Last week, my grandmother would have been 111 years old had she still been around. My father called her Ma, so we did too. I think she passed away in 1988 or 1989, so would have been in her late 70’s. I never knew my grandmother except as an old, old woman. Even my earliest […]
I’m down to my last stash of Woolworths fruitcake pulled from my freezer this afternoon. There are 3 … no wait, only 2 now … 2 treasured slices left. As far as fruitcake goes it’s pretty decent: moist and just the right amount of fruity sweetness. It’s not special in that its spectacular fruitcake, it’s […]
Wines to what? Wine 2 Whales is a 3-day mountain bike stage race in South Africa, put on by the same group that hosts the Cape Epic. The Cape Epic is a tortuous ordeal, high on suffering, low on frolicking and is not something I would ever aspire to do. Wines 2 Whales (W2W) is […]
It’s interesting what you miss when you’re away from home for a long time. Of course my bed, my shower and the familiarity of my life in my apartment. I also missed my kitchen. Self-catering has its limitations. While you can get by feeding yourself, it is within the limitations of always only shopping for […]
It’s been four week since I arrived in South Africa for this glorious adventure. Even though I grew up in Johannesburg, I’ve lived in Canada for more of my life than I have in South Africa, so Canada is home. I’ve been back 3 times in the 30 years I’ve been away, the last trip […]
My baby girl – who’s almost 30 but always my baby girl – moved to the UK 5 years ago. 5 years have passed in a blink of an eye. For one reason or another, I haven’t seen her since the summer of 2019. 5 years may have passed in a blink, but these 3 […]
SBT GRVL Recap Most of us arrived in Steamboat Springs, Colorado on Thursday evening having never really met before. We’d been on zoom calls once a month since we were selected for the All Bodies on Bikes team, but few of us had actually met in person. We were all signed up for different courses […]
There’s a big gap between “I should do that race next year, it sounds like fun” and the reality of “How can it be less than 3 weeks to the race?” Last November when I applied to join the All Bodies on Bikes team at SBT GRVL it seemed like a reasonably achievable goal. It […]
The Sea to Sky trail is a 180km trail that will, one day, run all the way from Squamish to D’Arcy, north of Pemberton. The Squamish to Whistler route is in place, but the extension is still under development. There’s a stunning section of it the runs from Brandywine Falls to Whistler that I’ve done […]
Training can in turn be so empowering – and then also so demoralizing. I lamented to a friend a few weeks ago about not seeing any progress from my training. She came back with, “What would getting stronger look like to you?” I’m not sure if I love it or hate it when friends ask […]