Park City: Mountain Biking Oasis and IMBA Gold

Park City: IMBA GOLD

Earlier this summer I was invited to participate in a media tour of Park City, Utah. Apparently they have some mountain biking? Apparently no one talks about it?

That is until now at least. The riding there is next-level and honestly, I don't think I've stopped talking about it since I got back. Soulful singletrack in a town that just loves all things cycling. Add a touch of old-timey history, some free community events, a happenin' nightlife and of course Park Citizens themselves and you have an amazing recipe for a good time. To get started booking your adventure, I'd start with White Pine Touring and Park City Lodging. (Tell them I sent you!)

Need more convincing? IMBA (the International Mountain Biking Association) beat me to my observations and designated Park City its first and only gold-ranked ride centre in the world. A little birdie told me that there is soon to be a Canadian ride centre added to the list so let's keep our eyes and ears peeled for that good news!

Meanwhile, hope you'll take a moment to check out my story on RidingFeelsGood.com Thanks to everyone who has already "liked" and shared it -- much appreciated!

http://www.ridingfeelsgood.com/the-worlds-first-gold%C2%AD%E2%80%90level-imba-ride-centre-park-city-utah/

Word.

Since the heroic blogging efforts of the Olympics, I feel I should apologize for falling off the posting-wagon a little bit. So here's a few words on what's been up (and down) with me.

1.) Went to my LAST sunday morning spin this past weekend. So no more 6am alarms on the weekend (except for when there is ... but certainly not as often!). I'll be sad to see spinning class go though. Definitely feeling a little bit like a couple extra power workouts would be a great help. Taking three weeks off for the Olympics have turned my racing outlook into a "no expectations" style season. And I'd make the same choice again.

2.) Put new brake$ on the minivan! Woo hoo that was $pectacular. What a nice $urpri$e! Got a tow truck and everything when I couldn't back it out of the garage. But now all i$ well, and $he'$ ready to hit the race circuit again.

3.) First race: Paris to Ancaster. The race I love to hate. It's April 18, 60km and all boring except for the sandwich at the end. I like that part very much. Every year I bitch and moan about entering, and every year I somehow end up on the start line. Sigh. Here we go again! It's good for me though -- it's a great event to practice all the racing "stuff" like getting bottles ready, not forgetting your shoes, prepping bikes, start line jitters, spending a long time at a high intensity and all that jazz. So that way I won't have to go through all that at the first Ocup the next weekend (Mansfield! woot!) Which reminds me ... I need to pick up my rig from Sweet Pete's because $he also needed a brake job, and a $et of bearing$ -- oh, and a freehub body. Secret training tool of mine -- ride around with the rear wheel seized. oh yeah. Tough.

4.) Vacation!! Only two more sleeps til I'm in Kelowna with Gerhard shredding Big White. Gerhard was good enough to win us a trip so we'll be spending Easter spring skiing. Looks like a heat wave is about to hit Toronto -- they're calling for 25 this weekend! I almost feel bad for skipping the amazing biking weather. Almost. ;)

5.) Moving day! May 1st seems like it's still far away but when you consider vacation, fundraiser weekend in Port Elgin, Paris to Ancaster, and then Mansfield, I'm out of weekends. So packing is going to be ... well ... frantic. Let me know if you'll work for food and drinkies because in that case, have I got a job for you!

So that's the big stuff! In little stuff, it's mostly the same old -- lots of training, writing, eating and sleeping. Hope everyone is excited for race season!! Coming up fast!

Still Hungry!

G and I returned from the rugged terrain of Northern Ontario, reluctantly, and have now been back at it for more than a week. Someone I met this week put it great: "vacation is funny ... you get back and you think, 'uh, why was all this so important again?'"

But for the most part, the 'vacation effect' has been super duper positive. Didn't realize how I tired I was until I'd had a break from everything and got that wonderful "recharge" feeling. Ah! So that's what it feels like to be me!

However, finding an outlet for my new energy has forced me to broaden my horizons. My shoulder is still bunged up from the Mountainview crash so riding is on the back burner. My chiro tried accupuncture the other day. He said we'd plateaued in recovery and thus decided to try something more invasive. Translate: I told him I stopped doing my exercises as diligently (since there were no races to keep me honest) and he punished me by sticking needles into my shoulder. Anyway, since then I feel more tweaked than ever so that's a battle. I still ride to work, but anything longer than an hour results in a lot of advil.

That said, I have surveyed the lay of the land and there are a few items on my hit list:

First, Hardwood Hills is running a "Single Track Challenge" for the first time. It's 50km, no loops, and takes place Oct 18.

Then there's the Winter WOW, a really fun event as long as it doesn't snow. And it hasn't the past two times I've done it (but I tend to do it only every other year because on the odds I've got a bike, and the evens, it's already been sold). So that's at Mansfield, Nov 22 and guess what! There's a chili cookout afterwards.

If I'd had my act together I'd consider the Squeezer, but maybe next year. Same goes for Crank the Shield -- by all accounts an awesome second year for Ontario's only stage race. Sweet.

So that's it for me, hope everyone's well and enjoying happy trails. Fall riding is really my favourite. No stress, great colours, perfect temperatures.

I'll leave you with a few shots from "What I did on my summer vacation":

A she-wolf stands watch

Playing on bikes-with-motors, we stopped at the river to check things out

Hiking up our "mountain" and looking out over the rock race to Lake Superior