Cross country skis are "winter bikes." When I re-learned to ski as an adult, the classic stride was explained to me as "a low gear." Double poling and skating are "high gears." Some ski shops I've been to have described different pairs of skis as "like a gravel road bike" or another kind. All this borrowed terminology is because a lot of people are drawn to both, and see a lot of parallels between them. Nordic skiing is an aerobic endurance sport. You get to spend a day outdoors, following some kind of route, traveling on your own power. You even get to coast sometimes.

With all that said, they've started grooming trails (these are for the racing road bikes of the ski world, confined to good pavement/groomed snow) in the Methow Valley. Today it was in the Rendezvous system, tomorrow will be Mazama.

Methow Trails :: Grooming

If you haven't tried XC skiing, you should. It's a beautiful and invigorating way to experience winter.

Think snow.