Whistler backcountry Freeride Jam...Michael Franti/Spearhead

Whistler Backcountry Freeride Jam and Michael Franti/Spearhead to end it all off…


This weekend I headed to Whistler for a number of reasons…1. It’s Whistler and I love it and miss it. 2. I wanted to hang out with some good friends I have left behind there. 3. To participate in the backcountry races Whistler Backcountry Freeride Jam (www.wbfj.ca) 4. The real reason a free outdoor concert where I would get to hear and see Michael Franti and Spearhead play and woo the crowd….(I am still on this crazy euphoric high from the concert….he was unbelievable but more on that later)

Lisa and Kristina had room in their car to give me a lift to Whistler…Thank you ladies…it was nice not having to figure out the bus thing as I needed to be in Whistler Friday night for a pre-race briefing and gear check. I met Ali at the Cinnamon Bear Pub where I also happen to meet Al (the Dynafit rep) who let me borrow an awesome Dynafit ( http://www.dynafit.at/home.php?chid=1&lang=uk&m=4 ) set up for the race (THANK YOU!). From there I headed to the pre-race briefing where in the midst of it all I had managed to lose and re-find my borrowed skins (thank you guys….woohoo). At Grahame and Ali’s place I practiced getting into and out of the new Dynafit bindings…a little tricky with my boots but after about half hour I felt confident enough…


7:15am I found myself at the bottom of the Whistler Gondola. 8:30am I was skinning up the first hill…I went too hard and was tasting blood….it was not a good start to a 27km ski mountaineer race (The Spearhead Passage. It begins at the Roundhouse (top of Emerald Chair) to Whirl Wind Mountain and back). I couldn’t seem to shake off this horrible feeling in my lungs…so I slowed right down, took some deep breaths and told myself it was going to be okay and that I had zero pressure to perform….After the steep roped bootpack, a fall wouldn’t be disastrous but a good tumble none the less, I calmed myself down, and just took it easy and really listened to my body….slowly I started to feel better… unfortunately it was a little too late in the race and the top groups of skiers were far ahead….As we got over Flute and onto Oboe the wind was fierce and extremely cold…I had to stop and put on my thick gloves (I never ski tour with thick gloves but the pain was too much for me to bare). The hill up to Whirlwind was a long haul but getting to the peak felt pretty damn good. For me it was pretty smooth sailing from then on as I get energized as the race moves on. Although a big problem was a lack of water as the cold froze my tube…It’s funny how life works sometimes…it isn’t until you can’t have something that you really want it…hmmm…I managed to catch and pass a few guys on the return trip…The skis and bindings were fantastic although at times it felt like an adventure within the adventure when I couldn’t quite get the boot in the binding while the wind was howling and my fingers were frozen…but for some reason those are the situations I like best… it toughens me up…In the end I finished the Spearhead passage in 5hours and 30 minutes and with a smile on my face nonetheless….Following the awards I wanted to do nothing more than pass out at Ali and Grahame’s but forced myself back to the village to check out De La Soul. They were okay but I was starting to feel sick and a nasty cough was grabbing my chest so I decided to bus it back and find some rest.


Saturday night I wasn’t sure I’d feel up for the Sunday windup race (a race from the base of Whistler to the roundhouse approx 7km of pure uphill…). I awoke Sunday morning and didn’t feel too bad…I had to get up to the roundhouse to do a ski exchange with Al anyway so I thought…I might as well ski up to the top…hehe…so I did. It was a small crowd that dared to try it out…It was yet another sunny but chilly morning but much warmer as it was purely uphill and the wind was to a minimal in comparison to yesterday. I managed to ski up in 1.5hours right behind Mel B. I pulled off a solid second place and scored some sweet shwag. Thank you ROI, Scott, Jason, Delena, Rob and everyone for putting on this amazing event!


Michael Franti and Spearhead…


Words cannot describe it….basically if you weren’t there you should have been. It was an unbelievable show. He played for over 2 hours, the sun came out from the clouds and the crowd was hoppin’. He did yoga on stage, he spoke from the soul and he came out and greeted the crowd. If you have never seen him live….GO,…it’s an experience you will never regret!

I somehow managed to squeeze onto the 630pm bus….home at 930pm…fantastic weekend. Another one for the memory bank!



Live, love, laugh,…DREAM!

Reach the Peak and Whistler...

Reach the Peak Uphill Race (run/snowshoe)


Saturday morning was gorgeous and I had decided to try out the reach the peak race. It is a neat little race where you begin at the ocean in deep cove and finish at the peak of Mt Seymour with a little there and back to Dog Mountain.
http://www.runthenorthshore.com/qs/page/7040/3696/-1
Let me back track to Friday evening,..I had been out with a friend and home before I found out I no longer had a ride. Since I live about 6km from deep cove, instead of trying to find a ride to the start of the race I figured I might as well run to the start and use that as my warm-up….it was a little tougher than I thought but maybe in the end that was the secret to my success???..
It was a beautiful Saturday morning, the sun was shining (yes, even in North Van the sun comes out once in awhile) and the temp was just ideal. I had no intention of doing well as I was not sure if my body and energy systems were quite recovered from the Baja Adventure race. I just figured it was a nice morning and I was most likely going to go hike somewhere anyways so why not race? I took off with the top guys and quickly let them go and found myself a steady pace. I ended up being close to two other nice men for the entirety of the race. I felt pretty good through the trails and managed to keep my snowshoes off for quite a while compared to others. Once I did put the snowshoes on they felt a little awkward at first (hadn’t worn them since the Cypress Yeti race) but eventually got used to the extra stuff on my feet. I reached the Mt Seymour Cross Country trails feeling quite good…maybe jus t a little hungry. Hadn’t really drank anything yet…which is prob not the smartest thing but I tend to forget to sometimes….I’m working on it. Once to the parking lot there were a couple of people cheering and some snacks available. I smiled drank some energy drink and moved on to the Dog Mountain section. It was nice to finally get some speed. This section is rolly and so there was some opportunity to run. As I got closer to the turnaround pt some of the top guys were on their way back…it was nice to know I wasn’t that far behind. At the turn around there was an incredible view of Mt Baker, Van, Tantalus range, the island etc. I did a quick 360, got my pic taken and then headed back. I was feeling super good and ended up passing one guy before reaching the finish line. It was a fabulous race! Oh and a bonus, I ended up finishing as the top female and in the top 10. YAY! We then went to a pub for awards, food and drinks.


Whistler

Chris and Billy were nice enough to drive me all the way to Squamish. They dropped me off at the Greyhound and I caught a bus to Whistler from there. I met a nice man, Rob, and we chatted the entire way to Whistler. That night Ali and I attended the Big Air competition (wow, a huge crowd watching these amazing athletes clear a gigantic jump).


Afterwards we headed to the opening of the BraveArt show, some fabulous artists doing their thing live….it was inspiring. The village was a little chaotic with people everywhere.



Sunday morning

Ali and I headed up Whistler Mountain. As we headed up the chairlift checking out the runs I was thinking that it will be an early start to beers on the patio….the hill was a sheet of ice…ahh…fortunately we managed to find some good snow, bump into Graham and have a blast for the rest of the day. As the temperature rose the snow became softer and the sun kept poking out…Needless to say the snow conditions proved to be interesting but thank you to wonderful company and a most beautiful place I had a blast. We finished off the day with nachos at Blacks and dancing to the John Butler Trio band… I had an adventure in itself getting home. Who doesn’t order extra buses on Sunday of the Telus festival? That’s my little rant. I got home safe and sound (eventually…. and in the process got to hang out with a good friend that otherwise I would have missed…so all was not lost…just some shuteye time before Monday at work…I can deal with that).





Live, Love, Laugh,…DREAM!

Tuesday Night Kayak Races. Race Number 1

Tuesday Night Kayak Races

This past Tuesday was the first of the Tuesday Night Kayak Races that happen at Deep Cove. It is a really fun event where kayaks of all kind come and do a usually 8-15km race. After the race the majority of people head to the Raven to watch the race, socialize and talk kayaks!


This Tuesday Johnny and I decided to race in Ben’s double baidarka. A beautiful white boat that Ben had built many years ago. We had been paddling this boat about once a week all winter long but had no intention on being ultra quick in it. Well, well, well….we surprised ourselves and many others on Tuesday night when we motored through the course. We were the first double and managed to pass a bunch of quick singles...YAY us! Results and race information should be on the web http://www.deepcovekayak.com/frames.php



live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

SUNDAY...BPS

My friend Jason informed me of this challenge himself and 3 friends were taking up on Monday in San Diego....called SSS (it entails catching 3 waves, driving 2.5hrs or so hiking/running 2 hrs or so climbing up a couple of pitches of some 5-11 route rappeling down. hiking out, driving back and catching 3 waves...all before sunset...pretty awesome...) well I feel like I did my own personal challenge on Sunday...I'll call it BPS (bike, paddle, ski tour) all before 4pm...It was great fun...I ended the night with a yoga session in the comfort of my own home...(you'd be proud Jason!). I'm feeling great and recovered from BAJA which is fantastic! Bring on the next challenge...which just might be this weekend...

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

Thursday Night Paddle....Deep Cove

Thursday night JOhnny and I went out for a fabulous paddle around Deep Cove and the Indian Arm area. We've been paddling consistently once a week throughout the winter and its nice to finally see the paddle in front of you...thanks to daylight savings....our paddle on thursday was gorgeous...we differed from our regular night paddle route in hopes to find Chris and Gary...we never found them but had a blast anyway....This tuesday the tuesday night kayak races begin....i'm pumped!

RACE REPORT BAJA TRAVERSIA 2008

Meeting the Team
I arrived at the LA airport to be greeted by Alex, Daniel and Catherine. The four of us drove through the night to San Diego to quickly slip into bed. In the morning I was greeted by Daniels amazing family. The day was spent shopping for food, the 99 cent store (kinda like our dollar store in CAN), Trader Joe’s (awesome organic food store with lots of yummy things…), bike shops and bakeries. We managed to squeeze in a little mountain bike ride and a short little run down the canyon that happens to lie in Daniels backyard…we were blessed with a huge German dinner prepared by Daniel’s father. All in all a fabulous day 1 with my new friends….

Jason and Dieke arrived throughout the night(morning more like it)….Saturday morning I woke up fairly early and was itching to move so I decided to head down that beautiful canyon for a little morning run….awesome! By the time I returned to the house Jason was up and I finally got to meet my third team member…it was definitely beginning to get more exciting!

Randy and Getting There

Randy was our driver and truck provider for the race…He was an interesting man to meet. In short, he likes to drive trucks and drink beer….a little different than our ways but there is nothing wrong with that….different strokes for different folks.
We arrived to the beach, got to try out some paddle boarding, had a taco party by the beach with all the racers and managed to find some camp in the desert….a good bonding day for team yogaslackers.



Sunday pre-race

Sunday, we woke up to sunshine and sand…typical elements found in the area….made a sweet breakfast of oatmeal and java juice coffee…and headed off to the pre race meeting…unfortunately for Karen and Paul the winds picked up and having the meeting outside on the beach turned a little wonky as sand was flying everywhere and one had to really lean in to hear their voices…but despite the wind all went well and we were off in search of some Mexican goodness….(food)…We managed to score a place to sort gear and sleep thanks to Dave Marshall and Chloe…They hosted at least 4 teams. I scored a good little spot on their roof top patio under the stars….brilliant…


Monday Race Start 11:30am
We started the race at 1130am so the tide had time to come in (it can be out for kms and so its much nicer not having to run for kms with a paddleboard…thanks K and P).

Paddleboard
The order for the paddleboard section was youngest to oldest. Daniel went first and Jason and I ran along the beach. It was a leap frog type of effect along the beach for about 5km. Daniel kicked some major butt pulling out in front right from the start. We couldn’t believe our eyes nor could anyone else..ha. They were like who is out there in front? The yogawhos? I love it. I was second and just went hard, it was fun..but it started to really hurt half way through…paddleboarding is tough stuff….my chin got a good little beating. Jason was last up and managed to keep our lead. We were off on our first run through the desert in FIRST! Woohoo….what a high!

Trek
We got overtaken by Dart Nuun NW fairly early in the run..eventually they got out of sight and we just kept moving as fast as we could through the sand and heat….Jason eventually made a sweet navigational decision that without our knowing put us back into the lead. The heat was bad and so for the last 10km we opted for a 4min run 1 min walk and it worked out well…FIRST again into the auto rally section.


Auto Rally Race
Warren, our driver was rippin it up…we were going fast through the desert loving life and still beaming from our first place status…..until…dududu……our car broke…team Dart Nuun NW went by us and two nice folks with a van picked us up in behind them…. our first transition point was a learning experience for us and our support crew….they were doing great. Jason had to fix a huge tow blister I obtained already….it hurt a lot but I think the pain would have been way worse had I left it be…

Canyoneering


We once again fell behind Daart Nuun NW and eventually Dart and Extreme Sports caught us. The three teams worked together in a train like form and caught up to Dart NW. We were a train of the top four teams moving quickly through the canyon. It was definitely a rush to be up there with the top teams…..I loved every moment of it even when it was tough….eventually Jason got out front and took a little wrong turn to the wall of this canyon and by the time I turned around noone was behind us anymore…oopsy…we were back on our own.


We were doing well until we reached what we thought should have been the ropes only to figure out we were one canyon over. So we decided to head up and over this ridge and back down to the correct canyon. In doing this we stumbled onto a cliff where Jason showed us how to rappel down without using any tools….I won’t lie I was nervous…real nervous…but we all made it down safely and headed up the correct canyon.


No sooner we ran into the guys that were supposed to set up the ropes. It was kind of neat to be too fast for the ropes…so we managed without them. This section of the canyon turned out to be quite long especially finding the check point after the canyon section….it ended with another long dirt road…it was tough to keep the mind alert and the body moving…..but once again we pulled out our 4min run 1 min walk routine and we made it to the bikes in 3rd.

Bike 1 (failed brakes)

This bike section proved disastrous for many many teams. While on the single track section we ran into both Dart teams going the wrong way. They were lost. Our first big oopsy was when we decided that if Dart was lost we would be too and opted to try out what we thought would be a more straight forward route..to make a long sad story short…5 hours later we were back at checkpoint 11 right where we say Dart but this time tired and in the dark. We managed to find our way but the sleep monster were getting us so we parked ourselves on the road, made a fire and took a nap (the 3 of us spooning together for heat under a space blanket..this is one way to get to know people quickly)…we awoke to a motorcycle coming towards…at first we were nervous as we thought it was the police coming to arrest us for making a fire but no sooner we realized it was a race volunteer coming out to look for teams as it seemed like most teams were lost…we were told we were still in 3rd place. I’ve never seen three freezing exhausted people jump on their bikes so fast in the middle of the night and give her down some steep terrain….i quickly noticed my front brake losing its power…we stopped at a pit stop and after Daniel checked my brake he noticed my brake fluid had leaked and the tubing had been punctured. By the end of the bike I had zero front brakes. Those of you who know me know that downhill mountain biking scares me in normal circumstances…I managed to bike down some crazy downhill, with no front brake, in the dark for a very long time….woohoo….i know I am a machine…hahaha….

Trek (Daniel’s Birthday)


We nailed this trek. Although we still had some excitement. Daniel wasn’t feeling too great and started drinking lots and lots of water. It was pretty funny actually as he was just grabbing Jason’s water bottle from his pack and gulping water..not sure if Jason noticed or not but he sure did notice when his water bottle was empty….again to keep this brief..Jason and I were feeling strong and we wanted to run…Daniel did not…for his birthday…we forced him to run…haha…I know we are evil….we all managed to run out of water in the desert..not a great scene…but someone from up above gave Daniel a birthday present…a half filled 3L bottle of water left on the desert floor…it was odd…yes..a hallucination…we thought but it was real…we iodized it and managed to drink it to its last drop.

Bike 2 (missed check point)

We arrived at our bike transition to find out my bike could not be fixed…Jason without hesitation told them to switch the pedals from his bike to mine and that he was to ride my broken bike and I his bike…this is a great example of TEAM work and going with the flow. We took off on the bike and it got dark pretty quick. On this bike leg I thought we were all going to die. No joke, it was crazy…..Actually I feel like if we had done this downhill section in the light I would have been twice as slow but in the dark you can only see whats right in front of you and that was nerve racking enough…but Jason was the man, rippin it up with only half a back brake…..awesome stuff…after a long downhill, a long push through thick thick sand we managed to arrive at checkpoint 17. Only to not find it. We were all exhausted so again we huddled together in the freezing cold and lay down for an hours nap….we awoke freezing (I have never been soooo cold) looked for the checkpoint couldn’t find it so headed out. I should mention here that Jason did spot check it on our spot device…After about 12km we all stopped…and decided we should turn around and look for the checkpoint again…the last thing we wanted was to make it to the end to only find out we are DQ’d for missing the checkpoint…we eventually found it buried in the ground..hung it up and took off again.. another 4 hours LOST….oopsy.


Trek (stopped by Mexican Land owners)
The last trekking section was through these beautiful canyons…they were beautiful to look at but treacherous to trek through….we had to cactus wack, run through rivers, boulder hop, run through poison oak (which I found out I am immune too…sorry Jason and Daniel…hehe). I also acquired some serious chafing in some super sensitive areas….lots of bleeding and pain…I can’t write much about it as it brings up some painful memories…we finally made it to what we thought would be a dirt road only to get stopped by a man and his father who owned this private land we were about to cross. They stopped and talk to us for over 20 minutes and repeatedly told us we were not allowed to cross their property. We somehow coerced them into letting us run through to the check point and let the race directors know all the details…must have been the boys charming personalities…so we ran indeed all the way to the transition…

Bike 3 (getting passed)
We were on our last legs…what we thought to be only a bike and kayak left….we were on our bikes….me with severe pain in not so fun parts..jason on my broken bike and me on Jason’s funky shifting bike….life was grand until team extreme sports sped past us….we couldn’t hold on…but managed to catch them at the beach only to be finding ourselves running along the beach for 5-7km in bike shoes with all our paddling gear….chasing down our competition…..I was having a hard time keeping the other teams pace so I slowed it down knowing that with my style of running I am able to keep a good pace as long as its my pace…and wouldn’t you know it..it kind of worked….the other team was slowing down and were keeping a solid pace and eventually nearly caught them.

Kayak
Team extreme left on the kayaks about a minute before us. It was dark and the waves were huge…we struggled for a bit but managed to get through the break with Jason’s counting mantra….once past the break and around the corner we waited for Daniel to catch up from behind so he could draft up behind us. Meanwhile team Extreme’s double was way out in front leaving their single kayak behind. Once at the end of the kayak the extreme sports double jumped out of their boats, raced to the finish line and collapsed meanwhile their single kayaker was still in the water. The three of us crossed the finish line together giving us 3rd place as we were the first team of 3 across the line ahead of Extreme Sports. It was an exciting, adrenaline rushing, lesson learning finish to a fabulous race. Thanks everyone for your support, encouragement and help. Thanks Paul and Karen for putting on a fantastic course that managed to tests all our skills in a variety of ways.

Sleep
We managed to score the last hotel room in the place but it was no regular room. It was the master suite complete with loft and Jacuzzi….what a night….it was nice to put the feet up and sleep in a big comfy bed!

Friday chilling and awards



Friday we woke up fairly early so we could cheer in Kayak Lake Mead. Do some acro yoga and eat deliciouis coconut and ice cream. Before dinner we played for awhile in the grass and I got to learn some neat acro yoga moves from Jason and Dieke. The awards were at night. It was such a blast to be on the podium….We drove back to San Diego that night and arrived at about 4am….to bed we went….


Saturday/Sunday/Monday San Diego Acroyoga and Slackline yoga workshop


Saturday and Sunday I got the awesome opportunity to participate in one of Jason’s acroyoga slackline yoga workshops. The workshop was fantastic…inspiring and tough…it was great to meet all the beautiful people and learn some basic acro yoga moves… it was also super cool to figure out the slackline and do some yoga on it. The learning curve is faster than one would think….and its damn addictive. I also got to meet Sam and Paul the other two yogaslackers….awesome guys. The workshop was filmed by discovery channel as they are going to do a piece on the yogaslackers..as they should…


Daniel’s parents once again did not hold anything back in the hosting department. They provided us with beds, showers and lots and lots of delicious food. THANKS!

It was definitely hard to leave my new adventure family. Its amazing what a week and half together can do….when racing you reach a deeper level of friendship and relationship….its absolutely beautiful…I can relate it well to summer camp. It’s a short period of intense living with others which makes it so difficult to part ways at the end. I have learnt a lot and will take it all with me back to Vancouver.

Yogaslackers, I am proud.

Boys….you won me from the beginning….I felt the powerful positive energy and knew it was gonna be a fun adventure….

www.yogaslackers.com


www.bajatravesia.com


Live, love, laugh,…DREAM!

Return from Baja Traversia

I can't believe the race is over and I'm back in the united states. I will be home in CAN tomorrow night....In some ways it feels like it never even occurred...The last week and a half have seemed dream like...the travels, the race, the pain, the excitement, the rush, the cold, the heat, the people...I'm sitting here in San Diego, eating chocolate cake, with my feet on the table to try and drain the swelling in my ankle and air out my blisters...and I am at peace....more so than I have felt in a very long time. I feel no rush to get home (although am excited to see everyone), I feel no need to stay either....I just feel like wandering, learning, experimenting, living....I feel so blessed to have met these amazing people in the last week..I will write up a proper race report upon my return to CAN with pictures and stories. For now if you haven't yet checked the race website you should...

www.bajatraversia.com

my team's website

www.yogaslackers.com

For now, I am out heading to an acro yoga/yoga slacklining workshop held by Jason Magness....

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