| Snowskate quiver...

This winter has already broken all the records in terms of cold, snowfall and ice storms, thank you El Niño! We have been snowskating quite a lot before Xmas and it felt great, now it is more difficult to find a good time because of the intense cold but hey, it's beautiful!

Now I recently went to Lake Champlain to test my latest gifts & gears :)

Alan Gerlach is probably the most accomplished snowskater on the planet right now and he rips on both bi-decks and single snowskates. He is also a nice guy and I wanted to support his new adventure with Hotdish, so I ordered his signature model :)

After playing with it around my van I realized how good those guys are because it so darn difficult to ollie a flat board!!! it'll take me a while before performing any cool tricks...

I fucked up my wrist a few years back skateboarding/snowskating and since then I always experience pain when falling on them so protection is now mandatory, especially for my right wrist which is my work insurance as well. The Burton Impact seems to offer what I wanted, practicality and a low-profile to wear gloves on top of them... and obviously a minimum impact protection, the quality is really good, they feel very solid and the size M fits perfectly (although it needs to be worn a little to be more comfortable). Despite being thin they won't go under all type of gloves but they work well with mitts!

After swapping my Harfang Claw trucks with the new Rocker Trucks double-ramp on my main setup (December/Ralston) I have noticed a huge improvement in the flex of my Ralston 41" Wide ski, it probably adds about 15% more flex-play and allows for better riding, pressing and ollieing. It take some time to get used to it but it feels so much better!

Now I can not wait to ride the powderskate in good deep snow conditions at Sutton or Jay Peak, knowing Mark's passion for powder-riding this should be awesome!

| Snow cat...

Que se passerait-il si on laisse Banh Mi aller dehors? nous avons donc décidé de tenter l'expérience. Elle est encore un peu effrayée mais tout de meme tres curieuse, Dim Sum pour sa part déteste ça car il gèle instantanément ahaha la face qu'il faisait :)

Banh Mi en pleine découverte...

| Marde blanche...

Et c'est reparti... ca fait 2 jours qu'il neige non-stop et ce n'est pas fini. Ca nous a pris une heure pour deneiger le camion hier soir, juste pour changer de trottoir! je ne suis pas du tout dans le trip hiver encore et c'est plutot rare a cette periode de l'annee ou mon esprit est souvent omnibule par le snowskate. J'ai hate d'aller chercher mon fat-bike ce WE et de partir au soleil pour Noel.

Les chats s'amusent bien et grandissent super vite, Banh Mi connait ses 1eres chaleurs et de fait se frotte partout, on attend que ca passe et apres hop c'est l'operation! Quant a sa Majeste Dim Sum le petit Prince, il commence a avoir (enfin) un peu plus de poils sur le dos et parle tout le temps. Bon, au moins il vient se blottir contre nous a la moindre occasion et reste tres calin, c'est cute!

le Prince Relou!

| Winter and "fat bikes"...

So now i have to accept it, winter is here and it's getting really cold! fortunately we've changed the tires of the van the week before the 1st snowfall and i didn't miss the opening at St-Bruno despite being completely sick (which explains the donuts for moral support and my zombie face).

Yesterday I had the chance to try Sylvain's fat bikes, this is something i was eager to test for a while and it was the perfect day in Beauharnois to do so. We took a ride on the banks of the river where there is enough snow to give me a good impression of the "fat" experience. Honestly the 1st time i saw one of this bike, it didn't seem to be legit, i thought it would be another expensive gadget for a very niche activity. Two years later, the trend is on fire, big companies are starting to join the bandwagon and they are not one-season bikes anymore, you can actually use them as your primary vehicle, especially in cold countries like Canada.

I had to try because it could potentially replace our 2 folders which sleep all winter long in our living room, it'd be the perfect bike to bring on camping trips because it works on any terrains; sand, mud, snow, rocks and of course flat clean urban trails. Sylvain took his Surly Moonlander and i rode his GF's KHS 1000 (entry-level bike), the temperature was averaging -8°C, sunny and windy.

Just looking at the size of the tires makes you laugh, you would expect them to be very heavy but in fact the bikes are surprisingly light, they handle well, of course they are not as nimble as a regular mountain bike but it is as close as you can be considering the volume of the wheels.

Simply put, it's a BLAST!!! it's fun and makes the simplest trail look like an adventure, the tires can swallow every chunk of obstacles you throw at them, just look at the field of rocks below and it gives you a good idea... i need one.

the ultimate adventure bikes have fun anywhere!!!

thanks for the ride!

| Peuf peuf peuf...

I haven't seen such a rad start of the winter since 2004, snow keeps piling up and again we have to dig it all up! Not even Xmas and we went snowskating many times under some of the best conditions in a long while. It's quite a funny sight to look at all the cars buried in the street until you try to get into yours, hoOo well this is life in Quebec :)

It took about an hour to clean this mess...

| White dump...

Today i was awake early because of the kids upstairs running like crazy, one of the many problems of the old wooden houses here in Montreal. Anyway outside was a pleasant surprise, about 30 cm of fresh powder and it is still snowing. However it's always fun the first few dumps of the season, but it will soon become annoying especially when you have to dig your car out for the next morning -___-