Map of trip

Just in case anyone is checking for updates... Here's a map of our cross-BC ride that my Favourite Big Brother made for us.

I'm working on a new blog for my running group. It'll track our training for up coming half and full marathons: http://traininginburnaby.blogspot.com/

Home!!

We made it home on Friday (11th July) at 9:30am. We took the bus from Fort Saskatchewan at 11:15am Thursday. It was quite the trip... But we (and the bikes) survived. We had to box up the bikes for Greyhound. It wasn't that bad, except that I lost some bearings from mine when we removed the stem. (Better than loosing my marbles, I think.) It's all good. We'll get some new ones tomorrow.

Barely home for 4 days and I've already done two runs, a swim at the lake, a bike ride, and a spin class. My whole week is already booked up with appointments, runs, rides, swims, the Giro, and other things. Nothing like getting right back into the swing of things. Good thing I'm not working, eh... ;)

PS. The pictures of the canoe are coming. I tried to upload them tonight, but there were some problems.

Canoe

I'm finally slightly organized with my pictures... Here's the canoe that Dan & Rick are building. It's pretty nice!

Here's where they were at when we arrived. The canoe is upside-down.
This is where they got to. I included the picture with the untrimmed strips (left picture) because it was clearer - the pic with the trimmed strips is a bit dark.




















Here's Joe helping out.

Almost home

We'll be heading back to Burnaby on Thursday. It's gonna be tough to rejoin the "real world" when we get back. Life on the road is so uncomplicated and fun!

We went to Elk Island National Park yesterday. Didn't see any elk, but we saw 5 of the approximately 425 Plains Bison that they have there.

We did a short ride today. Went to a town called Lamont for lunch. It's about 30km east of Fort Saskatchewan. Great ride there - fast and a wee bit down hill. Coming back rather sucked! Head wind and the opposite of that slight down hill we'd had going there... Took us about 45 minutes longer to get back than it did to get there. It's a nice ride though - lots of fields of canola. Very beautiful. (Oops, I should've taken a picture!) It doesn't replace mountains and the ocean for me, but it's great to cycle alongside and watch the wind move through the fields.

One of the reasons we've spent so much time here is that Dan & Rick are building a canoe. They'd started this when Rick lived in Coquitlam. When he moved to Alberta, he took the canoe since he was buying a house with a garage. (Not quite enough space in our condo for a canoe - even if it is only half finished...) Any way, they've been working hard on it. I'll take a picture of it and post it so you can see how great it looks!

One Year

I just realized that it's been a year since I first posted on this blog (http://terrisyear.blogspot.com/2007/06/first-weekend.html). Does that mean that my year off is over? Nope! Not yet. I'm still off and I'll keep adding to the blog in case anyone is still following my life of leisure. ;)

From Joe...

Happy Canada Day!!!

Joe

Joe wanted me to share a bit of his trip with you. He's been having a great time on the front of my bike. Except for the rainy days - he really didn't enjoy those. Unfortunately, I never got him a rain poncho, so he got quite wet sometimes. We're having some nice hot weather in Fort Sask, so he's been working on his tan.

Joe taking a nap in my bike bag.

Joe having a well deserved beer (or two) after a hard day's ride.

Here's Joe at the continental divide between Alberta and BC. He's enjoying his celebratory Mars bar.Joe thought Moraine Lake (pictured on the old $20 bill) was quite beautiful!

Here's Joe with his buddy Donkey who rides on Dan's bike.Joe was quite excited to find a place that was just his size. Unfortunately, we didn't spend the night here, just stopped in for lunch at Pocahontas (Poco's Cafe), between Jasper and Hinton.

There are quite a few other Joe pictures, but he'll save those for later.

Fort Saskatchewan

We made it! 2000+ km across BC and into Alberta in about 26 days! We arrived in Fort Saskatchewan on Thursday (26 June), but I've been a bit lazy about updating the blog. Fort Sask is north-east of Edmonton. Dan's friend Rick lives here, so we're bunking with him for a couple of weeks.

Here's what's been happening since the last post. We had a couple of wonderful days in Jasper. Love the little town! Dan and I found a great bakery - The Bear's Paw - and we hung out there eating yummy things and drinking great coffee on the bench outside of the shop. Met a lot of people while we sat there.

We've had our fastest rides since leaving Jasper. Apparently, there is always a tail wind if you're riding east along Hwy 16. And it's flat! We spent a night in Hinton. Not much happening there on a Sunday night... The next night was in Edson. Tuesday we separated from the rest of the group at Evansburg. It was a bit sad to say goodbye to them. The group of 5 will be continuing on to Newfoundland (http://2008canadacycletrip.blogspot.com/). Dan and I stayed in the Pembina Provincial campsite - pretty nice place. It's near Entwistle. We got our tent set up just before a big thunder storm. We grabbed all of our food and headed for the day use area to hide out in the picnic shelter. After an hour or so, it cleared up and you'd never know that there had been a storm. The next day we got off the 16 and headed north on smaller roads. We spent a night in a small place called Gunn. Same thing happened there with the weather. We watched a thunder storm come in over the lake. This time, we hid out in the restaurant until it passed.

We weren't as lucky the following day - the thunder storm hit while we were riding. We were on Hwy 37 - a rather small road with very little in the way of shoulders. The wind was coming from the side and there were lots of big trucks travelling. We had some scary moments. Dan found an abandoned shed for us to hide out in until the rain stopped.

Unfortunately, the wind continued. I'd say that that was our hardest ride of the trip because of the narrowness of the road. We made it into Fort Saskatchewan in one piece though!

We're enjoying hot showers, soft beds, and good food at Rick's place.

Made it to Alberta!

After 1300km, we made it across BC! We've cycled through Kootenay, Banff and Jasper National Parks (including the big climb up the Icefields Parkway!). That puts us up to around 1500km so far.

We're in Jasper for two nights. Nice to have another rest day. It'll be our last one until Dan & I get to Edmonton. I've got some great pictures, but don't have the camera with me right now. I'll try to add some later on. Until then, check out my brother's blog - he's been putting up pictures and notes for each day: http://2008canadacycletrip.blogspot.com/.

Sunshine!

After lots of crappy weather and some not-so-crappy weather, we've finally got some sun! It's not super hot, but I won't complain about that! Probably better to ride if it's not sweltering out any way.

I got a new wheel for my bike. No broken spokes since then! But, I've had three flats... Oh well, flats are easier to deal with. The first flat was about 8km out of Creston. We'd stopped to look at the view of the valley (very beautiful!) and when I started up again, Dan noticed that I'd lost some air. As we changed the tube, the nice weather disappeared and we ended up riding into Creston in a downpour! All the others were in a motel, so we hid out in their rooms waiting for the rain to let up. It didn't. The weather report was calling for rain all night and possibly lightening. We agreed that a hotel room was a good idea.

The Creston Valley Motel is very bike friendly! They gave us drop-sheets to put on the floor so we could bring the bikes into our room. And they gave us rags to wipe down the bikes! Plus, the bed was the best I've slept in for a long time!! If you're ever in Creston and need a place to stay, I recommend them! It doesn't look very fancy, but it's comfy.

We spent the next night (Thursday, 12 June) in Cranbrook. This is where my parents met. Greg (my favourite brother) and I found the old building that we think our mom was teaching in when she was there. It's used for something else now, but definitely has that school look to it.

The ride from Cranbrook to Radium Hot Springs is amazing!!! Cranbrook to just past Wasa is a great ride! Fast and fun! And a tail wind most of the way! The shoulders are a bit ugly - slightly rough, so you end up vibrating as you ride, but if they ever cleaned that up it'd be awesome. That was our longest ride so far - 147km. The whole route is fairly flat - long, rolling hills that are great for riding. Long straight stretches. Great scenery. Unfortunately, there are a lot of big trucks on the route and it is a bit busy.

We left the others in Fairmont and continued on to Radium. As soon as we got through Fairmont, we hit a head wind. The long, rolling hills became a bit of a slog. About 3km out of Radium is 1 mile hill. About half way down that, I got a flat! How frustrating! I wanted to just coast into town on my rim, but knew that would wreck my nice new wheel. Luckily, we were beside a great view point, so we had lots of space to change the tube and a view to look at while we did it.

We're staying with our friends Grant and Claudia and their girls while we are in Radium. We're having a great time here (not just because I don't have to sit on a bike for 2 days...). Grant and Claudia have opened up their home to us and have shown us around Radium. I really like it here. The mountains are beautiful! It's very tempting to stay... But, I know on Monday I'll put my poor butt back on that bike seat and head off for Kootenay Lodge in Kootenay National Park. I hear it's a bit of a climb...

Oh yeah... Our driver, Gord, is heading home today and we have three new people joining us! We still have vehicle support - Linda, Daphne and Richard drove out in Laura's truck.

I was asked about Joe. He's doing great! He's not fond of the rain though - I need to get him some rain gear. Here's a picture of him with Greg in an old train in Cranbrook.

More rain...

Just a quick note while I still have computer access... Woke up to more rain. Ick!! I'm heading into Nelson today to get a new wheel!! Hope they are able to help me out. I really like Nelson and am looking forward to hanging out there for a bit before heading to Balfour and catching the ferry to Kootney Bay & Crawford. I like the ride from Nelson to Balfour, but I might not like it so much today...

10 Days of Riding

Tonight is a luxury - we're staying in the hotel at Ainsworth Hot Springs! No wet tent for us tonight!! We've had so much rain on this trip - thought that was a Vancouver thing, but I've discovered that it rains all over BC. Since the last post, we've been to Westbank, Lumby, Fauquier (try to pronounce that...), and New Denver. This picture is Lumby. We dragged all of our gear under cover in the morning so we could pack up without getting any wetter than we already were.
I'm up to 3 broken spokes now. Greg (my favourite big brother) is getting really fast at replacing them. I'm going to do a side trip into Nelson tomorrow to try to get a new wheel.

This is the latest in wet weather cycling fashion - shower caps to keep your head dry...

Still peddlin'

We made it up Alison Pass and into Manning Park. We went from Manning to Keremeos and then to Penticton. Lots of rain on our way into Keremeos. We were soooo soaked!! We totally lucked out with our campsite though!! Check out the accommodation we got! Tons of room for our bikes and two tents. And, only $5 a person!

We're in Westbank (Kelowna) tonight. Heading to Lumby tomorrow. We had more rain today - luckily it was near the end of the ride. Hopefully we get some sun tomorrow.

My quads are screaming! They even scream when I sleep. (Not to mention the cramps I had one night. Ouch!) Each day is like back to back spinning classes without any breaks, great music, or "wooo hoooos" to keep us going. But, we do have amazing scenery!

My bike isn't having the best time... I've broken two spokes so far. I've finally come to the conclusion that my bike was not built for touring... Oh well, I'm trying to track down a new wheel. Until then, I keep getting shops along the way to do what they can for me.

And we're off...

Dan & I left Burnaby yesterday and rode our bikes into Mission - about 70km. We stayed at the Matsqui Regional Park. It was a wee bit flooded (pictures will follow). It rained all night and we woke up in a puddle.

This morning we met up with Greg, Laura, Leddy, Gerry, Ashley & Gord (our support driver) at the Mission McDonald's for an 85km ride to Hope. We didn't have the beautiful sun we had yesterday, but there wasn't any rain. Always a good thing!

Tomorrow we're riding to Manning - a wee bit of a climb...

The silliness begins

Well, we're off tomorrow... On our bikes... Heading for Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta (near Edmonton)... 1800km, approximately... Just a bit crazy... But, not as crazy as my big brother who is going to ride all the way to Newfoundland with a few friends. And I thought big brothers were supposed to be smart! ;)

Our first stop is Mission. Doesn't sound like we're really getting anywhere, but I think it's about 55km. The rest of the group will meet us there Sunday morning to ride to Hope. After that, the fun (aka hills) begins!

I will update this as much as I can as we go.

May - cont...

Hello again. Here's a bit more on my May adventures. Dan & I headed up to Birken for the long weekend. It was sure nice to get amazing weather! We did a couple of rides, but mostly we just relaxed. Since we were up for a few days, we took The Cat up with us. We left the door open to see what she'd do. She did some tentative exploring. Since she's an indoor/balcony cat, this was probably a bit of an overload on her kitty senses. I imagine there is a lot of stuff she's never seen or smelled around there.
This was on the window sill on the cabin. We didn't see it until we were leaving, so I hope we haven't scared away the parents. The next adventure is going to be our bike ride across BC... We leave on Saturday and hope to be in Fort Saskatchewan (near Edmonton) around 25/26 June. We're heading out with my brother, his partner, and (I think) 3 other people. We will have a support vehicle for most of the way to Alberta. (Yehhhh!! No 60lb panniers while going over mountains!!) At first I thought it would be cheating to dump my bags in the truck, now I'm happy to have it coming with us. Here is my brother's blog for the trip: http://2008canadacycletrip.blogspot.com/.

May Sunshine!

It's finally here! Sunshine! I'm a wee bit behind in my stories. Maybe I'll do a few short entries so that it's not one really looooong entry that gets a bit boring to read after a while...

So, my last entry was a month ago. Lots has happened since then. Dan & I spent 5 days in Courtenay at the beginning of May. We took the bikes and did some riding around. We've been looking at possibly buying a place over there, so we wanted to get a better idea of exactly where we'd like to buy. After about 50km of riding around town, we've got it figured out. Definitely makes it easier when you can narrow the search to a specific area. We also did a ride out in the country. It was a bit longer than I'd expected - we got a bit lost. But, a very friendly local gave us directions back to town. I knew there was a different way back from the way we'd come, but it was further out than I'd expected. I'm glad she stopped - guess we had that "we're lost" look about us...

Since we were there for more than a weekend, we decided to camp at Kin Beach instead of burdening friends & family. It's a great place - not too far from the military base. We had one day of rain which we spent most of in the tent. Glad to know that my tent is water proof... We didn't think we'd need to string a tarp up (who expects rain on the west coast...??), so it was just the tent between us and the wet.

On the Sunday, we did a 30km run around Comox. That was the same day as the Vancouver marathon. We had 4 friends running their very first marathon, and we weren't there to see it! We did the long run in support of them. Luckily, the weather was beautiful for running! The route I'd figured out was great - along the Dyke, through Comox, along a couple of beaches, and through farm land. A little bit of everything - including hills, both up and down. We finished off our run with a dip in the hot tub and pool at the Aquatic Centre. (It was also a chance to shower since there weren't facilities at the campsite.)

As I found out in the days following this run, it's not smart to go from doing less than 10k for months to a 30k run... Well, I did have that 18k on Sun Run day two weeks before the big run. Even though I felt great during the run, my body started to complain afterwards. I could barely walk up stairs for about 5 days. I had to do one step at a time for a couple of days. Took me forever to get up to our place (3rd floor, no elevator...). And the hamstring I've been working so hard on all year... Well, it's acting up again. :( Guess I've learned. I'm feeling fairly good again and am out doing runs 2-3 times a week. They're shorter - nothing over an hour or so. I'll work up to the longer distance slowly this time...

Okay, that's getting a bit long. That was pretty much our trip to the Island. I'll add more May stories in the next couple of days.

Oh yeah... Here's a typical Courtenay picture... (Well, I suppose it could be any small town, but Lucky always reminds me of the Comox Valley.)

PS...

I know April showers bring May flowers. What does April snow bring?

59,000 of my closest friends...

This year's Sun Run almost became the Snow Run. I couldn't believe the amount of snow we got Friday night! Crazy! And then some more on Monday. At least Monday's didn't actually stick. Friday's snow hung around until Saturday. I almost didn't do the Slow Food - Bike the Blossoms ride due to the weird weather. I'm glad I did though. It's a great way to learn about food in the city - where it comes from, how people right in the city can grow their own food, worms that will make compost in your house, etc. The route took us along streets filled with cherry trees with snowy mountains in the background. What a great way to spend a day!

Since Sunday was such a nice day, I was talked into running down to the Sun Run. It was a leisurely 8-8.5km run to the start line. Nice way to warm up for the event. I refused to run back though since I haven't done any long runs since January. I'm glad I didn't - I was a bit stiff on Monday which would've been a lot stiff if I'd done another 8k.

There was a record number of people at the run - over 59,000. I'm sure next year they'll push to reach 60,000. You gotta wonder what all those people and the mess they make do to the environment... Just think - each one of those people gets 4 safety pins in their race package for attaching their race number. That's a lot of pins! Plus, most will drink a cup or two of water along the course. It's not like the runners are reusing their cups or something environmentally friendly like that. Then you have the people at the finish line who are handing out brochures about future events. People tend to grab something that is stuck in front of them. As soon as they realize they don't want it, it gets dropped on the ground. The whole area after the finish line was carpeted in brochures. Just a wee bit of a waste. The nice thing was that this year the organizers didn't have plastic bags for our race packages. Race numbers, chips and pins are in an envelope. We get that and a booklet and t-shirt. No need for a bag. It's a start.

Well, Calgary is getting their butts kicked right now in game 7. Time to watch their hopes for the Cup get crushed.

Great Season

What an amazing way to end the 07/08 ski season at Cypress! Guess it's time to get out the bikes...

Downhill skiing yesterday

Cross-country skiing today

May flowers are comin'...

As the saying goes - April showers... However, the rain isn't only bringing flowers, it's still bringing snow to the mountains!!! This weekend is the last one for Cypress. :( We'll be going up for some cross-country and some downhill. A bit scary - I haven't downhill skied for years. Guess we'll see how it goes... Should still be able to get in some good snowshoeing for a while yet.

Speaking of flowers. Check out this event - http://www.slowfoodvancouver.com/index.php/BikeBlossoms. Dan & I did the Slow Food Cycle event in Pemberton last August. It was great - well organized, very informative, and a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to this ride and checking out the blossoms.

Podium Finish - Vancouver Island Loppet

Okay, I admit the field was a bit small, but first is first!

http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?ID=1828&cat=2450

Keep the snow comin'!

End of March and the snow on the mountains is still amazing!!! I've finally had a day or two of rest/less activity. My legs are happy about that.

On the 16th, I ran the 8K Diva run around Jericho. Great run! It felt pretty good to run hard again and I was really happy with my time.

Dan & I went up to Birken for Easter. A tree had fallen down last November so we cleaned it up. I couldn't believe how sore my hamstrings got from picking up branches for two hours. It never occurred to me to stretch after. I only think of that after running and other things like that. This gardening stuff is hard on the body! We checked out Callahan Valley (Whistler Olympic site for cross-country events) on our way home. My legs were too sore to really enjoy the skiing. It was a nice day and we took our time on the trails.

This weekend, we're going up to Mount Washington (Courtenay) to race in the Vancouver Island Loppet. I'm doing the 15k classic event and Dan will be doing the 30k skate ski event. I'm hoping to beat my time from the Cascade Cup at Manning Park last month.

Tired legs

My poor legs haven't had a day off in weeks!! I guess it's starting to catch up - they're pretty rubbery today. Actually, I guess all of me is rather tired right now. I wonder if running, skiing, spinning, etc every day is a bit too much... The problem is, it's all fun! Being tired from doing something you love and are enjoying is so different from being tired because you're doing something you have to do but don't want to be doing.

The Yeti was amazing!! The route was really challenging - a lot of uphill - but so much fun. My boss took a picture of the 4 of us from Cypress who ran in the event. As soon as I get a copy, I'll post it. My time for the 5K snowshoe run is a bit longer than my 5K run time, but I still beat the first 10K guy to the finish!! (Who, by the way, ran faster on a very hilly course in snow with snowshoes faster than I could run a dry, flat course in runners...)

I've got the Diva run on Sunday. It's an 8K around Jericho. It's a really nice route - all trail, partly along the water. Hope my legs are a bit less rubbery by then. I guess that won't happen unless I take a day off. And that's not going to happen while there's still snow on the ground...

PS. This little guy was created by one of the Cafe workers.

Snow, snow, snow...

The snow is amazing right now for cross-country skiing!!! I'm not a very technical xc skier, so maybe someone with more experience would disagree. But, I like the current conditions!! I'm able to glide but I also have control on the hills. That's the most important part - control on the hills. It's not so much fun if you're flying down the hill and can't stop...

Last Saturday, Dan & I went to Manning Park for the Cascade Cup - a classic (skis in the tracks) cross-country ski event. Dan did the 30K course and I did the 15K course. I was happy to finish before he did! :P

In a couple of weeks, we'll be going over to Courtenay to do the Vancouver Island Loppet on Mount Washington. I'll do the 15K classic event. I think Dan will be doing the 30K skate. I get a half hour head start, but skating is much faster than classic. I'm hoping to beat him again, but it'll be harder this time...

Tomorrow is the Yeti at Cypress. It's a 5 or 10K snowshoe race. I'm going to do the 5K. It'd sure be nice to get a day like the one in this picture.

Busy, busy, busy...

Whoops.... Halfway through February and I haven't posted a thing! I've been pretty busy - volunteering with the David Suzuki Foundation, the Relay for Life office, and two Sun Run In-Training clinics, as well as working at Cypress two days a week. Add to that cross-country skiing (skate & classic!!), snowshoeing, running, spinning, and yoga every week and there's not much time left over. I'm way busier now than I was when I was working full time! Once Cypress closes, I vow to not take on any other projects! Well, at least not until June when I'm off for a month long bike tour and then helping with the Giro di Burnaby again in July... But, that gives me a month or so of semi-free time. I might have to take another year off! I'm no where near getting everything done that I'd wanted to...

Arizona

I figured I'd better get another post in here before it's February! We had a fabulous week in Arizona - went to Phoenix, Sedona, Jerome, Tucson. The Desert Museum is amazing - you have to see it if you're ever in the area! Jerome is a really cool town with a lot of neat stores, cool history, and great people! The race was a lot of fun - 1000's of people, great weather, lots of bands! I couldn't believe how many Canadian shirts we saw out there. I was wearing maple leaf tattoos on my face. (Can't afford one of those Canadian running shirts from the Running Room...) I finished the race feeling okay which was my goal - no dizziness or any of that. However, my time really sucked. But, it's not about the time, right? It's about being out there, being active, having fun, etc, etc... Except that it is a little bit about the time... and mine sucked...

Any way... We had a wonderful time and I took lots of pictures! You can check them out here:
Part 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27629&l=cc634&id=599796113
Part 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27637&l=8e88b&id=599796113
Joe's Arizona album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27390&l=71ec3&id=599796113

Dan had a nasty cold when I got back. Now I've got it. Just trying to get rid of it before I have to work at Cypress tomorrow. I don't think standing around in the snow is all that good for people with colds. I love being up there - lots of great people, fresh air! It's a great change from sitting at a desk all day.

*** 2008 ***

2008 has arrived! Well, it arrived a week ago but I'm still catching up. I finally took the Christmas stuff down, so it's officially over. Except for the remaining chocolates, goodies and extra couple of inches... Guess it's time to get to work on that. Let me have one more chocolate first... Okay, I'll be honest - it'll be a while before I am motivated to go through sugar withdrawal.

Now that Dan's back at work, I haven't been skiing as much. I'll have to get up more often since that seems to be the only exercise I can do these days. I'm not really running right now. Not sure if I've mentioned it before, but the doc thinks I've got exercise induced asthma. Apparently that's why I get dizzy and nauseous when I run. This started happening a couple of years ago. It didn't happen very often at first. When it did, I just thought I hadn't eaten properly or was tired or something. Now it happens almost every run if I don't stop as soon as I notice it coming on. Not a good thing when running is what keeps me sane. I get a bunch of lung tests this week to see what's going on. I sure hope they can figure it out and fix me up so I can run again. I've got a race on Sunday. Too bad I had to wait so long to get into the specialist and get appointments for the tests. I won't have any fixes for the problem in time for this run.

The race I'm doing is the Arizona Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon in Phoenix! Four of us from my run group are going down for a week of fun. We're not too sure what the plan is after the run. We're hoping to do some hiking, maybe check out some caverns, shop at REI... We'll see what happens when we get down there!