Yesterday I skied one circuit of the skate trail between the dam and Lindenwood Park and today I skied it three times. It was not the kind of ski that lends itself to drifting away mentally because of all the sticks, dirt spots, ruts, and such. I had to be ready to alter my rhythm to avoid these obstacles. When I headed out today, I was annoyed to find an additional obstacle--someone wearing big boots had walked on the skate trail. We have so little snow that when people walk on the trail, they sink all the way to the bottom, and when they push off to take another step, a spray of dirt lands on the trail. And this person had big feet and boots that really grabbed onto the snow and moved it. Holes are not such a big deal to skate over, but chunks of snow sticking up are kind of a pain--it is easy to catch an edge on them and stumble a bit. Fortunately, the footsteps disappeared near the water treatment plant and the next section of the trail was pretty good. I was facing the sun then, a real pleasure after a few days of foggy & cloudy weather.
Despite temperatures up around freezing, the trail really hadn't degraded since yesterday as I thought it might have. I should have started out about an hour earlier than I did, though, because the snow changed during my second circuit. You know how you scoop up some snow to make a snowball and then, if there is enough moisture in the snow, you squeeze it hard and in the last moment before you stop, it almost seems to squeak? This is how it began to feel under my skis--I was no longer fully gliding over the snow, when I pushed off to shift my weight from one ski to the other, the snow under my ski seemed to compress just a bit. I could actually feel the vibration of that compression, the little squeak. The snow was not melting yet, but it was definitely changing, and it was slower.
Since it was slower, I had time to really look at the story in the snow. As I came back past our house, I began to notice the big boot prints in the snow again. However, what was weird was that instead of seeing two, after awhile I just saw one, and then the distance between boot prints increased, until I was seeing only one every few yards. Then I realized that what I originally thought were classic ski tracks must be the runners of a sled. Our neighbor had mentioned he has a kick sled, so probably he had gone out with it and his husky pulled some of the time.
I felt OK skate-skiing, so I thought I would try to go longer. Last week, I made two complete circuits of the skate trail--could I do three today? I had brought a water bottle, so that should help. I tried to keep to a moderate pace most of the time, but where the trail was good, I occasionally made a little sprint or tried to double my poling. It felt pretty good. My hips are not well conditioned for skating though, so I had to stop a few times to stretch.
On the last circuit, I ran out of fuel. It had been hours since I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, and my vision narrowed down so I was really only aware to the end of my skis. I didn't do the last bit up to the dam again, stopping at my house instead. An hour and a half of pretty good effort. I was spent. I ate a banana as soon as I got home, and it was the best banana I had ever had.
Despite temperatures up around freezing, the trail really hadn't degraded since yesterday as I thought it might have. I should have started out about an hour earlier than I did, though, because the snow changed during my second circuit. You know how you scoop up some snow to make a snowball and then, if there is enough moisture in the snow, you squeeze it hard and in the last moment before you stop, it almost seems to squeak? This is how it began to feel under my skis--I was no longer fully gliding over the snow, when I pushed off to shift my weight from one ski to the other, the snow under my ski seemed to compress just a bit. I could actually feel the vibration of that compression, the little squeak. The snow was not melting yet, but it was definitely changing, and it was slower.
Since it was slower, I had time to really look at the story in the snow. As I came back past our house, I began to notice the big boot prints in the snow again. However, what was weird was that instead of seeing two, after awhile I just saw one, and then the distance between boot prints increased, until I was seeing only one every few yards. Then I realized that what I originally thought were classic ski tracks must be the runners of a sled. Our neighbor had mentioned he has a kick sled, so probably he had gone out with it and his husky pulled some of the time.
I felt OK skate-skiing, so I thought I would try to go longer. Last week, I made two complete circuits of the skate trail--could I do three today? I had brought a water bottle, so that should help. I tried to keep to a moderate pace most of the time, but where the trail was good, I occasionally made a little sprint or tried to double my poling. It felt pretty good. My hips are not well conditioned for skating though, so I had to stop a few times to stretch.
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