Winter is a month old, but it feels like I am just getting started.

I’m a four-season fun hog, and I look forward to all seasons because each brings me something cool to do.

But I’ve been a little off kilter lately. Here it is mid-January, and I’ve made a grand total of one run down Bogus Basin, and that was to shoot photos on opening day.

Winter is all about skiing and snowboarding, right?

Some snowmobilers may differ, but at least for me, that’s usually my main winter sport.

But it’s been an odd winter, and fall was a little strange, too.

After my big game hunting ends in October, I usually turn my attention to steelhead fishing and duck hunting before snowboarding season starts.

I hunted ducks, but not a single steelhead trip during the fall. I can’t explain it. It’s not like I swore off steelhead fishing, it just didn’t happened.

My mountain biking usually tapers down to an occasional ride in November and December, but I logged about 150 miles mountain biking in the Foothills during those months.

Part of the reason for that is the fitness goals that I wrote about a couple months ago. I won’t bore you with the details, but I will say if your New Year’s resolution was to get in shape, stick with it. You will feel better. I know I do.

But here it is mid-January and I’ve barely used my snowboard. I’m having a weird winter of postponing my usual winter sports, which is why I was still mountain biking in December.

Conditions had something to do with my lack of boarding. Doing yo-yo runs on icy groomers bores me, and I know my bad habits. I will head off groomed and crunch a rock, and I don’t want to be a bitter boarder. But now conditions have improved.

I’ve also done a couple work road trips to the tubing hill in Garden Valley and to Horsethief Reservoir to shoot photos for ice fishing. I try to get on the ice at least once a winter, whether shooting photos or fishing. It’s just a lot of fun, and if you haven’t tried it, I encourage you to give it a go.

I guess it’s not unusual to get pulled in different directions during winter, which is part of the beauty of living in Idaho. You actually have those options, but they lead to some strange choices.

Duck hunting on the Snake River or snowshoeing in the mountains?

Steelhead fishing in Riggins or ice fishing in Cascade?

Mountain biking in the Owyhees or snowboarding at Bogus or another ski area?

I could go on, and I will. It’s just of matter of deciding which direction to go.

FAT BIKES

Speaking of strange, or not so strange, really quite cool, Grand Targhee is hosting a snow bike race Jan. 19. Riders will ride “fat bikes” on the groomed Nordic trails and race distances from 15 to 45 kilometers.

If you haven’t seen a fat bike, they’re mountain bikes with balloon tires run at low tire pressures that are designed to ride on snow and sand.

Targhee says it is the first resort to “embrace and endorse” fat bikes on its Nordic trail system. They have six of them to rent.

Very cool, and very forward looking. I would love to see something similar at one of our area ski resorts.

Roger Phillips: 377-6215, Twitter: @rogeroutdoors

Statesman outdoor writers Pete Zimowsky and Roger Phillips alternate columns each week.