In Oberstdorf I got an idea of just how big the collection of mountains known as the Alps are. Doubt, worry, concern, and excitement overwhelmed me. We had a nice place to stay while we waited until the next morning for the rest of the group to arrive.

Day 1
The three of us leisurely made our way to the train station awaiting the arrival of Erchan, Martin, Stefan, Ansgar (Navigator), and Jörg (él Patron). Their arrival marked the beginning of the dramatic film, hopefully available this fall, filmed and directed by Holger. After some group photos and final checks we were off.

The first pass (and only pass I remember the name of) was the Schrofenpass. This pass is between Germany and Austria and was destroyed during the Great War. Today it can be crossed but only with the addition of some metal bridges and rope to secure yourself along the side of the mountain.

The weather wasn’t great. It was very cold and, after the Schrofenpass, the path was really muddy. We made our way to a hut in Austria where we stopped for lunch. Unsurprisingly, my lunch was an Apfelsaftschorle and Spaghetti.

At this point we split up–Holger and Ansgar went on to do the originally planned route to St. Anton, while the rest of us took a wellness day and saved a few hundred height metres. At our highest point in the second part of the day it was really cold. I was wearing leg warmers (we all were) and I remember commenting on how it felt like I wasn’t.

Day 2
We left St. Anton to some more cold and light rain. It was on this day that I learnt to never ask how many height metres we had done as I was always disappointed by the answer. Again we had some pushing and carrying of the bike getting ourselves up to about 2300 metres. It was cold up there but we stopped for lunch (Apfelschorle und Spaghetti!) and continued down and up again.

We had an ambitious day planned, with hopes of crossing into Switzerland that afternoon. Unfortunately the weather and the difficulty made this not possible. It was cold, and quite windy. So after we were at about 2000 metres above sea level we took a break and our Navigator planned a new route to Schruns Austria.

Day 3
Our good friend Erchan decided to depart on this day, but not until he climbed a few hundred height metres with us on our way to Davos Switzerland. We started the day with a big climb, with even more pushing and carrying, up to a hut just on the Austria side of the border. After eating our lunch and walking for about 15 minutes we reached the border to Switzerland, and encountered snow directly on our path for the first time. I was even subjected to a snowball, after falling for the two-thrown-in-rapid-succession trick.

The weather was better on this day, to the point where we were able to go downhill without leg and arm warmers. There was some beautiful cross-country trails before a very fun downhill on pavement. And, being a group primarily made up of boys, there was a little bit of a competitive nature to us.

It was on this downhill that I crashed an otherwise perfectly excellent bike. After being unbelievably far in front of everyone else I looked back; when I looked forward I saw that I was heading off the road and into a bush. I have speculated that I hit the bush at 50 km/h, but I’ll never know for sure. In any case, it was enough to render the bike “kaput”, as the Germans would say. The gentlemen were able to stretch out the frame enough that I could coast, dangerously, to the next village. Here a very nice Swiss couple drove me to Klosters Switzerland where I was able to take a train to our final destination for the day: Davos.

This was emotionally the hardest evening for me. I wanted to continue the Alpencross but it was dependent on getting a bike in time. And while I was mostly okay, any additional physical challenge would add more doubts to my ability to complete the Alpencross successfully. Also, I felt terrible about crashing Holger’s bike, which I had been using, and am anxious still to replace it and right the situation.

Day 4
The day started with a trip to a local bike dealer. He was more than helpful, selling me a new bike and preparing it in less than an hour. He also dismantled the old bike and shipped all of the components (sans-frame) back to Holger. It was amazing–the Lord’s blessing for me to continue the trip. You can imagine I was quite happy.

From Davos we went to Livigno Italy. There was lots of snow and pushing, with some really, really difficult trails. This was the day where we climbed to nearly 2700 metres–a personal high for me. This climb was particularly difficult, with nearly 400 metres of straight up the side of a mountain in the hot, hot heat. But the reward was great: Italy. We immediately stopped at a hut and had an Italian coffee. It was brilliant.

Livigno is located at 1800 metres above sea level, and is the highest point I believe I have ever slept overnight. I must also emphasize that food is incredible in Italy. I remember eating a real pizza in Livigno and it made all of the pain from the day fade away.

Day 5
Livigno to Edolo. I hated this day. We had three passes, nearly 90 km, and about 2600 metres of height this day. I remember being the last who completed the final 1100 metre climb and literally cursing during this time. It was hot and uncomfortable.

When I got to the top I did something that you are told not to do in motorcycle courses: I rode with my emotions running high. The downhill was all pavement and I went downhill, fast. I remember this was the second time someone in our group said “you drive your bicycle like a motorcycle”–a great compliment, you can imagine. At about 2/3 of the way down él Patron and I stopped and waited a minute or two for the others to catch up. By this time I was feeling pretty fine.

And remember what I wrote about Italian food making you forget the pain? That’s the way it was in Edolo. I had mushroom ravioli and, even though I don’t like mushrooms, it was amazing. The pizza that followed was also amazing.

Day 6
This was the first of the cool down days, or so I thought. We started the day with a 30 km ride via highway, slightly downhill. We did this because we cut out the originally planned Day 5 due to the Day 2 detour. During this ride there was rain so we took a break at a little restaurant/cafe along the way. This, of course, cut into riding time.

There was only one hill here but it was to be about 1600 metres of straight upward riding. When the rain subsided and we got to the base of the hill we started our 2-3 hour ride up hill. We actually took a break after about 500 or 600 metres and ate lunch. Here I remember they had the most amazing iced tea–or what we thought tasted like the most amazing iced tea.

After lunch I felt like I had something to prove. I put some music on for the first time on the trip and powered my way to the top. I still finished behind él Patron, but that is to be expected. I was surely the fastest Canadian to ever ride up that hill.

At the top we split up, with Holger and Verena taking the road down to Anfo Italy, along side Lago d’Idro. The rest of us took the path down, which was initially a stony, dirt, and gravel road but eventually lead us into thick bush–for quite some distance. It was more than a little uncomfortable. This was the nail in the coffin for my shoes–my right shoe lost part of its sole on the trail. I also fell into the water when trying to fill my water bottle.

When we finally got through the trail, hours later, we started our downhill on pavement. Ansgar had a high-speed fall in a curve, earning himself some real battle scars on his knee and elbow. He was quite okay and we continued on to the spectacular Garden Grill. It was a real treat to stay here after this day: 5 huge beds for 7 people, with two complete baths, balconies all around, and a spectacular kitchen for both dinner and breakfast.

Day 7
A true wellness day; and how could it not be? We started for Torbele at Lago di Garda, initially taking some highway to the bottom of the mountain. We split up again, with Holger and Stefan setting out for the large lake (and the Nalini shop) ahead of us. The remaining five of us went up the 1500 metres to our final summit on the trip.

It was really a fantastic ride down. We had some gravel road, but some really nice single trail with lots of nice exposed rocks and tree roots to ride through. It’s worth mentioning that it was often the case that forgetting to break, or slipping too far to the right would have caused an unsurvivable fall–I think that was part of the appeal.

When we finally got down the mountain we had a really, really pleasant ride along Lago di Garda’s west side, through Riva, to our final destination at the hotel in Torbole. I cannot describe to you the amazing feeling that you have at the end of such a trip. The riding experiences on the trip were wide ranging and the views were nearly out of this world. I am quite grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of such a trip.

Days 8 and 9
After the Alpencross we enjoyed a day at Lago di Garda. The weather was quite nice. We walked around Torbole, then over to Riva for lunch. In the afternoon a few of us took our bikes to Arco where we enjoyed another great cappuccino. There was a bit of rain before we went to a fantastic restaurant for dinner, and finally the Wind’s Bar for drinks. It was a relaxing and fun day.

The follow day was spent travelling; travelling back the way we came but this time by shuttle bus and then train. We left at 9 a.m. and I didn’t get home until 11 p.m. The weather was terrible all day, and we saw snow as low as 1500 m above sea level–this would have been a problem for us.

In all, an amazing trip with such an incredible variety of riding experiences. It is truly a vacation I will never forget. Thanks to all of those who were there, to those who wished me well, and for the many prayers that brought me home safely.

Of course I love Italian food and was happy to go to such a fine establishment. There are two things that I really love about Italian food: bruschetta and calamari. I especially love it when calamari is served unbattered and not fried, just as Mamma Grazzi’s does. As with my previous visit I had the calamari to start and it was nothing short of fantastic. I offered to share but the offer was declined, mysteriously.

Yesterday Muis and I went to the Superstore at lunch–me to get buns for my chilli and him to get some lunch. We’ve recently been walking there, using a path forged by a mysterious “bushman” who we believe works at QNX. On our return trek yesterday we noticed this wild zucchini plant! We’ve decided to keep an eye on it to potentially harvest the vegetable when the time is right, assuming an animal doesn’t get at it before we do.

Today’s trip to the Superstore was less innocent; we went primarily to purchase chocolate milk. In our trip yesterday we noticed that the 4 litre bags of chocolate milk were on a Real Price Drop to only $3.88, better than $1 per litre. I had recently declared that I must stop buying and drinking chocolate milk, as my consumption levels of the nectar are relatively high, but I was easily persuaded to ignore that declaration.

A large reason for this turn on my previous wishes was the special cup that I now have for consuming chocolate milk. Pictured above and to the left it is what it appears to be: a rocket ship. What isn’t evident from the photos is that the straw provided with the rocket ship is a twisty straw. This special cup takes the chocolate milk enjoyment to new heights, as can be seen in both of these photos.

So I’m up early-ish. It’s windy and I’m cold, so I feel like I’m in one of those arctic documentaries even though I’m actually in my cozy little apartment. With the wind blowing constantly over 40 km/h, and gusting to 55 km/h, the sound reminds me of the breaks in speaking during those boring documentaries where they try to demonstrate the “harsh” conditions to the person who sits on the other end eating popcorn, speaking on a cell phone, laughing at a funny story at an inappropriate time in the documentary, like when a polar bear is being shown fighting its way onto land but having trouble due to the ice shelf melting away as a result of global warming.

In my 2.5 – 3.0 hours of awake time at home last night I didn’t make dinner, which unfortunately means I have no lunch today. This is especially unfortunate because I have a long day ahead: work, school, gym, squash–I won’t be home until 9:30 p.m. at the earliest. Of course I am using this extra time this morning to write a web log entry rather than prepare a lunch; and while I’d like to say I’m doing it for the benefit to society, the truth is I’m doing it to procrastinate getting my lunch sorted out.

Canada’s Federal Budget 2007 is interesting. A few things please me and a few things don’t. I don’t think I’ll get into it but I thought it was worth mentioning as it was a significant event of yesterday.

Enough procrastination.

[Update: Did anyone notice Jimmy Boy's tie in the House of Commons yesterday? Doesn't that tie pattern look familiar?]

After work I stopped at the Bay and purchased a new winter coat. I had decided that this wasn’t really news-worthy on my web log as it would be foolish of me to think that anyone really cares, however I have uncovered new information about the coat that I think is worth sharing. When looking at the inside of the coat I noticed the back-side of a small zipper. I lightly tried to negotiate the zipper open from this angle, which was difficult, when I noticed another zipper of the same size on the inside of the coat. At this point I investigated further by flipping the coat over to the other-side, feeling approximately where the zipper would be but I found my hand feeling the sleeve of the coat. Quickly I realized that the sleeve was actually between my hand and the zipper so I flipped the sleeve up only to find the front of the zipper in the arm-pit! That’s right: this coat has little arm pit zippers to open vents to reduce the build-up of heat in this perspiring area. Amazing.

I had a very productive day at work today which gave me a great feeling of accomplishment–a feeling I hope continues into tomorrow. A trip to MEC is on the agenda for this weekend with my dear friend Adam J. I hope to also see Granté-Granté and Evan this weekend as well.

• I don’t remember how it ends but your mother’s a whore.
• P.S. I think a giraffe’s neck is too long.
• The D.J. told me I should wear headphones if I didn’t like his music.
  
       I wish I had headphones.
• “I think I got a little bit of it in my mouth,” overheard being said by a cougar on Princess St.
• Do you have an extra shirken I could borrow?
• Murder the DJ
  
  Smash his brain into pieces
  
  Then go watch TV
• RMC cadet = white men can’t dance

Sunday started with usual faire, though in a different city, and involved a good visit with Mum (today’s her birthday). We went for dinner for her birthday and she chose the General Wolfe. I made a 6:30 res and we caught the 6:00 p.m. ferry over to the island.



The restaurant was fairly dead, which was neither a good nor a bad thing. As usual it was quite funny to be out with my mum, as eating out is not her usual style. Particularly funny was the look on her face when the waitress brought out a scoop of sherbert for Harold after his caesar salad.



Mum was wearing an autumn coloured wool sweater and a pair of black slacks, both of which I couldn’t tell who they were by. My brother was wearing a criss-cross patterned, short-sleeved shirt and pleated, beige pants, both by Denver Hayes with a black belt and brown shoes by Dockers. Harold was wearing a blue long-sleeved shirt by Retreat with some green-beige pants by Haggar and black shoes that I couldn’t make out. I was wearing a striped Nautica shirt under a black cashmere sweater by Jones New York with a pair of brown cords by Perry Ellis, brown leather belt, also by Jones New York, a pair of sneakers by Sketchers, and a taupe, linen sport-coat by Stafford.



For dinner Mum had the poached salmon, which was the fish of the day. Harold (who had started with the caesar salad) had the rainbow trout. My brother and I both started with the butternut squash soup, though he didn’t care for it; he had the filet mignon and I the scallops. Both my brother and I finished with the cheesecake, while Harold and Mum were both much too full.



We had a very enjoyable ferry ride back to the mainland (at 8:30 p.m.) which was made better by the knowledge that my train (which was supposed to leave Kingston at 9:09 p.m.) was late, thus providing me with a worry-free drive across town. I heard a song by Whitney Houston on the radio while we were still docked on Wolfe Island and I enjoyed every minute of it.



Adam and I shared a wonderful train ride back, even if it was a bit late, and I was quick to head to bed after getting home. As I mentioned before, the mess I left that night still sits in my entranceway but I plan to rectify that as soon as I post this entry. Which is right now.