Its Like Riding A Bike..... Only Not

I have been fortunate enough to not only get a great living situation in Istanbul with a great family, but one that enjoys a good Vacation as well. For the winter break we all went to Uludag. A ski resort town just outside (or rather above) Bursa the fourth largest city in Turkey. We started our journey with an hour long ferry ride to Yalova then a two hour ride to Bursa where we spent about 13km climbing up to Uludag. Now this is the part where I point out something and act all sarcastic except I am not trying to be sarcastic I am trying to be serious. This ascend to Uludag had me on the edge of my seat, sweat forming on my forehead, and my heart was racing about a mile a minute or faster. I was in the car that was being driven by Hassan abi, the driver, and I have always noticed that he does drive a little too fast, he insists that I don't have to wear my seat belt and he tends to get distracted while driving easily. I was trying to tell him that its really not necessary to drive like you are in NASCAR while I am in the vehicle. Its absurd to me that you would be in a car and not be buckled especially with the types of drivers in this place. With that said I will add that the road we were driving on was almost verticle, wide enough for just one lane but supporting two lanes of traffic, had about 2 inches of ice under 3-4 inches of snow and was as curvy and windy as some crazy slide at a waterpark. Not to mention no one was really utilizing a safe speed limit given the conditions or the fact that there were charter buses navigating these turns as well as crazy taxi drivers. I mean some of the corners were 45 degree angels and there were NO, I repeat NO safety guards to protect one's life (not that it would a the speed we were going) from going over the cliff edge. 
Once we were safe in the hotel, Alkoclar, I felt better. We arrive around 1pm and it was "give your bags to the bell man, grab your ski clothes, lets rent equiment and go!" I didn't even see the inside of the room yet and we were already downstairs renting a snowboard and boots for me and within an hour I was staring at the T bar lift thinking to myself "well, you will either remember how to snowboard or you wont.... the hard part is going to be figuring out how to use this ski lift...." Basically in you are using a snowboard you have to straddle the T bar and it will sit nicely against the inside of your knee and pull you up the mountain. It was relatively easy and I only fell of off it 3 times out of like a 100. One of the times was not my fault, a skiier ran into me as I was being taken to the top of the mountain. The problem was that sometimes you would be trying to navigate through some ruts in the snow that others had made and I caught my board a couple times which causes you to loose balance and there is no stability with the T bar, its just on a cable not made for you to be able to regain balance. Falling off was no big deal you just have to make sure to move out of the way. 

I was really happy at how easy I remembered snowboarding. After just 2 runs I was totally feeling it. Cutting, carving, even taking some jumps and leaps over ledges. It was super fun. I liked being up on the mountain where no one else knew me, and no one really spoke English either so it was just me. My days were great, I really enjoyed being there with the kids even though they were long it was one of my favorite experiences. Basically we woke up around 8am and Elif and I would head down to breakfast. She and I would ride first think in the morning (she was taking classes) I would pick her up when her classes ended, which was the same time that Zeyneps classes started and Belma'abla also took classes at that time. Then there was a short rest period, lunch and the same thing again. 4 hours of snowboarding a day for 6 days was a great strength workout for my legs! I was never really sore from riding, I was sore from a couple falls I took and my shins were sore from attempting a difficult crossover too many times ( I did finally get over to the other side though). I was actually upset that I didn't feel more sore. I wanted to feel like I had worked out more since I am trying to train for this Antalya Marathon and was missing a whole week of running. 
Every day we were there was pretty much the same, amazing, yet the same. There are some real tips that Bachelor could take from Uludag... like the T bar lift thing, but also the way you rent equipment was phenomenal. I didnt have to lift a finger. You go in the rental shop sit down hand one of the 10 teenage kids your card, they scan it run off to get your stuff then continue to take off your shoes, put your boots on for you, lace you up and hand you your board. One day I was even take off guard when they started to zip up my coat... I was like "uh thanks." So Bachelor get on that service. I cant wait to go back to Uludag and hopefully it will happen this season!