A multitude of wishes!!

From ours to yours……..

Language	Merry Christmas
Afrikaans	Gesëende Kersfees
Czech	Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok
Danish	Glædelig Jul
Esperanto	Gajan Kristnaskon
Finnish	Hyvää Joulua
French	Joyeux Noël
German	Froehliche Weihnachten
Greek	Kala Christouyenna
Hawaiian	Mele Kalikimaka
Hindi	Bada Din Mubarak Ho
Icelandic	Gledileg Jol
Irish	Nollaig Shona Dhuit
Italian	Buon Natale or Buone Feste Natalizie
Japanese	Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto
Korean	Sung Tan Chuk Ha
Latin	Natale hilare
Lithuanian	Linksmu Kaledu
Maori	Meri Kirihimete
Norwegian	God Jul
Polish	Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia
Portuguese	Feliz Natal
Russian	Srozhdestovm Kristovim
Spanish	Feliz Navidad
Swahili	Kuwa na Krismasi njema
Tagalog	Maligayang Pasko
Thai	Suksun Wan Christmas
Vietnamese	Chuc Mung Giang Sinh
Welsh	Nadolig Llawen

And of course lets not forget……..


Happy Festivus….. only if you remember the Festivus Seinfeld Christmas

The Grey Cup..actually some good football!

So I attended the Grey Cup this weekend...! I am not usually a huge CFL fan but I might just go to a few games next year......

The energy was fantastic, the game was actually pretty good, and of course BC won so that helped a lot! And of course we were with good friends, and that was wonderful!

I thought I would share a few pic's.....

And the halftime show........  

And of course the WIN!!!

Guilt, an interesting emotion.....

So I got on the sky train this morning to go to work and didn’t pay, yeah I know…. but I really did not have any choice. All of the ticket booths in the station were not working properly and were cash only, really in this day and age…. cash, seriously! So as I sit here the overwhelming feeling of guilt has made me start writing, so is it guilt for getting a free ride? Or is the fear of getting caught doing something wrong?

Let’s look at both – Guilt, we feel guilty when we eat something we know is bad for us, we feel guilty when we do something we know we shouldn’t do, we feel guilty when we say something we know we shouldn’t have said. So is guilt really just fear? We could say that we fear reprisal if we did all of the things above?

The two defined…(thanks Wikipedia!)

Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that violation.

Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger.

So the above is obviously not all encompassing and by no means have I intended to explain the two emotions in great detail…but threat of danger…these sky train cops are pretty scary!

What do I say, well I know that I worried for the entire ride to work this morning that one of those burly police officers were going to come onto the train and ask me for my ticket! I didn’t even have an old one that I could show them! J

What would I do? What would I say? What if they take me to jail!? Ok so they are not that mean…. but I have seen them pull people off the train! Oh the anxiety!

So to answer the question, my guilt quickly turned to fear, fear of getting caught doing something I know is wrong. So why the fear now and not the guilt, because its  something I feel that I can completely justify.  And I did…Besides Translink makes enough money, people do it all the time, I pay everyday, and never take free rides, just this once because their machines didn’t work?

So justified my guilt, turning into fear of reprisal and began to wait….4 stops left, 3 stops left, 1 stop left….I am almost there…..

So how did my adventure end, well I made it! Still feeling like I did something wrong, so from guilt to fear, to guilt again… enough to motivate me to go buy a full fare ticket……and pay for the free ride that in the end I just couldn’t take!

Till next time happy chatting!

Just Listen

I dont normally post these kind of things but every time I listen to this song I just cant get over how great it is.....and if you listen closely to it you will see how true it is.......the photos are just for fun!

Its called, Coming Home - a new band called Mt Desolation....if you get a chance pick up the album.....its one of the best new bands I have heard in a long time.......hope you enjoy!

http://www.mtdesolation.com/2010/10/19/album-out-now/

A new addition to the family....

No I am not pregnant, and I did not get a dog or a cat! Last week I welcomed a new addition to my cycling family....yep I bought another bike. Now before you laugh or curse me for getting rid of my other bikes when I left Victoria I have to tell you this one is different......really! 


The purpose of the new machine? "winter riding" - well maybe more like fall and spring....seeing that "training" is not really in my physical vocabulary lately :-) 

Here she is, Nice colour eh?





 

So why the new bike? Well I have been riding again, and now I remember how much I love it! More than any other sport we have done over the past years riding my bike is something that makes be feel like a kid again. All the triathlon training took a little of that away for a while, but with a bit of a break and a great road bike (my Argon 18) I spent to summer falling in love with the sport again. And I am so happy I did! Because of the cycling I have been doing I can even run, just a little......and thats all I want! 

So whats so special about this bike you ask? Well.....it a Fixie! Meaning of course, a fix gear - single speed bike.........no gears, no cables, no shifting....just pedalling...constantly! 

Italian, of course..... 

I can hear you now, why in the world would you buy a bike that has no gears! Seriously, one gear, thats it? The answer is yes....one gear - for those bike mechanics out there I am riding a 44 on the front and a 16 on the back......reasonable I think....I did choose to have breaks - believe it or not they were an option! 

So why, well there are a lot of reasons - a little info from the web!! 

1. Fixed disciplines your cadence/pedal stroke

A smooth fast cadence is the most efficient way to ride. On the flat and slight downhills a fixed forces you to spin your legs and develop the fast and even pedal stroke that the French refer to as 'souplesse'. 

On steeper descents your legs will learn to spin at super high speeds, laying excellent foundations for developing the capacity for a truly great sprint – just look at Mark Cavendish's average leg speed in any of his four Tour de France stage wins recently.

2. Fixed addresses your top end grunt

Hitting a rise, there's no option to shift down so you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone and power up the hill. Without the bail out of gears, every muscle involved in cycling will be recruited, strengthening not only your legs but also your backside, core and even upper body.

3. Fixed develops your speed and strength

Aside from developing physical strength, it'll teach you that an amazing number of climbs can be dealt with in this way giving you higher average speeds and a devastating attacking option. 

Some longer climbs on a fixed do turn into full-on, out-of-the-saddle honks, but these will build pure cycling-specific strength in a way that no gym training can match. 

4. Fixed puts you in a coast-free zone

Once you start riding a fixed you'll be amazed at how much time you used to spend free wheeling. Aside from the obvious down hills, coasting into your drive, rolling up to traffic lights and catching a sneaky breather cresting climbs are all times when you are out riding but doing nothing. 

With a fixed you have to earn every kilometre, making it one of the most time-effective ways to train. 

5. Fixed hones your riding skills

Riding a fixed hones your riding instincts and anticipation skills. 

So why go thorough all of this, well because int he end I still love riding my bike and if I can find ways to challenge myself I will, and trust me this type of riding is challenging....! Dwight thinks I am crazy.....well maybe a little! 

My very first ride was more than interesting.....I kept thinking about the bikes you had when you were a kid.......and remembered....worse case scenario you can always take your feet off the pedals and have them spin wildly while you throw your legs out to the side and scream! 

Now thats fun......Right? 

 (Wish me luck!) 

Till next time.......happy chatting! 

Commuting Blog # 2 – The Skytrain experience

I must admit that I am not a public transportation kind of girl but the experience of driving home from my new work location has driven me to give it a try. And, well here is what I have experienced so far…..

I cant say that I spend a lot of time looking at train schedules or really have been big on reading signs so its likely that is what caused a slight issue, on my very first attempt I got on the wrong car, which is next to impossible I am told. There are two trains going in the direction I wanted to and I innocently thought they would both end in the same place! Sizing up the situation, and the people around me, I found a rather timid looking gentleman that seemed lonely but harmless and asked where the trained ended up, sure enough……not where I wanted to be! Luckily I was able to get off a switch without much drama.

My observations thus far have led me to believe that you should always wear head phones with some sort of relaxing music, your eyes should wander out of the window but not during the stops at the stations, reading a book or newspaper is not the lost art I thought is was, and finally…people should bath more.

I really wished these guys had of gotten a grant for this! 

I wish this “smell-o-vision” technology was around so I could share some mornings with you all. At first I thought I was over sensitive and that I would acclimatize…then I realized it also has something to do with the train itself. You see there are new one’s and older ones….and yes you definitely want to be on the newer one! 

The older trains carry a au de toilet J scent, literally, and the new ones are rather dependent on who you have in the train with you. I have had a few suggestions on how to deal with this particular issue, carry a can of air deodorizer – not sure that would keep me on the train, let myself get just as smelly as everyone else…yeah not going to happen! And finally the “you will get used to it”, believe it or not I kind of am, I cant say that I am used to it, but its becoming tolerable.

The visual stimulus is rather interesting as well, looking out the window often affords nice views…. particularly on a nice sunny day the mountains and downtown are a wonderful sight. As we move through the bowls of the suburbs I can say that it’s distracting for the right reasons.. 

So why put myself through all of this? Well in a nutshell its faster, usually, the hour and a half drive home was really starting to push the barriers of my patience and the train allows me to not only make my ride home a predictable time it allows me to do stuff, yep…even write a blog! 

I should be honest and tell you that I still drive occasionally.....and I am really, really, did I say really, looking forward to moving our office downtown!

Till next time - happy chatting! 

My Warrior Weekend!

Step one....get race number and Viking helmet!

Initially I was going to write a follow up blog to my commuting post as I have now experienced the public transportation system in Vancouver using the SkyTrain.....And that will come, I promise, I have so much to  talk about after a just few weeks I have to write about it! But this weekends events can not be left untold, and as everyone knows about me I can not let them go undocumented!

This year has seen a lot of change for us and one of the most significant was moving away from the sport of Ironman. We love the training and the friends we have gained but we both felt it was time to move on and try new things, and we have! From skate skiing, rock climbing, canyoneering, hiking and even an early season race called the Snow to Surf. Its been really wonderful, we have been able to keep fit and still have a ton of new experiences some I have shared with you here. So this experience that I am about to share is the polar opposite of the Ironman experience, the distance was short, there were no bikes, there was no swimming, and NO ONE was taking the whole thing seriously! There was, beer, running, 10 obstacles, being soaked with a fire hose, viking helmets, mud ditches with barbed wire, people dressed in silly costumes, did I mention beer?, and it was physically EXTREMELY hard....but it was a ton of fun!

And it was! 

We had a friend join us for the night in Whistler so it was great to catch up, great to have someone at the finish line to say holy s*&T! Not to mention I get to use some of his great finish line photos!

I hope you enjoy the video, trust me we look muddy and tired, and we were, but I will do this race again in a heartbeat, and I am now trying to find more like them!

Ann & Dwight's Warrior Dash Weekend Photo Slide Show!