"Respect the Mountain"

Last week over turkey day break I went to Colorado, and after some regular, consistent workouts finally coming along I was pretty excited! The weather was going to be a mix of cool and warm depending on the day so I loaded up the Jeep with ski's AND the mountain bike- just in case...and I'm glad I did!

Cross trained Wednesday; with some family and friends I stuffed myself to the gills on Thursday; and Friday I got out to A-Basin Ski Area and shredded the mountain for about 5 hours. Snow was falling for most of the day and temps around 20 degrees- it was perfect. (except it made the pics turn out real dark!) I'm finally getting comfortable on the skis again and able to hit some of the sweet parts of the mountain.

Bumps and moguls are coming around and skiing them with more natural movements...I successfully avoided hitting 'most' of the trees I ski'd through. I crashed multiple times pushing myself but nothing that injured. On the way up the lift after about five runs, I sat with a guy that claims 'several' surgeries and says he's finally learning how to respect the mountain. So, like my mantra of "smooth is fast" on the mountain bike during a race..."respect the mountain" comes into my mind just when I start thinking things like "that cliff isn't THAT tall" or "I really need to start thinking about getting more air on those rollers."

Saturday I got a good ride in but was really feeling the skiing of Friday. So kept the ride short as I sort of had a plan for Sunday. I needed to test the fitness level so I parked in Boulder and rode the mountain bike through town and up Flagstaff Road. I was pleasantly surprised that I made it to the top keeping a good and very challenging pace- tough enough that I did have to drop into the small ring for a short section getting close to the end, but finished in the middle ring. This was pretty exciting and really cranked up the motivation to keep on training.

TJ's got some great workouts lined up and for the first time I'm amped up and motivated to keep training hard all through the winter! And on that note I also can't wait to get back to Colorado...with my season pass good for Breckenridge, Vail, Beaver Creek, A-Basin, and Keystone some sweet skiing coming this year!

Cheers!