Today Is Monday

Writing to write in order that something be written.

Woe is me; plus I have a really hard life.

No really- life is good and I'm cruising in comfort.

What the gee am I trying to say?

So I did the lift line at Bear Peak yesterday. That means Liz and I slowly picked our way down a sort of steep and narrow trail with decent size bumps but pretty fair padding on the bumps. And that means it wasn't really all that as far as death and destruction goes but it was kind of odd and required attention to keep from looking foolish, but it wasn't scary.

I like doing weird lift line runs at the ski slopes and I'm happy with myself because finally I have had enough practice this season so that I can give these runs a shot without fear of appearing too terribly inept and overly victimised by bad judgment.

So that's all well and good but I broke the valve off the oil/gas shock absorber beneath my ski rig and now I gotta get it fixed. And that's all well and good except that the people in California who make the shock absorbers aren't answering the phone in the repair section even though I'm calling their front office and already spending long distance money.

All this is all well and good and other nice stuff also except that the shock absorber broke because I put a new spring around it and reinstalled the whole thing on the ski rig frame but had the valve facing out instead of in underneath the other piece that protects it. And now the valve is busted off and all the oil/gas stuff is drained out of the shock absorber..

So now the ski rig doesn't work right and it's all my fault. It's one thing if you do daring and stupidish type stuff and then you get tagged. But getting tagged for simple lack of attention to detail... . It makes me feel almost human, almost normal.

Okay then, onward and upward.

Case In Point

So I get the shoes on, head outside and start digging out the car.

It gets past noon and I'm thinking I'll still get a bunch of hours of skiing in.

It gets past 1PM and the car is moved maybe five feet so far. I'm thinking I'll still get a few hours of skiing in.

It gets past 3PM and the car is moved maybe eight feet. I'm in between thinking and not thinking.

It gets past 4PM and I'm starting to think that maybe I'm pretending to myself that I will get the car out.

It reaches approximately 4:44 and the snow plow guy shows up and smiles and starts pushing on the car.

I made it to the video store well before 6.

Ten More Days

Writing to write as the story goes.
Skiing to ski as the body knows.

Last winter, by the end of the season, my right elbow was a bit messed up. This winter I am conscious of needing to keep stress down. I am trying to lean on my arms less. Also I keep in mind ideas of shorter sessions and rest days. So then what is the difference between being half hearted and being wise? I think it depends mostly on one's mood and one's interest in self criticism.

Skiing is going well but I'm always thinking I should be getting more of it in. I'm getting a fair amount of both downhill and crosscountry. My right elbow gets a little sore but not scarey sore like I better just give it all up. Been getting good cardio workouts with the cross country and improving my balance. Fiddling with uphill and off-the-beaten-track skiing. This is challenging and interesting. My big accomplishment with downhill is learning to link turns on steep loose snow and not stop and fall over quite as much. Plus my elbow is pretty okay at the moment.

It's 10:44 in the morning. I don't even have shoes on and my car is covered with snow. I'm sitting at the computer and some section of my head is saying I out to be sitting at the top of a big and steep and partly stress inducing ski hill. There is something to anxiety and there is something to managing ambition and goal achievement. It is just a dance, an ongoing shuffle, a fairly constant swaying and stepping and leaning and pausing and ... well you get the idea.

So there is probably over a month to go. There are more than enough beautiful trails and plenty of good people. Time to get the shoes on, make a move, and take it for what it is.

Yo, What Up: Hiram and the Lift Line

On Sunday I discovered another benefit of being over forty. Being placed in the old-people's-division in the Diana Golden race series, my time in the slalom gained me a bronze medal. At first I figured there were only three entries. Turns out there were actually four. How's that for speediness.

The one problem was that I'd forgotten my ski so Erik loaned me a race ski a bit stiffer than the one he's already loaned me and also with a bit wider turning radius. After the awards presentation Liz and I went with Aaron from Attitash to Bear Peak, next mountain over. This was all well and good till I started down the lift line directly below the summit. It was ungroomed and my turns were sluggish so I ended up taking a number of light falls and winding up places I hadn't meant to go more often than expected and saying sorry and thank you far more often than desired.

On Monday we went to King Pine and I had the ski I'm used to using and it was a dream to turn since I'd worked so hard the day before turning the other ski that turning this one today felt super pretty okay. The lift line on the back side of King Pine is more technical than what I'd been floundering through the day before. But I did it- all afternoon long I went where I wanted and stopped when I wanted and it all worked well.

On Tuesday it turned out to be raining in Bedford. Liz and I were relieved of our two and a half hour commute for the adaptive cross country skiing group. We had extra preparation time and then we made our way across the field and through the woods and onto the railway bed. There are no trains these days but there are snowmobiles packing the snow that covers the tracks. Smooth sailing with a touch of ruggedness and loads of views and plenty of distance. We got as far as Route 113 which is a busy enough road that there is no snow on it and there is a good enough supply of traffic that we didn't want to try and cross. So we didn't make it to Hiram but we made the solid effort and got back at dark instead of two hours after.

So winter is finally starting to gel. The downhill is getting interesting and expressive. The cross country is getting lengthy and cardiovascular.