Training Log Archive: biggins

Fixing up the map and checking for sneaky ski-o trails at Tahoe XC. Its basically spring corn snow conditions, and probably will be for the race.

I just waxed the race skis with something that wasn't red. Sorry skis. I feel a little dirty.

Quick ski in the morning to get home to let in the plumber, who I finally got a phone humber for and talked to yesterday. Fortunately I got home just in time to get a call from him saying he was probably not coming today. Yay. Thanks for wasting my week.

Late afternoon speedy ski with Jonis. Conditions were sweet, and he had just finished an hour ski up the mountain, so we were about on equal speed. I could almost out ski him for most of it, except for the bottom straights of the valley where some sweet offset skate let me drop him asap (that'd be the 2:00/km parts on the flats).

Easy afternoon ski down through the valley. Felt pretty trashed today, and I think I bruised my everything on the wipeout last night.

Early awesome dpod. Crisp and clear. All the way up to the Hawks Peak summit this time. Two months to woc, time to get this crap up to 800m of climb!

C • nice climb! 2

TD night race #2 - skate
Total chaos. All the corn snow from the last week froze up solid in the afternoon, then they groomed it about an hour before the race, so after people skied on it for warmups it instantly turned into 6" deep sugar snow. Which was just annoying on the flat corners, and total madness on the [almost completely dark] downhill corners. It caught me by surprise on the warmup lap and I faceplanted halfway down the hill, which in fact hurt a lot. First lap of the race was ok, I was at the back of the lead pack at the top of the hill, but if anybody bailed it was gonna be a monsterous pileup, so I let them have some space on the way down. Apparently all the pileups happened after me though, since the second lap had craters everywhere, some empty, some full of sugar snow piles, and some full of juniors. Came out of the second downhill just ahead of a couple people, one guy bailed coming into the field and I managed to stay ahead of the rest for the last half km to the finish. Results, but I think the times are offset, since there definitely wasn't anyone four seconds in front of me, I might have been the 12:16 time.

First time using the new awesomeness poles for a race, and they are indeed awesome. I say push, and everything goes forward. No flexing, no vibration, all the force goes straight to the ground. V2 is actually crazy fast. Totally worth the money, at least for 180s, it may not make a difference for you short kids. Though I also took them out for the dp this morning, so my elbows hurt like crazy, since two hours of dp with super stiff poles on icy corn snow sends all the force straight to your shoulders and elbows. Despite what the magazine ads show, I can't imagine anyone trying to rollerski with a pair of these, your shoulders would just melt off from the pavement shock.

Sexy fast iced-out corn snow. What is this, June? Also, yay new hr strap. Quick ski to get home in time to wait for the bathtub guy, who may or may not show up today. My money is on may not.

Home sweet home. Sunny and 60 and no wind and icy fast trails and sweating my ass off in a t-shirt. No poles, no hat, and no gloves. Why do I ever leave this place again?

Up to Auburn to fix up the ski-o map, lots of trails in the wrong spot, and lots of deleting of pointless vegetation and rocks that for some reason you can't see when there's 10ft of snow on the ground. Did I mention I <3 ghettocad? I just did in three hours what would have taken me days on paper. And I didn't drop the ipad once.

Heading home today, lots of airplane time. Made it ok back to Vienna, but not until after we found out we were locked inside our hotel this morning. We went to leave and the place was shut up tight, and all the doors are the ones with the key locks on both sides, no turny handles from the inside. After half an hour of failed yelling and hopeless digging for door keys in the empty reception desk, we got out onto the upstairs lounge balcony and jumped from the second floor down into a snowbank. Greatest 5am James Bond hotel departure ever.

C • maps 3

meh. 2/3 flights ain't bad. at least I'm in the US this time.

C • Oops! 4