Training Log Archive: Swampfox

Very windy! Like Bruce Springsteen, I went down to the river. I didn't dive in and it would have been pretty frozen cold anyway. No Mary, no union card. Just the wind!

C • Down to the river... 2

I think this will be the last time I ski at Happy Jack this season. Let the melting commence for good now!

Thundering winds and vast sections of deep, post-holing snowfields increased the suck factor to a most highly desirable level. I had several epiphanies and even got a touch delusional on the last leg run into the wind. So fine!

My legs gradually got a little sorer as I went along, still a little sore from intervals this past Wednesday. It's clear evidence of the inadvisabiilty of doing intervals, although getting ancient and decrepit are also worth avoiding.

Coaching Tips of the Week:
1) Don't get ancient.
2) Don't get decrepit.
3) Viva Las Vegas!

Really nice out! If it could be like this all year--with snow on the ground, sunny, and mild--it would be even better than, well...Texas!

The end is drawing near though. At least one trail became unskiable today, and if tomorrow is like today, some other trails will melt out too.

Still, what a great season for skiing it's been!

Ran through terrain after mapping. Even at dusk after sunset it still felt relatively mild out. First time of running without a jacket here in Laramie this year.

Tons and tons and tons of ATVers were out--probably 3 times more than I've *ever* seen out at one time before. Granted, it was the first really nice Spring Saturday of the year, but even so, I was surprised to see all the traffic.

As long as the ATVers stay on the designated routes and follow the rules, I have no problems with them. Most are quite polite and friendly. But there are the bad apples too, inevitably.

I know others who do not feel at all as kindly disposed towards the ATV crowd.

One not so happy note: while mapping, I came across a group of about 8-10 ponderosas that had been invaded by pine beetles. One of them had just a few sap tubes which were the largest I've seen before. This tree might have successfully fended off the beetles (for now). In one of the tubes, I at last saw a pine beetle--ensnared in the sap, and dead--which is the first one I've ever seen in person.

If the beetles hit the ponderosas too, that means in a few years we might not have *any* mature pine trees left at all!

Trails are still intact and holding up. But how much longer? It looks like this might be the last weekend of skiing at Happy Jack for the season, at least for me.

Out in The Flats at dusk, with the pretty big moon well up in the sky.

Today I heard an amazing live version of "Like A Rolling Stone" done by Jimi Hendrix, and while I was biking I was thinking about how it could be that, more than 38 years after his death, somehow I hadn't heard this performance. Had it been buried in a vault all this time and just recently released?

Real good skiing yet again; I think tomorrow warmer temps and an even warmer sun are going to get back to work though and that will mean the slush will be back!

Legs were mildy sore from yesterday, which was entirely expected. So I ran easy and picked up two grocery bags worth of beer cans. I ran out of bag space before I ran out of run. So fine!

Out in The Flats; about 35 degrees colder than yesterday, which was almost enough to notice. The cold wind out of the north, on the other hand, was impossible *not* to notice.

Exceptionally good skiing for April 16; fresh snow was falling the whole time I was out, and since it was below freezing all day up top (and last night) and since there are good snow depths in the forest, good crust skiing was available for those who dared take on the lurking snowsnakes.

I know this is the latest date I've skied up at Happy Jack, but I can't remember the previous late date for the next best year. I wonder if this could be a side effect from possible arsenic poisoning?

Whatever, pretty incredible.

"Let me tell you how it will be...I'm the Taxman."'

First there were longhorns. Then there were the Beatles, with their "Taxman", written by Mr. Harrison. Then there was SRV. Then there was SRV playing his hunky version of "Taxman." Then there were massive wind farms popping up all over West Texas. Now, there are armadillos in West Texas.

The trendline is pretty clear.

Hope everyone is having fun with their taxes on this most excellent Tax Day, wherever they might be doing their calculations!

C • Well, I just got back from ... 2

It was just a little slushy. OK--it was a lot slushy! Beautiful Spring skiing conditions today.

After a short mapping session where the key was trying to time some quick drawing in the momentary lulls of the wind.

2nd day running of hop-frog fine weather--full sunshine, full on Spring! The birds are all so happy.

My guess is that by the end of the day, just about all of the new snow that ended up in the valley will have melted away, and the valley can look like a short grass, high elevation prairie again instead of an Arctic wasteland. Up in the hills though, things will melt more slowly...

A good day to remember Lowell Geoge (yesterday would have even been a better day, but the work week begins today), one of the best slide guitarists ever. Will you be my Dixie Chicken? Mercy--there's a fat man in the bathtub! I can't tell you how often I feel like I'm just waiting for Columbus.

C • Feats don't fail me now! 9

Mostly in terrain, remainder on dirt roads.