Training Log Archive: ernst

At JSTF: S Ellis to Keeney to S. Hall. Out to S end of S. Hall Road, then returned back the same way into village with a loop around the fields. Fantastic conditions: granular (crushed ice snow mix) perfectly groomed into corduroy - fast, so quite easy to climb up the Keeney.
Skis came fresh out of the wax box treatment. Felt good all the way.

Then out again for classic. Skate skis need to be waxed before more skiing. Parked at C Notch Road - Back S on fields to 2 rounds of Wave-John Henry, Then back to parking - tried the metal bridge off Alice's Alley, but had been moved to land - looked like the W river changed its course during a recent rain storm. and now there are 2 water channels. I guess they would need 2 bridges. The plan was to clean off the Universal klister from last week's race. But the tracks started getting softer as temps climbed from high 20's to around freezing. In the end, still a lot of sticky on the skis. I guess I will need to use the Durham ice shredder for ski cleaning. Fun and good skiing " "replaying the 30k" but this time without nasty winds.

Nancy offered me her Karhu skis that have mohair strips on the kick zone. These worked moderately well. It would not be enough kick on steep hills. So I shredded around again on the old tracks. Dirty old ice. We need new snow!
Good training though: lots of double poling and also balancing - stepping around the turns without wiping out. Stopped a few times to remove little branches from the tracks. Nobody would believe me that I am actually having fun skiing on ice.

Shredding on the ice! Atrocious layer of ice everywhere. First I tried a loop on snowshoes, scraping as much as possible - in track - out of track - the result: nada. A bit of softening on the surface but not enough to establish new ski tracks. Quickly bagged that, instead smeared a layer of ice klister onto my tele skis. That worked ok for about 5 minutes. Yet skiing was fairly good in the flats nevertheless where there was enough solid cover. Deafening crunching as I was shredding through. Lots of double poling even with tele skis.

Out on the Spruce Hole trails. Big rain/melt event in the forecast. 50 F temps forecast. Moisture in the air at 8 am at 30F so out I went for a waxless run. Fabulous. I skied most of the trails. Thin cover in places with vegetation poking trhough, but no rocks. A real fun ski - so glad I went - and I stayed absolutely dry.
I turned out we had all day drizzle, rain with no melting, temps hovering around freezing. An absolute mess in parking lots and walk ways! Happy New England weather.

Ohh ! It's already 42 F and climbing. I better go out for a loop or two. - Around SH as usual. Universal klister for kick. Very slow, but after yesterday, my ability to crank forward via double poling had improved. Did all the previously tracked trails on the S main part.