Two Years and one first

If two years ago today you'd have told me that I'd be winning a mountain bike race in Canada I'd have bitten your hand off for such an offer. Although on May 27th 2005 I was a little more preoccupied with losing a testicle than riding a bike, things sure have moved on since then!Round 3 of the Alberta mtb xc cup was a fitting way to spend the two year anniversary of "dropping a bollock" - and it seems like the event got to me, as I sailed home in first place! The course was treacherously steep (I kept up my consistent run of form for races this year by stacking it big time arse over tit into the undergrowth), and I was rather pleased to leave the shaven legged fellers on their fancy spring bikes behind me!

Here's Brina the chief photographer for the day! She was clicking away at the camera as the riders started en-mass (biggest turn out of the year so far) - although I got a heinous start and felt like I was peddling backwards as the surge of riders made a 100 metre dash towards a tight gravelled bottleneck. Seeing my plight near the rear of the field, Brina professed to nearly burst into tears (bless) - then subsequently when I came riding off the course in first she once more professed to nearly burst into tears!? (you just can't win with some chicks!). Fortunately the first few kilometers of the course was steep in the upwards direction - which suited the skinny Brit down to a tee!

Brina also got the R&R advertising shot - for when the Kiwis bring their retail emporium to North America;

After a rather cheery day up in Devon (just south of Edmonton - and no industrial estates either - although there were zillions of labrador sized mosquitoes growling along the riverbank), we mosied back to Cochrane to while away the rest of the day, and with all the panache of Delia Smith (I'm not helping you with this one Yanks), Brina plucked a celebratory cake out of nowhere (carrot of course - and celebratory as in 2 years since cancer diagnosis. I didn't want to call it the cancer cake in case some of you feared the ingredients were flour, sugar and diced tumours - you may also notice the cake doesn't have 2 candles for 2 years, but just one candle - maybe this is to show last bollock count!).

Sending out big cheesy grins to you all,
and reminding you to give 'em a squeeze once in a while.
Stay happy and Livestrong
S&S.

Snow Joke

As per yesterday's posting about the ludicrous nature of snow in May, here's the view of Cochrane this morning - May 24th for goodness sake!

The summer chairs on the deck got a good pasting.

What's that interfering with the t.v. signal?

No Spring bike riding to work today

And most of the snow plough drivers have gone on holiday to Florida until next winter, fortunately this feller stayed home.

Need we say more?!

Keeping it All White in Canada

S&S.

Topsy Turvey

This really is one of those weather days that need blogging. For those doubters about to read this, thinking Canada's weather aint that bad - check out the weather link on the right.

Although I had thought that I had moved on from writing about the climatic phenomena that is Cochrane's weather... here it is. May the 23rd! Forecast for tonight - 10-15cm of snow! Mmmmm, I thought this was a rather dubious forecast as we rallied around at work today desperately making alternative provisions for tommorow's independent schools track and field meet in Calgary - surely the people in the local met office are a little stoned and just reading the satellite data from Nunavut by mistake. But alas, tis now snowing like Billio outside now, the gardens and roofs are blanketed in white stuff and there is little sign of the impressively heavy (and bizarre) snowfall from letting up! Fortunately I got out on the bike last night when it was warm and sunny, am thinking about waxing the skis right now though! Looks like we'll have to cancel the track meet tomorrow (bugger, one of the perks of coaching the track team was to get a day out of the classroom and head down to the running track instead!).

Brina and I are mooching on up to Edmonton again for an mtb race this weekend - hopefully we wont be in the shadow of the industrial hub of Alberta this time around. The forecast is for sun and 22 degrees on race day - but looking out of my window right now that's difficult to imagine. This Sunday (race day) is also 2 YEARS SINCE CANCER DIAGNOSIS!!!!!! So it's going to be an really poignant day for riding - and a really good excuse for a post race pint (and pre race pint come to think of it - maybe I should put the gatorade to one side for the day and fill up my water bottles with Guinness - or Jim Beam, that'd really make a race of it - in my head anyway!).

Struggling to keep my head above water at work at present - zillions of things to do - write exams, write reports, mark exams, plan lessons, write IPPS, mark work, etc.. and work just doesn't seem to consider the fact that it is prime cycling time every night so god knows when I'll get any work done!!!!!! (really hoping that the Principle doesn't know about this blog).

There are big smiles coming from this side of the world,

Hope you are all grinning from ear to ear,

And we leave you with a picture of Calgary in summer,

S&S,

Birthday Blog and First Loser (again)

This blog's anniversary passed me by last week. I've been typing out this drivel for over a year now - and with 56 posts to date, I seem to be keeping just ahead of the 1 post per week stats! It's funny to look back over the archives (on the right hand side there) and realised how much has gone on this past twelve months... what the heck's going to happen in the next twelve months?!?


We're a week closer to the holidays - whoopie! And this weekend saw another race on the mtb! It was heinously technical, and on wiping out for the umpteenth time on the Saturday pre-ride, my moral ebbed, and I realised that, barring one day in Moab last summer, I haven't ridden my mountain bike on trails for two years (since being in NZ) - the first time being my last race!! Somehow I managed to cling to the endless singletrack and dropoffs through the trees and stick with the race to bag second place again (third overall, but second in the Masters age group!).


Here's a piccie showing two old gits on deck chairs looking all bemused as the pretty lycra cyclist spoiling their view of Edmonton;

It's rather amusing to note that this is the ALBERTA mountain bike cup! Quick Geography lesson: Alberta has some of the most amazing landscapes on the planet - the badlands out East where the ground falls away into chasms like mini Grand Canyons, the rolling agricultural foothills, and obviously the Rockies (a la some of the best mountain bike terrain in the world). So, being the Alberta cup and all, why would you stage a mountain bike race on the edge of an industrial estate in North West Edmonton? Admittedly the organization was great, the course was very well set up and rather tricky, and although it did run past a somewhat picturesque river at some stage - why the heck did they choose this venue for the race? This isn't a grumble, more just a confusion - although some things Albertan continue to confuse me - such as why do I need to have a new chest x-ray to be able to drive a mini bus for school? (and any of the chest x-rays that I've had every month for the past 2 years just aren't acceptable for the driving agency - they obviously have a special minibus driver chest x-raying machine that is far superior to any bog standard x-ray device found in the cancer hospital).

Such is life!

Happy birthday dear blog,

Being first loser is always better than being second loser,

It could be worse,

S&S.

Three things - nice and simple

How Do All! (a bit of farming vernacular to start you off today)
Just a quick salutation today. Canada is all very calm at the moment, the weather's holding fine, the powers that be at work still refuse to aknowledge my incompetence, and my bicycling obsession grows to the exacting standards of what it was like when I was 16 years old!
Anyhow, the picture count for the year so far reads thus;

One of these (as seen outside the front of the house two weeks ago);

One of these (as seen on Sunday as Brad and I rode to Millarville from Bragg Creek!

And for those of you living in Manchester, you'll also be spotting one of these beauties back home now (Scousers, Gooners and Chavski folk take note - it aint yours!)

nb: Canadians might not recognise the Premiership trophy above, but just think of it as being like the Stanley Cup - only better!

So all in all, a very good week. More of this wonderful Canadian wildlife seen stumbling across the roads - I'm O.K. with meeting moose by the road when on the bike, but am not sure how I shall react if ever I encounter a Grizzly on the roadside whilst cycling - it'll certainly make me pedal a bit quicker! The biking is going great and we'll be up in Edmonton next weekend for another race which will be fun. And to top it all off, Utd win the Premiership - AGAIN (something the scousers have never managed to achieve - I needed to get a dig in somewhere!).

Hope you're all cruising along quite nicely thankyou very much,

Glory glory Man Utd (followed by rapturous applause and a modicum of hooliganism outside the stadium after the final whistle)

S&S.

Big Mac, Large Fries and Guiness

I refuse to acknowledge any sign whatsoever of winter in my life until November. To stamp my authority on such a bravado statement for Alberta, we stuck two fingers up to the chilly white season (although two fingers up in Canada means nothing more than Peace Man) and wheeled out the BBQ!The cross between Ronald MacDonald and Kramer, hugging Sabrina, in the photo is Dan W from work. He'd been recuperating from a hernia operation at our house for a few days last week, and thought it'd be an idea to make pizza's on the bbq!?! Sounds rather peculiar, but they proved to be a lot better than my dodgy burgers!As Brina hauled the goumet pizzas inside, she clearly gave away the fact that it isn't quite bbq weather yet, as she is all tucked up in her winter down! You may notice the occassional Guiness appearing on most shots here - a few pints of that and I was convinced that it was tropical outside! I was also convinced by the Guiness that streaking down the road was a damn good idea too - only I was thwarted by the sober, well wrapped wife.

After munching our way through the delicacy of bbq treats, Dan mentioned that some of his scab (from the hernia) might have fallen onto the bbq whils cooking. How? you ask. Well, this photo answers it all.

I hope this doesn't put too many off your suppers - although I have been off my food since! So that's how Ronald MacDonald gets the chicken McNuggets so crispy!

All else in Cochrane is very much the same. We're one week closer to the holidays, the nights are lighter, I'm cycling like a crazy fool and developing an unwanted stick insect physique (I rode home from work today and broke the land speed record, 1hour 12mins from Calgary to Cochrane on the TransCanada - I'll be shaving me legs before you know it). This is certainly the quiet transition between winter and summer - Spring doesn't seem to do the same things in Canada that it does in the rest of the world. Although it's May 1st, I still have one day left on my Sunshine ski pass, and have three weeks left to use it before the mt closes down - so perhaps I'll get a boarding day this coming weekend - and hopefully tales more exciting than scabby bbqs hosted by the clown representative from a fast food resaurant on his day off.

I'm lovin' it.

S&S.