SkiBike Tour 2009-10 - The Man From K-Trax
Posted: Saturday 10 April 2010 by Mark Kinnon in Labels: 2009-10 Tour, Andorra, D.I.Y., SkiBike
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Something very unexpected happened, whilst queuing for my fast run, a guy came running over to me with great excitement. I braced myself for a barrage of questions but it turned out he too was a fellow skibiker. Joan had converted a GT hard tail mountain bike with the K-Trax system. If you haven't come across these before follow the link; the rear wheel is replaced with a tank track and the front by a short ski. This enables you to pedal on the flat or even uphill, if you have the energy. It was only his second day skibiking and his first time using a chairlift. He seemed to get the hang of it far too quickly he set off on the blue run to practice his technique.
Having become more confident, I suggested that we move higher up the mountain and later across to the Pal sectors too. By late afternoon Joan was tiring, so we split apart with an agreement to meet later. I went over every combination of run at Pal before crossing back to Arinsal.
Near the end the day I threw all caution to the wind and had my first go on the Tub del Col black run. The combination of steep, narrow and heavy wet snow got the better of me, or as a friend later commented... "YARD SALE"...(there were bits of me scattered all over the hill).
The first priority was to locate my foot skis, luckily they weren't buried or at the bottom of the hill.
Then you have to get the compacted snow of the bottom of your ski boots so that you can then try to get them clipped back in, do one foot at a time, downhill footski first.
You can then side step up or side slip down to your skibike before remounting and heading off.
I had to do this twice on the one run. I had found my limit, it was time to call it a day.
Joan had dutifully waited for my return and I convinced him that tomorrow we should investigate what possibilities Arcalis would have to offer.
Having become more confident, I suggested that we move higher up the mountain and later across to the Pal sectors too. By late afternoon Joan was tiring, so we split apart with an agreement to meet later. I went over every combination of run at Pal before crossing back to Arinsal.
Near the end the day I threw all caution to the wind and had my first go on the Tub del Col black run. The combination of steep, narrow and heavy wet snow got the better of me, or as a friend later commented... "YARD SALE"...(there were bits of me scattered all over the hill).
The first priority was to locate my foot skis, luckily they weren't buried or at the bottom of the hill.
Then you have to get the compacted snow of the bottom of your ski boots so that you can then try to get them clipped back in, do one foot at a time, downhill footski first.
You can then side step up or side slip down to your skibike before remounting and heading off.
I had to do this twice on the one run. I had found my limit, it was time to call it a day.
Joan had dutifully waited for my return and I convinced him that tomorrow we should investigate what possibilities Arcalis would have to offer.