Though a late start, it turned out to be a beautiful evening to be out on the rollerskis. Starting out I felt optimistic and set my speed reducers on the first notch. Really this setting does little but keep the wheels from coast spinning when you pick them up off the road. In any event, when I turned around at the intersection with North Street I was getting tired so set them back to free wheel, the perfect wax job that makes rollerskiing on the level feel like snow skiing a slight down hill.

I find the new rollerski poles nice and stiff as compared to my regular skate poles. This is why I bought new ones. While skating on the lakes this winter with Nordic skates, I noticed my poles were flexing to the extreme. Since they are quite old, it seemed wise to buy new stiffer ones for roller and ice skate skiing as pole plants are much less cushioned with these sports than skiing on snow. I figure if I break my original skate poles, I can glue the baskets onto the new rollerski poles.

My first trip was faster at 6.9 mph average with this trip coming in at 6.6 mph. I really don't think I was skiing any slower but the average was brought down by a water break when I skied by the car in the first mile. Overall I skied the same track plus extra mileage at the south end so my round trip was 5.25 miles where the first trip was only 3 miles.