A cacophony of memories and eggs

How do!
It's all somewhat quiet at home after the trip, and I'm still having the urge to pitch the tent every night and inflate thermarests (or full on camping matresses for Brina). Managed to get out yesterday with Brad around Bragg Creek on the mtbs and found some great trails - although was in agony on the trusty old Trek boneshaker having dashed around on pretty bikes like the one shown above the previous week! Came back from the ride yesterday to realise that the splattering of brown on the garage door that we noticed when we left was in fact a very small part of the bombardment of eggs and other assorted grocery shit that had been pelted at the front of our house the previous night!!!! Some little bastards (apologies for the French) had taken to using our house as target practice and thus we spent the best part of yesterday afternoon clambering around on the roof washing eggshells off the upper walls and windows - We've been away for three weeks so I can't think for the life of me who we've pissed off - but I would dearly like to have a cosy little 'chat' with them. The rest of today has been further domestic duty, gardening, cleaning (although bikes mainly), fixing stuff that I can't fix but pretend I can in a very half assed kind of way, and we have found a man willing to take on the onerous task of the basement so he'll be here tomorrow - I wash my hands of it....
Anyway, as you can see, brother was delighted to reach the Shangri-La that is Moab when on the trip. We'd rolled cautiously into the wonderful little town having realised 100 miles away that the back tires on the car were no longer rubber, just metal beading - this nonsense happened last year in the heat of Utah, Albertan tires just aren't made for the desert. Moab had the closest tire fitting shop and as we held our breath awaiting some dramatic blowout we had nothing but praise for "Chips Grand Tire" where Chip himself served us just before he shut up shop, and never before have I witnessed such a cheery, speedy, helpful, we're not trying to rip you off auto shop.
We landed a great campsite with nobody else around and all was good.... Prior to hitting this venue, our previous night had been spent in Mesa Verde about which I knew nowt. Now however, I see it was home to the ancient Pueblo folk who built nifty little houses on the cliff faces hundreds of years ago (700 years ago if I recall, but I kind of tuned out when the Ranger was going on... Now I know what the kids at school feel like when I'm whittering on about meanders and ox bow lakes).

This is one of the sites from above that we got to go and wander down to and have a good poke around - although touching the walls was a real no-no as they were only held together by mud - 700 year old mud that is, so they'd crumble like an Italian Army even if you just stared at them too long.
A little aside which I neglected to post to add to the amazing splendor of the Rockies throughout Colorado was one intriguingly named ski run in Telluride. Now, maybe I'm missing some obvious Americanism here and perhaps my knowledge of US history and society is very limited, but without wanting to offend anybody - can this really be the right name of a double black ski run in one of the best ski towns in the states?

Clearly Telluride is a rich white "man's" playground....

Telluride was an incredible spot and it was a treat to see where the big bro had raced in the Primal Quest a few years earlier, although he did mention some of the landmarks were a bit hazy in his mind having been racing without sleep for 5 days!

Hitting the Patagonia shop in Dillon on the way home was a pleasure, and clearly the girls were a touch enthusiastic about getting into the seriously cheap store...

And they left the store looking rather pleased with themselves.....

Although it wasn't just the chickeroos who were carried away in a retail frenzy of cheap Patagonia gear.. that night in the warm air of the campsite you wouldn't have believed that this feller below actually owns a gear shop;

Mark and Brina scored highest for being kitted up head to toe in Patagonia.
There is plenty more that will come out about the trip that is sure to come out in future postings - and I must get a photo album set up on here to dump a load of awesome piccies (modest!) that can be viewed online (calling Portland Ken for technical assistance...).

The trip was completed with a magic ride on the bikes from Radium to Banff, and what better way to end that and the trip with one of Earl's finest steaks in Banff.

Great times in the summer of 07.

Dodging the low flying eggs..
S&S.

Road Trip Part Deux

So where did we leave off then? Going to the Sun Road I recall.... good old Montana. It all seems such a while ago, now that we're back, and that Mark and Luce have headed back to NZ (eck).

We cruised down past flathead lake making a beeline for Yellowstone, when the deathly speedboat crossed out paths. We'd seen a layby to pull over in on the bend of a road, and as we were about to drive into the layby a lone trailer (perhaps pulled by Thestralls) and boat came whizzing across the bend in the road and ploughed right through the spot where we would have been about 2 seconds later... The trailer detached from its vehicle on the bend and kept on the straight line course into our parking spot.. that would have been one for the obituaries - four roadtripping tourists maimed brutally by unidentified trailer. It was all rather shocking for us and the poor woman driver of the car the trailer came from (apparently it was her hubby who hitched the boat up, and he wasn't there). It was so shocking that Mark decided the best course of action was to leap out with the camera clicking away at the disaster scene like some frenzied paparatzzi (spelt how?). A dip in the lake was much needed after such excitment.. then on to Wyoming.

Here're Brina and Luce at Yellowstone falls... there was so much just in Yellowstone to see with all the geysers, mudpots, canyons etc... we could've spent three weeks there. We picked up Ol' Faithful on the way out south to the Tetons and Jackson - where there was more biking to be had too. Then a wild, remote and "oh shit we're out of gas" drive towards Colorado - we camped very late in the dark in a random place we plucked from the map - which incidentally turned out to be rather spectacular when we awoke - Flaming Gorge, a desolate, deep sandstone canyon (piccie with the tents).

Steamboat Springs was the first destination in Colorado - and a very sleepy, dreary ski resort it turns out to be in summer time. We got to ride our first 10,000ft pass on the bikes - "Rabbit Ears Pass" heads up out of Steamboat, and the up is steep and prolonged - as I only realised after having spent an hour or so staring at our kid's back wheel feeling a serious burn going on in the legs.

Vail and Aspen were to come next, all very nice (and rather poncy). Here's the rub about Aspen's clientel.... Nearly 100 private Lear Jets lined up in the airport to whizz the rich and Lah de Dahs to and from the resort. The local bike shop was stocked with limited edition $10000 (minimum) Livestrong bikes. It's not that I'm jealous, just... jealous.

The excitment brimmed for Crested Butte - we were dispensing with the tents for three nights of luxury in the Three Seasons condo at "the Butte" (whatever happens in the fourth season I don't know). With wonderful coincidence our first time with a t.v on the trip coupled with the first stage of the Tour in the Pyrenees - three full days of watcing the blood doping, testosterone pumping athletic freaks fight it out in the mountains - perfect.

For those of you unaware of Crested Butte, it is one of mountain bike's mecca's -and it certainly was.

We all hired mountain bikes and hit the trails, Brina and Lucy were chirruping away like a couple of hens in the excitment of it all, and me and Mark were squarking a wee bit on some of the single track laid down. Also finding $35 on the trail is alway a bonus - now I normally carry a quarter in case I need to make a phone call, but what people carry (and loose) $35 for on the remote biking trails is beyond me - maybe it was for an elusive cafe we never found.

I don't remeber if on the last post I pointed out we saw a bear in town one night here too - all good fun leaving the garbage bags out at night to feed the local wildlife.Loads went on in Colorado, I've already forgotten to mention we all took roadbikes up to the Maroon Belles in Aspen, and I'm sure my rambling and picture choice isn't doing justice to the trip (we got carried away and have about 1000 piccies to view).
Telluride, Mesa Verde and Moab will feature a wee bit in the next post - but I am now to drag my sorry ass from the computer as the sun is beaming in the window and I've a neglected moutain bike who needs to be taken out in Bragg Creek for some lovin'.

Other news from here is we're still basking in the holiday time bliss. We cruised out to Banff yesterday and kicked about lazing around and finishing reading Harry Potter's last installment (it's not too bad). Will post again imminently.

Keep spinning and smiling,

S&S.

p.s:

"YEAH.. I WISH".

Back from the Road

Hi All,

What a lenghty time lapse without a posting here - all due to the Road Trip of all road trips. We've just landed back home after a mere 6500km have rolled around on the trusty old Ford Focus (which performed admirably - only needing to have 2 new tires put on the back in Utah as the wire had come right through the old ones making for some very wobbly driving, akin to racing down a cobble street at 70mph). I'm not sure how to get all of the trip's news on one post, so this might have to be a multi posted affair. First things first though;

My fascination with the big wild animals of Canada remains, and we saw this critter just as it was going dark by the road up near Lake Louise, feasting on the abundance of Buffalo Berries. Thinking how cuddly he looks, we had to recall that such a beast killed a biker a few days ago at Panorama!!!!!!

The trip into the states opened our eyes about how they deal with bears. In a town called Leadville in Colorado, the local newspaper pointed out that the biggest problem with bears was that locals were going out and wrestling them (honestly, I kid you not), and then in Crested Butte we saw a bear wandering down a back street at night - but thinking that there would be signs up or some kind of "alerting news" we dismissed the bear sighting as a big dog or a shadow - until the chef in the bar we ended up in told us that the bear had been in the alley every night for the past two months scavenging in the garbage bins (not bear proof) - the Yankie Doodles really are laid back when it comes to the ol' Ursus (maybe it's because they're all allowed to be holstered up with guns - the folks not the bears).

Anyway, back to the road trip. The focus was fully laden (with a touch of space saved for loading up at the Patagonia shop on the way home) and we headed out at 6pm making a bee line for Waterton. The plan was to ride the "Going to the Sun" road in Montana the following morning.

We spent most of the day of leaving, wandering around MEC trawling for all the things we needed (and didn't need).

So we made it to Waterton for sunset and had a nice wander around the Prince of Wales hotel and the Lake (which is the piccy at the top of this post).

It was a treat to be on the road and in the tent. We were all beaming about the adventure that lay ahead (although I was a tad apprehensive about getting into the States, for no other reason than I think that the customs folk don't like me and am developing a complex about it - but all was fine - and friendly!!!!).

The first ride of the trip came in Glacier NP - from St Mary on the East side of the park, to the Western entrance of Glacier - via the wonderful Going to the Sun road, which we hit early and missed the heavy traffic, saw glaciers, mt goats and incredibly speeds on the descent over the other side - the pass was a mere 6500 feet, which was great, but ones double that in altitude awaited in Coloroado - and I was already gasping for air....

I'll leave you with the bro's of R&R summiting Logan Pass.

My minds still a bit muddled with the enormity of what we've done, so the next post will be tomorrow and shall continue regaling the trip (Flaming Gorge, Yellowstone, Jackson, Crested Butte, Aspen, Vail, Telluride, Mesa Verde, Moab, Black Rock Gorge of the Gunnison are still to come - although not in that order... and I think I've still missed a few there!).

Hope all your summers are trippin'

Missing packing up the tent each morning,

Si, Bri, Mark and Luce.

Bike Delay

I imagine that his post will be rather swift with scant details of current goings on in Cochrane. However, to surmise;

Mark and Lucy arrived on Wednesday night, although we'd been waiting for them to appear from behind the "customs wall" for an hour before a big security fellow came up to me and, in a serious tone, asked if my name was Simon (I fought off the flashbacks and angst) to which my response was obviously affirmative. He told me and Brina that Mark and Lucy were here but minus a bag - bugger. It was the bike bag...

After two days of hunting for the bike, it has finally rocked up in Calgary, so we have picked it up and are now due to depart on the road trip. We're heading off to Glacier in Montana this afternoon, and we'll ride the "Going to the Sun" road tomorrow. Then off to Yellowstone to see Yogi, into Colorado after a few days - then goodness knows where we'll end up after that...

We've already had a stint up into Banff and the bro and sis in law went out searching for their old haunts - all well and good as Lucy bumped into the manager she worked for at Wild Bills years ago... although Mark's obsession of nostalgia was to drag us around the Banff Springs Hotel searching for the electrical sockets where he used to plug and power up his vaccuum whilst cleaning up on the night shift (good times eh?).

We'd milled around the airport a bit yesterday trying to track down the bag - as we needed face to face contact seeing as though the Air Canada helpline for baggage is based in India and the assistants (loose use of the term) merely read from a pre printed script and did bugger all (no berating of the Indians, just Air Canada). A picnic in Bragg Creek eased the evening away (scorching hot... almost too hot for mozzies - almost), and then we ended up driving to the airport at 10.30pm to collect the bike - it's amazing how the US homeland security hassle all entrants into the country with finger prints, anal probes, labradors and beagles sniffing at your crotch for scent of TNT and make you take your shoes off when walking through the metal detectors (although I think that's because they like to keep the carpet clean in US customs. Yet they are able to loose a bike bag which is so big a family of terrorists could hide in it, nobody could trace it in San Fransico and then lo and behold it is loaded upon a plane two days later - how does that work???

The paper work about the lost bike stated it was a giant bike (which it is) but this raied eyebrows with the Air Canada officials as they were looking for the giant who rode it (it's not really THAT big we had to explain).

Anyway, this has turned out a little longer than expected, but we're off for two weeks, so a big old update will be posted when we get back - with plenty of piccies and nodoubt some Tom Foolery adventures,

Enjoy the summer,

Happy Hols'

S&S.

p.s. Some people just haven't quite got over the jet lag yet though.

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.