Life is not a Practice

First time out cycling with my new Polar heart monitor. Had to cycle slower up hill and faster down.

21km 246 meters of climbing
Route at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=dovuzvyfjorsgxhd

The training data is saved at polarpersonaltrainer.com

Apparently to train effectively you need to train at the correct heartbeat. I have known this for ages but never got round to buying a heart rate monitor.

But now I have treated myself to a Polar FT60 so can be sure I stay at the correct level and can keep a record of how fit I get at https://polarpersonaltrainer.com/

We had some more snow during the week and it was cold enough for the snow cannons one night so today Alison and I went for an hours skiing in Nesselwang.

Great snow but very misty at the top of the mountain.

It snowed last night so Alison and I went for an hours skiing at the Alpsitz.

Once again we, Alison, Heidi and I, are spinning through the winter. This year we are at a different studio ( http://www.fitness-seeg.de/ ) but it is just as much fun as last year.

This evening was my second session and the music this evening was fantastic and included ACDC which resulted in me ending up completely sweated through but feeling like I had really achieved something.

9.1.14
13.1.14
15.1.14 (2 hours)
22.1.14 (2 hours)
26.1.14
and then all saved at polarpersonaltrainer.com

The 12th of January you would expect news from the slopes but the snow is still letting us wait so today I used my ski ticket to go swimming in the morning and cycling in the afternoon.



As you can see in the photo, there is little snow outside of the north facing slopes.

22 kms 250m of climbing
Track at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=aplahueddnkhxglq

Normally I am a summer swimmer - in the local lakes after or during a cycle ride.

But for Christmas we gave my nephew two swimming tickets for the local pool ( http://www.abc-nesselwang.de/alpspitz-bade-center.0.html ). Yesterday I took him for the first "session" and it was so much fun that I went back this morning and swam 24x25 meters.



My season card for the ski lifts ( http://www.vitalesland.com/bergbahnen/de/winter-panorama.html ) includes 3 hours of swimming every day so I should do this more often.

Christmas morning and Max and I were skiing on the Hahnenkamm in Austria. There is a warm wind out of the south (13°C) and only the piste has snow on it but there were NO PEOPLE.



We carved from top to bottom and didn't pass a single person all the way. The whole slope empty and just for us. On the second run we passed two people and by the final one there might have been a hundred people.

Christmas Eve afternoon and Alison and I were skiing on our local ski slope. Daniel, Max and a friend were also out on skis or snowboards and we all met for a drink in the sun.

Sunday morning at 05:00 and I had to work - it really is a tough life.

Drove up the partly snow covered and very windy Riedberg Pass to 1470 meters above sea level. Not a single other car going up and down so I had real fun with my 4WD Skoda Yeti.

At the top of the pass I put on my touring skis and set off under a million stars all twinkling in the cold. Not another person as far as the eye could see.

Reached the Riedbergerhorn at about 07:00 and could see all the lights across Lake Constance in Switzerland some 60 kilometers away. In the East the sky was slowly getting lighter.



Skied down the ridge and then up to the Grauenstein where we have a station (at 1750m) that supplies Internet to the village of Bolsterlang. Changed out a router that has been causing problems and rang my colleague to check that the new component was working properly.



Skied back up to the Riedbergerhorn and enjoyed the view while taking the skins off my skis and then had a dream descent through fresh powder snow all the way back to the car park. Scrounged a cup of coffee from the ski lift and then drove back towards the rising sun and home.

The route (from my GPS) is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=mgklsrjukonsvhwk

The ski season has started.



The Alpspitzbahn have been making snow all week and today they opened for one day of "pre-opening" skiing.
Great snow, sun and almost no people. All those there were locals.

Fun four hours but by then my legs were aching.

Max is coming back from diving in Egypt ( http://maxhogarth.blogspot.de/ ) today and is going to get such a shock when they open the aeroplane doors at Zurich and let the cold in :-)

Years ago Alison brought some twigs back from England and planted them in a row at the top of the garden. Despite cutting "the hedge" back two years ago ( http://neill.blogger.de/stories/1802961/ ), it was turning in to a forest.

Today the gardener came to cut it, took a look at it and then sent his mate off to the forester to get some serious machinery.



It is good that the locals have "industrial grade" gardening tools.



Some more pictures at https://plus.google.com/photos/103827427036815679772/albums/5946929316201764097?banner=pwa

Halloween grilling in Frenchie's meadow.
A fox joined us next to the fire. Really weird.

With a group of business partners and associates, we went zip lining again today. It is still amazing.

A sunny bank holiday Thursday in a week of mist. Gertrud and Jon rang and asked if we wanted to go out for a relaxing bike ride with the twins and them. Yes please.



Rode to and through the high moors in Oy and then on to the Schwarzenberger Weiher. After coffee and cake we rode back home.



29km and 416 mters of climbing
Track is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=kxczonghwdqsxkzq

Today was our 25th wedding anniversary so we celebrated by going "ziplining" at the Alpspitz Kick. Whizzing down a steel rope through a cut in the trees at speeds of up to 130kmh is a great way to spend 40 seconds.



http://www.alpspitzkick.de/