It was a crazy idea to sign up for both the 2 week long Vuelta a Venezuela and the 6 day Tour of Missouri in the first place. It was even crazier to do it when we realized that there was only one day separating them. But the thought of racing 20 days in 21, on two continents, in what we called the 'Grand Tour', was an appealing thought. I for one figured it would be the closest I shall ever come to simulating one of the Big Three: the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana. So, why not?
We started our journey by flying to Miami. Eric and I met up in Denver to find a broken plane and the inevitable delay. Word went out to the crew in Vancouver that their trip was doomed even before taking off. So after waiting all day at the airport, Svein, Brandon, Cam and Sherby were whisked off to L.A so that they could catch a Red Eye to Miami that night. Eric and I met up with Bill, Sophie and Kevin Field that evening in Miami. The next morning, we found the Vancouver boys laying on the floor at the airport, in a little room they built out of bike bags. Off we went to Atlanta and then Caracas. We landed at midnight. Upon exiting the airport, we found a small bus. Luckily for us, had we all brought TT bikes, we'd still be there trying to jam it all in. Everything got inside the bus somehow and then we were told that the trip to the start town was 8 hours. Another Red Eye.
After driving for an hour or so, we get off the "highway" and start driving through some neighborhoods. Eventually, the driver stops and we realize that we're at his house. He disappears for a little while and then hops back in. Off we go, but only for a moment. We soon stop again on the highway and, through our combined limited Spanish efforts, learn that the driver feels unsafe driving with the bus packed to the gills. He's called his brother who's coming with a bigger bus. Eventually we load up onto his bus and begin our adventure again.
Venezuelans love to blast the AC. It's even noted in Svein's Lonely Planet book. Our bus driver had the temp down to about 10 Celsius. We asked him to turn it off and slowly, all of us passed out. Late into that morning, I awoke freezing again but too tired to complain. In the distance, a woman's voice rattled off in Spanish to the driver. I didn't know that Sophie could speak Spanish so well. But when the sun rose, I peeked towards the front and saw that the driver made another stop during the night and found a friend. A look behind me found Brandon passed out, using his yoga mat for a blanket. I was jealous.
This was just 2 horrible days out of 14. Unfortunately, Venezuela really is in a state of decay. Looking at every building, every hotel, every road, you could see that perhaps in the '70s, and I stress perhaps, these things may have been kinda cool. There was one particular hotel that was an old resort near the Andes. It had an open design overlooking the pool and mountains. At one time, I am sure it was nice. Sophie set up the massage table under the veranda and I was enjoying the evening until she told me to take another shower after the massage. There were bugs crawling on me. Nice.
Towards the end of the race, I was skipping lunch so that I would be hungry at dinner. When you're hungry, and it's day 10, spaghetti and chicken becomes delicious again. I will say this. Not once, not ever, was the spaghetti overcooked. That is tricky to do for 150 people. Every night we'd come down for dinner at about 7pm. Every night the head organizer would say to us in Spanish, "Here come the Canadians. They don't understand me. Look! They are hungry!" Then he'd point to me. "This guy understands a little!" Then he'd laugh and tell the story to anyone in earshot about the Canadians who want to eat at 7pm instead of 9. But at least he'd go into the kitchen and have the waiters bring us something to eat.
Brandon was out of the race on day 4 with full intestinal malaise, as bad as you can imagine. He needed to travel with us for another 4 days until finally getting word that the organizers may have a way for him to the airport. We started the stage that day and essentially left him in a random town. I guess he sat there for three hours until finding his ride. Then he began the scariest trip I've ever heard about to the airport.
Everyone was having various problems throughout the race. Bill got sick and then blew out his back. Sophie and Kevin were getting sick. Everyone else had various digestive problems and were succumbing to a bronchitis as well. Sherby also had some chemical chamois burns from the sink washing with mystery detergents. The hardest man in the world, Eric Wohlberg, said uncle on day 10 after being up all night and Cam pulled the plug with fever chills during the stage. Svein, Sherby and I rode one more day. After the stage however, my left eye began to close shut. Was it sickness or just some crazy diesel spray infection? I was up all night stressed about finding eye drops in Venezuela. Svein got the chills and then the sweats that night and Sherby was working on getting pneumonia. Our alarm woke us at 6am. I peeled my eye open and proclaimed, "I'm out". Svein said he was too and then Sherby coughed up some phlegm and agreed. Our disastrous tour was over.
But sadly, it really wasn't. We had to follow the race until the last day in the bus. 6 hours a day. We couldn't do any short rides, as our bikes followed the race separately and showed up later in the day. But as sick as we were, there was no possibility of riding. Eric was the only one to venture out on the last day in a city choking with traffic and pollution. The rest of us said, No thanks.
It was time for a final packing of bikes and clothes, stinking of mildew, that never once dried in two weeks. Sherby was heading home while 4 riders and 3 staff prepared to start Missouri in 2 days. With the death virus firmly ensconced in my head and lungs, and having not ridden in 4 days, I seriously doubted whether I could even finish the first stage. At least my eye was getting better.
Oh I mentioned bad roads. What can I say? Imagine two weeks of riding through a construction zone. Giant man swallowing holes. Wheel breaking, bike breaking holes. Look out! There's a sign in the middle of the road! Oh the cuban hit it. He showed up an hour later covered in gauze. Tough little guy. Oh, that other dude hit a dog. Poor guy. Poor dog. Every town has about 5 or 6 speed bumps but imagine broken 2 foot high little mountains. Now I know you think I'm joking about them being 2 feet high. Well, go to Venezuela and have a look. Uh oh, Svein was pushed into the gutter. It's a 6 inch drop into a trench actually. Can't get out of that. He's going to have to stop…but not in time before slamming into a pile of garbage.
Well I know that I sound really down on Venezuela. It was regrettably the most difficult travel and racing conditions any of us have experienced in our careers. I guess that I feel the organizers are biting off more than they can chew. Money is, of course, very tight. However the same budget could go into a week-long race instead and things could be improved. Most of the stage distances were off by more than 20km. The organizer was even calling finishing towns during the stage to find hotels for the riders! "Hi there, do you have room for 150? Tonight. Well in 2 hours actually". And the UCI regulations were thrown out the window regarding teams. Most of the squads were coming from various provinces of Venezuela. Each province had three teams each and they were all working together. Some teams even had the exact same kits. Imagine having the leaders jersey and having 17 guys roll on the front for you. Imagine attacking while 17 guys chase you down.
Missouri was pure joy in comparison. As sick as the 4 of us were, we were as happy as my dog Emma in mud to be on smooth roads and in good hotels. Every time the race went single file, I said,"Yeah sure. Chuck it in the ditch. I don't care. You can't hurt me anymore. I'm on stage 16 here". And the team did really well too. Three podiums and Randell 8th overall. It was a great success. The stage where we chased down the break for 40k was actually fun to me. I was enjoying being a part of the race and my head was starting to clear up too.
Unfortunately the Grand Tour came to an abrupt end for me on the last stage with about 30k to go. A media motorbike clipped my shoulder while attempting to pass the field through a gap only a few feet wide. Clearly the driver didn't have enough room when he hit me. My hand came off the bars and I veered into some large construction barrels. Upon hitting the ground, I landed on my shoulder, took road rash on both sides of my body and whacked my head for good measure. The diagnosis was a complete break of my right clavicle.
I got into the doctor back in Portland about a week after the crash for a check-up. I went in thinking that I didn't want surgery unless it was necessary. After all, the season was nearly over. The doctor was leaning towards surgery however given the distance between the bones. We decided to do another x-ray and see how things were going. I was surprised to see that the bones were now even further apart. Surgery seems necessary now to prevent a possible non-union of the bone. So it's scheduled for Wednesday morning. I'll try and do a one-handed update later next week. The pictures below show my X-ray initially after the crash. Then, a week later shows that the bones are even further apart now.

What a year it’s been!

You know, even though I’ve only seen the boys race at a handful of
occasions, I still feel like I’ve been there in spirit most of the time. It
could be the relentless phone calls to my BFFs Andrew Randell and Andrew
Pinfold, I guess. It could also me making the Cunningham house my second
home several times this year.

But man, how about 2007? I’ve never been so excited to be a spectator as when
ol’ Dwayne won the US Open Champs. It’s hard sometimes, as a former racer,
to be a true spectator, getting the same energy as someone who never has.
But man, when I saw the Bearded Wonder ride away on the final cobbled climb
I couldn’t help but sound a muffled scream. Kevin was upstairs watching on
his TV, I was in his living room.

(Yes Pinner, I was excited to see you get fifth too. I admit it.)

I think I really am a closet case fan. I was flying back from New York City
the day of the National Championships, and I actually found an internet cafe
in the airport, sat down, paid the 9.99 and watched the live coverage on
CanadianCyclist.com. I kept hitting refresh over and over, waiting for some
indication of what would happen next as Randell and Cam Evans tagteamed the
break. Part of me was thinking, “Oh man, they can’t screw this up. They
can’t lose this. Come on. Win dammit. Win.” The other part was just pissed
off that I had to pay 10 bucks for ‘net.

I did a few spring series races this year, and once again I found myself to
be the closetcase fan. Riding at the back of the pack, suffering to finish
in the A group, but amazed at how far these guys have come.

I remember having first met Kevin in 2004, through Pinner. The team has
really changed. Back then the focus was more on BC and Canadian races. I
don’t think Kevin or Mark would have thought for a second we’d be talking
about Svein winning the UCI America Tour. Or the dominance the team has
shown in North and South America. Everyone has grown on the team—grown
stronger, more confident. As a family, the children have become adults.

Even surly Christian has become a happy espoir. Things change. And here I
am, finally coming out of the closet: I am a fan of the team, and proud of
these chumps.

Go S-Team Go.

With the build up of Lance Armstrong's visit to Vancouver on Sunday, the Vancouver Sun Newspaper is publishing a three part series on cycling. Part one of the series, written by Jonathan Fowlie, focused on road cycling and the Symmetrics fueled by FarmPure team. Since it was published I have received numerous phone calls and emails congratulating our team on its success and commitment to the sport of cycling in Canada. After hearing many comments from others I realized that this article spoke volumes about who we are as a team and what we stand for. Wrapped in Jonathan’s story about our success, the issues around drugs and the profiles of riders like Svein Tuft and Andrew Pinfold is an important story about the underlying values of this team.

I encourage everyone who supports our team to take the time to read this article: Canadian Team Cycles Clean

If you want the PDF to download with full size images click here

Mark
President & CEO
Symmetrics
Mark My Words Blog
Symmetrics Corporate
Symmetrics Pro Cycling Fueled by FarmPure

So as I predicted I didn't get too many questions but nervertheless I think the two I did get warrant some answers.

The Princess of Darkness asked:What is the deal with the lycra??? What makes a leg-shaving cyclist WILLINGLY don a pair of lycra shorts? No woman in their right mind likes lycra and yet cyclists flock to it like Pam Anderson to silicone. And don't try and tell me it is more aerodynamic. What gives?

A: In a word, wool. Lycra replaced wool as the fabric of choice for cycling apparel. Wear a wool jersey and shorts on a hot day and it becomes pretty obvious why we wear lycra.

Plus, it feels so liberating to parade around in skin tight stuff. Try it.

The next question come from Cranky Pants who asked: When you are riding in a breakaway and sitting-on, do you ever feel any regret and/or remorse for doing so? Or do you as the consummate pro just think "You poor suckers, I am going to rock you today!" Please discuss.

A: No I don't feel any regret or remorse, usually I am too busy thinking of excuses to tell the other guys in the break why I am not working.

Actually, I only sit on when I have to. When it benefits the team.

On a final note. I was asked the other day why we are not going to Univest. It's pretty easy, you need at least 5 starters and we only had 3 available (myself, Will, and Randell). Unfortunately, Z-Man had to go to track nats and The Young Man is doing Avenir, both for National Team duties. Furhtermore, Kabush is doing some big MTB race over in Europe (some 24 hr race or singlespeed thing) and Mash is on a bit of a self discovery tour.

For those of you who want to know what is up with the boys down in Ven. Apparently she's a doozy of a banana tour, even for banana tour specialists such as us. Getting off to a terrible start because of a 55 hour sleepless travel experience to get there doesn't help, followed Chavez's revenge (kinda like Montezuma's revenge, but the type you get in VEN) doesn't really lend itself to stellar results. However, there are 3 stages left and and you never know……….

As they say "Some time she goes, some times she don't go. She didn't go. That how she goes."

Well the summer has passed, labour day has come and gone and the kids are back in school. I always find this time of year interesting because it reminds me a bit of New Years. I always get a bit more of that “roll up my sleeves and get down to it” attitude when summer is over. It must be that internal clock that has been set over the years. Ok then….so it is Sept 16 and my sleeves are rolled up and I am ready to tackle part two of my series on sponsorship.

In my previous post, Mark My Words – On Sponsorship, I summarized the importance of creating a true partnership with sponsors which provides a solid foundation for any successful business relationship. The next step is to look in a little more detail as to why a company would sponsor a sports team like ours. Generally speaking sports properties have always been the most popular area for companies to sponsor and our experience shows that most companies do not use sponsorship to replace advertising, public relations or sales promotion. Instead it gets used as an integrated extension of their overall corporate strategy which includes the marketing plan. But selling more products or services is not the only way that companies use sponsorship. What we see is a trend toward integrating sponsorship with community responsibility. I believe our sponsors are realizing that customers are willing to reward or punish companies with their wallets based on corporate citizenship. In Canada’s Millennium poll on Corporate Social Responsibility people said that “social responsibility” is the number one factor that influences their impression of a company – more even than brand quality or business fundamentals. The needs of society and the interests of business overlap. Buyers are demanding to know where a company stands before they purchase its products. Making the world a more livable place is a prerequisite to achieving consumer affinity. Sponsorship, which allies companies with community responsibility and improved quality of life, is precisely the kind of statement consumers will respond to. When a company sponsors, it is providing something for its customers.

So how does a cycling team fit into all of this? First, I see our team as a development platform for Canadian cycling. Yes we call ourselves a pro team but if you go back to the reason why Kevin and I started this team in the first place it was to help Canadian cycling grow. It was to create an environment that young riders could aspire to and eventually grow within. I tell people regularly that I believe sports shaped who I am as an individual today. I learned more about myself during the last hour of my first Ironman triathlon at the age of 18 than I would have in that Phys Ed 12 class I was missing. Competitive sports most definitely helps create a set of core values that can be carried for life. A sports team like ours is a “community cause” in many respects. We are not hiring Lance Armstrong; we are looking for the pimply faced 16 year old Canadian kid who really wants to be a bike racer and who is interested in become part of a program that is more than just winning bike races. One of the reasons why we have been successful as a team is that we have invested in younger riders like Cam Evans, Christian Meier and Marsh Cooper. We have grown our team rather than just trying to hire “stars.” We are known as Canada’s team for a reason and I believe our sponsors and their customers relate to this worthy cause and value it.

Second, our team is community driven via our Cyclist for Charity program. We have done extensive work with BC Special Olympics in our “Future Olympians riding for Special Olympians” campaign. Last year we developed a relationship with BC Hydro to participate in the BC Hydro Power Smart \ Vancouver Food Bank Live LED Billboard event which in turn led to a cash sponsorship deal with BC Hydro in 2007. We have also offered our commitment to support Team H2V::Coast to Coast Ride for Juvenile diabetes in 2007. Most recently, we have begun working very closely with Coast Capital Savings and the Cops for Cancer organization to help build awareness around cancer research and the Cops for Cancer organization. Last week our team participated in a group ride with many of the Cops for Cancer riders and some of the Coast Capital Savings employees. It was a fantastic way for Coast Capital Savings to show off their commitment to community by rolling their “cause” over the roads of Surry and White Rock. The police laid out the red carpet for the group by creating a rolling enclosure with lead and follow cars, flashing lights and blocked intersections. It definitely gave the ride a bit of profile that helped attract the attention of the local community who happened to be out walking or strolling down the beach. Check out the pictures of the event in my gallery below.

As we progress my hope is to see the connection between charities like Cops for Cancer, our sponsors and the Symmetrics team grow. It demonstrates the social responsibility of an organization and it provides an opportunity for innovative fund raising activities that can interconnect the company’s sponsorship and charitable interests.

Until next time…

Mark
President & CEO
Symmetrics
Mark My Words Blog
Symmetrics Corporate
Symmetrics Pro Cycling Fueled by FarmPure

Symmetrics, Coast Capital Savings and Cops for Cancer Ride

[Show as slideshow]

Most people can recall a humbling moment, that moment that can just suck all the confidence out of you like the Hoover 3000 working over those crumbs in you carpet. That moment, more like moments, is kind of what I’m experiencing right now at the Tour de L’Avenir. Not that I ever thought I was some amazing angel of the mountains who danced up the hills, but on a good day when I’m not suffering from a problem where my left leg gets numb and I seem to loose all power in that leg which has been hampering me since the time trial, I don’t reckon I’m to bad, then we hit the mountains here, where it seems a rider who could normally throw down some solid attacks in north America is doing everything to hang on as these guys drive up the climbs. One on hand it’s not too bad for one day in the mountains with these guys, but the way they seem to just keep going faster every continuing day is what amazes me most. Having made the GC split a few stages ago where we took over six and a half minutes on the field I figured chances weren’t too bad for finishing within the top 10. Well this were the humbling moment comes in, over the last 2 stages numerous riders have been clawing back that deficit with quite some efficiency, in particular one Spanish rider who 2 days in a row has made the long break away stick with full teams like Rabobank and Germany chasing all day. Yesterday being the most impressive of his escapades where he went basically off the gun with a French rider never to be seen again, the impressive part was it was going so hard off the gun that the pack was reduced to half its size within 15km and they just kept pushing up the gap to a max of over four minutes and from all accounts the French rider was sitting on for the finishing circuits, at least the last 30km. Huh. That’s humbling. Another humbling moment was the Russian rider, who usually rides for Tinkoff, who rode the front for about the first 50km on his own, the pack single file behind with a steady stream of riders getting dropped. Again: huh. Richard if you’re reading we definitely need to do something about my training, more intervals or something I don’t know, though riding with more than one legs after the other seems to go lifeless might be a better place to start. So today is the third and what looks like the hardest day in the mountains to come, three cat 1, one cat 2 and two cat3 climbs, don’t know how much more humble I can get but I guess we’ll see today, maybe I’ll be coming home a monk. Oh la la. Ciao
The Young Man

Ever been to France? I have been maybe even to much for my own good. I think France is one of those countries you either love or hate and having done almost 6 months worth of projects over here I am really leaning towards the latter. After 5 days of racing here at the Tour of L’Avenir, the U23 version of the Tour de France, its been nothing but crosswinds and crashes and I am actually looking forward to hitting the hard climbing days in the Massif Central over the next 4 stages. There is no doubt that these are going to be some of the hardest days of racing I’ve done but at least then when the guy in front of me blows if much easier to close the gap then when its going 60kph in the crosswind with a train of orange Rabobank boys going like it’s the last 200m of a race instead of the 165km still to go. The country side of northern France just seems so desolate, its not really forested, not really cultivated, so spread apart and provokes a lonely isolated feeling. Usually I really don’t mind living in the country and actually prefer it to city life but here it’s just to much, I need internet. When you on the road during a big tour all you do is eat, sleep, bike, repeat. You are always trying to get the maximum amount of recovery so there is no walking around town or the hotel even, the only walking I do is room to massage, room to food, room to van. So with all this feet up time the internet plays a key role to keeping sane, keeping in touch with the outside world. During a stage race you really have no idea what’s going on outside your little bubble that’s the race, your reading material is the race bible, profiles, results and the topic of conversation most of the time is trying to predict what is going to happen the following day, though we’ve learned that here you may as well use the magic 8 ball to try to predict strategies. It really does get to be a bit to much biking and I think that’s another reason I really like to race with my boys at Symmetrics, cycling always seems to be a secondary topic of conversation at the dinner table and especially in the room which I usually share with Dwanyer. For that reason every time I get to call Amber it’s a real treat, where the only real talk of strategy is planning out our activities for when I get back and let me tell you that cant be soon enough, just 4 more stages at this race and couple timbit challenge races at worlds in Germany. Then who knows maybe a quick little vacation might be in order, still strategizing on that one. Ciao
The Young Man

So as I predicted I didn't get too many questions but nervertheless I think the two I did get warrant some answers.

The Princess of Darkness asked:What is the deal with the lycra??? What makes a leg-shaving cyclist WILLINGLY don a pair of lycra shorts? No woman in their right mind likes lycra and yet cyclists flock to it like Pam Anderson to silicone. And don't try and tell me it is more aerodynamic. What gives?

A: In a word, wool. Lycra replaced wool as the fabric of choice for cycling apparel. Wear a wool jersey and shorts on a hot day and it becomes pretty obvious why we wear lycra.

Plus, it feels so liberating to parade around in skin tight stuff. Try it.

The next question come from Cranky Pants who asked: When you are riding in a breakaway and sitting-on, do you ever feel any regret and/or remorse for doing so? Or do you as the consummate pro just think "You poor suckers, I am going to rock you today!" Please discuss.

A: No I don't feel any regret or remorse, usually I am too busy thinking of excuses to tell the other guys in the break why I am not working.

Actually, I only sit on when I have to. When it benefits the team.

On a final note. I was asked the other day why we are not going to Univest. It's pretty easy, you need at least 5 starters and we only had 3 available (myself, Will, and Randell). Unfortunately, Z-Man had to go to track nats and The Young Man is doing Avenir, both for National Team duties. Furhtermore, Kabush is doing some big MTB race over in Europe (some 24 hr race or singlespeed thing) and Mash is on a bit of a self discovery tour.

For those of you who want to know what is up with the boys down in Ven. Apparently she's a doozy of a banana tour, even for banana tour specialists such as us. Getting off to a terrible start because of a 55 hour sleepless travel experience to get there doesn't help, followed by Chavez's revenge (kinda like Montezuma's revenge, but the type you get in VEN) doesn't really lend itself to stellar results. However, there are 3 stages left and and you never know……….

As they say "Some time she goes, some times she don't go. She didn't go. That how she goes."

I've decided. I am not funny as Jake, I am not as interesting as Mark, and I really can't come up with anything that is remotely original (at least something worth blogging about). So I leave up to you. You know my mom, dad, and the other four people that read things I write. Ask me anything. Want to know how much Svein trains? How many sit ups Eric does every day? I can't guarrantee that your question will be answered, but it will be considered. So fire away.

As my trusty advisor would say: "Regards"
Pan Man

P.S. Post your questions in the comments section.

I’m bored, beyond bored, I mean I’m writing a blog. Wow. I’m sitting in the airport in Frankfurt wondering what I would do if I came face to face with whoever booked this nice little flight for me. Its nothing like what the boys had to deal with flying down to Venezuela last week but right now six hours at gate A24 waiting for my connecter to Paris just really isn’t doing it for me.
Since Superweek I have been just trying to enjoy the supposed summertime weather, its still coming right? Most of my spare time away from training was all about having fun with my GF, Amber; it’s rare that I am around for an extended period of time so we took full advantage. First thing after Superweek we did a little trip to Victoria for a couple of days where I had to do some testing at Pac Sport, but biking aside it was great. The second night there we went to an amazing Italian restaurant tucked in a back alley where Amber had a rich salad of spinach topped with Duck Confit and I enjoyed an amazingly tender Veal Medallions with roasted root vegetables and veal jus. Oh and can’t forget the tiramisu for dessert, don’t worry we shared it. What we enjoyed most at this little hide away gem was the fresh bread with an olive tapenade though ,diced olives and roasted red pepper drowned in olive oil, still trying to get it the same at home think I’m getting close. That was followed the next day by a trip to the museum to see the Titanic Exhibition, it was pretty cool stuff, and they even had a huge iceberg in one room.
Next was a trip back to back home (NB) for my brothers wedding and let me tell you it was definilty something special. Where I grew in Sussex NB, covered bridge and dairy town capital of Canada, you went either of two ways growing up, you became more of the redneck hick type with your big loud 4×4 truck with muddin tires and the quad in the back or you became the more normal civilized type. He went the first, myself, I like to think going the latter and apart from the same parent we don’t really have that much in common. But he still is my brother and was definitely making the trip and with Amber there its always good, plus we got to see my sister’s first child at only a month old as well as my brothers first child born just two weeks before their wedding, kind of weird being an uncle. Anyways so the wedding was interesting my brother wore jeans and cowboy boots, his wife also sporting cowboy boots with her dress, got to get reacquainted with all my brothers hick friends who used to harass me in high school and we enjoyed our share of the 165lbs whole pig on a spit which was amazing, made sure we got the best part, the tender cheeks. So with my brother and sister now both married I am the only one that remains and comment of the weekend was the good old “so I guess you’re next then, eh?” “When you getting hitched?” even a few drunken “don’t ever do it, your brother is screwed” ok sure but is his best man suppose to be saying that. The best comment was one that Amber overheard about herself while I was getting some family photos done “looks like he went and got himself a preddy little thing from da city”. Ha-ha, just find that funny because when you tell somebody from Vancouver that you live in Langley they can’t believe you would ever live way out in the “country” like that, “do they even have running water way out there”. The rest of our four day trip was spent doing a bit of hiking; ATVing and eating amazing home cooked food including Amber’s first lobster experience. She wasn’t much of a fan of putting a live lobster in boiling water though, all in the name of culinary delight though I convinced her.
It always seems like home is the place to go to really recharge the batteries, good food, no distractions and blissfully quite. So when I got back it was time to get back at the training to try to conjure up some form for the last half of the season which after weeks of uncertainty now looks like this. First the Tour De L’Avenir, getting a bit nervous for this one not even gonna lie, followed by Road Worlds in Stuggart Germany, then a quick shot home for the season finale of Veulta Chihuahua in Mexico. But all this training in the past few weeks doesn’t mean we weren’t finding the time to indulge in our favorite pastime, dressing up and going out to expand our culinary palettes, with two more fine restaurants off our goal of eventually hitting every fine dining experience in the Vancouver area. Off the list now are Don Francesco in Vancouver, where we enjoyed pistachio encrusted rack of lamb, veal stuffed ravioli and Vancouver’s best tiramisu, again shared ha ha, and Pearl in White Rock where we enjoyed the six course tasting menu, that one is going to have to get its own little write up. I love food. Ciao
Christian