Workout Log: 23 - 26 January 2017 [Updated]
Since there's no way to indicate if a post has been updated if I just go back and edit it, now that I'm back from Telluride and have the GPS data from my skiing days, I'm just making a separate post.
Day 1: track 1 | track 2
The relevant numbers here are 11,968 vertical feet and a max speed of 33.1mph. Contrast this with SkiTracks, which claimed 9,039 vertical feet, and a top speed of 44.4mph.
Day 2: track 1
Here, we have a max speed of 27.5mph and 10,272 vertical feet (compared to 39.1mph and 9,452 from SkiTracks). Recall that this was the shitty day on the skis I didn't like.
Day 3: track 1
GPS data gives me 18,156 vertical with a top speed of 28.0mph, versus SkiTracks' 15,337 vertical and top speed of 43.1mph. I'm surprised that I got a higher speed number on day 1 than on day 3, given that this was when I was riding the Black Crows and things felt really good.
As usual, I have no idea which numbers are closer to the truth, but I suppose that in the era of alternative facts, I can claim whatever I want and nobody can dispute it. POW.
I was discussing this (discrepancies in data, not alternative facts) earlier in the week with A, who said that getting up to 30-40 miles per hour on skis is easy, even if it doesn't feel the same as the equivalent speed when you're doing something else. I've gotten my mountain bike up to 30-31mph on a stretch of downhill road coming out of SSF, and it's absolutely a different feeling than when I'm bombing down some wide open single blue in tucked-bird position.
On my mountain bike, 30 miles per hour can feel uncomfortably fast - to the point where I feel like hitting even the smallest bump is going to be a broken bird, and steering should be kept to an absolute minimum. When I'm on skis, assuming that I'm really going 30mph when the metrics claim I am, it doesn't feel that scary. My guess is because it feels like I have more control - there's more surface area in contact with the ground and direct energy transfer between my body and the skis, as opposed to bicycle machinery getting in the way and limited rolling friction from my tires. Or maybe it's because I've fallen on skis at that kind of speed and not gotten hurt; a 30mph fall off my bike would probably have me sidelined for weeks. It could also be a balance / center of gravity thing; in a ski tuck, I'm much more compact and lower to the ground, and inherently more stable. I claim it's all of the above - choose the facts you like. :-P