Donny Neurosis Sez Fade To White

Morning weigh-in: 166#, 10% BF (A line has been drawn in the sand? Not likely but I'll take the win.)

 

Friday night was the towpath ride, followed by a visit to Which Brew and Porters (on foot, you know the drill). It was snowing, which made for an interesting ride: the snowflakes in my headlamp made it seem like Star Wars or something, until I got sick of not seeing and turned it off. The snow was coming down pretty heavy, and by the river the ground was covered; I thought there was a lot more on the ground because I encountered a lot of rolling resistance, but I think the ground itself was just soft from all the recent freeze/thaw cycles. Very strenuous workout. Walking downtown, I saw that this snowfall would be a bit of a disappointment: it just wasn't sticking, and by the time I walked home it was more like a light rain.

 

Saturday I got up early, but blew off my "selfish day," because it was "VMB day on the slopes" instead at Blue Mountain, where they got a bit more new snow than we did. Arrived 8:30, right on time to meet everybody else, and walked in the lodge only to realize I'd left my wallet home. D'oh! Back in the car, raced home, got it & raced back: I lost an hour, which hurt since I only wanted to be there for the morning session. Oh well, I was there and on the slopes... Did a few runs by myself, then ran into Rudy, who happens to be a ski instructor, and he gave me quite a few pointers especially in the moguls, my arch-nemesis:

 

Rudy: OK, do this, this, this, and especially this. Follow me.

 

Don: Right behind you, I'll just WHAM! CRASH! POW! Tumble tumble floop flap flop.

 

Rudy: Good, good! Now try [whole lotta advice of a much more rudimentary nature]. Like this, follow me.

 

Don: Right behind you, I'll just WHAM! CRASH! POW! Tumble tumble floop flap flop. Wow, that sure was a fun lesson, time to move over there where it's smooth.

 

Rudy: No way! We're sticking with it until you're confident in this stuff!

 

Don (but not out loud): Well I hope you brought food, cause we're gonna be here a while...

 

Poor Rudy! We had some serious fun, and I think I "got it" eventually, but it's not like I'm a tabula rasa: I have years of self-taught bad habits to overcome, on top of my recent years of not skiing.

 

After that we just did a few runs and called it a morning, then did the tailgating scene for a bit before we left, scoping out the hill and trying to guess where they might put in the proposed bicycling trails. The rest of the day was chores/errands, and in the evening I hoofed it back to WB.

 

Sunday morning was a continuation of the chores, car wash etc, then I did a ride with my friend Joe, who was back down in the area to finish moving stuff to his new house. We cruised & schmoozed, not exactly a fast pace (though faster than two weekends ago), and maybe 35 miles total. I had plans and was meeting people after the ride, so of course I got a flat about a mile from home, which took me from "pressed for time but essentially OK" to "late."

 

Last night was the Banff Mountain Film Festival, and instead of meeting my friends beforehand I called and arranged to meet them there. Doug & Lori, Eric and Janna, Kris and Eric, Brian & some speed-skater friends of his, pretty big crew and I saw others there I knew as well. (Shout-out to my lurkers: Hi Doug! Hi Eric! Check out my recent photos Eric, there's a good one of you.) Lotta good films, plus a few not-so-good which is par for the course, but there was one scene in a ski video with a contre-jour shot of a ramp: the sun peeked out from behind the snow, and they used the flareout to morph into a sudden fade to white. It went with the music and the action in a way that made my night. Don't know why but that was just plain badass.