Snow, snow and more flippin blinkin snow!

A few posts in one today. The snow.

It started a couple weeks before Christmas with a light dusting at sea level but as you can see here, even at the foot of the bike trails there was a fair bit of snow









and by the time we got to the top of the lower trails (half way up) there was about a foot.
It was fun slipping and sliding our way down but not really proper riding although we did ride a new loamy trail which was pretty clear so certainly the highlight of the ride. There was even a step-down jump thing which I jumped - part of my gap training!!

It was a fun ride but mainly for novelty value
Unfortunately this was to be our last trail ride for some time :(


Shortly after that ride the temperature dropped enough for snow at sea level and boy has it snowed!


This is the center of downtown








lunch at Granville Island with Kiyo became an adventure in snow driving - so many people dont have snow tires but still think they can drive in the snow. It's scary.










Granville Island












On Christmas Eve I went for a walk in the snow. I intended to buy some beer and drop it off at the bike shop but ended up wandering for hours. The snow was crazy - 12 to 18 inches.


This is the street outside our place








The marina just down the road - even the salt water was frozen! Click the picture for a better view





In case you're wondering, the blobs are snowflakes caught in the flash











The Esplanade













Lonsdale main drag













Outside our place again
Even now there are still loads of cars that are completely buried!











The fountain at the quay







So with all this snow it seemed appropriate to get out and enjoy it. Unfortunately even though people are skiing in Stanley Park downtown there is still not enough snow to make Whistler much fun. Ergo Michele decided we should go snowshoeing! Obviously before hitting the mountain it's important to fuel up with a good breakfast. Michele's favourite patisserie is not to far away so we met there for breakfast





Rich and Michele waiting patiently for croissants













I have to say, they do good stuff here - I didnt try the chocolatey stuff but it looked very good - oh but I did try a freshly baked thing- not sure what you call it but put it in your mouth and it just melts on your tounge mmmmmmmmmm :)









And so to the snowshoeing













All the local mountains have snowshoe trails and rent snowshoes so its very easy to to do. We went to Cypress and hiked up to the peak - about 2 1/4 hour round trip



































As usual with snow sports, I was a little unsteady on my feet!


















....but I led for most of the way













a great view of the city from here













and here we are topping out. A bit of an anti-climax but a good view

















you even look down on the ski area - this is where the Olympic snowboarding and freestyle skiing is going to be in 2010
















Michele making an angel


















The view








a HUGE raven checking out the view












You should click this one - as usual its 3 pictures glued together but I managed to get a bird taking off on the right. Perfect timing :)



Snowshoeing was fun. So silly on the way down but I couldnt help thinking it might have been even more fun to bring my snowboard up with me!

Sunshine Coast - yet again again

Today was supposed to be downhill training at Squampton but a last minute call from the Dunbar crew sewed the seed of a late return to the sunshine coast. Unfortunately none of us have very much will power to refuse a trip to the Sunshine Coast so before we knew what was going on we were on the ferry

We kept to our plan of DH training but relaxed it a little to enjoy the flowing jumpiness that is the SSC

Here's Rich at the bottom of Red Baron








...and Danice

This was my lap to drive - that's how it works: one rider sits out each lap in turn to drive the van down


I pulled over a couple times to see if I could see them coming through and got these snaps











further down I walked 20ft into the forest to get these amazing "god-ray" shots
































Beautiful British Columbia
















Unfortunately when Rich got in the van to drive up he informed me that the light on the dash that had come on to keep me company in fact indicated that the rear brakes had failed. Completely. Oops. Good thing I drove down slowly!!

Fortunately for us Naz was at the bottom and offered us a ride up when his group got down. Fresh from wading a creek crossing Danice was pretty cold but Naz's Harley blanket and the vans heater soon sorted that out.



After Naz's kind ride up we did what is usually our standard first lap and rode up then down a bit then up some more then down then.....well you get the idea. It makes for a good long lap. As things transpired we wouldnt get time for another lap as the darkeness crept in as the sun dipped behind the mountains.

Our last stop was the jumps and jumpy trail. A bit challenging in near darkness but fun as always.

You can just about see Rich here on the DJs








Poor old Damn Van isnt doing so well with the ' Coast. Last time a flat tyre, this time failed brakes. Maybe I'll bring the elephant next time.


A great day was had by all despite mechanicals, creeks and very low temperatures.


(oh and the van made it back - slowly - but it made it back using just the front brakes)


Thanks guys for a great day!

MMR Training with Shaums

I had some coaching the other day. A four hour private session with Shaums March from MMR - it went well. I went fast. I learnt. I'm gonna be harder to beat next year!


During the session I bumped into Clark so at the end of the day I squeezed in a quick lap with him down his freshly built trail. Mmmm, sweet.












Squamish at Sunset.
Clearly pictures do it no justice.

A rainy day in Burnaby

With all the rain of late it's been pretty crappy riding in the hills. Since my first time dirt jumping the other week I've snuck off to the dirt jumps a couple times for a quick sesh which has the added advantage of getting me more comfy on the tiny bike! With this in mind, I wanted to check out the new(ish) skills park at Burnaby Mountain; I'd heard it's pretty good!











We were going to ride the hills but given the weather it seemed a great time to check out the park

It's pretty damn good although I would recommend going when it's dry as the woodwas very slippy and the ground a wee bit too soft between the jumps





Click on the videos to make them play!


It wasn't all bad though, the pump track was awesome and I even managed to ride along a cable in the extreme-skinny area!

I helped D with some pointers on manuals, bunny hops and pumping and in doing so I actually learned a lot myself - when we started I was only just making it round the pump track but by the end I was going so fast I could barely stay on it!












A happy, if soaked bunny