Hornby Island - Photo Post

Hornby was awesome.  

I took about a million photos ... so I'll let them do most of the talking.  

Family + Island + Beaches + Bikes = Great Holiday

Not much time to write or read these days as I am over-the-top busy - returning from holiday and getting ready to leave for Nationals (triathlon) in Kelowna this Sunday.

Enjoy the pictures...  CLICK TO ENLARGE for a closer look.

Cheers!  

I love a van/bike shot! Starbucks stop on the way out of town...

The van is awesome for family trips like this.

Don't worry we didn't drive like this.... Viggo 'drove' during ferry line-ups.

Dinner on the first night... Bert and I made Beer Chicken (one of about 3 or 4 things I know how to make!)

A pair of Beer Chickens ready to be BBQed.... they were tasty.

Aia on the 'Trail-Along' behind me... I got some great workouts pulling her everywhere behind me. We even got a bit crazy on the trails which was a blast....  Next year she'll be traveling under her own steam I'm sure.

Hornby Cycle Chic... Very fashionable Sacha and Mel on the way to the bakery or the winery - I can't remember.

Bert won a geodesic dome in a poker game.... we assembled it and had dinner inside once or twice. Who else can say they won a geodesic dome in a poker game?

One of my favourite shots from the trip. Remember being a kid and just throwing rocks at things all day??? Mattias and Finlay.

This is a color shot but seems black and white... I liked it.

Aia and Daisy. I left the shot tilted... thought it was kind of cool that way...

Dinner on the beach with friends.... it's pretty awesome to ride a bike to a dinner/bbq - I would like that kind of lifestyle at home.

Aia in full flight... she's getting faster these days! I would like to look that light on my feet in a photo!

Mattias and Finlay. Don't remember what this game is called but you draw a circle with a cross in the middle then the kids play tag running only on the lines. They get good and tired... it's awesome!

Sacha and her mom with Viggo. This beach was right outside our cabin - we got lucky with a waterfront location this year.

Aia - always perfectly turned out in white skirt with pink bow for a walk on the beach.

Mel with Daisy on her shoulders.

Mattias made some real breakthroughs in his riding on this trip - he was generally attacking the trails - accelerating out of the saddle and riding with a lot more confidence - it was super fun. No trail shots - it was hard enough to keep up!

Gary (father-in-law) and I (not pictured) on the road above Olsen's Farm (possibly the nicest real estate anywhere...). We circumnavigated the island a couple of times during the trip.

Photos of bikes work for me....  it's becoming an affliction.  I love them.  These two were behind Habit (a coffee shop in Victoria)...

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Bromont Camp Wrap

Sorry about the delay....  It's always pretty hectic when I get back from a trip like that...

The last two days of camp were spent on the track.  We did a lot more motorpacing and threw in some all-out efforts.  I do have some pictures but they are on my laptop and I have not switched them over yet...

The most challenging workout involved laps at 40km/h behind the motorbike interspersed with 1 or 2 lap bursts of all-out efforts.  

You take your turn, alternating behind the moto until Eric Calls out, "Meyrick!!  Deux tours!" or "Meyrick!! Un tours!"  [Meyrick!! Two laps! or Meyrick!! One lap!]  

Then you sprint off the front, accelerating as fast and as hard as you can from 40 to whatever max speed is.  This also meant that recovery occurred at 40km/h and efforts were 45-55 or so....  It was pretty challenging.

We did several 20 minute sets like that and one 30 minute set.

On Friday morning we did some start practice.  I did about 6-8 standing starts and got faster on each one - that was good.  Below you can observe a world class standing start - since I have no video you will have to trust me that mine is relatively dissimilar at the moment...

 

That guy is a machine...  

In general I would have benefitted a lot from riding my own bike during all of these practices - the bike I borrowed from the centre was significantly too small - especially for out of the saddle sprinting which there was a lot of.

My final thoughts on the camp were this:

Positives

• It was good to meet Eric.  He is the new coach of the ParaCycling program and therefore someone I need to know and who I want to know me.  He will be a great resource for me to be able to call upon as I continue to work away towards my goals. 
  
• The riding.  It is always great to focus on riding and have top-notch coaches to put you through your paces.

Negatives

• These camps are great for riding (duh) but they don't work very well with the rest of my life.  As a father of three, husband of one, and a business owner it is a challenge to be away from everyone and everything this way.
  

Having said that I remain very excited about entering some bike races (Nationals in a few weeks) and laying down some baselines.  You have to start somewhere to get anywhere....

Back Home

The first order of the day was to reconnect and spend some time with Sacha and the kids.  This was achieved with a super fun day-trip to Washington State where we visited Fairhaven, Chuckanut Drive and Larrabee State Park.  I am already planning the amazing ride I want to do along Chuckanut Drive, through Sudden Valley along Lake Whatcom - combine it with an open water swim at Larrabee and it will be amazing!!!  Let me know if you want to join me.

Larrabee State Park

Cooked up this route on Map-my-Tri...  It is an amazingly beautiful ride - especially along the lake and ocean.

Upon my return I was pumped to see a package in the mail....  a new TT helmet (just like Vince's).  The kids have been modeling it for a few days now:

I was also extremely happy to be eating Sacha's cooking again - I survive cooking on my own but she is the superior chef in this family...


In other news... today was Aia's graduation from Pre-School. Next year kindergarden! Congratulations Aia!!

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That's why they're the best - Innovative Fitness

If you read this blog regularly you will often hear me mention Innovative Fitness - they're my biggest sponsor and they can take a lot of credit any time I achieve anything.

You will also recall Sacha's Rogue Khahtsahlano back on November 9th.  Her IF trainer, Ruth, read my blog about Sacha's race and decided that there was one thing missing - the race garment!

She went out and bought Sacha a cool lululemon t-shirt, downloaded the Khahts logo, added the word "Rogue" and the date, got it printed on the shirt and presented it to my wife late last week.

That's why IF is the best.  The coaches encourage, care about and support your goals; and they appreciate every milestone along the way - whether the destination is the New York Marathon or the Rogue Khahtsahlano. 

Thanks Ruth!  You rock!

The photo below is of Ruth cranking out mad watts on the bike....

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Aloha!

Kauai - also known as the Garden Island - is a damn fine place as far as I can tell.

So far, we are having a blast.  The pace is super slow here - just what we need.  The beaches are really quiet even though it is Spring Break.  I think next week they will be deserted.

We have fallen into a quick routine which is basically AM=Beach, PM=Pool, 5=Dinner, 7:30=Kid's in bed.  Sacha and I spell each other off for some exercise - being late in her pregnancy, her exercise is walking (at a jogging pace - seriously - it's weird...)  I had my first run today (about 5 miles)...  my back was OK, though I didn't push it too much.  It seems that running does not upset the same muscle as skiing.  Luggage lifting on the other hand was excruciating...  though, when one's wife is 8 months pregnant it is best not to complain about lifting luggage (or anything else.)  

My current mini-goal is to set a personal record (PR) at the Sun Run.  My best time there was two years ago: 45:24.  I didn't run it last year.  I know I am more fit now though I haven't been running as much (due to all the skiing.)  I have time to dial it in before April 20th though.

I will have many great photos (now that I have found my camera lens which was missing for two days...)  In the meantime I have only this snapshot.

 

Mattias and Aia - (if not for Mattias I would be the whitest man on the island - but he got his genes from me, so I suppose I am ultimately to blame on both accounts.)

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Perspective

                                             Aia on the playground near the Marketplace

The hot tub at the Marquise is under a wild glass dome...  pretty bright when the sun comes out...

                                        Mattias preparing for the 2026 Olympics.

Aside from the trials and tribulations of racing - we have been having a pretty fun family time here in Whistler.

Today Mattias and Aia were in ski school...  Sacha and I got them out the door in their ski outfits with limited fuss this morning - (high-fives all round!)

After dropping them off we enjoyed a relaxing breakfast before I saw Mary-Beth for some back repair.  Post-massage, we snooped on the kids skiing - we hid behind signs so that Aia wouldn't spot us and decide to cry.  She was ripping up a 20 foot stretch of almost flat snow - she couldn't have looked cuter with her homemade bunny ears on her helmet.

Mattias, meanwhile was carving turns through the gates on the Level II slope....  By carving I mean snowplowing - but he has improved a LOT and Sacha and I were beaming with pride.

After skiing we took them to the pool and hot tub to rest all of our aching muscles.  They had a blast and forced me to do a lot of moving around - I think kids are as effective as physiotherapists.  They are relentless and they wear you down - you can't say 'no' to them because they don't really care about your sore back...  they care about you swimming with them.

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