Cycling

Blazing Saddles Metric Century: Ride Report

As detailed previously, I have rediscovered cycling in a big way. Taking the activity far more seriously than I ever had before, I have been training for my first century ride, which is scheduled for September 25th. In preparation for that event, I decided to ride in a metric century to gauge my current fitness level and sample what a century ride is all about.

Enter the Blazing Saddles Century put on by the North Shore Cyclists of northeastern Massachusetts this past Sunday. This ride has three routes including a half century, metric century, and full century. With registration allowed on the morning of the event, I was able to decide if I would do the ride depending upon the weather. The registration fee on the morning of the ride was only $25.00. At only ten dollars more than the pre-registration fee, it was a worth while gamble to bet with the weather and against the race. As it turned out, the day was picture perfect with partly cloudy skies, a cool morning, little wind, and temperatures in the low eighties at their highest.

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News

Summer at TheSnowWay.com

Not much skiing related has been happening here at TSW-HQ this summer. After ending the season at Cannon during a freak two foot snow storm during the last week of April, I transitioned into skiing hibernation mode. I began rehabbing my left knee which suffered an over use injury during the ski season that I pointedly ignored. The rehab meant that I was sidelined for the spring skiing season. But the rehab has been successful and I am optimistic that I will begin running and hiking again before the start of the next season.

One key component to the rehab process was strengthening my quadricep in my left leg. It turns out that road bike riding is a great way to build muscle strength while causing minimal impact to the injured knee. This weekend I will pass my 1000th mile. I had not done much road biking since college, a dozen years ago. This summer has rekindled my love for pedaling. I am taking biking seriously and doing it for fitness but also enjoying more fully exploring my home… this vast stretch of amazing land from the Lakes Region to the Whites. I have some larger rides planned including a metric century, a Ride Around Winnipesaukee, some notch riding in the whites, and a full century. My fitness is greatly improved compared to last year so I am hoping that translates into the ski season.

New boards for turn earning are ready for mounting. The new earned turn powder rig will be Watea94s mounted with Dynafit Vertical 12s and BD Ascension skins. This will be my first fatter board with an AT binding an it should serve as motivation to earn my powder as both the up and down will ski better with 94mm under each foot.

In other news, frequent readers may have noticed fewer pictures than normal this past season. This was due to my dog destroying my Cannon A630. As a temporary solution, I purchased a used A570 on the cheap but did not enjoy the interface or the quality of the pictures. After having watched closely the digital camera market for the past two years, I finally decided it was time for a major upgrade.

I just purchased a TL-350 which is a brand new camera from… Samsung? It appears that Samsung has gotten serious about cameras and all reviews for their new top end compact P&S lineup including the TL-500 and TL-350 have been full of praise. Look for a lot more photos this winter.

Finally, I am committed to upgrading TSW to the latest v3.0 of WordPress before the season starts. I have held off due to concern for plug-in compatibility. I am unsure of how I will proceed with photos (currently sourced through Gallery software). Suffice to say There may or may not be some practical and/or visual changes before the next season begins.

Hopefully we’ll be making turns again in less than three months. Until then, I will be pedaling hard and trying to find time for badly needed upgrades to the web site. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Random

Yet Another Spring on the DL

Ah, spring time. Long days, warmer temps, closed lifts, Mount Washington calling my name… and injuries. Always injuries. Prior to my broken elbow four seasons ago, I had never had an injury that effected my season. Since then it seems like an annual occurrence. This insidious streak is particularly prevalent in the spring. My monthly stats back this up: I have more ski days in July (3) than in June (2).

This year’s injury dates back to the epic dump during the last week of February. Magic Mountain got the goods but the snow was particularly dense and heavy. My tips dove and I hyperextended my knee when my bindings didn’t release as my body tried to go over the handlebars.

My knee seemed fine at the time, just a little sore, and I kept skiing. I kept skiing right through March and April, despite increasing tension and pain, especially when descending stairs or weighting my left knee heavily. These days included a few open to close bump days during which I surprisingly had little pain while skiing.

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2009-2010 Season, April, Cannon Mountain, Earned Turns, Powder Day

The Powder Days Started Here, The Powder Days Finish Here: Over Two Feet of Fresh at Cannon

The Powder Days Started Here. The Powder Days Finish Here. This is Cannon. This is my home.

Just when you thought it was safe to put away the powder skis and take off the snow tires, old man winter says he ain’t finished quite yet. An impressive storm system dropped copious amounts of snow from Northern Vermont clear across the White Mountains pushing the Avalanche Advisory for Tuckerman Ravine to a rare Extreme rating.

Two feet seems to be the average for terrain above two thousand feet in favored aspects. Cannon got two feet and them some with drifts of three to four feet in places. Cannon historically delivers early season and late season. So it comes as no surprise that my first and last powder days book end the season at Cannon.

With early morning meetings at work and a physical therapy session for my knee (LOL) just after noon, my turn earning was delayed until later in the day. Driving north on I-93, I saw nothing but bare ground and rain which might have tested a less knowledgeable die hard’s resolve. But I know Cannon. And I know what these types of storms do in the Notch.

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2009-2010 Season, April, Killington

Closing Weekend at Killington — THE BEAST is Dead

 

Much to the dismay of Killington pass holders, Killington die hards, and spring bump skiers everywhere, Killington recently announced that this would be there last weekend in operation despite having previously promoted that they would ski into May if conditions allow. As we would find out throughout the afternoon, conditions most certainly would allow at least one more weekend of skiing if not two more weekends with a little effort. Three weeks ago, I skied Killington and asked whether or not THE BEAST is back. In answer to the question I posed, Killington will write the words “Closed for the Season” in the new flowery and flowy script of Powd’r and not the big bold letters of the beast of old.

With a freeze overnight, we arrived at Killington shortly after 10 A.M. and went about booting up at a leisurely pace to allow the sun and temperatures to work their magic. Even as early as 11 A.M., some surfaces were still a little firm and variable. By by noon time, epic spring bump conditions arrived and it was game on for a great afternoon of bumps.

The center of Superstar was groomed which proved to be a disaster. The snow formed long well spaced out mounds of snow. Right and left sides had bumps but lines were fairly irregular though things did get better after noon. Upper Ovation was a narrow ribbon down skier’s left and I would be surprised if it was still open on Sunday. There is a 10 foot break in the snow mid-trail. Sensible folks were taking off their skis and down hiking but more adventurous folks, such as yours truly, just pointed the skis straight down the wet grass and went for it. The portage back to Superstar was short and not the problem.

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