Riding with Rollerskis and Poles

I was bragging to my Mom that I "only" used 3.5 tanks of gas this summer, until she pointed out that I was out of town quite a lot. I thought back to helicopter rides at Eagle Glacier camps, the drive to Homer in Dad's van (along with the boat), flights around the state, as well as the trip to the White House. I was aghast that I was momentarily proud of my recent gas consumption. It was a long way to travel to meet up with the DU ski team in D.C. for NCAA Champion's Day, but it was definitely a summer highlight!

In college I was often known as "the girl who's always on her bike", but that's definitely not the case here at home. I haven't been commuting to practice since July, when I lost a pair of racing poles to my spokes while stepping off a curb. I've been especially guilty the past weeks because my carpool buddy, Valaas, has been in Whistler for a US team camp. Last week I saw UAA skier Amy Glen commuting to practice with her poles strapped to her top tube, became inspired, and decided to stop making excuses and do the same.

So with the help of a velcro pant strap and swix tie I rode to practice. But 2.7 hours and 15 L5 intervals later I was wishing I had a snack rather than a commute home.
While I was getting ready to ride home, I was sulking to myself, knowing I would have to shorten on my afternoon r-ski practice in order to recover for the next day's intervals. My teammate, Bart, offered me a ride and I didn't turn it down. I have decided that on days when the ski specific training load is high, carpooling is fine by me.