The first XC ski of the year

It snowed last night, and since my district decided on a snow day, and there appeared to be at least 4.5 inches of the stuff, a xc ski workout was in order. I chose a local county park that has been intriguing me lately. It has a decent amount of XC trails that are secluded enough and long enough to feel like you got a decent ski in. In no time I found myself alone in the woods and the first one to break tracks. The trail gently climbed for a good 2 miles. All the while I was trying to beat down that "ALONE IN THE FRIGGEN WOODS" demon and enjoy the ski. I kept telling myself that this was good training for May when I will spend a good portion of a 50 mile hike alone in the woods. Demons are interesting. This one kept debating the training idea with "yeah but you know that park well". Let me tell you what I know about Mohonk and Minnewaska. Most of those trails are along cliff edge and despite knowing them well, I will be covering some of those miles in May in the dark. Today? I was just skiing in daylight in the woods, rock outcroppings, but no escarpments. There was no comparison. So how did it go? The snow was sticky and heavy with a crust of ice on top. It covered the trail well in most places but the main issue with sticky wet snow is the "STICKY" part. This makes for downhills that are almost as treacherous as an icy surface because instead of not letting one stop you gather up speed and then suddenly the ski stops dead, your body still traveling forward at top speed. Lets just say I will be sore tomorrow. I look like I was out inlining on pavement with no protection on. I bit it on 4 separate occasions, eventually skinning my knee. I have a feeling that I will feel a bit disjointed too. I arrived back at my car just in time. It had started sleeting at some point and between that and my falls I was pretty cold despite wearing the correct clothing. I was was soaked to the bone. I arrived home to the driveway in the same condition I left it in (workout before work you know). I had to get warm and so its still that way 3 hours later. How I wish I could find a kid with a shovel looking to make some cash!