League of Extraordinary People - 2009

Once a year, a dozen of amazing people that I went to high school and univeristy with get together and catch up, in interesting places in the province. Last year we met in Tofino for surfing and drinking.

The 2009 edition led us to the North Okanagan to Shuswap Lake Provincial Park! we arrived on Friday evening after realizing the Shuswap is further away than Google maps says, plus when you stop for dinner, groceries, beer and gas the trip gets extended. Never the less we made it to our campsite just before 10pm. Our parks (BC's) are basically on the other side of the spectrum of wilderness compared to the park we were at in the states last weekend, each site was surrounded by trees and we really felt secluded. Just what we were looking for. That night once everyone arrived we caught up around the campfire with adult beverages in hand. I chose Philips Slipstream Cream Ale. Probably my new favourite beer, it's smooth with no after bite and there are cyclists on it - it has to be good!!

The next day we all made breakfast together, and hungout drinking coffee waiting for the straglers to arise. We then went on a hike up (when I say up, I mean straight up and then straight down) the side of a mountain, and then made our way down to the beach. It was so nice!! We tossed the frisbee and read. I couldn't believe how many people had massive boats, just obscene!

That night we had a group meal of burritos, there was a plethra of colours!~ Everyone was pretty damn full, but all left some needed room for smores!!! I would like to point out here that the "waterman smore technique" was introduced and used by all. Smiles all around!

The next morning we did the same thing, just hung out and cleaned up. Some went to the beach and we headed out.

It was a great weekend, and I'm so thankful for all those people that were there, and some were really missed. We all missed Malcolm and Steph and Dan, as well as Coral and Adam (and the kidlets) and Crystal and Dave (and the new kidlet)

I can't wait until February for the ski trip!!

Take care.

GW

Steamboat Rock!!

We just got back from a fantastic little holiday in the US of A! Katie, Nicole (her sister), Andrew (her brother - visiting from London, Eng), Ian (Nic's BF) Marcia, Marc and I headed down to Steamboat Rock this past July 1st. It's about 4 hours south of Penticton, and it would be totally desolate except for the fact that the Columbia river has been dammed!
Not really knowing what to expect except for cold beers and Frisbee tossing it turned out to be an awesome little getaway. We drove thru the Osoyoos border crossing where we were interrogated as to why we were coming to America. I referenced the song, and used my Jedi mind tricks and everything went smoothly. Just a quick note here, if they ask you a question, don't lie, they already know the answer! It also helps if you went to highschool with the border guard.

We drove down thru Omak (pass the Stampede) and on to the Grand Coulee Dam! It was just amazing and the little town was straight out of the fifties. About 10 miles south we got to the Steamboat Boat Rock campsite. Let me tell you it was freakin' hot, we basically went straight to the water to cool off. That night we made glorious hamburgers and smores and threw the football about 50 times too many so that all our shoulders hurt the next day.

The following day we went on the Grand Coulee Dam Tour, it was so impressive and very educational (yeah I know I'm a nerd) We were allowed to ask dam questions after
the dam tour!! It is the 3rd biggest concrete structure in the world!

That night we went to the "Laser" show on the dam, it ended with Neil Young's "Coming to America". Awesome!!

The next morning we made the trek up Steamboat Rock. It took about an hour round trip and was really cool, there were some great views and some really neat geographical structures, just completely different than in Penticton. After that we packed up and tried to pawn off milk and beer. The milk was a tough sell but the beer was accepted with open arms!

On our way home we were once again stopped at the border, it only took about 25 minutes so no worries. What a great trip, and everyone had a pretty good time!!

GW

ps: we only got passed by minivans full of children

You come to my house... and kick my dog?

The Mob is everywhere, they are connected to everything and everyone. Let me tell you their evil tentacles are here in Penticton alive and well. Anything and everything you do is being watched by someone and if you do something bad (ie: fail a kid who may or may not have ties to the mob) it/they will come back and get you when you are least expecting it. Take for example my most recent visit to Iron sport physio, I'm laying on the table (with my clothes on - hold your horses ladies) and Mr. Mark Kildaw (mild mannered triathlete by morning and evil physio by night) pulls out 4 inch acupuncture needles. Basically it's the mob's way of sending a guy named "Tony the Shovel" to your house to send you a message. The result being the same -- I can't walk. I rest my case but I'm going into adjudication meetings for failures next week and if this inability to walk continues I'll have no names on my list.

Hell, it may just be Karma, who's to say?

I think I'm going to sleep an extra 2 hours tonight.


GW

Slip my wheel on!

So, it's been a while since I last posted. I just figured nobody actually read my blog but it turns out 2 people do, Olly and my mom. The past 2 months have flown by, I've been very busy with school, on May 9th I travelled to Winnipeg for the National Science Fair where I was a chaperon to 6 fantastic kids! This was a great opportunity as I had participated in 2 national fairs in 1996 and 1999. Let me tell you it was tremendously different being there as an adult. The meeting on Sunday night from 8 until 10, was a sneak peak to the meetings to come. Lets just say I learned a lot, and met some really cool people along the way.



This past weekend I competed in Oliver at the sprint triathlon in the self proclaimed wine capital of Canada. I placed 3rd behind two very strong athletes. Jordan Rapp who is a really nice guy and who is now living in Penticton won the race and spanked me good - he's gonna be up there at IMC. More importantly, I got beat real bad by a guy named Joel Johnson. He is 15 and he will go to the Olympics.

Now onto this week, I just got back from a ride with TBD. Let's just say I took an untimely pull (read: I should have just gone straight to the back) and DBD and KBD reminded me that they can distroy me at any time. Thus, I'd like you to take a look at the clip below :)






sleep well.

GW

My eyes are up here!

I guess you could say that I'm getting tired of people talking about and looking at my rack. We had a group ride today out to Oliver (the self proclaimed Wine capital of Canada) and then up past the White Lake observatory**. I took out my Cannondale instead of the winter steed. Right away people were making lude comments about my rack, wondering where it was, and how big it was, how much beer my rack could hold. Heck they even wanted to touch it! You can look but you can't touch. I'll be keeping my rack wrapped up from now on in a pair of Paniers for commuting to work, and the 'Dale for the more 'serious' rides. All I can say is I'm looking forward to this weeks threshold Thursday at the Naramata Dipper.

Remember, look at the sun and then look away.

GW

** I was doing well, but just like Olly, Dave and Tom dropped 3rd period French in high school, I as well got dropped like 3rd period French.

Spring break!!!

Spring Break!!! Well Spring break is upon us, I'm on the second week of a great Spring Break, I spent the first week at Apex with Sam and his friend Carolyn. We had several Kenny vs. Spenny episodes on the ice and on XBox. Fortunately, we're at 2000m up there so I was able to keep the hockey casualties to a minimum. Sam would shoot the puck to the other end of the ice so that he could recover while I went and got the puck. Unfortunately for him this didn't help his cause as I've been at altitude several times this year! It may have been the spanky new skates Sam got me for my belated birthday present! As for the Xbox, Sam dominated like the champ he is.

Now I'm back at home and procrastinating very well at getting to work (marking and planning). I have been riding quite a bit too. I'm excited for the season!!

Take a nap, you've earned it.

GW

Trifecta Completed!

What a weekend! I (Team Big Deal*) had a very interesting weekend of high octane activities. On Saturday morning we were greeted by a brain freezing blizzard at Sovereign Lakes in Vernon where we competed in a 30km loppet. It was pretty nuts, almost a foot of snow fell right before the race so we had to lift our legs pretty high, and the groomer went over part of the track which made it super narrow! This narrowness caused a hard fall when I caught a tip in the snow beside the trail! While I was licking my wounds an older gentleman (58) passed me and continued to put the hurt on me for a few more k's. Luckily, age was on my side as I had to out sprint him for 14th place overall! I know, but he was tough! After the race, as per Dave's recommendation we hit up Moxie's in Kelowna. bunch of tired looking guys sitting in really nice leather chairs.

The following morning we raced in a 5km, this was fun but not at the same time. It was a freezing northerly wind and I elected to wear shorts! This race probably turned out to be a mistake for me as I have been nursing my left calf ever since. At least I'm keeping our "team" Physio in business!!

As for that afternoon, we competed in a Master's swim meet. It was so much fun and my times weren't that bad, I was especially stoked about my 100m free time as I was only a second off my lifetime best, of 1:03!!

After a weekend like that, I was pretty wrecked for a few days and now the "sore" calf/ankle is a bummer. But, the good thing about getting an injury is that it reminds you how lucky we are to do this and be so active.

Go take a nap.

Geoff

*I am merely an honourary member of TBD, as I have not completed the criteria to be an offical member.