Back in the Elk Valley!

The day after the 6hr in Salmon Arm I took it pretty easy. I got a massage, relaxed and got on the road and headed for Revelstoke. I booked my self in a little motel off the highway and cleaned up my mtb and went for a little cruise around the town and along the river, it was quiet nice. Had a nice supper at the burger shop by the hotel (it was actually much better than it sounds). I got in touch with Dani (Chads sister, a local to Revelstoke) and hoped to take advantage of the local knowledge the next day! And it worked out great! She took me out on some great fun trails, nice climbs and super fun downhills! Weather was great for riding too, with some drops of rain here and there... After the ride she suggested a spot for lunch and I had the best crepes with whipped cream and chocolate! the day can't get much better :) Thanks Dani... who is know headed into 10 days of craziness!! we can't wait to hear back from her time spent at the "silent retreat".

Then on the road again, this time to Fernie. I got in pretty late and with rain so there was no go on camping again, so far my plan on saving some money on camping hasn't worked out so good, and I lost my pillow too (left in Revelstoke), so camping would be that much harder now. Though the sleeping pads makes for good padding between the bikes when packed in the truck, so not completely wasted luggage.
Now I'm quiet happy at the SnowValley Motel in a real bed.


Today I got up and headed over to my old chiropractor, Paul. He did a little bit of cracking and invited me out for a ride later on. I hung out with Bernie and his dog Kyna (another collie who chases bike wheels and runs backwards, welcome to the club of Molly) for most day. We had a good healthy lunch at the Blue Tuk, before I had to put in my one hour of work for the week (conference call - rough life I say). We then did a great ride up old Roots, Hyper Ventilation, Castle rock!! They had done a lot of work on these trails since last I rode here and they were in great shape. I did an extra little bit of climb up to Castle Mountain, and got up to a pretty exposed area, and the Moab feeling came back! so I skipped the last switchback and headed back down to find Bernie. In the picture to the left I pretty much go the front of the big rock face in the background, should have got on top of it but oh well, there is always next time!
Bernie rode strong as ever, he always amaze me with his strength and attitude! He is a great inspiration to me.

An hour or so later I met up with Paul, another big inspiration for me in my world of training and testing my limits. He is an endurance athlete and more, he has pushed him self to the outermost limits, I couldn't even imagine spending almost 80 days in a boat rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, alone! so when I train or things get hard during a 7 day event, I just look back at some of the things that is humanly possible (proven by people like Paul and Bernie) and my little struggles at the moment is nothing to worry about. And of top of being an inspiration to me and so many others, Paul also fixes me up sometimes! If you are ever in the area and look for a chiropractor he is the highly recomended!
Tonight I got to ride with him, and sure enough, he took me on the same climb I'd done with Bernie! I thought I was tired but this time I cleaned the climbed better, got of in one spot only and messed up on another so it felt pretty good. We took the a different way back down so I got to ride the old roots hyper extension and extension and had a blast!

Not sure exactly what tomorrow will bring, but one thing is sure, it will involve some rides! Just not sure how many yet...been too long since I've been back so too little time!

Now I wish I had a spoon so I could eat my yogurt!

Happy Riding,
kate