Pictures from the Minnesota Skate Tour with Eddy Matzger, September 2005.
The following pictures are my favorites from the tour. To see all of the pictures (about 200!), follow this link.
We met at 9 AM on Sunday, and Eddy Matzger,
our guest guide, gave us an hour-long skate lesson on improving our
skating technique. Several people said they wanted to be able to use
their outside edges on their skate wheels, so Eddy gave us a lesson
about how to transfer weight more effectively and how to get the hip,
knee, and skate aligned. After the lesson, we skated from Carlton to
Moose Lake on the Willard Munger Trail. It was definitely nice and
scenic. Andrea (one of the other guides) pointed out that I was
pronating, or using my inside edge on my skates a lot. I already knew
this, but she offered to help by moving the frame over and putting
little wedges between the boot and the frame. This helped, although
it proved to be some work to adjust.
We drove down from Willow River to Red Wing and checked into the hotel, then had dinner at the hotel's restaurant. After dinner, we decided to go out skating in our pajamas. The only
problem was that we didn't all have pajamas, so we decided to go out skating in our bathrobes instead. This was rather goofy but fun regardless.
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Click here to see all of Sunday's pictures.
This
morning, we started out with another clinic from Eddy, this time
learning how to skate more effectively in a paceline by matching the
skating stroke of the person in front of you. We also discussed a few
more details of individual skating technique. After the clinic, we got
onto the Cannon Valley Trail and skated from Red Wing to Cannon Falls,
about 21 miles. It's a nice, scenic trail and definitely worth skating.
I worked on my technique and tried to get over my pronation problem
(particularly in my left skate), but in doing so I ended up overworking
my left ankle. It started to hurt by the time I got to Cannon Falls, so
I didn't want to overdo it. Also, just a few miles before Cannon Falls,
a few people in front of me took a fall -- I think Elizabeth, skating
in front, clicked skates with her husband Jake, and they fell along
with Neil, behind them. Elizabeth was shaken up, but she got up and she
was okay, but a bit scratched. Jake had a bloody elbow and he ended up
cracking his helmet (kind of scary).
When we got to Cannon
Falls, we had lunch. Most of the group skated back to Red Wing, but
Jake (broken helmet) and I (hurting ankle) opted to ride the van back
to Red Wing. We stopped to buy a new helmet for Jake. After we got
back, I got on my skates again and decided to do a little more skating
in the local area.
Our dinner was at Liberty's, a local pizza place. They served some interesting
combinations, including buffalo chicken pizza. After dinner, Eddy played football in the street with Theo, Gary, and anyone else willing to catch and throw. This was fun, although at one point, a semi truck hit the football as it sailed across the street. The driver was probably shaken, but apparently not angry at us. Afterward, we continued the party in Eddy's room, complete with a hot tub that fit four people.
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Click here to see all of Monday's pictures.
We left the St. James Hotel in Red Wing (after a breakfast served late,
with surly service) and headed down to Lanesboro, in the far
southeastern corner of the state. On the way down there, I explained to
Ann that I had been updating my blog last night on the coffee shop's
computer. She asked a few questions about blogging, but she was
wondering why I was doing updates when it wasn't open to the public.
(Good question. I've decided I should make more of it publicly-readable from now on.)
When we arrived in
Lanesboro, we stopped at a parking lot, where I learned the first
lesson of the day: Don't try to skate on a ramp in a skate park. I'm
not 18 any more, which may explain why I fell forward and bumped my
head (protected with a helmet) and crashed into my GPS (which was
unprotected, and broke). The real lesson, given by our instructor Eddy
Matzger, was more on making a triangle with the stroking leg, the
gliding leg, and the ground. He explained that a triangular position
provides more stability. He also gave us a lesson in carving turns, and
he laid out an exercise where we kept both skates on the ground and
carved our turns. I'm not sure I was fully concentrating on the
lessons, but I could tell I'm definitely getting better at pronating.
We
got on the trail and skated ten miles from Lanesboro to Preston on the
Root River Trail system. The pavement on the older section of the trail
isn't in the greatest of condition, but the second half of the trail
was better. We stopped for lunch in Preston at a friendly little
sandwich shop, and then had dessert at a place called Pig Mama's.
My friend Melinda would love the place -- and I took pictures for her. After lunch, Gary
(one of the guides) and I skated a short distance along the trail that
continues south out of Preston, and then we turned around and headed
back toward Lanesboro. At one point on the trail, we stopped to go
swimming in the Root River. Gary, Neil, Ann, Karen, and I took the
rather cold plunge into the river. I complained it was cold, at which
point Ann splashed me so I'd be sure to get wet. Then again, I didn't really
need to get back at her -- on the way back up the river bank, she
slipped in the mud and got her butt muddy. Then, when changing her
underwear, she got it all full of burrs (stickers) from nearby
plant. We got some pictures
and a couple of videos of the swimming expedition.
We finished our
skate in Lanesboro, checked into the Cottage Inn B&B, and then got
cleaned up. Later in the evening, we had dinner at the Old Village Hall
restaurant. We could tell it used to be the village hall, because there
was an old jail cell sitting out on the patio (unused, except for
storage). Dinner was really good, including a double chocolate torte
for dessert. After dinner, Eddy instigated another football game on the
streets of Lanesboro. At one point, Gary and Eddy tackled me (completely unprovoked, of course) -- but we were all having too much fun to care.
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Click here to see all of Tuesday's pictures.
We had breakfast at the B&B (with tasty food served with
more interest), then headed back up to the Twin Cities to go skating on
the Gateway Trail. The day's lesson included practicing skating at
different speeds (short strokes while going up hills, and long strokes
when you have your speed up), as well as doing crossovers while
turning. At one point, Eddy was skating away from us, so we all hid
behind a truck while he had his back turned to us. He gave us yet
another exercise (actually, more of a game) as a punishment. We
concluded our lesson and then went skating on the Gateway Trail, which
goes about 9.5 miles from Oakdale to Pine Point Park just north of
Stillwater. At the end, Mike (one of the Zephyr guides and a member of
the skate club) brought us lunch, which was a nice gesture and tasty as
well. On the way back, Eddy and Andrea (another guide) skated with me
at various points and occasionally took turns pushing me for speed. It
was nice skating and definitely a nice trail, but the trail is starting
to get damaged by roots and bumps.
We headed back to Minneapolis
and checked into our hotel. We had dinner at Basil's in downtown
Minneapolis, in the Marquette Hotel. It started raining pretty heavily
as soon as we got there, and it even started leaking into the Crystal
Court. At the end of the
dinner, our guides Gary and Andrea passed out awards to the new
participants, based on ways they had distinguished themselves. Doug got
the "Future Skate Magazine Spandex Cover Picture" award, because of his
good skating form and his win of an age category in the North Shore
Inline Marathon. Theo got the "Rodney Dangerfield" award because he was
such a comedian. Ann got the "Free Spirit" award for her sense of being
so fun-loving. (They had considered giving her the "Muddy Butt" award,
based on our swimming in the Root River in Lanesboro, but they decided
against it.) Our group also got an award in general for the "Empty
First Aid Kit" (because so many people had fallen and injured
themselves). Jake, Elizabeth, and Chuck also got recognition for being
Zephyr "High Rollers" (for having traveled with Zephyr for 20 tour
days), and Neil got recognition for being a Level 3 High Roller. They
also gave Eddy a pair of new shoes (actually, cute little frog
slippers) because he blew out his flip-flops in Lanesboro.
After
dinner, we headed back to the hotel for an after-dinner party in Eddy's
room. A lot of wine was served, and people started getting silly. Or
should I say "more silly"? By way of a complicated chain of events that
I don't want to admit to, Eddy eventually ended up
stepping and walking all over my back while I laid face-down on the
bed. It wasn't exactly therapeutic massage, but at least he didn't give
me a "happy ending".
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Click here to see all of Wednesday's pictures.
On Thursday morning, we had an early breakfast
in the hotel, and then we headed to Lakes Calhoun and Harriet for our
final half-day of skating. We didn't have a lesson, because of the
short amount of time available, but we did have a fun time skating
around the lakes. At one point around Lake Harriet, we formed a train
and had Eddy pull us around the trail while we just rolled along. He's
a strong enough skater that he could actually pull it off. Then, the
rest of us took turns pulling the "train", and actually, everyone else
was able to do it. I've skated the lakes hundreds of times before, but
this was definitely the most fun and the silliest time I've had of it.
Unfortunately,
all good things must come to an end. We headed back to the hotel and
got our stuff ready for checkout. Most of the group headed to the
airport. Jake and Elizabeth were going to drive the Durango back to
Duluth, so I got a ride back to my place with them. Neil, Theo, and
Eddy opted to hang out with us since they had later flights. So, we
went to the Mall of America for lunch. Eddy wanted to have alligator
meat, but he found that Gator's had since closed, so we opted for the
Bubba Gump Shrimp Company instead. After lunch, we checked out the
Apple Store and SportMart. Finally, we dropped Neil and Theo off at the
airport, and Jake and Elizabeth dropped me off at my own place.
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Click here to see all of Thursday's pictures.
Once again, this trip rates among my top tours with Zephyr, rivaling
only the Glacier tour in terms of how much fun I had.
This trip was invaluable in improving my skating skills. I learned so much
about how to improve my technique, not only from Eddy's clinics, but also
from Andrea's work in paying attention to my pronation and from other tips by
the guides along the way. The format of an hour's instruction in the morning,
followed by a day of skating to work on it, really helped me get the concepts
in a way that I could have missed in a more focused workshop setting. It
wasn't just hard work, though -- it was a LOT OF FUN. Eddy is an amazingly
fun person to hang out with, and Andrea and Gary were a lot of fun as well.
The other members of our group had a lot to do with it, too -- everyone was relaxed, easy-going, and made the atmosphere fun.
The only thing I think could have been improved was the trail surface conditions, particularly the ones maintained by the Minnesota DNR.
Some of the older trails (like the Gateway Trail and the older
sections of the Lanesboro trail) have damage from roots heaving up the trail
or cracks developing along the length of the trail. I heard a rumor that the
Gateway trail will be repaved next year, but I think a little more trail
advocacy effort would help out.
That's a minor complaint, though. I started off being a little leery about
taking a skate vacation in Minnesota, asking myself why I should pay for a tour when I could just take
day trips and skate the trails for free. In the end, though, I learned so much
more about my skating technique than I could have ever accomplished on my
own, and I had infinitely more fun than I would have had on my own. I'd
recommend this trip highly.
