Adventures in Cross-Country Skiing

I have come to the realization that nothing I do is accomplished without some kind of problem. It's no wonder my stress level is usually through the roof. From here-on-in, I will refer to X-country skiing as XCS to save wear and tear on the tendinitis in my wrists.

I went XCS yesterday at the town park. Sometime between 3:00 yesterday afternoon and 11:00 this morning, someone else went XCS at the same park. Not only were they there making tracks all over the soccer field, they also used MY tracks.

X-country skiing is not easy and why in the world I want to risk either falling on my ass or freezing it off every winter is beyond my comprehension. The first clue that this was not going to be a good day was when it took me longer to get the skis on than the time it took to actually use them. I don't know what is wrong and I am now beginning to hate mechanical things as much as electronic gizmos. I think that the toes of my ski boots have curled up. This slight curl makes it very difficult to snap the boots into the ski binders since it is only the tips of the boots that get bound to the ski. I struggled for at least 10 minutes scraping snow out of my shoes and out of the binders, stomping my foot down, pressing the binder release levers, and dropping the ski poles multiple times -- not to mention trying to keep my balance the whole time. I finally accomplished the task by pressing hard on the top of my boot with the palm of my hand. By now, I was too friggin' tired and aggravated  to even go skiing.

I wasn't 1/4 of the way around the field when Hope decided to dump. The field that I was skiing in is like a bowl, with a hill leading up to the asphalt path that circles it. Hope decided to dump halfway up the hill. So, what do I do now? Do I try to climb the hill with my skis or take the boots off? I decided since I had just struggled for 10 minutes putting the friggin' skis on, I was not going to take them off again, so I climbed. I don't do hills well. I am so bad on hills that I will not ski anywhere unless it is a flat surface. If you've ever ski'd before, whether X-country or down-hill, you know that you tackle going uphill in side steps perpendicular to the slope of the hill. Step left foot, step right foot on top of the ski pole; yank the pole out from under the ski, step left foot, step right foot on top of the ski pole; yank pole out from under ski. Dig skis into the snow so deep that only the front tips come up, leaving the back buried in the snow. I am still ten feet away from the poop and there is this other problem with actually bending over and picking the stuff up. By now, having had enough of the clown act, I threw my poles down the hill and took the skis off. Poop pick-up accomplished, I now had to gather up two skis and two poles that were thrown hither and yon and struggle another 10 minutes to get the skis back on my boots.

I am no expert on XCS and, for the most part, struggle with staying upright. What I did learn was that to make it easier, you first lay a trail in the snow and then you ski over it again and again. This packs down the snow and smooths it out. It also makes a deep track in the snow which helps to keep your skis in the groove, so to speak.

Yesterday, I ran around the soccer field twice; once for the initial path and a second time to pack it down. The person who followed in my tracks must have weighed differently or bore his/her weight differently as there were many spots that my skis were not level and would lean to the right or left, causing me to lose what little balance I had left. The other skier also did not glide, instead taking short stubby strides which cut the trail into splotchy little, I don't know -- splotches.

After the first round and fiasco of trying to follow yesterday's trail, I blazed a new one. By the third time around, I had a nice, solidly packed trail that was a pleasure to ski on. If I'm lucky, I get to do the whole thing all over again tomorrow. I can't wait until Spring.