I guess they want me to stay…..got my two ply maple business cards today.
Yup, the season is over
At 85 degrees today it’s safe to say the snowboarding season is over. I put all the gear away so it will be ready when the white flakes start falling again.
Moving on to biking and hiking…..and a few runs for good measure.
My sled and boots in their summer home!
High school
GMan will be attending Lawrence Academy (LA) this fall for high school. It came down to Cushing and Lawrence but after revisit days and several conversations LA won out. We are all very proud of him and excited for what’s to come.
GMan tooling around campus yesterday on his long board just before he finally settled on his choice…….which was our pick also.
Matzah making
Today was JMan turn to make matzah. If you want to look back at GMan event go here.
Once again it was at the Boy Scouts Camp in Sudbury MA. Like the last time it started with separating the wheat from the shaft.
Jess and JMan hard at work.
Then grinding the wheat to make flour.
The whole process from adding water to taking it out of the over can’t be more than 18 minutes (for kosher matzah).
All the kids listening to instructions right before the water was added to the flour.
Balling and rolling out the dough.
I even got in on the action.
Into the over they go.
What came out looking like matzah but not quite done enough.
The matzah crew.
I case you are wondering where GMan is, he’s at states History Day. More on that in a later post.
Pow pow New England style.
Yup, we made Wachusett Mountain again. For April 1st the conditions were great thanks to old man winter dumpling on us………again.
JMan chilling at the top of Ralph’s run.
Cider Shack pit stop.
We got in a few runs and it will most likely be the last for this season.
April fools indeed
Yup, old man winter keeps on giving.
Stats
Nowadays we seem to count everything. This is especially true for sports. Real fans not only know how many yards a receiver ran, but what they ate for breakfast. The following is not really about stats but more value for money and time spent.
Since I started wearing a Garmin watch (currently Fenix 3 HR) I tend to track and sync all activities to Garmin Connect. I ran a report yesterday to see how much Elevation loss I logged at our local ski/snowboarding mountain (Wachusett Mountain). The report captures the entire season (Jan 1, 2017 to March 25, 2017). Not that our season is over but and Elevation Loss this close to April on the east coast is a good thing, but I’m guessing we’ll be hanging up our boards till next year.
- Number of activities: 16. This the number of times I tracked my runs. On many occasions two activities were tracked in one day; example, morning and afternoon or afternoon and evening.
- Total distance: 109.42 miles.
- Total time: 7:43:53 h:m:s. Not a high number considering it’s over a 3 month period, but not bad for a 50 plus knuckle dragger!
- Average speed: 14.2 mph. Seems slow but considering I was on the bunny hill at the start of the season with JMan it’s not bad.
- Average Heart Rate: 102 bpm. (My normal resting is 54 bpm.)
- Max Heart Rate: 156 bpm.
- Total Evelation loss: 155,374 ft. Again, for an entire season this is not a high number but considering Wachusett has just under 1000 ft of drop its pretty good.
- Max Speed 46.9 mph. Was hoping to beat 50, but I’m delighted with almost 47.
- Total number of runs: 125.
- Cost per run: $299.00 (season pass cost)/125 = $2.39 per run. Be real nice to get this under $1.50 or $1.00! However, a daily lift ticked is $40 (based on a Friday ticked when I normally go) , so you need to go 7.5 time to break even on a season pass (based on $299). This year I crushed that number.
Wachusett trail map
Guess what!
We are boarding again. Today JMan conquered the upper 1/2 of the mountain. We warmed up on Ralph’s, then cut across Hitchcock to catch the Polar Express to the top.
JMan was a little caught off guard when he realized he was about to get on a new lift but he was a good sport about it and soldered on. He did mention the height a few time but settled in for the one way ride….up.
The boys at the top.
JMan did great on the way down and had no issues even on the few steep parts.
The boys safely at the bottom. Photo thanks to a fellow boarder.
I couldn’t be any more proud of JMan. Considering he was on the magic carpet at the start of the season, then got on Madnadnock to the top of the bunny hill, then Minuteman and the mid upper and today all the way! He’s a real trooper. Of course the bonus with going to the top is access to the Cider Shack on the way down. It’s like a right of passage, you get up to come done for hot cider, donuts and apple turn overs…..what could be wrong with that. The real bonus for me was as soon as we hit the bottom on the first run JMan said “can we do it again”. Of course my answer was absolutely, let’s go.
The boys in the Cider Shack.
About 1/2 down Conifer.
GMan showing off his yoga moves….actually this pose is called a tri-pod…..get it?
JMan taking a pit stop. After a few more runs we hit all the trails including Smith and 10th! Again, for a lad that started out on the magic carpet a few months ago he’s doing great.
GMan getting set up for a 180.
Lift chair selfie by GMan.
All in all it was a wonderful day on the slopes and like GMan, JMan was bitten hard by the boarding bug and I’m certain he’ll be shredding circles around me in no time. Apparently I sponned a pair of knockle draggers!
Once more with feeling
GMan and I with some friends hit the hills of Wachusett again today. Cold in the am but it warmed in the afternoon. Just in time for the 3″ of granular ice to get carved off exposing the ice under belly.
15 runs was plenty before we pointed homeward. Given the time of year and our location any boarding is good boarding this time of year. A good day was had by all and we’ll be back for more real soon.
GMan marking his ground on the way out.
Curly Cue
Curly Cue the (woolen) pig. JMans latest arts and crafts creation.
She’s about 4″ tall and 6″ long……and very cute.
alan j quinn 