BSBD

I had reconnected with one of my good childhood friends this year though my wife's family. After he left town during high school, he moved down to where my now brother-in-law grew up and became good friends with him. After our wedding last year through facebook the connection was made and Luke and I had been catching up every few weeks since then on Skype or Facebook. Sharing some memories of tearing around on bikes as kids, getting into trouble, and filling in the gaps on the years in between and what we were currently up to.

I was quite wrapt with some of Luke's stories, as he was currently in Brasil doing a lot of BASE jumping, and having a) been there last year - I felt like I could identify with a lot of the places and b) BASE jumping is exactly the adrenaline fuelled kind of thing I am naturally drawn to.

He showed me this movie shortly after we had reconnected, a place in Greece called Zakynthos.. WOW - the natural beauty of the place, the colour of the water, the completely isolated beach, the perfectly positioned wreck. You just couldn't imagine a more perfect backdrop for something like this!

Luke, above, he's 2nd- in the yellow shirt and purple pack.

I was enraptured by the balls he had as I have an irrational fear of heights. We chatted every couple of weeks - he left Brasil and was in Moab down in Arizona doing a lot more jumping. It was an area I wanted to go riding in. Such a Mecca for outdoor people like us.

We'd just finished running the Tough Mudder up here in Whistler and on the way home my wife gets a message from her sister asking me if Luke had died - there were a bunch of RIP messages on his facebook wall. All the elation from the Tough Mudder slipped out of me, and I thought, well I knew it was probably coming. I had seen a couple of sketchy jumps of his recently from low mesa's in tight canyons, where he narrowly avoided the walls. I knew he was jumping a lot, and its a dangerous sport. I got on my phone right away and check his page. Yep, plenty of messages but no real details. I sent a couple of messages off to friends of his that had sent the RIP's asking them if they knew what had happened.

We got home, I showered up and everyone was debriefing with the crew we were staying with about the Tough Mudder. The obstacles, the mud, the runs up the mountain and the electric shocks. A lot of laughs and fun stories. But I had to go outside and get some air. Somewhere between getting out of the the car and the shower I had remembered Lukes laugh, and the reality of his death sunk in. It was only last week I was talking to him. I was sort of dreading him coming up through Canada and asking me for a place to stay as I thought it might be hard to get rid of him if we said yes - he had a reputation for being cheap and milking his friends for their generosity. I felt like an asshole for thinking like that. I got on my phone again and there were a few messages waiting.

It was a BASE jumping accident. His chute hadn't opened. The small first bridal chute had deployed, but it had gotten tangled on his GoPro of all things and hadn't opened the main chute. What a stupid bloody reason to die. He was doing a double gainer (like a double forward moving backflip) and so in spinning the smaller chute had hit and stuck on the camera mounted on his helmet. Its a weird moment adjusting to the fact that something that permanent has happened. I felt older all of a sudden. I thought about all the risky sports I do. I wondered what it was like to continue spinning when you knew you should have snapped upright. To be disoriented and to know you were in real trouble. Was he panicked for the last few seconds before he impacted, did he always think this was coming one day and just accept it? He had no fear of jumping. I felt sad and a strange sense of loss given we had only just reconnected a few months ago.

My wife came outside to check on me. I love her for noticing my absence.

For the next few days I couldn't help but keep going back to his facebook page. Everyone was sharing stories of their time with him. A lovable larrikin, a trouble maker with a great smile, lust for life and contagious crazy laugh.


BSBD means Blue Sky Black Death. Its a reference to a band, and the way BASE jumpers say goodbye when when of their friends dies jumping. I'm not a BASE jumper, but it seems fitting.
Farewell Luke, its a shame we couldn't meet up in person again.

Imaginate

If you haven't seen Danny Macaskill before, you should check him out. freaking awesome.

He released his newest riding clip this week.. Imaginate:

I'd love to pick up even a few of his skills in terms of balance and being able to drop of and across gaps. The guys is amazing. I think I am going to work on my legs more at gym and skip next season of beach volleyball and hit the bike skills park instead!

Ride to Conquer Cancer 2013

On the bus back home after two days and 250km on the bike. A healthy glow of the sun on my face and arms, burger and a beer in my tummy... and I feel tired, warm and happy :)

I was looking forward to actually riding it at my own pace this year after being the sweep crew last year. Funny thing though- I felt the same this time last year as I do now... Tired, warm and happy to have completed the ride.. Although last year I was warm a because I was in dry clothes after having ridden 10 hours in the rain! Met my friends from the sweep crew again at the finish line both days and met a bunch of people from the crew as well as riders from last year as well. Its a total sense of community.

leaving Canada

This ride is such a great weekend  and pretty unique in the 'event' world because its actually about the cause-  more so than any other event I know. There were so many yellow flags flying on bikes this weekend, indicating people that have had or still have cancer. 2600 riders raising minimum of $2500 each. this year the 2600 people raised ten point something million dollars. And yes, for your fundraising, you get to go on an adventure. Satisfies the desire to prove you are not dead after spending the week at work behind a computer and a bonus for the fact you can post some awesome pictures of yourself to Facebook in spandex.

Mt Baker looming in the distance for hours on saturday

It's a different crowd here though. For most everyone it's a personal thing. They want to remember someone they loved. They want to support Cancer research and sufferers....they want to stop this happening to someone else they love.

You can tell by how much people talk to each other, support each other, smile, share their story with you, encourage everybody. This isn't about themselves. This isn't about Facebook. This is about the people they love, and they recognize it is the same for everyone else involved. I got to share so many sad and uplifting stories with people as we huffed and puffed up hills, or sat on the grass at rest stops and devoured our food and hydrated.

Tragically there was a riding death of a young 16 year old on the course today. He was in one of the front packs and there was an accident with a car. Most of the riders had to dismount and leave the course to walk around the accident site. He was there to support his father who had pancreatic cancer... and today is Father's Day. Tragedy is the only word I know to describe it. It affected the whole atmosphere of the ride for many hours after. We walked past and saw him lying on the road surrounded by medics trying to revive him, and I saw many people shaken and crying. This event was supposed to be about prolonging life. 

Last night there was a marriage proposal on stage. The guy had ridden to support cancer for years after losing his wife to it. Her dying wish was for him to find a good woman to love him. Pushed along with the help of friends, he found a lady who had been through breast cancer, and proposed to her in front of everyone at last nights dinner. The introduction of their story was enough for the crowd.. They screamed and cheered for many minutes before he had to tell everyone to calm down and let him actually ask the question! 

A joyous note to counter the loss of the young rider in the crash.

The two freshest stories of love and loss in the battle against cancer.

I'm so glad we still have my wife's mother after her recent radiation treatment. And that my aunt is doing well after they removed her cancer just last month. And I miss my beautiful, funny, razor sharp and wise grandmother who fought cancer for years but lost the battle.

I am really proud of all the people who commit to raising such a large amount of money each, who put themselves well out of their comfort zone, and who open their hearts fully to everyone around them for the weekend. And I was very happy to be a part of it again. 

Thanks to Jimmy and the Riders for Ryder team. Thanks to Christina from my work who has ridden for her brother 4 years running and ride with us today. Thanks to Jeremy from my work, who we fundraised and trained with this year who rode for his recently departed sister. He was well out of his comfort zone and kept a great pace with us today.

Jeremy, Christina, Joey and I

Riders for Ryder 2013

Thanks to my amazing wife Joey.

New York, New York!

I must confess to being a Frank Sinatra fan. The guy had style and presence.
It was working in an Italian restaurant during my University days that I got to know Frank. The owner of the shop, Vito, was a little control freak, and I was only allowed to put on one of three cd's in the morning, and another 4 for the evenings. I'll never know what sort of vibe Vito intended with the choice of Moby, Frank Sinatra, and a random CD of Italian Opera, but Frank and Moby got a great workout in the mornings.

I've never really had a big urge to head to New York City, but thats where we are heading tonight! The wife has a trip there for work and suggested I come across, because she think's I will love it. I need a holiday, there's no work trips happening at the moment, so this is a good enough reason for me to take some time out. Its the end of the work day and just before I head out the door I thought I'd drop drop a few thoughts from today down. Thinking of the trip I am humming Frank Sinatra to myself... I think I have Broadway shows and food on my mind..

Speaking of Frank, that also happens to be the name of one of the owners of Meat and Bread. if you live in Vancouver and havent been there, you need to get out more. Its got the best sandwich in town. I dropped in there for lunch today and mentioned I am off to New York - he suggested I get to his favourite restaurant called Frankies 457. Might be worth a shot if i get time, as this Porchetta sandwich is the bees knees. Maybe Frankie has similar goodies for me over there.

I took my Porchetta sandwich outside to sit in the sun and ran into a friend, Don, who also gave me the rundown on places he suggested I visit while we're in the Big Apple: Smorgasburg Markets for an awesome outdoor foodie market in DUMBO; Momofuku Noodle Bar- one of the talks of the town right now in ramen. Roberta's - top NY Pizza. Parm (or Torrisi Italian Specialties next door for a more fancy option Mission Chinese Food- for real Chinese.. not this western version you get everywhere outside of China .and just check out Eater for a bunch of other good ideas.
 .. is New York all about food? because on the weekend while we were cycling, my friend wife suggested we head to: Miss Lily's- some of the tastiest food she has eaten in a long time. The Standard- and head up to the 18th floor for a view of the city right at your feet, and awesome decor. Cafe Minerva- for a nice cheap glass of wine to while away the hours, and The Spotted Pig; for great bar food and cocktails.

So far the only thing I really want to do is take a long run around Central Park, and a walk along the Highline.. looks like I'll need the exercise with all that food ahead of me!