“Yep. I’d been X-C skiing up Traverse City way since the 1970s. Done VASA race a number of times. The snowfall has declined a lot over the years. So I run the ski trails in the off season instead. Lovely.”
lol, somehow I knew that you were an xc skier !! There is no such thing as a “fountain of youth”,
but xc skiing, trail running, and mt biking sure does enhance the quality of the years that we
have. There are some amazing skiers in their 50’s,60’s, and even 70’s up here, and a lot more
from the downstate metro Detroit and GR area, I don’t know them personally, but see them pretty much every winter weekend, whether in TC or Forbush Corners in the Grayling/Gaylord area.
We had a weak winter this last season, so I went up to Munising and Marquette to get some skiing
in. They actually had too much snow in Munising, the groomers couldn’t get the trail packed down
enough for skate skiing. But I brought classic and classic-back country ski’s and had a great
time up there. The skiing and snow at the Noque in Marquette was incredible. Less snow than Munising, so they were able to groom the trails to perfection for skating. Considering moving from TC to that area.
I do 3 or 4 races every winter, the Vasa being my main race. I get my butt kicked by a whole lot of people, but getting better every year. Didn’t start racing till 2012, so just lately starting to feel like I know what I’m doing a little bit, lol. I trail run and bike on it all thru the no-snow months, was just out there this afternoon.