Ok, so a camera-phone isnt the ideal tool....

... for taking pictures of the moon from 239 thousand miles away but when I went running it was all I had!


I'd just run down the beach in the last dribble of sunset and turned the corner to Vanier Park when I saw the moon - big, orange and hovering between the buildings across the water downtown (you may have to click the pic to spot the bright shiny thing in the middle of the pic - that's the moooooooooon!)






it was a great night for a run - quite cool but dry. I havent been in a wee while so wasnt expecting my legs to hold out too long but to my surprise they felt fine. So fine that in no time I'd made it to the island - ok, so its not far but my poor old knees dont usually let me go half this distance on the first run back - so I'm chuffed (do Canadians know what "chuffed" means?)







so on the way back it'd got a bit darker and the moon had risen a bit - here you can see a blurry bright bit above a blurry Burrard Bridge with a fountain thingy (atop a mock Mayan pyramid) in the foreground









and a bright blurry thing making a bright blurry reflection in the water - with a blurry, bearly recognizable Burrard Bridge on the right










and finally a blurry bright thing (it was getting brighter as it rose and therefore more blurry) over downtown with blurry reflection next to genuine sailing boat things.

Maybe I should go back tomorrow with the camera!

It was a good run though - I actually made the upgrade to running (from jogging) and only came in after 52 minutes cos I wanted to see the Bionic Woman (or at least the TV show - not the real thing (although its filmed here so maybe... ;-) lol ))

Sunshine Coast

A bit of a last minute affair but a load of us hit the Sunshine Coast today for some fun flowy jumpy pumpy swoopiness.

Didnt manage to take any photos on the trail so expect the signature drop-pics today!

There was a fair bit of discussion over trail choice and we ended up split into 2 or 3 groups for most of the ride





Fortunately Brian knew of a new trail. Unfortunately he didnt know how to get to the top..... nice view - shame it was a dead end




during the course of the day we did find a new jumpy trail which was similar to DNA but 5 times the length - sweeeeet! After a day of riding, it was time to head back - we went over this pretty bridge - shame I hardly got the chance to take photos of it...








So back on the boat (Sunshine Coast is still mainland but only practical via a ferry)




An island....






So the sun went down on another classic day riding - ah.... it really doesnt suck here :-)

Ouch! but dont worry

Derek and I did some exploring the other night - we had a go at the infamous "GMG" on Fromme. It was a cool trail all right - just a shame its in such poor shape - some bits were a little too burly for a late evening sesh with just the two of us but we rode most of it.

Unfortunately, near the bottom one of the drops we did didnt go so well for me (completely my fault I might add) and I landed on my head - again! I walked away but got myself checked out in the ER just to be sure - the doc said I was fine but i'll be taking it a little easier for a while I think.....

New Ride Leaders

Not long after I arrived in sunny Vancouver (only locals will appreciate that joke) I bumped into Jon (left) at the end of a ride - he recommended joining the major local club so I did - a year and a bit on, both he and I have signed up to be "Ride Leaders" for the club (which has since changed its name to North Shore Riding Society - NSRIDE)

this means not only we'll be trained for first aid and have to turn up every week BUT we get some kit and most importantly a sweet deal on bikes and parts - something of a major consideration to those of use that ride so much - it can be expensive!


Well, this was our first official ride as leaders - something of a formality as we turn up to 99% of rides anyway! Typically is was on Cypress - the mountain we know the least trails!

Here's Rich trying to go round the root - its easier to go over it but Rich has never been one to take the easy way out!







Some serious coaching













Dale


















Jon & Jon on S&M













Meg and Meg












and here we see a fine example of Jon and I keep the group together ;-)


The only problem was one of the off-duty ride leaders spraining his ankle - but fortunately we had Dr Meg to deal with that - thanks Meg!

Stay tuned in the new year for shiny new bikes.......

Non-weekend weekend in the middle of the week part 2 - Whis

With only a 30min drive up the road from Meg's place, we had a gentle start to the day and headed up for opening time

It was yet another perfect blue sky and with the temperature in the mid 20s and no line at the lift it promised to be a awesome day - and it was!







With just the two of us, there's a bit of a bias in the photos today but I got some great shots - this is the left rock line half way down In Deep - its a burly move with a sketchy run out but conditions were perfect so we hit it every run















Another In-Deep move - a wooden sort of roller coaster thing that dips down sharply - Danice knows the fast way - gap it!! (with style too)















And again on In Deep, The Triple Hump - this thing rolls over steeply to a 3-4ft drop with one bike length before dropping down a steep rooty rocky bank - here D is dropping the first bit - it looks like you might now be able to roll it with all the rocks they've put in - but its more exciting to drop ;-)














Just to prove I was there - here I am enjoying the shade while D sat in the sun - some things dont change....











my lunch (well half of it) from Portabella's at Blackcomb - all the cool kids eat here - Darren Berrecloth was at the next table (he was with some cool kids)









and yes, you've guessed it - another gnarly bit from In Deep - Danice did this one in the Garbanzo race in deep mud and water - r e s p e c t !! I went round the side that time but not today - we did a couple runs down all of these bits hitting them all every time soooooooooo much fun :-D

So I suppose with all the gnarly riding you'd be forgiven for thinking Danice might look like an East German Shot Putter - well, you couldnt be more wrong.......











;-)












Reading this blog you'd be forgoven for thinking "In Deep" was the only trail on the mountain - well, on the top half you'd be half right - because of the Olympic construction half the trails are shut which limits riders to just about 2 tracks - it sucks big time cos we always end up doing the same top half of the top half - Len's T-shirt sums up many people's thoughts on the subject:

"F@#K THE OLYMPICS - SAVE THE BIKE PARK"

Personally I'm torn on the subject - the road improvements will be great (if they're ever finished) but shutting some of the best bits of the park for so long really sucks - but then again, Whistler Bike Park is still flippin' awesome even with these problems - Long live the bike park!




Thanks to Meghan, Derek, Clark, Jackson and Danice for one of the best weekends ever - even if it wasn't technically a weekend.

:-D

Non-weekend weekend in the middle of the week part 1 - Squish

With far too much spare time on my hands due to some delays at work, I was lucky enough to line up some fantastic riding mid-week. Today I picked up Danice from North Van and headed up to Meghan's place at Squamish for a couple of sunny laps

Here's Danice dropping in on the new trail we did on saturday - the girl knows how to ride a bike!











Also along for the ride was Clark and his totally cool dog - Jackson - the best trail dog in the world ever!











I was confident today as I had a full medical crew - Dr Megan, Dr Clark and Nurse Danice!!

Danice was flying















the girls on a skinny - actually pretty uphill this one...



















ah - and finally a shot of Clark - this move was a 50ft skinny with a 4-5ft side drop off the end - Clark and Danice hit it - I climbed down it like little girl with pigtails










Danice on the approach to the drop

















Meg on a somewhat bigger log













and the group photo - only Jackson is missing. Apologies for the poor focus but its difficult to ride next to a cliff while taking pictures behind you!











Danice on the big rock on One Trick Pony - nice job!

All too soon our ride was over but not our day - thanks to Meg for an awesome BBQ and letting us crash for the night :-)

Tomorrow the bike park :-D

Squamish

Its been a while since my last blog - I guess I'm more tuned into facebook these days - especially for photos. Anywho, here's some pics from a little adventure in Squamish a couple weeks back:









This is Noel - as in Knolly bikes. A good guy for sure.



















and our tour guide for the day - my good friend Dr Meghan. This photo is a text book example of body positioning for a a right hand corner - point your knees and your belly button right...... shame she was trying to turn left!!!!! - it was close but there was no crash













Derek sending it off a little drop. This was super fun - dropping a few feet onto a steep run out which led to a little gap jump
















Here's Dave (on his hardtail) proving that where ever you point the front - the back will surely follow - this new secret trail will now be know to us as the "wasp" trail as you get stung if you hang around by this ladder - it was super sketchy to roll down cos of the gnarly roots and hole at the bottom







here's Mrs Dave - Penny at work on one of the woodern berms


















and Doc Meg on the huge berm - just down the way from this is the loop-d-loop used a few years back in one of the bike videos












lots of cool features out on the forest - this picture doesnt do justice to the height or the shear prettiness of this section
















speaking of pretty, here's Jon! Actually its the forest that steals the show - its beautiful in here - absolutely beautiful












me on a slippery green log ride


















and Doc Meg again - check out the huge construction on the background - again - it was used for some bike movies a couple years back - 20ft high teeter (that's a see-saw to you mum)











and a little panorama of the beautiful forest - click on it for a proper look






Thanks to Meg for guiding us - it was a great ride - a real change from the bike park :-)