Giving In

I gave in to the snow today. Winter wins.

I dug out my XC skis and headed to W.O. Park to hit some trails. Nothing big, I mean I need to eeeeease into the skiing so as not to end up a cripple tomorrow (which may happen anyway).

I kitted up, whilst B-Man snapped pics, believe me I was freaked out too, I edited out the pics of me in various states of undress (those will be available for $4.00 on www.holycrapthatmanissofatandgoingxcsking.com later) and settled on this one...

That's some sexy shit. Photo by B-Man.

I drove up to the park and started by Angora Gardens. Parked the xB in the small empty lot, started unpacking and putting my boots on when a County Park cop pulls in. I loathe the park police. So when he stops by me, I just KNEW something wank was gonna come out of his mouth. And I was right.

Park Copper: Can I ask you a question?
Me: Sure, what's up?
Park Copper: Why are you parking in this lot?
Me: Ah.... Because I'm going for a XC ski, is there a problem?
Park Copper: No, but you know Angora Gardens is closed on Sunday's, right?
Me: To tell you the truth, I have no idea what "Angora Gardens" is. I just want to go for a ski, and this is a good place to park... yada, yada, yaday, "no problem, I just have to ask, that's my job," etc., etc.,

I mean, what the f*ck?? 99% of Allegheny County employees are notoriously lazy, and could give a f*ck about their jobs, but the Parks Police are ALWAYS on the freaking job. DON'T RIDE AT NIGHT, DON'T PARK THERE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?...

Freaking using the park!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't give us a park if you don't want people using it!!! Better yet, if you don't want people parking in the park PARKING lot to USE the park, put a freaking gate up with my freaking tax money!

I wanted to tell him that I was actually there to smoke a big bowl of hash that I just smuggled into the country, and plant pipe bombs all over park to kill would be dog walkers (who we all now are American Capitalist Pig Dogs). I mean what the f*ck did it LOOK like I was doing with skis, poles, and a silly ass outfit??

UG!

Oh well, dude was nice enough, but I'm just sick of anytime a park cop talks to you it's about something f*cking stupid. How about saying "it's nice to see folks using the park and not just coming up here to spray graffiti and drink bad beer." Anyway... back to blog, rant off.

I hadn't been on skis in 5 years. Sad, I know. Not a fan of winter, but I HAD to get outside, and riding my bike was just not gonna happen. Sure I COULD have rode the trails, but I would have just thought the whole time "this would be great if I wasn't freezing my ballz off and riding in 7 inches of snow!" So I skied.

The ski was only about 50 minutes, but the HR was UP (yes, I wore a HR monitor to XC ski. Sad.) And since I'm a really BAD XC skier, my HR is ALWAYS up. I was sort of shocked how quicly my mediocreness came back to me, even after 5 years off of skis. I still suck, but it was fun, I was working hard and ENJOYING the snow, something I RARELY do.

I had few spills (as you can see above), and I was hurting at first (freaking arches of my feet!!), but then it started coming together. I had a blast and was stoked to have a sweet place to ski for an hour right down the street. EVEN if freaking Rosco P. Coltrane had to give me grief at the start.

Going up... I actually followed two other sets of tracks today.
Nice to see some other locals were out enjoying the park.

Anxious to get back this week for some more time in. Today was a nice reintrocuction to the XC sking. Time to start building up and working on some skills.

Once home a hot shower and some couch time were in order and you could here the sound of me being sssssssssssssucked into the movie "Big River Man" from miles around. This one of the best movies/documentaries I've seen in YEARS! I could not move. The movie was titz!

I HAVE to see this movie again. It was freaking gripping. The dude is sort of messed up, but it was still an amazing movie. Very well done too.

That's it.

Later.