Training Log Archive: danfoster

Bumpy, crusty fatbiking. Did several loops through the middle part of Delaney to try to even out some of the frozen postholes. Had to maintain a 10 degree right lean coming across the main field due to a steady crosswind. Then a gust hit and blew me off the packed track and into the snow.

Skiing at the refuge. On the plus side, the above-freezing temps and bright sun softened up the crusty snow we encountered yesterday. On the down side, hordes of weekend walkers had walked down the ski tracks.

Icy xc ski at the refuge with DH. Icy tracks could have used a few more degrees of warmth, or a dusting of new snow. Sure enough, just as we arrived back at the parking lot, glorious wet flakes started falling.

Grabbed Jess and my skate skis as soon as I got home from the refuge, and ventured out onto the frozen pond in search of skateable snow. Found plenty of snow that was too deep, plenty of patches of bare ice, and plenty of soggy spots where Jess was making slurping noises with each footstep. But my favorite ice skating spot had a narrow strip about the length of a soccer field of skate-friendly snow. Managed to get in 1.5 miles of quick straight-line sprints followed by soggy turn-arounds on each end. Jess was getting restless and the novelty was starting to wear off, so we headed back home.

Decided the bivy sack I bought for Untamed needed to earn its keep. Dug a snow trench in the 15 inches of snow in the back yard, and slept out under the stars, which were themselves sleeping out under a heavy layer of clouds. Temps were in the high 20s all night, but I got an unexpected "would you like sprinkles with that?" starting around 1AM. If that hadn't happened, I think it would have been a pretty comfortable night.

15 inches of fluffy white stuff arrived overnight. Jess and I snowshoed out the back door and bushwhacked through the woods and wetlands. I tried to focus on reading the terrain and making good route choices . Jess focused on finding new smells. Given the thick ice, I ventured out into a few places we've never gone before. Fought through a cattail marsh that was a mogul/mine field of snow-covered tussocks. Came out later right at a snowy bridge over a small stream, that turned out to not be a bridge after all. Making matters worse, after I crawled out on the other side, I found uncrossable water just beyond, and we had to jump back over and find another way around. Wet feet and a rapidly-diminishing bag of dog treats aside, it was a pretty great morning.

Stream-side scouting for potential packrafting practice loop.

Final 50km day of fat biking like a Fat Viking. Slightly warmer with no wind, so it wasn't the suffer-fest that the last two days were. I really didn't want to repeat the same 25km loop another two times, so I ventured off into the mountain bike trails and managed to work in about 20km of really fun stuff, including some trails I've never been on before. All that exploring slowed my pace down, so it ended up being 5.5 hours start-to-finish.

With a big storm bearing down on us, it looks like the snowshoes will be coming out soon!