Another powder day

Yesterday we faced a tough day of skate skiing at the Nordic Center. They may have groomed first thing in the morning but at just before 10 when we set out, the trails were new over groomed...about 2" new. That just isn't conducive to skate skiing but we made the best of it and skied out Easy Back and around the range loop and then did Zig Zag and Woody's Way. I finished the day really tired and worn out. I wish that Michael Keep was still the manager of the Nordic Center. He always did an awesome job of regrooming throughout the day. I miss him.

Whew

I'm tired after all this skiing. Saturday was skate skiing, Sunday was classic skiing and Christmas morning I got up early and headed up to Mt. Bachelor for another day of skate. It was sunny with blue skies but still fairly cold out. The grooming was fresh and it was nice after my last day out was a giant powder day. I had the trails basically to myself and took my time and skied every intermediate trail at the Nordic Center.

Today after checking the snow report for Bachelor and seeing they had over 7" of new snow, we headed to Meissner SnoPark for a great day of classic cross country. It was partly sunny and cold when we headed out - one of the few cars in the lot. They had gotten just as much new snow and after a short time out the grooming ended for the loop I wanted to do. So, with snow almost up to my knees, we forged ahead. It was slow going through all the powder but I muscled it out and was rewarded with great weather and fun skiing. Since it was Wednesday I figured we HAD to ski this trail.

Merry Christmas

Too much powder

That's right, you read it correctly. There was too much powder at the mtn today and it made skate skiing very difficult. After a late night on the town (mostly The Summit Saloon and Stage), we slept in before scooting out the door to get in some fun. I'm not sure if they even groomed the Nordic trails this morning. Obviously I should have brought up the classic skis, but I didn't. Tomorrow I think we'll do some classic instead. Still, it was fun to get out in the fresh air and we managed to get about 18 km of skiing in.

It was more fun than these guys probably had.

Night Ski

After work I headed up to the mountains with some friends. We were going to ski out of the Swampy Snopark but the road into the lot hadn't been plowed in some time and there looked to be somewhere around 1.5-2 feet of snow on the ground. We opted to not risk getting the car stuck and turned around to go to Meisner. The conditions at Meisner were lovely...lots of powder on the trails - knee deep in places. Light and dry snow everywhere and it was coming down heavily as we skied. We took turns breaking trail the whole night and did a great 2 hour loop that left me hot and tired. Great night to ski!

Get outside and enjoy winter!

Light it up!

A couple pics I took riding home from work the other night. It's nice to look around and enjoy things instead of rushing through traffic trying to get home. Relax, it's almost Christmas!





Tonight I'm heading out for an evening xc ski. Wish me luck because I'm not that great on regular classic xc skis. Skate...any day, but regular seems harder to me. Mostly just the control part. I'm cool going uphills but on corners and decents you should fear me!

Sunday's Ski

Went skate skiing again yesterday. It was really windy up at the mountain but once we got down into the lower trails we were sheltered nicely. The conditions weren't great - really slow snow, but of course I still had fun. It was an extra workout trying to keep the smooth gliding motion. Some of the snow coverage on the lower trails is a bit spotty and some of the short hills are really steep. I doubt this will show how really steep it was, but trust me.





Going back up "the screamer" which is the giant hill you have to ascend to get back to the Nordic Lodge, the wind kicked up. The lady in front of me blew over so I put my head down and leaned into each pushoff a little more. Skate skiing is all about rhythm and smooth motions.

I have a cookie exchange to go to Tuesday night so I dedicated Sunday afternoon to baking cookies. YUM!

Bottle Exchange

We rode down to our friends' house for a little holiday get together last night. Bring a bottle of liquor, get a bottle of liquor. . Good times and interesting liquor. Some better than others.

Pretty paper, ribbon, what lies beneath?



My transportation for the evening.



Th tree half way through the bottle exchange. Choices, choices, choices....do you go for the fancy wrapped ones or the crappy wrapped ones?



I picked a moderately wrapped one and ended up with a bottle of FIRE WATER. It's 100 proof cinnamon schnapps. Well, it was all gone by the time we left and I'm pretty sure I coaxed half of the people at the party to have at least one shot



This poor soul ended up with a bottle of Mad Dog and it drove her crazy!



The ride home was a nice refreshing uphill jaunt.

The Three Little Pigs


Three Little Pigs went out to dinner one night. The waiter came and took their drink order.

"I would like a Sprite," said the first little piggy.
"I would like a Coke," said the second little piggy.
"I want beer, lots and lots of beer," said the third little piggy.

The drinks were brought out and the waiter took their orders for dinner

"I want a nice big steak," said the first piggy.
"I would like the salad plate," said the second piggy.
"I want beer, lots and lots of beer," said the third little piggy.

The meals were brought out and a while later the waiter approached the table and asked if the piggies would like any dessert.

"I want a banana split," said the first piggy.
"I want a cheesecake," said the second piggy.
"I want beer, lots and lots of beer," exclaimed the third little piggy.

"Pardon me for asking," said the waiter to the third little piggy,"
But why have you only ordered beer all evening?"


You're gonna LOVE me for this....



The third piggy says -



"Well, somebody has to go 'Wee, wee, wee, all the way home!

I've been riding home the back way along the river lately so that I can enjoy the sights without having to worry about cars. Maybe next week I'll need my studded bike tires since snow is in the forecast. I rode to the pool at lunch and after warming up and doing some drills, did a focused workout of 5 X 100m on 2:08 repeated 4 times. So that's a total of 2000 meters.

Back to riding though...Even my ornaments ride!

Happy Tuesday

It isn't even snowy or very wintery outside. I rode my regular cyclocross bike to the pool today and home from work...no studded tires, no nothing. When is it going to snow in town?

We have received a few giant gift baskets here at work and I am appaled at the amount of packaging that goes into those things! There are baggies of food packaged inside boxes that are then in a big basket and wrapped with plastic. Don't get me wrong, dark chocolate covered peanut clusters are good, but I just think the packaging is excessive. I'll shut up now and go eat some processed cheese.

WOOHOO!

Ski, Tree, and Summit Saloon

Yesterday was a busy day! As planned, we headed up for our first skate ski of the year. The coverage was decent from the Nordic Center out to the oval, around Easy Back, and Woody's Way. Enough to warm up, refigure out the V1 and V2, get some flow, and enjoy the snow.



Derek screwing around. Sure, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.



*Nobody got hurt in this instance.

In true honor of The Christmas Story...




Then we changed over to snowshoes and hiked around looking for "the perfect tree". The perfect tree is a true challenge...especially if you aren't buying it from a tree farm. We crisscrossed the forest pointing out different trees, comparing qualities and continuously pointing further up at a tree we thought was better. At what point do you call it a day and just settle for something less perfect? We finally decided on one. It's taller then what we set out to get. It measured in at almost 11.5 feet tall and very full, but hey, that's what we have vaulted ceilings for right? It has some bare spots but we love it.





Then we were off to the soft opening of The Summit Saloon and Stage. It's open to the public starting Tuesday at 11:00 but we got the sneak peak. It's very open and inviting inside and they have added a giant flat screen tv above the bar downstairs. The upstairs is large and will be great for music venues. Last night John (one of th e owners), played with his band, and then Rhyme & Reason played as well. There is a full bar and they have some great shots on the drink menu, including the Drake Park Duck Fart. hahahahah The list of beers on tap is extensive and I chose the Rogue Red, Full Sail's Amber, and Deschutes' Hop Trip. Some of my favorite appetizers were the basil pesto dip served with bread, and the jalapeno artichoke dip served with tortilla chips. Though, I will obviously be going back for all the things I missed. The menu is made up of salads, sandwiches, burgers, and then entrees like Sheppard's Pie, Fish and Chips, and pasta. Derek had a roast beef sandwich served open face with gravy on top, and I had the Fish & Chips. Both tasty. Can you tell I'm really excited about this place?

Sobriety Gum

Finally the weekend.

Lately I've been waking up around 2:30am and staying awake for 2 hours or so as random thoughts flip through my mind. Such as:

If I didn't have hands how long would it take me to swim across the pool? Just to check, I balled my hands up into fists and tried to swim today. It's hard.

An acupuncturist once told me that your organs each have their turn to rest during the night and whatever time I'm waking up could be tied to that organ functioning oddly. He told me the approximate times for each organ but I can't remember what they were.

I'm excited to skate ski this weekend. The first time out for the season is always pretty awkward but I love being outside and can't wait.

Not much else is happening in my world.

The snow is falling outside and I'm getting anxious to get out and skate ski. I had an MRI on my "good" knee on Thursday and find out the prognosis tomorrow after work. Luckily the conditions at the mountain aren't great yet so I don't feel like I'm missing anything...yet. The pool is always there for me. Yesterday I did a new workout. I'm struggling because I can swim for a long time and even do lots of intervals but I never feel tired like I would cycling. I am trying to work on speed but I feel like I'm not getting anywhere. I qualify for the medium speed lanes but I'd like to get faster... hey, you have to have a goal, right? I'm stuck at around 1:50 for 100m and I'd like that to be way faster. Anyway, yesterday after some warmup laps and drills I did a main set of:

8x50m on 1:12
8x50m on 1:08
8x50m on 1:12
8x50m on 1:04

between each 50m I felt like I had way too much time to recover so I'll cut those down next time.

Ho hum, that's about it. Hopefully I can get some pics next weekend when we head out to cut down a tree. Who knows, maybe I'll even be out on skis!