Pitt River British Columbia

My Dad and I just got back from spending four days fishing the Pitt River in British Columbia just east of Vancouver. This backcountry glacier fed river is only accessible by boat and has some amazing trout fishing. The Pitt also holds tons of salmon but during September the sockeye salmon have already run and are spawning or dying in the river (i.e. not fishable) and the coho or silver salmon run has not started yet. Other than hooking into a decaying sockeye or two, are fishing consisted of rainbow, bull, and cutthroat trout. The highlight was the bull trout or "dolly vardens" which are a seagoing trout that follow the salmon in from the ocean to feed off their eggs. We caught a couple Bulls in the 7 pound range and hooked a monster 9 pounder that narrowly escaped.

The fishing lodge itself was just upstream from where the river meets Pitt Lake. We got to spend much quality time with the owners Danny and Lee who were amazing cooks and had lots of cool stories from their years running the lodge. Apparently the Pitt is a favorite fishing destination for LA writer/producer David Kelly and his wife Michelle Pfeffier. We were lucky and had the lodge to our self for 4 days since we were between salmon seasons. The last night we went out sturgeon fishing on Pitt Lake with deep sea rods. Sturgeon, known for being the fish whose eggs are caviar, are protected in BC but can be fished for and tagged for research. We hooked into a 6 1/2 footer that Danny said was at least 5o years old. Check out the pictures below this guy was pretty gnarly.


The Pitt River with the glacier that feeds it just visible in the background


My Dad and I with a 7 pound Bull Trout I caught


Dad, me, our guide Alexei, and a lot of green coats


One of the five black bears we saw one day while rafting down the Pitt


The first Sturgeon we hooked into was 3 1/2 feet- which I thought was huge


Dad redefined huge when he hooked this massive 6 1/2 foot sturgeon

Vancouver Half-Ironman Triathlon

Well after a final 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile ride, and a 13 mile run the quest for the half ironman is finally finished. I finished the Subaru Vancouver Half-Iron in 5 hours 7 minutes which placed me 29th out the 102 competitors. It was about 55 degrees throughout the race which was a bit cold (and rainy) for the bike portion but probably helped on the run. This race was certainly more painful than the previous Olympic distance races, and gives me some pause about training for the full length Ironman anytime in the near future. For now, I think this is a nice capstone for the end of this seasons triathlon training. I completed four races, with the last three coming within a single month, and so now I think the focus will return to surf and travel.

Dad and I flew into Vancouver on Sep. 14th, two days before the race, so we did get a little time to see the city sites before the race. Downtown Vancouver is on a peninsula on the Pacific coast of British Columbia but the greater city area sprawls to the adjacent mainland to both the north and south. It was fairly overcast for most of the time we were there. Looking out through the mist over the ocean and seeing the thick coniferous forest wilderness that surrounded it seemed the classic picture of the Pacific Northwest. Outside the race, the weekend went really quickly; mainly filled with logistics and a few meals. Thanks to my Dad who was a great help in getting everything done and a great companion for the pre-race dining and sports watching we filled our time with.We did go on one nice walk through Stanley Park which occupies the northen portion of the Vancouver Peninsula.

Anyway, have a few pictures from Vancouver and the race below.

View from the deck of our Vancouver hotel room



About 7:15 AM at Jericho beach. 15 minutes before race time with air temperature of about 58 degrees and water temps of about 60

Glad to be out of that water

Just after coming across the line

Pretty excited but definitely about to pass out. Notice the sleeveless triathlon suit; something I have been thinking Ruiz might like to incorporate into his weekend casual wear.

Running, biking, beaching . . etc.

Welcome to the continuing chronicles of my totally unemployed life. Laura and I remain out in the Los Angeles South Bay and we will be here through early October. Next stop from there will be a bit of camping, a drive back to Houston, and then catching our flight down to Costa Rica.

So what have we been doing lately ? Laura is doing art class, pursuing a couple of down-the road job opportunities, walking a lot on the beach, and doing some open water training swims.

I just finished the LA triathlon this past weekend. I didn't wear a wetsuit which slowed me down and I came out of the water (the first leg) after the swim in a disappointing 40th place out of 112 in my age group. I managed to make some time up though during the next two legs (I set personal bests in my 40k bike and 10k run) and finished 21st. The full results from the event are posted at http://www.latriathlon.com/Results/07results/olympicagegroup.html

This weekend I am flying up to Vancouver to compete in the Half-Ironman triathlon (1.2m swim/56m bike/13.1m run) on Sunday. This will be my third triathlon in four weeks and is kind of the finish line for the recent stint of hard training. After the race my dad and I are going to spend five days fly-fishing in the British Columbia wilderness about 2 hours north of Vancouver.

To summarize, loving life down here. It is nice to be in LA but able to avoid traffic by walking everywhere. The Southbay has a great community feel, an active atmosphere, and we are even starting to find some Hermosa nightlife that does not have the night-at-the-roxberry feel. Long way of saying I am spending more time at dive bars and poolhalls then at techno/tight shirt clubs. Not to say it doesn't occasionally happen despite my dancing impairment. A few pics from the race and from out in Hermosa with the sister and Craig are below.

Swim-to-Bike transition at Venice Beach

Taking off on the bike course which ran from Venice Beach to the Staple Center

Had a good run- 11th out of 112- clocking right at 7 min miles

It always feels great to finish ;)

Everyone acting their coolest at the bar

Debated the tiger claw but ending up going with the reverse hook-em

25th Birthday and the Beach

Laura preparing my gourment cake for the August 30th celebration



Focusing on making that wish



Paddeling into a small wave





Popping up for the ride




Surfing Hermosa's little beach break




Cue me up for the next mountain dew commercial



Laura and I on the beach



Laura and Mike discussing the finer points of boogy boarding