3 Years, Bad Gears, Big Cheers

Well hello all!!! Here's to the start of another joyous post cancerous bollock year! It's three years ago to the day that the old left dangly was consigned to its fateful tumerous extraction. I can't believe how big and massively important the 27th May has become for me now, it kind of sneeks up all unannounced and then arrives and hits me with such forceful emotions (which I thought I had burried good and deep in the darkest recesses of my psyche) that I get all nostalgic, humbled, thankful, overly excited about life and just generally damn happy to be waking up to the sunshine with a pulse. Mrs. Brina played it all coy this year and surprised me with a prezzie and card this morning (much to my delight as I thought she'd forgotten - she got me good and proper). Two more years to the all clear mark, big smiles all round!
As for other pressing matters at hand. I sluggishly headed up to Edmonton for a Sunday race in the pissing down rain. Leaving at 5.00am in a downpour didn't dampen my spirits too much, but racing fast, dry racing tires in Edmonton's slickest mud wasn't condusive to staying on the bike too well during the race... So there was lots of this;

Fortunately the TransRockies has plenty of Hike a Bike sections, so the course at the weekend made for good training for that (since riding up many of the mudslides was not an option). The bike was feeling rather lazy on the first lap and kept on wanting to lie down in the trees by the side of the course, invariably taking me with it. 4 wipe outs on the first lap and 1 on the second had me cussing about the weather, my bike handling skills and my tardiness at arriving at the race with 10 minutes to spare and not being able to pre-ride the route again! Never the less, I had consigned myself to a very non podium finish, but pulled things together a bit better on lap 3, and by lap 4 was with the 2nd placed rider. With 2km to go, we kicked around a steep turn, I had the makings of the guy, ready to put the power on a little, shifted gears up as the hill went vertical, but shifted my chain right up into my spokes where it jammed tight! Bugger, having lept off to untangle the damage (which had happen already before on lap 3) mr.2nd place sauntered off up the hill. I managed to get back to within 4 seconds of him by the finish - but alas, the couse was a couple of hundred metres too short! A 3rd place wasn't bad all things considered.
The piccie below is the new 'hide a chain in your rear mech' game I like to play (no wonder the shifting was piss poor).

Ah, you can't beat using grass and mud to protect your chainrings from wear and tear!

It's the big old 8hour race this Sunday (my arse is already getting nervous - new chamois needed).
All things non bike related are just that - non bike related. Work, yeah, it's still work - just heard a great quote from Gordon Ramsey on t.v. "you don't have to love it, it's just a fuckin' job" - so I think I'm going to live with the philosophy according to Kitchen Nightmares from now on!
Brina's still working like a beast at Morely and is chasing around after the skinny, cycling obsessed git she lives with to make sure he's well fed and not resembling some malnourished famine victim. We're looking forward to seeing a bit more of summer soon. The rain eased off this week (although the Rivers are full to bursting point and floods may be imminent for those edjits living on the floodplains - think about it people, it's called a FLOODplain for a reason so don't build a house there!). The sun is giving us a bit of a taster of what may be in store for our month of summer in August, and we can't wait (fingers crossed we might even get two months of summer, but don't hold your breath).
Anyhow, it's time for bed, so seeing as though today's the day it is, remember;
It could always be worse,

Livestrong
S&S.

Hickory Dickory Dock

Hi! All. Not much has transpired since the last post, apart from inclement weather - of the rain variety (hopefully the white stuff is behind us now for the next couple of months). It has been pissing it down like Billio, and is forecast to do so for the foreseeable future - ah, happy days, it's just like Manchester! (on the Mancunian note - Premier League and Champions League - get in!!!!!!!!!!!!). It's an easy week on the bike this week since I've been pedalling so hard recently the old legs need a few days break to de-wobblify them a little - although I was out for a spin to Ghost Lake last night and was swooped by a Golden Eagle, which I mistook for a light aircraft - massive it was!
VPness continues to bamboozle me, and I'm spending less and less time in the classroom (hurray!) but more and more time in meetings where it's a real struggle to maintain focus, keep the gist of what people are talking about and remain conscious (boo!). Brina's happy as Larry teaching the ankle biters about tipis and the like, and having taken on a full time job in Morely next year, it means there'll be no day home. Here's how Brina had the basement set up in preparation for her dayhome enterprise which is no longer to be....

Although it pays dividends as I get a road map carpet to play on (unfortunately, Brina often sends me to the naughty chair - the red one in the corner, when things aren't going too well).

The basement is slowly turning back from this preschool landscape, to the bike storage, bike maintenance and bike training room facility that it duly should be!

Although on that note, I'm really going to miss Terry the Big comfy Turtle (perhaps I'll persuade the misses that we can keep him).
I hope that you're all basking in the delightful May sunshine (somebody needs to be, cos we aint).
We're off to Edmonton on Sunday for another race - should be a fun tester if this deluge keeps up, so will keep you informed early in the week - by which time, the dandelions in the backgarden will have greater dominance than the grass (much to the chargrin of our pompus neighbours).
Here's to the Campaign to Keep Terry,
Glory Glory Man Utd,
S&S.

This is May

Hi! All, so here are a few snaps of what May looked like last week in Cochrane! The whole place just got dumped on, and there were reports of 3 feet of snow falling in Water Valley and hour north of here, and the ski fields were (by all accounts) in amazing condition.

It's hard to believe that today, one week later, the sky is blue, everyone is in their shorts and sandles, and the temps are a balmy 25 degrees! Last Friday was not even close!

I had my camera in the car and just couldn't resist snapping piccies of some of the unfortunate buggers who had forgotten that snow and ice make the roads slippery!!! (Either that or this guy skidded off the road because he was trying to take photographs at the same time as he was driving - what dickhead would try that eh?!!!) - those of you failing to register the sarcastic tone there, just note that I'm still crusining along in the inside lane as the piccie is shot.

I gave up counting at 9, but there were endless cars burried in the meridian between here and Calgary! Happy Spring days!!

But fortunately, the summer has kicked in for this long weekend! I'm not racing this weekend, but the sun should be coaxing me out for some riding! I was up early doors (5am) on Sunday to head to Edmonton for a race, I got there late, just made the start line, but having not ridden the course decided to sit back for the first lap to get lead through (4 laps to do in total). I found myself sat in second and was happy to be following some swift fellow. Thinking that all was good, to my horror he took us down a decent, pulled off to the side then stopped to ask me do I know the way because he hadn't ridden the course "bloody hell, that makes two of us mate" - at which, we looked back up slope and saw the chasing group come through but disappear up the hill, not down in the direction we had come. Alas, we chased them down, I got carried away and hit the front, pulled away with the Provincial Champ on my tail, the champ lead the third lap, I hit it on the 4th and pulled into first place!!!! Woo hoo! I thought, although the guy with the clipboard taking down times missed me out (expecting the Provincial Champ to be in first place) so I was bumped down into second on the results - but a moral victory none the less!
More of the same next weekend, then the big 8 hour race in Calgary (makes my stomach wobble just thinking about it - in a good way though!).
Work continues to build up the pressure of VPness - lots more meetings and a steep upwards curve of responsibility and aggro!
Finally finished my Uni courses (thank chuff for that) and somehow managed to get As for both!!!
Brina has been the chief cook, bottle washer and nutritionist for the past while, without whom the wheels would have fallen off a long time ago!
Off to Brad and Julies for supper to meet their new addition to the family - a rescued greyhound (Billireagan Bob), so I'm taking my fuzzy little hare to see if can outsprint me around the back garden!
Hope the sun is now shining in all of your summers (or snow falling for you southern hemi folk),
Ta ra for now,
S&S.

Bloody 'ell.

Well hello all, nothing like a little bit of a graze on the knee to get me going all melodramatic at the first sight of blood (only because it's my blood though, if it was anyone else's I don't think I'd give as much of a toss). So this is how the six hour endurance race ended, with me, five minutes from the finish, tearing down the final twisty, single track descent like a man posessed and like a man who is way too exited with his new bouncy bike that he is a little out of control. I'd struggled like buggery the night before to squeeze a new tubeless tire onto the front end of my bike (a tire which many folk had assured me was mega reliable when it came to not getting punctures by the way) and lo and behold, as I go careening around a steep corner, said tire blows up sending my bike off stage left into the trees and jettisoning me on a right hand trajectory nose first into the ground. BUGGER!
I hobbled over the finish line, running the last part of the course, and finished a respectable 6th. I had stopped for a good 15/20 minutes mid race after my rear wheel had quick released itself and fell right out of my frame, bending the disc brake rotor in the process, forcing me to ride a lap (a good 40mins) with my brake on, before submitting my bike to the mechanic at the start/finish line to fix the rotor - be just banged the living daylights out of it with a small hammer and pair of pliers for 15mins - only to eventually tell me he couldn't fix it proper and I would need to buy a new one! Couple this fiasco with severe cramping sessions in hours 4 and 5, another couple of small mechanicals, and all in all, I wasn't too displeased with the first showing of the season!

Brina was chief food a drink organizer, having bars, bottles and bananas ready at every lap -which was a treat, and luckily the sun was shining in BC where the race was held and teh atmosphere was awesome - loads of folk milling around, music blaring, usual stalls etc... The piccies I put on here I can't remove now as I'm still using this new photo importing system which continues to perplex my meagre computer skills. I think the piccie above suggests I'm trying to stare out the opposition on the other side of the field, and below my race anxiety is confounded by the sight of the rider in the silly red bell like hat.

Everything else goes along as usual. Brina keeps up the Pow Wows in Morely, I'm nearly at the end of those dratted University courses that I swore I would never take, there is little time for anything but eating, sleeping and riding. We're off to another race in Edmonton this Sunday - so long as I get the final pieces of my coursework together.
Anyhow, I couldn't resist more self pitying with the last piccie - mainly because the scab on my elbow has become infected and is constantly seeping yellow puss which I keep getting all over my desk at work (much to the disgust of the kids in the classroom as much of the puss has made its way onto their books as I've been marking them!).
Hope you're all not black and blue,
Keep inflated,
S&S

Zoooooom

The title of this post has nothing to do with my speed at this weekend's 6hr endurance mtb race in Salmon Arm BC, more to do with the speed at which the past two weeks have zoomed by. I couldn't let the blog go two weeks without a post, and so quickly logged on to rid of speculation that I had indeed fallen off the edge of the earth - although the rife rumours that I had indeed fallen off my mtb with great aplomb can only be confirmed! The past weeks have been nothing but University (if that's what Phoenix really is) work, riding and sleeping. So a welcome relief came with the first race of the season in sunny, Spring like BC. Great ride, got knackered, broke bits off my bike, lost a fair bit of skin to the dirt, punctured and now it's time for bed, so photos and all the gory details will come midweek (I've just stepped off the bike, have some work to do, shirt to iron, shake to drink, bed to fall into at some stage).
Hope you're all hanging onto the bars better than me,
S&S.

Max Headroom falls asleep on stage

Hi! All, here's a little ditty in continuation from the previous post - where I harped on about being at the summit at Lake Louise and having to give a bit of patter on stage to the audience and scary t.v. cameras. Well.... Mike at work happened to send me this shot he took of my already enormous noggin, looking even more overwhelmingly block like than usual, as it is beamed across the globe, cast upon the big t.v. screens just incase the people at the back of the audotorium couldn't see my balding hairline! You'll notice that the piccie also captures me me glancing downwards (at my notes - wasn't brave enough to do this completely on the fly!), and with my sunken, skull like eye cavities, it would appear that I am asleep - I assure you I was not dozing off up there! (Apparently Brina couldn't look at the screen when I was talking - she claims it was because she was nervous for me - although I suspect she's seen enough close ups of my ugly mug to last her a lifetime already!).

Anyhow, the crux of this brief post is that I reminded Mike very much of a superstar of the 80's- with my monotonic drone and repetitive head twitch I am by all accounts the spitting image of the one and only Max Headroom!!! (if you don't remember him, you're not missing much!).

Well, clearly the resemblence is striking, although you probably had to be there!
Next post I hope to have some outdoor fun (although it looks like the first mtb race of the season might be cancelled for a second time this coming weekend too - winter really isn't letting go, it's minus 7 right now, and that certainly isn't lycra weather!).
Hope you're all finding the animated character in yourselves,
Now where did I put my Atari?
S&S.

World Summit, Snow and Cancelled Races

Hi! All. Having spent Sunday to Wednesday up at Lake Louise, the working week hasn't been all too bad this week. School was hosting the 'World Summit on Learning Disabilities' a rather pompous sounding grandeoise title for a conference, but it was actually very good. Lots of very clever people came from all around the globe. They even had a prof from Sheffield University's psychology department - so it must have been good in order to entice the Yorkshire folk over. The result of the conference is that a governmental paper is being written up to convince the politicians that learning disabilities are the real deal (although I think that they'll put it to them a little more elegantly than that!).
Things all became a bit pressurized though when I had to get up on stage and give a bit of a speel to a chuffin' big audience with two bloody huge t.v screens casting my ugly mug across the audotorium. (The piccies wont go any bigger, but you can make up a miniscule speaker in the middle of the stage - which incidently isn't me, but you get the picture!!! literally).

And

there were even more sweaty palms when the three big t.v cameras were staring you in the face (as this thing is being part of some t.v documentary and is being broadcast across the English speaking world....) I think the one of the editors (below) dumbed down my northern tones to make me sound less abrasive and more understandable for the dvd version (I introduced myself as Simon Williams from Foothills Academy - and one lady later on came up to me who had heard me speak to ask me what I did for Foothills Energy - an electricity company by all accounts - so there you have it, Academy sounds like Energy when I say it! - God help those kids with learning disabilities who I speak to on a daily basis - there's no hope!!!).

It was a bitter pill to swallow to be up at Lake Louise and be confined to the chateau for most of the time and not being allowed out to play.

Although I did get to ride out to Lake Louise on the Sunday - and got nowhere near to getting to Lake Louise - a 10.30am start plus one of the years strongest westerly winds hindered my progress, and if I wanted to get to the conference before it ended on the Wednesday I had to concede defeat to mother nature and piss poor planning and jump into the car when Brina passed me on the Trans Canada! I did get out for a few hill reps up and down the Lake Louise hill to the village on the Monday night - but the snow made for a killer wind chill on each decent!!!
The weather was shaping up nicely last weekend for a good first race of the season this Sunday, However...... It has been snowing like buggery today (10cm fell in Calgaray today), another 10cm are due to fall on Saturday, continue into Sunday and Monday and Tuesday... With a high on Sunday of minus 8 with 35mph winds.... Needless to say, the race in Lethbridge is cancelled and will hopefully run next weekend instead - if not, then we're into May and thwarted once more by this weather that I can't fail to be dumbstruck by!
I lost a couple of piccies on this post, so am still struggling to get things running smoothly on the blog - but it's slowly coming back together. Also, the course I whined and bitched about finishes this weekend!!! Yahoo!!! And then I start another on Tuesday (not so much Yahoo!).
Hoping that all of your palms aren't clammy,
Looking forward to blizzards into July,
S&S.

One day I'll work this computer interweb stuff out.

Well I'm still having glitches with this new system and with the last post that went on about a trip to Lake Louise, I thought I'd pop in a summery piccie to warm the cycling soul. Here's a bit o' Crested Butte - single track is just around the corner (well, next month when all the snow's gone anyway!).

Working at Lake Louise

Well summer arrived today. After having about 5 inches of snow fall on Thursday morning, it looked pretty ominous for anything but indoor sulking, however, Alberta's fine weather pulled it out of the hat and boosted the temperatures up to 20 degrees today, kept the wind down (making for lovely biking), and more of the same for tomorrow! I'm riding to Lake Louise in the morning, feeling the need for a big ride. Having taken Friday off to go out for a bite to eat in Cochrane at the Blue Dog with Brad and Julie, I'm needing a few miles in the legs. We're actually having a work conference at the Chateau (the world summit for learning disabilities) and are there until Wednesday, so it should be an interesting working week. Brina's coming as a guest (paid for courtesy of school) and it looks like she's just going there for a holiday (and to drive the car to scrape me off the road when I collapse just the other side of Banff for not having anticipated arduous nature of my intended bike ride).
I'm still struggling to find my feet with this new blogger picture posting thing, so we're image free again!
My brain is on the verge of melting down with all this work I have to do for the on-line Uni course and the panic of VP ship next year (morning breakfast meetings are a minor plus to the job, but I've got a lot to learn!!!!!). Anyhow, that's work, and my mind is much more on two wheels and sunshine.
Hope you're all dusting off the lycra,
Happy spinning,
S&S.

Third time of asking...

What a shambles these last three posts have been in the last ten minutes. It would seem my new system can't cope with more than four piccies.... so this actually carries on from the previous post - but you'll be seeing it first. It's not rocket science to work out, but it's a pain in the asp.
... Seeing as though it was Disney, this old lion didn't seem to think he had to look ferocious at all when we drove by. No growl, snarl or toothy grin. He didn't even see a need to get up from his very feline sunbathing pose to have a look what was going on. Cats eh!?

The pool at the house Brina's parents had was a very welcome relief for serious afternoon relaxing. Brina couldn't even be bother to float on her own accord and stole all the tubey things.

And I'll leave you with a pasty, very skinny man with one ball - I've heard that before somewhere!

Hoping Florida's weather is seeking you out somewhere,
Pedaling myself away to nothing
S&S.

Oops, still learning the new photo thing

Yikes, the previous post took me by surprise. I was getting a little to confident with my new found interweb skills and picture posting abilities. Looks like I buggered up the last post and could only put one picture on there. I think I've got things sussed out now though (ruddy technology).
In continum from the mountaineering adventures in Disneyland's Animal Kingdom that had us on a train heading up Everest, it looks like the Yeti has broken up the tracks!! Oh No!!!

Hurtling backwards, forwards and upsidedownwards, I completely lost all sense of direction and bladder control, but managed to snap a giddy shot of the manic Mrs. W all excited that the Yeti was chasing us.

The Expedition Everest is the new ride at this park, and it may all sound a bit hokey. but Disney send experts out to Nepal to research all the environments and habitats around that part of the Himalayas, so as to get it as authentic as possible. I worked with somebody whose husband was an entomologist (bugs people) who was sent to Nepal for 4 weeks just to study bugs, so that they could have the right species sitting along the queue (line) for that real Everest feel!!!! (and I'm not taking the piss!).
Anyhow, after a stint trying to keep my breakfast down, we took a sedate safari in a jeep through Disney's African Adventure. A 15 minute drive through a safari park (just like Knowsely in the land of the Scouse). Again they have all the real vegetation and critters - like this upsidedown tree (can't remember its real name - jobjob?).

The hippos weren't too concerned with our presence on the zebra skin jeep...

And I was hoping that there were more piccies here, but my new system has failed me again..... hang on a minute.....

Phototastic

Hi! All,
the last couple of posts have had scant evidence of photography due to computer malfunction, website meltdown and operator impatience. Well I've just been procrastinating (not like me!) from completing an online assignment I have due, and have downloaded a funky new photo organizer that should let me put up some piccies and bypass the frustrations of blogger. I do recall that I'd prattled on about seeing mountains in the flat, sweltering swamp that is Florida, and so here it is... Everest - and an authentic Everest express train to take us to the summit!!!

Where's it all going to end?

Hi all, I'm writing from a snow covered Cochrane in a somewhat climatologically frustrated mood. I had been anticipating an early morning ride today (Saturday), but on looking out of the window at 6.30am, the few cms of snow on the ground were enough to send me back to bed and have a couple more nightmares about sitting on the windtrainer again for the weekend. However, a bit of early morning sun melted all the snow off the road, so I have just put my new tires onto the road bike, it's 3pm now, the roads looked good. I got all kitted up and excitied for a stint out to Horse Creek Rd, and opened the door to.... more bloody snow!!!! It's April for goodness sake, there are fellers in Vancouver who've been out riding on the road all winter, guys in Manchester who don't comprehend the idea of not being able to ride out over the winter months due to inclement weather (although they do brave some really crappy rain) - so as I'm getting excited about road riding again (very belatedly by the standards of 'normal' places), it's a real pain the the proverbial to be clambering back onto the wind trainer this afternoon, thinking that my first race is only two weeks away and I could do with some more fresh air down my lungs.
Brina is downtown Cochrane today selling outdoor gear in the local shop - she's working Saturdays there from today, in case she doesn't get many days sub teaching over in Morely (although she has had full weeks for the past few weeks) - hopefully her work at the outdoor shop in Cochrane means a few pro deals on cheap gear.
I'm getting to grips with the notion of the promotion at work - and rather enjoy the Friday morning meetings with admin which are held over breakfast at a local diner place.
School is shut for three days next week and is sending us all to Chateau Lake Louise for a conference on learning disabilities - although it's work, it's going to be nice to hang out in the chateau for a few days away from the kids. (I'm currently planning on riding out there, but with this current weather we'll have to wait and see). Brina's been invited too, and school are paying for her to come along, despite her not working there anymore - nice!
To add to my frustrations here I still can't post pictures!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!
Right then, I'm off to the brink of instanity as I go and sit on the trainer,
If any of you know how to fix the picture posting problem, do let me know,
Avoiding the blizzard,
S&S.

Disney Revisited and Gaudy Colours

Yes, that's colours with a 'U' American people, sheesh.. it is English you folks do talk now innit? Well, here we are again, thinking I might try to put some piccies up on this post as yesterday's posting fell foul of some technological glitch and wouldn't enable me to share any merry images of Mickey Mouse (not that I have any). In the processes of dicking around with the blog I altered all the colours, inadvertently saved it so, and thus the hideous colour scheme that you see is nothing but a horrendous accident due to my well documented computational ineptitude.

15 minutes later.........

Bugger, the blog malfunction continues and I still can't put any pictures of sunnier climes up on the posts yet. I'll keep trying throughout the week.
In the meantime, just imagine me sat on Mickey's lap, eating an ice-cream wearing nothing but white tennis socks, sandles and a Hawaiian shirt - it's not quite the picture I was going to post but it's something to give you nightmares until then.
Anyhow, I hope that all of your technologies are more cooperative than mine at present,
death to the internet (and the Welsh),
S&S.

All a bit Mickey Mouse

Hi All,
Well after a two week hiatus, we're back! Having yet to absorb the enormity of the new employment opportunity facing me in September, I shall renege on discussing anything about work (apart from the fact that it's very much over rated). The other side of life has been much more fun, with a stint down south, out of the cold climes of Cochrane, to the balmy humidity of Florida! As much as I enjoy the snow and winter activities of the north, you just can't beat a week of searing heat and sunshine to put a spring back in your step mid-March.

The outlaws hired a rather fine, five bedroom house with a pool and all the trimmings for a month near Kissimmee. Brina headed down on her birthday and had time to visit with the whole family who were all there. I jetted off on the Fridayand was picked up by Brina and Marcel in 26 degrees at 11pm in Fort Lauderdale - the sweats started immediately and I began to wonder how the hell we'd ever lived down there in such heat (ah yes.. air con'). A five minute hello to Brina's brother and Lisa as they left for the airport as I arrived, two days with Jeannine, Rob and the kidlings, then hanging out with the folks and a trip to Disney! Note to self, theme parks at Spring Break = Very busy; Very busy in hot weather = frustration and annoyance; Frustration and annoyance = get the hell out of there and go chill by the pool. However, although we were in Florida, we did mangage to get out to the mountains........ - I was intending to put a piccie in here, but the blogger is buggered right now and I can't get pictures on this thing.

The whole Disney concept is great fun and a super enterntaining way to while away a few hours, but when you're trying to constantly squeeze past morbidly obese, coke guzzling, burger scoffing, not seen my toes for 20 years kind of people, who have to hire reinforced motor scooters to drag their enormous lunar backsides around the park as their fat rolled legs are unable to take the strain; then the Disney experience becomes a bit of a drag - don't go during the holidays! We just spent an afternoon there, and the final 70 minute wait for a safari ride was the final straw that broke the line hater's back. The safari was very entertaining, riding a jeep for 10 minutes through "Africa", spotting all the wild animals they have - rather nifty shot of a lazy lion (real one, not a man dressed up like Simba) to put here, but still can't get the picture thing working.

Having struggled to get photos on this blog, I'm off and shall share the photograhical delights later on. I was up early this morning after five hours sleep to head out on the bike. Got ready, and lo and behold, it started to snow! The Florida temps lowered my defences to weather and I thought I may be able to get a good ride out to the hills today - so I'm on to plan B now which is another pot of coffee followed by 3 hours on the trainer (grim, but needed!).
Check back later to see if I've got the piccies up,
Hakuna Matata,
Mickey and Minnie.

Doing a Dumbledore

Well waddya know?! the antics of work have finally got the better of me.

Having been harping on for the past few blog postings (past 101 or so) that work is a blighter, struggling to get certified, blah blah blah.... and that I wasn't going to do more courses (and was thinking of buying a cafe to run), then lo and behold the powers that be at work go and throw a right old spanner in the works and offer me the position of 'assistant coordinator' (kind of vice principal idea if you get the picture). So bloody hell, the new immigrant at work has stepped into the boss's shoes and I'll have my own office in September (Cryin' out loud - where the hell's it all going to end!?!). I imagine I've ruffled a few feathers of the established senior staff members at work - but where's the fun at work if you're not causing a bit of a ruckus? Rather looking forward to tomorrow when they're announcing who the new assistant coordinator is in some early morning meeting (I'll try not to look too smug - whilst avoiding the flailing fists coming my way with congratulatory comments such as; "frickin limey tosser, how on God's earth did you get the job?". "Dunno".

Had a good catch up with Tatey today too, and had some Sheffield pangs of Peak District yearning - got out on the bike here and rode the gravel roads to Sibbald flats - but a couple of cms of snow last night made for a slippery ride.

Brina's the big 30 on Wednesday - and flys out to Orlando. I fly on Friday - via Toronto and Fort Lauderdale (it'd be quicker for me to fly to Queenstown!).

Anyhow, I've been working on this computer most of the day doing those ruddy courses I swore I wouldn't entertain, so I'm off for bangers and mash for tea (a taste of home).

Hope your worlds are less surreal than mine at present,

Staying on the ladder,

Severus Snape.

Blog 101

Hi all...
the last post was a fitting way to commemorate the 100th post; not writing a bloody thing! Pictures certainly speak louder than words when it comes to the new bike which arrived last Friday. I couldn't quite get over the excitement of the shiny new carbon full suspension beauty (although I could quickly get over the "being shafted by customs" scenario which caused me to fork out a shit load of cash just to get said bike released from a cage in the airport). I didn't get charged any duty on the last bike I imported - my theory being because I was only here on a work Visa - however, now I'm an official resident and all that, then they take the liberty to take as much coin from you as possible (there were some benefits of being a misfit alien after all!).
The shiny bike soon became not so shiny as I've been riding things I wouldn't really have considered before on trails around Cochrane - and getting in complete shit order in the process - and absolutely loving it!!!!!!!!!!! Enormous smiles all round!!!
We're off to sunny Florida in a week or so.. Brina flys out on her 30th (old git) and I follow 2 days later - waiting to pat Shamoo on the bonce and shake Mickey's big gloves. Brina is still subbing over in Morley - and had to teach a class 'Stoney' the other day - that being the Indian language - "Brina speak with forked tongue".
The bizzaro that is work has had me in for two interviews for the assistant coordinator's job (kind of vice principle Esq) - what the chuff I know about running schools and Canadian schools at that defeats me.... but I gave it a whirl never the less - don't know who has the job yet, but if it's me, then I worry about the criteria they've used to select candidates.
I'm up and running on that God forsaken course at Uni which I swore blind I wouldn't do to upgrade my teaching certificate - and after mucho complaino - it aint that bado after all!!!! I reluctantly admit that I'm rather enjoying writing the papers and the like!!!!
The clocks have gone forward, so after Monday's struggle to get up an hour earlier for work, it's super to have sunshine until 7.30pm.
We may well head off to Canmore for a hike on the Benchlands this weekend - just to clear out the lungs and have a stint in the hills.
Everything else appears to be on an even keel. Lets hope it stays that way for a while, I'm too obsessed with the new bike to be concerning about much else!
May all your rides be bouncy and fast,
Windswept, adrenaline fuelled grins,
S&S.

Need I Say More?

Nearly Bedtime

So here're the blurry handlebars out on the open, car shy road on my birthday morning ride. I headed out to Elbow Falls again last Saturday, desperate to get another 100+km under the belt early in the winter season (may not be a big deal for riders in Sheffield to be out in February, but it certainly is in these bloody big mountains). I was very eager to avoid the blizzards of the week before and alas, the weather remained fine and I was an hour swifter than the previous week (or I like to think that turning 32 just made me faster!!!!!). Maybe it was also something to do with the fact that I actually took more food than just a Cliff Bar and gel this week too for the 4+hr stint (a jersey pocket stuffed to the brim with peanut butter and jam sarnies and fig newtons! - damn things froze up a bit though and made for crunchy chewing).
Yum Yum

The most bizarre twists and turns are taking place at work, but I just can't be arsed to drone on about them at 9.30pm on a Thursday - I've just staggered off an hour and a half on the wind trainer and need sleep - so maybe next time I'll begin with the strange tales from Foothills Academy.....

Brina's supply teaching at Morley still, and things are good there (as good as a class full of crazy reservation kids can be anyway). All else remains very much one course to be perpetually mundane - although my spirits are lifting with the sunrises creeping into the drive to work now; it makes you feel almost human again when you can actually see a bit of light in the sky and when temps aren't Brass Monkey freezing.

The weekend involves many chores, but I'm afraid that's all I can muster at this witching hour. A smoothie and bed await (not at the same time).

Dreaming of all things carbon,

Nighty Night,

S&S.

Ostrich Williams

Hi All,
So here's to a blog sans negative nonsense like last week's pitiful number. In true Williams style I vow to bury my head in the sand; a la ostrich, and hope that all the difficult stuff in life just disappears when I pop back up again (this method of living has gotten me through to almost 32 years of age - so why change the habit of a lifetime?). It's not quite that easy as I am having to enroll in some course (which, if you recall, I cursed adamantly was not an option last week) to maintain my teachability status (don't want to lose the holidays and the cash) - although as of yet there is no confirmation that the courses I'm looking at will be finished in time - so my professional employment really does hang in the balance (time to get my head back into the sand).

Anyhow, here's a piccie of Mrs. W. musing over the view when we had a bonny hike up Elbow Falls Rd at the weekend. Rather nice of somebody to think of putting a bench there for us to take lunch on. We got out into the hills on a lovely day - the temps were above zero, the sky was that wonderful Alberta blue and it was a spot on way to relax and realise things aren't so bad! It was nice to get out into the sun too!
I'd ridden out to the same area on Saturday (excited that biking outdoors is more of an option) but got caught in a ridiculous blizzard on the way home. The forecast had been for snow on the day I rode out, but heading into the hills there was no sign at all (the bad weather sneaked up behind me from the East). Brina had asked if I would need to be picked up if it started to snow, to which my cocky response was something along the lines of; "you wont be able to come rescue me if the weather goes tits up in the TransRockies will you!?! so no". That'll teach me - in the head on blizzard and 70kph+ winds I endured for the last 2 and a half hours of the 5 and a half hour ride, I was desperately hoping the misses would be coming to save me - alas not - a good character building ride that's for sure!As for the snowboarding/ski-ing front, resorts remain the only option. Discussing the avi conditions with Mr.Weible over a pint in the week we reached the conclusion of "what's the point? There's always next year" - after two more people died this weekend, one was a chick ski-ing near Boom Lake where Brina and I x-country skied into last year, and which is a truly amazing place, but it'll still be there next year when hopefully the snow pack will be somewhat more stable. The big problem is that every slide tends to bring the entire winter snow pack with it - right down to the rocks - so each avi is at least over a metre deep (plenty of natural slides in K country this weekend, so you don't even need some dickhead snowboarder to trigger them!). Maybe things will consolidate and stabilise as Spring arrives - but highly unlikely.

Just a note - remember to take your phallic boomerang banana storage guard with you on any hike - it's a must, and a fine comedy talking point (bye, bye to banged up banana's in the backpack - genius... another Dragon's Den production).

May all of your thoughts be ignoring the bad crap that's going on,

Keeping it bright and Cheery,

It could be worse after all,

S&S.