Just enough snow to make driving dicey
Well, the giant blizzard turned out to be just a giant disappointment, at least in Mpls. I was down in Bloomington playing poker Friday night, and it had pretty much stopped snowing after about 6 inches. Plenty enough snow to make driving dicey, but not close to the as many as 12 inches predicted. By the way, I lost my ass at poker. This despite the fact that half the guys were distracted by the basketball tourney on TV in the background. I found that more than a little annoying, and you'd think I could have capitalized on their distraction and scored some hands, but it wasn't to be.
Back in Mpls, it seems like only a few inches, maybe 2 inches, fell. Like I said, disappointment. Enough snow to make a big mess, but not enough to really have any fun with. And it's all pretty much melted by now anyway.
Since they seemed to have gotten more snow down south, PW, GH, Doug and I headed down to Welch Village for some snowboarding on Saturday. Welch also seemed to have less snow than Bloomington - kind of surprising. The snow was fresh, but not powdery - more like sticky snow that tended to clump together, making for some bumpier-than-usual runs. But this is good, since it forces a person to flex the knees and let the board float over the bumps - something I need to work on and think about. There was a roped-off area under one of the lifts where you could duck under the rope and bomb down amidst the tubular steel lift supports. For me, this was the most fun part of the day by far. GH liked the run, but had some trouble making it down without spilling. PW didn't like that run at all, for some reason. Something about his board not feeling responsive in the deeper sticky snow. But PW and I both made very unimpressive and borderline humiliating runs down the halfpipe, punctuated by falls and spills. Nothing like putting on a show for the youngsters. Something to work on next season, I suppose!
There were two notable signs of spring in the air that day: 1) birds singing in the trees, chickadees I think. Usually don't hear that on the slopes. 2) at one point, a mosquito-sized insect flew around me and landed on my glove while I was riding the chairlift. Kind of surreal - snow everywhere - fresh snow, even! And here's this little bug flying around. Crazy. Spring has to be just around the corner. I'm ready whenever it shows up.
Sunday, didn't get any riding in, but went for a long, long tiring run up Wirth Parkway. I usually just run the lakes, but I'm taking Wirth as my new running course since it adds some hills into the mix.
Back in Mpls, it seems like only a few inches, maybe 2 inches, fell. Like I said, disappointment. Enough snow to make a big mess, but not enough to really have any fun with. And it's all pretty much melted by now anyway.
Since they seemed to have gotten more snow down south, PW, GH, Doug and I headed down to Welch Village for some snowboarding on Saturday. Welch also seemed to have less snow than Bloomington - kind of surprising. The snow was fresh, but not powdery - more like sticky snow that tended to clump together, making for some bumpier-than-usual runs. But this is good, since it forces a person to flex the knees and let the board float over the bumps - something I need to work on and think about. There was a roped-off area under one of the lifts where you could duck under the rope and bomb down amidst the tubular steel lift supports. For me, this was the most fun part of the day by far. GH liked the run, but had some trouble making it down without spilling. PW didn't like that run at all, for some reason. Something about his board not feeling responsive in the deeper sticky snow. But PW and I both made very unimpressive and borderline humiliating runs down the halfpipe, punctuated by falls and spills. Nothing like putting on a show for the youngsters. Something to work on next season, I suppose!
There were two notable signs of spring in the air that day: 1) birds singing in the trees, chickadees I think. Usually don't hear that on the slopes. 2) at one point, a mosquito-sized insect flew around me and landed on my glove while I was riding the chairlift. Kind of surreal - snow everywhere - fresh snow, even! And here's this little bug flying around. Crazy. Spring has to be just around the corner. I'm ready whenever it shows up.
Sunday, didn't get any riding in, but went for a long, long tiring run up Wirth Parkway. I usually just run the lakes, but I'm taking Wirth as my new running course since it adds some hills into the mix.
posted by equipoise at 11:08 PM
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