So, first day of the year.  Sometimes it seems that time just flies by and other times it just drags and drags.  Last year did both those.  It seemed to drag when I was hurt and flew by when I was doing fun stuff and travelling.  That doesn’t seem right or fair.

I need to go out and ride just a bit today.  It is nearly mandatory that I at least pedal a bike some on the first day of the year.   It is supposed in teens today, so it isn’t hot by any means, but it ain’t -25 either.  We’re going to stay up in Northern Wisconsin for a couple more days and then make our way back to Kansas and then Austin for cyclocross Nationals.

I’m so far removed from cyclocross right now I’m pretty excited about going.  I purposely didn’t renew my license, just in case I get a wild hair and want to race.  But, with this new electronic licensing, I guess that won’t really be a problem.

Last night we went over to Jeff Bradley’s house for some snacks and hang.  We came back to Dennis’ and headed out into the woods for our annual New Year’s hike.  We didn’t need snowshoes this year, which was great.  It was 40 degrees warmer this year than last and it was still in the single digits.  We made it out to the Hemlock ridge right about midnight.  I like being out in the middle of nature at memorable moments in time.

I was thinking about how New Years is just a way that humans keep try to keep track their time and that it doesn’t apply to any other animals.  It is just business as usual for the rest of the life forms on the planet.

There is going to be an exodus today with the Walbergs flying back to Seattle this afternoon, from Minneapolis and Parker, Trudi’s nephew, driving back to Chicago.  I’m going to try to do a long ski, probably from the North End to Hayward.  I only have a couple days left to ski and I think it is doing wonders for my hip and shoulders.

Okay, hope you all have a great New Year!

Me and Parker about ready to head out last night for the New Year’s hike.

The long ski made the front of the local paper yesterday. Bill and I happened to be standing there. I wonder if we’re going to get some photo bonuses for the exposure?

The gang at midnight up on the Hemlock Ridge.

Stacie made apple crisp for after the hike. Nice way to keep it warm.

The highschool hockey team was bagging groceries at the local grocery store in Hayward last night.

Catherine decided to do 30 pushups at 2 am last night, while Keith was brushing his teeth.

Keith skiing up the last big hill coming towards OO from the South.

That isn’t a question that you want someone to ask you.  And that is a question some PT/massage therapist asked me out of blue yesterday when I was skiing from the North End to Hayward.

It all started great.  We had a plan to meet up with Stacie and Karl, then head south to Hayward.  Trudi was going to drive the van down there and ski North.  The snow was pretty great, which means stable for me, and the k’s were going by pretty quickly.

When I got to OO, I was a few minutes ahead of Bill and Karl, so I went into the warming hut to try to stay warm.  I was sitting there, just for a couple minutes, when they showed up.  A guy in the warming hut knew Karl and started talking.  Then his buddy started talking to us.  He was saying that there was a fatbike race going on and that it was 100 miles long or something.

Next thing I know, his eyes get a little big and he just reaches over and grabs my shoulder.  He says that it’s the worst shoulder he’s ever seen and wanted to know if it “even worked”.  He asks me if I could ski.  I say to him that it’s been doing pretty good here and ask him what he sees that makes him concerned.  He said it was pivoted wrong and folded in.

Anyway, he pushed around on my back alittle and once again said he was amazed the shoulder even worked somewhat.  That was kind of depressing.

He sent me a text with a phone number of some guy in Texas that is supposed to be a shoulder God physical therapist.   I thought I was past that point.  And in reality, I thought my shoulder was working pretty great, considering.

The IPC Nordic World Ski Championships (Para Skiers) is in 3 weeks here in Cable.  Skiers from 18 countries are going competing.  I’m wondering if I’m crippled enough to compete?  Probably not I guess.

Anyway, it gives me something to think about.  I have to say that the skiing the last week has been exactly the right thing I needed to be doing for both my shoulders and hip.  Everything has held up pretty great and nothing was aching much.  We skied over 40 km yesterday and it felt pretty easy.  I wasn’t really tired and felt pretty good.  It is amazing what a little grooming will do to make the conditions a lot easier.

We’re packing up and heading south today.  It is supposed to be cold everywhere, but really cold here on Sunday.  Like a high of -8 and a low of in the -20’s.  Plus, we need to start making our way down to Austin for cyclocross Nationals next weekend.

Karl and BIll skiing up to the high point on the Birkie trail yesterday.

And hanging at OO 1/2 way through.

At the North End warming hut before we left.