I was fortunate to be invited to see Viviane Forest speak at a WFG engagement Monday evening (thanks Deb!). 
Guide Lindsay Debou & Amazing Ski Racer Viviane Forest
.
Viviane has 4% vision and will be on the 2010 Canadian Paralympic team for downhill ski racing. Not to be only wowed by this dynamic woman skiing at blazing speeds of 120 km/hour but by her competitive drive to be the best she can be.
.
It was heartfelt to hear Viviane speak how she did not see her vision as an impairment and really thought it was normal as she was born like that. She spoke more of her drive and determination to be involved with something competitive. She loves to "go hard" and "fast"! Hmmm... sounds familar!
Viviane, like most high-level athletes these days, lack the funding to fuel their commitment to race for Canada. I got to hear her speak for free. It was definitely a super motivational talk for all guests there and worthy of any Company to take her on as a motivational partner. Check out Viviane's website and watch her skiing video.
Location was in the McKay schoolyard tucked underneath the colourful children's hospital with great views of the Edworthy Park hillside. Small but hearty turn-out for a spectacular warm autumn day. The winds made sure to pick up just in time for the Women's start.
After a few swooping sections, the sandpit was all of 5 feet in length at the base of an off-camber steep descent. Easy to plough thru.
It was impressive to watch the men power up the steep incline cleanly, or battle each other when they toppled over each other!
Off the start (I am still shocked at how fast we go) I attempted to hang onto cross specialist Pepper's wheel for all of 400m(?). Fortunately, all the corners were wide and swooping so passing wasn't a concern. 
nice legs shot! 
Skeleton Mical
Annie, Marg, Mical, Shantel
Darcy descending the screaming slimey descent which was much like creamy peanut butter
Squeezing into 2nd spot behind Mical just before the first corner
Mical riding thru the evaporating snow
Smiling muddy faces - Marg & Shantel
The little black bear warned his mom I was watching so she had both of the cubs climb trees. The brown one climbed 30 feet and the black one climbed 50 feet - amazing to watch up close! Mom stayed guard below.
Later I caught them leaving on the beautiful rock face next to the chalet. It was cool to see them though I'm tired of cleaning up their poop!
My least favourite uninvited visitors are the raccoons who now come in little packs of adolescent teenagers at dark. They party it up, create havoc until I chase them out with the broom. Other sitings were California Quail and deer. No mice seen this year, yay. The coyotes howl in the early morning on a regular basis - pretty wild to hear. 
1st speedy change-over at Fintry
What a day the paddlers had with major winds churning up through the day making a long paddle seem even longer! 
weary and smiling!
The evening ended with eclectic music and dance, very free spirited stuff. I am really liking hanging out at these events.
Many synchronistic happenings went on during the weekend. Early one morning with all campers still sleeping, I am putting on my running shoes for a run. A woman walking by my tent joined in with me and we ran the hills together. We bumped into a group of runners which included health speaker 
One late night, I helped a woman put up her tent in the dark. It was a confusing set of poles and I struggled with this one. Surprise surprise when it all came together to be a lovely pink princess castle! Apparently, it was the only tent available at the 2nd hand store.
The villa the hobo stayed at for a few weeks
I did some yard work at Mike's place. The darn pine needles are a foot long, let alone how huge the pinecones are! 
I was unsure how my body would like jumping from x-c ski season direct to a 100-mile bike ride. This was the inaugural ride on my spiffy new Madone that I had purchased off Ebay. My transalp bud Matt from Seattle had bike-fit me superbly on it as my ride felt awesome from the getgo. The teeny saddle he put on was comfy, especially with the cut-out section. It was long overdue for me to get this "women's specific design" (WSD) model for my monkey type body (long legs, short torso).
Stayed at the hostel in Santa Barbara for Sat night. Another minimal sleep night and I was off checking out the mountain climbs behind SB. Talk about climbing which went on and on. 
It was a surprise when all of a sudden my left crank arm was dangling from my shoe still clipped into my pedal. The bike store at home switched over my compact crankset to a DuraAce 53/39 before I left for this trip. Hmmm... I had an allen key to tighten the bolts of the crank arm though somehow the threaded crank arm fixing bolt was missing (or had not been threaded in??) hmmm... Fortunately, a small truck was coming my way on this no-traffic road. Victor kindly drove me back down to the bike store in town and I got it fixed. Strange indeed!
A day later, I visited Leslie in Newbury Park - a guy I met in Europe when I was bike-touring in 1987. Les was kind to take a couple days off work to show me the best road riding in the Santa Monica mountains.
Les and I also checked out Highway 33 north of Ojai with its amazing pristine mountain views. This was part of a 90-mile point-to-point course that is mostly uphill. We had a wicked time riding back on the descent, though abit of work with the headwind.
Checked out my first Raw Food restaurant in Santa Monica with Sue who I know from my track & field days when I was 16. Sue is now Dr. Susan, a dermotologist in L.A.
I was very impressed with how good everything tasted. Looks pretty good in the pic!
Sandra got me interested in Native Indian art and we went shopping for a Zuni fetish at Universal City. I brought back my very own Badger fetish made by Zuni Tyler Quann.
Great dinner with Sandra & Dino, and visiting cyclists Gaby & Rene & Pappy before I packed up all my gear. Overall, I almost rode 500-miles/800-km in 8 days including 1 rest day - awesome! It was a great week to visit and ride.
Black & White Christmas!
I've been out 5 times in November. Each week getting better and better. Minimal snow levels with excellent conditions.
The bonus is training at a mild temperature around freezing with the brilliant sun shining.
Lake Louise frozen over
Photo - downtown Edmonton from Goldbar bridge
It felt good to do something different when Sandra gave the option to hike or ride. The sunshine made the hike pleasant. We passed many people on-route similar to the masses that climb up the Grouse Grind in North Vancouver.
At the top, we took a break at the "restaurant" for some delicious pumpkin soup served in - a pumpkin!
The 360 views showed endless rolling farmland and mountains with villages all over. On the descent, Sandra had a bound in her step with me hurrying to keep up with much less bound. My legs were abit sore the day after from the steep descent.
The view from my airplane window upon landing near Edmonton. Downtown visible in the far upper left side. I was trying to describe to my European friends how flat it is at home with riding square grids for training. The pilot announced that the temperature was 27C. I thought he was mistaken though surprisingly correct for Oct. 1! Nice!! and the leaves are still on the trees!
View from my top floor room with the mountain Bristen. The hotel was age-old, wooden and creaky kind of like the Old-Timer's Cabin in Edmonton. It made the whole wedding event cozy being far away at this place.
The teeny church up the hill.
Alex's triathlon group Tri Uri rode their mountain bikes up and gave them their wishes!
The dinner at the hotel was great. Each guest had a teeny rock "cairn" with their name on it marking where we were to sit at the table. There was an English translation and a Swiss-German translation for all the British, Canadian and Swiss-German guests. 
Within 10-km, I reached the start of Furkapass. Ultra-scenic as I snapped a lot of photos. The 900m climb seemed to fly by with the open exposure and views. At the top, I put on extra clothes and slowly descended the steep switchbacks. The views were outstanding and jaw-dropping to see where the heck they built the road into the steep mtnside. 
Reaching the bottom, the next pass climbed immediately from the village. Fortunately, I bypassed this one and kept descending into the lowlands. The scenery began to look Canada-like with many evergreen trees. 
After abit of flats in the warm sun, the next pass began Nufenenpass. This one seemed to linger as the scenery was not as spectacular and the road just climbed relentlessly. Approaching the top, I passed two guys from Germany on a training ride. They stopped for lunch at the top. I put on warm clothing and flew down a super long descent at a gradual grade. It went on and on until I hit the village where Gotthard pass began. From afar I could see the pass roads way up and was surprised that I’d be up there soon enough.
This pass flew by as it was ultra scenic with the twisty cobblestone road. A strong headwind made one direction super difficult and I looked forward to turning a corner to get the tailwind for abit. On and on, bump bump bump, I reached the top. Threw some warm clothes back on for the final 13 km descent to Andermatt. Fast gentle descent. 
I stopped by the sports store to let Adrian know how the ride went. He said my 5 ½ hours for the 100-km, 3000m elevation climb was pretty good. That was probably the longest 100k ride I’ve ever been on, though also most scenic and fun.
We then went into France to where Mary’s partner lives in a renovated farmhouse. The outside looked like an old stone barnhouse.
The inside was very modern. On their land, there were a lot of apple and fruit trees. We picked some yummy apples and coaxed a few walnuts off their tree. I’d never picked walnuts before. 
Leaving there, I was off by bike. Mary sent me on some small roads which would get me onto the road up to the mountain standing behind Geneva called La Salève.
After a short descent, it was 900m of elevation before I hit the descent that would take me back to Switzerland. The climb was amazing and a pleasant 5% grade. I had views of France on my right and Switzerland hidden in the mist on my left. Riding the road in the forest was refreshing. At the top, a mist was hanging at that level and it was very cold. Once I hit the village of La Croisette (a couple houses and a restaurant!), the descent was quick - twisty windy and steep 12-18% grades. It would have been a tough climb. My hands were freezing and I was more cold than I had been in the Tour-Trans-Austria. I stopped once to warm up then continued down the steep descent. Getting closer to the bottom, the road still twisted thru residential areas. I crossed a main highway and could see the border crossing up ahead. (Photo - view of La Salève from Swiss border)
I zipped thru to Switzerland and was still descending. A sign said Geneve 6 km away. I followed the signs and found my way to Mary’s apt without looking at the map. I made it just before darkness.
The train ride was super scenic from Brig with sunshine and huge mtns on both sides of the valley. I was optimistic I’d have a good ride from Andermatt,. Arriving to Andermatt, I just left the train when a “hello Marg” greets me from an approaching car. Surprise… it was Ruth and her sister, her sister’s two kids, mom and Alex’s parents. Ruth and Alex are my friends whose wedding I'm headed to this weekend. They all just happen to be on a drive. We chatted briefly. I tugged my luggage to my B&B 200 m away. 
My B&B is very basic though good enough. It is right next to where the Oberalp train goes up a huge climb. I can see the train outside my window. It looks like a ride from Disneyland with the train called “Glacier Express”. The trains are quiet and don’t toot their horns like in Canada.
The race started with a decent pace. Whoever was at the front broke the headwind for all.
The first climb was a gradual average grade of 5%. I was near the front of the pack with Leah. Then a 14% grade snuck in there and some of us drifted back. Our own little pack formed and we continued to climb at a hard comfortable pace.
I got caught up in the paceline and pulled to the front. Leah helped get the 6 guys to do the paceline and we kept back of them with me behind her. I needed all the rest I could get. We all stayed together thru narrow roads of the small villages. Some areas looked more like mountain bike trails with all the tree cover over us.
Many racers hung out a long time on the wooden docks eating post-race food. A lot of racers jumped in the lake or got thrown in.
I hung out with Leah and her mom for post-race by the water. Later, Team Tanner and I sat and soaked up the warm sun on the dock. We were happy to just sit.
We took our last chance to meet with a lot of racers. One rider sat by me during dinner and we chatted for quite awhile. When we exchanged email addresses I asked his team number and it was 51! I had wanted to thank and meet #51 since he helped me in the race yet didn’t know what he looked like. I was thrilled Lutz was him! 
This Tour was a very social bunch. A smaller group of racers meant a greater opportunity to meet the racers. The mix of teams with individual racers went well with all working together. With more individual racers, the incentive was there to be more open to meet others. More friendships formed all around. 
Quite a few beers were dranken at our table!
Once we hit the first steeper grades, I dropped off the pace as did some of the bigger boys including my favourite three Italian guys from Team Paola Pezzo. I knew if I could hang onto their steady pace I’d have good company on the descent. (TA Photo - Marg just behind Team Paola Pezzo in blue)
The leftover snow from earlier in the week made the mountain view outstanding. Up ahead I could see the final few curves with 100 metres elevation to climb yet. This gave me a surge of energy. I put my head down and just worked the final stretch and just caught up to the Italians before the crest. 
The solo Italian guy asked me if I just climbed all that in my 53. I was out-of-breath and it took me a moment to understand what he was asking. I then mistakenly said “no, my 50” meaning what large chain ring I had on my bike. I was mostly climbing in the big ring though they didn’t see me when I was in my small chain ring the last steep grade of the climb. So the Italians were impressed!
Joerg managed to get us seats at the front of the top of the double-decker. The views were great. It was scary whenever the bus turned a sharp corner as we came inches away from trees and buildings. The scenery was nice though it was a little disappointing not to see a lot of snow on the drive to Lienz. The weather was warmer once we went over the pass and down the other side of the mountain. The mountain road we were to ride today was open to vehicles. Just a bummer the race was called off.
At the evening pasta parties, I’ve been hanging out with Leah and her mom, and two other Canadian women racing on "Team Tanner", Erin McGann and Sandra Foweraker. Erin’s family, daughter Tanner (7-yr) and partner Greg, are here as well taking interesting side tours while we’re racing. (photo - Marg, Leah, Tanner, Erin, Sandra)
We concluded the big city Lienz was our least favourite place for the pasta party and accommodation. Our favourite place so far was teeny Neukirchen, each of us having very personable hosts at different B&Bs.
