Training Log Archive: Swampfox

Made the exchange with racer X8A7, pulling into the parking lot just as he was starting to back out. My impression is that I was able to sneak in (secret agent style) without him seeing me. All this while Wee Ski was just concluding, so there was pretty well mayhem of the friendly sort at the trailhead, including many dogs running this way and that. For the first time ever , this year there is some sort of introductory Wee Ski class for dogs, and do not even think about asking how that is supposed to work; I have absolutely no earthly idea. As I said, friendly mayhem.

But 200m or so past the trailhead, the trails were all but deserted.

Ran afterwards until well past dark, and got back to my truck with what was almost perfect timing: when I turned on the radio, the 2nd half of the Super Bowl had just started, and I had missed nothing (since nothing had happened in the game up until that point.) I was especially pleased with missing the halftime festivities, which will never be the same without Prince.

Can't remember much about the day--might have been the soda crackers kicking in--other than it was really sunny for a while. I do remember I reacted to that by going out for a bike ride, and that before I could clear the first block the sun went away entirely and never returned. Classic. Still, a bike ride in February, even if it was brief.

Skied some and then ran longer. Tested several spots of untouched the snow, and while it might not be too deep for moose or giraffe, it is too deep for me (to run through.)

Full sun all day long, mild with temps to the mid-40s, no wind--at least not by mid-afternoon when I was out. Skied and ran, with a little more going to running.

In places the sun had hit hard enough to get some crusty action going on the ski trails where softened snow had re-frozen once shadows returned.

A review of the snow season so far shows that I skied 30 of 31 days in December (the one day I missed was because of some anesthesia fun with orders to lay low and take it easy the rest of the day), and 31 of 31 days in January. Today brings the number of ski days this season to 62, so really not so bad considering. Maybe I'm even in the top quartile of some completely meaningless and miniscule statistical category!

Linked up with Tyler for a tour of the Happy Jack trail net. There didn't seem to be many people out, even though the parking lot was mostly full when I pulled in. And we never saw any Middle School or High School skiers, which was weird. Maybe they are resting for weekend races or were eating corn flakes or something.

Which makes me think: when is the last time I've seen someone eating corn flakes? Or even seen someone in a checkout line with cornflakes? I can't remember, it's been so long.

Maybe people don't eat corn flakes or even breakfast anymore, and somehow just subsist off of their phones; the technology is ever evolving and maybe has permeated into the area of calories and energy transfer? Maybe earbuds are edible and are thus useful beyond excluding earwigs and stray bits of variegated toothpaste from the ear.

C • Breakfast 23

Full sun today, and somewhat milder temps. I am cheering on the sun in hopes it can claw away some of the snow and ice to reveal some dry pavement by, with luck, tomorrow. With enough dry pavement, I could be induced to hop on my bike and see what things have changed around town since my last foray some weeks back.

I feel a bit like Noah, minus the beard, flowing robes, ark, and all the animal pairs. I always wondered how they managed the stinging giant hornets in those confined quarters.

Ski intervals were scheduled for today and I must have been looking forward to it because I took little note of the snow dune that was guarding the parking lot entrance, and kind of crashed right through it. Getting in is always the easy part because the entrance leads down into the parking lot. As I was changing my footgear and applying fiercesome warpaint, I watched a school bus in the parking lot attempt over and over and over again to try to crash out of the parking lot. Each time it would aaaaaaalmost get out, but right before it could escape, the rear of the bus would fishtail, and that was that. By the time I finished skiing, the bus was gone, so I imagine that a demo team was sent in and it was blown up safely at the far end of the parking lot. That's how these kind of situations are usually handled here. Had it been in Afghanistan instead, I reckon it would have been handled by the Taliban.

While warming up, I noticed a figure dressed in drab clothing suspiciously skulking about. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be racer X8A7. I asked him what he was doing, moving so slow like that out in the open where anyone could observe him, and he said he was in the middle of an interval. It didn't look to me like he was doing an interval, especially the part where he stopped altogether and began talking at length about the sounds that dead trees make when they rub together. Ordinarily I would have been happy to stop also and hear all about the dead tree sounds, but I had intervals to do, and so off I went.

An hour or so later I was done, and when I came back to where I had seen racer X8A7, he was still there! And he was still talking about the dead tree sounds! I wonder what his geology students think when he starts talking about the dead tree sounds, especially in his upper level seminars. I was able to convince him that he could continue talking while I listened as we warmed down. I was hoping he would delve into the aspects of sounds the dead trees make when they are about to fall down on top of you, but he never got around to that part. This apparently was only an introductory lecture about dead tree sounds, and the dead tree falling down sounds are considered more advanced material.

I ran a short amount after finishing skiing, and fortunately by the time I finished running, the snow dune blocking the parking lot entrance had mostly been smunched. It's just too bad it took the sacrifice of an entire school bus.

C • "the dead tree falling down sounds" 1

Another colder day, though not bad, and less wind than the last 2 days. Plus, the Tie City parking lot was plowed out--a visible indication of the end of the govt shutdown (pretty sure the Forest Service takes care of the parking lot and not WYDOT.) Skied and ran. I thought I heard a warbler while I was skiing, which surprised me, because I would have assumed that warblers all migrate south for winter.

But maybe it was some other kind of bird, though not crow. I would have recognized crow.

Dusk is now at about 5:40 or so, with clear skies.

This should be the last of our recent string of colder days.

C • "birds" 1

Only a handful of skiers were out this afternoon. Apparently the full sun was not enough to offset the low temps plus determined chillin' winds. Or maybe word seeped out that the Happy Jack road was covered in bulletproof glare ice. As I was approaching the parking lot on the curved downhill--and with a friendly large truck courteously hugging my bumper--a car pulled out of the parking lot into the exit zone, and I realized there was no point in even thinking about tapping my brakes for the turn into the parking lot. It would have only have been a question of which of the other vehicles became involved with mine. So I just kept on going until I hit the first patch of dry pavement where I could pull over and make a turn, and take a run at the parking lot from the other direction.

I was surprised to see that another 4" of new snow were waiting on the trails. The trails had been rolled, but were still completely soft and that plus very sharp, cold snow crystals meant that my skis were zooming along!

It was still nice to be out, and it really wasn't that cold, just that the wind had some bite in it. Two places where I recrossed my path there were fresh moose tracks. Never saw the offending moose though.

I thought about running, but left it at thoughts rather than action. I knew the snow bike trails would be super soft and deep, and given the road conditions it seemed prudent to try to get down into town before all the light faded.

On the way home while listening to local news, it was mentioned that drivers should be alert to stretches of black ice on I-80 around Laramie. Which made me wonder why "black" ice? I know they mean that such ice is hard to see, especially in poor light, but really, it's just ice. It's not like there is ever purple ice, or red ice, or green ice on the highways. At least not that I've noticed. For the next the few days, I will try to be attentive, and will make extensive notes about the various ice colors detected. Unless it gets milder and all the ice melts. Then I will go back to wondering when Wyoming will win another basketball game.

C • Ice 3