Ontario.ca/Progress

I owe this blog a massive update -- but for not, here is a massive picture of all the great things Ontarians are accomplishing together! Get the whole story at ontario.ca/progress. Hope everyone's having a wonderful summer!

April: Bikes!

Loving this month's Ontario Outdoor desktop calendar photo selection. Fitting too, since April is the first month of 2011 I did NOT purchase a metropass ... c'mon good weather!

Race Report: Paul's Dirty Enduro

Another first! No, not first place ... first time trying out another one of the great fall mountain bike events Ontario has to offer. Many of you were kind enough to pledge my 100km singletrack race adventure and let me tell you, your donations went to a great cause, a great race, run by a great bunch of volunteers.

We got to Ganaraska just as the sun was peeking out over the horizon. It was a long day in every sense of the word. At the start, I don't think I was totally awake yet. At "go" I had that "oh yeah, there's a race today" thought that usually means I'd be coaxing heavier-than-usual legs through the first few minutes.

Kind of like the marathon last week, after about 20km, I considered myself "in it". But by then, Queen Heather had already put about 5 minutes into me. Hmmm. I decided that since pacing would obviously be the main challenge of the day I'd just concentrate on holding onto second.

The First 40 Kilometres

... were not my favourite. We were using trails shared by dirt bikes which meant that every climb had basically one line: up the middle of a ditch just a little wider than your pedals. So that meant any slip and you were digging your foot into the side. And slipping was hard to avoid since most of the dirt would be better described as wet sand. With mud puddles. I was glad to put those behind me.

Enter Gavin

Another challenge was riding alone in the woods. With so much terrain, and so few riders, there was very little to keep the mind on track. I was day dreaming non-stop. Musing over the porcupine quills I saw scattered on the trail. Scaring up grouse. Freaking out over the complete carpeting of poison ivy on the forest floor. And then a friendly guy came up behind me and we decided to ride together for both our sakes. All of a sudden a whole hour was down but since we were chatting the whole time, it felt like a few minutes, and our average speed had increased. Awesome. Huge thanks to Gavin, otherwise, I don't know if I would have gone out for the second 60km loop.

The Pit Stop

As you've probably gathered, the course was made up of a 40km loop and a 60km loop. Between the loops, we rode right by the car so I had a chance to make a pit stop, change bottles, take off layers, neutralize poison ivy, eat and then get back on the trail. Of course, my timing was impeccable, and I ended up setting out right behind the racers starting the 60km distance. That meant a huge field was between us and the rest of the 100km riders. Oh no. Gavin and I worked together to pass as many as possible on the open sections, opting to hurt a little now to save a little waiting later in the singletrack. It was going great, we were having a good time and moving at a good clip despite the many "slow-trains" we rode as we worked our way through the field. And then ...

Garmin Fail

... I looked down. And my Garmin was GONE. In a race this long, that little gadget was keeping great company monitoring the passing kilometres and tracking our average speed. Not to mention, I'd only had it returned the night before (thanks Sweet Pete's!) after the LAST time it jumped off my handlebars. That incident resulted in a replacement unit. The one that was now presumably lying in the dirt somewhere. Design flaw? I think so. In a flash decision I told Gavin the fun was over for me, I'd have to turn around. I knew I wouldn't be able to find peace about a [expensive] lost tool unless I'd done all I could to try to find it, so I turned around to ride upstream in a river of riders. Before long, I got to a marshal and stopped to ask her if anyone had turned it in. She said she hadn't had one yet. I was in the middle of making sure it was alright with her to continue into tighter terrain against the grain to try and find it when ...

Garmin Guardian Angel

... a young man, I think from Mountainview Cycling Club (or else a similar blue and white kit) stopped and said, "Are you looking for this?" and pulled my Garmin out of his jersey pocket. Holy shit. The odds are staggering and thank goodness for him!! I made him stop long enough for me to give him a big hug before turning him loose on the singletrack once again. As for the Garmin, I replaced it in my jersey pocket, NOT the stem mount. Huge thank you to you, whoever you are.

Where'd you come from?

After the Garmin incident, things started going downhill -- figuratively speaking. Literally speaking, they were still going very much UPhill. I knew I was losing speed, but I was confident I could keep 'er going enough to hold my position while keeping suffering to a minimum. So at check points, I let myself get off the bike and enjoy some orange wedges and bananas. I chatted with the volunteers and other racers and then moved on. This was great for a couple rest stations, but then seemingly out of nowhere (but actually out of my own lax riding), third place was on my wheel, then cheerily calling a pass and wishing me a good ride. Wha ...?! How did I let this happen?

So I paced her for a bit to get an idea of what kind of effort I'd need to put her behind me before unleashing an Ocup-Style final 30km. This was actually hugely enjoyable (ha -- read "painful") because the second loop was much more flowy than the first, with way better dirt too. Riding fast is always fun, and it was nice to know I had deeper fitness than I'd thought. Mental strength on the other hand ...

Well it was also very nice to see the finish line, let me tell you.

Results

I ended up in second, as planned and took home a neat little pottery plaque and a medicine ball for my efforts. We all enjoyed an awesome chili lunch and a good sit in the grass chatting with riding buddies and new friends we'd met while neutralizing poison ivy with a garden hose.

Huge thanks to the volunteers who put out a massive effort to make such a great event run so smoothly. And heck, they even ordered up good weather. Would I do it again? Hmmm ... ask me when my body stops aching. ;)

Race Report: Ocup #6, Kelso

I had a good feeling about Kelso. Despite being laid low with strep leading up to the race, not to mention my general lacklustred-ness this season, I still had a warm little corner of my heart for this race. I followed Steve Neal's advice for the first week after recovering, and then had some great rides at the start of last week to shock ... errr, welcome ... my body back into some kind of shape. Top it all off with a totally zen preride on Wednesday and that would have been plenty for me. But to seal the deal, I had the support of not one, not two, but of SIX whole cheerleaders, just for me. Spoiled!!

Gerhard's parents happened to be in town the weekend of the race and being the good sports they are, were totally game to head out to Milton for race day. Gerhard and Adlar, his little bro, came too. And my parents made the trip from Port Elgin, so my stoke was all time.

Kelso can be an intimidating course, given the ginormous climb right off the bat. But having my squad lining the trail turned my usual strategy of survival into one of actual hunting and bike racing I haven't yet enjoyed this season. They'll have to come to all my races from now on, I think.

Anyway, with G's mom to help move things along in the morning, we got out right on schedule and I even had extra hands to load up all the stuff. Didn't even have to drive. Mellow. She kept asking me what she could do to help and the concept was so foreign to me I had a hard time coming up with an answer. And yet still, she seemed to know what to do. Awesome. We got to the venue, got sorted and then I left them to explore while I got ready.

At this time, I should also mention another contributor to my best race this season: Jerome! On Tuesday night, he was kind enough to give me a crash course on elite level tuning. We went over my bike inch by inch, component by component and lubed, tightened, trued and screwed every possible surface. My bike FINALLY felt like my bike when we were through, and I left with knowledge, a perfectly-squishy ride, and a shopping list. That's not to say the guys in the shop don't do a fantastic job, but they're very busy gentlemen, and haven't usually got 2.5 hours to spend on one bike. Which mine needed. Things were wrong with it I didn't even know could be wrong.

Speaking of the shop, my next thanks is to Owen and the guys for helping me complete and install said list at the shop. All new contact points: grips, saddle and cleats.

Back to race day: installing a new saddle is second only to changing tires for my least favourite bike-maintenance activity. I'm never sure of what I'm doing and it seems like I'm adjusting things forever after, even with careful measurements. It never feels the same. Anyway, with my old saddle bent (how'd THAT happen?) there was no getting around it. Although I suspect that this bent saddle business has a lot to do with why my shoulder pops out all the time. Hmmm. So better to have a saddle that's a bit too far forward or back than one that is literally hurting me. During the race I realized that I move around so much it probably doesn't make that much difference.

Anyway, warm up. Decide to second-guess saddle position. Twice. Back to the van for adjustments.

Get sorted.

Get start bottle from mom.

Get good luck kiss from G.

Get going!

Up we went. Our pack quickly turned into a single file train up the service road climb. The rest of the course was so open and fast that unless you put time into your competition on the climb, you probably wouldn't put much time into them at all. With that in mind, I was happy to be in the front half of our group. And then the girl in front of me stalled, my wheel hit hers, the girl behind me hit mine, and we all had our feet down while the front of the train steamed away.

Thus unseated, I ran for it. Oh my god how I hate to run from a sudden stop when my heart rate is red lined. On the bright side, this little slip made me angry, in a good way, and I put it into my pedals. The result was a pretty awesome little bike race between me and Erica Bota for the first two laps. Back and forth a bunch of times, then riding with each other in sight for sections, before I hit a wall on the third climb and couldn't close the gap. After Erica, I never saw another girl.

But I did see my cheerleaders!! Every lap they were in a different section, snapping pictures, and yelling really loud. Gerhard's dad has a booming voice, and he isn't shy. My mom stood out no matter what in her pretty blue outfit, so even as I came barreling out of the single track, and everything blurs except the trail in front of me, I could see her.

I'll just say one more time, support is so, so awesome. Every mountain bike racer will tell you hearing your name pulls out a little bit more from tired muscles and pumping heart.

So then I finished and stuff. Got a little air on the finishing stretch, collected chocolate milk and congratulated Erica before heading over to regroup with my "team". Congrats to Sue Stephens, the day's winner! The only mark on my day was the mark I left on my bike when I wobbly-kneed tried to dismount and clipped the top tube with my cleat. DOOOOHHHH. Alas. It's a mountain bike, I guess.

Oh, another little story: after the race Chico asked me "for a word". I was worried I was in trouble, and sure enough, someone had apparently suggested that a "female Sweet Pete's Elite rider caused a crash in some double track". Huh? I had no recollection of this run-in and relayed the story of the only time I had contact with another rider. It was when HE hit ME sliding out of a high speed turn. Neither of us went down, and he apologized when he passed me shortly after. Anyway, if there was another incident, and you were involved and are reading this, I assure you, I was not aware of it. I was pushing so hard I had that annoying loss of hearing that feels like there's water in your ear and all you can hear is your pulse and your breathing. So if there was some missed communication I'm sorry, and I'm sorry you crashed.

Besides that little question mark, I was in amazing spirits. I rode well, I rode my best, I had a great result (8th [for the fourth race out of five], collecting 6th place points thanks to two Kiwis from New Zealand's visiting national team ahead of me) and re-ignited the love of going fast on bikes from wherever it was flickering all season. Just in time for fall racing and a winter of getting back on track I'd say.

We closed the day with a proper meeting-of-the-families in Milton at an Irish Pub (that also served Mexican, Greek and Indian) complete with fishing stories.

As if the day wasn't good enough, mom sent us back to Toronto with fresh farm fare, and BAKING. Mmmmm, cracked wheat chocolate chip cookies and fresh zucchini bread. I'm a lucky girl.

Thanks to Mom, Dad, Gerhard, Adlar, Gerhard (G's dad), Christine, Jerome, Owen and the shop, and Steve Varga for feeding me.

Can't believe there's just one left!

Kelso

Opened up my email today and saw the monthly Chico report. Clicked it and to my surprise, I saw ME! A nice reminder of last year's glorious season. I've decided to give Kelso a shot afterall, hopefully to train through for provincials two weeks later. So not really carrying a lot of expectation, but I am excited because it sounds like there will be a cheering section this time. Woo hoo! Plus, I love riding Kelso (except maybe that infamous service road climb).

After email, my next stop was Chicoracing.com to see if the course map is up -- and it is! Looks like a fun old time -- I relish any opportunity to go DOWN the Ugly Up instead of climbing it, so this course is definitely Kris-approved. Hope to get out for preride on Wednesday the 4th, if anyone cares to join.

Race Report: Ocup #5, Buckwallow

We arrive at Buckwallow ... and yes, I painted my nails to match my race kit (for you Thorsten!)

Another Ocup, come and gone. But this wasn't just ANY Ocup! This was Bucky, my favourite course, and to make it an even sweeter deal, I had a cheerleader and personal photographer accompany me for his first ever race-of-any-kind experience. Chike kept the day super positive from my perspective, on what was otherwise a pretty tough race for me. David, from the sport-class was along as well and we had a great relaxed drive up in the minivan for his 11:30 race.

David, all class in sport class

I like to go early because I get a chance to say hello to folks, watch some racing, and with Chike there it was fun to show him around as well. He even learned how to feed!

The weather was great. The sun beat down as it has been for the past week, but thankfully, not quite as intense as the heatwave a few days prior. Still, it became apparent that the heat would be a problem pretty much as soon as I spun out for my warm up on the Muskoka Parkway.

I ride Shimano components, and since my brakes run on mineral oil instead of automotive braking fluid, i was dealing with a common side affect: expanding fluid pushing my pads into my rotors making a very disheartening sh-ch-sh-ch-sh-ch sound as my rotors went round and round. with conventional brake fluid, i think there's a little more resilience when it comese to environmental factors. Oh well, no time to do a thing about it, not that i'd know what to do anyway. So, I had to line up with a little piano tied to my ass.

On top of that, my warm-up left me feeling a little TOO hot out there on the pavement. I went through almost two bottles of water (one with eload) before the race began and still had dry-mouth and nausea. "oh boy" i thought, but i still felt like I had a good day in me. Especially with aforementioned cheerleader standing by!!

The start was crazy -- Mike (the property owner) had warned me about a rock that comes up fast on the left side of the opening double track. Apparently he'd seen his fair share of endos as people launched themselves into unexpected "big air" during the local thursday-night series. I remembered his words, but only as we came around the corner and a Cycle-solutions kit went flying in front of me at eye level. Somehow I managed to stay out of her way, but heard a kafuffle behind me indicating others hadn't been so lucky. At the end I found out it as Mandy, and her day had been cut too short by the bad news bears. I wondered where she was all race, and her "ghost" kept me honest (i.e. hammer now or Mandy's gonna get ya!). So thank you Mandy for a good race anyways -- I hope it's just a little irritation and nothing serious.

The line

After that, my first two laps went fairly well. I was happy with my position, convinced that I'd be catching up to the lead group momentarily. But then it just seemed like all systems began to fade ...

It all went wrong on the third lap. I started making mistakes ... and really awkward ones at that too. Ones that left me precariously perched atop rocks while I prayed my cleat would stick to it's foothold while I regained my balance with one foot still clipped into the bike. Then I got passed. Then I got passed again, and the only thing more unpleasant than being passed is when the passer is extra pleasant to the passee. Strategy? Or is she just a really nice girl? I'll never know. Thus undone, I just focused on riding clean, however despite accomplishing that for the most part in my last lap, speed was not a by-product. in fact, I rode every lap slower than the last, starting out with a sub-thirty lap and finishing with one that can only be described as "sub forty". ouch. and may I also add, "wtf".

Anyway, the one thing that saved me from a total pit of despair moment was a Hub rider who passed me and instead of the customary "have a good race" one usually hears as the male fields work their way through, he said "have fun!"

"Thanks for the reminder!" i said. Because, really, that's what it's all about. Sometimes I forget as I get ready for the Ontairo-World-Cups.

Having fun.

Happy to see the finish, I rejoined my trio, got some hard-earned watermelon and we went off to jump in the lake. Then we hit up webers. And I even ordered TWO orders of fries. It was an awesome day because I got to ride bikes, i did it safely, the company was excellent, the weather perfect, and ... it was fun.

Race Report: Canada Cup/Ontario Cup #3, Hardwood Hills

It was hot. Too hot. 30 degrees hot. And it had been for the entire week leading up to the race which was a far cry from last year's tacky trails and snowflakes on the start line. This year we were choking on dust just on the warm-up. Beacuse it was a Canada Cup, there was an extensive call-up which left me in the back from the start. The first 400 metres were all about trying to keep the dust out of my airways and collision avoidance. Usually I have a decent kick at the beginning, but as soon as the heat intercepted my rising heart rate, I was feeling like puke.

And so, I suffered. Not going to go on too much with this post because I didn't even have fun yesterday, let alone a good result. And no one wants to hear me winge about it.

So since you either win or you learn, here's what I took away:

1) Heat = limiter. Must do more to protect myself from the sun not just on race day, but the days leading up to it. (Doesn't help that elites have to pick up their packages on the day before ... might as well preride, right?)

2) Still fighting expectations vs taking February off. This leads to a neurotic back and forth that takes up too much brain power while trying to just do my best.

3) Gotta get my head up in the single track -- can't afford silly mistakes or erroneous braking, especially on a course like Hardwood.

4) A couple niggling aches and pains to deal with so I can get the power I do have to work for me.
So all in all, it was a hard day. I fought, but my fight only lasted about a lap and a half and then I accidentally pulled the give-up switch. Didn't feel much like hunting after about 40 minutes in the saddle. In the first lap, I made a couple really brilliant passes (if I do say so myself) over the "secret" lines I'd scoped in pre-ride -- those have never come in handy before but I got two yesterday. I was riding smooth-ish and everything. So that's a positive. Nevermind that my prey later came back to pass me in much the same fashion.

Anyway, Emily Batty ended up winning it (putting nearly 30 minutes into me ...), with Mical Dyck and Amanda Sin up there with her. I was feeling too used up to stick around for the awards, and felt it best to start racing my "hangover" home.

When I got there, Gerhard had planted the whole garden. He let me take a nap all afternoon while he spread around dirt in the hot sun. He took care of all the dishes, made dinner, and then did the dishes again. He brought me ice cream on the couch. He rubbed my tired hands for me, and got up early this morning to make sure I had a good breakfast (asparagus omelette with feta ... mmmmm).

So ... even though I didn't have a good race, I'm pretty stoked to have such a good guy. Thanks Gerhard!!

And as always, thanks Sweet Pete's. Without the shop I might not have even had a bike this time, but they were able to replace a frayed cable in the nick of time. The bike ran beautifully. I just wish I'd held up my end of the bargain a little better.

Next week: Mountainview ... ?

Race Report: Ocup #2, Albion

All I can say is at least it didn't snow on my race. The 8:30s and 9:30s weren't so lucky. Nonetheless it was coooooold. Too cold. So cold in fact, I was already excited to go home as I was packing up the van to leave.

As I was walking down the street with the last of my things, I had that "I'm forgetting something" feeling, which later turned out to be lunch. Doh. Great start! could have been worse though ... at least I remembered my shoes (close one, on that tip).

So, with minimal Sweet Pete's presence, upon arrival I had an extra mission on top of deciding whether or not I needed to switch to mud tires (no) -- find a feed. CycleSolutions was an amazing help in that department and offered to do the same "anytime" which is such a nice thing, and one less thing to worry about. So thank you CycleSolutions, and especially Barry. Much appreciated.

The course was in excellent shape, although it had been re-routed and I'd only pre-rode half of it, of which only half was on the race-day course. Which is a long way of saying I had a couple course issues. Seems silly to say because the first two Ocups are really just road races, off-road. Can't wait for the first "real" race, Hardwood.

The biggest challenge was deciding what to wear. Ashley's parents were kind enough to be there at the start to collect my layers, but which ones?? I threw caution to the [biting] wind and gave up everything, racing in just shorts, undershirt and jersey. Wrong. Choice.

I was too cold I think. I had a good start, but quickly fell to the one of the last wheels. And so, it was a race from the back. As I gradually warmed up, I started making up positions, passing my final mark just past the dreaded Green Monster. For those who don't know, the Green Monster is a stupid grass hill that's steep and long and stupid. It hurts so much. But luckily, I'm a Green Monster Monster and I think that's where I ended up making up most of my time.

So I ended up crossing the line in 8th place (again) and freezing. My toes were very cold especially. And somehow my shoe-strap became unvelcroed and was flopping around irritatingly. Not sure why that sticks out, but there you go.

Luckily, the chocolate milk people were there. Normally pounding a 500mL bottle of chocolate milk would make me vomit on the spot (lactose intolerant) but after a race it is EXACTLY the thing that keeps me from vomitting on the spot. Go figure.

I rushed back to the car and bundled up, despite the sun shining and drove on home, where i am now typing this before eating everything we have left in the house and then passing out with a movie. My favourite part of racing ;)

Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes

Well ... racing is just around the corner and my my my, it's time to get my shiz together.

I'm in the middle of a pretty tough training block at the moment which will see me training through Paris to Ancaster this Sunday. In conjunction with the race, there's also the Grand Opening of the Hamilton Cycling Centre's new Training Centre. Ribbon cutting at 2pm at the Ancaster Rotary Centre. With more than 2,000 riders anticipated for the P2A, something tells me they'll be having a good turnout!

Until last night, I wasn't sure I was actually going to have a trusty steed for this thing, but thank goodness Derek and Sweet Pete's came to the rescue. Turns out the Bontrager wheel-hubs that are afixed to my Trek have a habit of self destructing. It's a common problem apparently. Which is why the part they need to fix it is on back order. Uh-oh. With no delivery in sight, I had to rely on the kindness of friends. Huge thanks to Derek for letting me use his very nice XTR rear wheel and hub. You've got me back on my mountain bike in time to get used to the position again! And thanks also for even letting me take them out on the race course. Fingers crossed that the part gets here soon.

In other news, the road bike is now at the shop too. After 5 years of abuse, my pedals and cleats are ready for retirement. So, a new set of Ultegras have been selected and are soon to be installed, along with a full tune up to keep my girl going. She's got enough kilometres on her right now to get to the moon. I'm scared this is the beginning of the end. When I ride it on the trainer, I can see the bottom bracket dancing around left to right. I don't think they even make some of the parts for it anymore, but she's still a beauty to me.

So, mechanical issues aside, things are set for a great season of XC (and some Super D ... and maybe DH?) in Ontario. My schedule is much more domestic this year because of the Olympics taking up vacation days, and to try and save some money too.

I'm looking forward to having more free weekends, that's for sure. Might actually get to go home to the beach ... or to the cottage ... or even just sleep in on a Sunday! Now that'd be nice!

Olympic Update: Home Away From Home!

Party at Ontario House!

Mid afternoon, I started making my way by car, by myself, driving to Vancouver. It was a nerve-wracking experience. Canada won two out of three golds that day just during the drive. My phone was blowing up with updates, the radio was screaming out our athletes' success and I was cheering at the top of my lungs while trying to negotiate the complicated lines of pylons and constantly changing speed limits.

Not to mention the Tsunami warning issued for coastal BC.

With Haiti ringing in these games -- held during the warmest February on record -- and Chile there to send them off, I hope people are taking notice of the changes climate change is bringing us. Especially while the whole world's been watching. I hear a lot about that "frog in the frying pan" but I'm still hoping we can hustle out in time.

Anyway, once I found a parking spot just off the sky train, I made my way downtown and into the Concord City Place Community Celebration zone. Good times. Everyone was in good spirits, despite the grey drizzly Vancouver day.

Ontario's Pavilion had the usual mile-long line up outside for the 4D adventure ride ... I have to say I think it was worth waiting for -- got in the back door again for the prime time seats. As David Morley said, I really think within ten years all of our living rooms will have a set up like that.


Some amazing meetings tonight, for sure. I'm glad that I was able to be there or else I wouldn't have met Jessica Dubé and her skating partner Bryce Davison. They're off to Torino in three weeks to compete in the World Championships, so we wished them big time luck.


Next, I found myself in a sandwich with a cycling legend (Curt Harnett! Competed in so many games, and has a fist full of medals to show for it) and a rowing legend (Adam Kreek! Part of the men's 8+ in Beijing who won gold) -- the two sports most dear to my heart.


David Calder came too, so it ended up being a rowing kinda night. Adam was telling me about his next project, which I encourage you to support. He and three others from Seattle are currently planning a cross-Atlantic row to break the world record (35 days!) and support Right to Play which is a really amazing organization using sport to affect social change. He'll be taking the same route as Columbus, and it took Columbus more than 70 days, so cheer these guys on!

I also met Andrew Byrnes who had his Beijing gold on hand, so on this golden day, I got to touch a little bit too. Then we took our turns using our brains to light up the CN Tower, and change the colours of the lights at Niagara Falls. Seriously.

Beijing 2008: Gold, M8+ Andrew Byrnes

Andrew, Premier, Adam and Adam's amazing birkenstock steeze

The Mental Game

I light up the CN Tower, just thinking about it


I tried a couple beers, one I hadn't heard of. I asked the bartender and he suggested I ask the brewers myself -- then called them over. So awesome to be at receptions like that. So I had my first Beau's All Natural with its makers, and it sure did pass my taste test. I also made friends with the Timothy's Coffee guys, who were just all around awesome, and so was their coffee.

And of course, it was great to see the colleagues I haven't seen in weeks.

The Premier delivered a great speech, and so did Mike Chambers, the president of the Canadian Olympic Committee. Our government's support of sports, and our Ontario athletes' performance throughout these games and ones past has been amazing -- as you can see from the medal count! The Premier's family was there too, and after hanging out with us for a little while, they were all off the Bronze medal hockey game.

Dubé/Davison give Morley/Eigan their tickets to the Bronze medal game ... hugs ensue.

After the meat of the reception was over (and speaking of meat, wow, they had some tasty Ontario foods! mini burgers! Smoked-duck wrapped young pea shoots! goats' cheese balls!), the entertainment took over.


Ill Scarlett from Mississauga was there, and when they took a break in their acoustic set we were treated to this on the big screens:



Then my colleague Lisa comes up to us and says "do you know who that is?" I said "no, but I LOVE her!" and it turns out yet another cabinet minister has a talented daughter. My first favourite was Martina Sorbara (now Dragonette), and after checking out some of Julia Bentley's other stuff, I have no doubt she's on the rise. Awesome to meet her (and her sister, who's been known to don a moose costume and cut a rug at live shows). I think "Canadian Please" has been in my head ever since.

Me and Julia Bentley, youtube sensation!

The funnest part of the night though was watching this guy lose his shit when the Premier gave him tickets to today's Gold Medal Game between Canada and the US.


With a big smile on my face, I headed back to the sky train, hoping hard that I hadn't got G's car towed. All was well, and it was back into the night up to Squamish to obnoxiously show Gerhard and the Scarths the pics I snapped, the pins I collected and the stories I've just shared with you now.

All the best!

Olympic Update: Vancouver Day!

Yesterday, G and I had a reception to attend in Vancouver with David Suzuki and the Play it Cool Athletes, so we decided to make a day of it and headed down to see what was happening in the Host City.

The reception was one of the better ones I've ever been to (and I've been to a few). It was small, which meant we got to speak with pretty much everyone in the room, including David Suzuki and athletes such as Adam Van Koeverden (Kayak medal in Beijing), Warren Tanner (racing moguls in Vancouver) and Justin Lamoureux (best Canadian half-pipe finish ever!). The table was set with all kinds of gluten free treats, cheeses, veggies and fruits and trimmed with real plates and cloth napkins so we didn't make any waste. All the more delicious!



Justin and I enjoying the brownies on offer


Play it Cool Athletes: Warren Tanner (Freestyle Moguls), Adam Van Koeverden (Kayak), David Suzuki, Justin Lamoureux (Snowboard Half-Pipe), Zac Plavsic (Sailing), Nikola Girke (Windsurfing), Jake Cohn (Extreme Skier)


We were there because Gerhard has organized a partnership with Play it Cool, pairing with them to produce carbon-neutral trips for some of Snowboard Canada Magazine's feature articles. It's a really great way to spread the message about climate change. A fact echoed by David Suzuki in his remarks. He basically said that no matter how many slides and charts that are out there, our athletes remain the most powerful tool for spreading the message. Their stories about receding ice floes, cancelled races, and shortened seasons mean a lot more than "the science". It reaches more people, so more people might try to make the changes we need.

We also talked about the Games and their impact. The David Suzuki Foundation has awarded the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games a bronze medal for their green initiatives. From my own experience, I can tell you the "back-of-house" work areas include a zero-waste campaign. All of our plates, and cutlery are compostable. They gave us reusable travel mugs to fill with coffee/hot chocolate. However, they also give us a bottle of water every day, so I don't know. The bottles claim to be made from "plant" materials and they are all being recycled to make hats, scarves and mitts. So maybe it equals out. Anyway, they estimate that because of a letter signed by over 70 athletes and sent to John Furlong, VANOC took notice and offset over 118,000 tons of CO2. That's something for sure.

So, after an inpsiring afternoon of Suzuki and athletes, we headed down to the Ontario House Pavilion I've heard so much about at the Concord City Place. Our neighbours include Saskatchewan House, Maison du Quebec, and Hockey Canada House. Pretty sweet spot! Once inside, I got us a sneak peek at the Ontario 4D ride which takes you through some really amazing Ontario vistas across the province, including wind farms, solar farms, Niagara Falls, Thousand Islands and on and on. You get splashed by a canoeist, and ride down a roller coaster and a tobaggan hill. It was pretty awesome. The future of movies?



After that we met up with Ross, and colleauge Michele for the hockey game. So we drank Mill Street Organic, contemplated more brownies (from Dufflets) and snacked on the "Trillium Trio" -- a meat and bread platter for $5 dollars featuring some smoked duck. yum!


The energy at Ontario House was amazing for the game, so I'm glad we went there. Canada mopped the floor with Germany, I think the score was 7-2. Of course, most of Canada's goals happened while I was either taking a phone call, or in the ladies' room. Typical "Lake Effect" in effect. On one of the screens, I noticed Canada's ladies bobsleigh duo performing some amazing feats. They head into the finals tonight in first place, so I'll be biting my nails for them! And of course huge congrats to our ski cross and ice dance gold medalists!!!

After hockey, we decided to cruise around Vancouver and do the tourist thing. They've got it going on there, that's for sure. There were people everywhere and yet everyone said it was a "slow night". We walked through some cool art displays, watched some busking while people ziplined over our heads through Robson Square. Down below, you could rent some skates and do some laps. It was very cool.


No trip to Vancouver during the Olympics would be complete without a walk down to the Olympic Flame, so we checked out the cauldron, and the rings across the strait and then called it a day. I could barely stay awake on the drive, but we got here so Gerhard must have done a great job getting us home on his own. This morning when we got in the car to get pancake supplies, the air conditioner was on full blast, hmmmm.


Anyway, today we're just taking it easy. Finally got a nice sleep in, made afore-mentioned pancakes (with applesauce, flax seed, hemp seeds and bananas topped with pure Canadian Maple Syrup ... soooo good) and watched Clara Hughes make Canadian history in an edge-of-your-seat speed skating race. Now that blogging is done, perhaps I have time for a run before tuning in for bobsleigh.

Whistler tomorrow? Skiing at last? Powder in our future? Fingers crossed!

Olympic Update: Ontario Pavillion

Apart from my volunteering with the Olympics, I've also had the pleasure of listening to a certain colleague every Thursday tell us about the new and exciting features at the Ontario Pavillion in Vancouver. The other provinces got nothing on ours. It's all about showing the world why Ontario is such an amazing place to invest. Our people are second to none ... just look what they can do, just by using their minds!



Find out more about what Ontario's bringing to the Games by visiting our Olympic website.