Pointless Prize: Biathalon

[lordofthemark]

No not skiing plus target shooting – let’s do a different kind of sports duo. Ride your bike to a WINTER sport – post the story here. Whoever has the best story of riding to ice skating or skiing or whatever will win some kind of prize. Maybe there will be more than one prize. We shall see.

[Indiana]

What a coincidence! Unaware that this would be a competition, today my daughter and I ventured out on this warm day to find ice to skate on. Word on the street was that Canal Park was pretty melty, so we headed to the National Gallery of Art rink. There was a long line, so we kept biking to Georgetown’s Washington Harbour Ice Rink. Skated for an hour, grabbed some veggie tacos, checked out the Georgetown Glow art displays, and headed home via Rock Creek Park–a nice 16-mile loop around DC to cap off winter break!
#withkidSnowy #thetacoride #publicartfinder #biathalon

[consularrider]

@Indiana 221434 wrote:

What a coincidence! Unaware that this would be a competition, today my daughter and I ventured out on this warm day to find ice to skate on. Word on the street was that Canal Park was pretty melty, so we headed to the National Gallery of Art rink. There was a long line, so we kept biking to Georgetown’s Washington Harbour Ice Rink. Skated for an hour, grabbed some veggie tacos, checked out the Georgetown Glow art displays, and headed home via Rock Creek Park–a nice 16-mile loop around DC to cap off winter break!
#withkidSnowy #thetacoride #publicartfinder #biathalon

If you took a photo you could also do #scavhunt!

[Serdar]

@lordofthemark 221428 wrote:

No not skiing plus target shooting – let’s do a different kind of sports duo. Ride your bike to a WINTER sport – post the story here. Whoever has the best story of riding to ice skating or skiing or whatever will win some kind of prize. Maybe there will be more than one prize. We shall see.

Thank you for sponsoring this prize! Is the hashtag #biathlon?

[lordofthemark]

@Serdar 221446 wrote:

Thank you for sponsoring this prize! Is the hashtag #biathlon?

Do we need a hashtag? I was going to go on trust – this to be a really chill “competition”. But if we want a hashtag, that is what it should be.

[ltierstein]

I rode my bike (with a metro assist) to do a winter hike with friends (From Babes on Bikes) at Lake Bernard Frank. The hike was 4.7 miles. The bike ride, from home to metro and then from the Rockville metro station to the trail head, was about the same. The ride was on neighborhood streets with a stretch on the Carl Henn Millennium Trail that parallels route 28. The hike was partly paved and partly dirt and went around the lake and through the park. [ATTACH=CONFIG]29310[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]29312[/ATTACH]

[Steve O]

@ltierstein 221587 wrote:

I rode my bike (with a metro assist) to do a winter hike with friends

Can we get a clarification on what a “winter” sport is? Is it any sport, just put the word “winter” in front?

• Winter hike
• Winter football
• Winter soccer
• Winter Ultimate
• Winter run
• Winter kickball
• Winter baseball
• Winter hang-gliding
• …

[PBS]

@Steve O 221602 wrote:

Can we get a clarification on what a “winter” sport is? Is it any sport, just put the word “winter” in front?

• Winter hike
• Winter football
• Winter soccer
• Winter Ultimate
• Winter run
• Winter kickball
• Winter baseball
• Winter hang-gliding
• …

I think if you can find it in the list of the last Winter Olympics sports, it should count.

[lordofthemark]

@Steve O 221602 wrote:

Can we get a clarification on what a “winter” sport is? Is it any sport, just put the word “winter” in front?

• Winter hike
• Winter football
• Winter soccer
• Winter Ultimate
• Winter run
• Winter kickball
• Winter baseball
• Winter hang-gliding
• …

Definitely not baseball

The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. ~A. Bartlett Giamatti,

[Indiana]

But don’t eliminate my favorite winter sport, snowshoe-sledding. Not Olympics level…yet!

[Rod Smith]

I bought a 4 day local Epic pass, and I learned that some ski areas in Ohio are among those that will accept my third tier Epic pass. Including two ski areas I’d ridden by on a ride a few years ago. They are on opposite sides of the Cuyahoga River Valley. There was a canal and remains a maintained towpath at the base of the valley that I’d ridden before. So why not ski at Boston Mills, get Mary to carry my skis, etc. the 3 miles to Brandywine in her car, while I ride 10+ miles to Brandywine? Then I put my skis back on, it’s still the same day so no additional charge, go ski some more. What could go wrong?

I forgot to lube part of my bindings. I put lube on one spot but later I remembered there was another spot on each binding that should be lubed.

I don’t know if that’s why they didn’t release. They are non-DIN standard, old, safety-release Voilé Telemark bindings. Anyway I had skied all the runs, some several times, I was starting to feel confident and I let my speed increase, then I caught an edge got launched and I felt my knees get hurt, one at a time, but the skis did not release and I was catapulted onto my head. To save freight I had brought only the bike helmet and I wore it skiing and it helped with that impact for sure!

So now, two days later, I can barely walk, but then I went ahead with the plan. I skied another ten runs at Boston Mills, jumped on my bicycle, rode ten miles, eleven, for the Salty Slugs, on some fun stuff I’d discovered before, connected by a nice bike path on the ridge and by the towpath at the lower elevation, 200 feet lower, and I rode around a neighborhood whilst upon the ridge, skied another 2300 vertical at Brandywine, pulled off my new boots which were awesome, and limped back to the car. You can see some big bridges over the valley and the tiny town of Boston, Ohio from the top of Boston Mills Ski Area.

Stanford Rd is closed. I climbed under a gate and rode though a 50 yard long section under ten inches of water before I got to this pothole where the road caved in. I took a picture as soon as I could see it but I should have stopped closer for a better image. Sorry. I managed to ride by on the left ok. This part was steep.

The reward for climbing Stanford is views of Brandywine Gorge.

I rode at the higher elevation on a very nice bike path, rode around a little more then descended to the Towpath Trail on a beautiful Carriage Trail.

I skied a dozen runs at Brandywine easy light on the feet Telemark turns on broken knees. I didn’t take a picture but it’s all on Strava, the skiing and the biking and the skiing. This is my first submission for this pointless prize. The second is a planned century ride to Ski Liberty with 7700 feet of climbing including steep gravel, everyone is welcome to join this ride end of March. More about that later…

[Rod Smith]

That probably doesn’t count because I didn’t ride from home. That’s up to the judges. The ride to Ski Liberty will start from home but I will be getting a car ride back home from Ski Liberty.

[Steve O]

@Rod Smith 224134 wrote:

I bought a 4 day local Epic pass, and I learned that some ski areas in Ohio are among those that will accept my third tier Epic pass. Including two ski areas I’d ridden by on a ride a few years ago. They are on opposite sides of the Cuyahoga River Valley. There was a canal and remains a maintained towpath at the base of the valley that I’d ridden before. So why not ski at Boston Mills, get Mary to carry my skis, etc. the 3 miles to Brandywine in her car, while I ride 10+ miles to Brandywine? Then I put my skis back on, it’s still the same day so no additional charge, go ski some more. What could go wrong?

I forgot to lube part of my bindings. I put lube on one spot but later I remembered there was another spot on each binding that should be lubed.

I don’t know if that’s why they didn’t release. They are non-DIN standard, old, safety-release Voilé Telemark bindings. Anyway I had skied all the runs, some several times, I was starting to feel confident and I let my speed increase, then I caught an edge got launched and I felt my knees get hurt, one at a time, but the skis did not release and I was catapulted onto my head. To save freight I had brought only the bike helmet and I wore it skiing and it helped with that impact for sure!

So now, two days later, I can barely walk, but then I went ahead with the plan. I skied another ten runs at Boston Mills, jumped on my bicycle, rode ten miles, eleven, for the Salty Slugs, on some fun stuff I’d discovered before, connected by a nice bike path on the ridge and by the towpath at the lower elevation, 200 feet lower, and I rode around a neighborhood whilst upon the ridge, skied another 2300 vertical at Brandywine, pulled off my new boots which were awesome, and limped back to the car. You can see some big bridges over the valley and the tiny town of Boston, Ohio from the top of Boston Mills Ski Area.

This is definitely a candidate for the “extra mile” pointless prize. Submit it, Rod!

[karenbikes2@gmail.com]

@Rod Smith 224134 wrote:

I bought a 4 day local Epic pass, and I learned that some ski areas in Ohio are among those that will accept my third tier Epic pass. Including two ski areas I’d ridden by on a ride a few years ago. They are on opposite sides of the Cuyahoga River Valley. There was a canal and remains a maintained towpath at the base of the valley that I’d ridden before. So why not ski at Boston Mills, get Mary to carry my skis, etc. the 3 miles to Brandywine in her car, while I ride 10+ miles to Brandywine? Then I put my skis back on, it’s still the same day so no additional charge, go ski some more. What could go wrong?

I forgot to lube part of my bindings. I put lube on one spot but later I remembered there was another spot on each binding that should be lubed.

I don’t know if that’s why they didn’t release. They are non-DIN standard, old, safety-release Voilé Telemark bindings. Anyway I had skied all the runs, some several times, I was starting to feel confident and I let my speed increase, then I caught an edge got launched and I felt my knees get hurt, one at a time, but the skis did not release and I was catapulted onto my head. To save freight I had brought only the bike helmet and I wore it skiing and it helped with that impact for sure!

So now, two days later, I can barely walk, but then I went ahead with the plan. I skied another ten runs at Boston Mills, jumped on my bicycle, rode ten miles, eleven, for the Salty Slugs, on some fun stuff I’d discovered before, connected by a nice bike path on the ridge and by the towpath at the lower elevation, 200 feet lower, and I rode around a neighborhood whilst upon the ridge, skied another 2300 vertical at Brandywine, pulled off my new boots which were awesome, and limped back to the car. You can see some big bridges over the valley and the tiny town of Boston, Ohio from the top of Boston Mills Ski Area.

Stanford Rd is closed. I climbed under a gate and rode though a 50 yard long section under ten inches of water before I got to this pothole where the road caved in. I took a picture as soon as I could see it but I should have stopped closer for a better image. Sorry. I managed to ride by on the left ok. This part was steep.

The reward for climbing Stanford is views of Brandywine Gorge.

I rode at the higher elevation on a very nice bike path, rode around a little more then descended to the Towpath Trail on a beautiful Carriage Trail.

I skied a dozen runs at Brandywine easy light on the feet Telemark turns on broken knees. I didn’t take a picture but it’s all on Strava, the skiing and the biking and the skiing. This is my first submission for this pointless prize. The second is a planned century ride to Ski Liberty with 7700 feet of climbing including steep gravel, everyone is welcome to join this ride end of March. More about that later…

You are a BEAST, Rod! Looks like an awesome and grueling adventure!

[Author]

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