Vancouver

Saw this on another blog. Love this city.

Whistler Gran Fondo

We are already more than halfway through January! After being sick for the first week of January, the goal has been to get back on track. Of course then I had a work conference in Whistler which included many late nights and too much alcohol imbibing, but I at least have managed to do something all but one day, even if the workouts that happened were not of the best quality. Better to get something done at least.

So onto the Whistler Gran Fondo. This is a race/ride that is taking place September 11, 2010. It goes from downtown Vancouver to Whistler along the new and improved Sea to Sky Highway, which has been upgraded ahead of the Winter Olympics (which start in a few weeks!).

The organizers have been able to secure a dedicated lane the entire way. This is going to be a beautiful ride. It is 120km (74.5 mi) with over 2400m (7800 ft) of climbing. It is the inaugural ride, and although the event is still 8 months out, it is more than half sold out!

If anyone is looking for a destination ride to do and is in the general area, I think this is going to be a good one. Each time we drive up to Whistler now I am looking at the odometer to measure how long some of the hills are. And they are long. And plentiful.

This is the type of scenery you will see.

Hut Trip

Following New Years we were booked to go the Wendy Thompson hut, which is located off the Duffy Road, north of Whistler and Pemberton. We headed up to Whistler Friday night and Saturday morning we got up, finished our prep, grabbed coffee and drove up the Duffy Road to our parking location.

The skin in took close to 5 hours. And my pack was HEAVY. I had a number of times where I lost my balance because of it and had a hard time getting up. The first part was not easy, especially on the steep sections, but I did eventually get the hang of it after a few there is no way I can do this moments. We did break for lunch during that time as well as a couple other breaks to refuel, and to put bodyglide on my back where the pack was chafing me, but aside from that it was straight cardio for hours.

Once we got to the hut, we relaxed. I wasn't feeling great and basically sat in the corner freezing, reading my book. Eventually I adjusted to the cold a bit, but it was still cold. Fortunately we had bought liners for out sleeping bags and I was actually warm during the night, though not very comfortable. I didn't sleep much Saturday night and still wasn't feeling that great, plus I was worried about the skin/ski out so I decided not to do any extra skinning/skiing and just stayed in the hut with my book while the boys went out. There is something about the complete pure silence of being in the middle of nowhere with no electricity that makes you appreciate how huge the world is.

I had wanted to leave around 1:30pm, worried about the darkness of the night, but we didn't get going until close to 3pm. In my head all I could think was, make it to the road before dark. Not the road where we parked, but an old logging road we had skinned up, that was pretty easy going and which I knew I could handle in the dark. And we did make it. Barely.

Eventually we stopped to put on our headlamps and did the last part in total darkness. There was one shortish steep treed part to get from the logging road down to the actual road. I just stayed close behind Graeme and took it slow. And I made it. I wasn't sure I was going to, but I did.

It was most certainly an adventure. One I am not sure I am ready for again so soon. But we'll see. I am sure feeling better would have helped!



Yes, this is me when we finally got back to the car.