I can't even begin to describe how perfect it is here. It's been snowing heavily almost every day since the storm I mentioned in my last blog. I've never seen so much snow in my life and it is truly a glorious sight. Every single cross country ski trail in the area is open and groomed, all 120km of them. No longer am I stuck doing soul destroying laps round the 2.4km Ski stadium loop; instead I can actually get somewhere. In the past I've had to rely on taking a bus with a very sparse (once every two hours) and confusing timetable but now thanks to the marvelous trail that stretches all the way from Freudenstadt to Kniebis, I can arrive and depart whenever I feel free.
The immense variety of trails has me so keen that I've been skiing for almost the entire day, leaving the apartment at 10:30, catching a train to Freudenstadt and then buzzing around until sunset. Last Sunday I clocked up 60km, which I was pretty pleased with (especially considering I did 57km the day before). I feel like I'm getting very fit. I'm not quite approaching the times I skiied last year (actually I'm a long way off), but I'm putting it down to the extra workload from my two runs a day and the shoddy hire skis I've got.
They're really quite appalling pieces of equipment and I've practically destroyed them over the two weeks I've had them. The plastic retainer on the stocks has snapped resulting in an awful groaning sound being emitted each time I push off. The skis themselves also complain on each stroke (probably because I've managed to scrape off any wax that was present on the surface) and today I received a new member of the orchestra in the form of a shoddy binding that makes a strange clicking sound whenever I lift the ski off the ground. It was quite amusing when it first happened because the snow somehow bounced the sound up into the air so that I was convinced the rattling sound was coming from my skull!
Sadly I only have one more day in Klostereichenbach. But that isn't to say tomorrow will be my last day of skiing until Winter time in Melbourne. After I pack all my things back into my panniers and heft them on to my bike, I'll make my way back to Alt Bulach (by train I think). Martin asked me a while back if I'd like to go on a ski tour with him and a few others and of course I said yes! We'll drive to Schonach on Saturday and start off on a four day, 100km trek, ending up in Feldberg. With backpacks on our backs and classic skis on our feet, we'll ski along until we reach the accommodation for that night. Initially I thought it was going to be snow camping and was really excited by the prospect, but, perhaps more sensibly, we're going to be staying in Guest houses and Naturefreudehäuser (kind of like hiking lodges I think). It should be great fun:) I can guarantee my legs are going to be destroyed by the end though! I've had to do a bit of classic each day to get to the start of the skating trails and it really works my quads!
A little anecdote: Today I went up to my landlady's apartment to hand over the 327 euros (it was slightly disconcerting carrying that much cash around!) for my stay. She invited me in and chattered along as friendly, old women are wont to do and then suddenly asked me if I was into extreme sports. Huh? Apparently she'd heard me coming in last night after going for a midnight (had been to see a movie - 'The curious case of Benjamin Button') run over the icey pavement and decided that anyone crazy enough to do that on a regular basis must be an 'extreme sportsperson'. Well I thought I was just going out for a jog, but I'm happy for it to be called extreme:P It almost makes the horrible transition from warm house into -10C outdoors seem justified.
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For those who are interested, stats for last week:
Running: 80.26km in 10:05 (7:31/k)
Skiing: 248.94km in 27:45 (9kph)
Total: 43hrs 19mins
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