hmmmmm

Well. I am interested. This sport is calling to me.

I saw some video's on Biathlon. ((keep in mind I can hardly skate ski yet but its good to have a goal)) Check out the rifle part. (22 caliber) Its designed to be carried and to be snow proofed.

I dont know if I'll ever compete in this but it is something I have always wanted to try.

This article helps describe the sport.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/biathlon4.htm

OK I guess its wierd to put a picture of a rifle on my biking blog. haha!! Oh well.

I love to target shoot. Bow and arrow is much more fun though. (and quieter!)

But the biathlon has always been one of my most favorite Olympic sports to watch. Now that I have tried to skate ski I am even more impressed with the athleticism of those who participate in that event.

We went to look at the McMiller park in Wisconsin just shy of the Kettles. It is a target range with a groomed skate ski track. THey let folks practice their biathlon sport there in the early mornings.

It is nice to see that it is offered to the folks wanting to train in this.

BUT....

We decided NOT to skate ski there since there were quite a few local hunter types just target shooting. (no skiiers present). There are just rows and rows and rows of targets to shoot at. A fully groomed nordic trail in the woods. Very nice. I love Wisconsin!!! :)

But , it did make me a little bit nervous to be the only one skiing out there.

It made us realize that ::: ''There Must Be A Reason'' .....

So. Off we went to the main trails of kettle for two days of teaching ourselve the ins and outs of skate skiing. Maybe we were just paranoid .. ..ha!

I am still bike training inside. In March we are going to step it up and get the training in ''full force''. I am really refreshed now after not riding for a while. It is nice for a change after two solid years of hard bike training. (JUST biking). This was healthy mentally and I highly recommend the nordic skiing as a change of pace if you ever feel burnt out with cycling.

NO I do not believe it will make me faster on the bike. Not at all.

Its just something else to do to get outside. (IMO)

SKI day

WOW.

Can you believe the snow? and SUN!!!

I tell you. I could NOT stay on my trainer yesterday (saturday) indoors when the sun finally come out. (bad hair and all)
I love classic skiing. Nordic skiing on a groomed track is such a good workout and heavenly out in the woods.

But..... why yes...Those are SKATE SKI's!! I am on some skate ski's.

When I was learning to classic ski, those silly wisconsin people kept skiing past me on those much faster skate ski-things. Sometimes just chatting with each other cruising along seemingly effortlessly. hmmmmm.

Hooooooo boy. It is an entirely different sport. It is TOUGH. Tough to learn. Its opposite what I thought. I thought it was going to be like skating. Its opposite. You lean your weight and the push comes from that. Hard to explain and Harder still to do it.
But I truly believe it is a sport I can hopefully do every winter as I get older. So. Tough it out and learn. One woman told me it took her about two years to get it down.

SO. I have time to learn it. Besides, it is nice to be outside on a pleasantly sunny wintery day. Last year I spent all winter on the trainer. This is so refreshing to have something else to do. The sunshine made me high and I am still in a good mood from it.

It was 24 degrees but I was sweating up a storm. Hank, of course, is passing people already.

He lapped me at least once. We were out skiing for 5 hours!!!

We were at the PET...(petrified woods or something like that) up where the Parkside races are at in Kenosha.

I was happy when we got home and there, waiting at the door was the box I ordered for Hank's valetines' present. ( a little late) A wonderful instructional lesson for classic and skate skiing by a company that has a series of outdoor instructional videos. The two I got were not that expensive and VERY well done. I am impressed!!

http://www.xczone.com/newmainpage.htm

The packaging made me think it was going to be something boring and 'mom and pop'- ish. But WOW....It's really well produced and even has an HD feel to it at times. And ..Helicopter shots!. The woman in the video is incredible! She does a biathelon scene with the men and is totally strong, Amazon strong. World class pro in fact. OMG. There is so much on this video. Great 90 minutes of exciting to watch footage at the end. We watched that while on the trainer this morning.

This is today. Its raining. Ice on roads in some areas. 35 mph winds in others. Snow is melting.

ugh.

We were inside on the trainer. I was kind of surprised that my legs were fine for the duration.

That instructional video with the action at the end really helped me today. So. Still on the bike. But much happier mentally for the different sport.

Stupid Rollers Tricks

CAN YOU DO THIS??????

Guns N' Roses-I used to love her

Hank thought this was a nice Valentine's Day song. hmmmm......