Maintaining fitness through a seemingly never-ending northwest Indiana winter is a continual challenge. Daylight savings time begins the first of November, and it is pitch black at 5:00 by the time I get off of work. When you add in the wind, rain, and close to freezing temperatures, exercise after work outside is a no-go. Then the cruel wind, rain, and darkness turns into foot-deep snow as the winter wears on. Temperatures typically drop in late January or February to sub zero or single digits. Riding a stationary trainer or jogging on the treadmill hardly prepares you for racing and climbing dirt and sand hills, doing a 100 mile group ride, or chasing fast wheels all summer long. It doesn’t entirely escape me that as I get older, if I let fitness slide in the winter, then summer fitness may be harder and harder to achieve; or it may be impossible to regain at all.
What, then, is the solution? This year I decided to try and cross-train outside in my own back yard, which I can do in the dark, after work, without worrying about dangerous traffic on slick, icy roads. So I asked Marc for cross country skis for my birthday. I decided I definitely needed more than spinning my stationary bike in front of the TV screen, or jogging mindlessly on the treadmill.
The cross country ski idea turned out to be a bit comical at first. For starters, I had no idea that skis come in all different types. There are skating skis (OK, I NEVER want to go that fast on snow and ice!), classic skis, backcountry skis, or touring skis. In addition, you can buy expensive skis with mohair skins, and there are some types of skis that need to be waxed. The mohair is in the center of the ski to give you traction, and the ends of the skis are slick and are waxed to make you glide across the snow. Marc opted to buy me skis that didn’t need mohair skins or the waxing (too high maintenance!), so he bought me fiberglass waxless touring skis (these skis have rough scales in the middle and are slick on the ends without the need for waxing). He found a pair of skis on clearance with mohair, but he said if they discontinued the skis I wouldn’t be able to buy mohair for them when it needed to be replaced. I also had no idea that ski length is based on your weight and the poles’ length is based on your height. In addition, I had no idea that the bindings are the part of the ski that your boots clip into, and there are different types of ski boots. Mark initially bought me backcountry ski boots, as these boots are heavier duty and he figured they would be warmer. That was a $150 mistake! Apparently backcountry boots have thicker rods that clip into the bindings, making it extremely difficult to clip in or out of the skis.
So, finally after getting all the gear, here I was, all set to ski off into the sunset in my new skis. I got the skis for my birthday in October and then I waited for snow. And waited. And waited. And waited. Northwest Indiana typically sees snow the first of December and we don’t see the ground again until March, but the past couple of winters have been freakishly mild and unpredictable. Most of December and January had alternating rain, freezing rain, or light snow. I was super excited when we finally got our first snow near the end of January. The weather swiftly shifted from 40’s to the teens overnight, and it snowed. And snowed. And snowed!
After that first snow, I trekked outside in my winter gear all ready for my adventure. It was quite comical because it took me about ten minutes to clip into the skis (I had no idea at the time that it wasn’t my fault that Marc had bought the wrong boots!) Once clipped in, I was off. I had watched a YouTube video about how to step and glide in the skis. It was actually pretty easy and fun until I hit the little downslope behind the garden. I almost fell backward from going so fast, and I realized I had NOT Googled how to ski on a downhill! I figured I needed to keep my weight forward, and it worked. After a few passes of the yard, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself, so I went a little faster. And I went down. Hard. I had Googled how to get back up once you fall, but it didn’t work. I was not strong enough to push myself back up, so I attempted to unclip my boots. It was impossible. (Again, this was not my fault as I didn’t realize I had the wrong boots, which were almost impossible to clip out). So there I lay in the snow trying to figure out what to do. I was seriously hoping the neighbor wouldn’t see the crazy girl skiing in her backyard who had just fallen down. Then I noticed Marc running across the yard. He had been watching from the back door and thought I had broken a leg or something. But alas, the only thing hurt was my pride. And the funny thing is during the entire ordeal, Titan, the neighbor’s hound dog, was running back and forth in the yard next to us barking his little hound dog head off at the crazy lady sprawled out in the snow.
After skiing around the backyard after work a few times (and getting the right boots!) and listening to my sweet 70’s music on my headphones, I decided I really wanted more adventure. Loops around the backyard can get pretty boring, even though skiing was the great workout I was looking for. I can’t even express how tired your arms and legs get moving like that for over an hour. So I decided to take the skis to Lake Michigan. That was quite the experience! The day I went to the beach it was about 14 degrees with a foot of snow, and the beach was deserted, except for one other skier and a snow shoer. The shelf ice made it look like I could ski all the way to Chicago! Making tracks in the deep snow was challenging though, and I regret that I had to turn around after a couple of miles because I just couldn’t get my hands warm. That is one thing I have yet to figure out – keeping my hands from freezing. I was wearing two pairs of winter gloves but the cold poles just felt like they were next to my bones. I really didn’t have any idea exactly how deep the snow was until I took off my skis to get off of the beach and back to the main road, because I didn’t think I could ski up the hill. I took off my skis and quickly sunk into the snow over my knees. It was absolutely hilarious because my legs were stuck and I couldn’t lift them out of the snow! I somehow managed to get them out and hike up the hill, because there was no way I could get the skis back on. And yes, that is a picture of Chicago below! It’s amazing how you can see across the lake to Chicago. I wondered how long it would take to ski there if I could. I ended up skiing about four miles and wished that I could’ve been out longer, but it was just too cold.
As luck would have it, the snow that came at the end of January stuck around until the end of February. I bought skis for Marc for his birthday on January 2nd so he could join me in my escapades, but his skis ended up not arriving for several weeks – just in time for the snow to start melting! He did join me in the backyard a few times, and on one particular evening as we were skiing, the snow turned an incredible pink the second the sun set and hit the horizon. It’s amazing that all of the pictures below were taken in our backyard.
In addition to my skiing escapades, I was bound and determined to do at least one ride a week outside. But riding bikes on the icy roads where a car can slide into you is not wise, and it is also very painful to ride out on the open road with the winter winds. So every weekend all winter long I try to ride either on the shore of the beach with my fatbike, or on the trails surrounding the beach, where there is lots of wind protection (and no cars!). Plus, taking a tumble off the bike into deep snow typically doesn’t hurt and is almost always hilarious.
Shortly after the first snow, Marc, our friend James, and I headed to the beach to see if the shore was rideable. The amazing thing about Lake Michigan in winter is that the shore literally changes daily. Shelf ice can form overnight and turn the shore into an arctic landscape. The shore also recedes and disappears, so that at times there are parts of the beach that aren’t rideable. Pebbles and rocks also get washed ashore during the winter that can be impossible to navigate through before the shore freezes completely. On this particular day, since temperatures had not yet fallen to the teens, the snow was extremely soft and deep. Trying to push 4″ knobby tires through the snow was an incredible workout, and at times laughable. Marc attempted to ride through some ice at the shore and got his bike stuck. He left it there and walked away (see the pics below!) while James and I couldn’t stop laughing. I took a picture of his bike, stuck in the ice. Then Marc decided it was a good idea to try and dodge the waves, but his timing wasn’t quite right. He got hit by one, and almost ended up taking a nose dive into Lake Michigan. I always just ride the shore, but boys will be boys, and they almost always do something either daring or stupid (which makes riding with boys all the more entertaining!) On this day, we rode the bikes from Kemil Beach to the pavilion at the state park, which is about 4 miles. The snow was so fresh and soft that it took us about an hour to get to the pavilion.
When we got there James asked if we wanted to ride back on the beach or through the trails in the nearby woods. I opted for the trails, thinking it would be an easier way back. That was a mistake. The beach turned out to be pretty rideable because the wind blows the snow across the shore, and there are some icy spots where the snow isn’t too deep. There is no such luck in the forest! With all the trees and wind protection, the snow just stays put. It was so deep that I could barely get the strength to push the wheels through it. James and Marc went in the lead so I could try and keep my wheel in their tracks. This was quite laughable, because I felt like I was in kindergarten and I couldn’t stay inside the lines! My wheel kept going outside their tracks into the deep snow, where I would get thrown off the bike. Then when I tried to get traction to get going again, it was quite the feat. We ended up riding out to the Calumet Trail, which was more rideable. I managed to stay right behind Marc for the four miles it took to get back to our cars. When I looked at my watch I saw that it took us about an hour and a half to go eight miles. When we got back to the car I felt like I had gone 12 rounds in a boxing match.
