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同僚とウィンタースポーツを満喫
3月も過ぎようというのに、ニューヨーク州北部にはいまだに雪が残っています。もともと出無精な雅子さんも、長い冬の間中、家にこもりがちだっだのでちょっとうんざり。そこへタイミングよく、スポーツ好きな上司から、snow tubing なるものに誘われました。運動音痴の雅子さんが、恐る恐る参加してみると…。
Snow tubing: No skill required
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チューブを調べる筆者の同僚たち。空気の量やかぶせられたカバーによって、すべり具合が変わってくる
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It's March and there is still snow on the ground. Even a hard-core indoor person like me can get cabin fever after too many weekends spent inside. It's No big secret that people living in cold parts of the world often suffer from the winter blahs. Many of my friends here engage in winter sports in order to find beauty and enjoyment during the long winter months. I'm not one of them. My boss is.
My boss is Canadian and he speaks glowingly of several winter sports: downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snow-shoeing, ice-skating and most of all, hockey. Sometimes I feel as if I'm from a different world when I speak to him. He's the type of person who gives career advice such as, "You have to play good defense," while grabbing an imaginary hockey stick and blocking an imaginary goal. I've never played hockey in my life.
Nor have I ever downhill skied, cross-country skied, or snow-shoed. I was therefore apprehensive when my boss arranged for our entire lab to go Snow tubing. I had never heard of any other lab manager organizing such an event. Usually, team-building activities involve eating together at restaurants or playing indoor games. This event was held at a ski slope. I have so little experience playing in the snow that I had to borrow a ski jacket and ski pants for the occasion. I didn't even have a hat.
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丘の上までは、チューブに座って、綱に引かれて上がる
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It turns out my boss chose a good outdoor event: It's fun but requires no skill. The tube is a doughnut-shaped inner tube with a fabric cover that makes it go down the hill faster. The hill has three lanes just for tubing. At the bottom of the hill, you put your butt inside the hole of the tube and grab the tow rope that pulls you up the hill. Once you near the top, you let go of the tow rope and roll off the tube. Then you pick up the tube and walk over to one of the lanes. Finally, it's time to go down! The snow in the tubing lanes is packed so the ride is very fast.
At first, my fellow beginners and I sat in our doughnut holes at the top of the hill and asked for a gentle push. However, we quickly learned how to do it. The employees at the top are capable of giving quite hefty kicks; they can even spin you around so you continue spinning as you slide down the hill.
There is no reason to remain seated in the doughnut hole. Most of the experienced folks prefer to go down the hill headfirst. Eventually, my colleagues and I started racing each other. I must say it was a bit strange to see my co-workers in their 40s, 50s and even 60s yelling, "Ready! Set! GO!" making a quick dash, and then leaping onto their tubes headfirst. My two colleagues who were the fastest are from Canada and Russia. My guess is that they are used to playing in the snow.
Strangely enough, one of the young, athletic members of my lab was quite inept at tubing. Sometimes he barely made it down the hill. However, it turns out that the problem was in the tube that he had selected. Apparently, there is a technique to selecting a tube. A colleague who has been working for the company for 38 years told us that there has to be plenty of air in the tube, and that the fabric cover must be undamaged. Once the faulty tube was replaced, the ride was much smoother.
I took one break during the event to eat some French fries in the lodge, but I did not see any of my other colleagues resting in the lodge. One of my labmates seemed especially enthralled by the tubing process. Like myself, she was also a tentative beginner at first, but she quickly became addicted. When it came time for us to drive back home, we practically had to pry her off the hill.
I had no idea there is a ski resort just a few miles from where I live. While we were there, I noticed that the resort offers skiing lessons. It's too late for me to take skiing lessons this season, but I took a mental note of the location. It's easy to come up with reasons not to try new things, but I now know that I can't use the excuse of "the resort is too far" to prevent me from learning how to ski. Thanks to this event sponsored by my manager, I might start enjoying the winter next year as a proper upstate New Yorker.
Shukan ST: April 2, 2004
(C) All rights reserved
- Snow tubing
- タイヤのチューブを使って雪上を滑り降りる遊び
- No 〜 required
- 〜を必要としない
- hard-core
- 筋金入りの
- cabin fever
- 閉所性発熱(特に冬に閉じこもっていることから生じるイライラ)
- suffer from 〜
- 〜に悩む
- winter blahs
- 冬のけだるさ
- engage in 〜
- 〜に没頭する
- glowingly
- 生き生きと
- downhill skiing
- 滑降スキー
- snow-shoeing
- 雪靴を履いて雪上を歩くハイキング
- hockey
- アイスホッケー
- as if 〜
- まるで〜のように
- grabbing 〜
- 〜をつかんで
- imaginary
- 架空の
- Nor have 〜
- 〜したこともない
- apprehensive
- 心配な
- lab(=laboratory)
- 研究所
- team-building
- グループの親ぼくを深める
- involve 〜
- 〜を伴う
- for the occasion
- このために
- It turns out 〜
- 結局〜だ
- doughnut-shaped
- ドーナツ型の
- inner tube
- タイヤのチューブ
- fabric
- 布
- lanes
- コース
- butt
- おしり
- tow rope
- 引き綱
- let go of 〜
- 〜を離す
- roll off 〜
- 〜から転がって離れる
- is packed
- 固まっている
- fellow
- 仲間の
- employees
- 係
- are capable of giving quite hefty kicks
- かなり強烈な蹴りを入れることができる
- spin 〜 around
- 〜を回転させる
- slide down 〜
- 〜を滑り降りる
- remain seated
- 座ったままでいる
- experienced folks
- 慣れている人たち
- headfirst
- 頭から
- colleagues
- 同僚
- co-workers
- 同僚
- yelling
- 叫びながら
- Ready! Set! GO
- 位置について、用意、ドン
- leaping onto 〜
- 〜に飛び乗る
- Strangely enough
- おかしなことに
- athletic
- 運動神経のいい
- (was)inept at 〜
- 〜が下手だった
- barely made it down the hill
- 丘を滑り降りるのがやっとだった
- Apparently 〜
- 〜らしい
- plenty of 〜
- 十分な〜
- undamaged
- 傷が付いていない
- Once 〜
- いったん〜すれば
- faulty
- 欠陥のある
- took one break
- 一度休憩を取った
- French fries
- フライドポテト
- lodge
- 山小屋
- labmates
- 研究所の仲間
- enthralled
- 魅了されて
- tubing process
- チューブ遊び
- tentative
- おずおずした
- became addicted
- 病み付きになった
- practically
- 実際
- pry 〜 off 〜
- 〜を無理やり〜から引き離す
- took a mental note of 〜
- 〜を心に刻んだ
- excuse
- 言い訳
- prevent 〜 from 〜
- 〜が〜するのを妨げる
- proper
- まっとうな
- upstate New Yorker
- ニューヨーク州北部人