Errata...
Poetry will follow this, you have been warned. There are many things germinating in my busy brain (ADD will do that) and I'm going to pull some stuff and decide what's going to be next for a poetry-sized piece.
Today. Shoveled, went skiing at Wachusett around 4pm. I got there and there were a BAZILLION (yes, I counted) people there so I had to park in the far away lot where I parked on NYE. I really wish it had started snowing earlier Saturday so I could have enjoyed it while it was snowing. Even when that happens on a Friday, there are a lot less people out there in the middle of a storm. Maybe because they're not crazy like me, but that's good. However, when the storm has time to clear out and the roads are plowed and it's Sunday, the hordes come like it's a vacation day. Ick. The mountain seems to have a broken bus or they're just crappy planners because the line of people waiting to take a bus to the lodge was huge and there was a big wait between buses. With the wait, I decided to just hike up to the lodge. This was probably the most abuse my legs (my quads were already sore from lots of exercise yesterday) got aside from the misery of climbing up the steps in front of my house when I got home. It was fine until I got to the drive that leads to the main lot, which slopes up at a pretty decent angle. I wanted to keep going at the same pace, so I got a bit of a workout. Ouch. Did I already mention that?
When I got there, I had to get my new ski bindings adjusted and purchase some ski poles. I've never really needed them with the shorter snow boards, but going from the 110 (cm) to the 156s, I needed them now. They turned around my skis pretty fast, and I got out there around five. The lines on the lifts were ridiculous, but even with the single person line being a bit to way past the end of the ropes at times I got to the lift in less than ten minutes (or so) each time.
Getting used to the "real" skis again was interesting. The poles were probably the hardest part for me since I haven't used them since one session at the very beginning of last year with some rental skis. Last season I got really good at skiing with a lot of practice. This year I started off with slightly longer and much wider and heavier boards, and I could tell I was working them pretty hard because my quads were always getting hammered. On the day where it snowed, I was about whimpering by the end. With these new skis, I had to learn how to manage this extra 46 cm of ski, most of which was in front of me.
They're so much more stable than the little sticks. Ridiculously so. But the tradeoff is that I have to be more careful about where I plot my turns, especially when the trail is churned up a bit or someone in front of me is switching back and forth a lot and not really moving - I have to anticipate that. The only time I fell tonight was *again* on the last hill before the lift (on the same side, even) when I was trying to avoid a guy on a board who was right in the damned middle of things and randomly changing directions making it really difficult for me to find a path around him. Didn't hurt myself or anything, but I took a second to realize one of my skis had released. This is a first this year, but the longer ski means more leverage that will pop it out. Not that this is a bad thing at all - I want them to release so my legs (and particularly my knees) don't get torqued and screwed up.
Having poles now that I'm familiar with turning is a multiplier. I'm using them to make the turns easier, and it sometimes even feels like cheating. Strange, but when I use the pole to kind of flip the turn, it's a lot easier than doing all of it with your legs like I did with the smaller ones (and no poles). Having had the smaller, heavier ones, the hockey stop slides are also easier, but require a bit more steadying because they're longer. But overall, my legs which are all buff and so on are having to take less abuse to get the same things done. By the end of the evening, they were grooming Ralph's Run so I got to take a couple of passes right after they finished. I remembered how much I *love* a freshly groomed trail (I got a bunch of them when I went to Breckenridge last year). With the sweet, smooth stuff, I was able to go much faster and began to really appreciate the physics of my new skis. At a decent speed, you can feel the effect of the shaped ski and their edges. When you push for quicker turns at speed, you can feel the way they snap back - it's just awesome. I could completely get addicted to that. It felt great, and I really started to work on my pole technique (for skiing, not dancing, silly) with that, too.
By this point it was around 8:30 and my toes felt like little bricks and my fingers were starting to hurt. But they were finishing up grooming Hitchcock so I had to stay around for one more run there, and it was sweet (even the part near the end of it where I wiped out - didn't hurt at all). Overall, I could have kept going if it weren't for the freezing extremities. Most of the time this season, it was more the tired quads that put an end to my sessions. Even with already being sore, I was there for over three hours (although there was a lot more time in the lift line than usual) and my quads weren't feeling really exerted. This bodes well for my future skiing excursions. I want to do more days where I get out there in time for the beginning of the session (9am) so that I can get some of that freshly groomed stuff - I love it!
Thanks to mcpreacher for being an awesome friend and humoring my random call while I was driving out to Wawa. It was good to blather on for a bit and listen to what you've been up to. You also gave me some things to think about with your guy perspective on things. My phone sucks, though, because it needed to be charged when I got back to the car (I'd forgotten and left it on the seat). Time to buy a car charger, I'm thinking.
Today. Shoveled, went skiing at Wachusett around 4pm. I got there and there were a BAZILLION (yes, I counted) people there so I had to park in the far away lot where I parked on NYE. I really wish it had started snowing earlier Saturday so I could have enjoyed it while it was snowing. Even when that happens on a Friday, there are a lot less people out there in the middle of a storm. Maybe because they're not crazy like me, but that's good. However, when the storm has time to clear out and the roads are plowed and it's Sunday, the hordes come like it's a vacation day. Ick. The mountain seems to have a broken bus or they're just crappy planners because the line of people waiting to take a bus to the lodge was huge and there was a big wait between buses. With the wait, I decided to just hike up to the lodge. This was probably the most abuse my legs (my quads were already sore from lots of exercise yesterday) got aside from the misery of climbing up the steps in front of my house when I got home. It was fine until I got to the drive that leads to the main lot, which slopes up at a pretty decent angle. I wanted to keep going at the same pace, so I got a bit of a workout. Ouch. Did I already mention that?
When I got there, I had to get my new ski bindings adjusted and purchase some ski poles. I've never really needed them with the shorter snow boards, but going from the 110 (cm) to the 156s, I needed them now. They turned around my skis pretty fast, and I got out there around five. The lines on the lifts were ridiculous, but even with the single person line being a bit to way past the end of the ropes at times I got to the lift in less than ten minutes (or so) each time.
Getting used to the "real" skis again was interesting. The poles were probably the hardest part for me since I haven't used them since one session at the very beginning of last year with some rental skis. Last season I got really good at skiing with a lot of practice. This year I started off with slightly longer and much wider and heavier boards, and I could tell I was working them pretty hard because my quads were always getting hammered. On the day where it snowed, I was about whimpering by the end. With these new skis, I had to learn how to manage this extra 46 cm of ski, most of which was in front of me.
They're so much more stable than the little sticks. Ridiculously so. But the tradeoff is that I have to be more careful about where I plot my turns, especially when the trail is churned up a bit or someone in front of me is switching back and forth a lot and not really moving - I have to anticipate that. The only time I fell tonight was *again* on the last hill before the lift (on the same side, even) when I was trying to avoid a guy on a board who was right in the damned middle of things and randomly changing directions making it really difficult for me to find a path around him. Didn't hurt myself or anything, but I took a second to realize one of my skis had released. This is a first this year, but the longer ski means more leverage that will pop it out. Not that this is a bad thing at all - I want them to release so my legs (and particularly my knees) don't get torqued and screwed up.
Having poles now that I'm familiar with turning is a multiplier. I'm using them to make the turns easier, and it sometimes even feels like cheating. Strange, but when I use the pole to kind of flip the turn, it's a lot easier than doing all of it with your legs like I did with the smaller ones (and no poles). Having had the smaller, heavier ones, the hockey stop slides are also easier, but require a bit more steadying because they're longer. But overall, my legs which are all buff and so on are having to take less abuse to get the same things done. By the end of the evening, they were grooming Ralph's Run so I got to take a couple of passes right after they finished. I remembered how much I *love* a freshly groomed trail (I got a bunch of them when I went to Breckenridge last year). With the sweet, smooth stuff, I was able to go much faster and began to really appreciate the physics of my new skis. At a decent speed, you can feel the effect of the shaped ski and their edges. When you push for quicker turns at speed, you can feel the way they snap back - it's just awesome. I could completely get addicted to that. It felt great, and I really started to work on my pole technique (for skiing, not dancing, silly) with that, too.
By this point it was around 8:30 and my toes felt like little bricks and my fingers were starting to hurt. But they were finishing up grooming Hitchcock so I had to stay around for one more run there, and it was sweet (even the part near the end of it where I wiped out - didn't hurt at all). Overall, I could have kept going if it weren't for the freezing extremities. Most of the time this season, it was more the tired quads that put an end to my sessions. Even with already being sore, I was there for over three hours (although there was a lot more time in the lift line than usual) and my quads weren't feeling really exerted. This bodes well for my future skiing excursions. I want to do more days where I get out there in time for the beginning of the session (9am) so that I can get some of that freshly groomed stuff - I love it!
Thanks to mcpreacher for being an awesome friend and humoring my random call while I was driving out to Wawa. It was good to blather on for a bit and listen to what you've been up to. You also gave me some things to think about with your guy perspective on things. My phone sucks, though, because it needed to be charged when I got back to the car (I'd forgotten and left it on the seat). Time to buy a car charger, I'm thinking.