Maui April 2011

Considering I currently suffering from fulltime employment, the dream run of epic travels continued this April, Maui’s north shore was next on the hit list.

Tuesday 19^th April my alarm went off at 5.30am, I had no problem jumping out of bed, time for Hawaii. First though, I jumped on the bike for a couple hours, the best thing before a long haul flight. In no time at all we met the crew at Melbourne Airport – Joel Ryan, Brendan Boxall, Mark Taylor, Spotty, Ted, Joel’s dad Bernie and My dad Tom. Piled up our bags and jumped on the plane. Chasing the moon the day was over before we knew it and new thing we knew we were in Maui! Flying in we noticed that there was a little bit of swell around, but not too much wind. Tired and hungry we picked up our rental vans with only minimal dramas. I felt that it was my responsibility to show the USA virgins some typical American diner style food – First stop IHOP (International House of Pancakes).

Most had never been to such a place - where in Melbourne can you get: an omelet that feeds 3 people + 3 Pancakes + bottomless cup of coffee, all for under $10? No where.

Paia Town HI

By the time we finished lunch it was about 12.30pm, and in typical Maui style the trade winds had kicked in. All of a sudden these tired and weriery travelers where full of energy and itching to get in the water.

Hookipa beach

We found our accommodation - Sprecks beach resort. The location could not have been better, views of Sprecks beach, and perfect rigging lawns right in front our accommodations, almost good enough for practicing some putting.

Considering there was a bit of swell and the wind seemed to be up I was very excited to get to Hookipa beach – World famous wave sailing location, (The Mecca of wave sailing)

Hookipa

We were greeted with conditions better than expected, steady cross shore wind and head high waves. We also met up with fellow Aussies, Al McCleod from Melbourne and Ben Newson from Perth.

They had been in town for almost 2 weeks already, experiencing Maui at is best and its worst. Today was the first day in almost a week they had been on the water let alone even seen any waves.

Later that night the final member of our crew, Phil Chalko flew in from Germany.

After getting that all important first sail under our belts it was time for some ‘Good’ local food, so we celebrated our arrival the Paia’s Fish Market restaurant.

The next few days we experienced similar conditions – Small shoulder high waves, and light winds around 15 – 20 knots. Just enough for us to settle back into Starboard tack wavesailing, it had been almost a year since we had had conditions anything like this.

By about day 4 the trade winds really started kicking in, with a couple days getting up to about 30knots. The swell however was almost non existent, but conditions where forecasted to improve.. A little...

There was no shortage of a party either, we met up with local mates from past trips, to Maui and from other windsurfing locations around the world. One particular wild night we found our self’s at Paia’s local bakery / café / night club. Talk about a mix of people – Anyone from Jason Polakow to Owen Wilson was there all having pretty wild time. The night ending with activates ranging from skinny dipping at Paia beach to drunken grand theft auto, just to name a couple.

Beach Party

The following morning it wasn’t windy, and that wasn’t a bad thing, as everyone was feeling a bit delicate and sore from the nights adventures. None more hung over and confused than Ben. (That’s a whole other story though.)

The days ahead were a bit of a surprise, the trusty website windguru was not looking too good. A small swell was suppose to make its way over to Maui from the north and the wind look very light for the next few days. In reality almost the opposite happened. A couple days later the trade winds really started to fire, ripping up a good wind swell combined with a bit of ground swell, making for some epic conditions at Hookipa.

You know it’s a good day when your sharing waves with pros such as Kevin Prichard, Jason Polako, Levi Siver, Keith Taboul, just to name a few, Basically 90% of the worlds top windsurfers were all in the water at one time.

Apart from the conditions being epic the show that the pros were putting on was pretty amazing!

We though we would make the most of the conditions and organized a local mate of ours Frankie from Maui Water shoot to get in the water and take some actions shots of the crew in action – Thanks Frankie I think these shots turned out really well! - http://www.mauiwatershoot.com/

After 4 days of big winds, solid waves and countless hours of time on the water we were all stuffed. I could feel every muscle in my body was swollen and acking. It was a good feeling because I knew I had made the most out of the conditions.

Gradually the trade winds lessened and the swell started to drop, we continued to sail Hookipa milking the last hours out of our trip, know that in a few days I would be back in my office sitting behind a computer.

We did it again, it feels like I squeezed a months worth of sailing and activities into two weeks. Another awesome Maui experience! I cant wait to be back on the island…

Triman Torquay April 2011

About 8 months ago I decided that if I was going to be living in Melbourne full time, I would need another hobby / sport to keep me motivated and active. So I bought road bike. In the few months that followed this somehow turned into triathlons. Next thing I knew I entered my self into the Gatorade Series in Melbourne and my carrier as a triathlete had started.

A steep leaning curve followed as I noticed my transition technique improve as well as my fitness. During this past summer I competed in 6 triathlons. As I progressed and my fitness improved the idea of a half ironman was brought to the table by good friend and training partner Jaselyn O’Sullavin. At first I though it was a joke, but I slowly got my head around the idea and singed up.

April 3^rd 2011 – Tri Man Torquay 1.9km Swim, 90km Cycle and 21.5km Run.

No mean feat, this was going to be on the most grueling experiences of my life. I do like a challenge!

The alarm went off at 4.30am, I lay in bed trying to force in the food. One of the biggest learning expenses of this race was understanding nutrition, and how to fuel your body while racing. This actual started 2 days before the race with come serious carb loading. By the time I got to race morning I was so sick of eating. I jumped on the scales the days before race days and weighed in at 86.5kgs, the heaviest I had ever been.

By the time Jase and I got to the transition area we could just start to see some light in the east. Start time was 7.30am.

A bit dazed and confused, this race was a bit defferent to the other Tri’s I had entered. Way more organization was needed, by the athletes and by the organizers them selfs.

In my transision area I had a changes of clothes, Bike about 3 liters of water and electrolight drink, 3 peanut butter and honey sandwiches, 7 endura energy gels a powerbar. All these thing need to be either worn or eaten during the course of the race.

Finally the race started, I felt good in the swim. I paced my self as best as I could. I wasn’t in the leading pack, I think I was somewhere leading the packin the middle of the first wave of athletes.

After about 25 mins I was out of the water, feeling pretty fresh. Over to transission it was all happening. Riding nicks on, food packed water ready, on the bike!

Condtions for the race were actually pretty good. Much better than forecasted anyway. Light winds and cool tempretures. As the ride grew on the winds picked up.

My aim was to average 30kms p/h over the 90km course. I achieved this with an overall average of around 31km p/h average.

I tried to keep my mind busy by concentrating on my nutrsision plan so that I proformace didn’t suffer. For the ride I ate ¼ of a peanut butter and honey sandwitch every 20mins, finishing with a powerbar towards the end of the bike leg to give me a boost for the run.

I finally got off the bike in just under 3 hours. Into transission, ready for the run. I was a little nervous about this part for the race, as I had never run this distance before. In a normal situation I sure I would have no problem, but after 3.5hours of swimming and rideing it could be a different story.

My goal was to keen an average of 5mins per km. I soon relised that this was not going to happen. So I tried to find a comfortable pace and stick to it. I found that I was comfortable running about 5.15min kms. I also continued my nutrision plan by eating every 20mins, except I was now eating the energy gels.

By the end of the race these were getting harder and harder to get down.

At one point in the race atvabout the 9km mark my mind started to drift and I found that I was really hurting, I couldn’t focus on my pace and things were getting very hard. I started to have doubts on weather I would finish. Then all of a sudden it his me, I haddent eaten anything in like 27mins. I quickly gobbled down a gel, and with in less then a min I could feel its effects. In a couple mins I felt on top of the world, powering ahead.

Finaly the finish line was in sight, it was an amazing feeling crossing that line. 5 hours about 13mins. It was a big race. Pretty happy that I was able to finish, let alone in a time that I was also happy with.

It was a great experance, during the race I though many times, Why am I doing this? I would never do this again. Now looking back I could see my self doing another, maybe not right now, but it could be done.

Jackson Hole February 2011

What can I say about this trip – Minimal time maximum snow!

We could not have timed this any better. Full time employment this year has resulted in less skiing and windsurfing more working and having to spend way more money on getting those few days, just to keep my sanity.

Good mate and top ski buddy Nick Hooper and I spent 2 weeks in Jackson this past February. We had over 50inchs of new snow over the two weeks. Perfect conditions, sunny days snowy nights and a stable snowpack. The world famous back country was in as good a condition as I had ever seen it!

A 2 week ski trip should not be as good as this – We got lucky

A Tiny Day in the Jackson Hole Backcountry from Tristan Greszko on Vimeo.

NZ August 2010

After a quick over nights stay in Auckland, I got up early to make my 7am flight to Queenstown. At check-in I was confronted with the usual, “Sorry sir your bags are too heavy, you will have to re-pack…” Which I replied with my usual reply, something along the lines of, “Vie already paid for excess baggage, I’m not paying for it again.”

To my surprise when I arrived in Queenstown my bags where sitting there waiting for me. Too easy! Next on the morning agenda was to pick up my rental car, which was referred to in the brochure as a Juice Box. Quite an apt description of what the car looked like and how it preformed Not a bad deal, $25 a day to rent a car plus a free ski pass to Treble Cone. Thankyou Jucy Rentals.

The sun was shining I was in Queenstown and it wasn’t even 10am, what to do… Maybe ski? Up to the Remarkables I went, hurtling up the dirt road in the Juice box. Nearing the top of the hill things got a little slippery, and the Juice box struggled a bit with traction. Once at the top I geared up, boots on, time to hit the slopes. It was a pretty nice day, slushy snow, no crowds and clear skies. It was definitely not an epic pow day, but it was certainly better than a day at work.

After ripping up The Remark for a few hours I headed down the hill and over the Crown range to Wanaka, where I was going to be staying for the majority for my trip. I met up with good friend and fellow Jackson Hole skier Nick Hooper. He has been living in Wanaka all winter working for Southern Lakes Heli Ski. His house mates were nice enough for offer me there spare room for a week or so.

The week continued on, I skied up at Treble Cone with alright conditions. Meeting up with a couple mates along the way. Little be of fresh with good visibility. Nothing spectacular though, so I though I would make the most of my Jucy rental and head back over the Crown Range and check the conditions back at the Remarkables.
I caught up with some old mates from Melbourne on the way, Luke Carter key and Quieten Adams. To be honest these guys weren’t the best ski partners, the whole snowboarding thing really lows them down… However they do make good drinking buddies!

So after a cruisie day at the Remarks we headed out into Queenstown to see what kind of trouble we could find.

We ran into fellow Melbournians, James Willis, Will McClure and Matt Demarco. Next thing we knew we found our self’s in a bar complete with skate board ramp, which was great entertainment!
This night took a dramatic turn when I received a phone call at about 9pm. My mate Nick Hooper who I was staying with in Wanaka was at work, on the front desk for Southern Lakes Heli ski. He rang to tell me they had a last minuet cancelation and if we wanted we could fill the chopper for next to nothing…
So I proposed the question the boys.., They were in. Tomorrow, things could get a little interesting. I could see the excitement and anticipation surging out of the group immediately. None of them had ever been heli skiing, let alone a heli before.

The next morning we met up at the Heli skiing office, geared up and headed out to the heli port. Unfortunately no new snow had fallen in a couple days, the skies were a little cloudy.

Never the less, we were going Heli skiing! How could you go wrong?

We had 4 runs, each one progressively worse then the other. Not really the result I was looking for. But the other boys were totally stoked. Which along with the awesome heli ride made it worth while.

A couple days later it was pack up time for Wanaka. Time to head north to the Canterbury ranges near Christchurch. The reason for the trip was the Big Mountain skiing competition know as the Chill series. This year the Chill Series were held over one week, at two locations, Craigieburn, and Mt Olympus.

I wasn’t travelling alone we had a 4 car convoy consisting of skiers from all over the world, NZ, Aus, USA, Norway and Sweden. We had an epic trip up through an amazingly scenic part of New Zealand. One of the high lights was stopping at Lake Tekapo for a bbq dinner. We had a spectacular view of the sun setting over Mt Cook while we feasted on fresh local salmon.

The journey continued on, and we made it to Craigieburn that night.

Mt Cook - Highest peak in NZ

We woke up the next morning to fine weather and good snow, I sight not always seen in NZ. Which meant that there was no stuffing around, today would be comp day.

This gave me very minimal time to ski or even see the terrain that was on offer. However the first challenge was getting up the mountain and learning to use a nut cracker. Which is basically a over sized metal clam the you through over the rope tow. I worked it out fairly quickly, which was lucky as it gave me time for 2 practice runs before the competition began.

To be honest I felt pretty overwhelmed with the new area, the lack of preparations and lack of ski fitness, I wasn’t on top of my game.. My skiing reflected this, I put down a very average run, getting lost about half way down and missing most of my features. It was still a great experience and an awesome opportunity to ski and new area. On the up side It gave me more time to free ski, explore and practice for the next round at Mt Olympus in a couple days.

In typical NZ fashion the following morning the weather closed in and the final was cancelled, time to more on to Mt Olympus. The convoy headed out through some amazing country. The roads became tougher and my little Jucy rental was only just keeping up. Steep hill climbs, dirt and gravel roads and even creek crossings on supposed ‘Short cuts’ really pushed the limits of this little beast. By the time we made it to the base of Mt Olympus I figured this vehicle was un stoppable. By this stage it was late, and we were on need of some rest, so we made our was to the basic but comfortable cabin at the base of the mountain.

The next morning the weather looked marginal to say the least but it was the final day of our window for competition so the Chill guys were going to do their best to run an event. We loaded up the Juice box and crawled up the gravel road.

At point it would have been nice if someone mentioned that the road up Mt Olympus was pretty rough, but no one really did, as I figured that this car had been through quite a bit over the last couple days, one more hill climb shouldn’t pose a problem. Or would it?

The road went from bad to worse. Steep gravel switchbacks as far as I could see. At one point I had to get everyone out and push while I floored it in first gear just to get up the road. Bumping and jumping around the rocky road. We finally made it to the top, wondering if we would be able to make it down in one piece.

As soon as we opened the door, we knew there was a serious problem. There was a very strong smell of petrol in the air. I looked under the car to see a hole about the size of a 10c coin with petrol pouring out… Not good!

The rest of my morning was spent ringing rental companies and tow companies working out how to get the car back down and to the repair shop. After 20 or so pone calls things eventually worked them self s out. So I decided to get out and make the most of the day.

The competition was called off due to weather, so I was glad in a way I didn’t miss out on that.

The afternoon rolled around and I managed to bum a lift off some mates back to Christchurch as I was now car less. My flight was at 4pm the next day.

Not the nest way to end a trip, but it was an adventure. Meeting new people skiing new areas and having a good time.
Never a dull moment skiing and travelling in New Zealand!