LECHTANSKI.NET

I wrote almost a year ago about McDonald’s attempt to steal coffee customers from Starbucks. The Golden Arches attempt way back in July 2008 was to tell Starbucks customers they were snobs who only read obscure Russian literature (note the Commie undertone). At the same time, you were dumb to be paying $4 for coffee.

Flash forward to today. McDonalds is really pushing their espresso, mochas and iced mochas. How much do they cost? $3.99.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Thursday I headed up after work for my first mid-week ski training. I got to the ski area just after six p.m. All of the midweek rain in Bellingham meant more than a foot of new snow at Baker. I was the only person at the ski area. Understandably, the ski area is closed, but the place was totally abandoned. And it was foggy as hell.

Since I don’t know the ski area all that well, there was absolutely no one else around, and I don’t want to get stuck in a tree well or under an avalanche, I was a little uncomfortable. So I did a half hour of hill training in view of my car and headed back home.

But Saturday. Now Saturday was perfect. Sunshine. It was almost 40 degrees when I arrived at the ski area at 9 a.m. There were about a dozen cars, and a few people heading out for snow hikes or late season snow boarding.

I geared up and headed into the ski area. I’m not sure of the race route, but there were several cat tracks looping around. I stuck to those and had a great time.

I had two epiphanies.

1. I was out of breath. Way faster than I should have been. And then it occurred to me. This is frickin’ mountain air! I normally go running at 68 feet above sea level in Bellingham. But Mt. Baker is more than 3500 feet above sea level. If I lose 5 percent of my oxygen for every 1000 feet in elevation, than I’m up here dealing with 15-20 percent less oxygen. No wonder. The solution: the more I head up and train, the better I’ll feel.
2. Downhill on XC skis is not like downhill with downhill skis. Turning is not the same. Stopping is not the same. The key is how I shift my weight. Something clicked in my head, and I started shifting my weight. It was almost like… I knew King Fu.

I think I have three more trips to the mountain. And Bart is going to lend me some XC skates, so I can check out the difference. I’m rolling with touring skis right now.

Like poop jokes, dogs in commercials are always funny. It is so easy to assign human emotions to the K9, and even make them talk without it being creepy (as opposed to computer-generated talking babies, which should illegal).

DVRs are so great, for many reasons, one of which is skipping commercials of course. But there are two I saw today as I was sipping my coffee this morning that are totally hilarious. Check out this Petco ad.

And this one which you need to fast forward this Sprint one to about 20 seconds for Jaime the talking boxer. Awesome.

Another weekend, another drive to Baker. I went a little further this week to the White Salmon trail. It is after mile marker 51, and about 1300 feet higher than the Salmon Ridge trail. What does this mean? Snow. Actual snow.

This trip was great. Again a crisp, crystal clear day. I only fell twice, and those were really intentional (I don’t have stopping skills, yet. But really that’s rather unimportant in a race atmosphere, right?). I’ve been working on technique, and just getting comfortable managing my XC skis and boots. This trip was huge for that.

The White Salmon trail is essentially an out and back route, with a drop into a valley and a climb back out. So the first half on the way out, I was working on my downhill acceleration, tucks and turning. The second half was climbing at varying degrees. Steep upgrade to slight rises. It was pretty tough at times. And some of the toughness can be attributed to the fact that I got roped into participating in my teammates’ Cross Fit workout the day before. Not a great idea.

The trail ends on a plateau where I snapped this picture with my phone. I really have to remind myself that these trails generally actually take you somewhere to see something. They aren’t just meandering routes for the sake of meandering.

On the trip back, I got going a little too fast for my taste, with a hairpin turn quickly approaching, I bailed out and let myself fall. Sharp turns are pretty awkward still, and if I missed the turn there is nothing to stop me from tumbling down the mountain at the edge of the trail. And the fall on snow hurts way less than the fall on ice. Nice.

Here’s the tentative schedule up to race day:

• May 7: To celebrate my Sister, Beth’s birthday, White Salmon Trail after work
• May 9: White Salmon Trail
• May 14: Mt Baker Ski Area after work (maybe)
• May 17: Mt Baker Ski Area
• May 21: Mt. Baker Ski Area (maybe)
• May 24: Race Day!

So if you’re up at the mountain on any of these days and see a guy stripping down to his underwear in the parking lot, there’s a good chance it is me.