Intervals with Border Collie

Today we went for a family ski. I was the rabbit, followed by Noko (chasing the rabbit) harnessed to Enrico, followed by Alex, who is supposed to be taking it easy, since he just had his wisdom teeth out. We did a loop following the skijor trail I set yesterday. We saw family groups of snowshoers and lots of other skiers enjoying the warm day. It was 27 degrees above zero.

When Enrico and I got home (Alex wanted to ski a bit more on his own), I changed my equipment for skate skiing and went out on the skate trail. My first skate ski of the season! I couldn't help laughing out loud with delight. Soon my heart rate zoomed up to 181, so I realized that I needed to slow down a bit, but it is so fun to go fast.

I crossed paths with Alex near the water treatment plant. I took a photo of him and he took one of me, and then we continued on.

I went to Lindenwood Park, where the skate trail ends, and then came back. When I got near the water treatment plant again, I saw a woman skiing, and she said, "You certainly look like you are enjoying your skate skiing." I must have had a goofy happy smile plastered on my face this whole time.

When I got up to the dog park, the skate trail is adjacent to the dog park. A border collie ran right over to the fence. "Let's go!" I called, and he raced me to the end of the dogpark. I had to stop and catch my breath, but he was eager to go again, so I turned back and raced him the length of the dog park again. Hmmm, this could be a great way to do interval training AND exercise a dog. But by now I was tired, so I headed home.

It was warm enough for my lighter gloves today. 

French Braid, Pleather, and Four Deer

With the winter storm that blew through this week, we finally got enough snow for the Fargo Parks track setter to make tracks for the first time this season. I noticed an unusual pattern in the berm between the ski tracks--it looks like the snow has been french braided. I wonder what caused this?

Near Ponte Park, I noticed another new snow texture I had not seen before--it looked just like pleather! The wind was blowing pretty hard in that area, so I didn't want to stop and take off my glove to snap a photo, so I can't show you that one. Just imagine, though, skiing on pleather!

Even though there were set tracks, I decided to spend the first part of my ski breaking a skijoring trail for Noko. Now that he's older, he doesn't really want to skijor through untracked snow. If there is a trail to follow, he is more motivated. Maybe Enrico will take Noko out later on this trail.

I was also a bit worried that the trail was not set up yet because my neighbor, Darren, said the tracksetters were out this morning. I tested the trail on the other side of Ponte Park, and it was firm, so I decided to ski in the new tracks. After a few strides, I melted into a wonderful rhythm thanks to perfect wax, perfect tracks, perfect day.

It was a brisk 3 below and a bit windy when I started out, but 90 minutes later I could feel the warmth of the sun, and I was pretty sure the temperature was above zero.

Although I've been sick with a wicked cold the last couple of weeks and a part of me just wanted to stay in the warm house, drinking tea and reading a book, I'm glad I got outside for a ski. It definitely cleared out my sinuses and filled my lungs with some fresh air. I got to see a group of four deer, too!

Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, so it should be a great time for folks in the Fargo area to get out skiing!

Skittish fox, calm deer

As you can see, there is not enough snow to set tracks, and there are lots of leaves and grass showing through.

Okay, the snow is pretty minimal, but it was sixteen degrees above zero this morning, so at least there had not been melting since my Monday morning ski. I liked the pre-breakfast ski so much that I did it again this morning, but doing the loop in Gooseberry Park instead of skiing to I-94. I could just barely make out my tracks from a week and a half ago, so I followed them because a bit more snow had drifted in them, making for less contact with grass and leaves. It's a slog on the waxless, cheap Trak skis, but it is still skiing and it feels wonderful!

On my way back, I glanced up just in time to see a fox dart into the brush. I think he will eat well this winter on our plentiful urban bunny population in Fargo. They've been fattening up on garden produce all summer and will make a tasty meal for Fox.

A bit later, I had that feeling of being watched, so I looked around, and there was a deer bedded down in the brush, just a few yards from me. She watched me carefully, ducking down a tiny bit more as I passed by. I'm glad she did not feel the need to get up. Eating is not as good in this season for her as it is for the fox.

After my hour of diagonal striding, I was pretty hungry and devoured a delicious veggie-egg white frittata (made by Enrico) with some toast and water while writing this. Time to head to work!

Fat Tire and Skinny Hooves

Fat tire & skinny hooves

My arms were sore from skiing yesterday, but the snow and sunshine beckoned, so I decided to go for my first bike ride on snow for this season. I wanted to try my new ski tracks app to track the Gooseberry Single track loop. I headed out on the bike path toward Lindenwood Park, went across the bridge to Minnesota and rode around the singletrack in Gooseberry Park. I felt kind of clumsy at first, but soon got the hang of biking on snow again. I still feel the handlebars on the Fat Boy are too wide, though. My app tells me I was out for 1 hour and 12 minutes, which seems right, but that I  covered only 2.9 miles. I'm pretty sure that distance is not accurate. It's a mile and a half just to Lindenwood. Hmmmmm. Whatever--it was great to be outside and get some exercise.

Fat Boy got tired and had to take a little rest.

First ski of the 2018-19 season

We had horizontal snow yesterday, so I didn't think any skiing would come of it, but the wind settled during the night and the day dawned sunny and still, so I thought I might as well take the rock skis out and gear up the dog for a little skijor instead of the usual walk. There wasn't much accumulation, but I figured if we skied mainly on the grass, it should be OK. Noko was game, so we headed out to the dog park. We saw a bald eagle within the first five minutes of our ski. What a wingspan!

Noko was a bit pokey on the way out, but when we turned to come back, he put in three spirited 100-meter pulls. With my new Apple watch, I now know that my heart rate spikes up into the 160s when he sprints because I double-pole hard to get the most out of it. The rest of the time my heart rate is in the 120s-130s, so I guess I could say that skijoring with Noko provides me with some moderate interval training!

After our little outing, I went out again and skied on my own to Gooseberry Park, skiing a little loop and then coming back along the river. I went back up to the dog park again, back down to the water treatment plant, where I took this photo, and then called it a day. I skied for 100 minutes total--not bad for the first ski of the season. I guess my workouts at the Y and biking to work have been good for getting my ski season started on the right boot.

A nice day to zip around on a bike

I woke up shortly after six this morning to the sound of birds starting to sing outside my window. It finally feels like spring time.  The snow is pretty much melted, and I'm back from my travels, so I pumped up the tires on my MB-0 (zip) to bike to work today. Although I'm slow and sluggish, my bike was quick, so it was a fun ride. 

A very wintry 30 days of biking

Well, I'm failing at #30daysofbiking, after just a few days. I had to go up to Turtle Mountains for a  for work, and found that my bike would not fit in my state fleet vehicle, so I just gave up and went for walks. When I got back to town, it was cold and snowy, so I went to the YMCA and biked indoors. Yesterday, I finally got back outside on my fatbike for a loop around Fargo-Moorhead after work, checking out the Gooseberry trails along the way. I saw this neat little shelter someone had built and it reminded me of how my sister and I once built a shelter out of driftwood out near Delta Junction up in Alaska. Whenever we returned to that campground, we would check to see if it was still standing.