It’s all Sarah’s fault. Okay, and Stephanie’s. They’ve succeeded where others have failed. They got me to put on downhill skis and go down a hill. A very small hill. But a hill.
I’ve been saying no to downhill skiing for years. I first said no when my high school boyfriend Barry asked me to go. It seemed scary and expensive. But mostly expensive.
Later when Jeff asked me I had views about exercise. I wanted outdoor activity that scorched calories, got my heart racing from effort rather than fear, and kept me warm. I took up cross country skiing and continued declining all offers of downhill.
But I have women friends now, my age, who downhill ski. They know me and they say I’d like it. They tell me there’s some transfer of skills from cycling.
I was intrigued when Stephanie blogged about going from cycling to skiing.
See Conquering imaginative fear: From cyclist to skier (Guest post) – http://wp.me/p2H8o1-C9P
I loved her advice to talk to ski instructors directly about my fear. She says she tells them straight up that she’s no daredevil, she doesn’t like speed, and she’s a coward.
Me too. Me too.
My instructor for my beginner lesson was a cheerful, determined, and patient young woman named Andrea. She’s sixteen. She’s a francophone anxious to practise her English so she can go out West as teach skiing. By the way, her English is excellent. She’s also a triathlete and does sprint distance races with her mom.
Andrea taught me to make a pizza with my skis, with bigger slices to slow down. I learned to turn too. All very exciting. But it’s my plan to take this very slowly. I’m going to focus on mastering these skills. It’s okay to be slow. I’m focusing on having a solid skill base before I try tricky things like getting on and off a ski lift. (That looks terrifying.)
I’ll tell you more later. But for now I’ll tell you that I tried it and it was fine, even sort of fun.
Watch out world.
I was glad to see this! I’m going skiing for the first time in a few weeks and I’m quite scared!
If only stereotypically attractive women were not shunned by so many feminists.
What’s this got to do with learning to ski?
Both are on the Internet!
Now that is something you can easily talk me into doing with you. I enjoy downhill skiing and snowboarding.
I have never downhill skied, but I learned how to snowboard (badly) in my mid to late 20s. I took private lessons and was very fearful….as I should have been because my instructor didn’t give me all the safety I needed and I broke my arm (very badly). But, the next season I did it again with an even better instructor. I miss that experience and commend you on trying something new and being honest about the fear that goes along with it….no matter how skilled we are at other things!
I was glad to see this!