A dreary fact: like golf, social skiing ain’t really exercise. Golfers get furious when I say golf isn’t really exercise. Well, skiing isn’t either, much of the time. If you’re a decent skier and you’re mostly cruising – as you do with pals much of the time – you don’t get the long stretch of aerobics. Sorry but true. Just like golf.

So, like a good kid, I got up early this morning and did a fast hike up Smuggler (it’s in the book…a 1000 foot climb favored by Aspen locals as a quick exercise fix). It is such a good idea. Less than 30 minutes up (a morning miracle) with my heart rate in the 80’s most of the time…to 165 at the end which is probably 98% of my max. Hell, it may be 100% of my max: I haven’t seen 170 for a while. And the reocvery rate: 34BPM which is okay but well below my best. Shows, I’m afraid, that I need more, not less of this stuff…even out here. Let’a see if I can do one of these every other day for the next two weeks…see if that does any good.

Harry’s coming out in a couple of weeks. Gotta be in shape for that