On the second day we finished up quite early, the weather was quite nice, so I saw it as an opportunity to give skate skiing a try.
First, there are two different kinds of cross country skiing, Classic and Skate . I've done classic skiing before, and is far more popular and common than skate skiing. I have wanted to give skate skiing a try for a while. Last year I picked up a set with the intention to use them right away. That never really panned out. So, here's my chance.
I went home, packed up my ski gear (classic and skate) and headed to LaBarrier park (my favorite skiing location here in Winnipeg). There was only one other car in the parking lot, perfect I thought. Nobody there to see me fall as I try to grasp this new technique. I grab my skis and am pleased to see that there is a groomed skate trail right by the parking lot. Perfect. I clip in, and off I go.
The first lap must have been pretty ugly to watch, I sure didn't feel very graceful or smooth. I was getting the hang of it though. Shortly after starting my second lap, and my confidence was starting to build a bit, a family with a couple of dogs is walking back to their car (along the ski trail), heading in my direction. They pulled to the side and stopped to wait for me to go by. So here I am, trying to be all cool (which is quite hard to do while trying something for the first time, but they didn't know that), when my ski catches an edge and over I go, not 10 feet in front of them. I start laughing to myself, and say as I get up and get skiing again: "Why does that only happen when someone is watching you?" we all have a chuckle at my expense, and I ski away.
This time I went down to the river, the snowmobiles have made a nice hard-packed trail to ski on and I ski for a while down there before coming back to the car and packing it in for the day. Only one fall for the outing. I was quite pleased. I'll be doing it again. Now, how can I sneak out of work early this week....
