Go Baggers! and the Mileage Increases with the Diez Vista.

 

 

Last weekend, Easter Monday was the opening day of the 2013 Bagger Challenge for the Howe Sound Islands. Go Baggers!

 

We decided to celebrate opening day with a trip to Bowen Island to conquer a couple of peaks and to give us a good outing on our bikes. We picked Dave and his bike up in Burnaby in the monster truck and then drove on to North Vancouver to do the same with Craig - bike in the back, Craig in the back seat. We arrived in Horseshoe Bay in plenty of time to catch the 9 am ferry with our bikes to Bowen Island. Funny thing at the ferry terminal, Dave ran into someone he knew and I did too! It all started with a bit of a gong show - we double bought tickets for the ferry, we forgot the key for the bike lock despite bringing the lock and at the last minute Neil remembered he did not purchase a ticket for parking with 5 minutes before the ferry departure - he did an incredible sprint to the ticket machine and made it back on the ferry - the ferry deck hand was impressed!

 

The plan was to do Collins Peak and Apodaca Peak with a good bike ride in between. We all had evening commitments so chose not to push it and try to do Mt. Gardner too although we could have done it before dark. The ride to Collins was a bit of a rolling one which always provides a great work out for those of us on mountain bikes! Once we found the trail head it was straight going until we hit the bush wack which had no trail so made us rely on following our sense of direction to the peak.

 

The bush wack out seemed to be a bit of a different route but we did arrive back to our bikes so all was good! The ride to the trail head to Apodaca seemed long and we had to keep pulling off the road for several emergency vehicles heading out to an emergency somewhere on the island - all responders were in action. Hope all ended up well for those involved.  

 

 

 

Waiting to board the ferry. Craig, Neil and myself.

 First peak of the 2013 Bagger Challenge - Collins or maybe it is the second Apodaca - they were both bush wacks with nothing really to differentiate the two.

 

A skull found on the return journey. Oh my!

 Pushing our mountain bikes when the hills got too much.

Making it a water bag and enjoying the views!  Craig, myself and Dave.

Team Dodgy.

The finish line Diez Vista 50 km. Looks like my feet are still in the air!

 

Yesterday was the 2013 version of the Diez Vista 50 km trail run. I was happy to be at the start line as daily life has prevented me from participating the last few years. I have done this event several times and it was my very first ultra event in 2004 so it has plenty of memories for me. I am close to completing my 50th Ultra run - stay tuned for the announcement!  The day started out with a bit of a drizzle of rain which turned into a down pour, hail and finished with brilliant sunshine. Wendy, the RD and volunteer team did a fantastic job. It's a challenging event with a combination of tough climbs and flat running. The route was well marked and theaid station were well stocked. The soup at the half way point was just what I needed, a little salt and warm fluid. The mileage is creeping up - with two 50kms and one 25km event under my feet in the last month it feels great be back after the MSc. hiatus. Upcoming training includes some local runs then the Zion Canyon in Utah with Team Dodgy and a 55 mile run, the Cateran Trial Run in Scotland.