I *love* x country skiing. I may not be as fast as others, especially other cyclists, but I am definitely a better skier than rider. I think cycling has improved my skiing skills. That said, I do classic. I was peer pressured into trying skate skiing last winter, when I was in WA. It was too much to think about. Do this, do that, push off, blah, blah. It wasn't the endurance aspect, it was more that it's pretty technical and I am not good with that stuff. Maybe, if I kept taking lessons it would click, but at this point, I am not going to try. My DH, who is a very coordinated athlete, was even worse than me! I've been skiing for 25 years, but it wasn't until 10 years ago, after I'd been cycling for about 5 years, that I ventured into more difficult stuff. I can climb really hard stuff and I have become pretty good at descending, unlike in cycling, where I am a very cautious and slow descender. I love winter, and the fact that the x country ski season is short here, 8-10 weeks at the most, unless I travel further north, makes me love winter even more. I'd say, go for it. I also snow shoe, but not running snow shoeing, more like hiking, although I occasionally run down hills. I get your point about fat biking. I want to try it, but I stopped mountain biking because I was just freaked out all of the time about hitting stuff or crashing.