PISTE

CALLED INTO ACTION TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE READY FITNESS

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

The allure of a second Grind was unmistakeable.

My innate competitiveness drove me to return as soon as possible to better my time. I was convinced about the power of psychological fitness to slow the body down or speed the body up.

In this case, I blamed my poor time on the fear of the Grind, and the respect my body had for the physical challenge that awaited.

And without a doubt, the first Grind in 8 years was psychologically difficult to imagine in the days leading up to the major fitness check-in.

Would I make it all the way? Would the fourth quarter be too painful? Would I have a respectable time? Would I be able to get out of bed in the morning?

So, I returned six days later, on Saturday, and shaved off 10 minutes from the time I achieved on my first Grind.

My knees were a bit stronger. And I had a bit better cardiovascular fitness. I got two other workouts in before my second Grind. And I figure the strengthening in my legs will also help with drop in basketball.

I did make small changes that may have enabled me to have a faster time.

I waited for Bus 246 at Stanley Park, instead of jumping on the 240. And then I transferred to Bus 236 at Capilano Road and Paisley.

But seriously, first of all, I spent a few minutes gently stretching in the marshalling area before starting the Grind. I wanted to start the blood flowing in my legs and avoid the tightening of my lower back over the first quarter. I am fairly active, and so, my legs, and particularly my hamstrings, are always tighter than they should be. And so, I have to be more careful in the transition from fitness event to event.

I also took shorter steps whenever I could along the 2.5 kilometer mountain ascent, especially at the beginning, which I remember I had also adjusted to after a few Grinds in 2017.

 I only took one full water bottle, instead of two, to reduce the weight of my backpack, especially when I did not even finish the first bottle last time, although I did need about 500 ml of water. And I left a change of clothes behind at home, since the weather was much better.

I also cut my break at the halfway mark to two minutes, instead of five. And I reduced my other breaks to under one minute. But I took two or more extra micro breaks whenever I felt my heart rate rising too quickly, instead of waiting, and then having to take a longer break before moving on.

Shortening the breaks was a trade off with starting slower.

For the most part, I tried to maintain a consistent pace over the entire Grind, except when having to pass people obviously ascending at a slower pace. So, I did not mind the busyness expected on the weekends. For the most part, I found my place in line and followed the person in front of me.

When my knees did not hurt so much at the beginning, I developed a better attitude about what I could accomplish on my second Grind. And I checked my time at the quarter marks, whereas last time I did not check the time until the halfway mark – because I was going to be happy just to finish.

And after having relaxed now at home for a few hours, I feel a lot better about the upcoming Grind season. And I am looking forward to lowering my time even further on Grind #3.

I am going to try to increase my fitness level in between Grinds, partly by watching my diet, and partly by raising my cardiovascular fitness road cycling, while letting the Grind do the work in strengthening my legs over the Spring.

Unless I break both my legs with repetitive stress fractures, the activities should be mutually compatible with my overall fitness level and enjoyment of each activity increasing dramatically over a short period of time.

TO THE POINT FITNESS CHECK-IN AFTER EIGHT YEARS GROUSE GRIND FREE

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

When you do the Grouse Grind, for the first time in the grind season, you find out how much work you have to do to get in reasonable shape for the summer.

That extra weight you’ve been carrying around since Christmas dinner, becomes a bit more noticeable when you have to haul it up the side of the mountain with you – wherever that extra one pound or ten pounds might be located.

I weighed in at 210 lbs last week, And I always tell myself that muscle weighs more than fat. But to be honest I need to lose 10 pounds, predominately situated all around my beer barrel, where I also put accumulated carnage from my sweet tooth. A few years ago I was on the scales at an aquatic center at 200, without hardly anything extra to pinch. And that is my goal this summer, to lose ten and flatten out at sub-200.

So, I purchased a season pass at Grouse Mountain for the gondola, because you are not allowed to go down the grind, and with all honestly you likely would not have the legs for a downhill Grind .02. My season pass, which I had purchased on-line, transferred easily into the digital wallet on my smart phone.

The Grind opens at 7 am, and the first gondola downloads at 7:30 am. Good Luck, Everyone!

On Sunday, the rainy day skies cleared up enough for the grind event, eventhough the wind that blew the gray clouds away for a bit, also brought in a glacier cold wind with any patches of blue sky that lingered.

I, a winter furnace on the inside, and a springtime waterfall on the outside, wore shorts and an athletic shirt for my first Grind in almost 8 years. But I brought athletic pants and a running jacket for those fragile ‘just in case’ moments, and for on the way home, using the public transit system to and from Downtown Vancouver.

I however regretted packing anything in as the pack weighed me down a bit after a while, especially scrambling up the trail when the grind demanded me to tap into my dormant bouldering skills.

Visitors to Grouse Mountain can take public transit from the Downtown, with the first transit junction being at Stanley Park, where West Georgia meets Denman Street. Grinders can also take the SeaBus from Waterfront Station to the Lonsdale Quay transit exchange, and then a bus to the mountain parking lot and the start of the Grind.

I took the 240 from Stanley Park, and then crossed the street and switched over to the 236 at Marine Drive and Hamilton.

The grind is part of the Grouse Mountain Regional Park, although a corporation owns the chalet and ski resort.

You never really know ‘where you are at’ on the grind until the ¼ mark of the 2.5 kilometer vertical climb that starts in the parking lot and leads you upward over 800 metres or 2,624 vertical feet.

This step by step hike, even for the fittest, is extremely challenging, in my estimate a ‘10’ on a ten point scale of strength, endurance and pain management abilities. Grouse states that the average time is 2 to 2.5 hours to complete.

I will cough up my time, maybe later in the season. I can tell you though I recovered very quickly after intaking a couple of beers to replenish my body’s cooling system.

Jordan Guenette currently has the fastest time for 2025 at 27 minutes 26 seconds. For the women in 2025, Jennifer Labrie is leading with a time of 38:09.

The last time I signed up for the grind as a recuring activity all summer long during 2017, my time fluctuated between 45 minutes in the cool spring temperatures and 55 minutes during the hotter summer days.

If you have not been to the grind lately, the entrance has been altered, and a lot of the trail has been remodelled with – what appears to me – a lot more vertical direct step than before.

The start of the BCMC Trail follows the grind for a bit longer than the previous trail designs. And the Baden Powell Trail has the same start but goes right, right away. So, Grinders have to be careful to stay left, otherwise they will miss the mountain stairs and take the easier out to the top. The mistake would be fatal to any vitriolic expressions of accomplishment afterwards, even statements of satisfaction made to any strangers you might meet in the mountain top cafeteria and restaurant.

The rest area at the halfway mark is still there, but there are not many other stops and rest zones, and a few of the gentler switchbacks for recovery have washed away in the storms over the previous years, at least as per my memory from 2017.

The new grind seems much more challenging.

The uphill climb is far from being a casual hike, maybe more comparable to walking up the stairs in your home from the first floor to the second floor, except for 2.5 kms at a 56% grade, or more appropriately, the stairwell in a Highrise during an emergency fire drill.

The grind designers have divided the trail into 40 sections that are identified with square markers, on the trees, facing you as you climb, i.e. GG 10/40, ‘GG’ indicating you are on the Grouse Grind.

What becomes noticeable right away is that GG 10/40 is not the ¼ mark. I did not begin sweating until I noticed the early deception.

You can still turn around at this point, as almost on every grind one or two people or more, change their minds and cut their losses early. In my mind, after the ¼ mark and approaching halfway, the trail may be just as punishing going downhill as going up hill to finish at that point, and turning around does not become an option.

Other incentives to continue to the very top exist, such as the immediate sense of accomplishment when the chalet appears at the end of the trail, the bragging rights for the next 12 months, and the better tasting beer.

I currently have strength deficiency in my knees, which I noticed right away as many of the steps require a full lunge forward and all the pressure on the precise location of my issues. And then my lower back tightened. And I honestly thought I may be done by GG 9/40.

But I remembered the rest area at the ½ way mark. And I had brought two water bottles and a banana just for that restful moment of intermittent recovery. See photo where I look up toward the second half of the Grind.

My heart rate came back down to normal after about 5 minutes of seated rest. And so, I soldiered on.

I did check the time. And I was so dearly disappointed. But I also became twice as determined to finish, having been given lots of room for improvement over the course of the summer.

I took another break at the ¾ mark, but only for about one minute, and without any water. On previous grinds, dehydration played a factor at this point, with some light-headedness, but I had never stopped for five minutes before to drink about 500 ml of water and eat a banana.

I then took two more one minute breaks between ¾ and the finish line. I was a bit shocked at how poor my time was. But I enjoyed the trip down on the new Blue Grouse Gondola, which is much quicker and more comfortable than the 100 people Skyride Gondola, downloading at 5.5 minutes as opposed to a 15 minute download.

The 8 person cabins continuously arrive with the frequency of a ski mountain gondola, which is what Grouse Mountain is during the winter months.

Anyway, be careful, and be prepared with good trail shoes and appropriate clothing – and water and light snacks.

See you this summer on the Grouse Grind.

LATE SNOWFALL LURES ENTHUSIATES FOR LAST WEEKS OF SNOWBOARDING SEASON

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

The prospect of new snow, snow and more snow lured me to Whistler Blackcomb, and also the prospect of my 10 day pass expiring with a few unused days.

Monday being St Patrick’s Day was extra special as an unofficial public holiday for my fourth day this season. I am not sure what happened to January and February, but riding in March has peaked my interest, especially with the mountains receiving in March the snow that February usually gets.

I prepared myself for these next weeks of riding by tuning up my snowboard.

First, I cleaned the surface with a citrus based cleaner. I then scraped all excess wax off, that I might have missed last time. I checked the edges for burs and a bit of rust that has developed from storage. The home made weld over a core shot was holding. I topped off the weld with fresh p-tex, and then allowed the weld to cool before waxing the entire board.

I melted the wax against the iron, applying the new wax in sections. I spent more time ironing the wax on the entire board than the last time, including over the weld, after shaving off the extra p-tex that had cooled over the weld. I waited for the fresh layer of wax to cool, before scraping off the wax and buffing the surface.

I had expected an overcast day, on Monday, but the cloudy day sky broke over Whistler, and the hard packed groomed runs and a topcoat of snow that made for an excellent carving day.

As well, the cold stabilized the snow conditions for most of the day, even when a blizzard blew in over 7^th Heaven and the upper sections of Blackcomb.

At one point, Ross’ Gold looked well groomed under the flatlight of the quickly moving snow clouds, but I soon found out that the trail had been skied up a bit already.

In the morning though, Upper Ptarmigan, normally closed off for use by the ski teams, was open with some remaining powder under a clear sky. The powder was not as nice as last year when I rode the competitive course, but enjoyable enough nonetheless for two runs into Lower Ptarmigan.

I had afterall been expecting to just be warming up for the Saddle in this early morning, but when I found the gates gone from Ptarmigan, I could not resist.

From Ptarmigan, I swung over to the Garbanzo Express and then did that all over again before heading to the Big Red Express from the Upper Dave Murray.

The Saddle had also been groomed. And apart from an ice patch that I normally carve around anyway, the Saddle was the usually exhilarating run. The adrenaline began building already heading to the Big Red Express and riding down to the Peak Express.

Hanging on to the four person chair of Peak Express only created more adrenaline, as did the gusts of wind that push and pull along the way over Mathews’ Traverse to the top of the Saddle. Whistler has taken out a bit of that flat section and incline along Mathews’ Traverse, which had made it necessary to unstrap from the snowboard bindings and walk a bit before descending to the start of the Saddle.

Unfortunately, I still managed to catch an edge on the icy track as the Traverse was an unpredictable mix of topcoat and ice with a strong wind blowing in at sections.  

I was able to, as I like to after going through all the effort of warming up, and getting the adrenaline levels up, make three passes over the Saddle. The strength training on my legs over the winter really made a difference to the point that I could have gone a few more times over the Saddle, whereas in previous years, I had been pretty done after three rides.

But on Monday, I did not want to gamble with my luck on St Patrick’s Day.

The Saddle is a shared trail with all levels of skiers getting lured there only to sometimes find the descent too challenging but also too awkward to turn around.

As I usually do, I headed to Fish Eye and Upper Franz’s after my last ride of the Saddle. I tipped over once when I unexpectedly caught an edge in a soft snowbank, instead of the expected hard packed powder on the rest of Fish Eye.

I decided to head to Creekside down Lower Franz’s, when I found the run groomed. And I was happy to find the challenging trail groomed, as much as the trail can be, but definitely ridable all the way down to the gondola.

From Creekside mid-station, I headed over to the Whistler Gondola, as I wanted to get lunch in, before heading to 7^th Heaven. The sun seemed to have broken over 7^th Heaven, but by the time I got there, a blizzard had swept in over the high alpine and upper Blackcomb.

So, I rode out of 7^th Heaven as quickly as possible. And then I rode the Lower Sections, enduring the bumps under the flatlight of a partially skied out Ross’ Gold just to get to the trails where the sun still appeared.

By now, though, I only had a couple of hours left of the day before catching the bus home to Vancouver. And so, I was happy to find Honeycomb in good condition, with good visibility. And I decided to just ride out the rest of the day there, under mixed cloud, sun and flurries.

I was a bit sore this morning getting up out of bed, which means I had a good day snowboarding.

PRESEASON WORK MADE RIDING GREAT ON DAY ONE AT WHISTLER BLACKCOMB

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

What a journey since September to get to my first snowboarding day of the season.

I did everything I wanted to do in terms of preseason training. I went into the gym to strengthen my muscle groups, especially my legs after having this sudden realization after road cycling season that my legs were no longer strong enough.

I had moved my residence and no longer bicycle commuted up and down a hill every day all year long. The first year did not really impact my leg strength, but when I started to get injured, I realized I needed additional strength training.

I joined a gym and got on various leg machines. And when I thought I had them where I wanted them, at a kind of Max Q, I tried also to increase my level of cardiovascular fitness, after taking a long rest from road cycling, by playing drop in basketball once or twice a week. I got to three drop-ins a week last week, and felt good enough to go snowboarding on the first sunny day.

I was so sore after my first basketball session, I felt like I had been run over by a military-style civilian vehicle.

Friday was to be a Blue Bird Day at Whistler Blackcomb, and I just happened not to have any business appointments either. And it’s a long weekend in the United States, with Martin Luther King Jr Day on Monday, January 20, which is also, by coincidence of time, US President Elect Donald Trump’s Inauguration.

I get to Whistler from Downtown Vancouver by commercial bus, which charges this year a bit more, but probably the same as the cost of gas if I had taken the passenger vehicle, which I no longer own.

The first day of the season always has me tossing and turning the night before, this uncontrolled fear that I just will not have the same skills and ability this year as in the previous year, at season end.

But the first run of the day was rock and roll. And I immediately noticed an added ease in carving with the increased leg strength. I had also been working on increasing my flexibility by doing low knee squats during warm up. Basketball also helped with flexibility as I practice rebounding, with all my missed shots.

I was also able to ride the long runs without stopping, which I have never been able to do on the first day of the season. I usually need at least two or three days, maybe four to 10 days, into the season to complete the Dave Murray Downhill without stopping.

I was able to do the Dave Murray Downhill all the way to Creekside without stopping, not once but twice.

I then stopped for lunch at the Roundhouse Lodge, with poutine and shredded pork chilli, and a large glass of mountain fresh British Columbia tap water that is available in the Lodges on Whistler Blackcomb. 

I then took the Peak to Peak Gondola to begin the late afternoon on Black comb. I was pressed for time with the lifts closing at 3 pm.

I had scheduled a later bus back to Vancouver at 5:30 pm, instead of 4 pm, so I could ride out the day all the way to the lifts closing, and then have a pint or two of lager with dinner in the Village, before heading back to Vancouver and arriving in the Downtown at 7:30 pm.

Just a note, for all those people waiting in line for a table in the main Whistler Village square area, the restaurants behind the first set of restaurants and hotels and pubs have lots of tables available.

I had a great day with some tweaks in my knees after an active preseason training. It is not ideal to start the season with any aches and pains, so I had a hot bath with some bath salts the night before, which really helped. It wasn’t until my right calf muscle turned back into a pumpkin, after a couple of hours of riding, that I started to have problems again with mobility in my right knee and right leg.

I had a great first day with 26,227 of vertical feet recorded over 13 lifts on the Epic App. I double checked the lifts, and I had a few more lifts at the end of the day that went unrecorded, on the Excelerator Express as I moved over to my favorite run, the Honeycomb, from the top to the bottom of the Excelerator Express.

No hard feelings though, I will just add a few thousand vertical feet as the app has my last ride at 2:15 pm, but I watched the clock because of the closing time, and reached the top of my last ride around 2:47 pm.

So, the only question remains is, do I have tendonitis or tendinosis, and will I make it through the 10 days on my ten day pass, and recover before road cycling season.

A little too much weights on my legs too soon, and a bit too ambitious basketball, too early, like I was 16 years old all over again, but with an entirely different body and physical recovery cycle. 

I remember playing a pick-up game with friends in the middle of the summer at the age of 16, after being inactive for several months, when we were transitioning into senior high school, I was so sore the next day. This time, recovery may take a few weeks, and perhaps even months.