Yesterday Bill and I skied nearly 50 km. The Birki course could use some snow. It that doesn’t happen soon, it might be ugly next weekend. We both fell down a few times. I was so proud that I hadn’t fallen once the last 5 days. Bill has trail rash on his hip and arm. Me, just a small spot on my elbow.

Bill had super slow skis and was mildly wasted 10 km in, at the high point. We switched skis to even the playing field.

We did a loop of some of the new construction around the area. They have built a couple new warming huts along the ski trail at the road intersections. Plus, a few friends, that do construction, are doing some odd jobs that we saw. The selection of huge pieces of wood here never fails to amaze me. It is easy to get when you have a local lumber yard down the road that will mill to dimensions.

These beams are just for show I think.

We drove by this wood pile, which I thought was stacked very artsy.

When I comes down to it, the area around Hayward and Cable are mainly about harvesting lumber. You see it everywhere. I’ve posted pictures of the machines that cut the trees, strip the branches and cut them to haul away before. Amazing. The logging trucks are moving constantly. I’m not sure what I think about it. There is no old growth around here. It has been logged for a long time. And there are a lot of trees around here. But for some reason, it sits wrong with me.

Empty logging trucks in Hayward.

And full trucks going the other way.

We didn’t get to cutting any more wood for Dennis the last few days. But we did fix a lamp and a toaster he was ready to toss. Dennis has been collecting some tools since I’ve been coming up, but one of these days were going to head out and spend a ton of $$$$ and get him the proper tools for all occasions.

Both toaster and lamp are back in rotation.

Dennis has a few more modern tools, but these are still used some.

We watched the last night of the dog show last night. Anyone else out there watch? I couldn’t believe that the Pekingese won. I couldn’t even see the dog’s legs. The toy group isn’t my favorite. Talking about animals, did you see they discovered small new micro reptiles recently. I’d like to have one of these. I’m wondering what you feed them? Most crickets are bigger than them.

Best of show at Westminster show last night?

Pretty small chameleon.

I think we loading up and heading back to Kansas today. I’m going to get dropped off at Telemark and ski to Hayward again for 50 km more and then drive the 700 miles back. It is going to be in the 50’s the next few days in Topeka, so it is time to get back on the bike.

Back in Kansas. The drive yesterday went pretty good. It snowed and rained a little, but nothing to write home about. We got back to Topeka around 11. I had to go to the car wash and spray off the van. Mainly the undercarriage. There is so much salt up in Wisconsin and Minnesota that my van complains every time I go up there.

I’m not sure why the winter seems so short this year. Maybe it was because I raced cross until the 2nd week of January, or maybe it was because it was so warm all winter, I don’t know. But, it is half way through February and it seems like spring is nearly here. It is supposed to be in the 50’s for the foreseeable future here in Kansas.

I rode a lap of Dennis’ driveway yesterday on my cross bike before we left. The motion felt soooo good. Probably because I am so tweaked from skiing. I’m not use to this weight supportive exercise.

I’m heading down to Austin next weekend to race a couple weekends. After that, I’m haven’t really looked. I see that there is MTB race at Lance’s old ranch the first weekend of March. That is the same time as Lago Vista on the road. I am probably going to throw my MTB into the van just in case I get the urge.

Okay, I have a bunch of stuff to catch up on now. I need to get into a gym sometime soon. I’ve been saying that for awhile, now, but after skiing, I can tell I am missing a bunch of little muscles that I could use for cycling. I hate the gym, not as much as riding indoors, but close. But, I’m going to have to bite the bullet, succumb and give in. I still am a bit sick, so I’m going to use that as an excuse for the next few days. Next week.

The weather for Topeka the next 10 days. Not too bad.

Time to put the skiis and snow shoes back in the basement for another year. I didn't get to use them much this year, but it was still fun.