It has taken a while to recover from the Birkie, no, not the race but all the hubbub that goes with it. I think everyone goes through a little let down after a big event and that is natural but for for me I still felt it important to ski, albeit at a vastly lower intensity and mostly classical. Just yesterday at Neshota I tried to ski the big hill as slow as I could. No rush, just enjoying the terrain. Saw two Piliated Woodpeckers chasing each other in their spring mating fling....don't see that when going hard. The Camp today was pretty good. It is still hanging in there with most parts so good I have not used rock skis in almost a month. The ice base is the thickest I have seen in decades, we could be skiing for several more weeks.

Sunday, RC and I skied the camp trails under what Dan Statz calls Bluebird skies. We ran into Jules Blank and the three of us stood at a corner and admired the brilliant blue skies and how the bare branches almost looked painted onto it. There where very few folks skiing, or just standing around in the woods for that matter. That is the beauty of spring skiing, how far, how fast, how long does not matter. I know I will wish for these days come August so I will enjoy them now.

Speaking of Jules Blank.....for years we have named a Most Improved Skier in honor of Jules. Jules is now an accomplished ski marathoner with lots of races under his wind brief but it was not always like that. The story goes like this: Years ago, Jules Blank, noted local Doctor, rider and family guy got this bug to do the Birkie, problem was, 8 weeks before the Birkie Jules could not ski. I'm not talking a few technique peccadillo's, I'm talking about looking like a arthritic old pony on glare ice. Desperate, he calls me up and asks if can I give him a few pointers.  Sure I say, he probably just needs some of the finer points I think , after all who would sign up for the Birkie without knowing how to ski.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The high point of our 1st ski was that Jules looked good in tights. Some folks just ski naturally, not Jules. We worked on some basic ideas, I wished him well and  secretly hoped he packed a sleeping bag for the race. Well Jules finished that Birkie and  I noted that he had to be the most improved skier of all time. Jules felt so good at being the most improved that he went out and got himself the 1st Annual Jules Blank Memorial Most Improved Skier Cup [he did not want to wait to die to get it] with the idea that it goes to the most improved skier each year. Not just based on time but also how much effort and how hard they tried and how much they loved skiing. Normally I pick someone who impresses me enough that they should be rewarded with the Cup but his year I thought that through the power of the web others could nominate someone then I could vote in the winner. Send me an Email at: Incompetition@tds.net  and let me know your thoughts. I would like to send out something by next Thursday if you can. I'll keep everything on the QT. [LLSS]

Jules still looks good in tights by the way.

 Hey there is some more snow forecasted and I would expect two more weeks or more so why not go out and ski..........slowly.

 STC: Who wrote the title to this post?