Merry Christmas to All.

We are off for a lovely breakfast with friends and will be put the kiddies presents from the Gparents under the tree tonight. Christmas day plans include a Dawn Mountain ski, wilst stuffing our guts full of turkey in the late afternoon at Glenn and Katherines.

Merry Christmas All.

A holiday bike brought to you by Gucci. Like ayone in their right mind wouldn't want that under a tree.

Back in the saddle

Oh glory days. With the minus 30 weather behind us I feel like getting on my bike again. Just doing errands tonight brought a huge smile back to my face. I wasn't that intersted in participating in two wheeled transportation efforts over the last week but it is feeling great to back in the saddle again.

Plus...I laid down the biggest skid of my life on Annabelle tonight on our ice covered streets.

I'll try and take a photo in the next bit.

Phew........I really missed X-Files

Oh, X-Files was a weekly ritual for my friends here in Golden ten years ago. I absolutely was obsessed and I must say the last movie was right on point with classic X. I forgot how down right sexy Scully is. They played their parts perfectly. Great story, just enough blood and mystery. The token creepy sections with startling discoveries. 5 for 5. Go see it. If you are a fan of the original series. If not, it likely won't have the same shelf appeal.

Ah winters here.

Well for the Hudsons and our 114 year old house we are having a frosty Cjhristmas so far with -33 wind chill outside providing us with some frozen bathroom pipes, a 4 degee inside temp and a mild concern of our house going up in flames as we have every heater in the house on 24 hour duty. I see a woodstove oin our near future.

Yes, woodstoves are almostv outlawed in Golden due to the many inefficient stoves causing major air pollution issues, especially during these cold snap inversions. But....I have to think about it in teh context of; my family needs to be warm!

Yes there are a billion renos to do on our place but there of course is only so much time and money. Right now, a wood stove is hgh on the priority list.

Our upstairs is actually balmy with the electric baseboards.

Oh well. We live in a cold climate. We should know better.

That's where I am !

Sorry folks for not too many posts. If you want to see what I'm up to check out the nordic club blog.

http://goldennordic.blogspot.com/

Is there room for a little townie race in our little town....HELL YA!

Oh I think there is one townie race remaining in Golden for the season. I don't know if I could get anyone out for it but the poster is already beginning to appear in my mind. A dusting of snow perhaps, world longest skid mark perhaps, revitalize the lost alleycat which never was to be. Damn scheduling problems. This will all lead up to a hockey match on the ice, no holds barred no spokes will be left standing. Wahaahaaa, waahaaahaaaa, waaahaaahaaa.

Oh Crap......

I can't believe I forgot about the World Indoor Cyclocross Championships of the World over in Calgary. Crap...crap...crap....double crap. I bet it was awesome. That's what I get for not putting it in my damn daytimer. Damn my daytimer. Damn, damn, damn.

OK I feel a bit better.

No I don't... crap.

New Snow, Sun and Great Skiing!

WE got about 5cms overnight and got out grooming a bit late as we had to fly out a Biathlete who injured her ankle yesterday. The snow is nice a firm underneath a nice new dusting making for an unbelievable day to ski. The team just came in so I think I'll go for a boot after lunch. I love it up here. I wish I could bring Dana and the kids up here for some winter wonderland. I sure hope that Sovereign gets some snow as I'll be a bit jealous if John is back up here next weekend with Biathlon Canada. We are getting hits on the site from all over the world right now and Faster Skier, Ski Trax Magazine and SkiFaster.net are all covering our camps up here. Check em' out. WE have the best conditions in North America right now. We are definately on the International XC skiing radar now.!!!!!!

Plus, everyone is loving the skiing.

It officially ski season!!!!

Ah transition time. It hit this weekend with me up at Golden Alpine Holidays Sentry Mountain Lodge. We have an Altitude Training Center here in the fall and spring. We are currently skiing at 2200m and have about 2.5 km groomed for both classic and skate. It sure feels nice to be on, and in, snow again. We have Foothills Nordic in from Calgary right now and will switch over to Alberta World Cup Ski Academy until Wednesday. I sure hope we get some new snow. It is pretty firm now after a full day of rain yesterday. We still skied and it was great. Bring on the snow!!!!!!

Active Transportation Comes To Golden

I must say that all of this past week wasn't crap. There was a public forum on Active Transport in teh Golden area with pedestrian, cycling, skateboarding and whellchair accessibility in the spotlight. There were three political representatives there as well and hopeful it has opened their eyes to the concept of design for non motorized use.

Luke let me know that there will be a review board established to address the issues of teh entire community relating to active transport and this really makes me so proud to be living in this little town of ours. As a cycling for transportation advocate I really hope that this group will be able to steer the town in a direction which ill create manageable and well thought out transportation links for cyclists and pedestrians.

Through more active programs hosted by the GTBF we can really create a logical and efficient cycling concept for Golden. More classy bike racks, more cheap bikes, and more people seeing cyclists on our streets. Make them socially aware that cyclists are vehicles too. That will only come with adequate signage, driving lane restrictions and positive community involvement.

Time will tell. I'm just glad to see there are other people on the same page as me in our beautiful town.

In the mean time. Make room for a hat under your helmet, slap on some fenders and lights and get ready for fall riding in Golden. Cold Mornings, cool afternoons and snow capped peaks, it really is hard to beat.

My Crap Ass Trip to Calgary

I had to make a trip into Calgary on Wednesday to pick up a ski team tent and organize our winter team expenses with Gord Glass, the Swix and Fischer rep. We were able to get our skis and team suits ordered up and get a screaming good deal on them. On the way from there I was in a car accident on McLeod Trail and (around) 120 Ave. For some miracle of nature I came out unscathed.
I was driving behind a Land Rover with a 40(ish) year old woman and her 10(ish) year old son in the back. In front of them was a truck pulling a flat deck trailer with a load of aluminum pipes. For some reason the pipes were caped on one end and the caps were facing downwind (at the back of the trailer). The wind must have caught a four of these pipes and flung them off the flatdeck. Both the driver in front of me and I saw it happen and slammed on our brakes to avoid a collision. When the woman slammed on her bakes the front end of her vehicle dropped down and acted as a ramp for the pipe to crash through her windshield, killing her instantly. The boy in the backseat suffered neck injuries and was not in good shape. The second pipe flew up over her vehicle and came straight at me only to land almost perpendicular to my car and roll under the front wheels where it flew up and smashed out the front grill of a Ford truck. Two others ricocheted off of the front of the Land Rover and bounced across to the other lane on the right punching a whole in the rear passenger door of a car beside me and the last one bouncing off in to the ditch across three lanes of traffic. There were also a couple cars behind the Ford that ended up in very mild fender benders due to the high speed reductions.

I have to say that was one of the scariest moments of my life and don't really think I will be over it for a long time to come. I just can't believe that I came through it without a scratch on myself or my vehicle for that matter. I think there is likely a small dent at least under the car but I haven't really taken the time to look. It drives fine , without any shimy or mis-alignments that I can see or feel. I was at the accident scene for almost and hour and a half before I was free to go. I gave them all of my information but have not heard anything back yet? I guess I'll just wait and see if I need to go back over for a hearing or something related to the idiot construction worker who improperly secured his load. That guy will have nightmares for the est of his life.

After that I got in to the car and got out of the city as fast as I could heading back out on the 22x the way I came in, to avoid all of the traffic. But, coming down the Field hill towards Golden some guy in front of me drove over a huge rock in the middle of the road and tore a hole in his gas tank belching gas all over the road. So....I stopped and drove him down to Field where he could call for a ride. A cleanup crew drove past me just before I dropped down into Golden, so they must have been alerted to the spill.

I got home at 8 and was never happier to get out of our car. I'm just happy to be alive through that one.

Golden Nordic Ski Club Blog

Yup, like I don't have enough going on......This will actually make life sooo much easier. If members are interested in being kept up to date just sign up as a follower and off we go. Go have a look and stay informed. Become a follower so I don't look an idiot!