A Day With Dwichael

Killington tours, spinning and ice biking rule! Paltry snow levels and ice cold temperatures predominate early February conditions. Temperatures below 10 with windchills well below -10 have forced the cycling activity inside for the most part.

Donna keeps encouraging me to accompany her to Dan's Saturday spin sessions at the Y. It has been a good way to keep some aerobic fitness and it is fun to listen to the different levels of activity that people deem 'normal.' A break in the temperature, and with conditions at the upper limit for snow depth, on Sunday I got a great workout doing the home trails for 1:20 last Sunday. The 3-5 inches of loose snow on top of frozen 1-2 inches provided tough resistance but doable biking. It was a great high intensity workout - like a long hill, or plowing though sand or mud. So, it was a good weekend of spinning and biking.

The 'bread' to my ridn 'sandwich' during this period was two tours of Killington. I hosted a Dairy Specialist from WI for the week and on Wednesday we spent 5 hours on the best that VT has to offer. It was his best day of skiing ever. We had a guide in Matt S who has skied K since childhood, so I learned some new terrain. We worked our way from Ramshead to Bear Mtn and back. Lots of time was spent riding alongside the obstacles on the Terrain Park. I even did a ride down the giant 1/2 pipe - not exactly looking like a flying tomato!

On Sunday John T came up and spent the night. We got up early hitting the Ramshead Quad at 9am sharp. We did the same tour of the mountains as I did last Wednesday, spending a lot of time on Cruise Control. We even got in a couple of runs on the double diamond under the K-1 Gondola, as John was trying to impress some women that were in the Gondola with us. John kept me entertained all day with his caffeine-induced, animated monologues and longings for female companionship. His divorce becomes final this week and he was just a'twitter. We had a great time reminiscing our days in Washington County. His office mates have dubbed him the clone of two characters in the show "The Office," and I would say they have him well named! We stayed at it all day, without any breaks, until 4 pm closing - the best day of ridn so far this year! I worked hard to keep the speed up so I could stay with John who enjoys high speed and not too many turns. It was good for improving my technique. A new wax layer and sharpened edges helped as well.

I write from Louisville, KY, where I am doing seminars for John Deere. I left Albany yesterday at 4pm and today Donna reports about 20 inches of snow in the driveway, with more coming down! I return on Friday and hope to get some powder riding in!