Nothing like capping off three hard weeks of training, half of that spent in possibly the most expensive place in the world. Or at least in my limited travels. The Academy just got back from our training camp in Whistler, which seems to have gone pretty well. There was a bit of worrisome thought towards the fires going on around Lillooet and training in smoke (something I’m not too big on), but a full day of rain on the drive there cleared the slate for some Grade-A training days.
The whole Whistler area offers amazing training locations. Skiing up to Callaghan is quiet and nicely paced (although the drive to and from Whister is a bit of a downer), and endless downhill runs gave us enough room to play a round of "45-minutes of intensity" with accompanying ride down the chair lift (the Banff Gondola training experience now pales in comparison). Even roller skiing in a mainly touristy town is a bit more forgiving. Granted, most tourists are a lil bit more patient with three abreast roller skiers down main street than say one of the locals. And when we just needed to get away from it all, the freshly paved Duffy Lake Road offered an amazing road ride as well as roller skiing time.
Coincidentally, one of the biggest parties/mountain bike fest thing was going on the same time. Kokanee Crankworx. This was fun, not like our first dinner out to Mongolie Grill (bills in the range of $50+ and Lucas taking the cake for his $58 meal and $8 tip). On one of our day's marauding around the worx, we took part in test driving Volkswagen cars on their "off-road course", getting free chocolate milk, Monster Energy drinks and endless cliff bar samples, and a deer in headlights moment by me with one of the hottest Kokanee girls. O well, next time.
A snippet of the crowd at the Slope Style Finals
After our days were up in Whistler, we took a more relaxed return trip home, cutting the ten hour drive into two day segments. After a five hour ride/ski out of Whistler and up Duffy, we stopped at a gas station which boasted the best bannock in the world. (I was a little surprised to learn it's bread instead of a trailmix type snack I though it was.) After a quick stop there and a glance at some fires in Lillooet we stopped in at Cash Creek, a small and cozy truck stop town.
Gord says I don't have enough female flare in my photos, so on our last ride of the camp, Lucas and I decided to bike with Megan Fox and leave Gord behind.
Forest fires, straight ahead.
Cash Creek. Nice Views.
After our night in CC, we drove to Kamloops for our last workout in BC. With the day teetering over 30 degrees it was nice to have support vans following close behind. I think I topped just over 5 L for the 3 hour workout. The road that we skied up, which led to the nordic centre and beyond, was 30km of some of the quietest, best paved road in Canada. And being able to take off the boots and jump straight into a lake, not bad.
And lastly, I wanted to do a shout out to @JessCockney. You owe us a new picnic chair.
10-4
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