Sam Came to Visit! And She Brought Puppies!

The past three days finally brought some real excitement to our house. My sister, Sam, graced us with her presence along with her boyfriend, Marc-Andre, and they're friend Richard. The three of them spent their summer way up north working in Inuvik, NWT, and they are on their way home to Ontario. And while it was great to see them all again, it was also a huge bonus to get to meet their 9 week old Husky puppies. They. Are. Adorable.

So during their stay, we obviously spent lots of time with the puppies, playing with them, cleaning up after them, watching them burn out and crash into things thanks to my incredibly slippery floors, but we also explored the town and went to places and did things that I haven't even done here yet. On Thursday night we went to the Canmore Hotel and got to see the "Dreadkneaughts" play. It was really cool, they are a celtic punk band from Vancouver with lots of energy, so it was really fun to watch.

We also hiked up to the Grassi Lakes rock climbing area to show them just how beautiful it is up there, and while the puppies did seem to enjoy themselves on that long journey for them, they were pretty pooped by the time we started walking back down. And Richard, Marc-Andre and myself went for a little dip in one of the lakes up there, despite a long period of time spent standing at the side waiting to see who would have the guts to dive in first. This water was easily the coldest water I have ever found myself in, so I was very proud of myself for being the first one to take the plunge.

The three of them departed from my house sometime between 7am and 8am this morning, and are now finishing off the last few days of their road trip heading back to Penetang. It was a great few days hanging out with them, and I wish them all the best on their journey home. And now that I'm back on my own again, I am back to my usual daily routine of training, working, eating and sleeping, until next week when it sounds like I'll be having another house guest. Assuming all goes according to plan, I should get to spend some time with my friend Jeremy, as he is going to be driving through Canmore on his way to BC. So I am really looking forward to that, seeing all these familiar faces is a nice little change of pace.

So I didn't get many, but here are a few pictures that I got with the puppies from the past few days. That's all for now! Cheers!

Sam's Puppies!

Crankworx '09/ Whistler training camp

Here are the pictures from my trip to Whistler! I couldn't upload the videos that I took from Crankworx on the picasa site like the rest of the pictures, so I will put some up on my Facebook page for anyone who is interested. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=510412683&ref=name#/profile.php?id=510412683&v=app_2392950137&ref=name There's a link to the videos. Enjoy! :)

Crankworx '09/ Whistler training camp

Whistler Update - Mid-day of Day 5

So with a couple of hours before my next workout, I figured I would write a little update on what I have been up to these past few days here in Whistler. With Crankworx going on all week, there is always something exciting going on somewhere around here, and as a team, even without that great event, we seem to be keeping pretty busy.

The other night (Wednesday I think?), we had our first baseball game between the two teams into which we divided ourselves, those teams being Team Salt (my team) and Team Pepper...Can you tell we made these teams while sitting in a restaurant awaiting the arrival of our food? So anyway, it was a very fun time, especially for those of us on Team Salt, as we took a pretty comfortable win over Team Pepper. Although we have a rematch scheduled for Sunday night, so we will see if Pepper has what it takes to redeem themselves...unlikely... haha just kidding...kinda... we'll see.

So while we have been having some good recreational fun like that, we have also been training pretty hard all week. We did a long road ride the other morning, and I'm not sure, but I think it must have been no more than 5 degrees when we started our ride in the pouring rain. But after the first 30-45 minutes or so the rain died down and we were no longer feeling hypothermic. And my bear sightings count since coming out west is now up to 2, as I saw another small black bear wandering around a drive way during our ride. For myself, Bob, and Annika, this ride lasted about 2 hours and 40 minutes, as at that point in time we needed to get back into town for our massage appointments :). The perks of training camps with the Academy haha.

Another morning (Thursday maybe? Yes, Thursday), we had an actual sprint race simulation up at Whistler Olympic Park on our skate rollerskis. While it was definately not my strongest day as a rollerskier haha, it was still pretty fun, and talk about a good eye opener, having to do heats against guys like Gord and Jess...they're fast haha.

So yesterday I got to experience some actual Crankworx excitement for my first time since we arrived. I watched some guys practicing for the slopestyle competition which is taking place tonight, and I also got to see the Finals of the Slalom race which was very cool to see. I took lots of pictures, as well as some video, but I think I am going to wait until I get back to Canmore so that I can upload everything all at the same time, because I intend/hope to get some more footage from tonight's festivities.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment, so time for a power nap before the day's next workout!

Thanks for reading! Cheers!

Aug. 11 – Day 1 of training in Whistler

After arriving in Whistler around 7:30pm last night, it took about 3 hours to eat dinner, track down some groceries and get settled in to our room. The team is staying in a pretty nice Hotel called Wildwood on Blackcomb Mountain, and I am sharing a room with the other three Junior Men on the team (Joey Burton, Bob Thompson and Lucas Jungmann).

Our day began at 7am this morning for breakfast and to get ready for our first workout in Whistler. We met up with the rest of the team at 8am, and were then driven out to our starting spot for our 2 hour skate rollerski workout. I didn’t really know where exactly we were (I knew we were somewhere between Whistler and Squamish), but after 50 minutes of legs only skiing up this constant climb, I ended up reaching the Whistler Olympic Park. I must say it was quite the pleasant surprise, not only because of how cool it was to be back there, but also because it took my mind off how absolutely dead my legs were feeling (but in a good way of course haha).

For anyone who does not know, this is where the cross-country skiing, nordic combined and biathlon events are going to be taking place for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Having been there a little over a year ago for the Canadian National Championships, it was very cool to see how far they have come in preparing for the Games. The buildings appear to now be completely finished, some of the ski trails have been paved (made for some very nice rollerskiing), and there are a few massive screens in various locations which I would assume will be for showing constant footage of the races as they take place.

So after the workout this morning, we returned to our hotel for lunch and some down time before our afternoon rollerski workout. I took this time to wander over to the Whistler Village and check out the whole Crankworks scene, have a nice little chat on the phone with my girlfriend, and of course, make a stop at the grocery store. Once I got back to my room it was time to get ready for our afternoon workout, which was an easy 1 hour rollerski around the trails that run throughout Whistler. There was a plan on where we were going to go, but by the time we found it, it was time for me to turn back and head for the hotel.

And now it’s time for supper, not real sure what it’s going to be yet, but I need to help make it. So that’s all for now!