1st x-c ski of the season Oct.15th!!

We had only a few inches of snowflakes fall the last couple days. I quickly took the storage wax off my skate-skis and went to Victoria golf course in the morning. There was just enough snow to glide over the manicured golf course grass. It helped that coach Corey already set his own tracks the night before. Super sweet to be on skis again! A couple hours later, the snow was all melted.

Dust off the Cross Bike

Last weekend, it was fun watching the Canadian National Cyclo-cross championships in my hometown. The sub-freezing snowy conditions made it treacherous for the racers. I was super motivated watching all the women persevere. Enough so, that I traded my "massive" Lemond frame in for a spiffy 41cm Ridley X-Fire. Thanks to Guri at Pedalhead Road Works. Off to race a double header in Calgary this weekend. Last raced cross in 2005. Hope I remember how to dismount/mount correctly!

Ain't she sweet...

Farewell Okanagan

My last few weeks have been filled with awesome rides with strong riders in the Okanagan valley. Long distance rides with Leah Goldstein who is off to storm the ultra race Furnace Creek 508 this weekend. Wicked fast rides with lots of elevation while glued onto the wheel of pro-Ironman athlete Scott Neyedli.

Marg & Scotty at the IM-Canada famed spot in Keremeos

Dipping into the lake was a treat after any of these rides. The great Sunday road group ride and very social Tuesday night mtnbike rides were awesome ending with a good meal with the mtnbikers after. I got one last epic mountain bike ride in with an old Edmonton rider Andrea Bergen. We were in awe of the fall colours and the wicked singletrack.
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A few cool sitings... sitting in the chalet, movement outdoors caught my eye. Three bears strolled into the yard!
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.

Length of the Lake

It was awesome to take a day off as a spectator as I went to watch the Length of the Lake race. It started at Kin Beach in Vernon, had pitstops in Fintry, Bear Creek, Peachland, and Summerland before hitting the end of the lake in Penticton around 100-km later. Years past, I had wanted to do this race as a solo surfskier though never had the chance.

teeny OC6's barely seen in the top corner view

1st speedy change-over at Fintry

off go a fresh crew...

What a day the paddlers had with major winds churning up through the day making a long paddle seem even longer! OC paddler Shirley Benson - weary and smiling!

I loved sitting out on the dock watching the change-overs, either outrigger or surfski changes. Some solos went by. Watching the paddlers go off into the huge windy waves put a smile on my face... I guess remembering the good paddling a few years back and mostly loving paddling into the waves.

Intuition or Whining?

After a great race in Tahoe, I thought it'd be cool to get in the epic Bow80 for some more great riding. The Bow 80 is the utmost greatest race course I've been on in all my races around the world, right in my own backyard... well, it's Alberta. The conditions had been super dry and fast. I made the 7-hour drive on Sat and hung out in West Bragg Creek with the Hughes family, getting a kite airborne and enjoying the wilderness surroundings.

Super early race morning it was raining. I was optimistic that the forecast for 1 mm was going to pass. Hanging out at the race start pre-daylight, I was wide-eyed wondering if the rain was going to let up. It was probably 5C at 5000'. I tossed around the pros and cons of going out to race in the rain wondering if I was "whining" for not wanting to go out! I've done enough "survival" events and really wanted to ride the excellent trails... health was a concern and lack of body fat! As the rain came down harder... conclusion... get the car running! My drive back was brilliant with autumn colours as well as fresh snow on the mountain peaks. I wondered how the race was going as I drove off...

Awesome recaps of the race:
Dallas Morris - "Wow"
Gabor's "Pedal for your life"
Cory Wallace - "Double Header Gongshow" (the Snow80!)
Old lady intuition wins out on this one!

Test Ride in Tahoe

Within a week span, I had a dust-laden 2008 Scott Scale 10 shipped from a small bike shop in Oakville, new brake set put on by Evan down at Gregg’s Greenlake Cycle in Seattle so I could run Stan’s notubes ZTR Race 7000 wheelset… and zipped off south to Soda Springs, California at 7000’ elevation. Nothing like testing the bike out in a 100-mile ultra-endurance race in Tahoe country!

My old trusty Trek had been stolen when my car was stolen back in June. Since then I have only put around 4 hours of mountain bike time on my first race bike from 1995, an 8-speed Stumpjumper. Thanks to all who helped with parts (Ed, Di & Al) and offers to lend bikes (Trevor, Cindy). The thought of my lack of mountain bike saddle time scared me just a little for this race!

The course started with 8 miles of mostly descent. I was surprised to maintain a quick pace amongst the men and didn’t even think of the crazy speed we were taking on this bumpy forest road together. I stuck with a strong looking woman ahead of me and realized it was Louise Kobin, my TransAlp race partner from 2005. Wow, Lou has since gotten amazingly more powerful and dominated the pace for the climbs. She was dropping the boys like flies!

Looking at the course on paper, there were a lot of fire roads and only 2 sections of single track. In reality, the first 10-km single track was plenty long and brutally rocky. I was pretty beat after descending this long technical section. As I rode by a prickly high alpine brush, I was left with little welt marks and winced each time. The scenery high up was outstanding which I mostly took in peripherally as to keep my focus on the blazing trails.

Elevation gain 12,500 feet - long jarring descents

The feedzones were a welcome sight and I partook at almost all of them. The volunteers were awesome grabbing my camelbak to fill it and lubing my dry chain with oil. The course was ultra dusty. I was caked head to toe in dust.

The 2nd singletrack section was part of the Western States 100-mile running race. It was amazing following a cliffy ridge line. I chilled, took my time and enjoyed it. This was only 55 miles into the race. And it seemed like a longgggg way to go yet.

Lots of climbing left. I cried when there was yet another descent. My neck/shoulders biceps/triceps hands/fingers were just -aching-. Yeah, I loved using my new Formula R1 disc brakes a lot, maybe a little too much on the descents! New to the disc brake world, I was wowed by the control they gave over the speed of the bike. I had a few twitchy moments where I thought I lost it… though the bike worked with me and I was upright the whole time.

The Selle Italia SLR saddle on my bike was sweet, comfy, though was cut slim. It had no outward part to rest the thighs during descents. My inner thighs were whipped on the long bumpy descents as I tried to brace on the nothingness of this saddle. I may have to switch it out for endurance races.

The last 10 miles to the finish was a slog for me. Eating bits of HoneyStinger berries and dates helped keep me going. Dates are my new favourite energy food - taste like carmel candy with the bonus of quick glycogen energy.

Weather was perfect with an overcast sky keeping the blazing sun toned down. Most of the course was shaded in the trees. I finally made it to the finish 9 hours 22 minutes. Lou finished 25 minutes ahead of me. Tinker Juarez won the race and Canadian Cory Wallace from Jasper came in 2nd. Cory has been getting into incredible adventures with great stories on his blog.
I stayed at the Clair Tappaan Lodge a couple miles away run by the Sierra Club. Inexpensive like a hostel and has awesome chef made meals. A group of online guitar members got together for a Groetsch guitar specialty weekend. Nice to hear the jamming of music as my weary body got some rest.
Going to this race was a highlight for me... the scenic drive down, the frantic prep getting the bike together, visiting friends on-route in Seattle and Ashland. Most of all, it was my first mountain bike race in 2 years since my health got quirky in 2007! I was thrilled the whole time riding being back in action!!

Post-race sand & sweat covered - my new bike!! ...all 18.5 lbs!!!

Thanks to Mike at Notubes for sending me the wicked Race 7000 wheelset. I've run Stan's notubes system since 2003 and I won't go back to using tubes again. My new ZTR Race 7000 wheelset is only 1225 grams! I set them up with Kenda Karma tube tires with a couple scoops of Stan's sealant inside. Had my first experience with blowing a tire off the rim using a footpump... the ringing in my ears had me flop on the bed for a few minutes. I will never overinflate again! With Stan's setup, I run my tire pressure at 17 PSI in the front and 20 PSI in the rear. The lower air pressure gives me alot more grippy tire to ride and lets me rip faster descending (as long as I remember to let go of the brakes!). I have no fears of punctures as the sealant does it's job sealing the puncture if it happens. I haven't flatted - I haven't noticed!

Mt Seymour Hillclimb + 4 hours

Made a quick trip to Vancouver staying at friends' Guy and Killaine's North Vancouver home wayyy up Mtn Hwy. The lure was the Mt Seymour Challenge road race... a 12.2 km road climb up an average 9% grade. There was a light mist the whole race keeping us refreshed.

love the tall north shore trees
photo - Guy Trotter

Mass start of 20 women, the pace went out quite comfortable. Leah Goldstein soon shook up the pack. Leah gapped myself and the red/white jersey woman.

The pack... Marg standclimbing with Leah (in blue) just before making a break

photo - Guy Trotter

Another group of 4 riders were gapped behind us. I used my mental energy to stay with this powerful woman. We kept Leah in sight until the fog hid her. 2 km to go, my body cried that the pace was hard and it had been a good race up to that point. I hung in there until 1 km to go when I let red/white woman go. I needed that 30 second breather at my pace then I stormed on to the finish.

podium - marg leah powerful-red/white-jersey-woman

Afterwards, I joined Leah for more mileage. Leah is training for the Furnace Creek 508 in October (508 mile continuous road race!). We rode all the cool climbs on the North Shore... Lillouet road up to the Watershed (super scenic), Mtn Hwy to drop off my backpack, Lonsdale down Capilano back up to the mountain climb Cypress and to homebase. That was a good 5+ hour day for me, possibly 3000m elevation gain! Totally unexpected day to go on a long ride and have good company.

bear patrol volunteer duty with Killaine

Le Tour de Bowness

Stage 1 - COP hillclimb, 1.3 km 10% grade. New record set at 4 min 0.4 seconds (with a little 60 kph wind assist!).

Thanks to an old work buddy Mike Dickinson whose son now races... for all the awesome race photos.

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Stage 2 - 40 min criterium, 7-corner 950 metre loop in Bowness. It was a little sketchy in this pack of young women. I put my bit of work in on the short hill climb each loop. One loop I even tried a double which meant attacking the climb then hauling hard the rest of the loop back up another hill. Phew!

love seeing everyone work behind me on that short hill surge!  photo - Mike Dickinson

Most of the women took their turn with an attack throughout the race. After the last corner, five women sprinted away the long stretch for the finish. I persevered, put my head down and did what I could on the flat stretch. Doh, I let up a metre before the line and another women zipped in placing me in 7th. Did I mention the pavement was super rough like a cyclocross course!

Marg counter-attacking picking up powerful Pepper Harlton on the way
 -  photo Mike Dickinson

Stage 3 - 48km Circuit Race, 5.3 km loop on a twisty rolly course with a big climb to the finish. Into the first loop, I took a jab at the hill to see how best to hit it. It was around 600 metres long starting gradual with a steep 7% pitch towards the end. The long stretch at 2% grade would be the challenge before it levelled off to the finish line.

It was fun to have teammates Heather and Chantal as well as Danika and even Pepper to work with. We did what we could against the super strong National team rider Alison Testroete. We all took turns with pulls or attacks. Still a substantial group into the last loop.

photo - Mike Dickinson

The front riders took the final tight turn fast. This left me off the back as the pack was already sprinting up the hill. Confident I would catch on before the steep grade, I caught up to the pack at my own pace. I was blocked as the pack was spread from the yellow line over to the ditch side. I hung back and watched to see when Alison would make her move to sprint. When she did, I squeaked past a rider near the yellow line and jumped on Alison's wheel. Ahh, nice ride into the finish for 2nd!

Overall points for the 3 stages put me in 2nd for the Omnium. Pretty awesome for my first cycling race of the season and for a "seasoned" rider. There were alot of youngsters in this race!!

photo with Beau the RCMP

The Flying Squirrel

Racing the hillclimb, I felt like a flying squirrel... just as I was on the start line, the threatening dark skies had approached and the winds started swirling. I am one of the few riders who attempts this climb in the big chainring 53. COP (Canada Olympic Park) 10% average grade hillclimb for 1.3 km. I was wondering when best to shift down to the small ring for the tough grade to the finish.

http://extension.unh.edu/NHOutside/2007/03/flying_squirrels.html

Right off the start, it was easier to climb than normal. The pace was fast. I was surprised as my two pre-rides up the climb were hard and I choked for air at the top due to the dryness. I sensed one gal on my wheel as it was a 3-up time trial. I passed one wind devil of sand into the wind. On each westerly turn I flew with the wind up the next stretch. 2nd last corner, Crazy Larry was cheering like a Tour de France hillclimb fan running and waving. After the last corner into the wind, I was literally blown up the hardest 12% grade to the westerly finish, even having to shift into a higher gear! I was shocked how easy the climb was.

The bigger shock was breaking the record by 7 seconds and winning in 4 min 0.4! I attributed it to the wind, yet I realize all the women had the same strong wind too. 2nd place was Nik who was on my wheel the whole way until I sprinted away at the finish. The big chain ring was key this time.

I checked the weather around my start time 7:36 p.m. Here's the graph with the peak wind at 60 kph just around 8 p.m. Wow! Fellow ERTC teammate Cody Canning also broke the men's record.

Unfortunately, this wind caused some havoc in the city with power outages including a death of a child hit by debris blown from a construction site. Crazy strong wind.

Tour de l'Alberta

After a nice long ride with my cycling group on a crazy hot 32C Saturday, I decided to go into the Tour de l'Alberta the following day. This Tour is 180 km travelling north of Edmonton thru the small French community towns. It's not a race though eventually groups form and ride together. I was hoping to get into a fast group for a decent workout. A group of 6 guys in yellow motorola jerseys jumped to the front. I followed and it was pretty fun working with them. We stopped a few times to get food/water from the feedzones in the towns.

Matt Decore, a strong mountain bike racer, hooked up with our group. At one of the only two hill sections the entire loop, Matt went hard and I jumped as well like a dog chasing down a frisbee! Soon, it was just Matt and myself headed together to the finish. The winds were against us going west. It helped to take turns pulling. We talked about racing future team races together as we had good teamwork pulling to the end.

Watermelon Smoothie!

Anywhere I have travelled these last few months, my hosts have been my guinea pigs for my Green Smoothie concoctions that I've been making with my VitaMix. It's cool to see everyone open to trying the green drinks. My best testers were Jacquie's kids who were just as excited to put the high-speed blender on to mix the smoothie as well as to clean it!

hamming it up with the miniature hamsters

Tonight, after a wicked Tuesday night cycling interval session with my bike club ERTC, I made a recovery drink out of my seeded organic watermelon. She was all of 19 lbs and made for a great work-out carrying it from the store.

Nick, my Greek roomie, was my tester and we loved the blended drink which included the white pulp and the seeds all meshed in together. It would be even more super tasty frozen. Ummm!

Seek the Peak - outcome

This race was... AWESOME!! Super scenic, strategic, and my kind of challenge. Total mental focus on pacing up to the Grind (10km), hammering the Grind (3km - 2800' elevation gain), peaking Grouse and remaining relaxed for the descent to the finish.

I held a conservative pace on the first 10 km. Once I hit the Grind, I put my head down and passed alot of people. 2/3 of the way, my calves were on the verge of cramping to the point I thought I might have to drop out if they did (overbalance of super quad and no trained calves/ham). My breath rate was relaxed and my legs had no lactic acid so I was bummed to ease my pace.

Strolling up the Grind natural stairclimb

At the top of the Grind, the last uphill was on gravel with a steep grade to my liking. At the top, I was pensive on the descent to not cramp. Yay, I finished with no cramps and 2nd woman - awesome! I was 4 minutes off last year's record time though Tania Percy smashed her record again this year. Funny to see the leg splits... my Grind section was 12th fastest overall! and faster than Tania's.

My grade school friend Jacquie's mom also went in the race. Helen is inspiring at 67 years old and came 2nd in the age category. Ever since I've known Jacquie, her mom has run races.

Jacquie Sabourin, Helen Sabourin, Marg Fedyna

 

Seek the Peak

On Sunday, I will lace up my running shoes and take part in the "Seek the Peak" charity run from the shores of Ambleside in North Vancouver all the way up to the peak of Grouse Mountain. The event is 16 km with 4100' elevation gain. It includes the Grouse Grind trail. It will be an awesome training event for a cyclist with all the uphill. I look so forward to it. The past week has been eventful with the disappearance of my home stored in my car. More on that later.

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!