T -2 and Counting

OK!!! I understand! This is a blog about bicycling! So, why am I displaying myself as an old fart out on cross-country skis? Simple. I’ve been dreaming of cross-country skiing ALL season, and either had nobody to go with (yea, I could have gone alone) or some other lame excuse, like the weather wasn’t good, or I wasn’t sure if the snow was ok, or, it might be avalanche conditions. Now, this was my last chance this winter, and Jon (my son) was up to it. I can’t believe it. I hadn’t touched my skis in about 3-4 years, but used to spend winters in the snow. In fact, there was a time where I far preferred to snow camp than to summer camp. It’s much cleaner. You stay warm, if you know what you’re doing. In fact, my problem (including today) has been that of over-dressing, and getting too hot.  I usually wear wool knickers on the trail, which keep you warm, but also shed sweat and heat much better. . . but wool knickers are now a thing of the distant past. NOBODY but a dinosaur wears wool knickers any longer… well, maybe I will return to wool knickers, and hopefully restart a trend. I should have been in nothing but a t-shirt today. You burn off tremendous energy. Today’s exercise taught me several things. 1) Look at the maps before going out. We floundered for over an hour trying to find the trail head to the Iron Horse Trail. At least I got to do some downhill runs on my cross-country skis. We (Jon and I) eventually went 6 miles out and back. Quite a few other people were out there. I am most jealous of those that can skate ski. For me, forget it… impossible… I won’t even try. 2) I do miss a pack on my back and the prospect for night(s) out in the snow. Next winter, I so desperately hope I could find people to go snow camping with.
So, here are the Garmin stats… ignore the first three miles…
https://web.archive.org/web/20191210225512if_/https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/embed/2592400242
I would be remiss to not include a photo of Jon…
Jon on the Iron Horse Trail, Snoqualmie Pass in the background and with Lake Kecheelus to the right.
Ok, since this is a bicycle blog, I will cease and desist from x-country ski talk. My skis are hung up. Thursday, I did an outside training ride, shown below. It was beautiful, and I felt absolutely marvelous the whole time I was riding, even though I was pushing it a little bit. I think I’m ready. Sarah B., thank you for your encouragement!  I won’t work out on Easter, but might do a garage ride on Monday before I head off to Virginia. Please stay in touch, and I welcome your comments either here or on Facebook. I’ll probably be publishing only once a week, unless circumstances dictate otherwise. Since I’ll be camping a lot, I won’t have wifi and plan on doing these posts on my iPad. I use a Canon M100 for the photos, and a Garmin 1030 for tracking. Until next time, Auf Wiedersehen!