Famous at last

Check me out on Delbert's blog - thanks mate :-D

Snow, err.... hiking

A few of my friends went biking today but I had a lot of homework to do so I was quite happy when Michele suggested we should go for a hike up on Seymour. It was cloudy but it'd be good to get out in the mountains and do some exercise - little did we know there was an inversion and some spectacular views to be had - a good thing I remembered the camera!





We followed the snow-shoe trails but because of the melt-freeze-rain-freeze-melt-freeze weather the snow was pretty frozen solid - in fact so much so you could happily walk across the top of the "powder" - so we didnt need snowshoes although it was pretty slippery!!


I'll let you enjoy the photos..... (click on them for a closer look)




















Jon walking on powder












and with a special lens filter applied.....oh, alright I admit it was my sun glasses!













































Can you see the aeroplane?













Can you see it now?














































and then it was time to go back home to Metrotown (pictured) I cant wait to move this week - 2 days and counting :-D

Happy Birthday Amber

I first met Amber in the States - lol that sounds good doesnt it! lol Well, I did, but it was on our first ski day this year which just happened to be at Mt Baker. Anyway, at the 4X the other night she invited me along for her birthday bash on Friday

After a couple hours at her place the party moved downtown to one of the Irish bars. I say 'bar' but it was more of a club, complete with live band - if not 'lively' band - I'm sure a couple of them had their bus passes!! We all joked about them being an Irish folke band - until they started up - playing folk music!! lol It was pretty strange music for a club but it was a great laugh, much fun was had by all.

Thanks Amber and Happy Birthday!

You gotta have Sol

Conspicuous by their absence from my previous blog (Christmas in Blighty) and with a nudge from a little birdie, here are, ladies and gentlemen the Sols:









Del taught me everything I know about err, well, let me see.....err, Ah yes! Surfing the interweb at work!!!!!!!!










Both he and his lovely wife Gill have always ripped it up on a bike - in fact I remember one of the first rides we did with them - must have been 7 or 8 years ago at least - we were teaching them how to plug through the local mud when Gill decided to take a quick rest - in a ditch full of icy water! Brrrrrrrrrrrrr! She seemed so much more alert after that!!





and not content with getting themselves hooked on dirt riding, they infected their youngest too - Alix is one of the hottest female riders around - and she aint bad lookin either!

(Chicksands photos by James Michaels, others from Delbert's site thanks to Happy Jon for finding the Alix pic)






So in summary, all I have to say is....

























































When do I get a mention on your blog(s) Delbert!!

4X

The weather's been a bit pants for the past couple weeks - too warm/wet for snowy activities and too wet/snowy for bike ones.....

Unless of course you happen to have an empty warehouse and truckloads of dirt - which is exactly what they put to good use to build the Abbotsford BMX track :-)

Its a wee drive (45mins) but worth it for the silky smooth track so Rich and I met Amber and Kevin down there for some midweek madness.


Being a warehouse tends to mean the floor isn't exactly "steep" so the track makes for a bit of workout for the lungs - the first few laps were a bit of a rude awakening for my lungs for sure!

But, once you get used to it, its great fun. Of course there were a load of BMX's flying around - and I do mean flying - but this was 4X night(that's "four-cross" for you non-bikers) so once it got to racing it was strictly MTBs only.

There were the usual "fast boys" making the rest of us look fairly decrepid - Amber on the other hand was just making me look decrepid!!


But much fun was had by all :-)

Now where can I get some cheap skinny tyres.....

Cruising day at Whistler

Haven't been on the snow for TWO WEEKS(!) due in part to hunting for a place to live and in part due to homework. It always takes a couple weeks for me to get the feeling for each class and get into the rhythm of doing the homework. ANYWAY, it was time I got some snow!

Enter Kiyoka: "Wanna come to Whistler?" Silly question!! The arrangements were a bit last minute - 6am on the day we went so I met Trung and Kiyoka up there for a day of sub-zero fun.

You may remember the setting of the photo above from Mum's visit in September - its Whistler Peak.


Kiyoka's highlight of the day was undoubtedly the "Robins" that she was feeding from her hand - and once she did half the lift queue joined in!











I think the "Robins" survive just on the tourist tibits as the snow is 10-15ft deep up here

SARA: (or anyone) what type of birds are these? Kiyoka insisted they were Robins but I'm more than a little sceptical!








We had a great day though - nothin too strenuous and plenty of blue sky



the view from Whistler of Blackcomb



We even stopped for a quick bite to eat - such luxury! Even the view from the cafe ain't half bad! (this is the top station of the Whistler gondola Mum)










Kiyoka in action - she can sense a camera even at altitude in sub-zero temperatures!











For our last run, we dropped over the back onto the Peak to Creek run - we saw about 2 people on the WHOLE mountain!

(click the pics to enlarge)

eeeh! Yours truly admiring the view





the skiing is taking its toll on my body - look at my bandy legs and knobbly knees!!


From this point we headed through the frozen trees (stage right) and down a steep bowl in-between the rocks. Kiyoka (bless her) hadnt done this kind of thing before so got a bit worried about manoeuvring between the rocks on the super-steep slope but she did great - well done K!!



and with just a final run to the bottom, that was our day done. It was fun though and I'm sure we'll do it again soon.....maybe I should try it on the snowboard next time??!!!!!!!

I'm Moving!

At last, I've found a place to call my own (as long as I pay the rent) in Kitsilano :-)

It's right by the green arrow (click on the pic to see it bigger)

To those who don't know, Kits' is a district of Vancouver separated from Downtown (the city) by a bit of water (False Creek) - just at t'other end of Burrard Bridge

From my new place I'm a ten minute walk from Downtown or Granville Island (incredible market, shops, a museum and a water-taxi ride from Downtown) or even less to Vanier Park, home of "Bard in the Park" the summer long Shakespeare productions, the Maritime Museum, Space Centre (cough cough) and planetarium - home of the psychedelic late night show!


Mum should be happy cos when she checks "The Bridge" webcam it'll be the weather a couple hundred metres from my place :-D

Getting back to the "tour".... of course, the best bit is that I now only have 2 mins to walk to Kits' Beach - also pretty handy for watching the fireworks in the summer that are off Sunset Beach just across the water.






And next to the beach is Kits' Pool - all 137 heated meters of it :-D - I used to loose count doing a mile in a normal (25m) pool (60 lengths) - no such problems here - it's just under 11!!!

- I move in on 31st Jan or there-abouts - I even have an under-cover parking space!!

Well, I'd better get back to my economics homework

Whistler Creekside

Still reeeeeeling from jet lag after only one night at home I drove up to Whistler on Thursday to take possession of my boss', Genn's condo :-D

Its a one bedroom place at Creekside - a few k's from the main village, served by the lower lifts. Jon and Michele came up later and brought curry :-D

hmm, I dont think I had enough curry on my visit to England :-(

anyway, the condo is done out with a lot of good gear so it's brilliant job benefit!!

On Friday we got up, geared up and went to the lifts - only to come home again with our tail between our legs - the conditions weren't great - minimal visibility, top of the mountain shut due to high winds and only a couple inches of snow
:-(

Although I thought it was kinda fantastic that we are able to choose not to ski today - if I'd paid hard earned money to fly the Atlantic etc somehow I think I'd have been up there on the first lift!

Instead we decided to mooch around the village - Michele had faaaaar too much energy for us old men so she ran to the village via the scenic route while Jon and I took the bus ;-)

by the time we'd finished mooching (and watching Borat) there was a full scale blizzard which turned the roads to chaos - and this in Whistler where they're used to it snowing!

This pic shows the two-way highway 5 or 6 cars abreast trying to get up a slight incline! A good thing no-one in their right mind was leaving Whistler tonight!

Rich got stuck in the mayhem and therefore took 5-6 hours to get there (normally 2h)



Once Rich eventually made it we went for something to eat down the road - we walked!
By the time we came out there was at least a foot of new snow - and all this at the lowest point of the ski area ;-)









This is what my car looked like in the morning!













but the sky was clear, the powder was fresh and we were in the queue before the lift opened!!! In fact before the sun came up!

This is the view from the condo - the piste on the left is the downhill for the 2010 Olympics









So did we have a good day? Ohhhhhh yes. The piste closures the previous day meant there was anything from a foot and a half to three feet of fresh pow! It was the most amazing day - unfortunately I didnt take many pictures - we were far too busy having fun

I'm finally getting to grips with skiing in the deep stuff so it was extra special for me although surprisingly the most memorable moments were standing in the lift queue....


When the lift to the peak of Whistler opened, everyone swarmed to it but luckily we were amongst the first. Whilst we waited, trying to stay warm and discussing our options for our line down, someone in the crowd cheered. Of course, this made everyone look up at the empty mountain in front of us - only it wasnt empty anymore. Right at the top of a big wide open slope, four figures had appeared, pausing only briefly before snaking down the piste in parallel, about 30 or 40ft from each other. The crowd went wild! Shouting, cheering and screaming, it was like being at a rock concert when the band walks on stage - as Russ Abbot would say: what an atmosphere!

It was one of THOSE moments that I wont forget for a long time.

Besides the main slopes is a feature known as The Waterfall - a small cliff about 35ft high in the middle and it wasnt long before we were treated to a few "nutters" hucking this - to standing(?) ovations from the lift queue of course!

....and then. When we thought it couldnt get any better a lone figure appeared on top of the ridge - away from any obvious line down - or so I thought - he rolled off the top straight into a 40ft drop - landed it perfectly - which is a good thing because he had about half a second before flying off the second 40ft drop at about a hundred mile an hour! Not content with landing those he turned right and jumped between a load of trees - another 40ft+ to arrive at the bottom. Wow.
As you can imagine, the crown went wild again - it was just like being inside a ski movie - and then of course, we got our turn - no big drops for us but sooooo much fun in the deep pow!
:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D


After an amazing day it was hard to imagine going back to the slopes again the next day but the snow gods had another treat for us - yet another foot of powder !! LOL We couldnt believe out luck - two powder days in a row. Needless to say we had biiiiiiig fun

This pic show the 2 days of snowfall quite well - this is Jon's van - its a big van too - Its a shame I did take of of my car cos you couldnt see the bike rack anymore - it took me about 90mins and lots of help to get it out again!!



The final word on the weekend has to belong to Flute Bowl. At the end of our first day, we used the new lift to head up to the in-bounds back-country skiing of Flute bowl. It took a half hour hike up the ridge but we were rewarded with a whole mountainside covered in untouched 2-3ft powder and not a person in sight.


Did I mention that I like Whistler ;-)

Christmas in Blighty

Well well, has it been a year already? I guess so. After successfully completing my third semester at Kwantlen I headed back to the homeland to spend Christmas and New Year with my friends and family.

It was Mum's birthday on Christmas Day - the big six o.















And I finally got to meet my Sister Jane's new bloke, Mark - seems like a very nice chap. Just to add to the fun over Christmas Lunch he popped the question to Jane - everybody: Awww!















Jane has been pretty busy since I left - found herself a great bloke, AND is expecting her first baby in the spring - and one more time everyone: Awwww!


It wasnt all family though - far from it, I managed to see just about all my dear friends and no less than four bike rides - it was more like a training camp!

Here's Sara studying the info board that explains the background is actually an ancient moated thing - I say "thing" because I cant remember if it was a fort, a settlement or an early Tesco!!? But ancient it is, and moated it was.





This is looking the other way - it's funny how the mud doesnt look so bad in the photos - I guess it wasnt THAT bad but I'm not used to it anymore (mohaahahaha!) ......oh sorry. Am I rubbing it in.....again! ;-)










...and somewhere in Hertford Heath - this bit was the fast downhill of the ride - mainly cos it's been surfaced - I remember when this was unridably muddy before they surfaced it

(yes Sara, I know you're bored reading this)










Muddy bike - thank the lord (well Ed actually) for mud tyres :-D













About a day before I came back I decided to start taking people pictures - it occurs to me now that perhaps I shouldnt have been in them all!!

Anyway, here's my favourtie Welshman, Adrian with the looooong suffering Esther









...see what I mean!


















...Chris wasnt at all sure about having her photo taken in the middle of a cafe in Hertford












...and Pauline thought taking a photo in a garden centre car park was completely ridiculous!












Sara yes I know I said I wouldnt put this on the blog but we both knew I was lying right?










and last but by no means least Holly, Joe and Rich (thats Hols on the left)

Unfortunately I neglected to get any photos of mine or the Fisher family :-( ah well, next time)

Thank you to all my friends and family for making me very welcome despite me leaving them all for Canada. Special thanks to Edwin for loaning me some mud tyres even if you didnt come riding! Sara for sharing the old trails with me just like the old days, Ade & Es for looking after me as always and Ma for putting me up and giving up her car for two weeks!
But extra special thanks to my little sister for making it all possible. Thanks Sis :-D