Summer is well over by now and the bike is put away until we find some new adventures next year. It's time to turn our thoughts to winter, snow, and hitting the slopes. We've got lots of exciting news around here. The biggest is probably that we bought a house at Massanutten. Bob and I have talked off and on for years about buying a vacation home. Usually the discussion centered around getting one in New Hampshire but realistically it didn't make much sense. We wouldn't get up there nearly enough to enjoy it and it would be a pain to rent from 500 miles away. After a lot of looking we found a small house that we can afford and enjoy at Massanutten. We'll be spending a lot of time down there this winter and renting it next year when we aren't down there. It's close enough for us to enjoy a lot and it's in a four season resort which should make it appealing to other vacationers.
The Appalachian Series has put out the schedule for the winter. At first we were slightly disappointed, the only BX race was at Wintergreen at the end of January. Whitney really didn't like the course when she raced there two years ago and wasn't looking forward to going there again. We just found out tonight that more races were added and they're going to be at Massanutten. It will be awesome to watch Whitney race there! I'm glad Chad was able to go out to Colorado with us in March. He got to see Whitney in action racing but also was able to connect with the directors of the Appalachian Series and make the race at Massanutten happen.
So it looks like we'll be at Wintergreen at the end of January and at Massanutten at the end of February. I need to keep an eye out on the Mid-Atlantic Series to see when they're racing BX at Blue Mountain. Whitney liked their course/mountain last year so if it works out we'll probably head up there again. We may even try to head to Holiday Valley if they do a BX race there (it'd be cool to see Niagara Falls again in winter).
Since we have the house at Massanutten, it looks like I'll be hitting the slopes again. Bob and Sarah both ski and since I'll be down there with Whitney a good part of the winter I might as well see if skiing works like biking - once you do it you don't forget how. I skied a lot in high school and college but it's been a long time since I was on the slopes. Bob took it back up again a few years ago when he started taking the youth group skiing so I guess it's time for me to get back out on the slopes.
Right now we're waiting for the snow to start falling (several inches in North and South Carolina and a foot in Maine don't count, we need snow in the Virginia mountains). It's time to tune up the snowboard, check out the other gear, buy a new helmet for Whitney, and start planning our winter. We have the snowboard team meeting later this month, practice will start once the snow falls or it gets cold enough to make snow and the resort opens for winter, then it's time to work hard with the goal of going to Colorado in March again.
