It sucks to have to say that this trip is now pretty much over.  :(  However, I can't let that get me down so here's today's MTB slang term - you're all getting pretty good at this by now.

Owned - A term used when someone crashes hard. e.g. "He got owned by that tree".  Can also be used when someone takes a difficult section with ease e.g. "Man he owned that section."

To any geeks reading this, yes, it's the same as pWn4ge.  :P

My route home started with a bus ride from Whistler down to Vancouver where I'm staying for just 1 night.  As I write this I've already been for a couple of walks around Van but to be quite honest I think I was in a pretty dodgy area as nothing about the place really jumped at me immediately.  It's just ... well ... a big city.  It's also being torn apart at the moment as B.C. prepares itself for the 2010 Winter Olypmics which, as I mentioned, are being held around the Vancouver and Whistler/Blackcomb regions in Feb next year.  I've spoken to a few people and apparently some room rates during that time are being quadrupled ... wow.

As for the update re my shoulder I'm finding it to be a complete pain in the ... shoulder (haha you thought I was going to say pain in the a** didn't you?)  It's getting better way to slow for my liking and I had to cut my wanderings around Van short due to being unable to carry my far-too-heavy camera bag for too long.  Physio for me when I get home that's for sure.

My wanderings around Vancouver were pretty aimless so I'm just going to bullet-point a couple of things that I noticed plus a couple of suggestions.

• There are dodgy areas of Van where you really shouldn't go.  For example the area I almost wandered into the middle of yesterday.  Walking along carrying a $3000 camera is apparently a bad idea when the scenery changes from cityscape to people high on various substances sleeping around you.  Oops.
• Vancouver is surprisingly busy.  Traffic is pretty well managed though and I only saw one person almost get hit by a car (no it wasn't me).
• I saw Beth-Anne's 100% twin in Sears.  This won't mean anything to anyone but people that know Beth-Anne but it happened nonetheless!
• The waterfront area has the brand new Vancouver Convention Centre being built at the moment.  It's one hell of an impressive structure too.
• The water directly in front of the new convention centre is one of the busiest airports in Canada.  Yes, the water.  I saw 5 seaplanes take off in the short time I was down there.
• There are beggars EVERYWHERE.  I gave all my spare change to a woman in tears sitting on the street - not cool.  The change probably added up to about $5 but her reaction was like I'd handed her a cheque for $1,000,000 ... sigh ... so sad.  I talked to her for a couple of minutes and found that she can't actually walk ... geeze!  So I asked if she would like me to use the change to buy her some food and she accepted.  She actually seemed happier with that than the money which I was really thankful for as I didn't really want to see it spent on alcohol that would only fuel her issues.
• The Quality Inn isn't quality at all hahaha

I took a couple of photos but I'm going to put them in a trip summary post that I'm planning to write when I get home.

Next stop, L.A.  :)