Monday, March 10, 2008

working man

So my updates have been kind of hurting as of late. I have a very good excuse, I have been up in the mountains training like Rocky. I was up at Manning park working at the Nordic center for the last 3 weeks or so. I lived in the staff housing and they gave me a massive room all to myself and put me in a house that they refer to as the “old folks home”. Its a quiet house with a bunch of housekeeping staff and is really clean and no party's. This kind of worked well for my training. First off they had me working up in the alpine shop then they moved me down to the Nordic which is where I really wanted to be. Reasons that the Manning park Nordic center is better to work at then the alpine shop.
-Nordic shop is at the bottom and is really close to the staff housing.
-Nordic has a bathroom in the shop, at the alpine I had to walk for 5min to find a bathroom.
-Nordic has a perfect back room for napping, I had a sleeping bag and air mattress I would use on my “lunch break”
-Nordic starts at 815, alpine starts at 8 but it really starts at 740 cause you got to get on the bus.
-the people that come in to the Nordic love to chat it up and seem like they just are loving life, “we are going to ski but first we are going to have some coffee” in the alpine people want there rentals NOW!!! and are pissed cause they got to pay 40$ for a lift pass.
-at the Nordic the pine woods restaurant is right close by and after I would have my nap I had free espresso from the restaurant. And it was good.
-I get to really test all the XC skis and gear I want.

My training has been supper good up there, I think skiing is the ultimate training for any sport, its so hard and you need to use all aspects of fitness to be any good at skiing. You need power, strength, upper and lower body, you need to be an aerobic beast, you need really good balance, coordination, and timing. On my days off I would drive back to Chilliwack and do some long out door rides. So this is what my typical day would be like up at manning park.
-wake at 5am
-eat toast with peanut butter, cut up banana, and coffee flavored yogurt. unreal!
-skate ski 615 – 815, I got first tracks on freshly groomed trails every morning.
-work 815 – 445 I would eat, put out the signs wax skis, rent out some skis, stretch out my legs, have a 1hr long nap, take in some returns then take in the signs.
-classic ski
-intervals on the trainer
-eat pre made dinners my mom made and froze for me in zip lock containers.
-bed time.
It was unreal up there, my skate ski is so good right now, I am using some 187cm long skis and the glide is just crazy! And the power, oh mama!

Saturday was my last day of work, then I stayed at manning that night and I did my ski in the morning but this time I skied from the Nordic center then went all the way to the top of the orange chair way up into the alpine. It took me 1hr and 10min to ski up. After that I got in the car and drove back to Chilliwack and I went for a unreal mt bike ride on Vedder mt. It was such a good day. Today however I am very tired. Full chill today.

every morning was just like this.

counting out the money

working hard? Or hardly working?


mid day yoga time

getting my wax on

doing a snowshoe tour.

Melting snow on the roof.

warm day.










































2 comments:

Michael Holroyd said...

Rough life. Looks like a great way to have a training camp and make some cash too. Ricky working? never thought i'd see the day.

Anonymous said...

Hey Ricky Racer!!!!
Buddy I miss you!!! haha
I loved how you described nordic life...and just so everyone knows...he is not lieing. Best job EVER!!! anyways man...email me
lisaharris55@hotmail.com