Skating My Own Creation

This is the roller I pulled around while wearing
snowshoes.

The ski trail after rolling. Notice how deep the
classic skis sink.

The trail after 27 laps of skiing – two yesterday,
25 today.

This trail has fairly tight turns as well as
opportunities to build speed.

What do you do if you really want to cross country skate ski and there isn’t a trail near your house? You make one.

At least that’s what I did. It was an act of desperation and I was pretty sure I was going to fail, but I decided to give it a try, anyway. Hey, what did I have to lose; a few hundred calories?

I spent quite a bit of time outside, yesterday. I went out three times donning my snowshoes so I could work on my winter masterpiece. Here is the process of this labor of love:

1. With snowshoes on so I wouldn’t punch holes through the snow, I pulled my dad’s roller around to lay out the trail. The trail is twice the width of the roller. It packed the snow down a few inches, but not enough for skate skis. I had to figure out how to pack it down more firmly.
2. The only tools I had to further pack the snow were my own two feet. Wearing the snowshoes, I walked on every inch of the trail to pack the snow down as much as I possibly could. It was dry snow (good for skiing), but it didn’t want to pack. About this time, I was wishing I had a groomer.
3. I rolled the trail a second time to pack down any loose snow leftover from snowshoeing.
4. I tested the trail. After nearly two hours of working on my ski trail, I was tired and was able to ski a lap in each direction. It was difficult and I wanted to figure out how to further pack and smooth the trail, but I just didn’t have it in me.

Today, I went out for my first ski workout on my new trail. It was a little challenging at first because it was bumpy, I hadn’t been skiing much this year, and I needed to warm up. After about 15 laps, I noticed that the trail was starting to smooth out a little more to look more like a skate skiing trail. It became a little less bumpy and I was growing accustomed to the new, less-than-perfect trail surface.

Overall, I am quite pleased with my effort to create my own skate skiing track. It is a short loop that I still have to measure, and it most certainly can get boring, but it sure beats sitting on a trainer for an hour. I am quite thankful for the opportunity to use my skate skis.

My parents’ yard is a pretty little place full of trees. It makes me feel good to see coniferous trees while skiing the new loop. While it is fairly flat, the yard does have an incline, so there is an opportunity to build speed while going downhill, and to put my climbing muscles to work.

My only worry is what the upcoming weather will do to my latest masterpiece. I hope the weatherman is wrong and the temperatures stay below freezing.

Project Ski Trail: success!

Update! The ski trail is .1524 km, or 500 feet.