Category: XCFeeds

A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.

Mid-Winter Ski & Structure Testing

During mid-winter and late season, there are more opportunities for in-depth ski testing. By this time of year activity in the shop has settled into a steady (busy) pace and there’s time to prepare and test grinds and new grind ideas.

Ski testing with factory-matched identical test skis.

This season, I’m placing some focus on carefully dialing-in the range limits on some of the existing grinds, and I’m also testing a couple of effective broad-range structures for classic skis. Temp range, new snow vs. old snow, etc.

Testing and introducing new structures is not a simple business. First of all, anything “new” needs to be very good and very versatile. It needs to be better than something that’s already on the menu, which is a tall order, since the grind menu at Nordic Ultratune has very good, very verstatile grinds.

The on-snow part of ski testing is much less than half of the work. The test skis preparation takes more time than the on-snow testing, and the data entry and data analysis is a bit of time. Documentation, carefully, creates a record of testing and processes that is very important.

Good results depends on good data; I use factory matched test skis that are identically prepared in order to minimize the possibility of false results due to the influence of uncontrolled or unanticipated variables.

But the testing continues. It’s one of the most fun parts of the job.

February 8, 2011
Mid-Winter Ski & Structure Testing

During mid-winter and late season, there are more opportunities for in-depth ski testing. By this time of year activity in the shop has settled into a steady (busy) pace and there’s time to prepare and test grinds and new grind ideas.

Ski testing with factory-matched identical test skis.

This season, I’m placing some focus on carefully dialing-in the range limits on some of the existing grinds, and I’m also testing a couple of effective broad-range structures for classic skis. Temp range, new snow vs. old snow, etc.

Testing and introducing new structures is not a simple business. First of all, anything “new” needs to be very good and very versatile. It needs to be better than something that’s already on the menu, which is a tall order, since the grind menu at Nordic Ultratune has very good, very verstatile grinds.

The on-snow part of ski testing is much less than half of the work. The test skis preparation takes more time than the on-snow testing, and the data entry and data analysis is a bit of time. Documentation, carefully, creates a record of testing and processes that is very important.

Good results depends on good data; I use factory matched test skis that are identically prepared in order to minimize the possibility of false results due to the influence of uncontrolled or unanticipated variables.

But the testing continues. It’s one of the most fun parts of the job.

February 8, 2011
Mid-Winter Ski & Structure Testing

During mid-winter and late season, there are more opportunities for in-depth ski testing. By this time of year activity in the shop has settled into a steady (busy) pace and there’s time to prepare and test grinds and new grind ideas.

Ski testing with factory-matched identical test skis.

This season, I’m placing some focus on carefully dialing-in the range limits on some of the existing grinds, and I’m also testing a couple of effective broad-range structures for classic skis. Temp range, new snow vs. old snow, etc.

Testing and introducing new structures is not a simple business. First of all, anything “new” needs to be very good and very versatile. It needs to be better than something that’s already on the menu, which is a tall order, since the grind menu at Nordic Ultratune has very good, very verstatile grinds.

The on-snow part of ski testing is much less than half of the work. The test skis preparation takes more time than the on-snow testing, and the data entry and data analysis is a bit of time. Documentation, carefully, creates a record of testing and processes that is very important.

Good results depends on good data; I use factory matched test skis that are identically prepared in order to minimize the possibility of false results due to the influence of uncontrolled or unanticipated variables.

But the testing continues. It’s one of the most fun parts of the job.

February 8, 2011
Mid-Winter Ski & Structure Testing

During mid-winter and late season, there are more opportunities for in-depth ski testing. By this time of year activity in the shop has settled into a steady (busy) pace and there’s time to prepare and test grinds and new grind ideas.

Ski testing with factory-matched identical test skis.

This season, I’m placing some focus on carefully dialing-in the range limits on some of the existing grinds, and I’m also testing a couple of effective broad-range structures for classic skis. Temp range, new snow vs. old snow, etc.

Testing and introducing new structures is not a simple business. First of all, anything “new” needs to be very good and very versatile. It needs to be better than something that’s already on the menu, which is a tall order, since the grind menu at Nordic Ultratune has very good, very verstatile grinds.

The on-snow part of ski testing is much less than half of the work. The test skis preparation takes more time than the on-snow testing, and the data entry and data analysis is a bit of time. Documentation, carefully, creates a record of testing and processes that is very important.

Good results depends on good data; I use factory matched test skis that are identically prepared in order to minimize the possibility of false results due to the influence of uncontrolled or unanticipated variables.

But the testing continues. It’s one of the most fun parts of the job.

February 8, 2011
It Keeps Getting Better

I love that the City Of Lakes Loppet ski race continues to get bigger and better. The Twin Cities is a tough market to promote sports in – physically pulling off a point to point urban race, getting people to show up for all of the many events, and getting media coverage… Good job, John Munger and your 1000 volunteers!!!!

A year ago right after the Nordic Spirit I was feeling pretty burned out. I actually considered skipping COL, Mora and the Birkie but knew I’d be disappointed in myself if I didn’t finish the season so I did them. This year, I’ve definitely had some emotional (and physical) highs and

lows but for some reason I’m having more fun the more races I do. The best yet was City of Lakes on Sunday. I did the classic course which I really like – fits like a glove.

Sat. night I put on VR40, as recommended by Swix but driving to the race early Sun

day morning it was 29 degrees (22 had been predicted at that time)!!! I knew it could be a tough kick day. I ran into Kevin Ivens (racing with 2 broken ribs!) on the shuttle bus so we tested our skis along with everyone else. VR 50 seemed to be the consensus of the Swix users so I put some on. My kick was not great but my glide was good and I knew a lot of the hills were either gradual enough for the kick I had or steep enough that I’d be running anyway so I called it good and went to the start line. But I still

had a lot of angst so right before I entered the start area I added one more short layer of V50 – the ‘panic wax’ – and did not even test it. I started next to Hilary Patzer on the right side but never saw her once the race started. My start was not the greatest so I passed quite a few folks and finally settled in with Brent and just behind Katherine Himes. Brent has not been getting a lot of training in (too much work-related travel) so I jumped ahead of him and tried to stay with Katherine. On the second leg of Wirth Lake I

noticed she was kick double poling. I thought that was a bad sign for her but a good one for me so at the aid station just off the lake as she slowed for a drink, I skipped the drink and took off, hoping I could put a little distance between us.

This year the course took us through part of the flower gardens which are fun. Soon we were on the overpass above I-394 and I knew my favorite part – the lakes – were just ahead. The course was very fast and my kick was perfectly inadequate (Not enough for great kick but as much as I wanted for this race), allowing nice glide. Throughout the race I could see Josi and

everytime the course did a 180 turn, I could hear her cheering for me so I knew she was aware of where I was. I thought it would be nice to catch her but she felt out of my reach so I decided not to blow myself out trying to catch her but just kept the pressure on. As we 180’d onto Brownie Lake, Brent called out to me that I was safe – meaning that neither Katherine nor any

other women were close. Thank you, Brent! Coming up the boulevard to the finish was fun because my daughter, Claire, and her friend, Emily, were there to watch the finish. I had given them cow bells to cheer with and it was so nice to have Claire there as I was announced as the third woman, 49 seconds behind Josi. Then the race organizers pulled me to the side with Hilary and Josi and they did an awards ceremony on the podium with flowers. It was pretty cool for an old lady like me to experience the illusion that I’m a young hot shot skier. I doubt I’ll ever share a podium with the likes of Hilary and Josi again so I’ll tuck the good memories away and get ready for Mora.

I’d like to add a couple more Vakava results from the weekend. We had a few sprinters on Saturday:

Kathleen: 5th, Open Division

Paul: 8th, Open Division

Andy: 3rd, Masters Division

Pics on Lake all taken by Tom Stuart – Thank you, Tom. And woods pics of Cheryl and Andy & Dave from Skinnyski.com

February 8, 2011
It Keeps Getting Better

I love that the City Of Lakes Loppet ski race continues to get bigger and better. The Twin Cities is a tough market to promote sports in – physically pulling off a point to point urban race, getting people to show up for all of the many events, and getting media coverage… Good job, John Munger and your 1000 volunteers!!!!

A year ago right after the Nordic Spirit I was feeling pretty burned out. I actually considered skipping COL, Mora and the Birkie but knew I’d be disappointed in myself if I didn’t finish the season so I did them. This year, I’ve definitely had some emotional (and physical) highs and

lows but for some reason I’m having more fun the more races I do. The best yet was City of Lakes on Sunday. I did the classic course which I really like – fits like a glove.

Sat. night I put on VR40, as recommended by Swix but driving to the race early Sun

day morning it was 29 degrees (22 had been predicted at that time)!!! I knew it could be a tough kick day. I ran into Kevin Ivens (racing with 2 broken ribs!) on the shuttle bus so we tested our skis along with everyone else. VR 50 seemed to be the consensus of the Swix users so I put some on. My kick was not great but my glide was good and I knew a lot of the hills were either gradual enough for the kick I had or steep enough that I’d be running anyway so I called it good and went to the start line. But I still

had a lot of angst so right before I entered the start area I added one more short layer of V50 – the ‘panic wax’ – and did not even test it. I started next to Hilary Patzer on the right side but never saw her once the race started. My start was not the greatest so I passed quite a few folks and finally settled in with Brent and just behind Katherine Himes. Brent has not been getting a lot of training in (too much work-related travel) so I jumped ahead of him and tried to stay with Katherine. On the second leg of Wirth Lake I

noticed she was kick double poling. I thought that was a bad sign for her but a good one for me so at the aid station just off the lake as she slowed for a drink, I skipped the drink and took off, hoping I could put a little distance between us.

This year the course took us through part of the flower gardens which are fun. Soon we were on the overpass above I-394 and I knew my favorite part – the lakes – were just ahead. The course was very fast and my kick was perfectly inadequate (Not enough for great kick but as much as I wanted for this race), allowing nice glide. Throughout the race I could see Josi and

everytime the course did a 180 turn, I could hear her cheering for me so I knew she was aware of where I was. I thought it would be nice to catch her but she felt out of my reach so I decided not to blow myself out trying to catch her but just kept the pressure on. As we 180’d onto Brownie Lake, Brent called out to me that I was safe – meaning that neither Katherine nor any

other women were close. Thank you, Brent! Coming up the boulevard to the finish was fun because my daughter, Claire, and her friend, Emily, were there to watch the finish. I had given them cow bells to cheer with and it was so nice to have Claire there as I was announced as the third woman, 49 seconds behind Josi. Then the race organizers pulled me to the side with Hilary and Josi and they did an awards ceremony on the podium with flowers. It was pretty cool for an old lady like me to experience the illusion that I’m a young hot shot skier. I doubt I’ll ever share a podium with the likes of Hilary and Josi again so I’ll tuck the good memories away and get ready for Mora.

I’d like to add a couple more Vakava results from the weekend. We had a few sprinters on Saturday:

Kathleen: 5th, Open Division

Paul: 8th, Open Division

Andy: 3rd, Masters Division

Pics on Lake all taken by Tom Stuart – Thank you, Tom. And woods pics of Cheryl and Andy & Dave from Skinnyski.com

February 8, 2011
It Keeps Getting Better

I love that the City Of Lakes Loppet ski race continues to get bigger and better. The Twin Cities is a tough market to promote sports in – physically pulling off a point to point urban race, getting people to show up for all of the many events, and getting media coverage… Good job, John Munger and your 1000 volunteers!!!!

A year ago right after the Nordic Spirit I was feeling pretty burned out. I actually considered skipping COL, Mora and the Birkie but knew I’d be disappointed in myself if I didn’t finish the season so I did them. This year, I’ve definitely had some emotional (and physical) highs and

lows but for some reason I’m having more fun the more races I do. The best yet was City of Lakes on Sunday. I did the classic course which I really like – fits like a glove.

Sat. night I put on VR40, as recommended by Swix but driving to the race early Sun

day morning it was 29 degrees (22 had been predicted at that time)!!! I knew it could be a tough kick day. I ran into Kevin Ivens (racing with 2 broken ribs!) on the shuttle bus so we tested our skis along with everyone else. VR 50 seemed to be the consensus of the Swix users so I put some on. My kick was not great but my glide was good and I knew a lot of the hills were either gradual enough for the kick I had or steep enough that I’d be running anyway so I called it good and went to the start line. But I still

had a lot of angst so right before I entered the start area I added one more short layer of V50 – the ‘panic wax’ – and did not even test it. I started next to Hilary Patzer on the right side but never saw her once the race started. My start was not the greatest so I passed quite a few folks and finally settled in with Brent and just behind Katherine Himes. Brent has not been getting a lot of training in (too much work-related travel) so I jumped ahead of him and tried to stay with Katherine. On the second leg of Wirth Lake I

noticed she was kick double poling. I thought that was a bad sign for her but a good one for me so at the aid station just off the lake as she slowed for a drink, I skipped the drink and took off, hoping I could put a little distance between us.

This year the course took us through part of the flower gardens which are fun. Soon we were on the overpass above I-394 and I knew my favorite part – the lakes – were just ahead. The course was very fast and my kick was perfectly inadequate (Not enough for great kick but as much as I wanted for this race), allowing nice glide. Throughout the race I could see Josi and

everytime the course did a 180 turn, I could hear her cheering for me so I knew she was aware of where I was. I thought it would be nice to catch her but she felt out of my reach so I decided not to blow myself out trying to catch her but just kept the pressure on. As we 180’d onto Brownie Lake, Brent called out to me that I was safe – meaning that neither Katherine nor any

other women were close. Thank you, Brent! Coming up the boulevard to the finish was fun because my daughter, Claire, and her friend, Emily, were there to watch the finish. I had given them cow bells to cheer with and it was so nice to have Claire there as I was announced as the third woman, 49 seconds behind Josi. Then the race organizers pulled me to the side with Hilary and Josi and they did an awards ceremony on the podium with flowers. It was pretty cool for an old lady like me to experience the illusion that I’m a young hot shot skier. I doubt I’ll ever share a podium with the likes of Hilary and Josi again so I’ll tuck the good memories away and get ready for Mora.

I’d like to add a couple more Vakava results from the weekend. We had a few sprinters on Saturday:

Kathleen: 5th, Open Division

Paul: 8th, Open Division

Andy: 3rd, Masters Division

Pics on Lake all taken by Tom Stuart – Thank you, Tom. And woods pics of Cheryl and Andy & Dave from Skinnyski.com

February 8, 2011
It Keeps Getting Better

I love that the City Of Lakes Loppet ski race continues to get bigger and better. The Twin Cities is a tough market to promote sports in – physically pulling off a point to point urban race, getting people to show up for all of the many events, and getting media coverage… Good job, John Munger and your 1000 volunteers!!!!

A year ago right after the Nordic Spirit I was feeling pretty burned out. I actually considered skipping COL, Mora and the Birkie but knew I’d be disappointed in myself if I didn’t finish the season so I did them. This year, I’ve definitely had some emotional (and physical) highs and

lows but for some reason I’m having more fun the more races I do. The best yet was City of Lakes on Sunday. I did the classic course which I really like – fits like a glove.

Sat. night I put on VR40, as recommended by Swix but driving to the race early Sun

day morning it was 29 degrees (22 had been predicted at that time)!!! I knew it could be a tough kick day. I ran into Kevin Ivens (racing with 2 broken ribs!) on the shuttle bus so we tested our skis along with everyone else. VR 50 seemed to be the consensus of the Swix users so I put some on. My kick was not great but my glide was good and I knew a lot of the hills were either gradual enough for the kick I had or steep enough that I’d be running anyway so I called it good and went to the start line. But I still

had a lot of angst so right before I entered the start area I added one more short layer of V50 – the ‘panic wax’ – and did not even test it. I started next to Hilary Patzer on the right side but never saw her once the race started. My start was not the greatest so I passed quite a few folks and finally settled in with Brent and just behind Katherine Himes. Brent has not been getting a lot of training in (too much work-related travel) so I jumped ahead of him and tried to stay with Katherine. On the second leg of Wirth Lake I

noticed she was kick double poling. I thought that was a bad sign for her but a good one for me so at the aid station just off the lake as she slowed for a drink, I skipped the drink and took off, hoping I could put a little distance between us.

This year the course took us through part of the flower gardens which are fun. Soon we were on the overpass above I-394 and I knew my favorite part – the lakes – were just ahead. The course was very fast and my kick was perfectly inadequate (Not enough for great kick but as much as I wanted for this race), allowing nice glide. Throughout the race I could see Josi and

everytime the course did a 180 turn, I could hear her cheering for me so I knew she was aware of where I was. I thought it would be nice to catch her but she felt out of my reach so I decided not to blow myself out trying to catch her but just kept the pressure on. As we 180’d onto Brownie Lake, Brent called out to me that I was safe – meaning that neither Katherine nor any

other women were close. Thank you, Brent! Coming up the boulevard to the finish was fun because my daughter, Claire, and her friend, Emily, were there to watch the finish. I had given them cow bells to cheer with and it was so nice to have Claire there as I was announced as the third woman, 49 seconds behind Josi. Then the race organizers pulled me to the side with Hilary and Josi and they did an awards ceremony on the podium with flowers. It was pretty cool for an old lady like me to experience the illusion that I’m a young hot shot skier. I doubt I’ll ever share a podium with the likes of Hilary and Josi again so I’ll tuck the good memories away and get ready for Mora.

I’d like to add a couple more Vakava results from the weekend. We had a few sprinters on Saturday:

Kathleen: 5th, Open Division

Paul: 8th, Open Division

Andy: 3rd, Masters Division

Pics on Lake all taken by Tom Stuart – Thank you, Tom. And woods pics of Cheryl and Andy & Dave from Skinnyski.com

February 8, 2011
Rybinsk: Pursuit Recap
A bit delayed, since I spent a goodly portion of Saturday running, and most of the entire weekend without internet. With the small fields it can be a little tough to interpret results from these events, to be sure. Particularly when the distance race was a pursuit, which often lead to artificially low FIS points for many of the leaders. And of course in sprinting, we don’t really have any way of measuring the strength of the field beyond the qualification round.

So let’s look at a few folks who had some seemingly stronger than usual races, starting with the pursuit:

I’m using the percent behind the median skier, and I’ve only plotted major international races (WC, OWG, WSC, TDS). The red is obviously the Rybinsk result. For the three men, this makes their results look somewhat less impressive. Not bad, of course, but probably not quite as good as they might have seemed from just glancing at the results.

Valentina Novikova is a rather different case, being a somewhat less seasoned racers than the others. She hasn’t had the opportunity to do many distance World Cups this season, but her strong result in Rybinsk does actually seem fairly good compared to her results last year.

Of course, there’s always the worry that the pursuit format is clouding the issue somewhat, so here’s a version of the same graph, only showing pursuits and mass starts:

The message here is mostly the same, I’d say. Manificat’s race looks perhaps somewhat stronger, particularly compared to just this season, but everyone else looks about the same as before.

Related posts:
February 8, 2011
France!!

For the past five days I have been in Meribel, France getting in some altitude training as well as resting the mind a bit. I have been on the road since November 19^th, so for me it is important to have a small break in the middle of such a long series of races to rest my mind from the constant stress and pressure of ski racing. Living on the road is tons of fun- but when you are surrounded by a group of people doing the same thing… you are constantly thinking ski racing 24 hours a day.

February 8, 2011
NORGE!

Last night we arrived in Oslo and were greeted this morning with sunny skies which was a great change after a couple weeks in the grey Baltic countries. This morning I skied from our hotel in town up to the Holmenkollen stadium which was a solid 40 minute uphill. It was hard to curb my excitement and I found myself hammering around the trails and loving life!

The trails were packed with skiers of all ages and abilities but I did manage to find some fresh corduroy on some of the Holmenkollen trails.

The Holmenkollen was way bigger than I imagined

Looking out into the sun over Oslo

February 8, 2011
NORGE!

Last night we arrived in Oslo and were greeted this morning with sunny skies which was a great change after a couple weeks in the grey Baltic countries. This morning I skied from our hotel in town up to the Holmenkollen stadium which was a solid 40 minute uphill. It was hard to curb my excitement and I found myself hammering around the trails and loving life!

The trails were packed with skiers of all ages and abilities but I did manage to find some fresh corduroy on some of the Holmenkollen trails.

The Holmenkollen was way bigger than I imagined

Looking out into the sun over Oslo

February 8, 2011
SKI TECH: Structure Profile of the Cold Universal Stonegrind

February 7, 2011
Classic Race recap for Trapp’s Eastern Cups

It was a beautiful day of classic racing on Sunday. Trapp’s did an incredible job grooming the new snow, and made a double-track best line course that even Bente Skari or Juha Mieto would be proud to ski on. Justin nailed the wax, again, and we had a great post-race lunch around the camp-stove. The chili was delicious!

Thanks to all the parents that helped with the post-race food/drinks! We are getting quite a smorgasbord of treats.

And the pictures…

Ryley Walker striding up the first hill:

Kaitlin Fitzgerald in the start gate:

Coach Beckwith, Elena Lüthi, and Kristin Halvorsen:

Jackson Rich up the first hill:

Heidi Halvorsen up the first hill:

Hans Halvorsen around the 4km mark:

Elena Lüthi at the 2km mark:

Devlin Shea at the 3km point:

Kristin Halvorsen at the 2km mark:

February 7, 2011
The Athletes Report- Vol. VIII

We had a fun last day here in Ostersund. It started off with getting up at 8:15 to say good bye to the Alaskans. Things were hectic and it was not pretty around Camp Sodergren. Needless to say they made it out fine and everyone went back to bed. We decided to go for a short ski and had a good time laughing at Dylan trying some tricks on the “jumps”. Our next stop was the famous swedish vintersportcentrum. Its basically this sick place where they test all the best athletes from all over Sweden. This place was off the charts! They had a treadmill for both skating and classic equiped with like ten 3d cameras for technique. They even had a place to warm up the rollerskis so each pair is the same temperature when you use them. Just the treadmill alone cost $100,000! We got a tour from the worlds most famous ski researcher HC Holmberg and he was very welcoming. We said bye to HC and decided to go for a little last trip shopping. Kate and Matt found this sweet retro ski store and we scored some cool new gloves and hats. After a delicious Amercan meal of tacos, were back in our rooms trying to pack for the early flight out tomorrow. Its a difficult task because we all have about double the gear we came with. We are living by our motto “When in Rome” and heading down to the sauna now. Its been a great trip and we are all sad to leave this wonderful country!! See you back in the States!!—- Jack

February 7, 2011
The Athletes Report- Vol. VIII

We had a fun last day here in Ostersund. It started off with getting up at 8:15 to say good bye to the Alaskans. Things were hectic and it was not pretty around Camp Sodergren. Needless to say they made it out fine and everyone went back to bed. We decided to go for a short ski and had a good time laughing at Dylan trying some tricks on the “jumps”. Our next stop was the famous swedish vintersportcentrum. Its basically this sick place where they test all the best athletes from all over Sweden. This place was off the charts! They had a treadmill for both skating and classic equiped with like ten 3d cameras for technique. They even had a place to warm up the rollerskis so each pair is the same temperature when you use them. Just the treadmill alone cost $100,000! We got a tour from the worlds most famous ski researcher HC Holmberg and he was very welcoming. We said bye to HC and decided to go for a little last trip shopping. Kate and Matt found this sweet retro ski store and we scored some cool new gloves and hats. After a delicious Amercan meal of tacos, were back in our rooms trying to pack for the early flight out tomorrow. Its a difficult task because we all have about double the gear we came with. We are living by our motto “When in Rome” and heading down to the sauna now. Its been a great trip and we are all sad to leave this wonderful country!! See you back in the States!!—- Jack

February 7, 2011
Rybinsk: Attendance
I feel like a grade school teacher, checking off names and such, but let’s see how many folks actually showed up in Rybinsk compared to past years:

I’ve plotted the number of racers and nations present in the sprint and distance events in Rybinsk, along with the corresponding averages for all other World Cup events (not including major championships like Olympics, World Champs, or big events like the Tour de Ski) in black.

At first glance, we see that the men’s fields were slightly larger this year in Rybinsk, although we might then note that the men’s fields have been slightly larger across the board this season as well. The number of nations present has been somewhat more stable. This highlights just how much depth is lost in World Cup fields from the omission of only two nations (Norway and Sweden).

I also find it interesting that the number of racers was mostly below average through 2008-2009, but it has only really been this year and last when the attendance has really plummeted in some cases.

Related posts:
February 7, 2011
Pole Fiasco

This weekend was, as all of New England knows, the now annual UVM Canival/Trapp’s Eastern Cup weekend. With a college carnival, eastern cup, and JOQ combined, there are always a lot of skiers at this one. This year only Saturday was combined, with the college kids racing by themselves on Friday, and the eastern cup operating by itself on Sunday. So we all raced Saturday and Sunday, in a 10k skate and 15k classic. The skate race went well enough. I got caught by Ben Koons after a kilometer and then Pat at 2k, but skied the rest of the way with these guys. That was nice enough, except when we went by the Dartmouth crowd, all of whom would cheer for the two guys with me and tell them to put the hammer down and “drop this loser.” Real nice. I guess college spirit dies slow.

Anyways, it’s Sunday where the real action came about. After a perfect blue sky day Saturday the skies opened up and dumped 6-10 inches of heavy wet snow all over northern Vermont. Trapps did a great job packing it down and grooming it so it was hardly noticeable when we got there, aside from some tricky waxing. But that heavy new stuff has a capacity for suction. I had forgotten about this until about 1k into the race, as I was double poling across a flat. Then my memory was jogged by a sound almost exactly matching the sound made at 0:23 of this song. My handle, still attached to my hand, had lost it’s pole. A bunch of things raced through my head. First, I tried to use it anyways, like a phantom limb. That didn’t work. Then I figured I’d just hang onto the handle, because as any rollerskier knows, a good handle and fresh strap is worth its weight in gold. Or at least, worth at least 30 dollars. Then I realized I would probably want to put a different pole in that hand at some point, given there was 14k left and my poles almost always help me ski faster. So I ditched it. The next thing I realized was that I was in the most isolated part of the course and I had the biggest hill coming up quick. I needed a pole asap. Fortunately a parent was down at the bottom of the hill and I yelled for a pole. He got ready to hand me one when I yelled “left hand!” He started to look and see which was left and which was right, but then I realized it might be too late so I yelled “Either side-doesn’t matter!” He threw it out in front of me as I passed him, I fumbled it once and caught it. It was the wrong side, but it was also the right length. I skied up the hill holding on hard, and things were ok. On the ensuing downhill, I realized this pole strap wasn’t going to work for me and I’d need another one at some point. As I came to the top of the next hill, at 3k, I yelled to the crowd at the corner I needed a left pole. I gave them plenty of warning and Will Sweetser was there with a pole. Pole number 3. I grabbed it, took one look at the pink tape on the top, and realized this wasn’t going to work either. At 6′1″, I need a pretty long pole. And usually long poles don’t have pink tape. My suspicions were confirmed as soon as I tried to use this thing. It was 140 cm at most. I used it for a few awkward strides before seeing another group of coaches and yelling for a left hand pole once again. I was getting pretty good at that by this point. A coach came out of the crowd with a pole, stuck it in front of me, and said “It’s a 160, left side.” That was music to my ears. I strapped this thing on and knew pole number 4 was going to be just right. I skied out the rest of the race with this pole, even though people offered me poles for the next 7k. I considered switching at times because I thought I’d have a chance at hitting double digits if I tried, but decided against it.

Now I thought that once I got the last pole I was done with the fiasco, but I was wrong. Upon finishing, I realized I had taken poles from folks I didn’t know and traded them poles of other people I didn’t know. Plus, I didn’t even know where my own pole was, or who’s pole I finished with. That took some serious figuring, but with the help of the announcer I got everything sorted, and each pole was returned to it’s owner.

Days like this remind me of how much help people are willing to give when a little thing goes wrong. So thank you: the Bowdoin parent for the first pole, Zoe Erdman for the short pole, Will Sweetser for giving me the pole, Tim Weston for the last pole, Will O’Brien for finding my pole, Pete Davis (announcer) for helping me find the owners, Tim Reynolds for helping me find Zoe Erdman, Tim Whiton for helping me find the Bowdoin parent, Marc Gilbertson for offering me his poles to cool down with, and any of the other folks who offered their poles after I had found a fit.

February 7, 2011
Slow going at the City of Lakes Loppet

Ever have one of those races where every time you get into a tuck on a downhill you can do nothing but slowly watch the skiers you are with pull away from you on that downhill? That was my race on Sunday the City of Lakes Loppet. Granted, I didn’t have the legs to keep up with people very well on the uphills either. I started between Adam Swank and Andre Watt, and told them that I was going to let them pull ahead of me at the gun and just tuck in behind them, and that is what I did. This worked great, and got me out in around 10th place – which is probably about where I would hope to place at the Loppet if I had a great race and fantastic skis (I was seeded 17th if my bib is any indication). If nothing else it set me up to get in with a good group of skiers and hang with people as they went by.

Unfortunately as skiers would come up around me, all I could do was watch them pull away. This wasn’t for lack of trying. After all, I know just about every skier in the top 50, and I know which ones I can normally ski with. So when skiers who I am usually skiing with or even ahead of at most races were gliding past me, I was pushing hard to keep up with them. This left me with pretty trashed legs by the 7 or 8k point, as I was working harder than I should have been that early in a 33k race.

By the 10 or 15k point of the race I was skiing in no-man’s-land by myself. As the trail wound through the woods I could see the group a minute or two in front of me, and also a group of 5 skiers about a minute behind me. I knew that skiing by myself for the last 15 to 20k of the race was not ideal, but skiing alone did allow me to relax and focus on skiing smooth and just trying to get my legs to recover.

With 10k to go in the race I had put a bit more distance on the group behind me, and my legs were starting to perk up again. My skis were still feeling slow, but I felt like I could begin to look ahead to a couple of skiers who had fallen off the group in front of me and slowly reel them in. After catching 3 skiers on the last lake, I was able to muster enough of a surge to separate myself from them early enough so as to not have it come down to a sprint on the home stretch.

The race was good, the weather was great (i.e not sub-zero), and it is awesome to see so many people that are apart of the COLL festival. Kudos to everyone involved in putting this event on. Next year I just need to talk to Devin about my waxing first (and maybe put in a few more hours training over the summer too!)

Vakava results from COLL:
33k Skate:
15th Derek
26th Eugene
27th Nate
32nd Paul
33rd Andrew K
36th Ryan
47th Dave C (age group win)
89th Mark
99th Jason
4th Carolyn
7th Angie (age group win)
11th Bonnie
12th Kathleen
21st Katy
25k Classic:
6th Dave B (age group win)
13th Andy S
29th Brent
71st Kevin
3rd Cheryl (age group win)
7th Michele

February 7, 2011
Slow going at the City of Lakes Loppet

Ever have one of those races where every time you get into a tuck on a downhill you can do nothing but slowly watch the skiers you are with pull away from you on that downhill? That was my race on Sunday the City of Lakes Loppet. Granted, I didn’t have the legs to keep up with people very well on the uphills either. I started between Adam Swank and Andre Watt, and told them that I was going to let them pull ahead of me at the gun and just tuck in behind them, and that is what I did. This worked great, and got me out in around 10th place – which is probably about where I would hope to place at the Loppet if I had a great race and fantastic skis (I was seeded 17th if my bib is any indication). If nothing else it set me up to get in with a good group of skiers and hang with people as they went by.

Unfortunately as skiers would come up around me, all I could do was watch them pull away. This wasn’t for lack of trying. After all, I know just about every skier in the top 50, and I know which ones I can normally ski with. So when skiers who I am usually skiing with or even ahead of at most races were gliding past me, I was pushing hard to keep up with them. This left me with pretty trashed legs by the 7 or 8k point, as I was working harder than I should have been that early in a 33k race.

By the 10 or 15k point of the race I was skiing in no-man’s-land by myself. As the trail wound through the woods I could see the group a minute or two in front of me, and also a group of 5 skiers about a minute behind me. I knew that skiing by myself for the last 15 to 20k of the race was not ideal, but skiing alone did allow me to relax and focus on skiing smooth and just trying to get my legs to recover.

With 10k to go in the race I had put a bit more distance on the group behind me, and my legs were starting to perk up again. My skis were still feeling slow, but I felt like I could begin to look ahead to a couple of skiers who had fallen off the group in front of me and slowly reel them in. After catching 3 skiers on the last lake, I was able to muster enough of a surge to separate myself from them early enough so as to not have it come down to a sprint on the home stretch.

The race was good, the weather was great (i.e not sub-zero), and it is awesome to see so many people that are apart of the COLL festival. Kudos to everyone involved in putting this event on. Next year I just need to talk to Devin about my waxing first (and maybe put in a few more hours training over the summer too!)

Vakava results from COLL:
33k Skate:
15th Derek
26th Eugene
27th Nate
32nd Paul
33rd Andrew K
36th Ryan
47th Dave C (age group win)
89th Mark
99th Jason
4th Carolyn
7th Angie (age group win)
11th Bonnie
12th Kathleen
21st Katy
25k Classic:
6th Dave B (age group win)
13th Andy S
29th Brent
71st Kevin
3rd Cheryl (age group win)
7th Michele

February 7, 2011