Where am I?

All this blogging and social networking and content producing- holy cow it can be tough to keep up with!

Right now I'm over here most of the time- so join in and follow along as we enjoy another great winter!

Thanks for reading-


sven

Skiing vs riding

I missed the Atomic Sprints up at Great Glen that took place at the beginning of December, instead I spent the day riding my bike. But while I was riding I began to realize that my mind was ready to switch gears (no pun intended) and begin to glide on snow.

As I was thinking of all of this I realized that my hands and feet were pretty much numb and for that matter my face had begun to hurt from the cold. I chalked it up to being such a tough guy and for riding when the temperatures were –0 degrees Fahrenheit. The only issue was that when I got home I looked at the temperature and it was 26 degrees! If I had been out skiing that would have seemed like a fairly warm day, I might have even been skiing without a hat and defiantly with my lightweight gloves. Instead I had been out with a heavy wind block hat, mittens and so many layers that I could hardly move. So what is the reason for being able to ski and stay so warm but riding a bike is so darn cold.

My first guess was that I was just cruising at such a high rate of speed on my bike. That thought was quickly set aside when I realized that I was riding at a very slow speed, a speed that was not that much faster then when I was skiing. So what was it? This had me baffled. So I threw on some beater cross country skis and left on my cycling gear and went for a quick cruise of the soccer field behind my house, as it had about an inch of snow- plenty for my little test. Within 20 strides I was hot, by 30 I was sweating, and by the time I hit the end of the field to begin skiing home I was unzipping layers. Interesting.

I thought it must be the fact that you use your upper body so much more in cross country skiing and the fact that both your lower and upper body are working just ramps up the engine that much more. So I tried to ski without moving my arms. I wish someone had seen this as it must have looked pretty funny- I’m guessing what a penguin would look like if it tried to cross-country ski. Aside from the fact that I had a hard time staying upright when I didn’t move my arms the experiment didn’t yield much new information. What I did realize is that my entire body was active in stabilizing me as I slid down the trail. Muscles all over were helping me keep my balance and set me up for my next stride. Unlike on my bike where I don’t need much help other then the wheels spinning to keep me balanced, on skis it is a constant and impressive effort.

Why do I point this out? Well it is good to know that cross-country skiing can keep you warm in the winter (of course oil prices have finally dropped so we may be able to actually turn the heat on this winter after all), but it is also good to know that while it is keeping you warm it is burning calories and potentially fat. Knowing that this is the time of year when most of us maybe eat a bit more then we should, and that we then make promises to ourselves based on the turning of the calendar- it is good to have a secret weapon in you back pocket. So this holiday season when you step on the scale and realize that you see a number that you’ve never been asked to count up to tell yourself that you now need to go get in a good ski (as if you needed any more reasons to want to get out on the trails!)

A season ends

Ski season is pretty much over. There are a few alpine resorts still open and I'm sure we'll be tele-skiing up on Mount Washington for some time, but for the most part the skis will be soon put away and cycling will be the primary focus. But before you put the skis away for the summer don't forget their summer coat of storage wax!


Speaking of Nordic skiing, one of the sports biggest supporters here in the Mount Washington Valley passed away on Friday, Steve Eastman. Steve was the founder of the Mountain Ear and always gave Nordic a great plug. He was a personal friend and mentor and will be greatly missed. My thoughts go out to his family.

Blisters

I've been off my skis now for over a week due to an epic blister that I got over a week ago. I hate to do this to you, but here is the blister the day I got it:



And then here is is a week later (a week in which I didn't wear shoes- just crocs or birks and lots of neosporin):

Ok now that that is over, the skiing I head is fantastic, and I plan on getting out again soon! This blister should be skiable by the weekend- or at least that's what I keep telling myself!

Have fun out there.

Wild Winter

I just got done salting our road, now I'm trying to decide- go for a ski or grab the bike? 40 degrees- hmmm may not get this again for awhile- I think the bike wins!

Onto other news- any local HS or college racer (MWV resident) that wants to ski the TD Banknorth WM Classic 30k on the 26th let me know. The MWNC has some FREE entries! Drop me a line and I'll get you the details.

later.

Tour de Ski

I think this is such a cool concept. I sent Howie and email up at GGTOC about doing somehting like this here in the MWV- I think it could be pretty cool.

Also on the TDS site my hero Vergard Ulvang has a blog- check it out.

Snow

I've been slacking on the posts as there has been so much snow that all I've been doing is skiing! It's been great, out the back door, at Whitaker, at GGTOC, skinning up Cranmore- it's been amazing.

I'm trying to get myself to realize that I need to maximize this winter as you don't know when you're going to get another one like it. So I've come up with a list of to do's:

1) ski WVT soon, and ideally start at GGTOC
2) ski to work
3) White Mountain 30K- ski faster then slow (does that make sense?)
4) teach big E to skate ski
5) ski the spine from Cranmore to Redstone

so there is my quick list- anyone want to pick any of those off with me?

Now get out and ski.