Costa Rica and the good times!

Ok – so now I’m the one behind the blogging :o) But I have a great excuse – I’ve been very busy! Yeah, I know that’s original and all, but really – I HAVE been busy, and having a lot of fun too!

So to start things off I was on vacation. And not just any vacation either – this one was special on a lot of levels. Kiersten and I decided back in December that it would be a blast to go on a Trek Travel trip together – to Costa Rica. This would be the first ‘guided’ vacation I’ve ever gone on, so I was really looking forward to it. Also, I’d never been to Central America and I’ve heard so many wonderful things about CR. To top it off – I’d get to spend a few weeks with Kiersten (that was the clincher for me!).

So on the 14th I took off for London, England where I stayed with my high-school friend Carmen and had a great catch-up. The next day it was off to Miami to rendez-vous with Kiersten, and then on to San Jose (CR). I was great to see her in the airport – I thought I was early, so I didn’t even see her when I arrived at the departure gate (ooops!!!).

So off we go to CR, where we spent the first night in San Jose and then hopped on a commuter bus to the Carribean coast and Cahuita (following May’s advice to spend a few days relaxing there). Black sand beaches, white sand beaches, some impressive waves, some jungle walking, and some great hammock time added up to a very relaxing start to my vacation. The town had no paved roads and pretty much the only thing to do was relax – this was why we made the trek to the Carribean side!

After a few days we hopped back on a bus, then another bus, then another, and still another, then into a cab for a rally-car ride to the top of Mt.Irazu (~3400m) to meet up with the start of the Trek Travel trip we were taking. Wow – what an incredible place for a picnic! Above the clouds and nothing but ridiculously bright and warm sunshine!!! We hopped on the Trek Fuel EX9’s and bombed down the side of the mountain for quite possibly the longest downhill I’ve ever done. 2500m vertical drop in about 30km – lots of it over rock-strewn double-track, which the Fuel’s went over like warm butter on popcorn.

Oh yeah – except for the 5 crashes suffered by the group on the first day (Kiersten was able to account for 2 of them – way to go Kiki! :o) None of them too serious (except for one guy almost knocked out his front teeth and another lost some serious skin on his hip and elbow), so onward and downward.

Did I mention Gary Fisher was with us on the trip? Not as a legend or anything – just as a guest on vacation like us! How cool is that!! (more to come later). But on that first day bombing down the hill I got a chance to try to keep up with Gary. It was pretty sweet riding, and as I rode his wheel around some of the corners I was struck by what I was witnessing: this was Gary Fisher and I hot-footing around loose gravel corners. I was instantly reminded of the photo’s I’d seen of Gary on day 1 of the history of MTBing as he hot-footed around corners on the famous Repack trail and the Marin Headlands across the bay from San Francisco (they were single speed coaster brake bikes ridden off-road for the first time – and the braking was so hard the hubs had to be repacked after almost every run, hence the name of the trail). That was a major WOW – this trip had started off on the right foot (and the left foot too! :o)

Zack (one of our guides) and I got a chance to try to keep up with Gary on the paved downhill section, but with 20 years of road racing under his belt we didn’t stand much of a chance, and he steadily worked his way out of our reach – pretty impressive since neither Zack nor I are slouches on the MTB!

What followed was THE best vacation I’ve ever had in my life. When I think about all the things we did and saw and experienced, and how easy it was (Trek Travel took care of everything) I realize that I was entering a new phase in my traveling. As I mentioned, I’ve never taken a guided vacation before but I’ve GUIDED my fair share though – and now I know what it’s like from the other side. Absolutely amazing. Such a fun time. I don’t know how else to say it! It really helped that the group was so great too – many of them were really fun people that helped make the vacation!

Granted this type of travel is different than what I’m used to (ie backpacking on your own timeline with your own agenda, where getting there really IS ½ the fun) so it took a little adjustment period (all of about 15 minutes if I remember correctly). I know I still want to backpack on my own since it’s such fun, but I will always consider guided trips from now on – I have a totally new respect for them.

Anyway, I’m babbling. The trip was so jam-packed full of fun I can’t even delve into it here, but to mention a few highlights (and these are only the ones on the Trek Travel portion of our trip!):
- bombing down Irazu on day 1
- full-day rafting on day 2 (class 3 and 4 rapids had us on our toes the whole time)
- nature hike, waterfall visit, canopy ‘swooping’, and hot-pools on day 4 (this was voted by us as the best day of the trip)
- boat ride and sweet MTB ride on day 5, complete with dunking in the Pacific at the end of the ride
- sea kayaking, snorkeling, boogie boarding and wave riding on day 6
Remember – those are just the highlights!

After the trip Kiersten and I staying on the Pacific for an extra night to just relax on our own and enjoy the sun – and did we ever! But one funny story on the last morning of the trip. We’re sitting at breakfast with Gary, his girlfriend Amanda and their son Miles and a few guests were asking Gary about his riding history. Gary told a story about his early days of riding but one of the guests hadn’t followed the conversation very well and asked if that was MTBing or road riding. Gary’s response (not in a conceited way at all, just a modest matter-of-fact way): “No that was road riding….I hadn’t invented MTBing yet.” Ummm yeah, I guess that’s about right!!!

So after the trip we flew back to San Jose and spent a day there exploring the cities biggest festival of arts, crafts, food, and entertainment. We spend about 6 hours just walking around a soaking it all in – such a neat festival with capaueira (Brazilian ‘fight’ dancing, which my spell-checker doesn’t recognize!), musical bands, and a native dance to celebrate the ‘little devil’ (full of history, but you’ll have to research it on your own – too much for here).

Then it was on to Madison Wisconsin for a week of Returning Guide Training – for me it was a mixture of giving and receiving training (since I’ve never done the Trek Travel training, either as an instructor or student, it was a good idea to attend). Good times had in Madison, but now I’m happy to be heading ‘home’ for a while so I can get back to racing :o) But now Kiersten is back on London, Ontario (boooooo!!!!).

Things will really heat up for me in terms of work over the next 3 weeks though, so I’ll see how my motivation holds up. With what little riding I’ve done over the past 3 weeks I’m really well rested and dying to get back on my bike – and I’m super curious to see how my fitness is now!!!!