RR Day 5 - the shortest day

Well this year's RR is turning out to be quite a different experience.

This morning there is not enough snow for us to ski safely (or unsafely). Instead, a visit has been arranged to Ranua Zoo. Normally we ski past this a couple of kilometres after we set off, and I have always wanted to visit it. Why? Well it specialises in Artic animals, and so you are seeing them in a similar habitat to their natural one.

We know it is warm because the bear was already out of hibernation - on my first RR the bear woke up the night we stayed in Ranua. I know from previous visits and talking to  a guide that there are a few in the wild east of Kuusamo - this was why I did not want to be the slowest skier this year!

 

Today is normally our shortest day. Those who wanted to keep up their distances skied both ways between the two places our accommodation is split across; some did it there, back and there again. For myself, I took the opportunity of the shorter distance to allow my leg injuries to recover.

 Today we also saw at least one more person depart through injury. So far, the ones I know about are all their skis catching and gripping suddenly - the sort of thing that normally happens to me ten times a day, usually in front of the largest number of people. Today was the first day I didn't fall; unlike day 2 where I fell getting off the bus before I had even got my skis on.

It seems like this blog is read by my people than I thought before coming on the RR - it seems I am not the only non-expert skier after all.

I discovered last night that a fellow skier has been doing for years what I have tried on this trip - wearing compression running socks under ski socks. I can report that in my case, my right leg normally swells up a bit on every previous RR. This year, using compression socks because of injury, I have not had this, and had no problems with my shins so far. The twinges in my knees are simply due to age, and there isn't anything I can do about that.

Each year I discover new things that make it easier as I get older - so far, the improvements I discover each year outweigh the what I lose on age. It effectively sets me a challenge - how long can I keep improving? Another decade? I have a particular target of another six years - when you have completed 10 RRs, you receive a master skier award. This is not an award for style, skill or competence - just the ability to ski from Russia to Sweden ten times.