Dave & I were supposed to ski in a benefit race for the Mount Mansfield Winter Academy today, but he decided he was having so much fun over in Greensboro that he never made it back.
I went up to the mountain anyway. After all, I hadn’t really skied for over a week, no hockey and no curling. I had to get out. Plus, truth be told, I had psyched myself up to get back into some gates after way, way too many years of not running courses much less skiing. I made it up there a little after nine. The coin-op course wasn’t set up, so I took a few runs on the gondola and quad. Eventually there were some gates there, but it turned out to be some MMSC kids training, as the slalom hill on Little Spruce was being used for the MMWA race! But, the coaches were nice and let this old man see if he remembered which side of the poles to ski around.
I gotta say it felt good. Not fast, but good. And I am very psyched to run some more wickets, especially at the Ski Bum race on Tuesday.
Okay, here’s the plug. My Dodge Ski Boots again felt really good. I have modified my inner boots to take advantage of the Dodge Ski Boots easy-entry heel track. And BOY does it work well!
What I did was to remove the laces from the inner boots, and (ouch) cut a 5″ long slit down the back of the inner boot to let my heel push back into the heel canal when I slide the boot on. Dave has been doing this all season and it works well for him. My inners were getting raw from constantly putting them in and out of the boots, so I figured what the heck. Now my inner boots stay in the shells and I cannot believe how easy it is to slip the boots on. They’re as easy as putting on rental boots!
Also tested some new buckles and they seem pretty good. But, since I don’t need to buckle my boots tightly it’s not a terrible workout for a buckle.
More later.
Bill