The other side of the world for like 180 days..

So everyone who works on the track (including people who have worked for COP for years, 3 years for some, months for others) got a letter saying February 16th is our last day of work.  So, its either time to pack up bags and boards and hit the road and other places, or to find a job around home and stick it out for a bit.

At the moment we are hosting the Luge World Cup on the track.  The last two days we were working solid making and scraping ice.  As well as having more fun on the track, sliding into huge piles of snow and inventing new ways to do our jobs.  Today was the first day of training for the world cup.  There is a few benefits, we dont do a lot of work, and when we work it is quick as.  This is going to continue until Saturday.  I will update later.

Brynos birthday was on Monday, because of the competition I could only get one day off work, Sunday.  The plan was to spend the day at Lake Louise snowboarding, then hit the bar for dinner and a few drinks.  We ended up getting half a day of snowboarding in, some drinks after and dinner aswell.  Tony showed up from BC in the morning, that was wicked, I hadnt seen Tony for about 8 months and he flew over.  Was wicked spending 2 hours driving to Lake Louise with him.

Snowboarding was fun as, Lake Louise is amazing, so many runs, so many lifts, no lines, really cool place.. Will definately be heading back there, seeing as though we get 50% to Canadia’s biggest and best ski field.

Heres a couple of photos, there is more on my facebook:

We ended the night after snowboarding with Claire, Sherona, Tony, Bryn and I having dinner in a saloon in Lake Louise Cheatau (3rd photo).  I got myself a Pulled Pork Sandwich, was delicious.  That was pretty much first time eating proper smoked barbecue pork, totally doing it again.  As far as I know smoking meat isnt as big in Australia as it is in North America, but Im sure it will be big sometime in the future.

This is a message that I sent to Mum the other day..

“Exciting news of the week:

Since we’ve all worked on the track we have heard lots of different stories from our two bosses, “the capsule”, “stretcher sled”, and “bucket trains”.

The Capsule is a sled that our boss (who has been working on the track since 1986, and has seen everything, except Cool Runnings) built which is like a pod that anyone can get closed into, shut in, and they go down the track just like a Bobsled, looking through a small window. Your inside the pod laying down like a skeleton but no skill is involved, you will just flow with the corners and bounce off the walls all the way to the end.

We havent been allowed to use the Capsule yet, but neither has anyone else really. Its perfectly safe except there is no reason to use it. I dunno, seems complicated.

The Stretcher Sled is exactly that, a stretcher, sled. Like any medic sled that you see the SES use or something. One person can go down on it. We are tempted to try 4..

Finally for tonight, the Bucket Train. We have these big red rectangular buckets that we use to make slush with snow and water. They are big enough to sit in and dangle your legs out the front. Both Ritchie and Steve (our bosses), have been telling us about Bucket Trains for ages. Let me explain it, 4 big red buckets, 4 people, helmets and elbow pads for all, and lots of layers and rubbish jackets. Everyone gets there buckets in line, legs go around the person infront and they hold on. Pretty easy from there, get a push down the track and hold on. Steve reckons he has seen them go 90km, I would say we were pretty close to it.

It was so insane, I was in the front bucket for the first run and it was crazy. So much fun. We were riding the walls like a bobsled would ride the walls. Surprisingly no-one got hurt, we made it to the end and did it again. We did it with 5 the second time, not quite as good, but still so much fun.

So to answer your question, yes it does take some skill to ride the sleds down the track (fast and in-control) and no, it takes no skill to ride buckets down the track.

I wont be able to make your Skype call tomorrow, I will be at work all day. Come online anytime during the 26th over here and I will probably be online, and celebrating Australia Day.

I just got intertupted by Bryn falling down the stairs. The whole hand rail broke and he went straight down.

Anyway, talk sometime.

Love Kyle”

Heres a video of the 2nd Bucket Train run..

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=ih9Rw9CHWy0

Man, it has been ages.  A lot has flown past already. 

Today is the 16th - Major events to happen since my last post - A lot.

I can now legally drink anywhere in the world, we are in a new year and admist a whole bunch of new, weird, exciting, events, people and places.

It was my 21st Birthday 3 days ago (Tuesday for you’s playing at home, Monday for home home).  I would of normally had to have worked the Friday and weekend leading upto Monday and Tuesday but the weather and bugs got the worst of me and I started getting sick on Friday.  I took Saturday and Sunday off hoping that I could rest up and be right for Monday and Tuesday, and lets admit it, working two 24 hour shifts wouldn’t of done me any good health wise.

I pretty much spent Saturday and Sunday in bed, coughing and snoting everywhere.  Every so often I would get a message from Bryno telling how the day at work was going.  This is where I missed out.  On Saturday the boys at the track got to have a go at Skeleton sliding.  Ever heard of it?  Didn’t think so, I’ll explain.  I used to think of a Boblsed track as one thing.  A Bobsled track.  Where big dudes push a giant tube thing down the ice and fang it around a bunch of crazy turns while trying to not fall out the back.  But more happens on the ice, a couple of dudes will fang it down the ice in a smaller 2-man bobsled.  People ranging from like 7 to 70 will lay down on a fibreglass mould of their own back with a couple of bits of steel and slide down feet first- Luge.  Two dudes who may be “fairies” will lay on top of each other in a mandwich and slide down on a slightly bigger sled - Doubles Luge.

For the last sport on a bobsled track let me just say something beforehand.  Any of the athletes that slide down the track will be wearing nothing but a thin lycra suit (similar to Cathy Freeman) and a small fullface helmet.  When coming off the sleds at 120ishkm/h, its a very thin layer between you and ice.

The last sport, Skeleton, crazy.  These guys have a sled similar to the luge athletes but instead they will slide down face first, laying their stomach on the sled.  Its absolutely crazy, they slide from Bobstart, the very top of the track where the Bobsleds slide from.  The Skeletors run down the start and jump on the sled and head down the track, all face first.  131km/h down the track in around 54 seconds.  The sound they make while the fly past you doing that speed is just nothing you’ve heard before.  The real professional Skeletors will have theyre body so close to the ice theres a crazy screeching sound that comes from their helmet just scraping the ice.

I recommend checking out Youtube for Skeleton crashes, Bobsled crashes, Luge crashes.  They are all worth seeing.  There is a few videos of the track at COP, various small videos, people crashing, helmet cams heading down and stuff.  Pretty cool.  Check them out and try to picture us standing on the side wall as the sleds fly past, all day.

I thought this was going somewhere, let me regather my thoughts, confused myself.

So its been a bit quiet lately, we had that big dump of snow which was really cool.  It was nice to see the whole city and suburbs covered with white snow again.  Bryn and I were driving in the car the other day and heard on the radio that you can get fined for not shoveling your sidewalk.  We just thought it was funny that everyone was out there while it was snowing shoveling there driveways for some silly reason.  Our driveway was pretty much the odd one out.  So we asked our boss if we could steal those dodgy plastic shovel from work, he said it was fine.  So we stole a metal one as well.

Few big things that I haven’t been bothered to write about till now.  I got my first go on one of the tourist bobsleds the other week.  It, was, crazy.  Its over so quick its hard to realise what just happened.

“First things first, let’s set the record straight this is not a ride – it’s a sport. Canada Olympic Park offers Jane and Joe public the chance to experience one of the most exhilarating experiences you can have in sub zero temperatures. The thrill lasts just 60 seconds but the story will last forever. Piloted by a professional driver, you’ll twist down 14 turns, pulling up to 5 Gs and hit a maximum speed of 120 km/h on a course that develops Olympic champions. All you need is your winter jacket, running shoes, gloves and guts. At the end of your run you’ll receive an Adrenaline Certificate of Achievement, a commemorative photo and t-shirt. You must be at least 16 years old and reservations are required.”

Unfortunately I didn’t get a t-shirt, photo or Adrenaline Certificate of Achievement, but I did get $160 worth of fun for free.  Thats one of the perks for working on the track.  When ever a tourist bobsled has a seat spare, we get to jump in. I was in the back seat, apparently the most physically straining seats.  And I would agree.  When your the size of me and not the size of a big black Jamacian dude/athlete the sled is quite spacious.  You do get battered from side to side while hanging on and feeling the G’s baby.  Was totally worth the wait (and effort of sweeping the track).

Another thing, haven’t seen Bruce for awhile.  Not sure where hes gone.

Bryno and I got to go snowboarding for the first time the other day.  We went last Friday afternoon, got there at about 4pm and snowboarded all night till about 8pm.  It was even better because our employee benefits with the park got us to snowboard all night for $11 on rental boards. It was fun, I was surprised at how quick I picked up again.  By the end of the night was shredding it like a person who wasn’t from Queensland where we get no snow at all.  Which I reckon isn’t bad.

It was Bryns first time snowboarding and to sum it up, painful for him, pretty funny for me.  I tried to teach him the basics, gliding, skating, turning, using your shoulders to turn andby the end, he had it.  He did get hammered quite a few times though, lucky he rented a helmet for his first shred.  He had a massive stack that even people on the chairlift cheered for.  Quite impressive.  Fortunately for me I didnt get too messed up in any stacks.

At work on the other hand on Tuesday, I slipped over on the ice and landed straight on my hand and then on my head.  This totally bent my thumb and wrist in ways it should’nt of.  A bit of swelling and another day of snowboarding later and its feeling alright.  We’ll see how it goes at work tomorrow, should be fine.

The day of snowboarding after the ice slipping over day was quite fun.  Bryn and I headed to work to ride the hill and caught up with a guy from our team on the track crew.  That was a fun day as well.  We were pretty much shredding, Bryno was really getting the hang of it and I was just starting to work on getting some small airs and 180’s on the flat.  Were getting there.

Anyway, write more some other time.  Peace.

So yesterday it was brown, at 9oclock this morning the ground was all dry and all the snow had melted.  Its almost 1pm now and its been constantly snowing heavy as since about 9am.  A snow warning has been issued and were meant to get 10- 15cm over the next evening.  Check out what its like..

This was just around 9oclock when it just started snowing:

And this was at about lunchtime:

The view from my window..

So the weather has been kind of random lately.  Calgary is one of the only places to get these things called Chinooks.  Its some kind of weather system that comes off the mountains and because Calgary is right next to the mountains its one of the only places affected.

A Chinook is like a small heatwave.  One day it will be below 0 degrees and then the next it will be 15 degrees, thats a Chinook.  They also have a massive cloud pattern which is pretty easy to spot.  Heres a couple of photos:

So a couple of days ago when went and checked out a Canadian hockey game, in the middle of the week.  Pretty crazy, imagine a game of football at like Suncorp stadium, jam packed in the middle of the week with thousands of Canadians not Brisbane Broncos fans.  And full strength beer.  Check out some photos:

Top of the Bobsled Track at Canada Olympic Park, Calgary.

So Bryn and I work at the Canada Olympic Park, on the Track Team.  We; make, scrap, spray, slush, shovel, sweep and slide ice.  Pulling 12 hour shifts driving up and down the bobsled track make sure its clear, making sure there is no snow on the track and generally keeping the track/ice nice.

Working on ice is lots of fun.  Definitely had a few stumbles and falls at the beginning but I’m getting a lot more comfortable on the ice.  I will bring my spikes home and take a photo of them on my boots (a photo is here to the trained eye).  There is four sharp pointy spikes strapped on the back of my boots which dig into the ice and give us grip.  This also lets us pull some phat slides on our toes down the bobsled track.  Bryn is really comfortable on the ice and can pull off massive slides on his toes, forwards and backwards.  I’m working on catching up to him.

Its a bit weird working in Canada but our whole team on the Bobsled track is Australian bare one.  There is tonnes of Aussies and just international roamers all around the country.  Sometimes Aussies out number the Canadians.

Some days the tourist bob is running.  This is when we get to have fun with the tourists, talking rubbish with tourists and Canadians.  A little bit like making up stories to gullible kids back in the bush in Australia.  The benefit of working on the track team is that when some tourists don’t show up, the track team gets to fill in the holes in the sled.  On my second day of work I was all ready to go down in a tourist sled, I had signed the waiver giving no responsibility to COP in case I died,about to whack a helmet on when the girl that was not showing up, showed up.  Bummer, but I will get a turn very soon at going 120km down a bobsled track in under 60 seconds.  Sherona is about to have her go down the bobsled, in a tourist sled, a little present from Bryn.

Will keep you updated with my sledding experience.

Bruce is a jack rabbit, he lives out the front of our house.  Im in the process of building him a box wrapped uplike a christmas present to live in under the tree during the winter.  Even though I think he enjoys the cold.

Our house.. is a very very nice house.. doo doo dooot doot doo do do doo..

Our house is hard to find, it looks like every single other house in the street.  Especially when its all white.