Snowboarding? tick!

Today was the college outing to Cypress Mountain for snow related shinanigans. 16 people went along from more or less 16 countries! I was a designated driver and had my friends Andy (behind the camera), Noo (white hat), and Helena (red hat) with me (fantastic new union jack hat (thank you Sara)). We also had Terry (no hat but very tall!) who I've only met once before.

Because there were only a couple of experienced skiers/boarders, I thought this was the ideal time to sample the dark side that is Snowboarding. We had a group lesson for 2 hours and by the end of it our abilities ranged from just about doing turns to just about standing up.

I buddied up with Helena as we were the two voted "most likely to make it up the chair lift without dieing" and we headed off for a couple hours of practice before our next lesson late afternoon. By the time we went to the lesson (to learn turns) I could just about do linked turns so it was a bit of a waste but I did pick up a couple useful tips.
















The lesson finished at 5.30 so the day was nearly over - the sun was dissapearing behind the mountain and the ground/snow was freezing and becoming even more painful to fall on.

But, I wanted more so, Andy (despite being alseep in the truck most of the day fighting off serious flu) came up to the top of the mountain with me to do a blue run - ok I admit it didnt go well but it was fun (aside from the pain!) Then we went up the other mountain and finished off with a nice gentle green back to the rental hut.
















8 hours of snowboarding (less lunch) later and I feel like I've been dragged into a back room and beaten senseless! I'm now VERY sore. I'm amazed I can still walk - I can't lift with my left arm and coughing seriously hurts my ribs - and as for sitting in the college chairs for 2 hours lectures next week - forget it mate!!
















Thanks to everyone for making it a truly great day. Especially Andy for organising it and turning up despite being seriously out of it and in pain.

Will I do it again? You'll just have to wait and see.....

Oh and if you want proof, email me and I'll send you the video of me snowboarding!

Isn't Snowboarding just a waste of good ski time?

Well yes, it is wasting valuable time on the white stuff but there does seem to be so many people intoxicated by this frozen surf thing that I feel it's become my duty as a skier to at least try out the 'other' snow sport. Then, once and for all I can let you all know the, unbiased, impartial truth that Skiing is better. Err, I mean Skiing OR snowboarding is better.

So this Saturday, I'll be visiting Cypress Mountain with a few of my friends for a day on The Dark Side starting with a two hour snowboard lesson. Hopefully, by the end of the lesson I will at least be able to stand up and move at the same time. Then of course I'll be spending the rest of the day either panicing, falling, sitting in the snow or getting up - oh and maybe if I'm lucky, brief moments of actual "riding" as they call it in snowboard land.

Which brings me to my point (yes I actually have one).....
I'm curious. I don't want to be snowboarding backwards all day so when the guy at the rental place asks which way round I want my feet, what do I say? The way I was born with them? I think I heard someone saying something about which foot you kick with being the back foot - for me that would be the right foot. When I'm on a bike I have my right foot back when coasting so maybe this is right err, I mean correct!

So Ade and Ed what do you think guys? Ade, do you ride right foot forward on a bike like you do on a board?

There's a button round here someplace to add a comment......
Cheers guys

Skiing again

It was such a nice day today I thought I'd go get a few hours skiing in at Cypress





















It's such a horrible place - the views are rubbish ;-)
















Even though it hasn't snowed for a few days the warm weather meant the snow was good
















Although once the sun went down the nice soft snow all froze solid















but that was ok as it was time for me to go....
and do some more study :-(

And that was my weekend - not bad eh!?

Goodbye Dennis

Dennis is going back to Germany on Monday so the lads and I took him out for a few pints.....
(no that's Timo, not Dennis)
















We went to Steamworks - it's a real nice place. It's huge, they do good food, have nice comfy sofas in the bar and even a couple of pool tables (as you may have noticed)
That's Dennis in the black t-shirt















Oh, and Timo and I thrashed Dennis and Andy 5-1!!

Up top with On Top

On Top Bikes of North Vancouver were 10 years old this week and to celebrate they had "a thing" at the shop - BBQ, 30% off sale and most importantly free shuttles! (shuttle: lift to the top of the mountain for you and bike) so I took my little bike down there...















of course, when you go biking in the mountains in March, you have to expect snow - the first few hundred metres had a couple feet of snow on the sides but the trail itself was pretty clear - a good thing to as the trail "Sex Boy" was pretty serious - a continual stream of steep rocky chutes covered in big roots - the sort of sections your average punter wouldn't dream of riding - but this is The North Shore - it's normal here















but I couldn't stay too long - more study to do! (oh and I was going out (again!))

Top o' the mornin' to ya!

Sorry if you've missed my regular updates - since getting back from England I've been really busy catching up with school work and exams so no time for fun! Plus the blogger doesn't seem to be working properly at the moment. Well it's just about working now so here's my big weekend return to adventures!

Happy St Patrick's Day (for Friday) - after 2 exams back to back on Friday my brain was desperately in need of some RnR. Fortunately for me the girls were going downtown to celebrate St Patricks Day so I went along with them!














Genuine GREEN beer was the drink of the day....
that's Crazy Christy on the left (who claims she's from Mars) and Ema















...and here's some complete strangers we met (no they weren't Irish)















Christy made a friend of this lepricorn - at least I think he was a lepricorn. He was certainly dressed like one and was acting pretty strangely but then I guess lepricorns are not usually over 6ft!






























You can see Kosue's photo's here

Gulp!

This is what was happening on the other runway while I landed at 2.32pm on Saturday

Click Me!

If you look real careful you can even see Barb!

Come and ride they said.....

...the trails are dry they said. There's no mud they said.

They were wrong!

While I was in the country I managed to find time to get some miles in on a bike. Thanks to Marshalls Cycles for lending me a sweet rig to ride. And thanks to my dear mate Alix for riding with me. Despite the rain (and mud) we had a good time and even managed a personal first each - First up, Alix rode "Jaws" - a huge and very steep bank that scares the willies out of everyone....and then she did it again!! You go girl - so much more than a pretty face!!















Then it was my turn - Alix showed me a massive log which only Chris P has ridden. "Do you want to try it" she asked - Hmm I thought. Muddy, slippery log, strange bike and a dash of jet lag - possibly not ideal conditions. "do you want me to ride it?" I replied. Well not wanting to let the side down after Alix's earlier achievement, I thought I'd better try. So with more than a hint of doubt in my mind I had a go.....
.....and I did it! I'm not sure who was more surprised, me or Alix!

Alix, thanks for the ride hun

The funeral

On a rainy day in Suffolk we said goodbye to Nan













































It was a proper service with hyms and prayers, just the way Nan would want it.
As we left they played "The Last Waltz" - one of Nan's favourites and perfect for the occasion.

Thanks to everyone who came to pay their respects