XC Skiing at Blue Mounds!!

Ali took me adventuring this weekend.  We got hold of a car and went about 30 minutes outside of Madison to Blue Mound State Park.  Though earlier in the week rain and 50-degree weather had killed off the last of our December blizzard snow, we had 6-10" of fresh snow come down just after the rain.  The snow was really nice and fluffy, which makes the trail a little slower (but also better for control).  Blue Mound has a really great system; there are lots of small loops ranging from 1-5 miles.  There's also a nice mix of prairie and woods, varying trail grades (nothing too crazy), and enough curves to keep everything interesting.  

 

We started the afternoon with a 2-mile and a 1-mile loop; then we stopped by the (brand new/lovely) warming shelter for lunch, tea, and to await our friend.  We packed the food up and headed back to the trails for the 4-mile loop (+ slight detour) and the same 2-mile loop.  The four-miler was mostly wooded, with some brief uphill portions and long downhills.  The 2-mile we took (both times) has some really gorgeous tunnels of evergreens paired with a nice grassy bald that overlooks the nearby farm country.  I was mildly shocked at how in-control I felt during the ski.  The new snow and fresh grooming helped a lot, even though some sections were starting to ice up by the end of the day.  We've been skiing in Elver Park (in the city) a few times this year and in Governor Dodge once, and I ended up crashing quite a few times on those trips.  This trip, I spent next to no time on my rear and was way less sore by the end of the day.

Wheee!

After 6 miles with our friend, Ali and I headed out on one more loop of the park.  We went for the 5-mile loop, which follows the 4-mile loop for the bulk of the trip.  The one extra bit has the toughest hills in the park.  I managed most of them, but there was one hill that is well above my ability.  Thankfully, I saw the toughest bit of the hill in time and my (mediocre at best) snowplow slowed me down to 2-3mph near the lip of the really steep drop.  I got over to the side of the trail and plopped into the (very nice and fluffy) snow.  And that was the only time I fell the entire trip!  I hiked the 10m down the hill and got back on my skis.

                                      

By perfect chance, yesterday was one of the candlelight ski/snowshoe events that our state parks host.  When we arrived at 12:30 or so, we tentatively planned to stay around and take the candlelight skis.  Unfortunately, when we wrapped up the 5-mile loop at dusk, the cold had started to get to us.  Ali was freezing, and neither of our lungs were feeling so great after several hours of air in the teens (Fahrenheit).  The trails looked stunning with all the candles, but we grabbed some event-related cider in the warming hut and then headed home.  All in all, 14 miles was just perfect for our legs.