the Way of the Turtle

RECOVERY DAY? WHAT RECOVERY DAY?
A Bit O' XC Skiing in the Pine Bush
Monday, February 19, 2007

Tomorrow is a recovery day for sure. My legs are feeling the effects of 2 challenging snowshoe races this weekend and then an hour or so of XC skiing today. Besides, Wednesday night I'm supposed to do some kind of long run...

When I went out this afternoon the weather was sunny and relatively warm - nothing like the arctic, subzero-windchill weather that had been predicted. So how could I resist hitting the trails on my skiis?

Looks like a good deal of skiing, snowshoeing, and just plain walking has been done at the Columbia Circle section of the Pine Bush (officially, the Blueberry Hills East and West.) There's a well-packed path along most of the trails that I visited today. In some cases the skiing track was set along the side of the trail, so considerate snowshoers tracked a path next to it - in other spots, there's one track. In many places the walkers have also claimed the track, which can make skiing a challenge when your kick zone ends up over an 8 inch deep boot print.

Between my tired legs and the fact that I've only been on my skiis four times in the last two years, it was very slow going, though I did start to get back into the swing of skiing right around when I needed to call it quits and head over to the karate school to prep for the bo class I was teaching tonight. Being something of a glutton for punishment, I climbed to the top of the hill on the red trail and enjoyed the view for a few minutes - had a clear look at the Helderberg Escarpment off to the west. What a gorgeous day! I took off my skiis at the top of the hill to hike back down and then ski back to the parking lot - and promptly sank up to my knees in snow. Sometimes it's good to have reminders like that of why I ski and snowshoe instead of just hiking or running on the snow-covered trails...

Maybe I can get out on my skiis again Friday after work... perhaps for a longer workout. No telling how much longer we're going to have snow - I want to enjoy it while it's here!

JMH