The Flatlands Blog

Big SNOW: New Jersey’s Best Mall Skiing

Posted on by Brownski

I skied at Big SNOW American Dream last Friday. To be honest, I didn’t expect much. I’ve been curious about it and only live about 40 minutes away, so maybe I should have gone sooner.

As cool as off-season skiing sounds, the tiny little beginner hill, packed into a mall, wasn’t too appealing. I just couldn’t summon the motivation.

Big SNOW

Last weekend, I needed a box of doughnuts for a Halloween event I was attending first thing Saturday morning. Krispy Kremes are the best-in-class product closest to me, and ten minutes away from Big SNOW, so I combined trips to check the place out.

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Tagged: Big Snow, Flatlands20 Comments

Allamuchy: Cheating Death

Posted on by Peter Minde

Usually, my overdistance day is on foot, or on skis. The pandemic hasn’t changed my training routine; I’m pretty solitary during dryland season. Before the lockdown, I was looking forward to two big events in August: the Whiteface Sky Race and the App Gap Challenge roller ski race.

With social distancing the new rule, NENSA served up the #25KinMay Challenge. You can choose different distances depending on your goals. With my eyes bigger than my stomach, I signed up for the Keep Up With Beckwith class — Justin Beckwith is NENSA’s competition director and an all around good guy. 200 kilometers in a month? Looking back through old training logs, I saw that I generally log around 60 km a month on roller skis. Gonna have to up my game.

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Tagged: Flatlands5 Comments

They Reopened My Zone

Posted on by Harvey

Last year, after 30 years, we decided to choose a new house, in the same school district. For one thing, we wanted closets, and I admit it, central air. We looked around a lot, and considered many factors.

When we found a place we liked, it was in a busier area, but with close proximity to an extensive, inter-borough dirt and gravel trail network. While it certainly influenced our decision, we didn’t fully grasp the importance of the access we have to what I call “the zone.”

I know now that I underestimated my reliance on the zone. Until they closed it, for you know what. That woke me up.

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Tagged: Biking, Flatlands9 Comments