Trail work, alpine running, and the Chief

Sometimes injuries are a good thing. For instance, in the last 3 days I have been out and done things that I know for sure I would not  have taken the time to do if I were still able to ride a bike.
On Thursday, Gareth was asked if he wanted a free ride in a helicopter in exchange for doing some trail maintenance work....obviously he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity, especially as it involved using pickaxes etc. I decided to walk up the mountain the trail team were getting dropped off on and meet them as they were coming down. It was a ridiculously hot day but the majority of the walk was in dense forest so out of the full force of the sun. I really enjoyed the (steep and long) walk up, moving at a swift pace which was hard work after 3 hours of relentless climbing, but the feeling of being completely alone on a big mountain was great. I did get a bit scared at one point as I remembered that Rainbow Mountain supports a large population of Cougars, and the general advice is not to go hiking alone in areas of known Cougar activity...so I started singing....any big cats that were stalking me would definitely have been scared away at that point! I eventually met up with Gareth and the other Ticket2Ride trail team and turned around to start the equally long walk down...a long but satisfying day!

Friday brought another hot sunny day, so whilst Gareth headed into the bike park with a group of friends, I decided to explore some of the alpine trails with a run. It was only 12km so shouldn't have taken long, however I hadn't realised quite how stunning the views would be! I pretty much stopped every 10 minutes as I came across the next photo opportunity (It was a good excuse to catch my breath too as running uphill at 2000m is definitely harder work than a quick jog in the Rivelin Valley!)
Due to the huge amount of snow this Winter, the alpine trails are only just becoming accessible, and the alpine meadows are like multicoloured carpets of the most amazing flowers, photos really can't do it justice. I finished the run on a huge high, I like running in the mountains :o)
Alpine run pics

Saturday was truck picking-up day...yippee! It all seems to be running well and we are pretty pleased with our purchase :) Instead of wasting the day I persuaded Gareth we should walk up The Chief in Squamish on the way back to Whistler (amazingly he agreed....I think he was looking at it as training for long walks to get to climbs in Yosemite!)
It was AWESOME! The chief is one of the biggest granite monoliths in North America, and it overlooks the beautiful Howe Sound. Again the weather was unbelievably hot and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The top of the chief consists of 3 peaks, and most people only go to the first one. We left this until last and almost had the place to ourselves. Each peak is a huge expanse of rolling granite slab, and the way up to some of them is pretty interesting, involving ladders, chains and generally a lot of scrambling that is quite difficult with only one working hand! Needless to say we took a lot of pictures, so they can be seen (hopefully) on this web album for those that want to.
The Chief

That's all for now, a relaxing day of sunbathing by the lake lies ahead....see ya!

Pesky thumb part 2......and New Wheels!

Another busy week has gone by and despite my frustrations over getting injured last week I haven't yet had time to be bored!
I ended up having surgery in Vancouver on Friday, so Gareth and I headed down to the city with Moritz, Johnathon and Johannes (3 really friendly German guys staying in the Lodge) who kindly gave us a lift. After departing with a vast quantity of money via credit card (so glad for that insurance!) I was left starving for a good few hours in the hospital (nil by mouth since midnight) while I waited for a surgery slot, and Gareth and the others headed into the city for a day of being tourists. Eventually, after reading most of a (terrible) book, the anaesthetist came to discuss my drug options for the op and my stomach groaned a sigh of relief that pretty soon it would be fed!
Obviously I wanted to be as awake as possible for the procedure and see what was going on, I mean how often do you get to see yourself being operated on! So after having a huge syringe of local anaesthetic injected into my wrist, a tight rubber band thingy wrapped around my hand and arm to squeeze the blood down towards the armpit, and then a ridiculously tight touniquet around the upper arm, we we're all set.....
I think the anaesthetist gave me a mild sedative, but to be honest I was so excited I felt wide awake the whole time. The surgery was VERY cool! It's a weird sensation to be looking at somebody drilling a steel pin into your hand whilst not feeling anyhting other than that you've got a dead arm (like when you fall asleep on your arm and wake up with it being heavy and useless momentarily). After the pin was placed, the surgeon kept putting my hand under the 3D high definition xray machine to view it from all angles and check it was in the right place....so cool! It was over before I knew it and I was bandaged up and being wheeled into the recovery room within 30 mins. I don't have a lot of experience of hospital recovery rooms, but Vancouver General Hospital has to have one of the most amazing views in the world to wake up to post-surgery! It's pretty high up, and looks out over the downtown area of big glass skyscrapers, past the leafy, green oasis of Stanley Park, and across to the North Shore mountains.....simply stunning.
I only had an hour or so post-op to try and get my heart rate as low as possible on the obs monitor (a personal challenge that I saw James Bond do in a film once and have been trying to imitate every time I get the opportunity since....my PB is 41....I'm sure if I practice some Yoga breathing techniques hard enough I could get it lower!) and then I was allowed to go.
I was expecting to get some pretty horrible pain from the pins in my thumb, but thankfully nothing yet (and its now a week since the op!) just a mild ache.
We stopped off at Cypress mountain on the North Shore on the way back to Whistler, for a wicked view of the sun going down over the city, and then all promptly passed out from tiredness as soon as we'd got back and stuffed ourselves with pizza....it's amazing how tiring a day of lying around in hospital makes you feel!

Since then, Gareth's been out on his bike, and I've been enjoying exploring the local trails on foot. I've decided the cross-country trails make awesome running routes, as they climb via switchbacks so are never too steep, yet have lots of technical interest with rocks and roots,wooden bridges and berms. I've been out most days for at least an hour's run, as well as making the most of my lift pass and heading up to do some hiking on Whistler peak. The mountain had it's second biggest snowfall on record this year, so there is still much more snow than normal up high, and some amazing snow banks where bulldozers have had to clear the road but left 40 foot high cuttings through the snow!

Most exciting of all this week has been the purchase of a vehicle! We decided to rent a car to drive down to Vancouver for a couple of days and check out some of the second hand dealers there, as in Whistler there is not a great deal of choice, and people seem to spend hugely inflated prices for what is essentially a big rust-bucket.
It was well worth it, and after a day spent working out what was and wasn't a good deal we came across our ideal vehicle.....a Dodge Durango, 4.8L V8 engine, black with tinted windows, leather seats and full electrics and air-con (including heated seats...mmmmmm!), only 90,000 miles and in immaculate condition. It can be a gamble buying a second hand car in Canada as there is no MOT, but a lot of the dealers use a safety inspection which is similar, and we managed to secure a 12 month warranty, tax and documentation, all within our budget...whoop! We're picking it up on Saturday as obviously I can't drive currently, and we needed Gareth to return the hire car to Whistler. Should give us a whole load more biking/hiking/climbing options around BC, and of course for our American road-trip at the end of September. Roll on Saturday!

Pesky thumbs and FOMO

Why is it that when everything is perfect something has to go wrong?!

Since our last blog we had been out every day; the weather was still fantastic, our skills and confidence were improving, we'd been exploring new areas and trails, and even done some races. Every thursday evening there is a cross-country "Toonie" race held on local bits of trail, with food and drink provided at the end, all for $2 (Canadians call a $2 coin a toonie). The races are attended by about 200 people and are hard work but brilliant fun! We did our first one last week and were keen for more!

We decided that after Monday we would take Tuesday as a rest day and go swimming in the lake and just generally chill out a bit. As had become the norm, I headed to women's night on Monday evening and our group and guide set off with the objective of pushing ourselves on some more difficult sections of trail with bigger drops, jumps and features, that we hadn't been confident enough to ride on our own. The evening was going great and was one of those days where everything feels brilliant. I was jumping and landing perfectly on some pretty big jumps, I'd just ridden a really steep rock roll that I'd previously thought looked impossible, and even jumped on and off a shipping container........And then I slid off my bike on an easy bit of the trail.
It was fairly unspectacular as I somehow just locked my back wheel up and it slowly slid underneath me. When I slid to a halt, I picked myself and my bike up and examined the slightly scuffed elbow pad I was wearing, thinking "oh well, glad they've finally been put to use!". And then I looked at my left hand (I'd fallen to the right) and something wasn't right......my thumb was definitely not where it was supposed to be! It must have somehow been pushed back against my handlebar. It was slightly bizarre to be looking at it and realising it was most definitely dislocated, but feeling absolutely no pain....in fact the rest of the group seemed to be feeling worse from looking at it than I did. (In a slightly strange physiotherapist kind of way it was actually pretty cool and anatomically interesting, but I didn't admit that to anyone at the time for fear of seeming like a weirdo!!) So after taking my glove off, I pulled the joint up and across to relocate it (still no pain.....no idea why not?!Lots of crunching though!) and then it popped straight out again...pretty gross. The guide who was with us looked a bit unsure what to do, so I suggested someone get the first aid kit out of my bag and help me strap it up so i could ride down (we were near the top of the mountain).
With it tightly bandaged I rolled down the hill slowly on the easiest bit of track possible, and thankfully bumped into Gareth at the bottom, and a first aid patroller. It was decided best to get straight to the hospital to get it looked at. My pleas to wait an hour to see whether I had won anything in the prize draw were ignored :o( so I'll never know whether I won some more nice expensive bits of kit.
Aside from the fact that it costs you $550 as soon as you walk through the door, Canadian hospitals are brilliant. In the space of 45 minutes I had filled in lots of forms, been assessed ($150), x-rayed 3 times ($100 each), splinted, given the verdict, and sent home! At least we are getting the most out of the insurance.
The verdict was a dislocated Left thumb, with a slight avulsion fracture (bit of bone fragment pulled off) of the trapezium......apparently quite a rare injury.......just my luck :o(

As Whistler only has an A&E dept, the next day involved a 5 am start and a trip to Vancouver on the bus to the hospital there (again we were in and out with no queueing....amazing!). The pesky thumb needs a wire in it for a few weeks to get it healing quicker (especially as its a fairly important part of my body in terms of work, and a thumb that keeps dislocating while working on a patient is probably not that great!) so it'll be back again in a few days time to get that put in. The rest of the day was spent exploring Vancouver and being proper tourists! We strolled around Chinatown and ate some weird but tasty steamed pork buns (knew it was a good place to eat as it was full of Chinese people....the best reccomendation for eating foreign food anywhere!) and headed through Stanley Park to the Aquarium (fantastic! Pictures to follow when uploaded).

So since then I've resigned myself to the fact I'll be off the bike for a while. The first day or two I was struck with several attacks of FOMO syndrome (fear of missing out) after thinking of all the trails I still want to ride that will have to now wait, and all the fun that Gareth will still be having without me :o(
But then I realised that actually there is quite a lot of stuff to do around Whistler that doesn't involve riding a bike, and of all the places to be injured, it's got to be one of the best in the world!
There are hundreds of amazing hiking/running trails up in the high alpine meadows and on the mountain, and I will probably be able to see even more bears and wildlife than when whizzing past on a bike.

Friendly neighbourhood bear!

It sucks to be injured and especially as it was just an unlucky fall, but when you see all the people in Whistler who have a lot worse injuries then actually a dislocated thumb isn't that bad and won't take that long to heal, and doesn't stop me doing lots of other fun outdoor mountain activities.......in fact, the sun is shining right now, better dig out those running shoes and get out! See ya!

Who said girls can't jump?!

Can't believe we've been here almost a week already, although I guess time flies when you're having fun!
After writing off our first full day as Gareth was recovering from the lurgy picked up on the plane, and we had to return the rental car to Vancouver, we were both raring to go on Friday morning. All of the bikes had survived the plane journey without damage (phew!) and after assembling them we headed out on some local trails in the Lost Lake area of Whistler to stretch the legs and find our bearings. The trails around Lost Lake are a lot of fun; mildly technical with a few rooty sections, some rock slab rolls, and a couple of raised wooden platforms, but nothing scary.

So we were whizzing around enjoying being out in the sun, when my bike started to make some loud clunking noises.....Gareth quickly diagnosed a problem with the free-hub and we had to head back to the lodge :( Oh well, at least it's not like we're limited on time to enjoy those runs again!
Thankfully the problem was fixed (ish) with a couple of spare parts, a file, and Gareth swearing a bit.

That afternoon was spent cruising down some nice easy runs in the bike park. The park is basically one bit of Whistler's ski area. You get the chair lift up (every other chair has been replaced with a bike rack so you put your bike on, and then get on the chair behind) and then get to choose from loads of different routes back down. These are graded green (easy), blue (intermediate), black (difficult), and double black (expert). They are all different with some being technical, twisty, rocky, and rooty, or some smooth, fast trails with jumps and berms to whoop and holler over! Each run has it's own name and some of these are famous in the biking world. My personal favourite names are "Samurai Pizza Cat", "Karate Monkey" and "Ninja Cougar", although the best run in the park has to be "Crank it Up" which I think I could just ride all day with a huge smile on my face as i fly over the jumps!
The other great thing about the park is the bears......it's rare to go a day without seeing one from the lift or even walking across the trail! I think that at the end of the year I will still get excited when I see a bear....even if it's the hundredth one I've seen! One even walked right past me in the garden of the lodge 2 days ago as I was reading on the deck! They are black bears (much friendlier than grizzlys!) and pretty much act like a cross between cows and sheep....constantly eating grass/plants, and slowly ambling from one berry bush to the next.

So the last few days have found us getting out on the cross-country trails in the morning, heading back for a bit of lunch and a rest, and then out in the bike park in the afternoon/evening (it's a hard life!).

Last night I went to Women's night in the bike park after hearing about it from one of the girls in the lodge. Basically every Monday and Wednesday the bike park hold this evening to encourage women riders to improve their skills in a group of similar ability, meet people, find riding buddies, and have a lot of fun. For not much more than £10 you get 2 hours coaching in a group of about 4, a beer in the bar afterwards, and entry to a raffle for loads of expensive prizes donated by bike sponsors. It was brilliant and I don't think I've ever learnt so much and improved so quickly in such a short space of time! Our group decided to work on jumping, something which we'd all done a bit before but felt a bit scared doing and were holding ourselves back for fear of going too fast/high and then hurting ourselves on landing. Breaking down the technique bit-by-bit and practising different elements, we all quickly progressed, and by the end of the session were all getting some rad air! It had been a long, hot day yesterday so the cold beer at the end tasted fantastic, and even better was when my name was drawn out in the raffle and I won a set of tyres! I will definitely be back there next week.
Time to hit the trails again and put my new skills into practice....See ya!

Made it!

Phew....it's been a long couple of days! We managed to finally get everything packed up in Sheffield and headed over to the farm last friday (with a car-sick Luna the cat in tow who reeeeeeallly didn't enjoy the journey in a small box...mind you i'm not sure I would either!).
Saturday was Emily (my cousin) and Gareth's wedding (another Gareth in the family!) down near Milton Keynes and was a beautiful day and great chance to catch up with family, many of whom we hadn't seen since our wedding last May. It was the first day it actually started to feel like we were really going as well, with lots of people asking about our plans, and the stress of getting the house cleaned and packed up finally out of the way.
Sunday and Monday were spent meticulously packing, listing items in boxes ready for customs clearance, weighing, and then unpacking and starting again when we realised we needed to squeeze more stuff in, or the bags/boxes were too heavy! I hate to think what it would be like to move abroad permananetly given how much faffing was involved just in getting stuff together for a year's trip! It would also be a lot easier if we were both into something like knitting rather than mountain biking, climbing and skiing!
Tuesday finally came around and it was a good job we'd asked my mum and dad to loan us a large van and drive us down to Heathrow (thanks Mum and Dad!) ....the amount of stuff we had was ridiculous......300kg in total between us, part to go by freight and part on the plane, including 4 bikes, a huge rack of climbing gear, camping equipment, many ropes, ski boots etc etc!
After some emotional farewells to Dad, Mum and sisters and luna (I think it was even more upsetting saying goodbye to everyone than when I left to come and live in Canada 10 years ago :( ) we managed to drop the stuff off at the freight terminal, get ourselves to the airport on time, and still have plenty of time to eat free toblerone tasters in the duty free shop, sniff most of the perfumes, and look at shiny gadgets before the flight left :)

The flight was fine, and the views as we flew over the mountains of greenland and icebergs floating in the sea were brilliant. Apart from the grilling we got from immigration control in Vancouver (how do they always make you feel guilty even though you've no need to?), we managed to get all our luggage picked up (always a relief that it has arrived with you!), pick the car up, and find our way to the freight terminal and customs before it closed.

Amazingly all the stuff fitted in the vehicle (although absolutely nothing else would have fit in by the time it was all stuffed in!) and we got on our way on the scenic drive up the sea-to-sky highway to Whistler. The road is really nice to drive, passing some fantastic scenery as it hugs its way along the coast with the mountains on one side and the inlet of howe sound on the other. The weather was awesome too, bright sunshine and clear skies, and hot but not muggy like it had been in london for the 2 days before we left....hope it lasts!

The jet lag started to hit us just after we arrived at our home for the next 2 months in Whistler, and unfortunately Gareth started to feel ill too. He then spent most of the night throwing up after i guess he must have picked up a bug on the plane....(so far I thankfully seem to have escaped!)

Anyway, it's now Thursday eve and Gareth is starting to feel a bit better.....we've managed to get lots of sorting done today and I'm pretty sure that once we've finished putting the bikes back together tomorrow morning he'll be fine to ride all day in the bike park!