Spring fever in february

Good news for everyone who enjoys skiing in sweatshirts, It’s prime weather for it! The past week has been ranging from upper 30’s to mid 40’s. Most people might figure this makes for bad skiing, but surprisingly it’s the exact opposite. Where there is snow, the snow is fairly firm and amazingly fast. After skiing across the UP over the past two weeks for racing, I’ve only had to watch out for a few bare spots. Generally, as long as you stay on the snow, it is very good skiing.

Now, looking into the crystal ball of the weather’s future, it appears to be continuing with spring like conditions. 30’s and 20’s primarily for the 10-day forecast and very little precipitation beyond a few scattered sprinkles of wet snow or winter mix. Based on how the snow has been holding up, barring any insane things like a volcanic eruption out of one of the hills (which based on this year’s track record, isn’t too far-fetched), the snow will remain wonderfully fast, and you can keep your sweatshirts handy for skiing.

Race results

I promised last time to talk about race results and I don’t break promises. Starting off with the open Mt. Zion Saturday racing league: at Mt. Zion, on the 27th, I claimed a fastest skier of the day, and won my age class. Going on to high school league, we had 3 races since the last blog. First was a trip to Marquette Mountain with a very challenging run that that was set by the coaches. I placed 11th in Slalom and 13th in GS. Next was Pine Mountain in Norway which had the exact opposite style of course of Marquette, very flat, low elevation. Unfortunately, that is not my specialty. I placed 13th in slalom and 16th in GS. Our last race was this week, at Mont Ripley in Houghton. The course was steep, off-camber and presented tougher conditions with intense rutting, but I was back to my usual form placing 9th in GS and 11th in Slalom.

news from the Shop

With the warmer sunshine and the cheery feel in the air we have begun to prepare for spring and summer here at Hobby Wheel. We’re building new bikes and getting ready for dirt, but don’t worry, we still have plenty of winter gear for you to play with. Keep an eye on our social media to see what’s happening as we transition into spring.

Additionally, we will be “gearing up” to offer more bike tuning and services. If you pull your bike out of storage and it’s got loud brakes, rough shifting, or even just flat tires, bring that baby in here. We’ll get you and your bike ready for another summer full of riding.

Little personal note - I was sick over this last weekend. Unfortunately, that meant that Shreddin’ Sunday got skipped over. Very sorry to everyone who had posts ready, but the one from last week will now run until this Friday when we will select the winner to be featured for this Shreddin’ Sunday.

Happy Adventuring!

-Peter