Count down to go, and its possible mayhem. Possible, because I was ahead of it, not in it. I was very glad that this time, they started us in the tracks, because it meant that people actually had to double pole instead of starting to skate too early. The first lap was just a loop of the outer trail, and I stayed to the outside and let the mayhem play itself out to my left. My fast start had gotten me into the top ten or so of the guys, and these guys all know how to ski and how to behave when skiing in packs, so I was much more comfortable than in my normal Tuesday starts, when I'm surrounded by people who are a little less skilled on skis and a little more aggressive. I guess the front guys don't need to be aggressive, they just ski fast. By the end of the loop, Anna had caught back up, and I settled in behind Evan up Mt. Weston. He was fading a little over the top, so I skied up to the next guy. I should have known that drafting this guy was a mistake, because he was in windpants. Any master worth his snuff wears full spandex to these events.
Sure enough, windpants-dude got gapped, and by the time I noticed it, there was no way I was bridging it (that would involve skiing faster than Rob Bradlee. Unless its over a 25m sprint, I don't think I can do that). I was unsure of what to do. Pass windpants-dude and ski alone? Draft windpants-dude and hope my poles stayed safe from the guys behind? Luckily, Mark Jacobson (I think) made my decision for me and passed windpants-dude, so I passed windpants-dude also to hop in behind Mark. Another half lap passes before I figure what the heck, I'll go for it, and pass Mark. I got a small gap, just enough that they weren't in my draft, and coming past the finish on lap two I heard Bob Burnham say "I'll work with you Alex". Alright, I like hearing that, so I pushed pretty hard over Mt. Weston and into the downhill. Bob passed me there, and I hopped in his draft, and it was surprisingly relieving to be in the draft again. Then we got to the top of the hill in the middle and Bob just pulled over. Well, there goes my draft. I was far enough in front of the pack that I didn't want to wait for them, so I just put my head down and skied fast for a while. When I looked again at the U-turn after Mt. Weston, they were closing, but not by much, so I figured I could outlast them another lap and a half. Which I did, but it was getting close near the end. I started to feel the burn a bit up Mt. Weston the last lap; according to my new Garmin, I was only moving 5.5 mph up that hill, with a HR of 190 (L4). So, not suicidal, and very definitely not fast!
Some photos from last weekend (stolen directly from Jamie Doucett with no permission):
My "sprint" qualifier.
Me terrifying Nadja, one of our J2s (in the blue and red) to ski faster up that hill. I was telling her to change tracks and go around that other girl, and she did, and she beat her. wooo.
13 comments:
It was pretty balmy out, which meant that my skis were fairly sticky, but Anna and I have a pact that we'll never wax our skis for this event, so sticky skis it is.
Based on how Bret Bedard (who won by a minute last week) couldn't even drop us this week on unwaxed skis, I'd say that if you want to make an attempt at hanging onto the front group you're going to need to wax unless it's below freezing.
And this is Boston, so it's never below freezing. Wax up and try to hang, it's more fun.
Wearing windpants vs. not waxing. Is there any difference? Really?
All the difference in the world! Everyone can see you wearing windpants. Nobody knows you didn't wax until you complain about it.
If you had to choose between windpants or not waxing, windpants would be the intelligent decision. However, I would have to go with style over speed.
so in a way, windpants are better, because someone can tell why you're sucking.
whereas for the first two laps, i was like, geez Bret Bedard is unusually slow today, guess he just sucks.
Hey, I raced in windpants last weekend and won! (I forgot to take them off before the 30-second warning and then the field wasn't exactly Tuesday-night caliber.) Still - hella good race! Are you going to try and win the overall?
When you're as fast as Christopher Tassava, windpants can't slow you down. I bet those guys behind you were just screaming inside because they were getting beat by a guy in windpants =).
It would be nice to win the series, but there isn't much incentive other than bragging rights. Now, if they gave out fluoros to the winner of the series each year, I'd probably wax my skis. Alas...
Yeah, you and Anna should definitely try some wax next week! Us old farts always wax, but then we need it to try and hang with you youngsters. I was perfectly waxed for about 18-20F but I wasn't about to re-wax my skis just for Tuesday night. Better than nothing though.
Also, the windpants are bogus. Its best to look fast even if you aren't!
I would rather have windpants and a jacket and LF yellow than a race suit and my haven't been waxed in a month and more importantly are flexed for someone 30 pounds lighter than me.
Jamie-I'm surprised you didn't helX for the race. Rob offered me Jetstream for the one that didn't even count.
Just to be clear about my feat of windpantsed racing, there were only two guys behind me. It was a small race. Small enough that maybe it wasn't even a race. But I'm sure they were windpants. I just checked.
Sometimes I get lucky and I've done a skate race in warm conditions over the weekend. Usually, though, weston is all sugar snow, and wax doesn't really make any difference there. So really, I just got unlucky that it was acting like actual snow last Tuesday.
Usually, though, weston is all sugar snow, and wax doesn't really make any difference there.
You'll never be a Tuesday night world champ with that kind of attitude!
Luke, wax is one thing, Jetstream and Helix quite another! We have treaties to prevent such arms build-ups! Besides, I can't afford it for Tuesday races. And, as Alex notes, most of the time its sugar snow or little icy ball-bearings.
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