Cross Country Skiing

[Crankin]

Jealous!

[Pika]

First day of skiing today- the trails have been open for about a week now- we are going to go classic skiing today as I need new skate skiing boots and haven't found any yet.
soo excited..it has warmed up ( only -5C which means it will be about -10C on the trails compared to -20C last week when they opened) and we have all day to toddle along
(goal of todays workout- sustained low heartrate - another reason we are using our classic skis- my HR goes crazy skate skiing becaseu I am pretty inefficient at it)

[roadie gal]

We didn't go skiing yesterday. It was snowing like crazy all day. We had to go to Reno and then got caught behind a freeway closure. So we sat in a casino parking lot for an hour before they decided to let locals only through to get home. We crawled home in 4WD at 20 mph. Needless to say we were exhausted. (Maybe this should be a separate rant.)

I guess yesterday was a recovery day.

Today is beautiful, with about a foot of new snow. I'm going skiing today for sure!

[warneral]

I borrowed a jacket from my sister and picked up some ski pants and gloves from sierra trading post. I think I'll rent some cross country skis to try it out. We have no snow yet though.

I'd like to purchase a package from REI but I think I should probably try it out to see how I like it first. I'm excited to see there are many groomed trails in my area (when we have snow).

[roadie gal]

I'd highly recommend renting equipment and taking a lesson the first time out, even if you've downhill skied before. It'll make a big difference in your enjoyment.

[Crankin]

I didn't follow the rent equipment thing, but I have bought 2 packages from REI, and they were great. When I went to upgrade about 6 years ago after having crappy skis for ten years, I bought a pair of boots that just cut my feet to pieces. After trying 3 or 4 times, I returned them, no questions asked. The service was great. I upgraded my skis again last year, near the end of the winter and again, they were great. I decided to keep my boots, and no one pressured me into buying anything.
I did take 2-3 lessons, as I am not a down hill skier. It helped a lot. Although I do remember being so excited when I got my first skis, I drove to a local golf course and tried them out, without any instruction.

[Jolt]

How hard is it to learn to XC ski? I will be interviewing for jobs shortly in Duluth, MN where it snows a ton, so if I end up moving there I would like to learn.