Calm Before The Storm

Thought starting off the post with a calm, cosy, homely picture was the order of the day today. Holiday mode is well underway with the both of us now. I always know when my holiday brain has kicked when I forget what day it is - seriously nice way to be, but also very inconvenient when your mind is thinking it's somewhere amidst the weekend, when infact it's Tuesday morning and you've missed your CT scan at the hospital (ooopppss!), never mind, I've had too many x-ray type jobbies this month anyway - and it's always better having the CT scan when at work because you get the day off (and you remeber to turn up).
Got out on the mountain bike with Brad on Friday, just to confirm more than ever that a full suzzie bike is the order of the day (although I imagine it will be next season now), I rattled my elbows and shoulders from their sockets on the descents as Brad's rather spiffy new Cannondale Rush seemed to have a more soothing effect over the bumpy stuff.
Headed out to camp in Banff on Friday night - only to get devoured by mosquitoes which forced an early retreat under the canvass. Milled around Banff on Saturday (and thought it a good idea to pick up Harry Potter in French, just to test out the grey matter and improve my Frenglais if I get through the book - rather slow progress at the moment, four days later, and only on page two - merde).

To finish today, here's a shot of Luna Lovegood at last weekend's Canada day celebrations

Now off to do a bit more route planning for the road trip (and hope the current rain gives way to sunshine before the Kiwis arrive).

Grands Sourires

S&S.

Magnus Opus

Alas, the folks have departed, but a great time was had when Mum and Ken were over - although this blog got seriously neglected. A bit of blogging TLC needed for the coming week, before bro and Luce arrive for more holiday fun!
The past week has also seen the departure of Portland Ken back south of the line to his homeland of Oregon, although we hope to see the big hairy oaf back up here for winter visits (and for reciprical trips down stateside).
The piccie shows us taking in a refreshing pint (courtesy of Nana) on Canada day at a pub below the Banff Springs - and that's not a boil festering on Brina's arm, just her patriotic maple leaf tattoo (temporary of course) - a game which mother also became embroiled in, and it was like walking along Banff Ave with a couple of chicks from Hell's Angels.
We managed a day heading in the Easterly direction (the magnetic pull of the Rockies overpowered for once) and spent a sticky day at Drumheller, gawping at the size of the dinosaur monsters that have been pulled out of the rocks around the area, with a visit to the rather good Royal Tyrell Museum (a place to really realise the insignificance of being).
A stint up to Jasper via the Icefields was the staple for last Sunday. With all of our great outdoor expertise, we rushed out of the car at the icefields equipped with nothing but sandles, shorts and t-shirts ("but it was sunny in Cochrane" was as good an excuse as complaining about being stuck in a snow storm in Caringorm because it was "rather fine in Manchester").

Here you can see Mum and Brina really feel the "bite" whipping down from the Athabasca glacier. Despite the short stroll up to the ice, we were all in agreement that seeing it from the road and the visitor centre was enough and lets get on to Japser...

Bears galore were spotted on the road to Jasper (well, one bear). We spotted the black bear plodding along parallel to the road, with the lovely dopey critter not giving a toss about the cars - and the mega dopey dicks driving cars jumping out of their cars on the bear side of the road with children clutching their hands to walk up close to the bear for photos (honestly, these folks were unbelievable). The highway was only single lane, and the bear was on the other side, we did slow down for a quick photo (O.K. we triggered a bear jam! oops) and just as Brina was about to click the camera shutter, a crazy assed tourist (who am I to speak!?!) skidded his car onto the opposite side of the road so that Brina got the photo of his car - how lovely. More humoursly though was mother's fury at this other incondsiderate driver, and she let loose with a tantrum of what can only be termed "bear rage"; "you fu#$*ng stupid p!!$ why the f$#* can't you go and *!#*!*! etc...." she screamed - well you get the picture, don't piss off mother when there are bears to be seen.

This piccie is hardly going to win the wildlife photo of the year award, but you can just see dumb ass's car honing into view as big ol' bear is thinking about looking up to give us a smile.







Fortunately for mum and Ken they'd spotted another Ursus americanus on their trip down to Yellowstone - and fortunately for the population of Montana, nobody had driven into their field of view when mum had seen it!

With much sunshine and good weather, mum was eager to finish her stint here this year with a good hike - "relatively flat" she said, "this is the Rockies" I replied; "somewhere with not too steep drops" she'd asked, "this is still the Rockies" I reminded her; "something not too tricky" was her request, "No problem" my response, but then this sign scuppered me at the trailhead of the chosen hike;

Slightly disconcerted and reminding me of her vertigo, Mum scaled the heights of Heart Mountain to the glorious vistas at the top. From the summit, when viewing the ridge walk which I had suggested was a rather easy descent, mum's voice quaivered as she asked "we don't have to do that do we?" (I've edited the expletives) - "of course not, we kind of skirt around the back" - oops... But mum took to the scrambling like a scouser takes to thieving, and within no time was scaling this;
I just hope that I'm giddy enough to try a seven hour hike with all this nonsense when I'm 59!
All in all, it's been a super time having Mum and Ken over here (and it's been a good excuse to overindulge in coffee, beer and natchos).
Best get ready for the arrival of bro and sis in law now (who knows what adventures await for the rest of the month? - a quick camping trip out to the hills tomorrow with Brad and Julie should occupy us enough for now).
Here comes the sun,
Big Smiles,
S&S.

Me and Lance

The main news to post (belatedly) is probably my news of the year (life). With great whoopy doos of euphoria, I got to meet and chat to this feller who you may have seen knocking around on a bike from time to time.I couldn't believe it that I got a call on Wednesday morning from a parent at school asking me "Hi Simon, would you like to meet Lance Armstrong on Friday afternoon?" Never has a response been so swift "bloody hell yes!" And lo and behold, there I was Friday afternoon sat about four feet from the man himself as he chatted around to a group of us, after which there were questions followed by the meet and greet thing. I managed to babble on about something after shaking his hand (which in hindsight probably went something like, "errr, hi, errr gargle, mmm eeek"). It was primarily a cancer do, and there were a lot of patients from the Tom Baker there (the cancer clinic in Calgary I holiday in every other month). Lance's presentation was all cancer based (rightly so) and everyone else was clearly chatting to him about that - so I couldn't resist a bit of a diversion and had to have a quick natter with him about the tour and his epic time trial up Alp d'Huez - as he was dutifully signing my cycling jersey.. another quick handshake and I hoped a photo, but as I fumbled for my camera Lance's "man" turned him to some other star struck individual, so I left feeling unsure about being cheery - as in hindsight I was thinking I'd like to have a good hour or two sit down with this guy! But as the whole awe of meeting him left off, I became giddy as a school boy and realised that was a once in a lifetime number. Also, I found out that the ticket I was given to meet him cost $5000!!!!!! now that's the kind of gift I like!
I couldn't but ride today (having had to sit off the bike for a while) so was out at 6am on the quiet roads of Cochrane, still buzzing about meeting the big man - so that it was almost like I was sat on his wheel for the whole ride.
The rest of the day was spent on a jolly to Canomre for coffee, up to Johnson Canyon with mum Ken and Brina, followed by a glorious steak in Banff.
All in all not a bad 24 hours.
Livestrong
S&S.

Keeping Mum

Just for the record, the title of this posting refers to the name of a great black comedy we watched that's set in rural England, and isn't a reference to mother's arrival - although it is rather apt!Mum arrived on Thursday, and upon stepping out of the car onto our driveway was greeted by the neighbours daughter who was gabbling on about five policemen heading down the pathway across the road to find a Grizzly Bear. Thinking of this as nothing but 4 year old talk, we were a little alarmed when the neighbour actually confirmed this to be true - apparently the authorities were down on the pathway investigating a Grizzly sighting!!!! Welcome back to Canada mum! Looking a little on edge we reassured mother that it was nothing, but as we stood on the deck that evening the coyotes were howling in the field like a wolf pack setting off for a kill!!! More dangerous fauna to welcome mum to the big empty colony that is Canada. Fortunately, the following morning it was only a few deer that were grazing across from the front garden, but within 24 hours mum had encountered more critters than people over here!

We mosied on out to the hills on the weekend, with a jolly old hike up Yamnuska on Saturday (with the rest of Calgary cluttering up the trails), and I rode to Bragg Creek early Sunday morning and mum and Brina drove out to meet me and we hiked around the pleasant trails there - all without animal incident (much to mother's relief!).

We've only a week left of work - and I'm running out of games and videos (and other useless fillers) to occupy the wee little blighters. Another trip down to the movie store is in need this evening in order pick up dvds for tomorrow's lessons - I have no more scientific knowledge that I care to impart up the buggers (I didn't have a great deal to part with at the begining of the year and had to be very careful to spread my science know how out evenly over the course of the year!).
Had another little blip at hospital today (having had my general cancer check up on Monday) the cause of which is curtailing me from cycling for a little while (yeah it's all bollock related) - thus sinking me into a rather depressive state as I'm meant to race next weekend and am chomping at the bit, but will have to bide my time to see if I can. Ho Hum.
Anyway, the holidays are near, the sun is out, and I've a bottle of vino to go and finsh,
Waddle On,
S&S (and mother).

Deluge

As seems to be a developing pattern with living in Canada, mother's imminent arrival brings with it a torrent of rain. Having harped on that the sunshine has arrived, all snow melted long ago and that we are having a spell of rather glorious weather - the inclemency began on Sunday...

It wasn't enough however, to bring me in early from a great bike ride on Portland Ken's nice bouncy bike! Ken's heading back off stateside at the end of the month (you'll be missed mate), and one of the perks of storing some of his gear at our gaff is that some of his gear his nice shiney springy bicycle. I'd headed out in my scruffs for a quick blast to compare it to my bike (adamant that I wouldn't like it more than my trusty stead - as we've come a long way together) - but alas, the trails by our house weren't sufficient for a proper test, so heading further afield along Cochrane's evermore extensive trails I became a full suspension convert! I was having so much fun I didn't notice that the rain had been coming down in sheets for a couple of hours. It was only when the umpteenth crack of lightening zapped somewhere very close to my shock prone noggin' that I realised I'd better retreat indoors (when I returned Brina was stood worrying in the garage thinking I'd been bbqed somewhere on the hills). I couldn't feign any sympathetic "aw, sorry love for not telling you I was heading out on the bike" as my ear to ear grin was immovable for the next few hours! Now I know what I want for Christmas!

Other than that, the rain hasn't stopped all week (although we have a gap in the clouds forecast for tomorrow when mum lands - phew), and the flooding in Calgary last night was almost of biblical proportions.

We've had exams at school with the kids this last week, and I thought I'd leave you with a classic that just about sums up what I'm dealing with when trying to teach at work;

Hoping that all of your trigonometry is a little more comprehensive

You should've seen their faces when they were told to use a sextant in part of their exam!

Desperately clinging onto a fine thread of sanity (still marking exams)

Here's a red tick and 95% to all of you,

S&S.

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.

Pipped at the Post

Hi All,
Let's hope for more bear sightings during this blog posting like the last one!
So the competitive edge is back. After ten years in the cycling wilderness I once more donned a number to the handlebars and lined up for a cross country race. We headed down to Lethbridge for the first of the Alberta Cup XC series, and despite my self assurances that I just want to enjoy the race scene and have fun, I couldn't help but get myself a bit hyped up for the race, standing amongst all the shaven legged folks. So much so that I let rip from the second row of the grid and ended up leading out the race with the "big guns".

With the sponsored fellers behind (team Bow cycle is just coming into the shot there - three orange clad riders), it was a good incentive to push the R&R jersey to the front - just spreading the R&R love this side of the Pacific. Having not really ridden on mtb trails for a year (or two!) it was nice to rattle along the single track of a rather technical course - although this was also my undoing, as on the very last descent, having thought I had it in the bag with no-way for anyone to pass, somebody passed, in a crazy assed thicket smashing, brambling splitting move that had me cursing as I was pushed back into 2nd place - beaten by 4 seconds!!! Hang on a minute, this is just for fun, so actually, in reflection it was great to do pretty well - and I assure myself that the next one in Edmonton is definitely just for fun - although I feel the adrenaline building up already!

I neglected to recall the pre ride eating procedure of old, and so tucked into a nice Vindaloo with a cold pint the night before the race. Having not had a beer for a while, not touched red curry meat for a couple of years and certainly not entertained the idea of a vindaloo being on the menu since a fateful evening late one Saturday morning in the Balti King seven years ago, it was a rather peculiar choice of fueling up. But clearly it seemed to work a treat - more of that for the Edmonton race then!
The main snag we had at the weekend was getting a flat battery on the Saturday at the race course in the evening. Nobody was around apart from some young louts screwing around on those noisy little motorbikes (the ones that look like they've been stolen from the clown shop). We didn't have any jump leads for the battery, so our only hope was to ask these yobs on the motorbikes! Now, in Blighty, the kind of kids that ride these motorbikes congregate in Cadishead and are usually petty thieves with restraining orders who'd tell you where to shove it if you even looked at them funny! - Luckily Lethbridge isn't Cadishead (Cadishead being Northen England's more run down version of the Bronx). These two mini 'ciminal' motorbikers didn't have any jump leads (booster cables for Canucks) but knew a friend who did so called him on their cell phone to get him to drive out to where we were - about 25mins away! Now that's why I like this place, these Canadian folk don't seem to bat an eyelid to go out of their way to give you a hand! - I've lived in many places where it's even too much effort for people to go out of their way to tell you the time.
Anyway, that's about it for this week. The bike obsession continues, work is still a place I have to reluctantly visit five days out of seven, and the sun keeps on tantilising us with brief glimpses of what Spring is like.
I hope you are all oiling your chains, and make sure to speak to the next mini motorbike yob you see to say thanks,
Spin, spin, spin,
S&S.

Ticking over and BEARS AT THE END

Hi All,

Scant news to be had from snowy Cochrane this past week (that's right - snowy Cochrane. My gleeful boasting that spring was on the way has come back and smacked me right in the ass once more, we're on another "weather warning" tonight from the weather office, with 15cm predicted, and up to 25cm in localised areas, all by tomorrow morning - It April 20th for God's sake!!! I WANT TO BIKE).

We're off to Lethbridge this weekend for the first round of the Alberta Mountain Bike Cup, so that'll be good (and piss freezing no doubt). Had a good ride out on the weekend with Brad, ending on a closed road up in the mountains, tres windy made for interesting bike handling on the decents, - it's all good and well having an awesome light bike - that is until it gets blown away in the gales (with you straddling it).

A bite was had at a Tibetean restaurant in the week to celebrate Portland Ken's 36th birthday which was all very social.

The best news of the week comes from the wife.... Brina was out at Canadian Tire (a big store much akin to B&Q for those not in the know about Canadian hardware retailers) and she waltzed into the garden centre area of the store - and got locked in! So there she was, stranded all alone amongst the gnomes, singing wishing wells and clamatis. The doors failed to let her out and the only other exit was firmly padlocked shut. It took a serious amount of banging and screaming on the doors, as well as an intense bout of panicking (one pee two pee), before the security cameras picked her up to send somebody to her aid. They must have thought there was a crazy lady in there from the noise she was making (or maybe thought that one of the little gnomes had come to life like a frenzied little deamon).

I think this is the first post sans picture - sorry, next time we'll post a load - I tried to take some of the deers out front this morning in the snow, but they came out as tiny specks on the horizon.

Had a cancer check this Monday - all going well (thank you to all who are keeping their fingers crossed), and next time I go it will be the TWO YEAR mark - major celebrations in order.

Also getting hooked into the Stanley Cup playoffs again (hockey), although it still aint football - Man Utd 7 : Roma 1 - Sweet!

Pedal hard,

Hoping for a break in the clouds,

S&S.

WOW WOW WOW - BREAKING NEWS!!!!!! I JUST NIPPED OFF TO FIND A PICTURE TO PUT ON THIS BLOG AND WANDERED TO THE FRONT WINDOW LITERALLY TWO MINUTES AGO, WHEN THERE I SAW A BIG BLACK DOG - OR SO I THOUGHT. I LOOKED FOR THE OWNER, THERE WAS NONE, THEN REALISED THAT THE DOG WAS LUMBERING AS IT RAN - NOT BOUNDING LIKE A DOG. BUGGER ME, ON CLOSER LOOK IT WAS A BEAR!!! WOO HOO!! A BLACK BEAR WAS JUST TROTTING ALONG RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE, LITERALLY TEN METRES IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE. IT WAS HEADING DOWN TO THE BOW RIVER - AWESOME. SO THE LITTLE BLIGHTERS ARE AWAKE. LOVE IT!

I'LL BE ON MY EYE OUT NEXT TIME I WANDER OVER TO THE POST BOX THAT'S FOR SURE.

By the way, the gnome comment in the first part of the blog led me to these dirty little blighters; not too sure why the perv in green needs binoculars.

Shuttin' Up Shop

So the mighty COP (above: Calgary Olympic Park) closed down for the winter on Friday last - maybe winter is shutting up shop for this season after all. Driving past the ski jumps and little ski hill on the way to work every day makes me take the city's "ski resort" for granted, but I'll sure miss it, if (when) we depart Calgary. They sure never did build one of these suckers in Warrington, although a relatively local lad "Eddie the Eagle Edwards" made his name here on this ski jump in Calgary, reaching iconic Olympic status for ski jumping wearing bright pink goggles that covered up his double thickness magnifying glass like spectacles and having absolutely no idea what so ever about ski jumping - particularly the landing part! No wonder really when it comes to light that good old Eddie learnt to ski jump in his back yard in Wigan and at the dry ski slope in Rossendale. - Trying to explain to Canadians about dry ski slopes is like trying to tell Eskimos that their igloos need air conditioning. Having wrestled with this concept with one of my grade 8 classes and been subjected to interrogation such as; "how can you make snow dry?", - well it's not really snow, "but if it's dry doesn't it melt?", it's not really snow Johnny, more like nylon, "like my mom's tights?" - well not quite, more like carpet - "so you carpet a mountain to ski down" - something like that Johnny - "Do you have to build the mountain too?" - no, I don't have the tectonic power of mountain building, the mountain is already there - "but Englands flat" - not all of it "You English people are weird" - At which point Johnny talks himself into a detention and leaves me pondering the sanity of us Brits. I know ski-ing is great and all but the thought of a dry ski slope now borders on the absurd. What next, selling sand to the Iraqis?

We've been struggling to get to grips with academia at work this post Spring Break week, but were delighted to see a mere two and a bit months before summer holidays!!!!! (Even Sunshine will have closed by then).

Spring break saw days of good snow in the hills and quality boarding time, although the roads seem to be clearing now for proper bike riding. I've got my first mtb race coming up on the 22nd. Not been on a bike competitively for a good while and am raring to go. Last time I began to get this fit my bollock fell off, lets hope for a significantly different outcome this time around!

Also busy plotting a summer road trip of road trips as bro and sis in law are heading Canadaside in July!

Anyway, for now it's back to the grindstone (well, more like a rather blunt file the way I'm working),

Hoping you're all keeping your tackle in tact,

Big smiles for the sun,

S&S.

p.s. Roll on this;

Global Cooling and Contemplation

So much for Spring! Despite my staunch environmental viewpoints and 100% conviction behind the science of retreating glaciers, melting ice caps, rising sea levels and increased CO2 driving freaky weather - there is very little of that global warming nonsense going on in Alberta! (Apologies to Al Gore if he just happens to stumble across this page - great movie by the way!). Spring break has failed to muster any temperature warmer than minus 7 so far - not great for the eager cycling legs, but a bonus for the board, as Sunshine and Lake Louise are the main targets for this week's holiday! Sunday entailed a pleasant scurry around Sunshine with Portland Ken - see below - it hadn't snowed for a few days and we managed to find some icey patches mixed in with the good stuff for the first time this season. That loss of control skittery feel hadn't been missed, and it caused a fair few of my runs to be a little bit like Frank Spencer hurtling downhill on a tea tray! The ice also manged to grab hold of Ken's ski's and flip his ankles up in the air over his head before he knew anything about it - I thought he'd shattered his shoulder into tiny bone fragments, but these Yanks seem to bounce pretty well.

So this be Ken P. You may see that it's snowing (Sunday). The white stuff began to fall as we were out there, and didn't stop until mid morning today (Tuesday). I couldn't resist having another hack at Sunshine today, knowing full well that the "Some Mother's Do 'ave 'em" ice would be well and truly burried beneath nice fresh powder - and how it was! Most North American observers may well be scratching their Mork and Mindy corrupted noggins with all of this reference to Frank Spencer and Some Mothers do ave em - Look it up you luddites, English slapstick at its finest!

I managed to make first lifts today too and caught the sunrise peaking over Tee Pee chair - and there was absolustely nobody around! The teeny weeny piccie on the right was my lame attempt to capture empty chairs and vacant slopes - those of you with powers of magnification may be able to see this from the photo, the rest of you should just take my word for it!

It was certainly one of the finer days up in the hills, good lines and fresh tracks, today even had me inadvertently taking 6 feet drops in my stride (that'll teach me to check whats on the other side of the trees) - made for great giddy rushes and teethy grins though!

A dampener was put on the day when cruising on the last run the ski patrol were out trying to resuscitate somebody - I'm still not quite in the right mind to contemplate mortality, so it was a rather queer sensation to have the Verve's "Lucky Man" come onto my ipod as I rode past - wasn't sure if this was funny or just morbidly ironic. (They were still at the CPR 10 mins later when the helicopter arrived - all very somber, although some rubber necking Terry Fuckwits were stood around taking photos of the whole affair. Whoopy Do - a helicopter, but it's coming to pick up a corpse!!!! Maybe they'll head off to the hospital mortuary to finish their film off - great holiday snaps.)

Well, that's my depressing post of the year out of the way! Moving swiftly on.. things at home are all rather quiet - Brina is in the Soo for the week. I decided that being a batchelor for 7 days I had to find some "man" activities to pass the time (comments about being a wanker are not needed from any of you perverts!). All I could come up with was to get out the GodFather dvds - a set of movies I've never seen but have been told for years "you must see this".

It is, without doubt, a very blokish flick - and I recommend any of you who haven't seen it, to watch it - but just make sure your wife is at home because now when I turn the lights off at night and all is quiet as I'm on my lonesome, I'm just shitting myself thinking that I'm about to wake up with a horses head under the pillow - maybe I'll get Mary Poppins out on dvd tomorrow instead.
I hope you're all avoiding phobias of the Mafia,

Keep healthy and happy,

And don't take photos of dead people!

S&S.
P.S:

You know you're boarding in a vast resort when you can ride into the neighbouring province and back again.

Welcome Spring Break

Well hello all,

Tis only a meagre offering this time around. The whirlwind that is the end of term at school, sucks us in once again and many hours have been lost sat at my desk, bewildered that it is in fact Spring Break and I'm no where near completed all of the things that have to be done by the end of March (well, by the end of January actually, but since that deadline has long gone I'm just trying to put a positive spin on things).

Although time has been scant for blog posting, there has of course been ample time to ride, ride, ride. All is good on the cycling front, I am back into a fully fledged love affair with the road bike (much to Brina's disdain). I unashamedly admit to having spent a much larger percentage of quality time with the dreamy Giant TCR Advanced than wi' th' wife over the past few months - although th' wife is fighting back admirably by baking batch after batch of the greatest chocolate chip muffins ever, which is in fact luring me back inside on a more regular basis!

I rode out with Brad and Ken on Sunday - set off with nice blue sky, rode into an ever increasing wind which soon turned into a snow flurry that quickly morphed into a blizzard which petered out after half an hour or so to grey clouds that parted by the end of the ride to glorious sunshine - talk about all four seasons in one day.

We're off to see the Kendal Mt Film Festival tomorrow - should bring a nostalgic tear to my eye, hopefully there's some kind of Lake District footage amongst the clips shown (I'm guessing it's just like the Banff film festival but with less altitude (and attitude)). For you Geographical heathens Kendal is "The Gateway to the Lake District" up North in Cumbria (Aye, that be England not Alberta), and for those Land lubbing North Americans who aint been out East (that is, East across the pond), the Lake District is arguably one of the most beautiful pinpricks you could ever put on a world map.

The coming week should hold more fun in the hills. With Spring Break marking "Spring" we're due a high of minus 7 on Monday, the bike will be in (tucked up in silk sheets with a pillow) and I'll be out having a final kick of the winter ball. Off boarding with Portland Ken on Sunday then a guy I used to teach with is coming out to Banff, so we're off boarding for a few days, and the rest of the time will be spent ignoring any impending school work that has to be done!

Well, I managed to prattle on for longer than I anticipated having had nothing much to report at the start!

I've got to gear myself up for a Professional Development day tomorrow - no kids in school on the last day, just lots of teachers talking about themselves trying to sound important (I'll be the one snoozing and doodling in the corner - if only I was joking!).

Hope you're all paying more attention than I am,

Thinking of you all,

And giving everyone a huge toothy grin,

S&S.

Eye Eye

(Brina's gonna flip that I put this hideous piccie on - but I can't seem to take it off the page once it's posted on there - oops - I best nip out on the bike for a while til the dust settles).

Birthday's, Freezing Rain and Spring?

Happy Birthday to Brina for this weekend (well it was on Monday, but we went out to Banff for a bash over the weekend to celebrate). Brina turned the big 29 (an age which I still have 4 years to reach) and we cruised Banff on Saturday with a whole host of wannabe Irish pretenders all pledging their allegience to St Paddy and putting on brave faces faking their enjoyment of their yearly pint of Guiness. The Canucks love an excuse to party, and for the non Guiness fairing folk you were able to buy a pint of regular gnats piss larger with green food colouring in - for the authentic taste of a pint of Irish Listerine.
We had aspiriations to ski and board for the weekend too, but a lazy crawl out on Saturday via the coffee shop made for a chilled out Saturday, and the rather comfortable lodging plus overcast sky on Sunday kept us in relaxed mode on the Sunday too - but a nice weekend to play the real tourist and actually just take in the town - although Brina was becoming a little weary of my regaling of tales about "when I was a lad..." as we visited many venues which brought back rather humorous (and sometimes scary) flashbacks about my earlier days in Banff (admitedly only the more tame stories were released, the others remain firmly locked away in the dark recesses of my brain - and they'll stay that way thank you very much - Until the next time I get caught unaware with a bottle of Jim Beam anyway).
We stayed up at Buffalo Mt Lodge (part of the group that own Emerald Lake lodge and Deer Lodger - we were putting a great voucher to use which Mark and Lucy sent us as a gift - many more thanks to bro and sis there!) and it was super! It's all very cosy with log fires in the rooms - although as you can see, our ability at using the fire to cook baked potatoes was somewhat poor! Those damn log fires need a timer on them or something for the hicks who decide to use them as a stove;

The place had a great hot tub which was great for star gazing from. Our camera didn't make it on the weekend (another packing calamity), but here's a shot of the serenity of what it was like when we stayed up at Emerald Lake lodge - and you'll get an idea of the ambience of the place;

You can make out what was our lodge there in the foreground - with Mt Mitchell (I think) in the background, and the world famous Burgess Shales (world famous to geologists and fossil hunters that is.... yawn, stop me before I send myself to sleep).

As for other things on the great Canadian Frontier, I had to scrape not just snow, but freezing rain from the windscreen the other morning (the car looked like it had been sat in the deep freeze for a month with the bubbled ice covering it from an overnight freezing rain storm!). How I do like to prattle on about the weather (I thought it was very British - but that would be complaining about the weather - here I just tend to talk about it in awe!). With Spring officially starting tonight, the winter decided to have one last kick of the ball before being bumped off the seasonal calendar - freezing foggy morning followed by a rather heavy, wet snowfall. Winter was making it's final call as; true to the date; by the afternoon the sun was out, temps were soaring and with Spring offically here (in a couple of hours) the forecast is sun, sun, sun with highs of 18 degrees for the weekend!!!! Great!!!!

Time to dust the shorts off,

Remember to pack the camera

Embracing the season and thinking of you all,

S&S.

p.s. I finally worked out how to put the links on this blog (on the right there) genius (not).

Don't Count the Chickens

The meterological rollercoaster that is Cochrane's weather continues.

Having been overjoyed at the sight of the grand Chinook Arch that curved its way across the sky last week, bringing with it balmy temperatures of 17 degrees or so - we were optimistically considering that Spring was poking its nose around the corner.

This is the Chinook arch taken rather haphazardly on the drive to work - it may not look like much, but it moves in from the mountains and stretches from one end of the horizon to the other. With it come winds with more umph than generator 3 at Chernobyl. The house gets rattled like a tin shack and the winds, being very warm, just melt all snow in the way. Chinook is some first nations word for "Snow Eater" - you can quite literally watch the snow disappear as the Chinook moves East.

So the road bike was delighted to get a run out on Friday afternoon, and then the first good ride of the year was a sunny pedal with Brad from Bragg Creek to Elbow Falls on Sunday in the aforementioned 17 degree temps or so.
I lulled myself into a false sense of cycling security, thinking that every night would now be a roadie night - seeing as though the clocks went forward at the weekend too.

How mistaken one Englishman can be when toying with the fickle Canadian weather! Lo and behold, this morning saw a good 4 inches on the ground as I stepped out of the door to head to work! So much for riding tonight!

Brina caught this shot of me looking like I'm heading home from the grocery store - rather than departing to work.

The other blighter of all of this though is that I thought shovelling the drive was done for this year!

And as for leaving the big ol' truck out in the drive (yep, I still got her), well, that was a no no!

This aint too bad for a few hours over night in March. I neglected to sweep a lot of the snow off the bed of the truck (I was in a rush to get to work - late for another meeting), and hadn't considered the amount of snow that was lying on the back. It was all pretty stable until I hit about 60kmph, at which stage the massive, thick slab of snow lifted off the truck and smashed into the windscreen of the car behind me (oops!!!) I don't think the feller behind was any too pleased - and neither would I be with a mini avalanche crashing into my car at 7am. I don't think there were any serious casualties.

Some got to stay at home today in their father Christmas uniforms;

Hoping you are all really fit, well and happy!

We'll be up in Banff this weekend to raise a pint of the black stuff to Brina's birthday - what a fortunate coincidence it's St Paddy's day too, although you should never need an excuse for Guiness!

Thinking of you all,

Always take the weather with you (whatever it is),

S&S.

Deja Vu

Well here we go again, more snow things...

As we run into March I'd usually be thinking about Spring, the daffs would be up, the hedges would be budding green and it'd generally be pissing it down like you wouldn't believe. However, I negelect to remember that we're still in Canada - and this winter thing just really does like to hang on. It would seem that winter ends in May, we have a week of Spring and then lo and behold, before we all know it Summer will be here in all its glory.

Another weekend at Sunshine was on offer this weeked;

Brina was out in fine fettle again, ski-ing like a crazy speed deamon, chanting the mantra "play with the mountain - don't fight it" - a term she got from an 87 year old Austrian skier who still rides the half pipe - and I thought 31 was getting on a bit! It was a big breakthrough in ski-ing tradition that Brina carried a backpack. After all this while of being chief Sherpa I finally spat my dummy out this weekend and pointed out that I no longer need to carry a bag as I can fit everything in the multi pocket jacket mentioned in previous post!

This piccie is just to prove that the moniker of the packhorse has now truely shifted hands in this relationship!

We had a blast up on the slopes and were hoping for the typical blue sky classic day - alas - although the sun was out in Cochrane and it reached the giddy heights of 7 degrees, the clouds still covered the mts and, coupled with the snow, temperatures never got beyond minus 5 - which still feels bloody warm by comparisson to the rest of the year.

I got to ride my big old fat board which I'd had the kids at school waxing and sharpening in a makeshift snowboarding lesson (I'm pretty much the master of my own curriculum - the "lets go visit the coffee shop lesson" was by and far my most creative professional day so far as a teacher). The little blighters hadn't done too shabby a job on said board either and it rode like a greased up tea tray!

On the theme of work, we have this Thursday and Friday at school without the kids - it's just their parents that come in (which in many cases is far worse! "why are you taking my child's class to the bloody coffee shop Mr Williams?" is a line that I am readily prepared for and building up my armoury to defend "well, this class is all about the rounded child, and I was thirsty.. and also, do you think I give a toss?" - not sure how well this will go down, so may have to polish up any witty retorts). Work is good fun at present though and Spring break is encroaching - I feel a boarding road trip coming on (although am so tempted to blast it down to Moab in one coffee and red bull induced hazy drive, to ride on the rocks again). Brina is back off to the Soo for the week and she's looking forward to seeing all the folks again.

Although the winter here looks set to last up in the hills, the snow is melting off outside in Cochrane and Calgary at a heafty rate of knots - it's like the end of the last ice age down our street - and luckily I still get to drive the chuffing big truck, so I'm taking great pleasure in hitting all the big puddles and casting tidal waves of meltwater over all the little kids who insist on playing street hockey at just the same time as I'm getting home from work! (Simple pleasures).

I'm hoping that you are all keeping on the right side of the law and that you all have a twinkle in your eye,

Don't carry more than you need (don't carry anything if you've got a wife)

Tally Ho with the mischief,

S&S.

p.s. I've inadvertently put in a really blurry picture (we were both cruising at high speed at the time) and I'm too inept to extract it from this posting - but you can make out the fuzzy form of Brina hurtling into oblivion (at least in my defence this shows that I carried the camera - but I've got a special pocket for that!).