Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Up to Dublin. Was it worth going up to Dublin? Maybe? Should I have done twice the driving for the Jackson race? Probably not?

There's enough snow, and conditions were fluid. It started out warm and sunny and wet granular, but reasonably fast. Then a snow squall blew through, which put new snow on top, but it melted a little in the sun and got really slow. Annoying slow, where it had stupid slow bits every so often where my ski would just stop.

But then another squall blew through and it got a bit faster as it got colder, and was probably really fun later but I had satisfied the time requirement and was hungry. The store had their pulled pork sandwich so that, paired with a cookie and this sign, definitely made it worthwhile.

Weston Tuesday, then maybe the Tuckerman Inferno on Saturday, and maybe the end of ski season?

OH DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I MIGHT BE ABLE TO BORROW A FAT BIKE?

Blue Hills run with Mel. It's so dry! Kind of perfect, skiing in one direction, dry trails in the other. Kind of nice when March goes from snow to dry in a week.

Skieroo around the local ski place on the way home. Not too too soft, but would have been nice if it had crusted up a bit. Definitely rock skis, a few thin spots, but not bad for 0 additional minutes of driving (which means, to satisfy the rule, I didn't actually have to ski). Good to know this is there. Fun little area, cute trail signs, and great skiing through the orchard. You could probably set a heck of a ski-o in the orchards if you wanted to.

Talked to the groomer on the way out for a while, he's using a ~30 year old snow cat and they had their biggest year ever this year: biggest day had 54 skiers! It's a pretty DIY outfit: show up, sign the book, put $10 in the honor box, which isn't even a slot, just a box you put money in. So old fashioned!

Off on a run to take photos. Didn't go to BHA since it was too far. Warm.

Warm up for Worlds. Weston physics in play: 48˚ and fast ice. Grooming wasn't even that bad. Felt like yesterday except 20˚ warmer. My legs were only a bit wobbly and tired.

Felt surprisingly good skiing today. Was not fast, and definitely took some double pole options, but not really sore and no pain points. Skiing is the best, even on jellylegs.

One lap of cool down. Almost saw an epic three-way crash on the sketchy corner near Mount Weston.

After not skiing 100k at Acadia a few weeks ago, I wanted to ski a 100k day if conditions were right. This weekend looked perfect, and I decided to take Monday off since it was looking like the tail end of ski season (and I had no meetings). But where to ski? Jackson was too dirty, and frankly, maybe too hilly. My parents were at Waterville, but not all their terrain was open, and I could have skied back and forth on Livermore and Tripoli and then to the south end, but that's also lots of hills and lots of taking skis on and off. Plus I'd be tempted to pull the pulk which would not lend itself to kilometrage. (If they implement their master plan, it would be interesting)

So, Greens! I knew it might be terrible: they groom for the weekends and Mondays are not weekends and it might be super icy. But it also might be just pliable enough to be fast, and the trails there are so nice I could ski all day, but also have some flatter sections where I could manage not to be going straight up or straight down a hill all day. I started around 10 having had a big breakfast at WV and made the drive down.

The conditions were interesting. Hardpack from the day before, but not sheer ice. Definitely a day for the hard skis with good edges. Sun crust, but there was definitely the vestige of some powder mixed in. The first climb up from Dorchester was tricky; it took some time to get my ski legs under me, and I almost lost an edge and ate it a couple of times. But the sun was out (what a glorious weekend: not a cloud the entire time) and as it hit the trail it softened things up a bit. The snow was very cold from the overnight, so it wasn't about to mash potato, but there was a tiny little corn harvest on top as the ambient temperature got near freezing.

The plan was to ski around a lot, head back to the car for lunch and water with at least 35 miles down, then head back out the connector and ski some more. Maybe I'd make it 100k on a liter of water and a bunch of bars (I packed about 2000 calories of bars and M&Ms) but that would be a stretch. Out the connector and then wheee down the big wide hill past the warming shack and started with an interior loop back to the shack (10 miles). Easier to count miles than kilometers when you are counting this high.

Then around Trout Pond and the pond, to Carriage Road, looping back on Carriage Road, back up along the pond and back across to the warming shack. Which was in full sun and quite pleasant and where I took a feed a few times (20 miles). I saw some women for a second time and they said something like "oh you're out for another lap already" … if they only knew. Then across Smarts and down Mud Pond (fast), down to the parking lot, then up Mudgett's (reasonably fast, a little warm on a couple of hills but not sticky, just slightly corny, and then scary fast down the back side). I very nicely hit 50k at the top of the hill and cruised back to the warming shack for more food (33.5 miles). I could have gone back to the car but I had water and food and was feeling good and decided to at least ski a bit more.

Back across and down Mud Pond, up Mudgett's but not the top, then back south of the Pond and a lap of the pond crust before skittering up the west side and taking a break, at 47 miles, at the intersection with Mud Pond. By this time I was counting backwards. On the pond I was at 19 to go, 5 are free, because going down the connector is a lot of sitting in the tracks. Skiing was getting harder now, both the firmer snow and my legs being tired. My R big toe felt kind of blistery but I tightened my boot and it felt better (or had some circulation cut off, at least), and the bottoms of my feet were tired. My arms were okay, so DPing in the tracks was nice.

Anyway at 42 (20 to go, 5 are free) I could have headed down Ruth Parks and the connector, and then come back around for a short loop. At 47 I'd get back at 52, so an out-and back? Or the race trails? I had maybe enough water to do that; and it wasn't getting warmer or sunnier. I figured I'd ski Trout Pond, at least, and then reconnoiter at the warming shack. So I did, down, up Trout Pond (still very nice; side note: if anyone survives the meltdown it will be Green's, since they have two feet of hardpack and won't groom it, and dry sun melts things much more slowly than rain) and then on the way back, like manna from heaven, I saw a mostly-full gallon of water. I'd noticed it earlier but now it was speaking to me.

Now, it could have been put there by a Russian FSB agent to try to kill me or another dissident. Or it could have just been dropped there because, well, who knows why. That was Occam's Razor. It was fully liquid and had been sitting in the sun for hours, so anything nasty would have been UVed away, and I picked it up, took a nice swig, and then set it back in it's icy cradle. Now I had enough water. So I got back to the warming shack at 50.5 (12 to go, 5 are free) and whee down the hill (almost caught an edge and died, legs were tired). Did an inside loop, some real proper snowplowing on Ruth Parks (icy and fast, yes, but the climbs were not bad), feed at the shack and then up the climb to the top, with some back-and forth on flat sections to get kms I could double-pole and not arrive at the finish with 3 miles to go. I also stopped to take a picture at the lookout, the only one of the day, but it was too beautiful not to document. Moosilauke, the Franconia Ridge peeking (or peaking?) out over it's shoulder, and the Presidentials in through the trees. 130 mile visibility off of the summit with light winds, what a day.

Then down the connector, legs tired and tracks taken, as it was pretty frozen. My timing was perfect, there were six skiable hours and I skied all six. I still needed a mile at the bottom and I skied the north race loop to get there. I was angry at the hills there, which just kept coming, but not that angry when I crossed 100km. I celebrated with a victory ski across to the parking lot and then stopped skiing after 7 hours, 6:35 on the snow (I was very good about stopping and starting my watch when I stopped today, I'd promised myself if I didn't I'd have to go back to the same stop and start again, and I was very motived not to do extra skiing).

I sat in the car, ate some food, drank lots of water, and changed fully to dry clothes (but I was well-dressed, not too cold or wet and not too hot; although the lobster mitts for the last downhill were a good call and made it worth carrying them all day). Then a drive home fueled by a slushy Coke still in my car from my last long day (the 100 miler) and, once I'd stopped at Hannaford, cheeze-its.

All in all, a very successful day. I would have liked slightly more tolerable conditions underfoot, but the fact that it was fast was very good. It got a lot harder for the last 20k or so, as would be expected, and if I did this again I might try to do it with more of a midday break, change of clothes, etc. Like, say, if I was staying at Craftsbury. But that's for another year, for 2020, this was pretty much perfect. Temperatures in the high 20s is definitely the way to do this. And if it's the last ski of the year, it will have been a good one.

Definitely something I'd like to do in the future, and something that would be even more fun with friends along. Because skiing is amazing, the worst that happened were foot cramps overnight. Day after and I'm not even really sore, just a little tired. So, yeah, I'd do it again. And maybe go for 100 miles? Why not.

C • Amazing! 3