Catharine Pendrel

An overnight turn around from Rossland had me heading to Victoria with 2 bikes excited for some trail time.  I was also getting to visit great friends and my brother so it was going to be a good 10 days. West coast based national mtb riders were descending on Victoria for some good riding.  The tables were turned as I camped out at Matt and Catherine’s place in Vic.  They were pretty awesome hosts and combining in jean ann and Sandra’s culinary skills we were also feasting tremendously. Since I left Victoria so many phenomenal trails have sprouted up.  The trails were wet, challenging and fun.  The forest felt thriving with life; moist, mossy, green, it was invigorating.   After the weeklong camp I stayed around to get in some rides with my brother and take advantage of his knowledge patience to work on my manual, drops and jumping! Pretty tired out I headed home and took a recovery DH ski day with Keith, finding some untouched powder to play in.

Keith and I took off last Friday for Rossland, BC to revisit the Ram's Head Inn and Granite Mtn. On our way we looked for new ski areas to explore and found a great one right on the route. McCullough Nordic ski trails, located near Big White ski resort just outside Kelowna offered us perfectly groomed and blessedly flat(ish) skating trails. We had some of the weirdest snow we had ever skied though with new rain, and a mix of sun and shade. We flew up the climbs on the shady side only to be almost thrown from our skis as they stopped on the descent and our bodies were still in motion. When the snow suction would increase dramatically was a bit unpredictable, but there were fast enough sections between to make it a nice ski and enjoying a picnic in the snowy sunshine really tops off a good winter day. After a Pizza break at The twisted tomato in Greenwood we traversed through dense fog at 35km/hr over the Blueberry Paulson and arrived to the cozy ambiance of the Ram's Head inn.

I have finally found a coffee that I love in a bodum. Kicking horse’s Kootenay Crossing will make life on the road that much better this season.

After moving to the interior of BC from Victoria in 2004 I’ve had to embrace winter training.  Initially I’d hang on to riding way too long (and have fingers and toes hypersensitive to the cold to show for it).  Now that I’m half proficient at skate skiing though winter is much more enjoyable, surrounded by sun reflecting off white snow (and at slower speeds less wind and cold!) I had the neat opportunity this December to stay with and train with the Alberta World cup ski academy as the prepared for an early season race in Vernon, BC.  It’s always interesting to see how other sports train and prepare, how technical their sport is with waxing and how different training can be when technique must be perfect and weather isn’t always cooperative, but also the similarities in preparation and training. The team was mostly juniour and under 23 athletes with a lot of talent.  They were very grounded and ambitious so it will be fun to follow their racing. After getting a skate and classic l