Skate skiing with no poles, on a frozen ski-doo tracks on a river, with flat light, in -21 with windchill, with less then one hour of sleep in 2 days.....not on my list of things to do again....crazy what you'll try to do just to get some training in...hehe. Jealous of everyone in Tuscon this week :(
Hehe, oh well, done my 2 week rotation, spending a couple days in Calgary and flying back to Victoria on friday....soooooo excited, and going to do my own training camp, hopefully the rain holds out.
I have 2 weeks off and then I go back up to Fort Mac for one more rotation, both happy and sad about that.....well I'm sad but my bank account is happy. Then it's traininer crunch time, get ready for the summer :) It's coming up fast!!
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Friday, 5 February 2010
Dreaming of warmer times
My week and a half off was awesome. I had great weather the entire time home in Victoria, and did an amazing ride with Regan, 5 hours with sun :) Pics from the ride are keeping me sane during my frosty 2 weeks back up north.
Currently I am recovering for a 28 hour work day, which started at 8:30 at night...yikes, gonna take a couple days. Not to mention due to my infinite wisdom I had started the day off at 7:00 (can't miss breaky) to do a 2 hour xc ski followed by a 2 hour trainer ride.....serves me right for being so exhausted I guess..hehe.
I brought my trainer up here this rotation, but in my excitment to pack up my bike and trainer, I completely forgot to pack all the parts for the trainer...haha. Thank goodness for my great parents for sending out the pieces :)
First couple trainer rides of the season...and although it's great to get bike miles in, I had forgotten a little how much I really dislike the trainer...oh well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger...or at least gives you a good bum rash...hehe.
Under 2 months till the first race of the season...WOW
Currently I am recovering for a 28 hour work day, which started at 8:30 at night...yikes, gonna take a couple days. Not to mention due to my infinite wisdom I had started the day off at 7:00 (can't miss breaky) to do a 2 hour xc ski followed by a 2 hour trainer ride.....serves me right for being so exhausted I guess..hehe.
I brought my trainer up here this rotation, but in my excitment to pack up my bike and trainer, I completely forgot to pack all the parts for the trainer...haha. Thank goodness for my great parents for sending out the pieces :)
First couple trainer rides of the season...and although it's great to get bike miles in, I had forgotten a little how much I really dislike the trainer...oh well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger...or at least gives you a good bum rash...hehe.
Under 2 months till the first race of the season...WOW
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Today Calgary
....tomorrow Fort McMurray....sounds like I'm starting my rotation off with a nice night shift...boo.
Past 3 days, 10 hours in the saddle:
Monday - 5+ hour mtb ride
Tuesday - 2 hour road ride (on mtb) spin
Wednesday - 3 hour road ride (minus front brakes - kinda a funny story, but coulda been not so funny) - 20 X 30 sec sprints (they were supposed to be 10 sec sprints, but I don't read my program very well -oops Steve..hehe)
Today - Shopping with my mom (she can kick my ass any day...I'm pooped)
Past 3 days, 10 hours in the saddle:
Monday - 5+ hour mtb ride
Tuesday - 2 hour road ride (on mtb) spin
Wednesday - 3 hour road ride (minus front brakes - kinda a funny story, but coulda been not so funny) - 20 X 30 sec sprints (they were supposed to be 10 sec sprints, but I don't read my program very well -oops Steve..hehe)
Today - Shopping with my mom (she can kick my ass any day...I'm pooped)
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Winter Training
I'm talking about a 5 hour mtb ride in Jan....in knees....and being too hot...hehe...okay I won't rub it in too much more. After working up north for a couple weeks and coming back to Victoria, it feels and smells like spring. I've been extremely lucky and had incredible weather the whole week and a half that I've been back. Forecasts of rain have been pushed back farther each day.....so today, 8 and sunny...what to do, what to do.
Sunday, Regan and I geared up for a long day in the saddle. With forecasted rain and wind in the afternoon, we were in the saddle just after 9am. 40 min ride out to the Hartland dump, then we had planned a big loop ending with a new "secret" trail.....soo exctied. Our day was cut short due to a broken pedal and we limped our way home (still managing a 2 hour day). I have to admit I wasn't overly disappointed because shortly after getting home and showered up, the wind and rain started. Every now and then you need a lazy weekend day watching football and Harry Potter.
Monday we geared up again and headed out for an ubber long day. Trails were still in excellent condition and the riding was amazing. We hit the "secret trail at about 2 hours into our loop.....and after getting slightly turned around and missing what I'm assuming was an important intersection (and very well hidden) we ended up riding some really wicked tight singletrack. The trail spit us out in quite the opposite direction to which we were intially headed, but when it's 12 and sunny, who cares. Stopped at the Dump parking lot to refill our bottles and headed home, finishing our day with just over 5 hours of riding...yippeeeeeee.
Tomorrow I start my trip back up north to work. Stopping in Calgary for a day to pick up my bike and trainer :)
3 hour ride today, I think so!!!!
Sunday, Regan and I geared up for a long day in the saddle. With forecasted rain and wind in the afternoon, we were in the saddle just after 9am. 40 min ride out to the Hartland dump, then we had planned a big loop ending with a new "secret" trail.....soo exctied. Our day was cut short due to a broken pedal and we limped our way home (still managing a 2 hour day). I have to admit I wasn't overly disappointed because shortly after getting home and showered up, the wind and rain started. Every now and then you need a lazy weekend day watching football and Harry Potter.
Monday we geared up again and headed out for an ubber long day. Trails were still in excellent condition and the riding was amazing. We hit the "secret trail at about 2 hours into our loop.....and after getting slightly turned around and missing what I'm assuming was an important intersection (and very well hidden) we ended up riding some really wicked tight singletrack. The trail spit us out in quite the opposite direction to which we were intially headed, but when it's 12 and sunny, who cares. Stopped at the Dump parking lot to refill our bottles and headed home, finishing our day with just over 5 hours of riding...yippeeeeeee.
Tomorrow I start my trip back up north to work. Stopping in Calgary for a day to pick up my bike and trainer :)
3 hour ride today, I think so!!!!
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Back in the Saddle
Yikes!!!!! It's been a couple years since I've taken a full 18 days off the bike. My off season I usually crosstrain more then bike, but I still end up riding once or twice a week, which is enough to keep your rider butt and rider muscles in check. After 18 days off the bike my first ride back yesterday was a little awkward feeling....and of course I meet someone on my ride with the infamous male ego and end up hammering a little harder then I wanted (okay, maybe I have a little female ego too...hehe).
It's great to be back in Victoria, sun is shining and weather is warm....heading out for a long slow ride :)
It's great to be back in Victoria, sun is shining and weather is warm....heading out for a long slow ride :)
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Fired the Autoblogger
Yup, that's right, she got the boot, not doing a very good job of posting...so I'm gonna try to do a better job.
What have I been doing the past month, well, lots actually :) But I'll just do a little recap. December was surprise, surprise, filled with lots of great riding. Even bought a new set of lights (my old set were about 6 years old, weighing in at about 20 pounds - I'm not kidding, and I was lucky to get a 30 min charge out of the battery) and have been doing some really great night riding.
Christmas eve, I got off work (worked as an ATM processor in top secret RBC processing bay for Decemeber) early, picked Regan up from Mac's Cycle and headed to the dump. We actually got out early enough that we didn't even need lights for our 2 hour ride, fantastic. Cooked up a huge thing of ribs on the BBQ, watched a movie and hit the sack early. I have been trying my hand at yeast bread lately, something very new to me, and on the BBQ none the less (for those who don't know...we have no oven..hehe) and made a cranberry walnut bread (which turned out surprisingly good) which I thus made baked french toast with for chrismas breakfast....I am patting myself on the back for that one...hehe. Christmas day was a balmy 10 degrees and sunny in Victoria, so what else do we do, saddle up for an awesome 4 hour mtb ride.
Boxing day, we took the Victoria Clipper over to Seattle and spend a couple days playing tourist around there. Wish I would have had my GPS because we managed to walk for 9 hours one day...I would have loved to have seen how far we'd gone. I had never been to Seattle before and being from a land locked province my whole life, to see the infamous Pike Place market in action was pretty cool.
New Years eve turned out very similar to Christmas eve, except that it was pouring rain and I actually got to use my lights for our ride. Dealing with the cold and rain for a couple of hours can really knock you out, and we barely made it to midnight...hehe.
New Years day we of course went for a quick ride in the morning, and I packed myself up for a couple of weeks of work in Fort McMurray. Stopping in Calgary on the way up for 2 days to visit with the family (this was my first Christmas away from home...if I didn't have such a great time it would have definitely been a little sad), go skiing with my poppa (I do admit I have been missing the snow a little and xc skiing a lot while living in Vic), eat some of momma's home baked goodness (yummmmmmmy always miss that), and pick up my skiis and work clothes.
Fast forward to today, things are going pretty good, I defintiely can't complain about my job. I work really long and hard when they need me, but it gives me the flexibility to skip out and go skiing or snowshoeing in between. Skiing in -40 makes you tough....or puts hair on your chest (though I'm not sure how I feel about that). I've managed to get out either into FMM or just around camp skiing about 7 times already, making up for lost time. I don't have my bike up here this rotation, living in the land of no snow I've been doing a lot more riding in Nov and Dec then I am use to, so I thought a couple of weeks off the bike would be a good idea....avoid the early season bike burn out.
With just over 2 months to the first race, wow, that's scary when you actually say it, I'm really excited for the season to start.
Off I go, try to get a little nap in before I pull another all nighter.
What have I been doing the past month, well, lots actually :) But I'll just do a little recap. December was surprise, surprise, filled with lots of great riding. Even bought a new set of lights (my old set were about 6 years old, weighing in at about 20 pounds - I'm not kidding, and I was lucky to get a 30 min charge out of the battery) and have been doing some really great night riding.
Christmas eve, I got off work (worked as an ATM processor in top secret RBC processing bay for Decemeber) early, picked Regan up from Mac's Cycle and headed to the dump. We actually got out early enough that we didn't even need lights for our 2 hour ride, fantastic. Cooked up a huge thing of ribs on the BBQ, watched a movie and hit the sack early. I have been trying my hand at yeast bread lately, something very new to me, and on the BBQ none the less (for those who don't know...we have no oven..hehe) and made a cranberry walnut bread (which turned out surprisingly good) which I thus made baked french toast with for chrismas breakfast....I am patting myself on the back for that one...hehe. Christmas day was a balmy 10 degrees and sunny in Victoria, so what else do we do, saddle up for an awesome 4 hour mtb ride.
Boxing day, we took the Victoria Clipper over to Seattle and spend a couple days playing tourist around there. Wish I would have had my GPS because we managed to walk for 9 hours one day...I would have loved to have seen how far we'd gone. I had never been to Seattle before and being from a land locked province my whole life, to see the infamous Pike Place market in action was pretty cool.
New Years eve turned out very similar to Christmas eve, except that it was pouring rain and I actually got to use my lights for our ride. Dealing with the cold and rain for a couple of hours can really knock you out, and we barely made it to midnight...hehe.
New Years day we of course went for a quick ride in the morning, and I packed myself up for a couple of weeks of work in Fort McMurray. Stopping in Calgary on the way up for 2 days to visit with the family (this was my first Christmas away from home...if I didn't have such a great time it would have definitely been a little sad), go skiing with my poppa (I do admit I have been missing the snow a little and xc skiing a lot while living in Vic), eat some of momma's home baked goodness (yummmmmmmy always miss that), and pick up my skiis and work clothes.
Fast forward to today, things are going pretty good, I defintiely can't complain about my job. I work really long and hard when they need me, but it gives me the flexibility to skip out and go skiing or snowshoeing in between. Skiing in -40 makes you tough....or puts hair on your chest (though I'm not sure how I feel about that). I've managed to get out either into FMM or just around camp skiing about 7 times already, making up for lost time. I don't have my bike up here this rotation, living in the land of no snow I've been doing a lot more riding in Nov and Dec then I am use to, so I thought a couple of weeks off the bike would be a good idea....avoid the early season bike burn out.
With just over 2 months to the first race, wow, that's scary when you actually say it, I'm really excited for the season to start.
Off I go, try to get a little nap in before I pull another all nighter.
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Havin a little sulky night.....
just found out I've been passed up for the ever elusive Canadian athlete carding.......hmmpf :(
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