Tuesday, September 25, 2012

September in Yukon


September in Yukon: people have to get up an extra five minutes earlier to scrape off their car windshield. Come October they’ll be shoving a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator. I would be too... if I had a car. Instead I’m wearing a buff under my Rudy helmet.

The days are getting shorter. If you sleep in you can practically miss one. Everything gets jammed into that small window of daylight. I find myself eating dinner an hour after lunch and being ready for bed until I see its only 8pm.

A couple weeks and we’ll be back on snow I hope. There’s a new ski trail cut from the Fish Lake road to the Frazer loop on Mt Mac. Having helped cut that trail myself, It will be that much more satisfying to ski. The trails close to the chalet have decent skiing from early November. Fish Lake however, only fifteen minutes away, has snow 2-3 weeks earlier because of its higher altitude. We’re looking forward to showing off our new trail and early snow to CVTC who will be coming up for a training camp in early November.

For now we’re still pounding out intervals on pavement. The more you make it hurt the better it feels to stop. A feeling I’m starting to get addicted too.

Outside of skiing, I just got back from an awesome (although unsuccessful) moose hunt with Colin and Fabian. I still hope to find a moose yet as my freezer has a lot more rhubarb in it than it does meat right now. 

Canoeing, fishing, and just being out in the wilderness is very relaxing. Not physically, because portaging your canoe around rapids and countless beaver dams is no walk in the park; but mentally, because you’re not thinking about everything else you should be doing like finding sponsors and filling out your training log. Doing more outside of skiing, makes me all that more motivated during training, so I seem to be able to push myself harder.