It was such an awesome winter! And it’s not quite over yet because as I write this, its snowing in Harrisonburg and there is 24 inches of snow on the ground in West Virginia. I got back to my roots this winter doing lots of nordic skiing and working the weekends at White Grass. White Grass is one of my favorite places on the planet because its all about fun. And when there is good snow, there is so much fun to be had!
Skiing is so joyful. I love feeling glide. Its freedom. And the more skillful of a skier I can become, the more glide potential I can get. There is great aerobic fitness to be gained with lots of skiing, but biking is still a lot harder. In skiing it seems like there is unlimited granny gear and you don’t have the weight of your bike to contend with. I also love how different temperatures, snow types, ski and wax make such a big difference in the ski experience.
I’ve been taking classes this past year at our local community college with thoughts of completing my prereqs for applying for nursing school. My mom is a nurse and it seems like a really great profession on lots of levels and of course its so easy to get a job. On other levels the doubts creep up because I don’t really want to work with sick people in hospitals. I’m interested in health, wellness and ecology. I never seemed to make the transition into a normal lifestyle(ie real job) after professional bike racing. I love the skills coaching, but its not a full time gig. And since I feel this good at 41, I need to have some kind of marketable skill set so I can work into my 70′s. Its been great getting back to school and using my brain and memory in different ways.
The really awesome thing about dedicating a winter to skiing again, was the total jones for getting back to mountain biking. I was really craving it in a way, that I hadn’t in a while. I think that is what happens to so many bikers is that they don’t diversify enough. They bike too much in the winter and don’t work on their weakness or just don’t have enough fun. By summer, the burnout is palatable.
I started the biking season with two fun sundays. The first sunday, I went to the Virginia State Mountain Bike Championships on my brand new Cannondale Scalpel. I really like 29ers for racing. They roll! But this year I’m so happy to be on a light, flickable , full suspension 29er. For local xc racing, the Transylvania Epic and Shenandoah 100 this bike is going to be so perfect. I was happy that my very first ride on this bike made me a state champ.
The second sunday funday was the Twin Towers ride. Heading out on one of those days when they are predicting rain and not worrying about it, Five of us got rewarded with perfect spring temps with tacky dirt and the slightest of slip to the grippy rocks. This is only about a 30 mile ride, but its epic. We started at Edinburgh Gap and climbed Wanazee Peak. I’ll give a free jar of salsa to anyone who clears this trail. Its real hard, but I know someone can! Then when you get to the top its miles of rolling downhill trail that transitions to gentle ups and downs along a traverse. You come out to the first tower, Woodstock Tower.
Some dirty downhilling and then we crossed the valley and resupplied at my new favorite stop, the Fort Valley store because they had about 10 different hot sauces made by a local guy that I’ll have to go back for. The bag of potato chips and mountain dew got me up the steep gravel climb to Milford Gap. We were up on the ridge now, heading south, heading to Kennedy Peak.
Probably one of my favorite rides…either direction is incredible! Steep ups, Steep downs. Sometimes you aren’t working a bit and then other times you are tasting blood. The March views with no leaves on the trees, treats you to views of the bends of the mighty Shenandoah River and Shenandoah National Park. To the west, the big mountains of West Virginia.
I was in slumtown quite a bit. I hadn’t done that long of a ride in a long, long time. But I’m not going to complain like a Foofer about it. I was also in utter amazement at all the things that I had cleared up or down! For sure the highlight was when Carp and Jimmy watched me style a really hard downhill chute and gave me props. It was like it was good for any rider, not just “good for a girl”! Back to the skiing…I think skiing all winter helped my mountain bike skills.
It was a tough hump up to Tower Two, Kennedy Peak. But, it meant a huge rocky downhill as a reward!
Spring isn’t officially here, but nothing stops the rolling on of time!
Posted March 17, 2013 by susan
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