Spinning Necessity

Winter has finally arrived in full force. Last Saturday's ice biking was followed by another Sunday afternoon snowboard session at Mt. Snow. Followed on Monday with another afternoon ice bike on the home trails. However, spinning at the Y has been needed to keep aerobic conditioning and to work on the 8 pounds I need to lose by the end of March.

The Sunday afternoon-Mt. Snow routine has worked well two weeks in a row. I get there around noon and a jump into an empty parking space right next to the $10 premium spots; get suited up at the tailgate of the Outback, and take the short walk to the lift line. This Sunday the lines were very full. I went to the slow lift and got to the top to take a leak at the summit lodge, then headed off to the Caritina area. Lines were less full. A nice feature of riding solo is that you get in the Single Only line and go right to the front. So, waiting in line was never more than a 5 minute break in the action. I liked the trails in this section of Mt. Snow. They were less crowded and had good loose cover to ride over. Eventually I worked my way back over to the main lodge and alternated from doing the Summit run to the other quad. I was feeling very comfortable going over the bumpy steep sections at high speed towards the end. A very good day.

Monday I worked at home in the office and planned the day around a 2-3 pm start of riding the home trails on the Epic. The conditions were ideal with just a couple of inches of dense snow and ice and weather in the 20's. My anticipation was rewarded. I like these trails best under these conditions. The wet spots are all rock hard and the icy, muddy, rutted areas add some technical difficulty to what is ordinarily either smooth or muddy. I stayed out over 90 minutes and got another great workout, despite my legs being dead from the weekend.

On Wednesday and today I went to the Y and spun with Donna in Dan's class. So, a good week of January-February ridn!