Tuesday, January 19, 2010

And Still the Snow Falls

After getting over a foot of snow in a storm that ended yesterday, today saw more of it falling for at least a few more inches. Thank goodness for XC skiing. Without it, on days like today I would have opted to workout inside in the gym. I'd much rather do something outside.

That being said, conditions weren't ideal. With a moderate snowfall falling all day, it would have been impossible for the groomers to keep up with the trails. So, conditions were quite slow, with a good two to three inches of unpacked snow coating most of the trails.

I started off exploring some intermediate trails, but it was obvious they were less packed than the other more popular trails. As a result, the first kilometer was quite slow.

I headed back to the popular Joe Buzzell Lane trail, and shortly afterwards while taking a break before a climb, I watched a woman fly past me with pretty good speed. Ah, okay. Sure the conditions are slowing things down, but it's not a total excuse.

So, off I went and thankfully the JBL trail was indeed pretty skiable. Opted to take a small section of black diamond trail on the Deer Run trail back, before it turned back to intermediate. That was on a downhill, and fun to fly down!

Decided to call it a day after that, as I knew the drive home was going to be a bit of a white knuckle drive with snow conditions and I wanted to beat most of the "rush hour" traffic, if such a thing exists in rural Maine. Planning on returning tomorrow.

Skate skied 5.5 kilometers @ 8.4 kph/avg.
Trails with a 2-3 inches of unpacked snow. Very slow conditions.
Moderately hilly.
Upper 20s, overcast, snowing moderately throughout.
Long pants, windbreaker, short sleeved shirt, beanie, gloves.


1 comment:

Laurel said...

I don't know if you ski classical, but in conditions like yesterday's it's the way to go. I was passing skate skiers on the trail yesterday while skiing classical.