Last Saturday was the official end of my cycling season. But to be honest my training finished a few weeks ago and I was just floating through the the last few cyclocross races. The results really showed my lack of effort but my focus had shifted to skiing and recharging the batteries (aka drinking a lot of beer).
This ski season is poised to be a great one and my new job will allow me a lot of flexibility to chase snow. With three weeks of skiing already scheduled for the interior of British Columbia, I am hoping that I will be able to get some major vertical mileage in this winter. Now hopefully the weather will cooperate.
This week the weather has continued to be warm but has brought major snow to the high elevations. This should set up the base for the remainder of the season. The Duffey should be in prime shape for the upcoming weekend.
With some other commitments keeping me from doing a bigger day I went to my local spot to get some early season fitness work. Even though I spend 12hrs a week on a bike for most of the year and really never become out of shape, the muscles and stabilizers needed to skin all day need some tuning. Off to Mount Seymour for a quick lap. I love Seymour for the quick access and sometimes great skiing, but most of all for a way to blast some quick turns when the feeling strikes me.
The North shore hasn't seen much snow yet and the ground coverage was minimal. Just enough to not hit anything on the way down. Dodging dog poop and rocks was more of a challenge then the skiing itself. A steady stream of people enjoying the snow trailed behind me and I picked them off one by one. Guess my cycling habits don't stop on the road. The increase in use at Mount Seymour has created some challenges for parking during the winter and from the looks of it the challenges are only going to intensify.
This snow man seems to be from another world
The run up the Seymour ski area is really relaxing and sure beats running or riding in the rain. A quick hop up the ski run to check out the new High-Speed Quad. This is sure to help the lift lines this winter. Yep it was dumping up there and about time, still another 50cms would be needed to get the lifts running.
A little birdy dropped something new on my desk Friday and it found its way on this tour. Lazer has a long history in the bike and moto market and has just launched a line of snow helmets. Pretty slick I must say and it doesn't look like a basketball on my head like my Giro G10 helmet. Looking forward to putting this helmet through its paces. It has an integrated Gopro mount which might entice me into some video this winter.
Nothing beats a hike in the mountains and silky turns down no matter how short it was.
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