I did actually have a lot of fun out there, believe it or not. The warmup tracks were all rock-solid, making me wish I'd brought my stiffer skate skis, but the course was super chopped up, and because its been cold, it was all pure sugar-slush - just like weston! Some of the hills here are also really short and sweet, (well, not that short actually), also like weston - I visualized myself out-skiing a herd of angry master blasters, and it got me right up and over those steep little kickers!
There was a lot of racer interaction, in a good way - I caught a girl who was lapping on my first lap, and skied with her until just after the really steep part of the hill, when she took off on the more gradual pitch and I just couldn't keep up. Then I caught up to a pack of girls on their second lap, cut through that like a hot knife in buttah, just trying to not get too excited and keep it relaxed, but not sloppy. Second lap I caught my 30s girl, who was a much better climber, and I think that really helped me - she passed me on some of the big climbs and I just had to not let her go, it made me climb a lot faster than I would have, but I think I needed that fire lit under my butt. Boy was I wheezing for most of that second lap, those courses are TOUGH, and the deep soft snow wasn't helping, but at least my skis were fast. Now if I could just stop coughing...
That picture Janice took is awesome (see below) - the crazy thing is, it felt pretty light by then, since we'd been warming up in almost the pitch black. I think they turned the lights off once it was light enough, probably at 10 - didn't pay attention. As pretty as this place is, I'm pretty sure I couldn't live here - seasonal affective disorder much?
No comments:
Post a Comment