It has been quite a long time since my last posting here on my athlete site. For this, I apologize. So many events took place that, frankly, I did not know quite where to begin. There were the many weeks that I enjoyed telemark and backcountry skiing in the mountains, the beginning of my training year, and some interesting and very memorable training sessions. Inevitably, there has also been a great deal of planning going on for next season and the seasons beyond.

Few signs remain of winter today in Vermont at first glance. From the west, the mountains are green, lacking the coat of white that in the winter begs me to go for a ski. Minnesota, where I grew up, and Vermont are very different in this respect. In Minnesota, winter disappears, while here in Vermont it fades. Though I have not been able to ski at the trails at the Ethan Allen Firing Range facility ten minutes from my house, I was skiing as late as Saturday on the downhill runs at Bolton Valley Resort.

Those people who know me well are familiar with my ambitiousness. After the season was over, weeks after my last important races, I set a few goals not so relevant to my performance in biathlon:

- Ski from Bolton Resort to Trapp Family Lodge
- Cycle around Mount Mansfield
- Cycle through both Smuggler's Notch and the Appalachian Gap

I am glad to report that I successfully completed the first goal with a six-hour ski on April 10. It was a rather sunny day, on the colder side. The snow was crust at the point where my weight starting to crack it. For the first hour, I was really wondering whether or not I would be able to finish. It was so frustrating going down a hill, flying on the ice, then doing a face-plant because my skis broke through the crust. Of course, I was using some very basic equipment - 1970's race stock waxless skis with the original NNN bindings, racing poles. The ski is an out-and-back trip, and the middle hour was spent hiking with my skis because there was no longer any snow at the elevation of the Trapp Family Lodge.

This past Sunday, I fulfilled my second goal by cycling around Mount Mansfield. As usual, this was also a trip filled with frustration and oddity. Last fall, the trip took four and a half hours. The route is relatively flat and rolling in the beginning before going up some sizeable hills. In the middle, there is a very large climb through Smuggler's Notch that rises to 2500' before descending into the Town of Stowe. It is a flat ride back to my house in Jericho. Well, when I reached the mid-point of the climb into the Notch, the roadway was covered with snow! During the winter, the pass is closed and not plowed. I believed that it the snow would have melted by now, but it had not - there were still three feet in some places! I had to walk for an hour with my road bicycle over the snow in my cycling shoes. It was an experience that neither my bicycle nor I enjoyed. The ride understandably took longer, a total of 5h: 45min.

Peace,