The 36th Royal Lepage Snow to Surf Race was a blast to compete in

by Keith and Heather Nicol

Just before the start of my cross country ski leg

      The annual Snow to Surf Race was a bunch of fun and a great way to meet people. It is also the longest running multi-stage event in Canada and this year celebrated its 36^th anniversary. We had watched this event a couple of years ago but other commitments (including buying a house with a closing date on the same weekend as the event) had prevented us from entering it in the past. But this year I was contacted by a team from Parksville who needed a cross country skier and jumped at the chance to join a team. Island Cycle has been competing for a several years and team organizer Doug Herchmer told me that they had made the podium in the 40 plus age category (Grand Masters Men) in the some years but had come in 4^th last year out of 6 teams. “We are hoping to get back on the podium this year” he told me. 

The road bike route is about 25 km and the longest leg

      For readers that aren’t familiar with the event it starts at Mt Washington Alpine Ski area with an alpine skier , who then touches cross country skier. The next 2 legs are run legs followed by a mountain biker who passes to a sea kayaker. The final legs are a taken over by a road biker, followed by a short run which connects to the final stage- canoeing down the Puntledge River to the Comox Marina. This year there were 117 teams and so in all there are close to 1000 athletes involved. And they come from all over Vancouver Island with some teams coming from the mainland. This year the fastest teams came across the finish line in just 3:16.02!!  Our team came in 43^rd overall and we were over an hour behind the winners. Our time of 4:32.52 was good enough for 5^th in our age class out of 9 teams so no podium this year. In “justifying” our overall time Doug did point out that we were one of the oldest teams in the event so perhaps 43^rd out of 117 wasn’t too bad.  

Canoers coming into the finish line at Comox Marina

      The whole event finishes with an awards ceremony and social/beer garden in the Comox Marina Park which was a perfect way to rehash the event and chat to other teams.  If you can do one of these activities listed above and have not been in this event, think about putting in a team for next year. Or if you can’t create a team, teams are often looking for specific people to fill in for certain spots so you can join a team like I did. For more information on this event check out this web site: http://www.snowtosurf.com/

Snowbirds here for just a couple more days

 by Keith and Heather Nicol
The Snowbirds are back practicing in Comox but will be here just a couple more days. We saw them
for their Sunday morning show under clear blue skies and the grassy fields at Air Force Beach were packed with on lookers. The setting is spectacular overlooking the Strait of Georgia with the snow capped mountains of Coast Range behind. Here is one schedule we found on line-

SNOWBIRDS
Mon-Fri: 9:40am – 10:25am & 12:45pm – 1:30pm

The  planes can leave some impressive jet trails

Sat: 9:10am – 9:55am & 12:45pm – 1:30pm
Sun: 9:45am – 10:30am & 1:00pm – 1:45pm
CF-18 Hornet
Mon-Sat 12:05pm – 12:34pm & 3:45pm – 4:15pm
Sun: 12:15pm – 12:45pm & 3:45pm – 4:15pm
and don’t forget to bring your camera and lawn chair. You don’t need a fancy camera to capture the action since you have a front row seat for the performance.One person we spoke to said that tomorrow's show may be their last depending on weather so don't delay.

The setting is perfect with the mountain and ocean view- The Powell River ferry can be seen at the bottom of picture

We loved the spiraling action sequences

Using shadows to improve your cross country skiing

by Keith and Heather Nicol

  In the ski lessons that I teach I like to give students a way of checking their ski improvement through the season.  Of course one way to do this is to take more lessons (which is great for ski instructors) but for skiers that don’t have instructors close by or can’t find an instructor at the last minute here are is an idea that may help you improve- watch your shadow.

Watching your shadow can improve your skiing

      Shadows can help you see what arm position you have or how flexed your ankles and knees are. At the early season Supercamps at Silver Star – Sovereign Lake B.C.  I used this with many of my classes. I told my students that cross country skiing is a lifelong learning process and the only way to really get better is to aim for perfect practice. The old saying that “practice makes perfect” really should be adjusted to “perfect practice makes perfect”.  We used video tape feedback frequently in the  Supercamp classes but I mentioned to my students that a quick way to get immediate feedback while you ski is to look at your shadow when the sun is behind you.  Shadows can’t tell you everything but I find that they are particularly useful for checking arm (are my arms at 90 degrees at the initiation of poling?) and torso position (do I crunch my upper body to start the poling cycle in double poling or 1 skate?).  In the photo above I am checking my arm swing in free skate.  For a you tube video on this topic see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xy62ShlWBQ&t=3s 

Spring Wildflowers in their prime along the Tsolum River in Courtenay

By Keith and Heather Nicol

The Fawn Lilies light up the trail

   On Monday April 9 we had a pleasant surprise when we had a walk by the Tsolum River. There were carpets of fawn lilies and trilliums in bloom along the trails which really brightened up our walk. The trails are located behind the Exhibition Grounds off of Headquarters Road in Courtenay, B.C. Take the main trail toward the river and we found many clusters of fawn lilies on the side trail to the right. If you are handy with a GPS turn right at this junction - 49 42.284 N 125 00.373 W. You don’t need to walk very far before you see the flowers along the trail.  We are not sure how long they will last but if like early spring flowers check out this area and don’t forget to bring your camera.A pad to kneel on for getting up close will also be helpful.

Since these plants are low bring a kneeling pad

Trilliums are also out but are not as abundant as the fawn lilies

Cross country skiing still great at Cypress Mountain near Vancouver, B.C.

by Keith and Heather Nicol

    We were planning on being in Vancouver for Easter so decided to bring our skis and go skiing as well since Cypress snow report was reporting an amazing 275 cm of base. Prior to going we contacted the Nordic Operations Manager, Michael Thomas who told us that they have “had a great season. We opened on Dec 1, 2017 and we hope to remain open until Sunday April 15th.” He also told that “this is the first full season for the newly restored Hollyburn Lodge which has allowed us to resume our popular snowshoe fondue tours and our Saturday music nights.” We had missed visiting the historic Hollyburn Lodge which had been closed on our last couple of visits due to ongoing restoration work. 

Heather leads Kristie and Eric on a loop near Hollyburn Lodge

 We arrived at 9:30 am were pleasantly surprised by the smaller number of people using the facility since it was a holiday and this is Vancouver! Previous visits to Cypress had been over Christmas and just finding parking could be an issue if you arrived much later than 9:00am! But on Saturday March 31 we found parking just a few steps from the ticket office and enjoyed well groomed snow which made skiing very enjoyable.  We were joined by our daughter Kristie and her boyfriend Eric and we skied many of the lower trails for the first couple of hours. Then after lunch in the new Hollyburn Lodge we headed to the upper trails and skied the Triangle and Unknown Lake loops. The intermittent clouds kept the snow from getting too soft and we enjoyed good skiing until we headed off the mountain around 2:00pm. 

Keith skates out "Side Winder" with the Alpine ski area in the background

  Cypress Nordic has 19 km of cross country ski trails groomed for both classic and skating as well as 10 km of snowshoe trails.  The ski trails are very wide and the popular lower trails are relatively flat. So don’t pack away your skis quite yet there is still very good cross country skiing to be had at Cypress Mountain. For more information see: www.cypressmountain.com  

Restored Hollyburn Lodge has retained its old charm