Word of Warning - Turns out Oswalt is Right

I got nothin' either.

JP is complaining about the lack of action down south and the same is pretty much the case here. I did get out and do a road ride on Tuesday though, which was day 2 of our 2 day January thaw. Of course, it did snow on me most of the way home. I felt kinda like a very weak old version of Hampsten on the Gavia. Finished up with a stop at Bancroft Tower before heading the the coffee shop for a canollo - yes that's friggin correct Italian grammar - I only had one not a fist full like I wanted.

The Anti-Pugsley

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Yesterday

First, I checked out Bell Pond here in the city. Yep, walkable:

Then, I skied up to the top of Mt. Wachusett on the car road (closed for winter), confusing a few downhill skiers as I scraped along under the lifts. Going up was no problem - a lot like walking, only slower. There's a great view to the south where you can see the wind turbines that power some of the ski area. Down - well I still don't know how to turn or stop, so that was interesting, but somehow got down in just a few minutes (vs. the hour to get up.)

Pondspotting.

Having spent 40+ years down south, I had come to believe that things like skating on ponds and white Christmases were myths. Well, by the holidays this year we had had at least three snows (including one in October) and there was enough on the ground to get out and sled on Xmas morning. Within a week or so later, the lakes and ponds 'round here had begun to ice over and I realized that maybe you really can just go out and skate, ride, whatever in places that had been open water not long ago. It seems stupid, maybe, but the idea of walking across a lake seems really cool to me. So that's what I've been doing. Jordan pond is set and has a hockey rink on it. Cook Pond - same. I saw some dudes way out in the middle of Indian Lake last week despite the open water on the edges - I guess they know what they're doing. Elm pond, check - kids were biking on the pond when we stopped by a couple of days ago. Lake Quinsigamond - the biggest around - has snowmobile and (I think) tire tracks all over it. So now I have a mission - to bike, ski, shuffle or skate on as many formerly navigable waterbodies as possible before the spring thaw.

15* outside this morning, so I went for the first trail ride of the season down at the rayburn trails. For once, I was grateful for 4 wheelers, which had been in there (I guess the rules don't matter there as with most everywhere else in Mass) and packed down enough snow to make a lot of the doubletrack passable. Except for the first few minutes, the cold wasn't an issue at all, so I think I'm almost acclimated. I got back in time to fry up some felafel (which Grace calls "muffins") for lunch and go skating down the street at the fancy indoor. Our attempt at skating Jordan pond (above) yesterday didn't last too long, but we'll go back soon I hope.

I guess there's no point to this except that I now realize that if I'm such a simpleton that I get excited about walking around on ice, then I should be OK for at least the first couple of winters up here.

"If the Scotch didn't work, I doubt ibuprofen is going to do much good." - Anonymous professor on treating skiing injuries.

Down from the sky.

The temperature drops, the snow starts and it's as if a new template has been dropped across the city. Open water where we paddled will soon be a place to skid and skate across. Woods, parks, and fields fill the gaps between factories and triple deckers of the worm town. I haven't gotten around to biking most of them, but am more excited now about skiing or post-holing or snowshoeing through them as best I can. Today, I grabbed a micro-adventure by skiing around green hills park. I skimmed around between a couple of monster sledding hills before heading into the woods. Up the hills and around the old coal mine, discovering that rocks stop skis faster than a stick in the spokes. It was a lot of stopping and starting, falling down and beating up the sticks, but another nice day.

I guess these were my 2 steps back after having made one small step forward skiing down the Mass Central Rail trail up in Rutland State Forest. I spent a couple of hours there on New Year's Day and felt like I actually had the kick and glide thing mostly figured out. Here are a few pix from that outing.... Somewhere up there is supposed to be the ruins of a civil war prison - probably haunted by a bunch of ex-Georgians.