I learned yesterday that while cross country skiing is actually a lot of fun, it's going to be a long time before I'm ready for any kind of downhill skiing--in cross country or any other skis. After a lot of deliberation, I finally decided to take the plunge and take a lesson in cross country skiing.
I went to Theodore Wirth Winter Recreation area, and I have to say I was absolutely impressed. The park was beautiful and well kept up, the staff in the rental and check-in area were extremely helpful and friendly, and the instructor (Brian) was one of the most patient people I have ever studied under. He loved his job of teaching people, and that showed in every aspect of the lesson. The hour and a half lesson ended after two hours and fifteen minutes of him coaching us through every aspect of skiing, from the actual mechanics to drills we could do to strengthen ourselves, to equipment, good places to go and the passes we might need.
The experience was also definitely an adventure! The last time I went cross country skiing was in middle school, when we went in circles around the snow-covered running track. In this lesson, we were on a practical cross country skiing track, including snow that wasn't groomed, hills and a little bit of ice.
I fell down a lot. As near as I can estimate, I ended up sitting, laying or kneeling on the ground unexpectedly at least eleven times. Going straight across the flat ground wasn't bad--it started to get me used to the idea of gliding across the snow when my feet weren't moving. Hills, however, made me discover my inner control freak. As soon as my skis started moving without my feet actually moving them, I wasn't happy. I don't like moving when I'm not making me move, and my immediate reaction is to stop it and get back into control. Unfortunately I wasn't very good at stopping, so nearly every time I ended up stopping by falling on my butt. With the very patient instruction of Brian, I progressed from falling five times on the way down this hill to only falling once. (This hill that terrified me wasn't really what you'd picture as a bunny hill at a downhill skiing place. Think of it more along the lines of about an eighth of that bunny hill in height, and a little less steep. Sliding down it probably would have taken a grand total of five seconds and wouldn't have been worth the walk back up the hill.)
Finishing the class and heading back to the clubhouse to drop off my equipment, I was feeling pretty good about my adventure. I had learned some new tricks, tried something totally different, and had a lot of fun. And I was now on my way to the gym to warm back up in the hot tub! Brian took us back on one of the regular trails so we could get some more realistic experience, without all the starting and stopping for more instruction. At the end, he pulled us up and told us that there was one more hill on the way back to the clubhouse. It was a little steeper and more slippery than the one we had practiced on, but certainly not much bigger. (True--it still wouldn't have been worth sledding down!) I let the rest of the class go before me, assuming I would take the longest, and started down. I got a little further than usual before falling on my butt (maybe 10 whole feet!) but this time landed a little funny...getting back up, I noticed that my hand was numb. I took the chicken way down the hill (side stepping very, very slowly and repeatedly losing my balance), thanked my instructor for patiently following my snail's pace down the hill, and went in. I took off my equipment and mittens and noticed that my left wrist wasn't bending very well...as I went to climb in my car, it twinged and I realized that I had sprained my wrist. Not downhill skiing but cross country skiing...after the lesson was over. It's getting a little better this morning, but still gives me a little twinge now and then as a reminder of my adventure. I'll add it to my list of embarrassing injuries, just after the sprained ankle from playing Duck Duck Grey Duck and the strained foot from trying to run up the wall in martial arts class.
But on the good side, I woke up this morning trying to figure out when I could go try it out again. And yesterday, for a change, I was not bored. We'll call this experiment a success!
No comments:
Post a Comment