Fiona's skiing progression

At the start of 2016 Amanda and I paid for Fiona to take some skiing lessons (a block of 4 weeks of 2 hrs each), since we have a great beginner ski option in town (Hilltop ski area) and its on "real" snow (some is man made especially this year with the awful winter).  Fiona seemed to really like it and by lesson two was using a tow lift and even took one run down the big hill.

Roll on another few weeks and we again signed her up for another block of 4 lessons. Last night (Friday 19th February) was lesson number 7.

She has been having a blast and is loving cruising down from the top of the "mountain" (its a hill).  She is now at a level where I can go skiing with her too and with the progression she has made I am unsure as to how much longer I will be able to keep up before I have to start having lessons myself.

Amanda's unpredictable work schedule had me looking after Fiona for Saturday and since I am still not fully recovered I chose not to ride up in Talkeetna with some friends and instead took Fiona skiing.

This was an awesome decision!

She is able to make it down from the top without any guidance from me.... This is good because although I know how to ski and can make it to the bottom of the mountain more by luck than skill most times.  I have no idea what she is doing wrong if anything.  She does seem very fond of pizza postion (snow plow) and tends to keep her weight (what she has of it) too far back but aside from that she seems to rock it.

On the lift for the first time together 

Top of the hill before the first run

I told her to put her weight forward,
I should probably shut up.

playing catch up...

So here we have it 7 weeks of lessons and I can barely keep up :-) proud parent content.

My run from a couple of weeks ago when Fiona was learning.

Another week, a little more snow and I have still not fully recovered.

What ever bug I have had since the start of the year is still hanging around which to be honest is a real pain.  I don't have a fever or feel bad I just can't stop coughing randomly.  The good news is my resting heart rate according to fitbit (not very scientific I know) does seem to be dropping, hopefully this is a sign that I am kicking what ever I had. The only downside to this is it would appear Amanda and Fiona now have what I have or some variation, which sucks!

Seems to be finally going the right way. 

On Friday I was lucky enough to help out with some friends on a short video piece about fat biking in Anchorage for Alaska Dispatch News, it is currently being edited to be released in a couple of weeks I believe.  I do have a sneak peak of some of the raw footage but that will have to wait.

We got to talk a lot about fat bikes and then go off and use some go pro cameras to video us actually riding, it was a fun way to spend a couple of hours. 

Smile you are on camera

This is us mounting up cameras before some of the filming.

Mounting up a gopro

Fiona and I also built a snowman whilst Amanda was away

Meet Olaf

Amanda was away for a Cabi release which meant I was single parent again for a little while at least.  The rescheduling of the Frosty Bottom looked like it may work in my favour until I remembered we had already booked Fiona skiing lessons, no racing for me this year alas but in all honesty given the above sickness that is not a bad thing.  It also meant I got to go skiing again which was another fun filled 2 hours ish of runs to myself on freshly groomed snow.

Looking down to Fiona as I headed up for my first run

This is a short video I made of one of my runs down the hill at Hilltop Ski area.

I also got to watch a great sunrise over Denali

Sun just shining on the top of Denali

Next run more sun showing

Next time up more sun and some Fata Morgana

more of the Fata Morgana

On Sunday early early in the morning Amanda returned.  It is really great to have her back and getting out to enjoy playing with Fiona and I.   At 10:30 I had arranged a post frosty bottom recovery/family ride.  We rode over from the house and when we got there we had a huge turnout, I think there were 23 people on the ride. This is a great group selfie from Clint

Selfie time.... 

On the ride we had two trailers on skis, one child being pulled on skis, Fiona on her tag along and one child in a backpack.  I am pretty sure everyone had a great time on the ride with plenty of stops although the pace when riding was best described as steady!

One of my friends Ryan Greeff took some fantastic photos some of which can be found on Instagram/facebook.  Here are a couple of them from Instagram. 

Family fun day. @fatbikedotcom #panshotfriday (late again)

A photo posted by Ryan Greeff (@akgreeff) on Jan 17, 2016 at 5:45pm PST

Family fun day. @fatbikedotcom

A photo posted by Ryan Greeff (@akgreeff) on Jan 17, 2016 at 5:53pm PST

After the long weekend (Fiona was off on Monday for Martin Luther King Day) and a full day of work for me I took the chance to spend some time today getting another fully loaded ride in around town.  I am a firm believer that you have to train with a loaded bike at least for part of the time with a loaded bike if you are going to race with the gear.
Fortunately for me the weather was perfect and I feel very lucky that my schedule enables me to ride when many other people have to work.

Great sunrise

more sunrise

one of the multiuse trails

looking out over the coast

into the sun on empty multiuse trails

And behind me

empty singletrack 

All in all a great day out on the bike and a great week in general.
Tale care all!

2016 the training continues

2016 start didn't go to plan training wise, after a great end to 2015 It seems I picked up a cold.

Luckily for me the riding has not been the greatest.  El Nino this year is a huge one and sending warm wet weather our way for the last two weeks, reading different articles it would seem this pattern could potentially continue into spring and it is possible that next year and the following 4 or 5 could have similar weather patterns.  This does not make me happy....

What has this meant for my riding, well since I was sick I didn't really venture outside aside from commuting to work.  I set up my mountain bike with some Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro's which have 402 studs a tyre and for ice seem to be the best way to keep it rubber side up when commuting or playing.  I also resorted to the instrument of cycling torture, the trainer, whilst I can see the benefit to a trainer they are basically a treadmill for bikes and as far as I am concerned should be avoided at all costs.

not happy on the trainer... I'm in the reflection. 

This week the weather pattern finally gave way to a little snow rather than rain and we received a about 1/2 inch of snow on Tuesday.  What a difference that little snow can make, it came in as really wet snow and bonded to the ice really well.  Today we got another 1" to 2" in town and as I write this it's still snowing, albeit very lightly.

Tuesday night I managed to get a ride in with my friends on some almost perfect trails.  Thanks for joining me Clint, Chuck, Fred, George, Jordy, Laura and Oscar.

Great riding crew on almost perfect trails

Wednesday I loaded my bike up and took the loop around town, I was hoping to get some nice food at Fire Island Bakery on the way but alas they are closed until the 20th January 2016.  Oh well at least the riding and company worked out well, thanks again for joining me Susan.

Fresh snow riding.

riding on Sand Lake

Fully loaded

The other thing I managed to do whilst being sick was get out downhill skiing for the first time in 5 years, Fiona has lessons for 2 hours on a Saturday morning at Hilltop ski area which means I get to go and ski the local slopes.  

Video of Fiona skiing and nearly getting wiped out!

Amazingly given all the ice on the trails the skiing was good and ice free. I am looking forward to skiing this week whilst she is at lessons again. 

The runs are short and easy but more importantly if last week is anything to go by totally empty when I am there!  Whilst the ski area is lacking in hard runs, given my lack of skiing recently it is just what I need. 

Empty runs before sunrise

Empty runs after sunrise

View from the top of the lift. 

Until next time, have fun all.