New Hampshire Mountain Mommy

Archives for December 2018

Ski Season Begins!

I think it’s time for me to face that our biking season is over. Ski season has begun! This past week we took our kids up to Stowe for a couple of days of skiing. Our ski season usually starts in January, but all of the mountains around us opened close to Thanksgiving this year! Hooray for snow!

I didn’t learn to ski until I was 26, and then I promptly tore my ACL (on a flat, in powder) and got pregnant, so I really didn’t learn to ski until I was 30 and had had two kids and an ACL repair.  Last winter, I finally got brave enough to take myself out and work on things. I find skiing terrifying. I grew up in the midwest, where things are very, very, very flat, and people are cautious… so plummeting down a hill – nay, a mountain – at top speeds seems awfully foolish. Both of my kids ski (more or less), and my husband loves it, so it’s worth it to me to put in the effort so I’m not left behind sipping burnt coffee in the lodge, watching everyone else have fun. 

Two winters ago, I had an almost 1-year-old and was desperately out of shape. I went up the magic carpet on a bunny hill, got vertigo, couldn’t face my fear of getting hurt again, took off my skis, and walked down. After a very cautious lesson on said bunny hill, I decided to practice by myself. I fell, and without the core strength to pull myself back up to standing, cried, took off my skis, and walked down the damn hill. Again. That’s largely how the season went. I think I might have snowplowed down a couple of greens, a couple of times, but I’ve blocked a lot of the memories. It was a lot of getting over my desperate fear of tearing my ACL a second time. 

Last winter, both kids had skis and boots. It was looking like Charles was going to be coordinated enough to ski, so I decided to kick it into gear. We had started biking a little, but more importantly, I had completed 5 months of Beachbody workouts by the time ski season rolled around. I was leaner, and much stronger. I trusted my legs and my core strength again. So I took a lot of lessons, and I went out by myself to Pat’s Peak – our home mountain – on mornings when I had a sitter for the kids. 

I skiied greens! I learned to get out of my wedge turns and keep my skis parallel! We took some trips up to Cannon mountain and I started to learn how to edge! Importantly, we took our SONS skiing, and I was able to help Charles up when he fell on a Blue trail – a trail I would have been terrified to ski the season before. I took Theo – then a very whiny 2 – skiing, and managed him between my skis and also beside me, holding onto a pole. We rode a chairlift together. I had the strength to help my children. Nothing could make me happier. We could be outside together in the winter — and all have a good time. 

I can’t wait to see what this season will bring! New boots, I hope, and a better understanding of how to use my skis as tools to get me around the mountains!

Old bike, New tricks

Now that cold weather has moved in to stay for a few months here in the Northeast, I’ve moved my training inside. I still got a few delightful rides in late fall, and our season was gloriously extended with an awesome Trek Travel trip to Provence, but I’m feeling the need to hibernate now! Today I’ll talk briefly about my gravel/trainer bike and spin routine.

First, the bike: I ride an old Trek 1000 SL aluminum frame bike indoors. We bought it used specifically to throw on our Wahoo Kickr Snap trainer because we didn’t want to stress the frame of my carbon road bike. It was atrocious to ride with a cranky triple chainwheel and jumpy rear cassette; on the trainer, it rode only slightly better than on the road, where the chain frequently derailed and almost never shifted smoothly, if it stayed on at all. For some reason that still confounds me, this terrible bicycle’s previous owner rode it in a triathlon.

There she is, in all her original awfulness. At least the seat is comfortable? 

My compassionate husband brought the bike to Tooky Wheelworks, where we took off the gosh-awful drivetrain and set the bike up with an elliptical chainring in the front and bigger cassette in the back (with the idea that during warmer weather I’d be able to haul my toddlers behind it in the Burley; we weren’t going for speed as much as power). He also wrapped my handlebars in some KILLER orange tape – I couldn’t ask for my training bike to look more awesome! But because the bike’s speed with the new gearing maxed out at around 18mph, it was still frustrating to free-ride on the trainer; even inside, I couldn’t build much momentum, so last winter I pretty much exclusively rode with Zwift’s training programs so that I didn’t have to touch the shifters; the trainer adjusts resistance under my back wheel for me.

This summer, we went back to Tooky Wheelworks for another complete overhaul; I wanted a gravel bike, and the aluminum frame seemed like the way to go for a couple of reasons.  First, I really disliked the chatter through my carbon frame road bike when we were on gravel, and the skid of the skinny back wheel. Second, the kids didn’t tolerate the Burley at all, and I was frustrated with the useless low speed of the Trek. Back to the shop! Now she has a sweet crankset and completely new rear cassette and derailleur. Her bottom-of-the-line Shimano shifters got an upgrade, and new wheels (with knobby tire in the back!) carried her over gravel like a dream. After a near-crash experience with the awful caliper brakes, we replaced them, too.

First spin with the new drivetrain!

Now that I like the drivetrain on my bike, it’s changed my indoor riding, too. I can free-ride on the Zwift app and shift smoothly; I don’t *have* to follow a training program. For the first few indoor rides of this fall, I did just that, exploring Zwift’s new New York scenery and enjoying powering through climbs, thrilled with the differentials on my bike. But the grind of indoor riding – being stuck in one place is hard on the hips and the mind – has gotten to me, and I need to start an actual training program so I actually have a goal. Between now and Christmas, I’m working through the FTP booster; two weeks of a nasty upper respiratory virus have left me weak, and I need to get my cardio endurance back up and running.

So I’ll pose the question to you: what would you do next? We are toying with the idea of doing some cross country mountain bike races  next fall, but that’s still a long way off. I’d like to hit spring ready to climb and stronger than I left fall (avg pwr on smooth road rides around 135w). With other workouts, yoga, skiing, kids, and cooking on my plate, I reasonably have time to ride 3-4x a week for 1-1 1/2h if I’m really dedicated.

What shall we do next, my friend?

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