Where am I?

Interesting week. I worked a couple of hours extra at the shop while we were a) stocktaking  b) friends and family sale night (if you didn’t get an invite you missed out – 20% off everything) c) waxing clinic and d) putting the poles out on Seymour.

Stocktaking was the usual frustrating experience. I think it’s the same wherever you do it and whatever you’re counting; stuff is never where it should be, there’s always gonna be something missing, and there’s always something that’s a total ballache to count. I was given the ski section to deal with as it was mainly me that put it out and organised it so I knew the layout. It wasn’t too bad apparently; only a couple of pairs of skis missing! Ski poles are the worst things in the world to count by the way.

The sale was a massive success. It ran from 17:00 to 21:00 and by halfway through the place was packed. I’d moved on to the spare till to get people moving and I just couldn’t believe how much they were spending. One couple spent over $1,000; I actually double-checked that I hadn’t  double-scanned something. Aye caramba.

The waxing clinic was really interesting. I actually learned the whole theory behind waxing. I always thought that the idea was to leave a thin film of wax on the skis, but that’s totally incorrect. You shouldn’t leave any wax on the base; it should all be in the pores of the base. That’s why the brushing phase is so important – it opens up the pores. And prior to the session I had no idea what structuring the bases was about; now I know it’s crucial to getting a fast ski, and how to apply it. Very cool stuff. Last week’s session was all about applying glide wax, this week’s session is all about kick wax.

I got my nordic ski gear last week. The shop have given me a pair of skate skis and bindings, and a brand spanking pair of skate boots. Bob (my boss) decided I’m going to do skate this year instead of classic. Fair enough. The shop has a corporate pass for Cypress so at some point before they shut the whole friggin mountain down for the stupid Olympics he’s taking me up and teaching me to skate ski.

I was on Seymour on Wednesday and Thursday helping Jeremy (the full-time PFO) put the poles out on the upper trails. The preparation wasn’t what I hoped as there were no poles or signs pre-stashed on the trails, but I got over that and just got stuck in. Wednesday was awesome. We poled all the way from Brockton to the bottom, and it just dumped snow all day. It was a very good day; a hell of a lot of hiking up and down carrying poles in beautiful snow. Once we got below the freezing level on the way down the hill it was a different matter; I got absolutely drowned walking home along the trails. Thank god for tumble dryers. Thursday was intense; we had to pole the First Lake loop. The south end of the loop is easy as it’s fairly straightforward through open forest. It winds up and down but it’s easy to figure out where the trail goes. The north end is a different beast entirely. For a kick off it’s either a big climb or a big drop depending on which way you come at it, and it winds through the trees like a mad thing. We went at it from the top, heading down through the trees. The first attempt was way off the mark; when we connected with the first part of the loop we connected way too early – nowhere near the lake. So we went down to the lake and started to find the trail going uphill as I figured that would be easier. Wrong! It was just as bloody tricky. Long story short, by the time we got this section of the trail poled there were unpoled snowshoe trails going off in all directions, and me and Jeremy had probably hiked 10KM extra. To add insult to injury in the afternoon the freezing level shot up and the snow turned to rain. Another soaking. The good news is that the freezing level has come down again. They had about 20cm of snow on the hill today.

Now that the shuttle bus is running up Seymour again I’m off for the first snowshoe run of the season on Monday morning. I’ll run out to Dog Mtn and back then hike/run back down and home.

Happy times are here again

Now that the misery of summer has finally buggered off, Seymour opens next week! Whistler opens this weekend, Grouse and Cypress are already open. It’s a stonkin start to the season. I’ve been shown how to properly wax skis at work, and learned that I was leaving waaaaaay too much wax on my board last season. So this season my board will be perfectly slippy all season. Seymour are gearing up for the Olympics by advertising the fact that they won’t be closed at any point; no surprise really as they aren’t hosting any events. They’re hoping to pull in a load more business due to Cypress being shut for all of Feb with blackouts during Feb and March. Personally I don’t see how they’re going to do it. They’ve only got limited parking space, and who the hell wants to queue for an hour just to have a 5 minute ride down (and that’s if you ride slowly)? Even if I wasn’t working in the shop I’d be avoiding weekends like the plague. Strictly mid-week and nights this season. Bring it on!

Great run this morning. I have a really good hill that’s maybe 75m long, quiet, and nicely steep. I did repeats this morning, then went down into The Cove. There’s a set of steps that goes from the beach up to street level. I do jumps, three steps at a time, from the bottom to the top. Run down, repeat. Good session.

Pass me my flip flops

I hiked up Seymour from The Cove today. I figured it was time to give it a go and see a) how it feels b) how long it takes c) what toll it takes on the legs. The answers were a) it felt ok. I had to eat a bit more than I normally would, felt the onset of bonk after 1hr 30mins, but I got into my groove b) 2hrs 50mins – not bad really, but I’m going to lose 10 minutes off that c) sore feet! I haven’t worn shoes/boots all summer, just my holies, so hiking in a pair of boots for nearly 6 hours didn’t feel good. Apart from the feet everything feels good. The walk back down was a bit of a drag; I didn’t fancy walking back down Perimiter as some of the rocks were barely covered in snow and going down the steep stuff wouldn’t  have been much fun. So I hiked down the road to where Old Buck crosses then walked down Old Buck. No running tomorrow (Friday), but hill sessions on Saturday morning before work.

Chance of showers with hurricane winds

I went to Salt Spring Island on Sunday night to visit John and Suze. The original plan was to go for a paddle around some of the islands on Monday. The waters around the Gulf Islands are spectacular for kayaking at any time of the year, but unfortunately for us there was a fairly spectacular wind blowing. We checked the weather forecast in the morning and there was a severe weather warning in effect. We could see it from their cabin actually; trees bending, whitecaps out in the sound, didn’t look one bit inviting. So we changed the plan to go hiking around part of the coast. There’s a beautiful park on the east side of the island with a trail that hugs the coast. At low tide you can do a chunk of the walk on the beach, but there was a really high tide so that was out. The weather was wild; big wind, big rain. Looking out at the ocean I was glad I was wearing hiking boots and not a life jacket. I was surprised by the trees in the forest as they were mainly deciduous; I’m used to walking in big evergreen forests. One of the most striking trees was the Arbutus (I’m sure I’ve seen them in London when I was working there; it’s the distinctive peeling bark that I remember):

Incidentally the orange hearts on my pants aren’t of my making. I borrowed the pants off Suze as I didn’t take my wet kecks with me. Suze likes to individualise her stuff. Honest. We saw plenty of cool wildlife; deer, river otter, seals, eagles, and the coolest thing I’ve seen so far – harbour porpoises. A great hike.

After the hike we went into Ganges for lunch and then John took me to a Frisbee Golf Course! This is definitely a first for me. I’d heard of frisbee golf, but had no idea how it was played. This course is set up in the forest so every hole involves throwing the frisbee either through or around a bunch of totally f**k off trees. And you have to throw long for most of them. John showed me all the different types of disc; really, there are different types! Just like in real golf there are drivers and putters, plus discs that will bend to the left or the right. Assuming you can throw them properly anyway. Each hole has a tee-off platform, and you have to look for the hole which is a piece of metal tube hanging on a tree:

It’s incredibly frustrating, and also incredibly addictive. I need to practice my drives as I kept hitting trees. My recoveries were good though, so I was coming in just on par for most of the holes. It’s a pretty fun way of walking around the forest! We went back for another game on Tuesday before I caught the ferry back. I want to play again, but this time you can only take 5 seconds to take a shot and you have to run from tee to tee.

Tuesday morning we went for a hike on Mt. Erskine. John had told me about a great trail that goes up the mountain that has an added attraction besides the climb – fairy doors! You have to understand that Salt Spring Island is full of arty old hippies, and they’re always looking for ways to express their free spirits man. So they make little doors and stick them around the trail, and call them fairy doors. So we went up the Jack Fisher trail via the assault route:

Great name for a route, and very descriptive – it was steep as hell all the way up. It was a brilliant climb, and no fairy doors until we hit the top:

We were pretty much in the cloud at the top with just a few breaks revealing an awesome view over the Gulf Islands. We dropped down over the other side and that’s where we saw more doors:

  

Regardless of the doors it was a great hike and one of the things that blew me away was that we didn’t see a soul all the way around. I’m so used to running along the Baden Powell trail and letting on to people.

On the way home I caught the ferry that goes to Tsawassen so I wouldn’t have to get off and change, but it goes via three islands, making it a three hour trip. Good value at only six dollars though.

I got an email from Whistler this morning announcing that they’re opening early this year. Opening day is next Saturday! That’ s very cool. Hopefully Seymour won’t be too far behind.

(loud)MOUSETRAP!!!!!!!!

Just been watching tv and there was an advert for Mousetrap. I must have been 8 when that game first came out, and it hasn’t changed at all. They haven’t screwed with it at all. My cousin Linda got it for xmas and as we always used to go round to their house at xmas we played it all night.

Went out for a run this morning, the first since my calf popped just over a week ago. It was almost ok; started to threaten on the way back. I walked a bit and ran a bit more and it stayed as just a nag. So I’m happy that I got a run in, but not happy that it’s still threatening to ping. I’ll just have to keep doing small runs and trying to make them a bit longer.

It’s been dumping on Seymour today – 15cm of fresh lovely snow:

Bring it on!

Aaaahhh bollocks (again)

It’s my mums birthday later this month. I thought that next year was her 80th and I was planning on making the trip back to the UK for that one. But it turns out that she’s 80 this year. I just can’t afford it this year; working 3 days a week in a shop isn’t exactly filling up the bank account. It’s a good job my sister sent me a message on FBook telling me about the plans. My brother and his wife and are going to be there, and their daughter and grand-daughter so there’ll be plenty of people around. One of the plans is to take the folks to Blackpool for a couple of days and stay in a hotel. To most people that would sound immensely shite (me included) but it’ll be cool for my mum and dad; they (actually, my dad more than my mum) get nervy when they’re in new places and Blackpool is totally familiar. My brother and his wife are staying in the hotel with them so that’s another safety net. Good on ‘em – a couple of days in Blackpool is a hell of a sacrifice to make for your mothers birthday. Not sure if I could do that one.

I was reading the BBC news website this morning and there’s an article on there about Sesame Street being 40 years old. I never really got into it; I must have been in my early teens when it eventually came to the UK. What really killed me was following a link to Ricky Gervais talking to Elmo – it’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.
Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr9_5uZn6ds

Then I ended up following link after link to watch outtakes of The Office. Classic comedy. We’re off to the dvd shop tonight to get the series. Watch some proper telly for a change. Actually, we have a channel called the Knowledge Network. It’s one of those public access things where at the end of a show they ask for your money. In one of my channel hopping rages the other night I came across Britain From Above (or something like that). What a refreshing change to watch a quality documentary.

Happy Mondays

The downside to working weekends is that well, you have to work weekends. The upside is you get to do stuff when everybody else is at work and hence things are really quiet. I went for a paddle this morning; did a route that I’d meant to do all summer bu never got around to. There are native indian drawings on the cliffs along Indian Arm and I’ve only ever seen the ones that are close enough to take my tours to. There’s a set of cliffs heading north about 6KM up the Arm that have some drawings on that I’ve never seen. So today was the day. It’s not too cold out, wasn’t raining, only a light breeze. I got my favourite boat out and set off at a pace good enough to keep me warm. It was a good outward journey; once I got past the usal turning point I was seeing stuff that I never noticed before. There were waterfalls that I’ve never seen, huge cliffs, little bays….all very cool. I saw a river otter, a couple of seals, some kind of weasel, and a bird that dived into the water for a fish – it flew off before I got a good look at it so I don’t know what it was. The drawings (pictographs) were well worth the paddle. There are a couple that I have no idea about, but one that is just awsome; it looks like an eagle. It’s in a very sheltered spot so unlike the ones closer to the Cove it’s not as weathered and faded. I took a couple of photos on my phone but shouldn’t have bothered – they’re toally crap. I explored a bit farther then headed across the Arm to go back on the opposite side. Another top place to paddle; big cliffs, creeks running down the side of the mountain and waterfalling….awesome. I stopped at Twin Islands for a quick pee then hit it hard for the trip back. I got a great pace going, got the balance right between breathing and stroking, and just hammered it back in.

I’m out on a surf ski tomorrow. I have to do something while the calf mends.

The same old song

Injured…..AGAIN. I went out for a run on Thursday morning, nice and early, still dark, raining a bit. No real plan other than to spend about an hour locally on the pavement. I went out easy, good tunes on my iPod, enjoying the morning. I threw a couple of climbs in and went up them on the forefoot just like I do on the trails. Everything was going great until I was coming down a steep hill about 10 minutes from home. A slight nag appeared in my left calf, more of a dull ache really. Literally seconds after I noticed it it became a pain that shot from the top of the achilles up the middle of the calf. It was one of those “HOLY F**K” kind of pains that stops you dead in your tracks. So I walked the rest of the way home. I was all pissed off and gloomy and “oh my god, I can’t train and the Yeti races are only 2 months away” for a while but I kicked my arse and got over it. It’s a muscle strain and it’ll get better. I think I know what the problem is. I’ve been to 2 yoga classes and I don’t think my calves have quite recovered from the stretching. I decided to give it a go as a I was given a 2 week pass for a new studio that’s just opened near home. I did one class called sport yoga (which is what attracted me in the first place) and then did a hatha class. The sport yoga is more like vinyasa yoga where the moves flow from one to the other. I got a really good sweat going and enjoyed it. The amazing thing was the next day – I was absolutely buzzing with energy. So I tried the hatha which was ok but a bit too spiritual for me. Anyway, I think that’s what started the problem. I’ll give it a few days before I try another run. I’m definitely going back to the sport yoga class though.

It’s funny how you never see yourself as getting older, but every so often you get a little reminder. I’ve been swapping emails with Janey, the snowshoe manager on Seymour about doing some work for them. She’d like me to do the SnowFit series which is cool, but also asked me to get involved with leading some other stuff including the Silver Snowshoers series. I thought “yeah ok, I can lead a bunch of old codgers around” and went to the website to see what day it was. I got a slap in the face when I saw it’s aimed at the 50+ group, which obviously includes me. Ho hum.

 

Treading water

Just been out for a run. Perfect Fall conditions. It hammered down overnight and early this morning and left the mountain with low clouds in the trees. As I set off the sun came out and it was streaming through the trees. Lots of the trail was under running water; you try dodging around and over for the first few sections and then just get in splash around. The creeks were running high and loud, so impressive when they’re so loud you can’t hear your iPod. It becomes even more important to stay focussed on these trails as the roots and rocks are really slippy. I went over a drop and my heel slipped forward as it landed, so my body weight came down on a straightened leg; the shock went up my body and nearly shook all my fillings out. Nasty. Sweet couple of hours.

I’ve just been fooled by the BBC. I had a look at the Radio 2 schedule and it listed Paul O’Grady with his weekly dose of Motown classics and Northern Soul. Hmmmmmm I thought, a bit of Northern is always good. I was confused when his first record was Wired for Sound by Cliff Richard, then something by Sarah Vaughan (who I think is from the early 60’s). Eh????? Not the foot tapping, hand clapping session I was ready for. F**k me, now he’s playing Billy Cotton – it’s called Oh What a Beauty and it’s the musical equivalent of those cheeky seaside postcards. I may sue the BBC for this. Off it goes.

Long kecks are back

Saturday’s tour was brilliant; blue sky and sunny, flat water, great people, and I was on form. They were all lawyers from a big downtown law firm; most of them from their international offices so nobody had been in Indian Arm before which was very cool. I changed the route around so we’d keep the sun on us for the outward part of the trip and everything just went perfectly. It was the perfect way to end the season.

We went to see Where the Wild Things Are on Saturday night. Instead of the local cinema we met some friends at the big movie theatre downtown. It’s way better than the local place as it’s got stadium seating, and for some reason people don’t talk all the way through the movie; I’d got to the point where I thought it was Canadian law that you had to talk through a movie. Anyway, it was a great movie. I’ve never read the book so I went in with no expectations and it was good. Sad but good.

I actually wore long pants on Saturday night – the first time since the end of March. I wore my shorts in the shop today though, and suffered as a result; my legs were bloody cold all day. So that’s it – goodbye shorts until next year. Except for running that is – it’s not that cold yet.