Raw Union Festival

The first Raw Union of two raw foodist activists Matt Monarch and Angela Stokes was to take place on the Solstice. They turned their union into a festival with an open invite. The event was to take place at Angel's Organic Farm north of Ashland, Oregon which was on my way home.

This festival was smaller and more intimate than the Raw Spirit festival. Again, I had an exceptional time meeting new people from all over. I even partook in a raw speed dating event. It was another weekend of camping. I had the chance to take a yoga class with the beautiful Rainbeau Mars and a fitness class with Vegan Bodybuilder Robert Cheeke.


The Union itself was actually quite nice. I'm not a wedding person though there was something special about this whole gathering of like minded people. David Wolfe, one of the leading raw food gurus, is an Essene minister who was able to marry Matt and Angela.

The feast was amazing with a fine array of raw food items as well as the limitless chocolate bar and raw wedding cake. No-one left hungry and there were plenty leftovers. At least 300 people were fed this raw meal and it was cool to be part of the first mass raw food feast.


The evening ended with eclectic music and dance, very free spirited stuff. I am really liking hanging out at these events.

California Visits

I had 2 weeks before the next raw food event so I stopped to visit and train with friends in California. Leslie in Thousand Oaks who I met bike-touring in 1987, explored more of the Santa Monica roads with me. I finally got to ride Latigo road, twisty windy climbing up a canyon from the ocean. I was impressed when Leslie later jumped on my municycle and easily rode it. Apparently he learned when he was 12 and didn't tell me.

Met up with Jonathan Toker (Saltstick inventor) for a few rides

I took part in the Pride Run in L.A 5-km and 10-km running event. Those who did both events were ranked in the Ultra-pride event by their accumulated times. I was up for the challenge to get my cycling legs back running. I used my Garmin to stay within an 8-min mile pace for the 5-km event. It was hard to hold back and not go faster especially on the final stretch. I came in at 24:11 well on target. I had less than 6 min before the 10-km event started and almost missed the start as I was in the bathroom lineup. I ran the same pace for the first 5-km following the guy with the baby-jogger then picked it up in the last 5-km with whatever I had left. Course went out and back many times on Santa Monica Boulevard. Not overly exciting course though fans were cheering and it was easy to keep on pace. My 10-km time was 47:22. I was the only ultra runner to negative split! Awesome crowd and fun event.

Love the guy with the rainbow flag

In North Hollywood, I went cycling with my road racing bud Sandra and got to go on a wicked fast motorcycle ride with her husband Dino.

Met up with Transalp teammate Lou Kobin for a wicked ride in the Demonstration forest near Santa Cruz. After a steady climb we were rewarded with a 30-minute descent that switchbacked down. Lou and Eric live in a yurt which is surrounded by huge redwoods.

Met up with former Edmontonian ERTC-er Lance in Berkeley. I wish I caught a happy snap of Lance with his beard. Lance and his girlfriend Cherise joined me in checking out the famed raw food restaurant Cafe Gratitude. Yum-my!

Met up with Jason from Crankbrothers for a wicked mountain bike ride back of the Berkeley hills. Also met up for the Chicken Road Ride in Mill Valley with an added loop thru Mt Tam down to the ocean back up highway 1. The views were outstanding with riding on the high up cliffsides. After this ride, I jumped into my car for a very hot drive to Oregon.

Raw Spirit Food Festival

I was excited to include the Raw Spirit Festival in my plans. The festival was held at the Live Oak Campground in the Santa Ynez Valley 15 miles NW of Santa Barbara June 5-7. Wow, what a weekend of meeting new friends, hearing interesting speakers, eating yummy food, yoga, great music, and camping!!

Kevin & Annmarie Gianni (on the right) on a run overlooking the Santa Ynez Valley

There is so much information out there on raw foods. I respected each speaker that strongly held their viewpoint despite the conflicting views with other raw food speakers. It comes down to everyone has their own path to figure out what works best for them. I came away with bits of info from everyone I heard.

Workshop with David Wolfe

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 Kevin Gianni and his partner Annmarie as well as a few runners from the RawRunners.org group.

Marg with RawRunners and Annmarie & Kevin

Camping was roughing it with the lumpy dusty ground hoping no poison oak was hovering near any of the oak trees. Loved seeing this guy meditate in the hub bub of the campground and expo.

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 Second hand store.

The next day I found out the woman I helped was Dr. Flora Van Orden who had been assistant to wheatgrass guru Ann Wigmore. It was pretty mesmorizing to get to meet her and listen to the wealth of information she offered... she had stories upon stories. Hope to meet her again someday. BTW she was around 72 years old, travelled alone and was up for sleeping in a child's Princess tent... no doubt I was impressed!

Marg & Kriya checking out Dr. Flora's princess castle tent!

The people at this festival were very open and welcoming. I loved all the new friendships made and how we all bumped into each other.

There are two more festivals on the schedule this year and I highly recommend them for anyone interested in a great experience and a wealth of information for healthy living.

Borrego Springs Desert

I spent a few weeks recently cycle training in the awesome San Diego area riding the old favourite rides like the long route Swami's Sat ride and a few new ones including Arnie Baker's Wed ride.

Took a ride into Borrego desert with the famous Montezuma climb, the heat, and the blustery winds with my friends Magdalena and Tamara, originally from Venezuela.

New sightings of the huge statues in the middle of nowhere of Borrego prehistoric animals looked pretty real!


The villa the hobo stayed at for a few weeks

Raw Food talk - Friday!

Victoria and Valya Boutenko of the Raw Food Family are in Calgary this weekend. They are speaking on the value of green food in our lives. More information at AwesomeRawsome.com. They speak from experience creating healthy lives with the power of raw foods. I've read a few of their books and am empowered to put immensely more of the marvelous greens in my life.

Recommended reads: Green for Life, 12 Steps to Raw Food

Thrive Diet

Back in 2006, I started supplementing my diet with Brendan Brazier's protocol of hemp, flax, chlorella and maca. I was racing at a high level with the multi-day endurance races, with the continued stresses of life in general and the extra ones of race logistics, housing and funding without a good strategy for chilling out time. These all added up and impacted my health with weakened adrenals for recovery. Using Brendan's protocol was the only boost my body got at that time; and I believe got me thru the extra stress.

Currently, Brendan has a series of *free* videos which highlight super health and nutrition. Sign up for the series at: thrive in 30

Valuable life information that I wish I had known years ago... and definitely a way of life for me now.

Spring in Kelowna

I took an extended Easter break for cycle training staying out at my friend Mike's chalet in Kelowna on the lake. Typical up and down spring weather. For the most part, the cycling was superb! I joined the Sunday group (wickedly fast) ride and met two riders, Jen and Steve, for my ride on Monday. Tuesday night group mountain bike ride at Knox mountain was followed by a very yummy bbq and lasagna served up by Kelowna Cycle. Gotta like training here!
I did some yard work at Mike's place. The darn pine needles are a foot long, let alone how huge the pinecones are! When I went on the roof to clean off the pine needles, much to my surprise a raccoon scampered away. I assume he was the noise on the roof I heard the last couple nights. He had ripped away shingles and made a little hole under the rooftop. Mr. Coon just glared at me for discovering his new home. I covered the damage and nailed in a huge piece of plywood. These little guys are smart and go chalet to chalet until they are discovered. Thankfully, I got him before he dug his way into the chalet. The next night's sleep was peaceful...

I have one last ride around the lake today in brilliant sunshine, 141km and 1900m elevation gain. Sweet!

Biking NW of L.A.

With only 2 hours of sleep after flying into L.A. we were up super early to make the 2.5 hour drive to Solvang. I was joining my cycling bud Sandra and her hubby Dino on their weekend to Solvang for my first official Century Ride. By 7 a.m., Sandra and I started the 100-miler with 5000 other riders. Dino was riding the 50-mile route. Bonus for me was actually stopping at the feedzones - so unlike my typical races.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.

For my final ride, I joined the San Fernando Valley Bicycle Club. I was welcomed by this friendly group on an 85-mile ride throughout the Santa Monica mtns and Simi Valley area.

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.

Julie helping shovel the snow

Overnight, it snowed a record 25 cm in Calgary for my arrival home! The view out of the airplane window was wowing with the city unrecognizable covered in a blanket of white. Darcy, Ying, Julie and a soon to be little ox picked me up at the airport.

Apparently, the prior day was warm when Darcy took Julie out in the bike trailer. He was wearing shorts and a sleeveless jersey. Mountain city life!

More than EPIC - Lake Louise to Banff Loppet

The loppet was a traditional epic Rocky Mountain race 71 km point-to-point from Lake Louise to Banff.

Marg skittering thru the rough trails

While the snow was in reasonable condition and the weather was pleasant, the previous night's wind storm with major snow devils blew debris over most of the trails making it the most challenging course ever!

A trail with only a little debris!

It was a feat to remain upright and not dead stop upon a pinecone or twig spread all over the trails in the trees. The open parts of the course treated us to sections of good snowy ski trails and outstanding mountain views.

Skiers crossing train tracks; Volunteers shovelled snow over the tracks after each train came by

After a long tiring race, a favourable 50 kph wind helped get me to the finish line quickly on the final 5 km stretch on the Bow River.

The marsh section, no tracks only flagging tape

My skis survived the debris with only marginally "natural" stone grinding. The party at the Sally Borden was superb with time to share stories with racers. A must race for anyone into epics!

Results at http:///www.loppet.ca

Team Bikes & Beyond - Paul, Jeff, Philip and Marg

Marg with former and current Winnipeggers on a post-race ski at Canmore

"Epic" Lake Louise to Banff Loppet

The Lake Louise to Banff loppet is a 71-km point-to-point classic race which starts on the frozen Lake Louise in front of the Chateau. It is a 6-leg relay race which allows solo racers as well. Leg 1 descends over 200 metres elevation in a few km and then follows old highway 1A meandering on trails tucked in the trees. The last leg is on the frozen Bow River 10 km into Banff.

The race was postponed last Sunday due to the -31C weather and windchill. With the darn Chinook's warm winds this week, the latter half of the course is abit icy. The temperatures will be nice around -5C to -10C, though it is to snow 5 cm as we are skiing making for slower conditions.

From my experience in the past, after the first two immaculately groomed legs, it turns into an adventure ski of an assortment of conditions including bare patches, jumping logs and icy descents. My rock skis are buffed and ready to roll across anything in its path... well almost anything.

I laughed at this entry the race organization recently wrote "Trail crews were out yesterday renovating the snow and resetting track where possible. Leg 2: Three delinquent moose are walking on the trail around Baker Creek. If you see them, give them the right of way. They're bigger than you are."

My old Ecochallenge teammate Philip from Winnipeg is flying in tonight to join me, and we'll be sharing accom with another hardcore skier Darryl Mekechuk from Calgary.

It'll be a fun race... with the unexpected along the way! I'm hoping to get the expected locally-made brownies at the feedzones which fueled me to the finish in 2004 and 2006!

Skiing my way through the holidays

Kayak Christmas Lights!! (surfski on the left)

Black & White Christmas!

...with my nieces and sister-in-law... Darn I'm the shortest!

November x-c skiing

Snow is slow to come this year. The first place with predictable snow is on Morraine Lake road in Lake Louise. 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.

Kamren showing fine classic form of single kick-double pole!

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Kamren joined me on Saturday for 18 km classic on Morraine Lake Road and 20 km skate on the Great Divide. Super nice to have a buddy to ski with.

The view 9 km up on Morraine Lake Road

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Lake Louise frozen over

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I've got a snow dance going to get more snow in Kananaskis in the coming weeks.

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Best websites for up-to-date trail information:

KANANASKIS TRAIL INFO

BANFF NATIONAL PARK (Lake Louise) TRAIL INFO

Fall Paddle

Tuesday paddle upstream in the North Saskatchewan River. Notice the bits of frozen ice on the shoreline. It was nice to get on the water again!

Fall Riding 26C!

I met with Kamren and his buddy Zach for a fun ride on our 'cross bikes in the warm 26C afternoon. We followed Kamren from Millcreek up & down every grassy hill or trail that he could find... all the way to Goldbar including a loop of Goldstick trails. He even made us climb Gallagher ski hill on the grass!

Photo - downtown Edmonton from Goldbar bridge

The fall colours were amazing and unbelievable to have such a nice weather day for riding. I couldn't believe the rooty singletrack trails Kam took us on. I did my darndest to keep up and not crash.

Photo - Kamren riding up Kinnard Ravine

One Last Swiss Hike

The morning after a cold night sleeping in the unheated hotel, I had a nice last visit with the wedding guests at breakfast. Most people were going hiking from the hotel that morning. I took the first van shuttle down to the Talstation.

Two buses and a few train connections later, I arrived to Einsiedeln, the site of the fast mountain bike race called Iron Bike, 101-km with 3,600 m elevation gain (12,000'). I was meeting up with Sandra Tschümperlin who was the 3rd place women finisher at Tour-Trans-Austria. Sandra raced the 77-km version of this race and came in 2nd. Not bad for her first year of racing. Ironbike is a race I'd like to go in sometime.

The next morning, Sandra took me up the local mountain Grosser Mythen 1,902 m/6,240'. It was a well trodden path that lead up the steep switchbacks on a rocky trail. Every path is marked with a yellow sign indicating the walking time to the next village. The red sign marked the route of the Ironbike race which went by the base down a technical rocky descent.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.

Spent my last night in Zurich with Alex and Ruth. It was nice to chat about the wedding and their upcoming trip to Nepal. I was filled in the translation of Alex's wedding vows and they were similarly touching as Ruth's.

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!