Free to a Good Home -- I Hope
My skis found a good home today, I think.It's the Mac-Groveland Neighborhood Yard Sale today. About a quarter of the houses on our street participated.
I haven't skied since Kristi and I married 10 years ago, and I've tried to get rid of them a time or two without success. Finally, at the end of the sale, we got someone to take them for free. He was pretty darned happy, too. The Raichle boots fit him, the skis have Marker bindings, and he got to walk away with the whole package (including poles) for nothing.
Are you detecting a twinge of regret at about this point?
I'm 45, and I've got a lower back that spasms periodically (like today, for instance). Bicycling I can handle; downhill skiing is for younger guys, or maybe for older guys with younger backs, but not for me. And here in the land of cross-country skiing, there really aren't any good downhill runs anyway -- not like those at Sierra Summit, where they have a lodge halfway down the mountain selling hot chocolate because, honestly, you need a break about then.
Still ... man, I sometimes think about that rush you get when the pines are rushing by you at some ungodly speed, and you realize you're at just about the limits of your skill, but not quite, you're still in control, and your face is numb and your knees ache and your teeth are chattering and you've never ever ever felt more alive. I've never experienced anything quite like it, and I expect I never will again.
posted by MeanMrMustard @ 1:24 PM
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