How cool are Snow Cats?

Just before Christmas, Coach Adam and I headed up to Lake Louise early, very early (actually 5:30 am is too early in my books!) to build the start section on which we will train for our Christmas Training Camp prior to the full course being ready for us in the New Year. With the help of a friendly and talented Cat Driver we managed to build a mound to put the start gate on, a small wu-tang and a couple of rollers. It was a pretty amazing experience being up on the hill in the dark watching the Cat move snow so quickly and effortlessly to create features. Here are some photos...

Adam chatting about the possible things we could construct.

Snow!

Temple mountain in the back ground as the Sun comes up...

"I'm going to eat you...." watching a Cat come towards you is a little frightening!

As you can see the views were pretty spectacular with the sun rising over those crazy Rocky Mountains! It was definitely a unique experience to be standing on the wu tang as the cat pushed more snow up. The accuracy of the Cat Driver was amazing. 

This experience also gave me a new appreciation of what it must take to build a full course for us to race on. The hours of Cat time, digging and planning that go into each course must be immense. At times as racers we can be quick to judge a course; complaining that it doesn't flow or the features are too small, too big, too rough etc. etc. However, I'm sure at each of those courses there were factors, including the amount and type of snow, the natural shape of the terrain, the amount of money and time available, that came to play and the builders did their best to create a challenging and manageable course. We racers should perhaps learn how to better deal with these different issues rather than determining that it was the course that was the problem. 

After a couple of test runs down the features prior to a final grooming we were satisfied that it would work for training & we headed off for some early lunch to fill the bellies after a cold morning out on the hill. Now I just can't wait to spend some time out there perfecting my starts and getting the legs moving!

Bring on the 27th of December & training camp Day 1!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Canmore in Alberta! I hope that I find everyone who reads this blog enjoying some good times with friends and family.

I tried to go ice skating today (Christmas Eve) and failed due to a shortage of skates in Canmore, playing Boot-Hockey was still fun! Though it is these times of the year that seem to be the hardest to be away from home. I'm definitely glad that modern technology will allow me to skype with the Family that remains in Australia & see their happy, suntanned faces!

Stay tuned for some photos and a blog about a recent experience building the start section of a boardercross course for us to train on at the post-Christmas training camp! It was pretty amazing watching the Cat work.

Eat up & be Jolly!

Walking in Canmore - a reminder why being away from family so worth it... It's so beautiful!

Sending well wishes for the "Holidays" from Canmore.

What we do when we are not snowboarding

Friday is official activities day in Canmore. After completing our final workout of the week it is time to have some fun & enjoy the fact that Saturday is solely for free-riding, sleeping, eating or whatever we please!

We start the "weekend" with team recovery in the form of cupcakes at a local cafe that bakes delicious gluten-free chocolate cupcakes with green tea icing.

Feeling a little guilty about the poor post work out recovery but enjoying the treat!

Friday afternoon is then for cooking, cleaning clothes (I have constructed a temporary clothesline in my room at the hostel) and cruising the shops. This past Friday I managed to get a uniform consisting of dress pants and a black shirt for my new job at the Thrift Store for $7.63!! I was pretty excited.

After all this down-time it is time for some fun-time. The Canmore Legion, the local Veterans Club/RSL, hosts a bingo night every Friday night. There are lots of corny jokes, decent cash prizes and $11.25 pitcher/jugs of beer - what more do you need to have a good time? After getting a handle on the bingo lingo, what a "dabber" is and all the crazy shapes that you need to get a "BINGO" I managed to pocket $7 with a little win with one line of the sandwich - don't ask me now what that is...!

Me with my winning card!!

Saturday is always a pretty mellow day riding at one of the hills and recovering from all the friday night frivolity!

My aforementioned job, at a restaurant in a hotel across the road from the hostel, may cut in to these fun times as I'm going to be working Friday and Saturday nights at least until mid January. However having some income is pretty important and I am looking forward to making a whole new group of acquaintances. I'm sure I will find some time to fit in extra-curricular activities. There are so many post snowboarding options - hot springs in Banff, bakery in Lake Louise and even skating on the town pod. if I can find some for a bargain around town. It is important to make sure that training is balanced out with some light entertainment. It is too easy to get really caught up in progress on the snow such that training becomes unproductive. Luckily I have great team mates and friends at the hostel to enjoy all the other things that the area has to offer.

Sending shouts of BINGO from Canmore.

November Powder Shred

Hi all,

Just thought I would post a few photos from training last week taken by team mate Gen.

Technical training was called off with over 60cm in a few days and the 'rock boards' were strapped on to our feet. Although there was a lot of fresh snow, these early snowfalls really demonstrate why these mountains are called the "Rockies". I hit a few big rocks and had a memorable cartwheel through a fairly decent rock garden. This resulted in bruises on my back and yet another reason why I should organise myself to get a back protector. All in all it was a great week training - lots of fresh pockets to be had & a few glory turns under the chairlift that evinced yelps from the viewers riding up!

Fun times...

Hiking up for some late morning fresh turns off the gondola. Unfortunately due to avalanche danger the back bowls at Louise weren't quite open - the snow is unusually wet and sliding to the ground at the moment.

From the right: Coach Mike, Josh and Myself getting ready to take some turns.

"Aussie Powder Turn" - generally involves commando rolling yourself in as much snow as possible at speed. Mike has perfected it - here I failed by not landing back on my feet but enjoyed the sweet taste of powder!

Pretty stoked that it is only November!!!! January is looking like it could be quite fun with this base that has been building up. We went up to Sunshine yesterday and it was fun to get back to hitting the little drops & jumps around the Standish lift. There was at times train rag-dolling due to a lack of skill at stomping jumps & lots of laughing at the attempts. Mike managed to show us all up yet again really sending a couple of hits a few times. It is pretty awesome riding with someone who is so talented every day, I feel like I'm learning so much!

Praying for more snow in Canmore.

Hitting the Ground Running

I have been in Canmore for 9 nights now and life has been hectic to say the least. I have already completed 6 on snow training sessions and 7 dry-land workouts. I have appeared on the snow report "picture of the day" for Lake Louise (see previous post) and been to Canadain Tire TWICE [this is like Wallmart on steroids... enjoyable!]. In addition, getting to know my new team mates, hostel friends and searching for work in town means that there has been little time to sit around and enjoy the scenery. Which is still gorgeous.

The new look team has started off well with lots of laughter and some pretty epic sessions to be had. Josh, arrived on Sunday from Cold Lake, Alberta and was vomitting on our first team stair sprints session this morning. He won props for destroying himself the best! Gen and I have begun a mission to tell numerous fairly average jokes per day. If anyone has any suggestions for Chair-Lift jokes please post below. Allie, who picked me up from the airport, and I are having fun trying new drills, that inevitably involve a million squats and much leg burn as set by our program coach Mike.

Mike, Coach Adam's brother, has been great in his new role as our program coach, whilst Adam has taken up a more administrative position. Mike won the silver medal at the Vancouver Olympic Games and just riding with him is so helpful. We are constantly getting him to demo to perfection different skills, and his very athlete specific explanations for why certain things are important have helped me a lot in these two weeks. I'm really pleased where I am at for this time of year and I think that Adam and Mike are both stoked for me also. I'm riding so much better than last year and am so much stronger in the gym. It's only up from here!!

I am staying at the Hostel Bear - which has proved more enjoyable, quieter and cleaner than expected. I think I will stay here for the moment, save some money on household things and enjoy the opportunity to meet so many new people. I like coming home from a days training and not having to talk about boardercross. Most of the people here don't know what it is, and that suits me just fine!

Finding work is proving a little tricky. Although I was offered a job serving, they only wanted to hire someone full time which is not possible for me. Trying to find someone that can provide hours that fit with my schedule may be a little tricky but I'm sure something will work out. Hopefully as Christmas gets closer more positions will open up. It would just be nice to be earning some money, so I can occasionally go out for dinner or what not rather than being in extreme saving mode all the time. What will be will be I guess!

I hope that the sun is coming out over there and that you are all finished with exams or enjoying Christmas party season as applies. It is puking snow here so all is looking good for training tomorrow - Mike is scheduling mandatory powder turns this season!

A sample joke to get you laughing:
What happened to the cat who swallowed a ball of yarn?
It had mittens...!!

Sending you giggles from Canmore.

Lake Louise Ski Report

After my second day of on snow training I was amused to be told by Coach Adam that I had "made the ski report". Pretty sure we were meant to be doing technical carving training at the time, sorry Adam! My new Anakie Outerwear certainly stands out on the hill! Unfortunately they caught me in a particularly awkward moment doing my new trick which I call the semi-board slide, aided immeasurably by the fact that I'm on a race board!

Check out the link for the current snow report at http://skilouise.com/conditions/snow-report.php.

Life is great, cold, but great - it is fun playing "spot the difference" about town compared to last year.

Stay tuned for a more detailed report on my first week of the North American winter in a few days.

Smile for the Camera.

Bring on the end of Exams!

Guess how many sleeps until I'm back in the Rockies???????

Getting so excited now to pack my bags just trying to get through the rest of my University work. For. Ever. Wow. 

Have you ever heard that John Denver song Rocky Mountain High? I know you have - makes me excited!

Rocky Mountain High

He was born in the summer of his 27th year

Comin' home to a place he'd never been before

He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again

You might say he found a key for every door

When he first came to the mountains his life was far away

On the road and hangin' by a song

But the string's already broken and he doesn't really care

It keeps changin' fast and it don't last for long

But the Colorado rocky mountain high

I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky

The shadow from the starlight is softer than a lullabye

Rocky mountain high

He climbed cathedral mountains, he saw silver clouds below

He saw everything as far as you can see

And they say that he got crazy once and he tried to touch the sun

And he lost a friend but kept his memory

Now he walks in quiet solitude the forest and the streams

Seeking grace in every step he takes

His sight has turned inside himself to try and understand

The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake

And the Colorado rocky mountain high

I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky

You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply

Rocky mountain high

Now his life is full of wonder but his heart still knows some fear

Of a simple thing he cannot comprehend

Why they try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more

More people, more scars upon the land

And the Colorado rocky mountain high

I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky

I know he'd be a poorer man if he never saw an eagle fly

Rocky mountain high

It's Colorado rocky mountain high

I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky

Friends around the campfire and everybody's high

Rocky mountain high 

It's been stuck in my head for weeks now and just keeps getting louder! I can't wait to get my Rocky Mountain High, albeit in Canada not Colorado!

Making the top 50!!

Hi All,

Just thought I would put out a little blog to wrap up the last couple of races of the season and let you all know that as of October 1st I just snuck in to the top 50 in the world based on my FIS points! Pretty stoked on that news and think it is a great way to get the confidence up heading into the Northern Hemisphere Season! Feels like I'm actually improving and all the hard work might be paying off!

After New Zealand I came back for a few days of classes before heading off for a bit of a road trip that encompassed the Hotham Beer Battered Rider Cross and the Australian University Championships (at Thredbo) with my great friend Courtney Date.

Hotham has a great series of 'local' races and park competitions which all comers can enter for a very small fee and guaranteed lots of fun. Courtney and I took the opportunity for more race practice and had a wonderful day in the sun racing with kids, athletes and also the odd parent that didn't want to stand around watching. I also got to try out my fantastic new Anakie Outerwear - I loved it, very comfortable and the colours can't but make you happy!

Loving my new Outerwear!

It was great to see Courtney so pumped to qualify first in time trials - he usually has to contend with a few Olympians. Thus the red (fastest qualifier) bib was worn with much excitement.

Courtney getting excited before he is handed his Red Bib!

We both managed to take home our respective divisions and win some great prizes from Hotham, including new goggles (POC), socks, and best of all after a long morning racing, some fish and chips!

Podium shots - Winners are Grinners!

The remnants of the Fish and Chips!

After cleaning up the flat at Hotham one last time we hit the road for Thredbo. Just a note for future reference the drive from Hotham to Thredob via Omeo is not that long but it is on a winding dirt road. Attempt only in dry weather! Luckily my Peugeot, which had just clocked 200,000km, pushed on and we made it after a minor incident with a rabbit.

Thredbo was host to the Australian University Championships which is always a fun filled event where competitors from all over Australia of all skill levels take part in all sorts of events and evening's of dressing up. The Melbourne team was rather small this year as the cost of attending the event in NSW is prohibitive for many people, plus it meant missing yet another week of Uni! I had an okay championships but was definitely not on my 'A-Game' as it turned out and had to be pleased with good results in non-preferred events. My results were as follows:
Slopestyle - 1st place
Snowboard-Cross - 3rd place & some bruised ribs
Rails - 4th place
Giant Slalom - 9th place (though I should have been disqualified)

I also took party in Cross Country and was really please to win the Relay for the 4th year in a row!! Though I must admit that I have definitely been the beneficiary of many a good team member as I have been solidly the slowest in the team every year!

Melbourne was pleased to come second to the much larger team from the University of Sydney, however, we will be looking to get back that trophy next year. It was wonderful to see so many of our competitors really go for it (though some a bit more at night than on the slopes!).

Here are some photos of the event...

Alex, Janice and I supporting Team Melbourne at the Moguls.

Rail Jam - look a the concentration.

After winning the Slopestyle I'm thinking of becoming a park rat - this is off the smaller first jump!

Alex and Alex Cross Country Champions (and Ollie collecting our team mate Camilla's medal).

Celebrating the end of the Championships with Courtney and Katya at the Formal Dinner.

I thought at the end of AUC's that my season might be over but stay tuned for photos/video of my recent trip to Feathertop for some turns this weekend.

Smiling at the good memories made at some fantastic spring events!

Wrap up of the Australia and New Zealand Cup

After two races at Mt Hotham and an extended training and racing trip to Wanaka, New Zealand the FIS Australia and New Zealand Cup is over. I managed to podium in all three races and was pleased with this and how I rode but wouldn't of minded two more golds!!

Hotham my home mountain put on a great show for races #1 and #2 despite trying conditions. Training day had to be cancelled because of warm conditions and the resultant inability to groom the course, they also had to move the start down 20 meters to avoid a large hole that had developed in the snow cover!

On day one I qualified fastest and went on to have a comfortable win in the final, definitely making my presence felt & showing that my skills had improved by the way I gained distance on the one jump in the course and held an aggressive line. Stay tuned for a podium photo!

Day two was not quite as successful, when in the final I managed to get a bit too keen coming VERY hot into the first burm trying to put a pass on Belle Brockoff and managed to end up switch for the next roller section. Whoops! I still got third and should at least be please that I was 'going for it'.

On Thursday the 11th I made the trek to Wanaka to spend a few days training with Rachel Newton of HPC Cardrona and Red Mountain Resort & staying at the wonderful Purple Cow Hostel. I picked up 'Sunny' the rental car and drove to Wanaka and promptly decided I never wanted to leave!

And up at Sunny Cardrona. The weather got significantly nastier during the middle of my stay and I only got home Tuesday night because Rachel managed to coax me down vverrry slowly down on Tuesday after a 270 degree spin (with chains on!!!).

This was a valuable time to reestablish good habits and learn some new things, especially in the way of Positive Self Talk, something I had struggled with in the past. Rachel is a fantastic coach and at the end of 5 days training (and some powder riding thanks to the ridiculous storm that hit NZ) I felt like I was riding the best I had in a long time. I have really started to channel good riding memories to let me breathe pre-race. If anyone out there has a way to contact Fishing/Snowboarding Adam in Telluride I would love him to know that there was one day that we were bombing or straight lining a powder day up at Revelation Bowl (an over hyped lift but great this day early season) and did about 10 laps in 30 minutes with only maybe two or three turns between us is the memory that makes me feel good about going fast. Adam, you are the basis of my positive self talk when I'm freaking out!

Official Training Day on the Thursday went fantastically well despite a massive crash that put some lovely fluid in my ankle over a roller section. So I was pumped-up come Friday.

On race morning in my classic state of excitement I managed to forget my boots, luckily I hadn't left town when I remembered so went back for them... that could have been ugly! The day was gorgeous...

Rachel, Joss McAlpin and I sitting at the course - all smiles!

100% Pure New Zealand... and loving it!

 I qualified third fastest and was feeling good come Semi finals having to race against Callan Chythlook-Sifsof a US World Cup Rider and another Aussie girl. I got the hole shot out of the start but Callan put a past on in Burm 1. Come Burm 2 I passed back after Callan got rutted out and crashed.

After that it was smooth sailing into the final.

Unfortunately my start was not great come finals time and Belle had the jump on me. Despite riding the lower half of the course well (and according to Rachel my biased coach fastest) I couldn't make a pass and finished second by a couple of meters. All part of the game I guess but I am definitely inspired to improve my starts!

Here's a podium shot pre-party time out in Wanaka...

After a couple more days hitting jumps at Snowpark, watching the Slopestyle, enjoying the company of A.M.A.Z.I.N.G riders and generally getting into the vibe of Wanaka it is back to Uni, Work, Gym and sunny old Melbourne town for a few days. My time in New Zealand definitely inspired me to keep at this sport, train harder and get faster. I feel like I can do this.

After getting a little bit caught up on Uni work this week and putting my 'Corporate' face on for a Law Interview next week I'm off to Hotham for a Rider Cross fun event and then Thredbo for Australian University Championships which shall be a great time. I'm excited about wearing my brand new Outerwear, thanks to my sponsor Anakie Outerwear, though it might be t-shirt weather given the trend in Oz at the moment!

Thank you to all those that made my stay in New Zealand fantastic, I'm looking forward to living there at some point in the future!

Smiling at you through my epic goggle tan!

Powder Days – aka CLAMS!!

Back when I lived in Telluride, CO (2009) I had an Australian friend who had named the piles of snow on a powder day on rocks, leaves, trees and so on “clams”. If you have seen a good Colorado powder day and can visualise it you will know what I mean. He bought a tin of clams on each such day for the season and stacked them up at the ski store. The nickname has stuck and there is now a crew of “Clams” folk that get around above 1000m, even here in the Australian snow field.

The good news is we have had some EPIC clams days this season up at Hotham. 

Got to earn those turns...

The tour guide (at least I knew vaguely where we were headed... Down!)

Yep I was the pushy tour guide that took the first turns!

Powder beds...

The pictures really don't do it justice. Hiking Golden Point off the top of Orchard was definitely worth it on one fabulous weekend with old family friends up here to hang out with. 

The next weekend, 7 days after fresh snow we still managed to find some perfectly “corny” turns in a little secret spot (not telling you where!!) with gorgeous sun and lots of time to shred with a totally cool group of girls.

Loz and I just a little excited about riding together!

Loving the crusty corn!

Apres any one?

I’ve just arrived at Hotham for another weekend of fun. Unfortunately no clams in sight but it is the Australia New Zealand Cup races (the National Championship of Australia) which I am very excited about. Hopefully I can back up a solid performance at this event after taking out the National Championship last year. Driving up here today it felt a bit like summer, being 20+ degrees in Melbourne, the blue mountains were sparkling and the snow visibly melted since last weekend.  However, given the good early season snowfall at first glance the course looks like it actually has some decent features (jumps, burms etc). I CAN’T WAIT TO RIDE IT!!!

With only one boardercross race under the belt for the season thus far at the Victorian Intervarsity Championships, which did not go exactly to plan, I’m feeling itchy to get out and compete. The adrenaline of flying down the course always makes those endless gym hours worthwhile. 

Here's some photos from up at Vics...

Warming up on the X-Country ski's with Camilla

180 on XCountry ski's? No biggie

Slopestyle - Queen of the Girly Method!

The little wu tang on the Boarder Cross course

Sending smiles from a sunny Hotham - wish me luck!

[Thanks go to Lauren Broomhall, Vanessa Bacchetti, Cat Bonwick & Camilla Humphries for the photos included]

And we're off...

If the hell-raising drive, the wet mist in the air or the punters in extremely loud clothing didn't warn me that I was back up at Hotham, the perfectly groomed Aussie slush and the first shout of 'Safety Bar' certainly did. Conditions are pretty impressive for this time of year but we definitely should not stop praying for more snow... keep burning those skis, please! I had a good couple of hours lapping the Village and Road Runner on my oldest and most bashed up board as there are still some rocks poking through the slush, though the misty rain and wind eventually got the better of me and I thought it was time for a well deserved Milo and toastie.

I was looking at all the ski maps that Mum has collected and put up on the walls - Fernie, Whistler, Telluride, Steamboat, Val d'Isere, Cervinia, Niseko... - I might of skied them all, and have memorable moments or runs from all of them but it is really this little hill that I'll always love like home. Plus there is some really great terrain here, especially in years where we have a good base, like this year. I can't wait for Heavenly and the 'EXTREME' Skiing to get covered!

I thought I would take this opportunity to update my few readers on plans for this season, let me know if we will run into each other anywhere. I'm always looking for more company on the slopes.

June/July: I will be a weekend warrior up at Hotham, trying to get back in riding shape while focussing on being at full steam in the gym.

July 21st - 24th: Victorian Intervarsity Championships, Mt Buller

August 5th - 7th: Australian/New Zealand Cup, FIS Races, Mt Hotham

I'm then considering heading out to NZ to train with coach Rachel, who travelled on the Nor-Am tour with us over January and February for 10 days. Alternatively, I will do the Hotham Banked Slalom on August 13th (a great even for all comers... lots of fun!)

August 19th: NZ Winter Games, Australian/NZ Cup, FIS Race, Cadrona, NZ

August 28th: Beer-battered Rider Cross, Mt Hotham

August 28th - September 2nd: Australian University Championships, Thredbo

September: Back-country touring up in the Main-Range and Buffalo areas!

Typing all that out made me very excited, I love this time of year... with everything yet to come.

Please stay tuned for an update on the fabulous people who will be sponsoring me this winter...

Get excited folks... it's snowing!

Smiles.

Its snowing... Wow!

Check out this - Mt Hotham predicting snow!

Just thought all my Northern Hemisphere Friends (and some Australian ones) would like to know that it is snowing here!!

I'm getting excited and trying to sleep lots now and get my body right.

33 days until our Queen's Birthday opening of the season!

Sending anticipatory smiles!

Hitting the Wall

On March 14th I hopped off the plane at Tullamarine to be picked up by a smiling mother. She always seems to be rather relieved every time all of her children and safely back inside Australian borders. I promptly jumped full throttle into life as a full time student.

To be totally honest, life as a full time student kind of blows in comparison to the life I led this summer as an athlete. Sitting at a desk really doesn't compare to flying down the slopes and squeezing in a work out is just so much more difficult. Though, getting back into the social scene in Melbourne is always a treat. This year I was lucky enough to have a gorgeous birthday dinner shortly after my return, the perfect chance to sit down and actually talk to long lost friends. In addition to all this I had started work at a pub around the corner, The Cricket Club, which was the perfect job - not too stressful and great hours. I am organising the snowboard portion of racers for Melbourne University and was also helping coach the St. Hilda's College 1st rowing crew!

Perhaps a little too much and as Good Friday rolled around I came down with what seemed, at the time, like bad tonsillitis, but a week and a blood test later turned out to be Glandular Fever. Thus the past week has been all about lying on the couch and afternoon naps; study and exercise have ground to a halt. Chocolate was not a great feature of Easter as nothing seemed to taste at all like it should, much to Mum's chagrin I was constantly saying, 'this taste's like vomit' - it was not her exceptional cooking just my silly taste-buds! My body seems to be losing any muscle mass it ever had. I'm not looking forward to feeling well enough to start working back on my body condition - it's going to hurt!

I guess this is a kind of karma for taking perhaps a little too much on. Hopefully after a few weeks off work and the gym I can keep up with my study and get a whole lot better. Fingers crossed because the Queen's Birthday Weekend, the opening of the ski season, is only six weeks away!

In other news I was very humbled to receive a Friends of the Sports Association Scholarship from the University - this is going to be significant assistance for the Australian winter coming up. Also, I am beginning the search for sponsors in the hope that next Norther-winter I can be a little less reliant on Mum and Dad.

Don't share water bottles with anyone!

Red Mountain, BC

I was pretty excited to be ending my time in Canada by a trip to Red Mountain, BC. I had heard a lot of good things about this little resort. This piece of advertising pretty much sums it up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Z0MBLHF20

To tell you the truth, Red did not disappoint. We got up on Friday morning for some pre-training riding on a reported 6cm of fresh snow. It felt like so much more. I teamed up with Thomas one of the 16 year olds on the team and we spent all morning hiking a little hill to get freshies and cliff drops a plenty. Unfortunately for me I had one pretty awkward moment where I realised I was perched right on a frozen waterfall with no where to go. The locals had some pretty helpful advice to yell from the chairlift, 'Just send it', 'Go for it', 'Do it'. I took my time in the public arena to get to down a little lower by sliding on the ice and then went for it. Very comical I'm sure from the chairlift. It definitely wasn't graceful!

Aside from the amazing free-riding we were at Red for a couple of British Columbia Provincial Series races. The course was long but the features were not huge meaning that it was a good chance to actually ride on the course. Though, I did my best to fall over the wu-tang at the start in as many different ways as possible. Apparently one of my front flips over the feature in front of a few girls I was training with was pretty spectacular - I nearly landed it.

On the Saturday I qualified fastest by over a second which should have put me in a good position to take the win. Unfortunately in my semi-final when winning by about 50 metres coming into the last burm I decided to throw myself into the stubbies, this ended my chances of winning the first race. VERY ANNOYING! I was definitely not consoled despite destroying the other girls in the consolation final.

Sunday was another solid day of qualifying, this time my time put me in front by 3 seconds over the next female qualifier. Surely I could keep myself together for this final race of my season. I won the semi easily and was feeling good going into the final. I picked the right gate and pulled out first. However, I thought I needed to make it just a bit more difficult for myself and take just one more fall over the wu-tang. This put me far behind with a lot of work to do in the next 1 min down the course. I caught 2 of the girls but couldn't catch the girl in first place. 2nd definitely felt like 1st loser in this race but I guess it's part of the sport. I've just got to work out how to actually ride to my potential in racing, definitely a challenge for the future.

Please stay tuned for photos and video from the race. I have some funny ones of people taking themselves out.

Oh and in other exciting news, a new FIS points list came out (this is how athletes are ranked against each other, gaining points depending on what races they do and how they do in them). I'm currently the highest ranked Australian!!!! Pretty happy with that small achievement and it puts me in a good place for next season.

I'm spending my last week in Steamboat, CO, my body is slowly recovering from all the hits it has taken and I'm starting to feel ready to get back to Uni. It has been gorgeous and sunny here with a really great powder day tomorrow. I'm home on Tuesday and looking forward to catching up with everyone.

Sending smiles from sunny (and delightfully warm) Colorado.

Beach biceps anyone?

I got to thinking whilst reading a sport biography of a journalist, Bill McKibben, who decided to take a year off life and train like an elite cross-country skier. He wasn't a talented athlete but he put in the miles and actually did some pretty decent races by the end of the year. McKibben mentions at numerous spots in the book, Long Distance, about getting up and eating his 'oatmeal' (aka porridge) to get ready to train/race/face the day. I also eat porridge every morning, as I'm sure many other winter athletes do - it seems to fill the stomach just perfectly. So my thought was how would the Winter Olympics fare if there were no porridge? Would there be a mass strike? Would the athletes fall half-way through their races? I'm not sure, but I am sure that I wouldn't have been able to train nearly as hard this winter without my hearty bowl of porridge every morning.

We work out at the Bill Warren Training centre, home of elite nordic skiing athletes, ageing masters, groups of enthusiastic young up and coming cross country skiers and the occasional dung bell lover.  This week a new rather scrawny but very serious guy has started attending the gym. He wears all black, all the time and has a wonderful collection of dog tags. I'm not sure that I have seen him do anything except arm work and sit-ups. This makes all the athletes doing actually functional work-outs giggle, but I feel like it is a good warm up for getting back into the Melbourne University Gym - home to a large collection of 'roid-addicts and men seeking those perfect pectorals.

Here are some photos from the gym:

Deciding how much pain to go through. Adam was advocating for more rather than less. I was not so sure.

Dead lifts

Lat Pull Downs with a view!

I'm not sure if I'm laughing or screaming at this point.

Nate - Happy it is time to stretch and the work-out is all over!

Another cross-country training group - I'm not sure if they actually go to school???? No wonder Canada excels at winter sports

That is where I hang out a fair bit. It is a great gym, usually very quiet and with every activity to test agility and balance that you can imagine!

Oh and here are some shots from the walk home...

The Canmore Nordic Centre

The blue sign points to our dirt road & the Grassi Lakes Recreational Area

'The Spray' aka our home in the woods. Note the Christmas lights, very festive really!

So this is my last post from Canmore. This Thursday I am off to my 10th resort for the winter, Red Mountain, BC for two provincial races. It should be fun to get some really good racing in at a lower level of competition. Then Monday I'm starting a rather protracted journey home via the US again.

Sending smiles for the last time from Canmore, tomorrow is looking like an epic powder day so it is a very big grin really.