Wisconsin Skis

Birkie 2015 Montage

Wisconsin Skis: 2015 American Birkebeiner

Date: February 20, 2015 
Total time: 6 hours 31 minutes
Distance: 51 km (31.7 miles)

What is the American Birkebeiner?

The American Birkebeiner, or Birkie, is a ski race that spans from Cable to to Hayward, Wisconsin. This year, the total distance was 51 km for skate, or freestyle, skiers, like me, and 55 km for classic, also known as striding, diagonal or traditional, skiers. 

Elver Park Cross Country Skiing

Wisconsin Skis: What to Wear When It’s Really, Really Cold

Date: February 14, 2015
Total time: 1 hour
Distance: 5.4 miles

I headed out to Elver Park in Madison today to do a shake-out ski one week before the Birkie. It was a sunny seven degrees and stupid windy with gusts up to 30 mph. Originally I was thinking about heading North to ski, but North = even colder, so I was thankful that there’s still enough snow to ski on here in Madison.  

Lapham Peak Ski Trail

Wisconsin Skis: Lapham Peak is Really Hilly

Date: February 7, 2015
Total time: 2 hours 46 minutes
Distance: 13.1 Miles

Lapham Peak , located in the Kettle Moraine Forest just outside of Milwaukee, is a Nordic skier’s dream — as long as there is snow to ski on. The ski area is located in a state park, so you need both a vehicle sticker and a state trail pass to ski there. But hey — you need all that stuff anyway to enjoy the state parks and bike on the state trails, so why not purchase them early in the year during ski season.

Lola the Lab at Pheasant Branch Conservancy

Wisconsin Skis: Madnorski Elver Park Race Series and Lessons

Southern Wisconsin finally got some snow.

In fact, we got a lot of it — about nine inches on Sunday, then three more inches on Tuesday.  Lola the Lab was as thrilled as I am, as we both love to play in the snow.

lola-the-lab

Lola the Lab

 

Madnorski Lessons

The Madnorski Madison Nordic Ski Club sent out an email that they had expanded their lesson sign-up slots from 20 to 50 people. This was great because I had signed up for most of the early season lessons, but didn’t sign up for the last three lessons before the Birkie. The slot expansion meant that I could potentially have four much needed lessons.

Wisconsin Skis: Let’s Talk About Falling

Date: February 1, 2015
Total time: 53 minutes
Distance: 4.5 Miles

Today, I hit the Moccasin Lake Ski Trail to get some maintenance miles in. The course was great, but I was a little sore and cold so decided to just do one loop to shake out yesterday’s long ski.

I lost my balance and planted my butt in the snow a couple of times early on on, so I decided that today would be a good time to work on my falling and getting back up technique.