Tag Archives: Winter

01182020 – Snowshoe

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We got 5ish inches of snow overnight. We were expecting more so that’s a little disappointing. Knowing the snow wouldn’t quite be ready for skiing or fat tire biking. I decided to be helpful and snowshoe on the bike trails.

It was a lot slower than running or biking! I was the first one on the Conundrum trail. Someone had run parts of 45 North and maybe someone had skied part of it too. I didn’t see any one out there the whole time though. Except for the PistonBully grooming the ski trails.

I did some extra exploring too and got up to just over a 5k. I found a cool area between the road and train tracks that I’ll try to remember to check out in the warmer weather!

03312018 – Run & Climb 

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On the first day of Spring Break we woke up to 3 inches of heavy snow and strong cold winds! Not ideal conditions for a 4 mile Time Trial, but I went for it! The warmup and the first 2 miles were straight into the wind. I decided to run straight up my street and then go over to the parkway. Only 3 or 4 sidewalks had been shoveled yet and the streets and parkway hadn’t been plowed. Traction was pretty good throughout. The wind had created places that were almost snow free and then others where it was 3-4 inches deep. It was hard to know where the trail was on Victory Memorial Parkway, but I just ran between the lights! I extended the cool down a little bit by going on some single track. It felt like a reward for the hard work I had already put in!

I did the 4 miles in 34:06 or 8:31 pace. Total run was 5.88 miles in 54:47.

Victory Memorial Parkway, where do I run?

A mud puddle with pretty snow!

Updated: we went climbing this afternoon. I got some new climbing shoes, I think they helped! I was able to climb all the red routes I tried. I was having trouble starting one and a guy gave me a quick tip and boom I made it to the top. I definitely don’t have a lot of skill for some of the harder stuff, just height and strength which doesn’t work too much past the beginning routes!

02042018 – Mountain Biking

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Winter Fat Bike Trail riding is tough! I rode the Back 40 trails at Theodore Wirth. The trails were pretty well packed at this point. It is a different animal than regular trail riding, with the cold being a big part of it.

It was hard to figure out how much to wear and I think I ended up wearing too much (3 thermal top layers with a fleece vest) and I was sweaty by the end. But my face was really cold riding over to the trails and my toes (in hiking boots) got really cold too. My hands stayed warm in my SealSkin mittens I was wearing some liners but they didn’t work well with the mittens so I took them off and my hands were still a little sweaty.

Overall the trails were great! A few short sections were rutted. And one difference is that the trails can be pretty narrow with where the snow has been packed. This made it a little harder, at least for me.

I wouldn’t mind actually owning a fat bike and getting into shape and riding more often. I’m thankful I got to borrow a nice Trek Farley to test it out!

4.4 miles in about an hour. I did get one segment PR, which is a little odd, but I think it was on a section I normally have to stop and carry over an obstscle, but the snow buried the obstacle! My time was almost 15 seconds faster than my fastest!

02032018 – Ski

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I was able to get out for a midmorning ski today. I did the Skyline Trail again, some fresh snow has improved it, but still fairly icy. The man made loops continue to be great! I almost built up the courage to try going down the big hill, but chickened out!

4.6 miles in 1:02.

This is me mid-ski after I crossed the road!

01232018 – Ski and Shovel

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This morning started the serious work of digging out from the 9-14 inches that we got.

After resting from that I went out for a ski on some of the South Wirth trails and accumulated just over 7k in about 70 minutes. The trails had been rolled but not tracked until on my way back. So I’m sure that added extra work to my classic skiing! It sure was beautiful though.

Then in the afternoon kids and I went with friends sledding and my phone roughly estimates that we walked 2.5 miles with at least half of that climbing and in deep snow!