Each year, Bike Parks BC (www.bikeparksbc.com), gives away a special week of mountain biking at their spectacular British Columbia resorts. Two women were awarded trips this year, Wendy Morriseau of Nanaimo, BC, Canada, and Sue McBride of Palo Alto, CA, USA. We heard from Wendy just recently about her awesome trip.

I will not forget opening the e-mail from Bike Parks BC announcing “Congratulations Wendy, you have won the 2008 Ultimate Road Trip”, and the excitement leading up July 26th departure, reminded me being a kid at Christmas. I was about to experience the best week of mountain biking in 13 years of my riding experience, as the icing on my cake.

My riding-buddy Brenda and I were picked up at Kelowna International Airport, in the Okanagan of beautiful British Columbia. We met the crew (all guys, I might add) that we would be sharing the next seven days. Hmm, an interesting group, that’s for sure.

We had a seven-hour trip ahead of us to Panorama Mountain Village, located in the very eastern regions of BC, so to break up the long trek we stopped at the Enchanted Forest, near the Three Valley Gap and Revelstoke. We knew a fun time would be had for a bunch of 29 – 46 year-olds visiting this BC attraction of nursery rhyme themes and childhood memories.

Our team arrived at Panorama late in the evening and settled in for the night, but up bright and early to have breakfast and head out riding the next day. Panorama’s trail system is set up for beginners to advanced riders with breathtaking views where they say you can see 1000 Peaks from the top of the park. The mountain is geared for the whole family with resort activities that include waterslides, swimming pools, hot tubs, hiking along with biking.

We got to ride Marin Quake XLTs, courtesy of Shaums March of MMR Bike Camps and Marin Bikes and we had Opio packs, which we got to keep as souvenirs of our prize week.

From our first few laps down the mountain, we soon discovered that we all loved to ride the same technical trails with jumps and drops included. I’m sure we impressed the boy and I know my riding skills improved that day. Yours would too, with world reigning down-hill masters champ, Shaums March riding behind, coaching you on how and what you should be doing all the way down the trail. I know, from my Ultimate Road Trip experience, I became a more skilled rider. We finished the day with beers and grins all around.

We moved on to tame Kicking Horse Mountain Resort up the highway near Golden, BC. Kicking Horse is a mountain in progress, geared for more for the intermediate to advanced rider, but with the hard work of the trail crew, it won’t be long until all levels of rider enjoy it. We had a very warm welcome from the Copper Horse Lodge, it’s still a small emerging destination but shares a big resort heart with all its guest.

We arrived to find the gondola had been hit by lighting the night before and was out of action, but being VIP visitors, permission to shuttle to the top 7,700 feet was easily granted. Wow, we had Kicking Horse Mountain to ourselves with a guide thrown in to show us the best way down. Who could ask for more?

The riding it Kicking Horse was sweet from steep to flow and alpine to forest. I rode ramps and steeps I know I would not have attempted before this trip. I was stoked with the level of riding that I had achieved in two days and we still had four days of riding to go. This bike park’s my favorite place to ride on the tour, so far.

The gondola was fixed and running the next day. After a visit with Boo, the resident grizzly bear, and a lost flip-flop off the chair (it was recovered by one of our guides) we geared up for another day at Kicking Horse.

Our first run down, Shaums coached us with a lot of sessioning on the dirt jumps; definitely not one of my comfortable skills. By the time that said and done, all Brenda and I wanted to do was ride. We stopped for a short lunch and proceeded to ride for the rest of the afternoon. The guys had quit after three laps but the girls had the flow going and we rode until the lift stopped, completing six full laps! This all followed with a tour of the hot tub with our fun group, leading to a big night of pints and shooters….enough said.

It was a slow, lazy morning and after breakfast we had the privilege of being shuttled to the top of Mount 7. This is where the “Mt 7 Psychosis” race is held. So with some sore heads we decided to take the easier route down and then joined up with the Psychosis racecourse. This is must-do return visit for next summer.

Our next Ultimate Road Trip mountain destination was Silver Star Mountain Resort, above Vernon back in BC’s semi-arid Okanagan, arriving late in the afternoon. A brief meeting with the resort manager and presentation of Silver Star Mountain season sasses (this means we can come back later this season) we were off to enjoy a great dinner. All this riding and touring meant we were tired and ready to check in for the night at The Snowbird. Each room has its own king-size beds, kitchen, and a hot tub on the deck!
We were very keen to ride here and put all our new technical skills to the test. We rode hard and fast all day, with grins from ear to ear as we raced to catch the last chair at 4.30pm. An afternoon recap including a few drinks with my new friends, followed by two hours of intense paintball with a group of guys full of testosterone was a great way to wrap our day. Girls or no girls - I know we challenged the men.

The next day (# 6 of riding) the girls were up and ready to ride, and we hit Silver Star’s trails. The boys (we called them the girls as we were always waiting for them) were taking too much time so Brenda and I hit the lifts to do a couple of warm up laps. We finally hooked up with the crew and blasted through the day. What a thrill to be riding with the best in the sport and being a woman of 46 who has now ridden all the Bike Parks in BC, this has been an amazing adventure for me. We finished off the evening with a beautiful meal.

Saturday was our final day with a relaxing breakfast with the crew and a review of our awesome week, we are then off to the airport with goodbyes to all of my new friends.

I encourage all women bikers to go ride in the Bike Parks of BC, young or old. Mountain biking is my passion and to be a winner of the 2008 Ultimate Road Trip was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget. I’m still grinning!

Wendy Morisseau
Nanaimo, BC
Canada

by Deidre O.

“Is that the summit,” I asked my Aunt Flossie for maybe the fifth time so far on our quest to summit Mount Yale. My aunt just laughed, and I stared at her in bewilderment. We had been hiking for maybe only two hours and had not even come close to tree line yet; after a quick break we kept trucking.

Pretty soon, when I first saw the snow, I shrieked and my aunt took pictures of me in shorts standing in the snow. I was in Denver on vacation from Philadelphia and summiting Mount Yale would also be my very first real hike.

Hour four brought us to above treeline. Aunt Flossie waited patiently while we stood amongst Old Men on the Mountain and I snapped dozens of pictures. We soon arrived at The Switchbacks. The Switchbacks were not too hard but one misstep and a beginner like me would fall down a few feet of rock. But still we went on with many frequent electrolyte - fueled pit stops.

Finally we scaled or bouldered across twenty yards and before I knew it I even knew what was happening I was hungrily scarfing down my lunch and taking pictures of everything and anything. When I looked down and saw the rolling hills I only a few short hours ago believed to be the real summit I laughed at myself; they were sooo far down.

We had a few other hikers take our pictures and my trusty, lime green digital beeped three times and flashed a LOW BATTERY; I almost died!

Then we started our descent. I fell at least four times on my way down the switchbacks. One particular time I glided a few feet and exclaimed, ” My hands are all exfoliated now!”

In a camp I had learned to visualize. When I told my aunt I was visualizing she told me that visualizing where your foot would go would help me get down; I seemed to fall a LOT. I laughed and told her I was visualizing an ice cold Dr. Pepper and a bag of Sun Chips.

When it was all over and my visualization had become reality I realized that material things (no matter how cold that Dr. Pepper was) could not compare to rolling down the snow on the side of a mountain 13,000 feet up, or feeling the exhilaration of peering over the boulders on the edge of the summit (I thought the summit was a flat plateau - I WISH), or even sleeping in a tent besides people I love, knowing that the best therapy would be looking at the vast nature around me and realizing my materialistic problems are diminutive in comparison.

Congratulations, Deirdre!

If you’d like to win a WA tee, stop by and tell us your story!

I’ve often thought that the thing that intrigues me most about cycling is its dual personality. It’s gobs of fun to ride around (fly around really) on quiet roads with girlfriends, going nowhere and seeing, hearing, and smelling everything around.

But it’s one of the few sports I can think of that can immediately translate into practical transportation. Sure we could walk or run everywhere, but probably not all the time, and probably not fast enough to cover the distances most of us need to cover. On my bike, I get to work every day, I zip over to Target to fill a prescription, I tool down to the library to grab a book. If I was able to haul my teenage daughter around with my bike, I’d do that too.

I ran across an article by Rick Crawford over on Velonews.com that says it so much more succinctly than I can. How often do we think about our sport/outdoor time as energy wasteful? All those BTUs we’re churning out just evaporating into the atmosphere instead of powering our TV or computer? Of course, everything in life can’t be perfectly utilitarian and thrifty! We all need our fun and relaxation. But if you could catch the energy you’ll pour into your next triathlon or skiing trip and run your washing machine for a month, wouldn’t you? All that fun and a lower electric bill to boot.

I’ll let you know when I figure out a way to sell some of my cycling wattage back to the power grid!

Last June Kelsey Crider graduated from Boulder High School with plans to attend Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO and fulfill her dream of being a photographer. But an undiagnosed hereditary kidney problem put all those plans on hold for her. Kelsey’s dad donated a kidney, but the transplant failed and Kelsey is now on the waiting list of the United Network for Organ Sharing. She currently has to have dialysis three days a week.

When Michelle Theall, Women’s Adventure’s founder, read about Kelsey in the local Boulder Daily Camera, she immediately wanted to make at least a part of Kelsey’s dream come true. Women’s Adventure is sponsoring a series of conferences in 2008 on writing and photography and Michelle invited Kelsey and her mom to attend the Photography Conference, taking place April 12-14, 2008, at no cost.

You can read more about Kelsey’s story at the Boulder Daily Camera (http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/feb/17/bhs-grad-fights-kidney-battle/). And, if you’re interested in reading more about the conferences, visit our website at www.magazineconference.com.

It seems this issue is on the minds of several of our readers as well as my own. I just read a blog over at Bicycling Magazine’s reader blog area that was a total inspiration. Not about how to be safe, but about addressing fears - check it out over at http://rodale.typepad.com/changing_gears/.

I’m responsible for putting together the monthly Women’s Adventure e-newsletter (shameless plug - click here to sign up). This month, one of the items I came across for the newsletter had to do with a fund raiser in honor of Meredith Emerson, the hiker who was killed while on an outing near her home in Georgia. I had already heard about her murder, but I hadn’t paid much attention to the details. It was probably a one-in-million freak occurrence that she caught the attention of the man who killed her. But it makes a girl think. And it wakes up all those feelings of vulnerability that some of us fight down every time we venture out.

“Can we be safe outside?” is a question that doesn’t have a firm answer. Most of us will never be in any danger, but some will be injured, some will miraculously escape, and a few will die. I personally have to overcome my worrywart tendencies every time I get on my bike and ride. The statistics are on my side - I’ll probably be coming home safe and happy, but for some of us, overcoming fear is a daily challenge.

Coming up in our January newsletter is a reader’s story by Valerie Hess about how she overcame her learned fear of the outdoors. In our March print issue, there’s going to be a feature about German paraglider, Ewa Wisnierska, who was caught in a supercell storm while racing and survived being pushed by winds up to 10,000 meters in the air - it’s an absolute miracle that she lived - and she continues to compete in her sport. I think about our founder, Michelle Theall, out running or walking in every weather, despite difficulties with MS, because she wouldn’t, couldn’t be herself without going outside. All of them are women who step outside to do what they love, knowing intimately the danger they place themselves in. They go because they must go, because they would be lessened by giving in to fears. These women are my heroes - when my fear sings out, I think about them and let joy find me in the wild.

Lynne, our most excellent office manager, sent me these thoughts the other day.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the period right after my son was born and my first time away from him. I remember driving down my mountain road thinking that I couldn’t protect him like I did when he was inside of me. I think about this because I’m looking for a new car.

My son will soon receive his driver’s permit and it will be my car he will learn on and later drive the most. The vehicle needs to fit my 5′4″ frame and his 6′2+” growing body and have decent gas mileage, so size is important. I’ve studied on-line car ratings and consumer comments and visited dealerships. I thought a “pre-owned” car would give me some balance — not as much concern about keeping it in pristine condition.

But the newer cars have the curtain air bags, the vehicle stabilizers for skids, etc., etc. for safety. I’m becoming a little crazed in my search but want to make a decision because my current vehicle is becoming unreliable and because of my soon-to-be expert new driver. So thoughts about protecting him still dance in my head. Did I mention he had a head concussion playing football this past fall? Pass the bubblewrap!

I totally agree! Sometimes teenage sons seem programmed by nature to plunge headlong into every dangerous thing they can find. And moms are programmed to protect. We start when we hold them in our arms for the first time, doing all the right, careful things to keep them health and safe. How do we turn that off when they don’t need us anymore?

My son is a little older than Lynne’s and he’ll be leaving for college next fall. And no matter how logical, reasonable, and sane he sounds when he’s talking to me, I know when he’s out with buddies, it’s a whole different ballgame. And yet, can we hold them back from being what they are? Or learning those hard lessons? Or teaching us the lessons we need, too? Not a chance!

I’m not a mountain bike person. Not from lack of desire, just from lack of opportunity. The area around Chicago lends itself to long road rides, fast and furious sprints, miles of meditation watching goldfinches flash in the brush along the asphalt.

I reach my job every day by bike, too. This whole relationship I have with my bike is complicated and wonderful. It’s transportation physically and spiritually. I thought it would be all I needed.

Karina and I split our WA bicycle testing chores — she tests mountain and I test road/urban. But I call myself a cycling gear editor as well as webmaster (they let me pick my own job title, you know) and there’s more in this two-wheeled world than 700c tires. So, I finally gathered my courage and sneaked off this weekend (while my riding partner was at the Tour of Missouri) with my son’s battered mountain bike to one of the few mountain bike trail systems in the area.

I chose a wide trail because I’m a novice. I had to be on the lookout for horseback riders around every curve, but for the most part I had the trail to myself. That was a blessing because I totally embarrassed myself! Only the horses were snickering as I got half way up a totally vertical wall of rocky dirt and started going “whoa, whoa, whoa” as my front wheel lifted off the ground and I began heading back where I came from head first. Luckily, I managed to stop the momentum and I walked my bike up a bit.

After a second hill-walk, I realized I just didn’t have any technique at all. I had all the leg power I needed to climb but I couldn’t make the bike behave. I need to go to a women’s mountain bike camp! And I say “women’s” because they might not laugh at me as much as guys would. Maybe.

Walking aside, I was having a blast. Going down the hills was like, well, like nothing I’ve ever done before. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, with added rocks and washouts, comes to mind. Around the third downhill, I realized I was actually laughing out loud. Now, when have I ever done that on a road ride? The most I’ve achieved on my road bike is a benevolent smile, kind of like the Buddha. I even laughed when I bashed up one leg against the shark-toothed pedal. Wheeee!

So, I’m a convert. It’s totally recreational riding, with nary a thought about how much gas I’m saving or what effect I’m having on global warming. Pure fun for fun’s sake — so unlike practical me. I can’t wait to go out again! Don’t tell my road bike…..

You may not know this, but not all of our magazine staff live near WA’s Global Headquarters in Boulder, CO. Several of us work remotely from far-flung locations and have never met each other. Phones are okay, email is nice, but nothing beats a face-to-face chat to really communicate and build relationships.

So, we had our first ever “annual planning session/staff retreat” together in Boulder last month. Everyone rearranged schedules, found child-care or pup care, and came by planes, trains, and automobiles to rendezvous at the foot of the Flatirons in Colorado. Our founder, Michelle, and our office manager, Lynne, swarmed like ants to get ready for our arrival. Armed with the many excellent suggestions sent in by you, dear readers, we plotted out the new year for Women’s Adventure. Of course, we were aided by lots of chocolate, good food, music floating across the meadow from nearby Chautauqua, hikes up to the Flatirons, and gorgeous weather.

After all the serious business was finished, the last item on the agenda was our wish lists. Without any limitations, we told what our wildest dreams were for ourselves in relation to Women’s Adventure. There were all the usual wishes for bigger budgets and more help, but what came through loud and clear was the degree of dedication every woman felt for our publication. We believe Women’s Adventure is unique and worthy of that dedication, beyond long hours and small budgets.

I left our retreat enriched by the strength of women when they work toward a common goal, by their strength in being able to communicate and reach understanding, by their wit, humor and practicality. I think you will be just as enriched by the upcoming year of Women’s Adventure.

WA friend Anne Bonney recently finished a trip to Antarctica and sent us the link to her trip blog, along with a little bio:

Anne Bonney was born in New Jersey, moved a year later and hasn’t stopped since. Her travels have taken her from the pyramids in Egypt, to an elephant polo match in Nepal, to a performing arts boarding school in the woods of Michigan. Out of college, she taught elementary special education, but has since trained marine mammals and birds of prey, bartended, facilitated team building on a ropes course, and now she’s in marketing for women’s athletic apparel. She was always athletic, but never had much of a chance to be an athlete until about 4 years ago when she ran the 3 mile leg on a relay team, and got the bug. Now marathon running is an opportunity to wear goofy costumes (Elvis and Hula girl most recently), bond with similarly clad friends and travel to exotic locations. (Antarctica and Argentina, February 2007) Also a triathlete and an adventure racer, Anne’s next big challenge is starting graduate school in June 2007.

Check out Anne’s latest at her blog: http://antarcticannie.blogspot.com/.