First Lodge, good view of the glacier

The count down to Ironman Couer D’alene started about a week ago, with 6 weeks to go.  Going into my 20th week of training, this would be the biggest week of the training cycle.  Earlier then I would normally do, but I have a few weekends coming up that I won’t be able to get the volume in.  With that said, a big week requires a big bike ride.  I’ve done some pretty big rides in the last year, and St. George Ironman would be one of the toughest I’ve done.  After charging up Mount Baker for my 3rd time, 2nd time solo in 4 years, this ride is still king.   Total route is almost 98 miles, with a starting elevation of 154 feet, climbing to almost 4300 feet.  Comparing that to last years St George Full ironman route with 4767 feet of gain, this ride has 5500 feet of gain with a mean class one right in the middle of the ride.

Route profile

I’ve posted pictures and have done a few paragraphs on this ride before and every time I do it, its amazing.  It takes about 75 kms to get the real climb started, after you’ve already been grind-ed down from the rolling climbs just to get there.  Once you climb out of the rain forest,  it’s a postcard the whole way up.

Riding through the valley before climbing.

Just getting to the second, main base area. The very top was still under snow.

Office shot. about 6.5 hours in the chair.

Few wind storms. dirty snow and some pretty good tree fallin.

Snowpack.

Valley shot.

Looking at the long range forecast at the beginning of the week, made me want to get out of the rainy lower mainland. The interior was looking pretty good, so we decided to load the creeper up and head to the good weather. We landed in our favorite campsite in Oliver at the Lakeside Resort, which is also the center for the June 1st Oliver Half iron. Great site, great race and this weekend had great weather. Perfect spot for a mini training camp and some R and R before a racing a half marathon in Vancouver.

Tempuratures were around the 16-18 range and had a lot of sun.  Saturday ride was pretty good since there were close to 150-200 other people out riding, nice change from the solo mountain climbs. I was also able to let the legs loose on the run, ran on the most of the Oliver half iron course and did some scouting. Too bad I won’t be racing it this year!

Facebook page for Lakeside Resort, Oliver BC

Outback events

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Most of these shots are right from our camp site, and right out the back door

Sunsetting on Saturday

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Save the best for last.  I thought these two looked pretty funny sitting in there little car.

I’ve been having some pretty good luck with my camera the last few weeks. Here are a few of my favorites from the last little while. Had some amazing mornings when the sun decides to show up.

Getting some art work ready for a hopefully show.

I’ve been told this might be my favorite subject. Mt. Baker. My favorite out of this set…

Some times the best trail runs are when you weren’t planning them. Perfect example.

I was able to get a quick ride in after work, and man it was a good idea just for this shot alone!.

Instagram fun, on a another cool morning.

oops

::I was able to sneak out of work a bit early last week and I got out on my bike. I’ve been out maybe twice since Kona…winter came fast! Took my SLR with me and shot some of my favorite stops.

::I was lucky enough to get out on a blue bird, all through the race season I see spots I would love to stop and take some shots….today was this day.::

::This is my favorite spot on one of my regular routes. The mountain just stops and the flats start. In the distance is a tree that sits on it own that makes this spot so unique. I’ve shot this spot tons of times but finally the light was bang on.

::I was out for almost 2 hours, and was running out of sunlight.::

:: A good finish to the set::

Interested in any photos…shoot me message/ or leave a comment.

A lot of trips, races and events going on in July. A few trips down to Alberta, Washington and the interior of BC. Here are my favorite shots from July.

::Had some amazing weather in the middle part of July up in Banff.  Made for some very stunning imagery::

::Flooding season…had a few weekends of detour riding.  This was down in Fort Langley, one of my weekend spots::

::Flood water in Sicamous, on our way to Banff.  The houseboat capital was under a lot of water.  For people that have been house-boating, the bottom of the train bridge had about 4 feet of clearance.::

::Tri Junction in Banff::

::Sun and heat in Lake Louise at the station historic site.  Had a great dinner there.::

::This was some morning sky on the to Canmore from Calgary. ::

Some shots from the last two weeks all over the province of British Columbia. Logging a lot of kms on the truck and spending a lot of time in the camper.

::This was close to home on an pretty good sky night::

::Coming home into the Valley after a drive back from Oliver Half Ironman::

::We were out past Radium this last weekend were rain didn’t seem to matter. I think the fire burned most of it up, throwing 6 foot logs on the flame.::

::Target practice::

On one of my days off from both training and work, I was finally able to get my butt out to some spots that I trail run at with my digital camera. The weather was perfect and most of the pictures came out pretty good. I’ve been playing with a few different styles lately and have been enjoying the result… These are all out at my favorite trail at Hayward Lake in Mission. I’ve done a few shots and video in this spot in the past but not with my good SLR.

::On the 1km path that loops around the parking lot::

::I've taken pictures of this a few times, I believe its steelhead creek::

::I've been wanting to stop in and a get some shots of this for a long time, finally did. Steelhead falls ::

::Another shot of Steelhead falls::

These photos are all from the 5 day trip to Las Vegas and St George. I’ll be heading back in less then 5 weeks and look forward to shooting more images as well as racing in Ironman St. George.

::Out on the St George Bike course::

:: Surrounding area on the drive back to Las Vegas::

::Love the rock colours::

::Storm, thrown more snow down.::

:: Sun setting on Las Vegas, just getting back into the city::