• Tiger Woods.
• Tom Brady.
• That football coach that got run over on the sidelines recently.
• This dude on my ultimate frisbee team.
• Dan Connor from the Carolina Panthers.
• Nate Burleson of the Seattle Seahawks.

What is going on?

It got me thinking: is it possible to prevent ACL tears? According to a litany of articles on the Internet, it is. But how?

• According to a source in this article at First Tracks Online Ski Magazine, focusing on strength and flexibility will help prevent ACL injuries.
• About.com suggests focusing on balance, power and agility will prevent ACL tears. In fact, they reference an entire ACL Injury Prevention Program. Cool.
• FitFAQ.com has the top six exercies to prevent ACL injuries.
• This article at USA today describes how to reduce the likelihood of an injury by 20 to 80 percent. It also features an amazing statistic: “There are an estimated 80,000 annual ACL tears in the USA; 56,000 occur during sports.” Wow.

I can tell you, prior to my tear I certainly wasn’t thinking of prevention at all.

“ACL?” I asked.

“Yup,” he said, looking at my knee brace. Then he gave me a high-five.

“How long since you had the surgery?” I inquired?

“December,” he said.

This dude had been playing ultimate frisbee all summer, after having the surgery in December. That means he started playing five months after the surgery.

WHAT A BAD IDEA.

Anyway, one thing that has been busy all summer is the comments area, which I’m really pleased to see. For anyone interested in my ACL surgery recovery saga, check out the comments on my last post, which now contains an ongoing discussion. Although I wish the ordeal on no-one, it’s very interesting to meet and talk to people who’ve had similar experiences to mine - or some that are completely different.

I tried golfing three weeks after having my ACL reconstructed, with painful results. But 10 weeks after the surgery, it was all good.

On his site, Woods said “it is clear the right thing to do is listen to my doctors, follow through with this surgery, and focus my attention on rehabilitating my knee.”

Once temperatures reach this area I start to to realize just how far away I am from snowboarding again; five months or so, really. And that sucks.

So, what to do in the meantime?

If you’re me, your summer will look like this:

• Running: After my ACL surgery I packed on a good 10 pounds I never lost. I hit 170 pounds and I’m only 5″8; not ideal.This summer, I vowed to lose this weight. Because I didn’t want to compromise my regular regiment of weekend beer drinking and eating food not cooked at home, though, I had to finally admit I needed to exercise like hell if I was to lose any weight. Net result: getting up at 5:45 every morning to run 6k. But it’s working: I’m down five pounds the past couple of weeks.
• Roller hockey and ultimate frisbee: Mondays and Sundays, respectively. Hockey is surprisingly easy on the knee; ultimate is a little harder.
• Softball: The least competitive kind, though, so it’s not much of a workout. But it helps pass the summer.
• Golf: Did you know Toronto has more golf courses per capita than any other city in North America? I didn’t, but it makes getting a tee time somewhere easy.

If you’re not me, I’d highly recommend doing a few of these things to pass the time:

• Snowboarding: That’s right. Keep riding! Hit the Blackcomb Glacier, which opens this month, or visit South America.
• Wakeboarding: What all the cool rich kids do all summer.
• Windsurfing: I actually wouldn’t mind trying this, but it seems like getting up for the first time is a royal pain in the ass.
• Yearn for winter: I’m sure we’ll all be doing this sooner than later. In the meantime, enjoy the sun.

One year later, I implore anyone I speak to with a torn ACL that’s considering the surgery to get it done. There’s some short-term pain (though not as much as I expected), and the long-term gain is obvious: no more worry about your knee giving out from under you.I get a lot of inquiries around “what should I be able to do at what month”, so here’s a timeline of my recovery. Note this only applies to me. Every situation is different!

• Day four: off crutches, walking around. It was painful, but also the best form of physio, according to my surgeon.
• Day nine: pain recedes a bit, but mornings still suck large.
• Two weeks after surgery: Walking is fine. Went to the driving range, in anticipation of golfing shortly.
• Three weeks after surgery: Went golfing for the first time. BAD IDEA! The scar tissue from the surgery started coming apart from the hamstring area that was harvested for my new ACL. Although that’s not a bad thing, it was very painful. Physio begins. Physiotherapist at North York General Hospital is the best evar.
• Two months: Mountain biking in a pretty serious way begins.
• Two and a half months: Golfing and biking in earnest.
• Three months: Physio slows up. Hamstring a little weak, but feeling good. “Fast walking” on a treadmill begins.
• Six months (okay, maybe a wee bit earlier): Started running on a treadmill… slowly.
• Eight months: SNOWBOARDING!! Knee feels great.
• Ten and a half months: I join two ultimate frisbee teams, and start playing again with a serious knee brace.
• Twelve months: Still playing ultimate. Now I’ve signed up for the Sporting Life 10K and roller hockey this summer.

Also be sure to check out this entry on the ACL recovery timeline. So that’s it on the ACL for now I suppose. You can follow the whole saga in the My ACL Tear and Recovery category.

I’m snowboarding without any worries, which includes hitting both small bumps and park jumps. I’m playing ultimate frisbee twice a week, and am looking at resuming my summer running this year as well. To be honest, I probably started back a little early — my surgeon didn’t want me doing much before 12 months — but after meeting folks through this blog who came back even faster, and given my knee felt great, I figured what the heck. Hopefully when I have my 12-month surgeon visit I won’t experience any repercussions!

I’ve also enjoyed meeting lots of you who have sent comments, questions and emails along about your own experiences, and hope you continue to do so.

A little background on Jay Peak

Jay Peak is nestled just inside the Quebec/Vermont border, about eight hours from Toronto and a couple from Montreal. It’s so close, in fact, that it practically is Canada. The hill is packed with Francophones. Canadian money is accepted at par. Hockey Night in Canada can be found Saturday night on channel 6. If you didn’t have to cross a border, you wouldn’t think you had left the country.

Jay Peak likes to boast about its powder, its vibe, its aerial tram, its glades, and its mountain in general. But having been there three times now, I’ve come to a few unfortunate conclusions:

• You can’t trust the weather. Despite all the snow Jay gets, it’s still subject to wacky east coast mountain weather. This means it can snow, rain and freeze all in the same weekend. Unlike Whistler, which is big enough to almost guarantee decent weather somewhere on the mountain, the lower altitudes of the east coast mean the weather can often be unpredictable.
• The apres scene does not exist. If you’re looking for it, you’re at the wrong place. The bar closes early. The pub closes at nine. The one general store on the hill closes early, too.
• There’s no easy way to get to Jay from Toronto.
• There aren’t too many lifts, meaning if one or two are closed, there isn’t much to do.

Of course, there are some positives as well:

• No apres means no attitude. The locals are friendly, everyone is at the hill for the same reason, and style is not a concern for most.
• When it does snow, the powder is amazing.
• There are so many enjoyable glades and woods to explore I usually don’t know where to start.

Anyway, on to the actual trip.

Friday: Day 1

We arrived at about 8:30 in the morning, and it was just starting to snow. It hadn’t snowed in several days and it was windy, so the conditions weren’t the best. The tram and The Flyer were closed, which sucked, because a good deal of excellent terrain was served by these two lifts. So we were stuck on one side of the mountain for the entire day.

We tried to hit every glade we could find, which led to a mixture of experiences. The green ones that were open were generally fun, as were the closed ones that we poached (grin). The black ones were a mixture of cut-up ice and fresh snow, so it led to some good hits. It also led to some very tough runs. The snow didn’t continue, and instead turned into freezing rain; the conditions therefore got worse as the day went on.

I find glades tend to be a good test of one’s snowboarding skills. Skiing between trees in a forest requires tight turns, frequent jumps and split-second decision making. I had a few run-ins with trees, and one run-in with someone else I was riding with, but otherwise did pretty well in the glades. Conclusion: icy in spots, but a fair bit of fun.

Saturday: Day 2

This day was a complete write-off. It rained Friday night, before freezing up. The result? Tons of ice, awful wind, and a fair bit of fog. Once again, the gondola and the Flyer lift were closed, leaving us with limited terrain to explore.Groomers were so icy that they were treacherous to ride. We got a couple of hours in on the same glades we hit the day before, but ultimately called it early. Icy terrain and crowded lift lines = no fun. Conclusion: a waste of a day. Thank goodness for beer.

Sunday: Day 3

It was snowing when we woke up; it turned out it had been snowing most of the night. This, combined with the fact the entire mountain was open, led to a phenomenal day. Jay has a top-to-bottom glade run named Everglade that was absolutely phenomenal, as it hadn’t been touched all weekend (it was serviced by the closed lift and tram). We ended up hitting this glade all day long, over and over. Each time was a different experience with untouched snow. It was phenomenal! I don’t think we did a groomed run the entire day.

It seems like every time I visit an east coast resort like Jay Peak or Mont Tremblant, the weather wreaks havoc with the conditions. This weekend was no exception. But the last day, which was simply full of powder, made up for it. My knee held up fine, and I practiced stomping a lot of jumps off small booters and some of the smaller terrain park jumps. I wish I had a few more months to keep practicing as my knee gets stronger, but the season is quickly coming to a close here in the east. Here’s hoping I can get one more trip in.

(Observational note: I appear to be the only person in here with six days worth of facial hair growth, a snowboarding t-shirt and a can of Canadian by my side. Everyone else appears to be well-dressed, shorn and drinking wine.)

I’m obviously en route home from my latest snowboarding adventure: Whistler. We arrived Thursday and left Monday night. We’re flying the red eye back because we wanted to get another day of riding in. Talk about Highly Obsessed!

Four days of shredding

We rode four days straight; 1.5 days on Blackcomb, and 2.5 days on Whistler. The only thing close to a pow day was about seven centimetres of fresh snow on Saturday, which was cool; it was some fresh snow to plow through, but not enough pow to make you sink.

Lack of snow aside, the weather was great. Most days were sunny and clear. Parts of the mountain were shut down early Sunday due to crazy winds,  but most eventually opened.

We hit all the popular areas of both; the glaciers, the glades, the groomers. I couldn’t help but notice how I’ve progressed as a snowboarder; whereas there used to be certain areas I always feared (icy places like The Saddle and Lower Franz), I now approach all runs with no fear, and almost never wipe out. I’m now focusing on the technical aspects of riding; going faster, getting air, perfecting short turns, things like that. When I get back, I want to spend a day or two in Ontario trying to ride switch.

Highlights of the riding experience:

Seventh Heaven with fresh snow: Panorama, which I’ve previously listed as one of my top five Whistler Blackcomb runs, was simply phenomenal on the day we hit it. The run was untouched, had a few centimetres of snow, and we were catching air as we flew off the lips of the up-and-down hills that make up the second half of the run.

Peak to Creek (not groomed): The first run of the first day. We thought it would be groomed — and it wasn’t. Several kilometres of difficult hell ensued. But it was still a fun, memorable experience.

Upper and Lower Franz: The future women’s downhill course in the 2010 Winter Olumpics did not disappoint when it was Whistler’s Run of the Day. Groomed, empty and fast, we felt like true Olympians as we blew down this run, which is almost top-to-bottom.

Upper and Lower Dave Murray: The men’s downhill course wasn’t too shabby, either. Constantly groomed and rarely crowded, we were really able to open ‘er up; especially on the second half.

Snowboarding with a new ACL: It will be ten months since my ACL replacement surgery in about a week. I had absolutely no problems. I was soo thankful to not have any problems, as snowboarding this winter was the number one reason I put off having the surgery for a few months.

A few other observations and notes from the trip, many of which will end up in the Unofficial Whistler Guide:

I am now a huge fan of taking the Perimeter bus directly from Vancouver airport to Whistler. I used to take the Greyhound, which meant a pain-in-the-ass cab ride (think snowboarding bag) to a gross bus depot. It’s more expensive, but the Perimeter bus is convenient and comfortable. Also, a super-friendly employee named Charlie got us on the early bus in the nick of time. Mental note: write Perimeter a thank-you letter commending Charlie. Thanks, Charlie!

Do not visit Whistler on an American long weekend. This is the second time I have done this, and I’ve paid for it both times. The Village turns into a drunken Stupid Zone complete with throwing up, yelling and even fistfights. And that’s just in the evenings; during the day, the lineups are long and the runs are crowded. Always ride Whistler Whistler Blackcomb on weekdays if you can help it. And if you can’t, stick to the Garbanzo and Symphony chairs on Whistler, and Seventh Heaven and the Glacier Express on Blackcomb.

(On the fistfight issue: I really can’t help but think part of it might be the lower drinking age in Canada. The legal drinking age in most provinces is 19; in Quebec, it’s 18. I know lots of American kids like to cross over into border towns to drink on weekends, and I can’t help but think this is part of Whistler’s ‘long weekend debauchery’ issue. Holy crap do I sound old and boring now.)

Paying for Village accomodations is overrated. Next time, we’re staying outside the Village. The Village is loud and the accomodations are small and expensive. I’ll get into the story of our place at a later date (short story: I may be on the hook for something I didn’t break).

Fresh Tracks breakfast kicks ass! From now on, I’m buying a Fresh Tracks ticket at least once every Whistler trip. For less than 20 bucks, you get up the mountain before everyone else, have a buffet breakfast, and then hit the slopes a good 30 minutes before everyone else (only 650 tickets can be sold for any given day, though, so get one the night before; not the day of). This lets you do two or three runs before anyone else touches the mountain. It was really cool to hit any spot we wanted, with no-one else around. Riding up the mountain in the gondola before the sun rose was also cool.

The Fresh Tracks breakfast would be particularly awesome on a powder day.All in all, a great five days. I love Whistler! Next up: Jay Peak, first weekend in February.

I was concerned when, during my first run, I could feel my hamstring tweak every time I went toeside. Given I haven’t been working on my hamstring much aside from lots of stretching, I knew my hamstring could potentially be a problem. After a couple of runs, however, the noise from the hamstring disappeared entirely. From then on, I was hitting jumps and bombing runs - everything felt great. I’m still slightly concerned about the hamstring, though, so I’m going to work on that for the next few weeks.

I also have to give a shout-out to my Donjoy Defiance knee brace, which held up great and required zero adjustments all day long.

Moonstone Conditions

So, where was I today? I headed to Mount St. Louis Moonstone, which was about 70% open and pretty much devoid of people. The conditions were great, and lift lines were nonexistent. Southern Ontario has had a very cold, snowy fall, and the ski areas down here are reaping the benefits of that. The runs were pretty much in mid-season form - Ontario ice and all.

All in all, it was a great day. And so far, no pain! I’m planning to head back next weekend.