Cross Country Skiing

[ridebikeme]

Glad to hear about your day Crankin! It does indeed seem a bit strange to truly be wishing for snow earlier in the season and not receive a whole lot, and now that it seems most people are 'finished' with winter sports, we start receiving it ! HA! I guess that leaves more room for the rest of us.

AS for rides on the road, if I were to get a mtn bike out, I could certainly ride that.... and may start doing just that. The roads are abit too sandy here still, not including the hidden sections of ice here and there. But in the meantime, there's still plenty of skiing to do and the occasional ride outside.

Enjoy your ski team!

[Crankin]

Well, it appears DH tweaked his ankle and shoulder a bit in one of his falls, so we are axing the skiing today. I normally would go alone, but I am a bit sore myself and sort of enjoying a lazy morning. It looks like yesterday may have been my last ski of the year . We could take a trip north next weekend, but it's going to be 45-50 here and the bike is calling. We'll see.
If I had a mountain bike, I'd definitely be out riding. But, I'm basically down to 2 road bikes, so it will wait.

[Norse]

We received a nice little 8-9" snowfall the other day. Rain and sleet is predicted for tomorrow night and Saturday so last night after work I got out for a wonderful 4 mile outing under the lights on the trails at the local French Regional Park on Medicine Lake. Just after sunset along one of the lagoons, I heard two owls calling to each from across the water. What a great way to spend a weeknight and forget about work!

[ridebikeme]

Crankin you're right about predicted temps for the weekend. My plans are to get out early AM for a ski, and then head back and take my mtn bike out for a ride. It feels as though it's Christmas Eve; I'm soooo excited.

[Crankin]

Yup, I plan to do the same. Snow still falling here, and it looks like there will be about 8 inches at my house. Plan to ski tomorrow morning, before it gets too warm (just heard New Ipswich, where Windblown is has 9 inches now). The plan is to ride on Sunday, but since I don't have a mountain bike, it will depend on the condition of the roads.
Just got an email from my local (7 miles away) x country ski center and they are saying they'll be open at 11... I don't think I can ski fast enough to get it done, drive home, cleaned up, and to my client 30 miles away by 2:00 PM .

[roadie gal]

We got between 6-12 inches over the last 2 days. Yay! Since it was still snowing I took the touring skis to the cross country area. I'm glad I did. It was deep in some places and icy in others. But it was still a good day.

[Crankin]

Today was probably the most amazing x country ski day I've had. Blue sky, 13 inches of new powder, and temperatures between 45 and 52. I was skiing in my Sugoi sub zeros, a base layer, and a fall cycling jersey. The jacket was off in 20 minutes, the headband in 5, and the gloves came off after 30 minutes. It's the first time in 20 years I've skied without gloves. Could have been wearing a short sleeved shirt and a vest.
We did the hard part first, skied up the Back Forty to the first "Zig Zag," where we entered the Open Slope at a much steeper point than last week. Lots of people skiing down. For your edification, the Open Slope would probably qualify as a blue trail at an alpine ski center. I've skied it from the highest point of the "blue" designation, but it goes up higher, into black territory. I will probably never do any black trail at Windblown, as they all are steep mountains, although I have skied down a few black trails in other places, and climbed up many. I let the experts descend ahead of me, got some courage from some young skiers who told me I could "just walk down," (are they kidding?) and went off. No falling, not so elegant looking descent in a very dug in snowplow. DH fell again this week, and this time he listened to me as I could see what he is doing wrong.