12/9 Skyline 11M Kahuna

[Kenny]

Arrived to bright, sunny skies, howling wind and 5 kites in the sky. It was super cold. Imagine if you will, -5F with 25 mph winds for a wind chill of -31F! Coverage is not bad, but not great either. Lots of sage brush is still exposed on the hill. The wind was blowing so hard that it was thin in some spots and deep in others making for challenging riding at time. The cold was the real mitigating factor. I went out for a while on my FS Speed 3 12M, but my fingers and toes began to freeze. I went back to my car and found a solution to the cold, 2 heat packs inside of a hand liner inside of an oversize mitten for my fingers. I put footwarmers on my toes. I then went out on Jake's Kahuna and rode for about an hour and my toes and fingers felt fine. However, I felt like an old man as I was gasping for air and resting a lot. So much for all of my hard work conditioning. I guess I need to do some work at altitude. I felt better when Tyler, Jake, and Chris mentioned that the altitude was tough on them too. Hey, it was a late start and a cold start, but the season has finally begun...