Killington Payoff. Mid November 2012 to mid April 2013.

After two years of investing in Killington Express Cards and not getting to use them more than twice each year, 2012/13 provides a return on the investment. 

Total knee replacements one year and shoulder repair the next wiped out my snowboarding. This season the weather and my body cooperated. Lots of snow early and deep into spring allowed me to get rides into late April. I could have done more but I needed to train for the Battenkill so cut it off. The final day was fantastic top to bottom K1 over to Cascade and Lower East Fall and Canyon. Chute and mouse trap were also good ways down. 

So, for the season, the Killington riding along with the Tahoe Trip and a day at Stowe with Jon T that was on fresh Ten Inches of powder, riding snowboard was best yet.

 Pretty sweet after two disappointing seasons. 

Reno Rides. March 3&4, 2013

Tale of two experiences. 

Northstar. Solo, wet, trees.   

Heavenly. With two friends. Bluebird. Fresh pow. 

Northstar. Started off morning at McD and almost called it off. Fifty degrees and pouring rain. Decided to make the drive up at least. Listened to a radio doc talk about heart issues with diet and exercise - foreshadowing?  Kept going despite no change in conditions. Parked car and got dressed and on the shuttle bus. About half way up the gondola from the village to the base rain turned to large globs of snow. Up the first lift and snow was coming down hard and wet. First run on front side EXCELLENT.  Deep carveable snow that wasn't too sluggish. Did several runs over by the black diamond chutes before moving to the backside. BACKSIDE!!!  Better than the last time I was there. No people, steep black runs, great deep floaty but heavy snow. Third time down I decided to venture into the trees. Best tree experience I have ever had!! Got into the groove of not thinking about turns just picking lines through the trees. Dropped off an eight foot ledge onto a crossover which scared me at first but excited me after!  Legs finally gave in before I was ready to, but needed to save something for Heavenly tomorrow. Changed and dried off at car. Drove down to Truckee and had a spinach avocado omelette.

Heavenly. Yesterday's wet snow on the north side of Tahoe turned out to be a powder dump on the south side. Met up with Ian and Bennet and dropped my car at the airport. Another McD breakfast on drive down. Never been on this side of the lake and marveled at the scenery. Long wait to get first gondola up out of the village. At mid-station, walk to second lift at altitude took its toll. Elevation yielded powder but took lots of oxygen out of the air. We spread ourselves all over the place on each side of the state line so wound up doing lots of traversing instead of shreading. Mostly blues too which is what happens when ridin with others so enjoyed the benefits, which were lots of laughs and shared experiences. After a lunch break I got my board locked but not unlocked. After getting them cut free joined up with the guys again. Ian's legs were done so just Bennet and I for the rest of the day. We ventured up to the 10k peak and did some blacks and trees. As the sun got lower the powder froze up, but we did find areas where it stayed soft. Another great day on the board. 

Hard to return and attend conference for next three days.  Killington would have lots to live up to now. And turns out it did and then some!

Month Without Posting - a good sign for Ridn!

Yes, it has been more than one month since my last blog entry. Work and play have kept me very busy. Work entails customer meetings while winter weather makes them assessable; play has been snowboarding on great snow and trying to keep aerobic fitness up and body weight down.

An excellent opportunity to combine work and play occurred in March when I was able to travel to Reno / Tahoe to attend the Western Dairy Management Conference. I arrived early and left late in order to get three sun-filled days of snowboarding in the Sierra-Nevada's. While snow levels were lowest their in years, at about one-half of the normal amount, nevertheless, the riding was first rate. The first two days were with coworkers Jim and Bennet at Mt. Rose and Squaw Valley. The base was deep and carvable top to bottom - no eastern ice! While there was no western deep powder, it still a blast. The last day I went solo to Northstar and enjoyed the Backside Runs that are steep, yet very rideable as soon as the snow softened.

When I returned we got a St. Paty's day 2-footer that made Killington into the deep powder paradise I was seeking out west. I was able to go on a Saturday morning when the crowds could not get there due to roads being plugged with snow. The entire complex of mountains were left ungroomed and natural, so I finally had the chance to let my Malalo ride on top of loose snow. It was great to ride the bumps when the bumps were soft.

As far as aerobic fitness is concerned, I was only able to get one decent road ride in before the big storm put things on hold again. And that ride was a hand and foot-numbing experience. I finally had to hook the Y-Foil up to the Cyclops and do some indoor training in the back room on the first day of spring - it was 5 degrees outside!

Decision time came this past Saturday. Do I finally get out and ride the bike so I have some fitness for the fast-approaching Battenkill-Rubaix (a 56-mile race on climbing dirt and blacktop roads) OR get in one last day of Killington snowboarding?? Killington won out and it was a great day of attacking the soft bumps on Chute and Bunnybuster. Today (Sunday) will be the road riding day.

Still trying to combine work and play, I found a bike store in Sacramento that rents Trek 1500 / 105-equipped road bikes, so I can try to ride out there when working the first week in April.

It is a great thing to be able to work riding into working and to have the dilemma be which type of riding do I do today?