Inactivity Ends With Day at Killington

Finally did something yesterday. After a prolonged period of rest due to stuffed lungs (9 full days on inactivity) I took a day I had banked from working on Saturday and went up to Killington by myself on Thursday. Got in a solid four hours of ridn in frigid weather and icy/frozen hard-packed conditions. The temp at the top was 12 degrees with wind blowing 40 MPH. At the base it was 20 with much less wind. New gear I invested in this year in anticipation of ridn in this type of weather paid off well today. The Burton AK 2L Pants with Hot Chilli fleece base layer kept the legs toasty the whole day. Feet and hands got a little cool by the end, but not bad at all. Under helmet hood and turtle fur neck wrap kept the head and neck area well protected. The Campmor Shell and fleece base with three technical shirts kept the top half in great shape all day too.

I took the opportunity to explore this huge ski area. With six Mountains all accessible by the same network of lifts, I only saw about 1/2 of the available terrain. But, it was good to get the legs moving again. I found the best run of the day to be the Northridge Lift to Rime and Reason. Lower Chute was also good. Got a first look at the Skye Mountain area and I liked the trails, but on this day the frozen chop was less than ideal. As I said, I did a solid four hours and the last run was feeling like one run too many as my legs were not responding to what my brain was asking of them. I took the Great Northern route back to Ramshead and walked slowly back to the car - feeling satisfied. Listened to the "Kite Runner" on the ride home. Good Day.

Early Season Setback and Ice Storm

Cold! Not the January weather, but the mucus-packed, stuffed in the head, sinus, bronchule, lung kind of cold. I have been inactive since last Monday - one full week. Head is cleared out now, but lungs are still not there yet. And the weather outside is frightfull: 1/2 to 3/4 inch of ice and it is still raining and 30 degrees at 2 pm. Would have gone to Killington today with Alix and Pete, but the roads were too poor. I need to fire-up the legs and may have to resort to the CycloTrainer. It is supposed to get frigid - below zero the next couple of days, and then warm a little. Shooting for Killington on Thursday!

Ice storm turned out to be more serious than expected as our power went out around 2:30 pm today. As of bed time (early, since we were in candle light and no heat) the power was sceduled to come back at 5 am. When we awoke that prediction was moved to Thurday afternoon!! Since we are also supposed to get below zero, I needed to get some power to run the outside wood furnace, or we would have frozen pipes. I called Rob and left a message that I probably would not make our meeting in Warrensburg. He called back and said he could get his dad's generator to me. We got it running and Doc got it hooked up so the wood furnace rapidly heated the house. I went to the meeting at least for that day, but the power came back in early pm - so we were out only 24 hours. The Saratoga area was hit hardest with some people out for a few days. Amazing damage in trees and lines down.