Paying the piper

Ouch.

I skied for only the 2nd time this year on Saturday, and boy, am I still worked. It's amazing what a lack of variety in exercise does to the body! All I've really been doing the last 6 years is riding my bike....all winter. There have been a handful of ski-days that I could probably count the total number on both hands. It's amazing what it did to my body. I'm wrecked! Everything is totally out of whack for sure. Hopefully I can get in to see the chiro either today or tomorrow. Zoinks!

I did have a blast though! I caught a ride up Friday in some pretty treacherous weather. I'm amazed that we even made it through I-70! It was pretty crazy. Once you hit the Hwy 6 turnoff though...it was as if it never snowed! It kicked up again towards the tunnel...then...nothing at Officer's Gulch. At the top of Vail Pass it got worse again, but, then...it was clear. So nutty! I arrived at the bro-in laws place in Vail, and, we had a nice home cooked meal thanks to his step-mom. I spent time with my little nephew Noah & neice Luca. They are getting so big! It was fun though. We had a puppet show, did some coloring, and, drew up a bunch of mazes before bed time. We stayed over in Beaver Creek with Amy's friend Theresa, who's been a resident up there for about 6 years now. She's a super sweetheart, and, a killer massage therapist to boot!

The next morning, we woke early and headed over to Vail to hit the slopes (well I did at least!). We stopped breifly at the Avon bakery and got some breakfast. I had an amazing egg sandwich with some shitty coffee, but, damn...that sandwich is still on my mind. The bakery is top notch if you're ever up there...very good food. Stop in. David & I hit the chairlift at about 8:40 when it was 0 degrees. It was sunny out, and, the snow looked amazing, but, damn was it cold! We skied all over the mountain that morning, and the conditions were quite different when you were down on the slope. The snow was very heavy and there was some decent crust on the top too. I was not ready (nor in shape) for this type of skiing and really struggled. As the day warmed up though, the snow softened and I was able to get back into the groove. I traded my brother in law for my sister in law after lunch, and she put the hurt on even more. She's a smokin' fast snowboarder and I was so tired from skiing with David that I was done after a few more runs. I headed back to the condo to releive my wonderful wife from her babysitting duties so she could get out and get some exercise. Again, we drew mazes, colored, and had puppet shows. Noah was crawling all over the place, but, insisted on trynig to walk. My index fingers were sore from him using them as support, but it was good because it got him tired making it easy to put him to sleep!

We left Sunday at about noon, after a quick visit to the pirate ship playgroud with the kiddos and a few other cousins. I was in charge of pulling everyone around on the sled, and, it was pretty tough considering these kids all wanted to ride at the same time, and, were shouting "MORE MORE MORE" non-stop! I had fun though.

We arrived at home around 2 or so, and, after unloading the car with a purpose, I hopped out on the bike for a quick spin. I had zero expectations of doing anything more than 1 hours worth of riding, and, only ended up doing 40 minutes because I was still so sore! My main goal was to get my saddle swapped out and adjusted to where it was more comfy. I'm switching to a somewhat narrower saddle which I can already tell is going to be awesome. Jason @ PPC ordered up a white one for me, and, this one will go back onto the surly once Thursday rolls around. Speaking of the Surly, I'm hoping to start commuting again in the coming weeks. My training has been off and on with this annoying weather (typical for this time of year of course!).

I feel very good, and, I'm hoping that this week will mark the beginning of a nice big 3 week block. Hopefully the weather cooperates, and, it just rains instead of snows. For now, I'll just sit here and be sore!