Grease and Glide

2012 Masters National Championships: Great Skiing!

2012-02-03T07:51:00.000-08:00

2012 Masters National Championships: Great Skiing!: Intersection of Raven and Caribou at the Beaver Fen, a critical section on the 15/30km Classic course (Day4 of the event). We have a LO...

2012 Masters National Championships: The snow keeps coming.

2012-01-20T19:39:00.000-08:00

2012 Masters National Championships: The snow keeps coming.: Chief of Competition Troy Hudson out for a training session on Tuesday Snow continues to fall in Golden with albeit rather cold tem...

Woah!

2012-01-20T19:37:00.001-08:00

There is a reason that I am spending no time here when all of my time is focused on the Canadian Masters Championships blog here. Lots of stuff to report but not enough time to post all over the place. Chief of Competition for this four days of racing is all I can muster right now. Take a look!

Dawn Mountain Challenge Ski Festival: It's Official!!!! The DMCSF is set for November 2...

2011-09-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

Dawn Mountain Challenge Ski Festival:
It's Official!!!! The DMCSF is set for November 2...: It's Official!!!! The DMCSF is set for November 26-27th. This is the first stop on the Kootenay Cup tour as well as the first event of ...

200KM!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-05-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let myself know that I rode a 200km road ride for the first time EVER on Monday!! What a great day. What a painful Tuesday. More to come. Bring on the sunny weather.

Committed.

2011-04-30T17:23:00.000-07:00

It official, I am committed toracing cross this fall and will be using it for training for the upcoming ski season. Have 6 races in Alberta and hopefully two in BC on the coast. With a kick ass job in Golden and hopefully a new ride by mid summer I'm feeling stoked to get rolling. With almost 800km on the road bike so far this year and a training plan which commences on the 1st of May things are lookin' good. Now I just need to find some athletes to train with (motivation) and find a team to ride for. Hmmmmm.

Dawn Mountain Challenge Ski Festival: 2011 Event Update

2011-04-05T12:03:00.000-07:00

Dawn Mountain Challenge Ski Festival: 2011 Event Update: "The Golden Nordic Ski Club has begun negotiations to create our event for next winter. Following discussions at Nationals we have tentativel..."

Day 3: Icebergs and Sprint Climbing

2011-04-03T19:23:00.001-07:00

Julian getting some air at the raft pullout farther down the Kicking Horse. We were trying to get an action shot with the beautiful snow in the background. Hard to fit it all into an iPhone shot.

Spring breakup on the Kicking Horse River as the ice begins to calve off into the running river. The kids loved checking out the big icebergs breaking away and setting off toward Kinbasket Lake.

Tour of Flanders

2011-04-03T07:23:00.000-07:00

Watch this movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGXEyFEhABI

Day 2

2011-04-02T17:21:00.000-07:00

Off on a chilly and snowy ride out to the golf course and up the Gorman Lake logging road. The cross bike is my savior in the spring and fall. This was the best shot out of the images I took. Not that great but shows off the poor conditions of the road this time of year. I do like the bloom in the middle of the image however and the moon like crater at the bottom.

Day 1 of 30daysofbiking

2011-04-02T17:16:00.001-07:00

Day1:

The weather in Golden, and indeed across Western Canada, has been less than spring like. With rain and temps around 6 degrees it has been a chilly start to the riding season. This is far from my first ride of the year but it is the first catalogued ride of the year!

Here the fam headed off for a ride to the playground to find most of the snow gone from the previous week. I'm using Instagram on my iPhone for all images.

30 days of Biking: A photo essay from Golden

2011-04-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

30 days of biking started yesterday across North America and indeed the world. I have committed to follow this challenge and to take a single picture everyday from the rides to catalogue the month. Each day I will update the blog with a pic to be compiled at the end of the month for something...I have no idea what for as yet. Check out www.30daysofbiking.com

Who knows what cycling antics we will get up to this month. We'll have to make it interesting if we want to get 30 decent pics. Here we go. I did actually start yesterday....really.

2011-02-28T12:47:00.000-08:00

With my lust for cycling never waining here is the new Ritchey cross bike that I am absolutely lusting over. Perhaps soon this bike will be within my reach. Fingers Crossed. No pun intended.

Dawn Mountain Challenge Ski Festival: Pics from 15th Annual Huckleberry Loppet

2011-01-31T16:12:00.000-08:00

Dawn Mountain Challenge Ski Festival: Pics from 15th Annual Huckleberry Loppet: "Golden Nordic Racers on the start line for the 15/30km race A 30km racer makes his way up the lap lane on the second lap of the 15km course..."

Nordic Ultratune Blog: Feeding Time

2010-12-12T20:35:00.000-08:00

Take care of your groomer and your groomer takes care of you.

Nordic Ultratune Blog: Feeding Time

Check out the best article all year on BikeSnobNYC: Clen-tador

2010-09-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2010/09/in-pinch-pleading-for-clenency.html

Really ...TT bikes?

2010-09-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

Generally I would say that I think the whole TT/Triathlon bike scene is well.....gay. But I must say, that looks like a hell of a lot of fun. Scott, you nailed it, that bike is hott.

CBC News - Technology & Science - Rockies fossils yield 8 new species

2010-09-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

Extraordinary New Discoveries of Localized Arthopods in Kootenay Park.

Oh I want nothing more than to be a part of all this. 8 years of school is unfortunately not in the cards :(

CBC News - Technology & Science - Rockies fossils yield 8 new species

Back to school: Day 1

2010-09-07T10:56:00.000-07:00

The kids are back to school and the morning bike ride routine is back on. A great way to complete 30daysofcycling.
Meems is in Grade 1 and Julian has moved to the middle school for Grade 4. What will this year bring? It brought snow this morning!

CBC News - Technology & Science - Electric car ends coast-to-coast trip

2010-09-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

An engineering student from B.C. is claiming to be the first person to cross mainland Canada in an electric car.

Ricky Gu, 21, arrived in Halifax in his converted 1972 Volkswagen Beetle on Monday night.

Child Smoking Hipster of Yesteryear

2010-09-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

LEGO party!

2010-09-05T10:21:00.001-07:00

One of the last things we needed to do before summer holidays are over was to have a LEGO party. I have to admit, I still LOVE Lego and had a fantastic time.

This is Amelia's Ice Cream shop. The owners were very nice and gave us free ice cream and pancakes. Mmmm.

A Huge Bionicle Julian and a friend built last week.

Julian's driving cannon.

The Pigeon Assault Ship built by Julian.

My contribution was a WASP speeder.

Lake Louise to Jasper Road Trip

2010-09-04T21:08:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pics from our LL to Jasper trip last month. Sorry for the delay. 11 of us ended up riding this great two day tour with 136 km of riding on Day 1 and 96 on Day 2. Next weekend we are planning a ride from Revelstoke to Nakusp to Kaslo. Pics will be available from that ride as well.

Michael leading us up the approach to the big climb of Day 1, Sunwapta Pass.

Will loading up the bikes at the end of our trip.

Cathy dropping us on the big climb.

The group about 12km from the finish. All quite cold and ready for pizza and beer by this point. A big 27km stage inflicted some mental damage as those hills just kept coming during the monsoon rains.

Chris leads out on stage 4 on the first day.

Luke shows that Pop Tart who's boss in our camp at the Columbia Icefields.

Cole looks cool as a cucumber after the big Sunwapta climb. He rode every km of that trip. He made his ski coach happy!

Cathy looks way too relaxed. We need bigger climbs on the next ride.

A short break before taking the last stage of Day 1 up Sunwapta Pass which is visible in the background. Me, Michael, Cole, Cathy, Luke, Chris and Will.

Golden Nordic Racers Represent!

Golden Skate Park

2010-09-04T10:01:00.001-07:00

Julian hitting the wall.

and jumping his sisters bike after his 3rd tire blowout of the week.

Julian and Mimi's pink bike.

As always Meems is a great sister and lets J use her bike. She selected the scooter as her tool of choice.

Getting more comfortable in the park.

Family Visit

2010-09-04T09:52:00.000-07:00

Pedestrian Bridge Tourist Photo

More family photos. Julie, Meems, Mike, Julian and Dana.

Our guests loving the bike rides around Golden on a perfect late summer evening. On our way to The Bistro for some great food.

Mike showing us his ever so contemporary white sock tuck into his chinos. Lookin' good.

My cousin Julie and her great boyfriend Mike came for a few days to hang with the Hudson's. We had a great time catching up on the past ten years of life and simply showing them our great little town. Of course, it involved riding bikes. It always pays to have a bunch of extra bikes hanging around and we set up Mike and Julie with a couple rides to tour around town on.

Bugaboo Threadworks...A Nostalgic look into the past.

2010-09-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

Holy Crap. A long time ago in a basement not so far away, Bugaboo Threadworks was born. It's early days were filled with industrial sewing repairs, screwing up zippers in peoples clothing and making cool bouldering stuff for me friends.

As the biz developed more and more people came to me to place orders for random things from compression sacks to throw bags to dog packs and duffel bags.

It took three years for me to actually assemble a list of items that I would make for people and when that happened the orders started rolling in. It seems as though there was a little market for custom made, hand sewn in the Koots products.

I had so much help from so many people to develop a line of cool and functional products. They offered assistance with shop space, photography, design and layout for our catalogue.

We tested tonnes of stuff and either watched it hold up to the rigors of abuse or saw if fall apart in a pile of cordura and stitching. It was fantastic. People rolled through the shop, hung out, played music, offered input and bought stuff.

I was contacted by the folks at Gripped Magazine, in their first year of publication I believe to send in some products for review. I put a haulbag, chalkbag and a 40L daypack in the mail and two months later saw my gear in an industry magazine. It was so unbelievably cool.

The haulbag I heard ended up in Yosemite with a bunch of dirtbags, with the chalkbag and pack staying in Ontario as cragging tools. I was so happy to see gear of mine across the country.

As things unfolded my attention turned mostly to custom lightweight climbing and ski packs. I never really made any money on them after the loads of hours I spent tweaking ideas and the designs but it sure did create inspiration within me like I had never felt before.

Eventually I got the point where orders were exceeding my capable delivery schedules and I needed to make the choice of go big or bust. At the time we were thinking of a family, buying a house and requiring a steady cash flow, something which BTW did not always consistently offer.

We chose to close the business while we were ahead. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.

I still get asked regularly if I can repair stuff or make random things for people. "Do you still have a machine?" is asked about four times a month and I unfortunately say no.

Bugaboo Threadworks offered flexibility, constant creativity and seat of your pants problem solving. It was exciting, and adventurous. Scary and exhilarating.

These days I seem like I live on cruise control. The creativity in my life seems lost, routine has created complacency.

I need a new vision, something that will excite me and instill passion as I once had.

There are ideas...but do I take the plunge and the financial risk? I want nothing more.

Cover art for the BTW 2002 catalogue.

Mimi lays down her first mega skid

2010-08-29T20:45:00.001-07:00

I have to say I don't think Amelia has ever been so proud as when she laid out this huge skid in front of Julian. Even he gave her a high five. That's my girl. Our shop bill for rear tires is going to be high this fall on our rides to school. :)

Mimi slays the Cello

2010-08-29T20:39:00.001-07:00

Hmmmm. As if we don't have enough instruments I'm our home (it must be over twenty) we are likely going to get Meemers a cello. What would you do? Look at her. The cello rocks!

This pic is from the youth orchestra organized by Dana and additional music teachers in town as part of a summer music camp program.

Snow in the Mountains!!

2010-08-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

Geothermal in place for new Daylodge

2010-08-29T20:24:00.001-07:00

John from Hellbent Geothermal placing the last two tubes for the new heating system. The lodge is now finally underway. I'll keep updates flowing both here and on the GNSC blog as well.

Old CCM

2010-08-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

This is was put behind at Derailed bike shop today and is in for a time before heading to burning man. Has to be early 50's. Cool sweeping stays with an equally bizarre fork. Sturmey Archer 3 Spd. Very fun.

Rogers Pass Day2: Balu Pass

2010-08-17T11:31:00.001-07:00

We got up a bit late and decided to go for a longer trip up to Balu Pass. The 10km hike is much more gradual and does not feel like you are gaining elevation so fast. Julian did not ONCE complain. I was very surprised.

A method to keep Julian from getting bored came in the form of the 100m break dance. Every 100m exactly of elevation change (as displayed by my altimeter watch) we stopped and had a little break dance session whether people were around us or not. It was quite fun. This pic is from the way back down from the pass.

The views are spectacular from this trail. The mountains on the left hand side of the image are of Mt. Tupper and Hermit. It is fun showing all of these peaks to Julian as I have climbed the majority of the mountains in the area, prior to Julian being born. I asked if he wanted to climb some of them and he flat out said no. I think that will change when he gets his own mountain axe.

The hike back down with Ursus Major in the background. The trails are top notch up there.

Success...lunch at altitude.

This pic was taken on the way up. Amazingly there was no smoke lingering. By Monday the valleys were socked in once again. McDonald is in the background.

Rogers Pass trip with Julian Day 1: Marion Lake

2010-08-17T11:17:00.001-07:00

Julian and decided to head off on a boys only adventure up to Rogers Pass, in Glacier National Park. The weather was fantastic if not too sunny and hot. The first day we hiked to Marion Lake and about half way up to Abbott Ridge before we decided to turn around. We hiked about 8 km on day 1.

Some cool mushrooms, ferns, devils club and berries adorned the side of the trail.

Julian became the proud owner of a new pocket knife and was very responsible with it. He has wanted one forever. This moment was staged, really...he is not a psychotic murderer.

At the end of the hike we celebrated with a Jiffy Pop treat.

The view from Marion Lake. No bugs either. Amazing.

The hike to Marion Lake is only just over 2km but it is straight up the whole way.

Cervélo News - Carlos Sastre will leave the Cervélo TestTeam after this season

2010-08-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

Cervélo News - Carlos Sastre will leave the Cervélo TestTeam after this season

Julian

2010-08-13T16:01:00.000-07:00

I need an iPhone app that allows me to take pics without cutting off my son's head. :)

Woke up to an Alien Destroying Zombie Ghost (his words) demanding a bike ride. Of course I said yes...would you mess with an alien Destroying Zombie Ghost?

Perseid Pics

2010-08-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

Artwork by Julian (only one extra m)

Halley's Comet pic (love the smashing meteors around it)

Dusk at 8000 feet. Pretty nice view from the restaurant.

The Brewmasters Astronomy Event was sponsored by Big Rock Brewery. 3 courses of food with a glass of beer with each, along with an astronomy discussion in between each of the courses by yours truely. It was a fantastic time.

Our evening menu. Soooo good.

Jason Eastwood enjoys a fine evening meal with the Hudson's. Jason was the live entertainment for the event playing some incredible guitar.

Julian and Dana taking in a high altitude sunset with rainbow in the valley below

Beer, figs and blue cheese go very well with Big Rock Brewery Honey Brown.

Julian and I on the gondola ride to the top.

Perseids Meteor Shower 2010

2010-08-13T15:28:00.000-07:00

The Perseids Meteor Shower event was a huge success this year with clear skies arriving just in time for a great display. While numbers of meteors were down for the year it was a dark sky with no moon. KHMR has hosted this event for the past six years now and I love being the speaker for the event. There were about 60 people this year in total and all seemed to be having a great time.

Here is the low down:

Viewing Time: 11:00-12:30

Visuals: 79 Total

Perseid Related Meteors: 71

Non Perseid Meteors: 8 (all but one from SW)

Fireballs: 2 both Perseid related

Golden Active Transportation: DIY Streets

2010-08-10T20:55:00.000-07:00

Golden Active Transportation: DIY Streets: "I love this idea that streets can be created by residents. It would be interesting to see if this idea can fly in Canadian towns and cit..."

Back to normal.

2010-08-09T20:32:00.001-07:00

The house is finally back together but am still finding saw dust
outcrops every once in a while.

New Old Floors

2010-08-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

After many hours of sanding and finishing we finished our floors and came up with this. Not a bad looking floor for being 120 years old. It sure does look nice. And NO SPLINTERS!

Puddle Skids 101

2010-08-09T15:36:00.001-07:00

Julian has mastered the puddle skid. This is one of the fine examples
executed in the rain this afternoon.

Rainy day cruising

2010-08-09T15:32:00.001-07:00

With rain in the forecast for the next week we figured we had best get
past our blah felling toward getting on the town. We had to pry Mimi
out of the house but once we were on route the puddle hopping cheered
us all up.

Community Bike Program Becomes A Reality

2010-08-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

The Town of Golden and key community members have been working for over 3 years to create a new community bike share program. Today, the town liaison announced that the project is in full swing with 25 being ordered and will be sending them to be custom painted in the next three weeks. The bicycles will be assembled and maintained by Summit Cycle, our local Kona dealer.

In the coming weeks a decision will be made on hub locations, payment methods, and locking systems (a few options are currently being considered).

This is hopefully a stepping stone for further developing an active transportation network of trails and on street commuting lanes.

There will be much more info in the coming weeks. I'll keep you posted.

Norco 2011 Commuters (I couldn't resist)

2010-08-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

The Heart Fixie/Singlespeed offers the benefit of a no fuss drive train for the commuter on a budget. For under $400 you would be hard pressed to find a better deal. While the Spade offers more sex appeal, the price tag is considerably higher. Great beginner polo bike!

The Fiori folding bike is a new addition to Norco`s fleet and hits the urban apartment dweller market. I would love to test ride one. Do I need one...no. Are they cool and functional...Yes.

The Club is one of my favorites in the new Norco catalogue for 2011. They are really on to something here catering to the traditionalist cromo rider seeking a fast commuting machine or comfortable weekend century rider. I love this bike. Chrome pounded fenders, Brooks saddle, chrome vintage racks, a set of appropriately stylish panniers, and a silver bell...dreamy.

The City Glide Series offers sleek stylish European flare with good old fashioned comfort. These internally geared bikes are offered in a 3 and 8 spd drivetrain. Nice features such as the front wheel spring, colour matched components and basket make this a real off the shelf stylish commuter for the ladies. There is a blue step through model as well which I would gladly rip around on.

The Ceres is an internally geared bike which fills the techy commuter market. Nice bike with the belt drive and discs. I have to admit. I don`t really get who this bike is for?

2011 Norco Lineup

2010-08-09T07:42:00.001-07:00

I have to admit, while I constantly am on the look out for new and exciting bike companies, small custom manufacturers and specialty brands I seem to always come back to Norco and spend my hard earned dollars on their bikes. Over the past twenty five years of cycling I have to say that about 90% of the bikes I have owned, which have been numerous, have been Norco's. From my very first mountain bike that my dad bought me back in 1986, a Black with white flecked Norco Bigfoot to the last Norco purchased, a CCX1 from 2008 I have always been very happy with their build quality, component packages and clean looks.

While Norco for me was never the company out leading the pack in frame development they have always taken the proven design characteristics of other brands and incorporated into their own. The best of all worlds you might say. This year they seem to have broken through their inhibitions and have created a truly stellar lineup, with great colours to boot!

I have had my share of snapped stays on my old Team DH and Team Shore DH bikes, but, I always had a replacement within a week and never had issues with attaining parts. These couple years may have set Norco back in the super lucrative and competitive world of the DH bike but now they seem to be rising again to super power status with their 2011 bike line up.

Perhaps the thing I have always appreciated the most is their valued front counter staff. While managing a local bike shop here in town for several years we established Norco as strong brand within the community. Placing two to three orders a week with Norco always was a joy. The staff and in house reps are magnificent and truly passionate cyclists. They shape the brand, design bikes they love to ride and always present exciting products from all over the world in their distributed brands catalogue.

I am looking at possibly getting back into the industry at some level and I really can't consider anyone else for our product.

Norco, if you are listening, perhaps you require a "Norco Addicts Anonymous" Helpline for all of us who are hopelessly in love with your products. Check out a few of my favs for 2011 and go check out the full lineup here.

The commuter range and urban bikes seriously kick ass this year. Perhaps though they would benefit from a couple more old roadies on staff to create a couple sexy vintage steel touring/commuting bikes.

The Club road bike...very Commonwealth. You're on the right track. I love it!

Italian Yumminess

2010-08-07T10:07:00.001-07:00

It pays to have old Italian neighbors. Help out in their garden
receive these delicious Italian goodies. Dominica, I love you.

Bella Ciao Bicycles

2010-08-07T09:29:00.000-07:00

I hope my life does not turn into wandering the internet seeking out bicycle beauty but this is an amazing shot of a small bicycle manufacturer from Berlin.

Bella Ciao makes Italian styled bicycles and are distributed solely in Europe.

Very classy, and the tile mosaic is quite fetching as well.

A bunch of HOT refits out there.

2010-08-06T00:46:00.000-07:00

Click on the pics below for a super size image. Very nice indeed.

This is pretty much the exact bike with the same kit. Need a front rack, have a light.

Single Speed Conversion is quite nice too. Always a possibility.

This is the pimp version for sure. The paint job is definitely nicer than mine. Slightly different model. That is the PX 10 I believe.

This is what I'm going for here...

2010-08-05T22:33:00.001-07:00

The original bike probably was pretty similar to this blue number below. Not terribly attractive. Exact same component package as mine though.

Here is a sample of a touring version of the bike with period components as well. A considering loosing the drop bar and putting on a mustache bar or something similar however for a more upright stance for winter and distance rides.

Peugeot Rebuild

2010-08-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

1974-76 Peugeot Road Bike (ah a good year no doubt) with ugly as hell bars and shifters.

Beautiful French built rear rack and MAFAC Racer brakes, best stopping power at the time and still pretty darned good.

The paint is in decent condition but that stem and bar combo are gone, can anyone bastardize a bicycle more than this?

The fenders are French and very sexy with dual pinstripes and flared tails front and back. There is a light mount on the front and has a gen light with a broken lens cover on the rear. Good luck finding one of those?!

I received this bike last week and have been contemplating whether to part with it or build it up for a legit commuter. The frame and components (excluding a heavily worn Simplex rear derailleur) are in good shape. The whole shifter/bar and brake setup will go and be switched out for a new bar with bar end shifters and nice brake levers as yet to be determined. I have a feeling that I will be spending a few $ at Bike Bike in the coming month.

Faction Cycles

2010-08-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

Faction Cycling makes fresh looking jerseys, t's and caps. Check em' out. Straight from Chicago.

www.factioncycling.com

First bike trick EVER. Edison All

2010-08-05T19:20:00.000-07:00

Drop Bar Sexy!

2010-08-05T17:14:00.000-07:00

This is absolutely the most beautiful front end of a classic touring bike. Makes sense and reeks class. Mustard and Cream paint with leather? Priceless.

Golden Active Transportation: Need for a legitimate Active Transportation Coalit...

2010-08-05T14:51:00.000-07:00

Golden Active Transportation: Need for a legitimate Active Transportation Coalit...: "As requirements, attitudes and perceptions change towards non motorized transport in our community, the question of creating a formalized ad..."

Life is like a plate of pancakes

2010-08-05T10:08:00.001-07:00

Nothing says yummy like a mega plate of apple cinnamon p-cakes.

New family addition

2010-08-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

This bike showed up at our house when a friend moved away frm golden.
A real beauty. Thanks Jamie.

Too Funny!

2010-08-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

Bike Rack Envy.

2010-08-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

Revelstoke has come a long way in the last 15 years since I lived there. The community planners are definitely doing something right over there. Golden has many things to learn..... These beautiful bike racks were installed last summer and they sure are great accents to the downtown core. Hopefully we will see some of these this fall to accommodate our new bike share program.

Why not tackle two things at once...the stairs.

2010-08-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Since we were planning to get rid of the carpet on the stairs at some point we decided to do all of the woodwork at the same time. The stairs soon revealed a beautiful history once the five layers of gross paint were removed along with some graffiti that my daughter accented the post with when she was four. That part was a bit sad to scrape off. Good bye carpet, hello beautiful fir.

Floor Reno's

2010-08-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

We have these 120 Fir floors. They are splintery, yet beautiful thick boards that just aren't readily available these days. We decided it was high time to redo them. Since I have a few weeks of down time I thought "Why wait?" Are are the pre-sanding shots.

Calgary Science Center = Lego Extravaganza

2010-08-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics from the LEGO exhibit at the Science Center when we went to go see the exhibit upstairs. Julian and I are massive LEGO fans and these where a few of our favorites. I loved the simplicity of the bike below.

First in Flight

The Penny Farthing

Space Race

History of the Bicycle-too bad it ended at the BMX.

Santa Maria

Summer Swim Meets

2010-08-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

The kids have been loving swim club this year and they are both turning into fantastic little racers too! Here are a couple pics from Revy and Golden Swim Meets.

It's Catch Up Time.

2010-08-04T22:05:00.001-07:00

Holy Christ, I have to say that since taking a new Canmore job the ol' blog took a beating. While my tenure with CCC is over I hope to spend a bit of time here again and keep the world (my mom and friends) updated on our goings on.

I'm sorry blogisphere.

Make Love, not Match Racing.

2010-04-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

brought to you by Sailing Anarchy!

Three weeks and counting..

2010-04-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

With just under three weeks of "spring break" remaining before we get back into ski training I can't wait to start logging hours again for the sake of training and ultimately racing in the Masters World Cup in Vernon mid March 2011.

I am more than a bit amped to get rolling with a training plan already assembled and a great training regime for our athletes here in Golden as well. We will all be working off of custom tailored 416 hour plans this year.

This spring has big trail runs, huge road rides, grueling long distance roller ski trips, beautiful alpine climbs and a few time trials thrown in for good measure.

Mix that in with lots of family fun, sailing, mountain biking with Julian, and two family vacations (we have NEVER had a family vacation- 8 years and counting) this summer is going to ROCK!!

Ick....

2010-04-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

With a snowy and miserable day in Golden today the Hudson's aren't sure what to do with ourselves! Hopefully the day will open up with some decent spring weather to

a) work outside in the yard

b) yard sale prep for next week

c) bike ride with the kiddies

d) sail with the kiddies

I could wash the dishes but crap, that is not fun.

I had a great first official sail of the year last night down at the new sailing spot. I think we will consider building a small dock down there at some point. The Sunfish is down there now as well along with my windsurfing rig that I walked in for 2.5km yesterday. That was an experience that I would rather not do again.

We need to find a few more sailing folk to pick up boats so we can start having some fun evening races. I am assembling some bouys to take down there next week.

Well, enough procrastinating...off to work on Mimi's new room and do the dishes.

New sailing locale until June/July.

2010-04-10T15:08:00.001-07:00

Oh man.....I'm loosing my frickin mind about getting on the water. Julian and I went for a spring recon and landed a big one. Sailing next weekend! Rain or shine we are getting things rolling. It will be about a 15 minute bike ride into the beach but is SO worth it. Check it. Getting the boats in there will be the true adventure. I see a portage from the river in our future!

Golden is the best!!

Jailbreak Collective offers cool gifts.

2010-04-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

Jailbreak Collective offers alternative art and toys. Check out their "oh so cool" stuff like the tire belt and light saber chopsticks.

Hell Yeah!!

2010-04-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

First official disc golf night of the year! Heading out in an hour. Will post some pics later.

Happy Birthday Jolene.

100000

2010-03-31T21:06:00.000-07:00

The big roll over.

2010-03-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

I'm not really sure this is something to be overly proud of but I had
to take a pic regardless. On the way back from Canmore today the car
rolled over the big six digit birthday. While I commute by bike when
at work in Canmore this start and end of the week community would be a
bit large at 200 and something km. I must say though that I am so
happy to park this thing when in Canmore.

It's official.

2010-03-31T11:18:00.001-07:00

The 2009/10 season has officially come to a close. What happens next
season is wide open. Coaching, racing, job description, GNSC
involvement. It's all exciting stuff. Updates to come soon.

Sent from my iPhone

Cross Bike is out....and muddy.

2010-03-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

After a busy winter with nary a weekend without a race, course or work, it is nice to be pleasure cruising on the skis without a concern in the world the last week. Even better....I pulled my bike out and am riding regularly to work again and got in a fantastic trail ride in Canmore on my cross bike down by the river. Mud+Bike=FUN! Bring it.

Some End of Season Antics

2010-03-28T15:54:00.000-07:00

When no one else showed up for training we pulled out frisbees and played some disc golf on skis. Every shot missed over par was a push up. At the end of the game, totals were tallied. Anything over par meant two push ups per. Anyone who was under par could give their push ups to someone else. Mitch 42 push ups, Zach 12 push ups, Troy zero.

I love making up rules as we go!

Changing Seasons

2010-03-28T15:41:00.000-07:00

Finally it has happened! My kids are getting bigger and that means getting out and doing a bunch of new to them and old to me activities. It felt really great getting back into a harness after pretty much five years of abstinence. Here are a couple pics of Julian and I in the cave along with one of Meems up on the wall.

2010-03-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

New Boots, the RCS Carbonlite Skate (the switch to NNN)

2010-03-01T20:22:00.000-08:00

I don't really have time right now to discuss why the switch (my laptop battery is dying) but I will definately post a bunch of info on the new boot here as it gets skies from now till the end of the season. All I can say is WOW! They fit and are light! A big improvement from its previous models. Ahhhhh the pic won't upload either. Crap.

New RCS Skate boots

2010-03-01T20:09:00.000-08:00

I just picked upy new sample Fischer boots to try out I hope to take
them to the games. I just need to mount up some skis with NNN
bindings. So hot, super comfortable and really adjustable. The only
thing I have noticed is that they do not have a heel strap to lock the
ankle into place. We'll see how they ski in terrace.

BC Games Comin Up!

2010-03-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

Phew, it has been a busy winter so far, even though it is almost over now.
The ski team has had great success this season with numerous personal bests and a few great podium finishes. For myself, it seems like I am getting really old and creaky! Not in great shape this year at all. I hope to race in teh Western Masters Championships in Golden in two weeks. My knee is giving my grief, whats new. I slipped last week and tristed it pretty bad. I am skiing gingerly on it and there does not seem to be any problem when on skis....just going up stairs. The Bc Games are up in two days. I am the Kootenay Zone Head Coach and will be taking a crew of 8 regional skiers to unleash some serious damage on the rest of the province. The boys are SUPER strong. One from Rossland, one from Kimberley and one from Golden.

I will try and post some pics and update when I can.

Grooming it out.

2010-01-25T20:36:00.000-08:00

World cup course right in little golden

2010-01-25T20:35:00.000-08:00

Global domination begins with Nipika Skate looper

2010-01-25T20:33:00.000-08:00

The troops rallied and skied a great day at Nipika Lodge. Minimal snow
made for sporty racing but proved very fast with most athletes beating
their personal bests over 10 km. We wrapped up an award winning
weekend after competing on the classic sprints held downtown for the
torch relay festivities. I don't really think it was well advertised
as we were pretty much the only people there. It didn't matter however
ad it was an incredibly fun time.

It's official!!

2010-01-22T12:15:00.001-08:00

Released 4 minutes ago. The Olympic line up for the Canadian cross
country ski team are as follows:

Women:
Sara Renner
Chandra Crawford
Dasha Gaiazova
Madelaine Williams
Perianne Jones

Men:
Devon Kershaw
Ivan Babikov
George Grey
Stephan Kuhn
Alex Harvey
Brian McKeever

There you have it. The best group of of skiers our Nation has ever seen!

Sent from my iPhone

Torch handoff two doors down

2010-01-22T10:27:00.000-08:00

>
> Gotta admit, I was not too excited for the torch coming to town this
> week but last night changed that.

Torch handoff two doors down

2010-01-22T06:36:00.000-08:00

Gotta admit, I was not too excited for the torch coming to town this
week but last night changed that.

The torch just ran in front of the house. Super awesome!

2010-01-22T06:34:00.000-08:00

Strangely, there were only two torch bearers from golden. There were
however about 10 from calgary. Surprise surprise.

Torch hits Canmore.

2010-01-21T10:16:00.001-08:00

A quick update. The torch rolled through work yesterday afternoon. I
went out for a few minutes and watched them prep. It wax pretty
awesome seeing all the kids out to watch. I heard that it was mental
downtown with all of the excitement. Golden gets the torch tonight.
Stay tuned for pics.

Back in the saddle

2010-01-17T16:53:00.000-08:00

Now that I work out of town and am more than 5 seconds from my office I am commuting again on my cross bike. I love it. My ass doesn't but I sure do. With the crazy warm weather in Canmore I've had no excuses to leave the car at home. Now the challenge will be to leave it at home when its minus 30. Its only a five minute commute but I have been making it 15 or 20!

Photo to follow.

Family shot up at KHMR over the Christmas holidays

2010-01-17T16:33:00.000-08:00

Dr J hits the Nordic slopes

2010-01-17T16:31:00.001-08:00

Julian is skiing great this year with a couple podiums under his
belt. I am crazy proud his initiative to ski and wanting to come to
events. Super hard though being parent and a head coach of a ski team
at the same time though when you are doing everything on your own.
I've decided that why should other peoples kids come before my own at
races. It's taken three years and some motivational talks from Dana to
make it happen j's happy our there with me. I think he likes hanging
out watching tv after the race and sharing a bed at hotels the most.
And also all the cool kids he meets his age at the races.

OK so now what ?

2010-01-17T16:23:00.001-08:00

Is the time to start updating this damned blog. I feel like a bit of
an idiot for not staying on it but honestly there is onlyso much time
in the day and multitasking this guy can take before everything blows
up in my face. Between becoming the surrogate parent of a 15 year old
female athlete, juggling a new job with alot of administration
contained within it, training a ski team, working with our local
Nordic club, being a parent of two awesome kids, a mostly annoying
husband to my wife and every weekend off at ski races ....frankly
there isn't much time for blogging. There are 5 blogs which I have
started over the last couple years and it is time to let them go. The
only ones that I really care about at this point are my personal one
here and the golden active transportation blog which will be co
administered by myself and Luke Nichols. It's time to streamline, get
more effective at managing my life outside of the office and
reevaluate what really matters. Family. It don't know what the spring
will bring but I look forward to a couple weeks with the kids on our
boat, getting in shape to compete at the Masters World Cup in Vernon
next year and complete some small projects left unfinished throughput
the winter. Skiing has been great with my team but focus still remains
a bit of an issue. I need to continue my own path of coaching and now
my own path as an athlete possibly. Can i do it all? Who knows. All I
know is the blog is back now that I can upload straight off my phone.
Uber cool!

Sent from my iPhone

Life on the road at BC Cup 1

2010-01-17T12:30:00.001-08:00

Something fishy?

2010-01-17T12:27:00.001-08:00

Sent from my iPhone

Testing from the iPhone

2010-01-17T12:21:00.000-08:00

Does this work
Sent from my iPhone

Oilsands emit more than entire countries: report

2009-09-13T12:28:00.001-07:00

Wow, just when we thought that the tar sands were emitting a ray of sunshine... Oh Alberta you must be so proud.

Run DMC

2009-09-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

New Job in November!!!!

2009-08-26T19:16:00.000-07:00

I have been holding off saying anything to anyone for the last couple weeks but its now out of teh bag on FB. I will be starting a new job with Cross Country Canada as the Athlete Development Coordinator. Working at developeing athletes from 5 to Junior National Team level across the country by way of utilizing the Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model. Lots of administrative stuff with some travelling to clubs around the country fostering youth participation in our sport. Julian is stoked because they have a wicked Biathlon program in Canmore for kids, Meems doesn't really get it and Dana is happy for a change of pace and possibly scenery. We are all a bit nervous but will really excited once everything begins. Three days a week in Canmore with two days at the home office in Golden.

Crab Spider Enter Stage Left

2009-08-20T23:28:00.000-07:00

I'm still scratching and extraordinarily wigged out by this thing that crawled across my lap about fifteen minutes ago. This is the closest I could find to what it looked like. I HATE!!!!!!!!!! spiders. I can't even think right now. Gotta go have a shower to make sure its not laying eggs in my skin or something equally gross. I hate being such a pussy when it comes to spiders but alas...everyone needs some neurotic uncontrollable fear.

Cool Shot

2009-08-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

Where is this? That is the coolest water feature I have ever seen. Picked up from Chicks and Bikes Blog. I love this picture!

Veggie Splendour.

2009-08-18T21:52:00.000-07:00

Mmmmm Veggies aplenty. We now have finally begun to see the labours of love popping out of the ground. Peas, beans, radishes, carrots, two types of lettuce and beets for Dana. I am loving being a gardener! This is my first garden ever so I am feeling pretty darned proud. Gardens rock. Next year....potatoes and maybe cucumbers.