Finally skiing in GROOMED TRACKS!!!

Saturday the 14 and Sunday the 15th I drove over to Base de Plein Air des Cedres.

http://www.basedepleinairdescedres.com/

It's an outdoor centre, with some terrific forest land that has trails for everyone....skate skiers, classic skiers, snowshoers, walkers, ATVS and they even have a tubing hill and a skating rink!

It's $9 for the day to get in. They rent ski equipment and are clearly a very important and popular place.
I have never skied there before, so when I pushed off and found myself in a winter wonderland in new perfectly groomed tracks, mostly alone, in a forest of big tall old pine trees, I was awed!

There are a few ravines, and a road to cross, so in a 9km loop there is a bit of everything for the Canadian Ski Marathon newbie. I met a chap there with a big pack on his back....obviously training for the CdB Gold...we chatted for a bit and then he passed me, simply and easily. Lord I need to wax better and get those new skis back!

After my first 9km loop I felt good, so I did another one. Along the way, I ate my trail mix, drank my hot chicken broth, and drank my water. My waxing was terrible, I had no glide.


Today, the 15th, was better.

I cleaned my grip area last night and reduced its size. I waxed only white (it's -20C) and spread some glide goop that I had for my waxless skis.

Today's ski saw much better glide, but I think I was a bit tired. I did 12kms in about 1hour and 30 minutes. Slow, I know, but it's training nonetheless. I'm enjoying that fact that the -20 isn't daunting me.

I got a nice Salomon ski jacket for Christmas that is working out really well.  Today for headwear I wore a little Icebreaker Merino Wool beanie that worked just fine in the -20. I vaselined my face and that seemed to protect it when the wind hot me in open spaces.

By the way, I found a terrific blog, written in French, by a chap who appears to have skied EVERYWHERE in Quebec! He writes simply and descriptively, includes a photo or two, and has simply covered every place imaginable! A real asset to us Cross Country Skiers!!

http://skiglisse.blogspot.com/

Well well, catch up time.
Last Sunday, the 8th, I skied at the Morgan Arboretum. Fairly flat, but nonetheless a nice place to train. Conditions were dicey, slippery and sparse would best describe the coverage. Several times I flew over exposed roots and went flying....landing in a heap! Took a few kms to get the wax right, but that's coming. I'm using older, shorter skis that I got at the Doug Anakin store back in 2007 or 2006. A real downgrade from my longer and better Elites.

I managed about 11kms in 1hr 20 minutes, not bad, I guess.

I returned my broken ski to the ski shop and they returned it to Salomon in Belleville, I'll know this coming week what the deal is. It can't some soon enough!

Training this week consisted of riding my waxless BC skis with Grip Tape around the golf course, 35-40 minutes at a time., at night. The most important thing at this point is to get out and get my body accustomed to SKIING in SNOW.

Thursday we had the best and biggest storm of the year....took me three hours to get home, but no matter. I went out and the going was SO tough in the new snow with the wind and the snow blowing everywhere I turned tail and came back in after 2 kms.

Busted ski!

So Thursday (the 5th) night I felt a weird snap, but I thought it was some crunchy snow underneath me giving way. But it turns out that my ski actually broken! There is no camber in the ski and I only found out the Saturday morning the 7th after waxing up and getting ready to go. So I took my backcountry skis and everything was fine, but I hope the store will warranty the ski! I've never had a ski break on me like this, never!

35 days to go

So the last week or so has produced enough snow to get out. I have been using my Salomon Elite 7 Classical skis. They're 206s, nice and long, and light. Really nice in fact! I'm getting used to waxing, although I need to learn a lot more about cleaning the bases after skiing and before reapplying. I also need to learn about Glide wax, and base layers. It's really important. The other day I kind of had it right and the skis were sticking during the grip phase and gliding like mad during the glide phase.

I have been skiing lately at night on the golf course. My tracks are coarse and windblown. There aren't enough skiers to make a decent track, so this slows me down. It's also dark, and I have just a simple headlamp on. So the training isn't just for my aerobic threshold but also to learn waxing and break in the new gear. With only 35 days to go I think I'll make it to the start line, but more importantly, I think I'll make it to the finish!

As Yoda said," Do, or do not. There is no Try."

My HTC EVO 3D Review on the Rogers Website

"Some things are good some are cheap!

I have used the EVO 3D intensively since September 2011.

First off, the contacts don't pair with my BMW. The Bluetooth will pair, but to initiate a call I must use the device, not the car's address book. My iPhone 3GS paired contacts perfectly.

Second, the camera sensor is dreadful. It doesn't perceive light well at all and photos come out looking artificial and very two dimensional. Forget about the 3D feature, it's a gimmick that I tired of in several days. There is an App on the Market that improves the camera vastly, so that improved I'm now okay with with that.

Third, the microphone and speaker are horrible. When I want to record my daughter playing her flute or my jazz quartet the mic balance is bad and the playback is shrill and unbalanced. My 3GS did that better. Much better.

Fourth: Android OS. If you're new to Android better be ready, the Android Market is the wild, wild west. It seems the whole OS is still in Beta format. I kind of expected that, but not to the degree that it it really is. Many of the apps that I was comfortable with in iOS are poorly recreated in Android. Also, syncing photos and music is very comparable to moving files around on a PC. If you're used to or still use iTunes, it isn't as straightforward. Also, Angry Birds is only available in Free version, and the ads litter the screen and make some levels impossible to achieve.

Fifth: no 'instagram' (but they're working on an Android app) and no Runmeter. Although there are other GPS exercise apps, the GPS was very inaccurate, sometimes showing my track as going through backyards and leaping over rooftops. I gave up on the EVO as an exercise helper and bought a GPS watch instead. Oh, my 3GS was always perfectly accurate when out training, that using Runmeter.

I won't complain about battery life because these smartphones drain batteries, fact of life.
The positives?

First: Android OS. It's very customizable. The live wallpapers are really cool, and if you like you can set up the file management exactly the way you like. Widgets give you immediate access to toggles like brightness, wi-fi, and other minor but oft-changed items. Notifications are very good, one swipe downwards and you see everything.

Second, the screen size is nice. Also, when you're reading an Internet page all you have to do is pinch and the letters get bigger in an article and the margins change. Apple's iOS5 has the "Reader" but Android's way of dealing is better.

Third: The processor is super fast. That and 4G. I use my EVO 3D as a wi-fi hotspot for my wife's iPad and it really works well.

Well, looks like the bad outweigh the good, eh? Why don't I change it? I like the pinch reading feature on internet pages. I like the bigger screen. And I guess I don't change it because I've got it.

But the combination of the cheap camera, recording/speaker and lousy GPS tracking make it a phone that is not worth its cost."

So after I wrote this I review I went out and switched back to the iPhone 4S. I'm happy again, I guess the big ol' Android phone and OS just weren't for me!