April 30, 2007

I am having minor panic attacks every time I wake up and it is light outside. It is quickly becoming summer lighting. If it is dark when I go to bed now, I have stayed up too late. It is still dusky at 11:00. I am not really sure when it gets light in the morning. It is earlier than I get up. I just keep getting that feeling that I might have slept until noon.

I haven’t slept until noon yet, but it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibilities. We are accelerating into summertime pace. This past weekend, we skied both days. It was wonderful slushy bumps, at least in the late afternoon. Yesterday was a little crunchy when we first got there, but it quickly softened up. The bumps have been getting pretty extreme with deep troughs and huge rounded moguls. We also found some smooth snow on Saturday. Since the resort wasn’t open during the week, the upper mountain freshened up with either some frozen precipitation or perhaps just some wind blown smoothing. Either way, we had a few runs that were smooth, but wet and heavy. Finding the right balance was the trick, but the reward was powerful turns on steep faces.

We also went for a bike ride on Sunday. Kris is competing in a time trial race next weekend and we are getting her a little training. We rode the course on Sunday morning, learning the ups and downs and developing strategy for each hill and turn. We rode about 9 miles, Kris on a light and fast road bike and me on my clunky commuter bike. I was surprised the level of advantage the road bike provided. It was demoralizing trying to keep up. It did make for quite a day, biking in the morning, skiing in the afternoon.

We also rode tonight after work. We went down to the ‘Bird to Gird’ trail, so named because it goes from Bird Creek to Girdwood along Turnagain Arm. It actually starts at Indian Creek, a couple miles north of Bird Creek. We started there and headed into a wicked headwind for over 5 miles. The wind was blowing steady at least 20 mph. On a few stretches I felt like I was barely moving trying to fight the wind. The road bike added its significant aerodynamic advantage to its weight and rolling resistance advantages that had demonstrated themselves yesterday. Kris left me in the dirt. I couldn’t even see her on most of the way out. When we turned and headed back toward the car downwind, I was able to keep up a little better, even sprinting ahead for the first half mile as she struggled with her gears.

Our ski resort was invaded this weekend. Snowmobile races were held on the lower mountain. I suppose the correct term in Alaska is snow machine, not snowmobile, but most people don’t correct me when I slip. We watched for a little while as these noisy machines banged through the course, jumping high into the air. It was quite something to see, but it didn’t make me want to give up skiing. In fact, after watching for a few minutes, we went back to skiing.