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Yew Lake Trail (Cypress Mountain)

Cypress Mountain ski resort in summer (West Vancouver)

My downhill mountain bike trip left me with one ‘serious’ injury, a bruised rib on the top left side of my chest. The problem with a bruised rib is not that it hurts all the time (it doesn’t when you don’t move), but that it can be very painful when you forget about it. At night I wake up several times when I move a bit in my sleep, and during the day I try not to use my left arm too much to lift things. If I laugh it is so painful that I will stop right away, and coughing is something I try to avoid at all costs right now. On Thursday and Friday I did not even take my convertible to the office (despite the warm and sunny weather), because getting in and out of the close-to-the-ground seats just hurt too much.

Scott on the Yew Lake Trail (Cypress Mountain, West Vancouver)

For today I had planned a serious hike with a Dutch business friend, but I emailed him on Friday night that I would not be able to make it. Each time I take a deep breath or take a step up or down it hurt a lot, and so I did not think I could do a mountain hike. My parents are in town and I had planned to do some serious sea kayaking with my dad, but even that I can’t do. I regret my mountain bike ride more and more, but I can’t change it and will have to wait a few weeks until the injury will go away (and when the best time of summer will be over…).

Scott on the Yew Lake Trail (Cypress Mountain, West Vancouver)

This afternoon I had it a bit with sitting at home and watching the sailing boats on the sea, and I wanted to something outside of the house. The women had gone shopping, so my dad, Scott and I drove my car up to the alpine ski station at Cypress Mountain. Originally we just wanted to take a look at what the ski resort looks like in summer, but  when we were there we saw a short trail, the Yew Lake Trail, that was accessible for wheel chairs. I did not even know that there are trails for wheel chairs, but because I feel semi-handicapped it gave me enough confidence to try to hike it. Scott was also very happy, because he knows I do a lot of trails but I never allow him to join me (most trails are either too long or too dangerous for him).

Yew Lake Trail (Cypress Mountain, West Vancouver)

The short trail is beautiful, it starts at the lodge next to the parking lot at Cypress and loops around Yew Lake, which is a few hundred meters to the west of the ski base station. The trail is completely flat (at least for Vancouver standards) and very well maintained. You could indeed ride a wheel chair on it, or (in case you have young kids) bring a stroller.

Yew Lake Trail (Cypress Mountain, West Vancouver)

Nature is (as usual on the North Shore) amazing, with partly covered swamps, a lake, old trees, many flowers and of course the mountains. Scott loved the 2 ski chair lifts that we came across as well and he told me that he wants to try them out once the snow start falling in a few months. I promised him I will take him there every weekend so he can learn to ski quickly.

If you are not in good shape or just want a short easy hike, the Yew Lake Trail is perfect. If you are looking for something more serious, there are tons of other trails that start at the Cypress parking lot as well. There is a bar/restaurant at Cypress that’s open in summer, so you can have drinks before or after the hike. Have fun!

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Moutain biking down Cypress Mountain

Putting on my biking gear (Scott took the picture)

My neighbour J. is a former Canadian freestyle ski champion and a fanatical downhill mountain biker. I see him riding regularly and he invited me to join him on one of his rides. So today after work we drove up Cypress Mountain to the alpine ski area, where we unloaded the bikes and got started.

Mountain biking down Cypress Mountain

I had no idea what to expect, but considering all the gear that I had to wear (leg protectors, arm protectors, a back protector, a helmet and gloves) I knew it would not be simple bike ride. It started off quite easy, we took a gravel maintenance road down (and later up) through the woods below Cypress until we came to the powerlines that go up from Caulfeild to Cypress. It was a sunny day again and nature was beautiful. J. told me some interesting fact about the plants that we came across and showed me several bear droppings (none recent, so probably no bears in the area). At the power lines there was a nice view and we made a short stop and had some water.

Mountain biking down Cypress Mountain

After that the real trail riding started, we hit a small bike trail though the woods that was quite scary at first. J. taught me some basic techniques and soon I was going down slopes that I could have never imagined to go down from. Basically it’s all about not being afraid, your bike can do a lot more than you think. I wasn’t really afraid, but I felt I did not have full control over my bike yet so when things were too extreme I just stopped and walked a bit. At the end of this part of the trail we hit a maintenance road and right before this road I did not pay attention. The result was that my bike slipped away from me and I fell pretty hard. Luckily I was protected well so it did not really hurt, but it scared me a bit.

Mountain biking down Cypress Mountain

From then onwards I paid better attention and took less risk than on the first part. I was also getting a bit tired. Downhill biking seems easy, but it’s actually quite hard. You have to control your bike the whole time and my legs were not used to that. Next to that you have to bike up every now and then, which takes some effort when it’s around 30 degrees on the mountain. The downhill ride is not just 30 minutes or so, but it takes a full 2 hours in which you have to concentrate on the trail, the rocks, the trees and your bike constantly.

On the second part of the downhill trail I went down a steep slope and felt the bike was going a bit too fast, so I hit the brakes. For some reason I was not thinking, and instead of just using the backwheel brakes I also used my front tire brake. The result: my bike flipped over and I landed next to it. It hurt a bit, but not too much, so I got on the bike and continued the ride. But I realized that I made the mistake because I was tired and I became even more cautious.

IMG_8438

We then hit the top of the Cypruss Falls, where Sonja and I had a close encounter with a bear a few months ago. J. told me some of his bear stories, he has seen quite some bears in this area over the years but he is not afraid of them (he carries a gun and bear spray in his back pack, just in case). He also explained me how to spot cougars, there seem to be more of them this year (this morning there was actually one seen at Lighthouse Park, not too far from where we live).

The last part of the trail was a part that I had hiked with my sister once. It was not harder than the other parts we did, but I felt less comfortable than before and had to concentrate even more in order not to make mistakes. And then it happened: I again braked using my front brakes and again I summersaulted through the air, this time landing head first on the ground. I immediately felt a headache and I stayed on the ground for a few seconds before trying to get up. J. came over right away (he was ahead of me but heard the crash) and checked on me. Everthing seemed fine, but the rocks that I had landed on hurt quite a bit. I washed my face (it was covered in sand and mud) and had some water, and then we went down to Nelson Creek. I did not take any risks anymore after this last crash!

The last few kilometers were easy, but I was glad to be home again. I immediately took a hot shower and was surprised to see how bruised my body was. I probably hit a rock with my chest, because it looked like someone had beaten me up there. I had scratches and small wounds all over my body and generally I was very sore. A hot shower helped, but I’ll probably need a good sleep and 1-2 days of rest before I am okay again. My headache lukcily disappeared, so the helmet had protected me well and I had no concussion.

Looking back the bike ride was a lot of fun, but I am not sure if I am ready for this. If I will do it again I will first need to learn some more downhill techniques. I am glad I did it though, the experience was great and now I know what downhill biking is all about.

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A very difficult Grouse Grind

Bottom of the Grouse Grind

I wonder if I will ever learn it: always drink water on runs over 30 minutes on hot summer days.

This afternoon I left the office a bit earlier to hike up Grouse Mountain. Before my trip to China in July I did the Grouse Grind 1-2 times per week, but I had not climbed it since I came back. The weather was nice, about 25 Celsius (although my car told me it was closer to 30 degrees) and a beautiful blue sky.

I mainly drank coffee during the day, so I had a glass of water before I drove my car to the foot of the mountain. Because most of the trail is in the shade of the trees I did not think it would be very warm and so I did not bring any water. I normally don’t drink during this hike, because it’s less than an hour and there is a Starbucks at the end of the trail for water or other cold drinks.

When I started off I felt some muscle ache in my upper legs. I did not really understand why, because I didn’t run yesterday (my last run was a 7 km mountain run on Sunday). But then I realized it may have been from a semi-dangerous kayak experience on Monday. Scott and I had gone for a kayak trip to Whytecliff Beach, but on the way back the tide currents were suddenly so strong that Scott could not paddle against it. He therefore held on to my kayak and I had to paddle as hard as I could to get back to shore. It took me 45 minutes and we finally made it, but I was exhausted. I know I put my legs and knees against the top of my kayak to be able to have a more powerful paddle stroke, and that’s likely why I felt my legs today.

No big deal and after a few minutes of climbing the muscle ache had disappeared. At first the climb went quite well, but it was a lot warmer than I had expected. So warm that I could not really get into a good rhythm, I was sweating a lot and had to keep on getting the sweat out of my eyes.

About half way my legs were suddenly very tired. That’s strange, because normally on the Grouse Grind my breathing gets faster before I feel tired, but now I was still breathing normally, although my heart was beating very fast. I thought that it may be because of the food (I had sushi for lunch, maybe I did not eat enough calories to burn?) and continued my walk. But then I realized I was getting thirsty as well, which is unusual if I climb up only once. Quickly my thirst was getting worse but I did not bring any drinks and I had at least another 300 vertical meters ahead of me. Going down wasn’t really an option. Not only is it not allowed, but it’s also quite dangerous because the mountain is very steep in many places.

So I just walked very slowly and even had to stop a couple of times. When I saw other people drinking (there were quite some other hikers on the trail) I almost wanted to ask them for a sip, but I did not do that and continued on. I came to a point where I would have paid $50 for a bottle of water if there had been any for sale on the trail, but of course this isn’t China so there are no vendors climbing up mountains to make a few extra dollars.

When I got closer to the top the temperature was much lower (the end of the trail is at about 1200 meters, so it’s noticeably cooler there than at the bottom) and I felt climbing up the rocks was a little less difficult. I knew I would be able to make it, but it was still not easy. I pushed myself very hard and eventually reached the top. My time: 1:01, the first time that the Grouse Grind took me more than an hour while hiking on my own.

I immediately got a cold chocolate milk at Starbucks and it tasted fantastic. Within minutes my energy came back and once I could walk again normally I took the cable car down and drove home. There I drank a liter of water and ate a banana and now I am perfectly fine again. It was a good lesson though. The Grouse Grind is not your average walk in the park, and doing it without water on a hot summer day can be dangerous. I have been dehydrated while doing sports in warm weather several times over the years and I will try to make sure this won’t happen again – and certainly not on the Grouse Grind!

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Kayaking with Scott

Marc kayaking on the Howe Sound

One of the great things about British Columbia is that every month has at least one long weekend. I only found out on Friday that this weekend is another 3-day weekend (Monday is British Columbia day, whatever that means), so a lot of extra time to spend with the family.

Sea lions at Granville Island

Today we went to Granville Island for lunch and to do some shopping. There is a great public market with tons of fresh local products, and we bought a lot of fruit and salads for the next days. After a quick stop in the marina where I wanted to show Grace a boat that I like (and where we saw a family of sea lions playing together!), we drove over to Mountain Equipment Corporation. MEC is the place where I buy most of my outdoor gear, they have everything I need and their service is great. I had promised Scott to teach him how to kayak during this holiday, so I got him a small kids kayak with a paddle and a life jacket.

Scott got a kids kayak today

After we arrived home he wanted to go kayaking right away. My original plan had been to start tomorrow, but he was so excited that I eventually gave in. I carried both our kayaks down to the beach, and while Grace and Elaine watched I tried to teach him the basics. Although it was not a big success right away, Scott loved it so much. He was not afraid at all, even when we went a bit farther out to sea. Most of the time he held onto my kayak instead of paddling himself (I put his paddle in my boat), and even when he unintentionally let go he was laughing hard instead of being afraid. Happy to see that.

Scott in his kayak

We spent about 30 minutes on the water but if had been up to Scott we would have stayed a lot longer, so I am sure we’ll be back at the beach tomorrow. When I put Scott to bed and talked about the day with him (we do that almost every night) kayaking was the main thing he wanted to talk about, and he had all kinds of questions about boats and the behavior of waves. Glad he likes it so much, it’s nice to have a new sport I can do together with him!

Kayaking with Scott