around home, bikes, Canada, Europe, family, friends, MTB, snow, travel, UK

Twenty-ten summary

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I’ve spent a lot of time this week sending out a rather brief attempt at a Christmas letter (about my only concession so far that Christmas is quite soon; actually, I did send some gifts home but they may be a bit late, oops).  It really is just my take on my year & trying to remind people back home I still exist & if I’m lucky I might get some NZ (or whereever) news back.  Without further ado & my being distracted by many classic Brit comedy moments, here it is.

This Christmas finds me well away from any family (immediate or extended) for the first time – I’m still not sure exactly how I came to be living in Canada.  Never mind, it was a great rushed decision – I thoroughly enjoyed a summer chocked full of mountain-biking (& a little hiking).  Now winter is slowly rolling around – well, it’s cold but there’s not all that much snow yet; so the next few months of skiing promise to be almost as good.  For those that haven’t been keeping up with my ramblings here are a few of the many highlights of 2010 for me.

  • Ten days in Madrid & further south exploring & conversing with Spaniards trying to overcome their Spanglish.
  • Many many days spent exploring London & spending time with friends & family.

Here in Canmore I supported myself for a few months with all manner of temporary jobs before starting at a cement plant (pretty much the only industry around here) – where I still am enjoying it & I hope to be there until my visa expires in May.  I’m trying to contain my excitement with respect to next summer’s three-month mountain-bike oriented road-trip around the western USA & British Columbia.  I’ll be back in London in August next year – after that, I don’t know.

Still being distracted, damn it.

around home, Canada, friends, snow

Winter sports variety

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After a getting a couple of concerned emails worrying that I had dropped off the radar (thanks Mother), maybe I should update this.  Looking back, it seems that I’ve been busier than it feels like.  There was the weekly session at the local bouldering gym last Thursday – it would be nice if I was progressing.  Alas, as I have no technique & no “measurable upper-body strength” there are a few problems in the numerical progression that I’m finding fiendishly difficult to get past the second-to-last hold.

Joel, Kristy & I hiked off to Calgary last Friday evening to watch a hockey game (that’s ice hockey for those down in the bottom of the world that don’t realise that hockey here is played on ice & quite the big deal as far as sports go).  After searching too many grocery stores for corned silverside (I still maintain that all the Safeways around here must share the same supply chain) with no luck (who would have thought that would be so hard to find in this part of the world – I thought they loved beef in Alberta) we picked up Karin (a friend of Kristy & Joel) before heading to the Saddledome.  For my first hockey game attendance, it was the Calgary Hitmen against the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL (Western Hockey League – the highest level of junior competition around these parts).  Some of the hits & fights were pretty good, but the game as a sporting spectacle couldn’t really hold my interest – but the skating ability was quite amazing.  I hope my disappointment was mainly due to the Hitmen getting spanked by five goals to one & not with the sport itself.  Apparently the Hitmen are defending champions, but you would have hard time trying to convince me of that on Friday night.  Nonetheless, it was good night out of the valley.

After quite the sleep in on Saturday for most of us, the four of us headed out for a short day of skiing at Sunshine.  We got to Banff before some muppet realised that he’d forgotten his pass & we wasted forty minutes going back to Canmore to get it.  Eventually we were skiing by one o’clock – I don’t think any of us were too fussed with our lazy schedule (I tell myself that so I don’t feel guilty about wasted skiing time) as all afternoon it stuck around -15ºC.  Pleasantly, there was no wind & that temperature wasn’t quite as bad as I would have thought.  The good thing about it being pretty chilly was that the lift lines were really short & we could fit a lot of runs in to our short time (there was a little more snow than a fortnight ago, but it’s still pretty bare in parts).  The last few runs of the day were off the Divide chair & these were the best – but also the coldest as it seemed to be the most exposed.  Getting home, it wasn’t long before we all assembled again for a nice little dinner party with yet another Australian added to the group – there were quite a few very strong accents assaulting my ears!  Good food, good wine & great company – all in all an excellent day.  [Sunday was a write-off with a lazy morning sleeping in & then the afternoon on the couch attacking the thousand-page book & watching movies.]

Since the weekend I’ve been for my first skate & XC ski of the season – finally.  Perhaps inspired by the hockey, it was time to drag the skates out & have a go.  As it takes me ages to relearn how to skate every few years, I was pleased that I wasn’t quite as bad as I remembered – but by no means was I any good.  I’m just home from a quick lap at the Nordic Center under lights – my waxing of the XC skis seems to have been adequate; perhaps a little more grip wax is in order for next time, but that could just be lack of skill.  I may be a lot fitter than January, but it was nowhere near as exhausting as I remember; being alone may have reduced the pace a bit.  Either way, it was hell boring (as I correctly remember) – but it serves the purpose of getting me out of the house after work exercising & will keep me semi-fit for the next riding season & it was a beautiful evening to be staring at the surrounding mountains.

bikes, MTB, roadtrip, travel

Roadtrip Planning!

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Here is the long promised Summer 2011 West USA Roadtrip outline.  Ever since I realised that I would be ending a year in Canada with a car (probably), my long held pipe-dream of a classic USA roadtrip with my mountain-bike in the trunk (or on the back or on the roof – you get the idea) took many steps closer to reality.  My visa here expires mid-May, so the plan is to leave sometime just before that & travel down from the Alberta-Montana border to San Diego (with much time spent in Utah & Colorado) trying to do as much riding as possible.  As I’m also a bit of a sucker for famous sites & sights, plenty of National Parks & other such things will also be included – maybe even some hiking &, dare I say it climbing, could be in order too.  After spending time with good friends again in San Diego it’ll be up the west coast to British Columbia & then back across to Canmore to sell the car & leave for London again.

I’ve done a bit of research on the mtbr.com forums & other useful websites, but I’m keen to hear the ideas of others.  Here is a loose plan (in vague chronological order & which I haven’t really looked at for a while) of the places I intend to visit so far.  I fully realise that by the time I get to ride in some places, it will be stinking hot – but that’s just the way the visa timing works out; I think I’ll be doing quite a lot of early morning riding.  If anyone has any suggestions of great places to visit or ride that I might be able to work in to such a plan – please, please let me know.  Perhaps more importantly, if riding in such places appeals & you’re keen & possibly able to join me (for whatever part) – let me know, it’d be fantastic to share some sublime riding with friends.

Now I know why I was putting this off – there’s still six months to go & just writing about it makes that seem so far away.  If the taste of riding I had in the South West last year is anything to go by – it’s going to be a ripper.

around home, Canada, snow

Avalanche!

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No, I didn’t see a big avalanche, fortunately (or even a small one, unfortunately).  I did however spend all weekend on an Avalanche Skills Training Level One course.  Saturday was a classroom day (nicely a short walk from home) where Felix, our guide/teacher, took us through all the theory.  Not really being at all familiar with avalanche country there was an awful lot to take in.  We had a good class of eight & there was enough discussion & questions to keep things interesting.  I’m sure I soaked in quite a bit of the theory; even so, I’m still confident that I know enough now to know that I really don’t know much & picking slopes is going to be tricky.  Still, that’s why one goes back-country with more experienced companions.

Felix also had a lot of great avalanche stories & videos to show us why it’s not really a good idea to trigger one.  This one from back home has been floating around the interwebs for a while, but it was definitely the most impressive (despite the music).

There were also plenty of human (skier or sled/snowmobile) triggered slides, rescue & failed-rescue stories to sober us up.  Felix was a great tutor & I particularly enjoyed swapping (off-topic) mountain-biking & trekking stories of Nepal – of course, mine weren’t nearly as impressive.

The practical day was up at Bow Summit (a little way up the Icefield Parkway towards Jasper); leaving town at about seven o’clock the snow started (finally) just before Lake Louise.  The Parkway is not all that high on the roads-that-must-be-plowed-immediately list, so in a car that doesn’t have suspension on steroids it was a little interesting hitting various drifts.  Definitely a little different to driving in NZ.

The day was pretty warm (-5ºC) & it snowed on us all day as we traipsed around locating hidden beacons, learning how to use our probes & shovels the most effective way & listened to as many tips as possible.  Eventually we skinned a bit further up the hill out of the trees to take a look at a few slopes & try to tie in what we had learnt the previous day with real life.  Of course, the wind was blowing in an unusual direction to confuse us a bit – but we were able to make some sense of it all.  Taking our skins off, the descent wasn’t much fun as there wasn’t really all that much snow & all the little Christmas trees-tops were a little hard for me to avoid.  We finished the day by simulating a couple of rescue scenarios – pretty simple, but a good way to learn a few extra things.

The weekend didn’t end all that well as I was often topping the car with oil – & the drive back to Lake Louise wasn’t a cakewalk either.  By Monday afternoon I’d put over eight litres of oil in over a few days & most of that didn’t last all that long.  Sunday night was relatively sleepless as I thought of all the damage that had probably been done (I’m just glad I had oil in the trunk when I was up the Parkway, which is slightly remote)) & recoiled at the cost of the repairs or replacing the engine or car & the subsequent obliteration of my roadtrip savings.  I got it in the garage after work on Monday & as I was making the forty-five minute walk home, I was pleased to get the call that the leak was from the oil sensor (& not my last oil & filter change).  So that repair turned out a lot cheaper than I expected & now I just have to hope that my topping up on that trip back from Bow Summit was enough to get the  (what is supposed to be a durable & hardy) engine through.

On another note, I’m in from the yard this week at work & working at a desk.  I never expected to be spending part of my working-holiday working on PMs (Preventative Maintenance) plans – but here I am with another chance to impress people with my Excel & Pivot Table (those ones are thanks to you, Neil) proficiency.

Biking to go places, going places to bike.