some island folk... being vancouver island we brought bikes and skis... This event is usually in November and is called the Mud Ride but this year I suppose we could have called it the snow ride...

We got out on our bikes on a sunny saturday afternoon and began to pedal in snow up the Cumberland trails... The conditions were actually pretty perfect for riding... Most of the mud was either frozen or covered by a thin layer of snow... the sun was shining and friends were abound... It was a ride full of single track, laughs, hard work and chili hot chocolate to finish it off!

After riding or any type of outdoor exercise food and drinks are necessary and a feast is what we had....

SUnday we voted to head to Mt Washington and try out the hill to practice our sweet turns.. Again, the conditions were pretty perfect... Andrew, Paul and I ventured through moguls and trees, and played with daring speeds (well I was trying to catch Paul the whole and so really I was the one peaking my speed limits)... ALthough a fab day on the hill with beautiful views etc...it is no backcountry skiing, the sweat, the bush, route finding, rivers, etc... it definitely solidified my love for backcountry skiing... I love the turns but I love the adventure of backcountry skiing even more I think!

Another Video By Andrew!

Comox Mud Ride 2010 from Andrew Dye on Vimeo.

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

It's Snow Time

This weekend I was very sad to hear that the Fall Beast Adventure race was cancelled. I was super stoked to race AR again and even more stoked to race and spend time with good friend Megan. I look forward to racing a beast race next year as AR friends and awesome athletes put on some great events.

Well, I got to at least do one of those things..

Megan, Ann and I headed up to Cypress for our first XC ski of the season.... Its always hilarious/tiring the first day out... XC is a true full body workout... and if you have been lazy about waxing skis (like me) and the snow conditions aren't perfect than it adds to your resistance training as well. It was loads of fun and look forward to getting out more on the skinny skis

Sunday I switched to my fatter skis and headed out to Mt Zoa with Andrew, Paul, and Andy. We definitely skied some pow. Check out the sweet video Andrew made:

Zoa Ski Tour, November 2010 from Andrew Dye on Vimeo.

It was good times, great exercise, decent pow and turns but gosh was it cold.... -15 C

YAY for snow!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Sweet Turns

This weekend, two friends and I headed to Steep Creek to check out the early season snow situation off the Duffey Lake Road. We managed to ski on snow the entire way into camp. It took us about 3 times as long but we enjoyed the pleasant weather and adventurous climbing, over, under, through, tree trunks, rocks, and streams. I managed to get one ski through the lake by accident... oops but all was well just some wet skins..

Sunday we ventured up through the forest to the clearing... it was tough going through the forest but made for some fun route making as there were more than normal amounts of obstacles in the way. Up high on the knoll our first descent was YES through POWDER...pretty impressive turns for early season...Unfortunately our second run proved to be a little noisy as we scrapped some rocks that were hiding underneath the snow... but managed some good turns still.. The adventure continued throughout the day but we had SUN, we had SNOW, and we had SMILES...

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

SUP Surfin' in Tofino....

This past weekend Andrew, Suzanne, Jas, Julia, and myself headed to Tofino for some surf sessions and relaxation. The weather report was showing rain but when water is the sport you are playin in rain doesn't really matter anyways! I was pretty excited to try out SUP surfin again. I got pretty stoked in California at Battle of the Paddle from all the surf sessions... I also realized how much learning I have ahead of me (exciting stuff, learning is fun!) inorder to be competitive in the surf type races... I want to be good!...

I borrowed the Starboard Whopper from Trident Sports. I remember surfing this board in california and it was fun and stable and great for learning to SUP surf... I was pretty stoked to get a lend for the weekend. THANK YOU Trident Sports. The board proved to be perfect for the conditions and for me. It is wide and stable and big which made going out past the break much easier and catching waves fun(after getting knocked down a bunch....practice and persistence is key to learning).

The five of stayed in a beautiful hostel at the end of Tofino (The Whalers On the Point IH Hostel) Saturday morning we headed to South Chesterman Beach and played in the surf for several hours. There were 3 whitewater kayakers, myself on the SUP and one surfer... We are a diverse bunch of friends! Check out the video that Andrew put together!

Tofino, November 2010 from Andrew Dye on Vimeo.

The rest of the day on Saturday was spent indoors due to lots and lots of rain... I ended up meeting up with my good friend Jessie, A Ukee born and raised, a killer surfer and painter!

Sunday was tougher, stronger and bigger waves. I found it really tough to get past the break, but was enjoying it all until my paddle got stuck under my board in a tumbling crash and the strong sea ripped it out of my hands. I thought it would have floated to shore as the tide was coming in but it was never seen again :(... ah well, you win some you loose some!

I look forward to some more surf sessions... For now I see snow on the shore mountains and my feet are starting to itch for ski boots, skis and the white powdery stuff!

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!

lina

Halloween adventures in the city and on the trails

Fun weekend playin around the city. I don't generally enjoy weekends in the city as much as weekends out in the wild but this weekend had enough variety, excitement, and friends that I definitely enjoyed it and embraced living in the big city.

It began with a run around lynn valley trails. I am lovin' trail running again, re inspired by the Hallowe's Eve trail race last weekend. I love the mud, the technical roots, rocks and steep terrain. The air temperature is about perfect for running: crisp and fresh. After our run Andrew and friends checked out a new little cafe that opened down the street from our place called the PERCH. It has a total east van vibe, good food and cheap drinks. Its nice to be able to WALK to a gathering rather than bike once in awhile. Biking is loads of fun but you can never feel fresh looking after a ride somewhere...

Saturday Kala, Jason, and I went for a killer run on some of the Seymour trails. It included some good technical flattish sections, steep ups and steeper and even more technical descent... the sun was shining, the air was cool, and the trails satisfying. I finished some halloween last minute shopping and then biked over to Angie and Paul's new place on Main street to help them move in. It's nice to have them a little bit closer for some more hangin out time together... Our group of friends are definitely creating an east van clan... YES! Andrew, Mark, and I headed out for ride on the shore before all the halloween celebrations. The rain just began to come down as we were climbing up to the trails. We managed to hit bobsleigh in the light which was grand and then climbed all the way back up to Witches Brew, dreamweaver and Baden Powell to finish it off. The boys managed to make their eyes adjust to the growing darkness but I was struggling at the end and put my lights on for the last section of Baden Powell... it was a good thing as it was my best performance of the day with the lights on.

Saturday night a group of 8 of us were found riding around town in costumes, honking horns and ringing bells, all with smiles on our painted faces and drops of rain hanging from our costumes! We headed to different parties around east vancouver enjoying the halloween vibe!

sunday morning after a well deserved sleep in and wicked post party breakfast created by ANdrew a bunch of us hit up the northshore trails. The boys biked and SJ and I went for around a 2hour run.... sunshine, fun trails, and wicked company equalled a fun way to spent Sunday afternoon in the city!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Lovin' the trails...

I am consistently trying to balance training/playtime on trails and on the water... I love them both and thankfully a city like Vancouver makes it possible to enjoy the mountains/forests as well as the lovely ocean waters. You can even enjoy them in one day!.

This weekend though Andrew and I spent much of our time playing on the trails, mountains and in the forests. Friday afternoon we headed up to Squamish, after Andrew's bike purchase we enjoyed one of the more popular Squamish mtn bike trails Half Nelson Powerhouse plunge etc combination. We managed to rip around the wet forest for several hours enjoying the mud and fall colours and managed to escape the dooming rains.

We spent the evening with good friends in Whistler (I miss you Whistler!) enjoying the off season deals that Whistler had to offer.

Saturday morning Andrew and I decided to ride around the Cheakamus river/Creekside trails. We enjoyed the little side trails that took us to function junction and rode along Riverside trails...nice little warm up for the major climb of See colors and Puke... There were no colors seen but we did manage to find a bear (why do they have to be so cute!) and thankfully no puke instead just sweat and smiles. The scenery was awesome, lightly powdered alpine mountains with colorful subalpine and some sun to top it all off. We enjoyed the fast flowy Babylon trail minus the random eye poking branches sticking out... and then I got to see how much I have improved in my biking skills by riding tunnel vision a trail that when I lived in Whistler I could barely ride any of it! I can proudly say my improvements were fairly obvious...

Hallow's Eve Half Marathon: northshore style

Andrew and I were lucky enough to represent Steed Cycles at the half marathon trail race on Sunday morning. The sky was holding out with the rain for most of the race, the trails were muddy, rooty and slippery just the way we like'em... I was a little nervous to race as running used to be my forte sport but since becoming obsessed with SUP'in, kayaking, mtn biking , etc there has been less running and less running specific activities on my part. It is always tough racing in a race that in the past you have done well in. Luckily I didn't let it bother me too much and told myself that it was more important to enjoy myself, the trails, and the spirit of the event: and that I did. I had a great run, I felt good (never pushed too hard nor too little) I enjoyed like in the mountain bike my progress on the technical parts of the trail. Its funny, I have almost come full circle in my trail running. I used to pass everyone on the gravel road sections of trail but now I seem to get a little day dreamy on this sections and loose my speed and momentum but am picking it up on the technical. I managed to hold my own because of my technical skills. YES, I am pleased about this as I can also train a little more specific for my running if I found a race I wanted to train for. All in all a fantastic race: the volunteers were grand and I didn't get lost (a more often than I am proud about occurrence). I got my race stoke on again... LOVE IT.. and a big THANK YOU to Kim at STEED CYCLES!

Sorry no photos: the camera was left in the car or forgotten....OOPS.

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!

lina