Madison really dies for Christmas. No one at the office. Gyms are closed.
Fortunately there's a lot of snow so I've been able to ski. I hit Lake Farm park (had been groomed but then got a lot of blowing snow in places) which was quiet and fun last night around 8.
Governer Nelson State park was nicely groomed and tracked for classic tonight. I'm always kind of afraid of skiing at night as you are really the only person out there. Broken ankle? Won't find you until tomorrow AM at the earliest. 15 degrees? Chances not good. Headlamp batteries? Dead for months. Jacket? Left it in the car.
Plus everyone knows the polar bears come out at night.
Despite my fears, I couldn't resist the first crisp track I've gotten to ski this year. So I ripped out the Morninside trail (flat) and the Woodland trail (hilly) as fast as I could at around 9PM sans headlamp. Though the snow reflects so much light that, unless it's a really dark night, you're fine without lights. Fear kept the pace up--especially through the burial mounds--and I managed to ski all of the descents at a pretty good clip without eating it on any of them. For a lot of the loop I could see lights of houses in the distance and I had a cell phone so I wasn't too worried.
Got back home happy at 10PM. Thought briefly about stopping for a solo christmas beer at the local Pub (Dexter's was open!) but then remembered that I haven't been sleeping well so I just trucked it on home for a shower.
I also came across this picture, which I know Ben would appreciate, on the DNR website for Gov. Nelson State Park:
My take: if the trail isn't wide enough for both skate and classic, close it off to one or the other. I don't know why the tracks are in the center of the trail like that. It doesn't really look like it's been tracked by groomers. At first glance I was blaming the skate skiers for skiing over the classic tracks. But then, seeing how wide the trail is, I'd say the stride skiers were in the wrong for breaking track in the middle of a skate trail.
Anyway, long story short: Skate and classic just don't mix well. Keep 'em separated.
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