My new addition..

Don't say it, don't even think it…. the answer to your question is.. yes.. I needed a another bike! Well.. ok, so maybe not needed.. but certainly wanted..

So here is the big reveal, my Italian dream, my new love, and I have already spent more time with her this weekend than with Dwight :-) For the bike geeks out there….. full carbon, Shimano Di2 electronic shifting, weighs 15 lbs with my old heavy pedals, and most importantly… understated sexy!!!

A quote… Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. Exactly! Which is why I am so happy today, I bought a new bike under my own power.. and made myself soooo happy….. who said this.. the Dalai Lama, maybe not what he meant.. but hey, it works! 

Wonderful curves

Great legs

Lots of muscle

Her, and I in our natural habitat…….

And finally… the most wonderful day to be on the bike……………! 

Sorry.. that's all for now.. got to go… and I am sure you can guess where………! 

Till next time happy chatting…….

What I did last weekend…...

The same thing over six thousand other people did…..I participated in the…..

What the heck is that you ask? Its a cycling event….Gran Fondo translate to "Big Ride" in italian.. so I jumped into a pack of over 6000 riders and headed up to Whislter….. I was lucky for a couple of reasons… the first is that I had done this ride twice already this year.. by myself, so I was really looking forward to drafting… and two.. I had Mike, my coach, my friend. WIthout him the last 20km would have been like walking my bike… his support and enthusiasm was lifting.. and much needed!

 
I had a blast… the day was warm, some of the roads closed, and coming over the Lion's gate bridge at 7am with the sun rise was priceless….. a memory I will have forever…..and this one… because I must admit…. crossing this finish line was SO cool!

So again, thank you Mike for your unwavering support before, during, and after the race…… much appreciated!

Another next year… absolutely.. just have to pick which one!

Bike gear.. why oh why do I need more?

So most people know that I like to shop….but I self declare that I love to shop for new BIKE GEAR! Why? I wish I really new the answer… jersey's, kit's, helmets, god… even socks…..! I just can not get enough… but given my new space restrictions I am bound by the one in one out rule… and its sooooooo hard!

So here are the new purchases…..I just have to say.. super cool.. I am very happy with my recent mail order experience……!

The very swish.. continental tire bike kit! 

Super kool BBB bike helmut! 

Whatever your passion, I am sure you can find it on the internet! Of course I am speaking only shopping.. really how different is on line shopping to the whole Sears catalogue experience I grew up with?

Long ago.. well.. I am not going to tell you exactly how long ago, we used to wait for the Sears catalogue to show up at the door… man was that a day…. we would take turns leafing through the pages, picking out all the things we wanted…. cloths, bikes, baseball gloves… it seemed to have anything you wanted and you knew that all you had to do was pick up the phone and tell them you wanted it….. the difference now.. you just don't have to talk to anyone…and well I guess you could say there is a little more selection.

But the best time was when the Christmas wish catalogue came! OMG…! Toys, toys, and more toys…more toys than any of us could imagine. So in retrospect…its not even on par with what the online world has to offer…but then.. and remember we are not saying exactly "when", it was exactly the same.. it offered a world of possibility, of dreams, of new stuff… So is this my problem? Did I grow up with a propensity to "mail order"?

Well, I like to shop, I don't mind the convenience of on line shopping, I seem to have some good success, but can it replace the thrill of the moment when you find something you really want, you struggle with the thought.. should I? shouldn't I? Well…….I think its best to leave that for me to struggle with…..or not…its all how you look at it!

Needless to say… I will likely always have more bike gear than I really need.. but at least its not a car fetish…its hard to keep a hundred of those!

Till next time…. happy chatting……….

On the road again...

Anyone that knows me knows that I don't sit still for long.. and that goes for staying home as well… not two weeks back from a trip to France I could not help myself… we took a short trip to Whistler! I don't really consider Whistler a real trip… it is only an hour and a half away… and we are going up so often now it feels like a second home.

This trip including some cycling and a wonderful hike in the alpine trails at the top of the Blackcomb mountain…..

How can you not be in awe of where we live…..

Wild flowers in full bloom!

And of course…. still snow at the top!

The Crankworks festival was in full gear…! 20 somethings, 30 somethings, and even 60 somethings… all on mountain bikes… doing some pretty extreme things, fun to watch.. but I like keeping my rubber on the road.. well… at least as often as I can…..

A couple of other notes….. well I have given in and started a Twitter account… two actually.. one for just my to do's.. and the second was motivated by what I seem to ask myself every day…. its called "So I have a question…" and its meant to be a place for me to make questioned observations about the world around me….. stuff like, When did ankle socks and sandals become ok? and How are jeans with a zipper that's one centimetre long actual supposed to fit?

Anyway… I have added to the blog for those downtimes between posts :-)

Till next time, happy chatting…..

Images de la France…….

So as I wrap up my last few days in France I am forced to ponder when I will be back. You know that feeling when you travel, when go someplace new, you have those great expereinces… you just don't want to leave. You start wondering how quickly you will fall back into your daily routine..off to work, come home exercise, read, back to work… etc etc… while I like my life at home I have visions of myself travelling all over the world…living, experiencing, maybe even writing a blog ;-)

But, reality is reality and I must face it…. so because I can not stay here in Paris, or the south of France and have my morning coffee, explore cities and towns for hours, and at end the day sit in a cafe having a glass of Champange…. I have taken pictures to remember what it was all about and given the fact that I have already been sharing them with you…. I thought it would be a nice way to finish up the posts of the trip….. so here are my images of France…in my day I was a rather budding photographer and I think I still have the eye however I did not bring the equipment on this getaway.. so I apologize for any lack of creativity that might show through……….I hope you enjoy….

Lunch spot in Chateauneuf!

Happy with the barrels of wine! 

And you have to taste it!

Learning about the limestone….

its definitely not flat!!

I loved the old winding streets of Provence… 

and fountains everywhere!

the towns were so picturesque! 

The coast was so beautiful! 

Everywhere you look.. vineyards!

How is this for a spot to live

Champagne.. Reims.. the most wonderful place on the planet.. and the birthplace of my favourite wine in the entire world!

Cathedral of Reims… more history than Canada, on one sight...

the inside...

My favourite part of Reims.. Real Champagne, in a real French bistro from the 1930's.. at lunch! 

the beautiful view from the wonder tour of the upper area…...

And there is nothing like Paris!!!!!!

Dwight on the Velib, a bike rental system all through Paris! 

Art Everywhere!

Our morning runs in the Jardon de Luxenburg!

Would you believe a game of street hockey!!

And then there was our time in the Lourve…. yikes, there are not enough hours in the day!

Sitting here was more difficult than it looks…!

Inside the famous glass triangle…..

did I mention the beautiful art already… 

Yeah… I think I did…. how sensual is this…in marble none the less! 

They had a new artist displayed.. very wonderful…

Here he is……….check it out online.. really wonderful!

its a really, really big place.. a good thing I have my map guy with me! 

And of course the food and wine made for wonderful evenings……

The BEST restaurant in Paris…! 

We did have an elevator.. well..

Room for two only!

I hope you enjoyed the blog over the last few weeks, I certainly have enjoyed France. The people, the places, the food, the wine…..they have all contributed to some wonderful memories that I will always have……….

till next time…….happy chatting…….

Paris, the city of lights..and bikes!

We arrived in Paris a couple of days before the last stage of the Tour de France, and we did this for a reason… we thought the city would be consumed by the event. Like any other big event we have been too, usually the city becomes so focused on what is happening everything else takes a back seat….not in Paris…… we did a ton the two days before the TDF!

The entrance to our apartment in St Germain

Iconic Paris

our evening walk the first night

View from Pont Des Arts

Love locks on the Pont des Arts… fascinating.. and in Paris very controversial..

On the Pont Neuf

And no first evening could go by without a stop here.. doing Canadian in Paris.. interesting..

Seriously… have you ever seen a espresso machine in a Canadian pub..? It might be a good idea :) 

The Great Canadian Pub

Time in the gardens..

A little shopping …and a walk through the Louvre…

These pictures can not go without a little explanation… As you might have guessed Dwight and I like wine, ergo we like wine stores… but Dwight on the other had has learned enough about wine to really understand what he is looking at… I would use the analogy of someone who loves shoes (me!) being in a store that has Jimmy Choo, Stuart Wizman, Fluevog, Channel, Kate Spade, oh yeah and lets not forget….Christian Louboutin! Can you imagine how long it would take me to get of there……..well.. welcome to my world when Dwight finds a wine store like this one…

It was called Lavinia ( www.lavinia.fr ) It had three large.. very large.. levels, mainly French wine.  What they called the Sommeliers cellar which you had to be escorted into… and we went in…bottles in there were upwards of $4000 Euro…but outside of that exclusive area you could find a selection of wine that we certainly would never see… I spent most of my time in the Champagne section… which was enormous, can you even fathom Champagne for $25.. good stuff.. we soooo need to change our import taxes!!! Another unique thing they had was a wine tasting enomatic machine set up in ever area..you use a card and sample wines they have for tasting … we even saw a Nuis St Georges… no light weight in the wine world… How civilized!  There was even a small cafe where you could get any of the wines they sold at the price there sold it at and a light lunch…. Trust me.. I didn't think I would ever get him out of there…..

Seats, tables, Champagne.. in a wine store.. why would I leave! 

And after only being in Paris for three days I have already done so much.. and topped it off today with something that I have dreamed of doing for a long time…..I watched the Tour de France.. and wow what an expereince…..so I mentioned that the city did not shut down for the race.. well more accurately  it lets the Tour take place in the city… it does this by making sure its held on a Sunday.. an absolutely do nothing day for the Parisians, it mobilizes more police for the event than I have ever seen in any city I have ever been in … including New York! And finally…..Parisians come out to watch the race…..what a wonderful thought… most events like this force the locals home, not wanting to handle the crowds.. and OMG.. there were crowds! No.. they love this event as much as the world does, they are proud to host it and they embrace the chaos that accompanies it…. 

it all starts with the most amazing parade I have seen…. they call it the Caravan! 

How fun is this………we were set up right under the flame rouge! 

French soap company…I like french soap…. :-) 

Have I mentioned I love Thomas Voeckler, our new PD jersey winner!

Finally the race comes and goes by so quickly you almost miss it… but it was wonder to see what I would call my hero's doing what they are so good at!

the yellow jersey!

They move SO fast! 

The rest of the week has us focusing on Paris.. Champagne and Versailles .. I can't even think about going home yet!……………

till next time, happy chatting…….