Do what you want, want what you do

What do you do when your coach basically go and have an hour and a half of fun with no worries of heart rates. Do what ever activity you want but try and get a few bursts up to the vomit level. I'd pondered the thought of heading down to the bike park with the bmx and a cross country bike for play but being a Saturday I knew that place would be a zoo and my car is still not back from the shop.

I considered doing a ramp test just to see where things are at at the top end. Ok I can have fun and I was thinking of a power test. That thought left pretty quick. It was still really chilly out when I wanted to go and the thought of the bike on the road crossed my mind more and more. Then those eyes came, the stare, the guilty look, the what about me look. Molly staring at me saying lets play. The bike idea went on hold. Thank god Bob the cat amuses himself by killing my plants or I'd have those two teaming on me.

With the Monster needing a run there was only one option left. Skate skiing it is. For me it's that perfect sport that with just 5 percent more effort I'm into a race pace. With it being family day weekend all the resorts would be packed so definitely no dogs allowed. I headed down to my favorite free ski resort with a route in mind. I was just hoping that the conditions were going to be enjoyable.

Wind is good and bad for the ice. The bad is lead off by of course a cruel resistance and with not much in the line of trees as buffers it can be a lot of extra work. of course the return with a tail wind does make it all worth while. The bigger problem can be drifting. Depending on how the snow sets up you can hit a random soft pack and almost come to a dead stop. The dead stop is usually face first if you're not ready for it. Of course the other side is that the wind can make the ice perfect with a half inch of snow on bullet proof base. Means just the right amount of grip to the best glide. Let's see those groomers at Hardwood top out Mother Nature on this.

For the most part the conditions were perfect. Next to no wind, a few sun breaks and lot's of energy. After that initial 10 minutes of trying to find my balance and technique, yes it takes that long sometimes and the technique is still very limited. I'd made a loop around a couple islands after staring at google maps. It didn't take long for Molly to take the lead.

Not much in photos because to be honest skiing on the bay when you look at photos, well it all looks the same. Flat, white and very open. As for the coach's requests, I would increase my pace for a song or two. Cautiously I'd catch a glimpse of the heart rate monitor. I say cautiously because as the intensity increased I knew my balance would start to be compromised and the last thing I wanted to do is get crossed up or worst get to far over a ski and go down hard. The only down fall with having perfect snow on the ice is that it's not very soft when you do fall.

Finished up with 5-6 really good blasts, I stopped counting after the 2nd because I was to busy smiling. Was it a runner's high on skis? Maybe? Did my favourite type of cool down next to coasting. No not drinking beer, the walk back to the house is a necessity for the knees. The recovery week is coming to an end. I'm looking forward to next week though. The car should be back, finally. The new road bike will be here, we are one more week closer to spring also. Oh and the intensity is probably going to pick up.

Time to do the man ride challenge. I believe Jacob and Tristan are attempting something big today. I'm going to try and take it above and beyond. More on that tomorrow.