A flashback to another life

i did it, after many, many and many more years, I finally did something that I've wanted to do again but was afraid to. It might seem something minor for many but for me it was a big step. What is it you may ask, I slid down a big hill again. Yep, I strapped sticks to my feet that locked the ankle down. There was no grip wax needed for forward momentum, there was no elevated heart rate from excursion only from excitement. To say I had fun would be a subtle description.

So why was it such a big deal? Well it's been close to 15 years since I've slid down the hill. With me living 10 minutes from Mt. St. Louis and 15 from Horseshoe its sounds pretty lame but there is a lot more to it than that. 15 years ago I was almost a big thing, I had my 15 minutes of fame etc etc. Wow I like 15 it seems because that's the age that it all started. I like most got to do my first downhill ski trip in grade 8 and the following year when I was 15 I started to downhill ski at the infamous Mountainview ski hill. Ski Mountainview ski the world. Actually it was more go up the lift, turn right at top, tuck, hit jump, land turn right to the lift and do it again. I did eventually learn to turn left. When that happened the next step followed, yep my competitive nature took over and I found myself on the high school ski team.

I was hooked, I used to count down the days till the snow fell. Summers sucked and the fall meant ski swaps and the first tuning of the year. I had been seen more than once walking around in my ski boots in October just because. Yep I was a ski bum. So much so that I even had a mini career doing it teaching and coaching at Mt. St. Louis. Yep I got paid to ski and I was on the hills in every condition almost everyday. I was still doing the snow dance every September. My 15 minutes of fame came by way of the ski school commercial. I wowed the director so much with my amazing acting skills that he even gave me lines. "Try the New carving skis". Does that date me? Yep I was helping promote the carving skis in their first year of production.

Then things changed for me, my knees went and I was given a bit of an ultimatum from my doctor, quit or walking may be a problem in a few years. Unfortunately I didn't have the amazing support I have now from people like Dr. Bill. So that was it, the skis started collecting dust, a knee surgery to clean up the damage in the right knee and a search for a new thrill. Took almost 5 years before I started mountain biking.

Jumping forward 15 years, I've wanted to try again. I've driven past the resorts so many times and I still have all that old school ski gear. What was the fear, it was based on that has been and can't do again mentality. I knew the level I used to be capable of and I have this problem of not being able to do anything half assed. It would be the equal to me not training at all for 15 years and then jumping on the Anthem and wanting to battle with the big boys in an 8 hour. Ya, I know, just do it. That's what happened. I left the decision in Shannon's hands. It took her 3 seconds to say we were going and I had no arguments. I was humble and concerned as I dragged her to the beginner hill. No way in hell I was hitting anything larger than that. I've seen my skills on xc skis going down a hill fail dramatically. This was much bigger and if I'm going to die I'm doing it on a small hill.

I guess they are right when they say it's like riding a bike. HMMM wait I crash on the bike sometimes. HMMMM still stay in check. Actually it was not that bad. Shannon tore up the hills on her snowboard as I slid with some self control for the first few runs. I guess muscle memory is for ever because it didn't take long for things to start coming back. Driving a knee into the turn, compression and extension through the turn, started working the sidecut etc. Yep, even the instructor side started coming back. Yes, I'm crazy sometimes. Did I mention that I had enough fear of it though that I wouldn't use any of my current skis. It's not that they were the retro long sticks. It's what they were. It would have been like giving a 16 year old kid the keys to a Porsche and not expecting something bad to happen. GS and SL race skis are not very forgiving. The SL are responsible for my shattered wrist. Not a good way to start back so I picked up a used pair of carving skis.

To say I'm hooked would be an understatement but I won't be changing my training and lifestyle dramatically at this point. I still love my xc skis and they will still see more action than any other winter toys. Maybe it's the fact that certain body parts are sore. Body parts that I need for the bike. Will I play again. Dam right, possibly even tonight. There could be some New Years eve slipping and sliding with Shannon, Jason and the coach. That is if Mother Nature is feeling generous. I'm looking at the bike this morning wondering when the first winter man ride will kick in. The roads are melting and looking pretty clear right now. HMMM.

Have a happy New Years eve everyone and I'll attempt to sober up enough tomorrow to share my adventures with you in the new year.

Day versus Night

To boldly go places that you normally wouldn't go when we went. Yes, I'm aware that that doesn't really make sense but the timing on when we went to where we went didn't make full sense either but it was still great. So where was it that we adventured to you may ask. Here


And as you can tell it wasn't exactly dark when we were there so we didn't get the full benefit of the reserve. I don't think we would have made it till dark though. 2 dogs that had been packing up an excessive amount of energy after the last two days of car travel that there was conversations about which one would taste better if we decided to kill and cook one of them. Yes they were pushing our nerves a little, Molly may have more flavor with her extra layer of fat. Once out of the car things returned to normal.


Snowshoes strapped on, poles in hand, dogs running, great company, life is good. We motored around the outside loop which for the most part was really well marked. To come at night may have been a risky thing, my internal gps is good but not at Deathmarch Liz's level.


The dog's were scaling this wall in a single bound, us just a wee bit slower.


This in the mid Ontario version of stone hedge. Most of it's height is buried under snow, it really is huge.

A great 2 hour hike with somewhere around 6km mark added into the km book of 2010. We will be returning again in the spring to take in the full benefit of the reserve. Did I mention the giggle road that you have to take to get there. Summer tires and dry roads equals a lot of fun. Yes the snow kept my driving habits in control.

Time to play.

Moving slowly

Ode to holidays, sleeping in late, eating more than you should, train when you feel like it, drink more coffee than normal. Yep it's going to be hard to go back on Monday. This also means that I've slacked a little on the daily stories. It's not that nothing has been happening but even my OCD ADD brain has seemed to be on holidays and the creative side of me has been limited. The last few days have been spent in the car with family and friends visits so I could go off on the driving abilities of others, but being the holiday's I'll just go with the flow.

There was an attempt to get me up in a plane but Mother Nature decided that she had different ideas on that and the flight was scrubbed both days. To say I was disappointed would be under stated but there will be other days to attempt it. I've never been in a plane, ok wait I've sat in one that was never ever leaving the ground again but to actually leave terra firma has been something on my to do list. Soon enough.

A few other interesting decisions have been made involving my cycling seasons. First up. There will be no 24 hour solo in my plans for a bit. A bit stands for me turning 40, yes the official old division. It's not that I care about which category I'm in but it's more the training and the focus it needs to do well at it. Basically there will be no other races in the mix to distract me from it. I figure it will take me to 40 to finally grow up enough. Probably not but it may happen. Right now the 8 hour's or that type of distance works well for me and I'll take another stab at the overall.

Some other minor thoughts on events have come up, Tristan if you are reading this. 24 hour tag???? I'm in if you are.

It's later than my normal time to post, time to start motoring on with the day. Things to do, a couple very wired dogs to exhaust, seems that travel time in the car allows them time to store mass amounts of energy.

A better starting point

Yet another Christmas has come and passed. I'm the first to admit that Christmas is not a great time for me in some cases. Today is the anniversary of my Dad's death. Pretty obvious why I'm not always in the most festive mood in December, this year though things seemed to be a lot better. Of course I can blame a good chunk of that on She, and then add in the visit with my sister and brother in law and our annual outdoor play day before dinner. After weeks of dull grey skies that the only thing bright coming out of them was the white snow the sun finally broke.

Was it Mother Nature cutting us a break? Who cares but it made for a great slippery shuffle through Copeland Forest as I watched my sister adjust very well to her current center of gravity change. Someone else was nice and allowed my brother in law to reproduce. Not sure if that was a good decision or not, hopefully Jenn's DNA is the dominant one. Shannon was nice enough to not drop all of us with speed.

To say I've been happier the last while would be an understatement, going into January in better spirits will help for the long winter training season ahead. I'm going to need that happy thought stuff soon enough as that notorious power test that I had to put on the back shelf when my ankle went to shit back in November is starting to creep up and poke at me. I get off on a bit of pain but even the thought of it makes me cringe just a little. It hurts, it never gets easier, the last 3 minutes seems like 3 weeks. Hmmm maybe I shouldn't do it. Suck it up. You have Christmas calories to burn of now. Shit.

Following tradition.

Well I've killed the dentist bug with a ski pole but it seemed to take a toll on the body. Nothing dramatic but just enough to make my skate ski attempt on Christmas eve day look pretty pitiful. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to jump back with two feet into a technique that even on a good day I'm missing a thing called grace. It didn't help that I got to the valley a little later than I should have, The trail grooming that was probably spectacular a few hours earlier but for me it was feeling like a sheet of ice and I was on dull skates. The extra slipping and sliding caused my body to expended more effort than normal just to stay vertical. Can we say out of base HR zone, only if you're not huffing and puffing.

I did make my way on to an expert trail which seemed to have scared the masses away and got a few km of smooth and fast, of course this was after I got to the top of the hill. New trails on the west side that brings you to the top of Horseshoe Valley. Let's just say it felt like I climbed K2 by the time I got to the top. The downhill, just like on a bike took just a fraction of the time of the climb. It's just not fair. 15 km of shuffling at unwanted intensity before calling it a day. Much to do, all that timed allowed, my body was pretty happy with that decision.

Round 2 brought out are usual Christmas Day ski or snowshoe to tire the dogs, build and appetite etc. It was a slightly smaller group this time just having my brother in law Rick and myself with just 2 dogs in chase. Yes, the same Rick that skied naked, there is a different dress code for those people that live on the border of the nation with in a nation. Today he stayed fully clothed. We headed out to do the big loop of Awenda Park. It's been a while since I've done this loop and after Shannon's and my visit there just a few days earlier I got to see that they still randomly groom the trail.

With Rick training for the Canadian Ski Marathon he strapped everything but the kitchen ski to his back. Obviously you know that me being the endurance efficiency junkie on a mountain bike that it transfers over to the skiing, yep not carrying anymore than I needed, dressed perfect, the perfect wax etc etc. Yep, I pulled away from Rick pretty quickly. I will give credit where it's due though, carrying a 35 pound backpack would slow me down also. Not much but enough. This was good for me also, kept myself in that hr I should be. That one that helps build an appetite for Christmas dinner. Of course having the Molly Monster and Mom's dog chasing meant I couldn't slow to much. Yes that dog that had the broken leg was setting a great pace.

Except for the ungroomed section around the lake the trail was in pretty good shape, Some good base miles put in and 19 km added to the winter slip slide count. There was a mini race where Rick figured that if he blocked the trail with his skis and swung his poles wildly that I wouldn't be able to get ahead of him. As he found out that the skinny frail cyclist can put a throw down acceleration if need be on slippery sticks. It didn't take long for the dogs to crash and burn, we didn't take much longer to show what fresh air and turkey can do to the human species. Yet another great Christmas day. Round 3 will be starting in a few hours, who we were short today will be back out in full force today. More tomorrow.