I've officially been in Whitehorse for over two weeks now and I've had a bit of time to see some of the sights. I had my first supper from the Whitehorse Fireside Market on Thursday night- a scrumption bowl of beef and barley soup with homemade sourdough bread. Quite delicious, although not quite a full supper :) I've scoped out a local buffalo burger stand for next week's Market supper. I've made friends with a gardener there too who has been schooling me on the finer points of Whitehorse horticulture, specifically concerning the tomato plants I purchased. I've got a few bean sprouting, despite the assault of the ground squirrel and some basil sprouts and tarragon (what do you do with tarragon anyway? Uncle Brian- I feel like l you'd know). Unfortunately, the two herbs that I am most excited about, my cilantro and peppermint (which is supposed to be super tough) are so far no-shows. I'll be chapped if I end up with a herb garden full of basil and tarragon. How much spagetti sauce and pesto can one person make?
I haven't had a chance to get away from the city to do much hiking yet. In fact, being that most people drive an average of 2hrs to get anywhere (kids from Kluane will drive the 2hrs to come to a movie without thinking twice), I may not get to see too much for a while. I have had a chance to roam around a lot of the biking trails on the east side of the Yukon River though. There's a bit of all types and levels of trails and I am being challenged by most of them. In fact, I'm getting schooled regularly. It started out with the usual Tera-falls: not quite unclipping before my bike teeters over. Such a battle between getting a few more pedal strokes in and not being able to unclip in time to get a foot on the ground before my bike topples me over. Embarassing when it happens on the street. And it does. Often. I blame Steve for talking me into switching to clips. Yes, it does make hills a whole lot easier and stops you from bouncing off your pedals causing your bits to crush onto the top tube. But, so not elegant when you fall over in the middle of the intersection when you just didn't quite get your foot out in time. People stare, to stifle their giggles and your pride takes the bulk of the road rash. Awkward all around.
However, I have officially graduated beyond just the beginner's tip-over bruises and odd tree head-ons. I had my first "epic" crash last week. I was getting a little too cocky going downhill around a hairpin turn, going a little too fast in ground a little too deep and my back tire washed out a little too much. I slapped the ground mighty hard- enough to bounce. But, other than a little brain rattle and whiplast, I now had a much better, exciting story to explain my bashed and bruised body. Oh yeah, I'm a mountain biker (although I'll never own up to what a Granny I was riding the rest of that trail...).
And this week, I've uped the ante with my new best epic fall. This time, I was being very responsible going down the hill and I've sufficiently scared myself that as soon as the ground starts getting deep, I Granny up. But then I spotted the lung-screaming hill just on the otherside of the downhill and thought I'd better let go a bit to get up enough speed to make some feeble attempt at the uphill. That's when my front tire washed out. My first ever over-the-bars somersault, followed perfectly by my bike doing likewise overtop of me, was textbook. Oops. Luckily, my well padded frontal took most of the impact. As did my poor little bell.
I haven't had a chance to get away from the city to do much hiking yet. In fact, being that most people drive an average of 2hrs to get anywhere (kids from Kluane will drive the 2hrs to come to a movie without thinking twice), I may not get to see too much for a while. I have had a chance to roam around a lot of the biking trails on the east side of the Yukon River though. There's a bit of all types and levels of trails and I am being challenged by most of them. In fact, I'm getting schooled regularly. It started out with the usual Tera-falls: not quite unclipping before my bike teeters over. Such a battle between getting a few more pedal strokes in and not being able to unclip in time to get a foot on the ground before my bike topples me over. Embarassing when it happens on the street. And it does. Often. I blame Steve for talking me into switching to clips. Yes, it does make hills a whole lot easier and stops you from bouncing off your pedals causing your bits to crush onto the top tube. But, so not elegant when you fall over in the middle of the intersection when you just didn't quite get your foot out in time. People stare, to stifle their giggles and your pride takes the bulk of the road rash. Awkward all around.
However, I have officially graduated beyond just the beginner's tip-over bruises and odd tree head-ons. I had my first "epic" crash last week. I was getting a little too cocky going downhill around a hairpin turn, going a little too fast in ground a little too deep and my back tire washed out a little too much. I slapped the ground mighty hard- enough to bounce. But, other than a little brain rattle and whiplast, I now had a much better, exciting story to explain my bashed and bruised body. Oh yeah, I'm a mountain biker (although I'll never own up to what a Granny I was riding the rest of that trail...).
And this week, I've uped the ante with my new best epic fall. This time, I was being very responsible going down the hill and I've sufficiently scared myself that as soon as the ground starts getting deep, I Granny up. But then I spotted the lung-screaming hill just on the otherside of the downhill and thought I'd better let go a bit to get up enough speed to make some feeble attempt at the uphill. That's when my front tire washed out. My first ever over-the-bars somersault, followed perfectly by my bike doing likewise overtop of me, was textbook. Oops. Luckily, my well padded frontal took most of the impact. As did my poor little bell.
A fatal blow I'm afraid. I tried to piece it back together, but no luck. This would be my second bell in not even a year. My first bell was a fatality in one of the aforementioned intersection tip-overs in the fall. At least this guy had a much more spectacular demise. Luckly for the bony bits of me, I'm still in tact. Some sore ribs and new bruises to add to the collection but more importantly, bragging rites that I am now a bonefide mountain biker.
I am now however, scarred with fear of downtown intersections, deep sand, hairpins, downhills and following uphills. Not a whole lot to work with. Maybe I should learn to crochet in my spare time instead. Dee assures me it's a workout and I don't think you get as many bruises...
UPDATE: Since it's taken me over a week to post this post, I've antied up with a newer, more epic crash. Again, escaped with minor bruises and rash, but definitely knocked me down a few pegs. No more epic crashes for a while. I've officially switched to the Granny perma-brake riding squad. I hear it's much less epic.
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