Winona Forest is near where my folks live, north of Syracuse, about 10-15 minutes east off i-81 near Mannsville NY. From my parent's place, it's about a 20 minute drive from their house. A little longer when the last 5 miles of County Rt 90 are covered in snow, which was true 2 out of the 3 days I went.
Thanks to my parents for hosting me. I was way more comfortable at their place than a hotel, and I appreciate saving $100-200 a night. Lots of chit chat time too, which was nice.
The first day, I skied a smaller 4 mile loop on my groomed track classic skis (where you keep the skis parallel as you ski). Then I did a quick down and back skate ski outing on the main drag (Bargy Rd) that the snowmobilers use. Nordic skate skiing is also called Freestyle. Bargy Road was packed down well, at least 3-4 snowmobiles wide. Being a Wednesday, I only saw 2-3 snowmobilers, but I'd never ski that road on a Saturday/Sunday. I'd be sucking in way too many fumes from the snowmobiles; not complaining, there are plenty of ski only trails, and the snowmobiles have to pay to use the forest, skiers don't.
Speaking of, before I forget, I did buy a basic $30 membership online, and I made an extra $30 donation. I felt like $20/day was fair. The slightly nicer xc ski centers I've been to charge $25/day. The grooming at Winona just kind of smushes the snow flat behind their snowcat; they don't have the machine that sets grooved tracks for classic and corduroy texture for skate, and the nordic xc places have nice warming huts/centers with food. At Winona you're on your own; just you and whatever is in your car. Still, you're more there for the scenery in the forest. It's far more Nature-ish than most of the nordic xc places I've been
The 2nd day was gorgeous for skiing. Fresh 4-6 inches of powder as I skied the 8.1 mile big loop on my backcountry skis. It was a blast, I hope it sticks in my noggin as a lifetime memory. There was lots of floofly snow clinging to the trees; it was very pretty and calming. Temps mid 20's F, perfect for xc skiing. Fast snow, but not too cold. Never saw a soul on the entire 8.1 mile loop. Took longer than I thought, and after blazing 8 miles of trail through powder, I was too tired to do any skate skiing. I just drove back to my folks
After a late lunch and a shower, my Dad and I went over to see Grissingers place in Adams Center Thursday afternoon. I'd never been there before. He has all the woodworking toys I have, just a generation or two older. Interesting to see the tool design changes. I also liked his art. It has a nice folksy quality to it. Stuff that would be great hanging in a rustic cabin. He just does it for himself, which as a fellow renaissance man I appreciate. People stress over whether their hobbies make "worthy" stuff sometimes, I think that misses the point. If you enjoy it, good enough.
I almost forgot. The other thing from earlier Thursday morning, is somebody made the mistake my parents had mentioned the day before. It's been a proper North Country Winter, and there has been lots of delivery drivers and/or non-locals driving themselves onto the Snowmobile trails and getting stuck. Sure enough, it happened near where I parked Thursday morning. I'd already emailed a few of you about it, and I posted on instagram too. It was just funny to see it in person. Almost felt like my folks jinxed them.
Anyway, you park at the CCC camp in the map below. Bargy Road isn't even drive-able in the Summer, the driver must have gotten down the trail 300-400 ft before getting stuck, I bet it was expensive getting hauled out by a wrecker, or maybe they helped with their snow cat machine. To be fair, I can sort of understand the mistake. The asphalt road was likely snow covered too, so it might just look the same at night during a snow storm.
Friday, I stopped to take some photos of the house that's for sale near the skiing area. Only 5 minutes at most from the parking area for Winona. If it was just me, I'd be tempted to take a look. It had a lot of solar on top, and passive solar on the front of the barn for hot water/heat.
Sadly the snow covered the solar in the photos, but you can sort of see the roofline jump in the middle of the long ranch style house. Sadly, not listed on Zillow or realtor or any online site. Even if it had all the bells and whistle of Geothermal heating, solar, batteries, I bet I could easily swing it after selling our overpriced Shrewsbury place. Location, location, location. Our place in shrewsbury has higher paying jobs, so there's more demand, and people can afford to pay the crazy prices you see within commute range of Boston. It'd be a hellish commute, but still, people do it.
I taught Sim the joys of attacking the brightly colored zipper pulls I got from Sailrite. I just stole some from the duffel bags I've made. I think cats can see the bright orange ones best. Sim didn't seem to enjoy gnawing on them as much as Twitch does, but Sim has all his teeth, and our boy Twitch doesn't. So I think Twitch enjoys the feeling on his gums, where the rough plastic is too hard for Sim to bite into. I even made a wand toy from an old venetian blinds rod Dad found, and some yarn string from Mom's knitting stash. A tired Simeon was a far less annoying kitty.
Last but not least, I did get some nicely 8 year aged cheddar from the local Sharpe's bulk food store in Belleville. Stocked up on dried beans and whole wheat flour too. The chocolate sno cap treats are for Jacqui; I don't like them. I got some bacon end trimmings for future baked bean batches. 2.5 lbs for just $8. Crazy! And tbh, even their thick-cut bacon slab trimmings are far better than the store bought bacon near me. They also have a deli and will cut bacon fresh for their customers from big smoked slabs.
Oh and my parents indulged me bringing my mostly vegan, diet food to feed myself. A bit weird to bring 4 days of food to my parents house; that was a first. They ate their normal food. Staying on my diet and all the skiing, I lost a pound. I bet I'll see it drop another pound shortly as my muscles recover and my body lets go of the water I'm probably retaining. My legs are still achy from all the skiing.
But in total, I lost a smidge over 6lbs during February, ditto in January. As I near getting under 220lbs/100kg, I'm only shooting for losing 1 pound a week now. Oh, and I did try on one of my Dad's Life is Good t-shirts while I was there.. I've been curious if I can fit into XL's now, and I do! Time to order some new shirts. I'll put my XXL/XXXL stuff away in the attic, and maybe in a year or two, I'll donate it all once I'm sure I'm not going to put the weight back on. I think as long as I keep eating the Med food pyramid below and continue with the daily weighing, I'll be fine. Touch wood. All the fiber based food, I don't feel as hungry as when I ate more typical American stuff.
Again, my motivation to lose weight is so I can enjoy doing outdoorsy stuff more. It's way easier biking, skiing, hiking and kayaking while 60lbs lighter. So, fingers crossed, I'll be good until I can't do that stuff anymore when I'm an old fart. Hopefully, I've bought myself a couple decades more, we'll see. A low inflammation diet definitely makes me hopeful it's possible to stay active as I age.
As I was telling my parents, other than getting under 220, my two other goals this year are to make sure I can bike tour without my butt getting tore up, and I need to figure out how to make bean/lentil stuff while on the road. From my Erie Canal bike tour trip (Sept 2025), those are the 2 main things I need to fix before I attempt a cross country trip. If I'd been 8-9 nine days into a months long cross country trip, I would have had to quit. My left butt cheek fold was rubbed raw in a couple spots, and the biking on the Erie Canal route is pretty easy. I'm hopeful my new seat and suspension post will fix the sore butt issues.
Second, with my mild diverticulosis, I can't be eating burgers, gas station pizza, and junk food the entire trip; so I have to figure out how to eat healthier while touring. I need to eat higher calorie stuff for energy, but I also need fiber if I'm touring for 2-3 months. I don't want to risk the the diverticulOsis becoming the far worse diverticulitis that can put you in the hospital needing stomach surgery. I'd read somewhere that ultra marathoners often develop stomach problems, even higher rates of colon cancer. Long hours of running cuts off blood flow to the gut, causing problems. I don't think bike touring is nearly as extreme, but eating well and frequently matters. It's supposed to be fun, not a death march.
I already have good lightweight backpacking cooking gear to make beans/lentils but i'll have to figure out how to downsize the recipes I make at home for my ultralight Keith multi cooker. I plan on doing a handful of week-long local bike trips this year to figure that stuff out. Weird to be nearly 4 years into my retirement, and I finally feel like I'm about to do what I dreamed of doing. Very satisfying.
A side benefit of lots of week long touring trips will be the remaining weight I want to lose should come off too. Last time I rode my tour bike, I was 259.5lbs; it's going to be interesting being 30lbs lighter when I do my first Spring ride.
