Waterville Valley Eastern Cup

Last weekend was the final Eastern Cup of the season, and the last chance for my juniors to score points to get to Junior Nationals.  I signed up for the skate race, a 10k, but decided not to sign up for the classic race, worried that there might be last-minute panic-waxing, and I wanted to be available for that.  I had never raced at Waterville Valley before, but have skied there a lot, and I found the course to be a bit too flat for my tastes, only 280m of vertical over 10km means a lot of V2 work.  

It had snowed a lot in the previous few days, and the ski center organizers chose to run the groomer in the morning, leading to a very soft track.  Thankfully, I finally have a pair of soft-track cold skate skis, and these Madshus rode the deep ruts beautifully.  My plan was to keep the tempo high and the power low, just float over the deep snow without exhausting myself, while still V2ing most of the gradual climbs, since in deep snow a V1 often turns into a high-energy churning flail.  I had a sweet start spot, 15s ahead of Julia, and 30s ahead of Katharine, who is just back from tearing it up among the European juniors.  There was no doubt in my mind that I'd get caught, the question was just when it would happen.

It being my birthday, I decided to race in a sparkly pink tiara.  Not sure what it did for my aerodynamics, but I do know how much it helped my psychological state!

The course starts out immediately climbing into the gradual hill, and I found a rhythm and settled in.  Just after the first km, KO had caught up, pulling Julia.  I let them by with no hassle, and upped my pace to match theirs.  Definitely work, but not quite in blow-up land.  As the hill flattened out into the rollers at the top, Julia dropped back from KO's pace, and I stayed behind her, happy for a ride and a rest.  We caught my 15s girl on the downhill, and then my position in the draft brought me around Julia, and I figured I'd take a pull and move over when Julia wanted to pass.  I could hear her laboring behind me, though, so it was clear sailing up the second climb of the course, V2ing past tiring skiers who had started before me.

Along the way, we caught up to Rebecca, another of my juniors, and Jamie caught what may be my newest favorite photo of me in racing action.  We crested the hill, and it immediately heads back down for the lap.  Somewhere along the flats, Julia came around, and I tucked back in behind, still not working too hard, but working hard enough that I felt no need to pass.  In retrospect, I should have taken the lead up the first climb of the second lap, and pushed a bit harder, but at the time, I was comfortable, so stayed put.  We were passing more skiers now, those who had started ahead of us and skiers on their first lap, and it was hard sometimes to pass cleanly on the soft narrow trail.  

Down the hill I took the lead again, this time determined to drop Julia on the next uphill.  I did manage to get a gap, but the hill wasn't quite long enough to get the full 15s back from her, and though I stayed ahead I only gained 10s on her, to lose by 5s.  This was good enough for 4th place, but 2nd was only 10s ahead of Julia.  This really makes me wish I'd pushed up that first hill harder on the second lap! oh, hindsight... 

The good news was that I felt really good, physically, and was able to change gears when I needed to.  The taper is starting to kick in! I leave tonight for the Birkie, so I'm pretty psyched to be going in rested, healthy, and with a good race result under my belt.  

I'm not sure if the tiara made me ski faster, but it sure made me feel faster.  Not sure I can pull off this look with the black Madshus suit... 

Coaching in Vermont

With Rob in Finland for the U18 USST trip, and Jamie at the Craftsbury marathon, I was next in the chain of command to lead our CSU army to success at the Stowe EC.  This meant no racing, because even though our wax team is good enough to handle it all without my obnoxious micromanagement, I figured it was better to play it safe than sorry.  So Saturday was a lot of kick testing, as my skiers rocked out on a solid track around the sprint course at Stowe, and then a whole lot of kick wax applying through the heats.  Sprint days are long, and I was pretty tired by the end of the day, but pretty psyched to have seen my juniors ski so well.  Sunday was similar, though easier from the waxing perspective, since it was an individual skate race, and I actually got the chance to do some coaching and some cheering.  Woo!

Because one weekend of coaching wouldn't have been enough, I led up the small band of athletes who were racing in the Supertour at Craftsbury.  Too late, I discovered that I could have raced even without a USSA license, which was a bummer, because I totally could have raced, and I've been itching to get some racing in.  The day could have been a disaster, when I left my skate boots at home (oops), but luckily the Craftsbury Outdoors Center rents NNN boots, and I was able to test wax as planned.  Phew, that was a close one.  Other misstep was forgetting the forms that slide onto the bench, but I was able to improvise that one just fine. The rest of the day went off without a hitch, and my skiers again skied super well.  Super fun to watch them excel.

(note the gloves around wax boxes taped to the bench - we call that zorshfulness where I'm from).

The A-team coming back from bib pick-up on Sunday.

After the races, I figured it was time to head out for some Birkie-training, and set my sights on 50k for the day, even though I'd spent the first 13k wax testing all stop-and-go, it counts.  It was a truly awesome day for skiing, fresh cold snow packed well under sunny skies, and my skis were ripping fast.  

As I headed up Sam's Run, a rock cairn came into view. It took me a moment to realize this was a memorial for Torin Tucker, the Dartmouth skier who had passed away last weekend in the Craftsbury marathon. I didn't think I'd stop, but I found myself standing facing the cairn, which had some mementos on it - a cork, a hat, flowers - and I burst into tears. I didn't know this young man, but from everything I've heard of him, he was a wonderful kid, with a big smile and loving everyone, and he just loved to be outdoors adventuring. Even knowing that he died doing what he loved, it seems so unfair, that the life of this bright kid with so much potential to make the world a better place would be snuffed out so easily. I kept sobbing as I skied on, dedicating the day, the ski, to a young man I'd never met, promising him that I would not take this for granted, that I would enjoy this sunny ski in perfect conditions, because he can't anymore.

Saturday was a 15/20k classic race, and that's pretty long for junior skiers, so most of them sat it out.  Rob was back from Finland and back at the helm, so I figured I'd give him some space, and met up with my parents and Ed at Mad River Glen for some fun skiing.  Took a run to remember, but then the endorphins from teleskiing hit hard, and I forgot how much I'd missed this silly sport.  Make it feel like it should, as they say in the Colby outing club.  Gorgeous day for skiing, if a little thin on the snow front.

He's still got it! and that confident lady in the background was skiing better than I remember; it's been years since I skied with the parental units, and they're skiing just how I remember.

Ed still rocking the old-school Salomon skis.

Sunday was a sprint race, and I didn't get any photos, but we were down to just four skiers to coach.  All four women qualified for the open heats, against some of the best in the country.  That was pretty exciting, but then watching Zoe advance as lucky loser on a seriously tough course was even more exciting.  She didn't make it out of the semis, but you gotta start somewhere!  

I'm really itching for another race effort before the Birkie, Tuesday nights aside, so I've signed up for the 10k skate on Saturday at Waterville Valley.  Should be good fresh snow, given the latest snowpocalypse, and I can't wait to take the new fresh-snow Madshus for a real race!  

Tuesday night throwdowns

Two weeks ago, we were racing in a full-on rainstorm for the Tuesday night race. It was warm, relatively speaking, but the rain soaked me through within minutes, and I quickly got chilled. As somebody who refuses to wax my skis for racing at Weston (ain't nobody got time for that!), I suffered a bit more than usual in the wet slush, but luckily had an old pair of slush skis that were running well, despite their lack of fluoros. I didn't really notice the rain during the race, and the baseball cap kept it mostly out of my face, but cooling down I started to get unpleasantly hypothermic, and had to call it a night.

So, let's just say that I was mildly excited to race last week on real snow! The temperatures had dropped again, so they were running all four guns, and there was a natural blizzard on top of that, and basically, you're looking at another soft slow race but without the rain, making things SO MUCH MORE enjoyable. The first hill was a true mess, they were blowing snow directly onto it, and there was all the new snow, and that hill was so deep that warming up, I didn't even know how I was supposed to get to the top. I decided that the fewest number of steps possible, screw good technique, was the answer to my problem, and that worked surprisingly well, even on a stiff pair of skis. At the very least, I was negotiating that hill (and the Mt. Weston bypass, which was also soft and loose) much better than the guys in my pack, but I am also lighter than them, which helps.



Because the snow coming out of the sky was messing with Boston's usually terrible traffic patterns, I got to Weston with about 6 minutes to spare before the race. Yay for racing without a warmup! I decided to start slow and ski into it, but we're talking a 14min race, so there isn't much time for skiing into anything. Luckily, I was able to move through my usual pack of guys easily enough, and the conditions were slow enough that pack skiing wasn't as helpful as it usually was, so I cruised along in no-man's land quite happily until I'd done my requisite number of laps. The natural blizzard edition of the Tuesday night races was by far my favorite so far! But I'm ready for some of the usual cold sugar-slush fests - that's what Tuesday night throwdowns are all about!

Rumford skate race

Last weekend was the second Eastern Cup of the year, in scenic Rumford, ME.  I have fond memories of racing there in college; it's a tough course that rewards good skiing and good fitness; you can't coast by on one or the other.  And usually, the wind is blowing the right direction, so you can't smell the papermills from the ski tracks.  Yay!

CSU showed up with our usual army of juniors, and I signed up for the mass start skate race.  I love mass starts!  Rumford had gotten hit with the same rain as everyone else, but managed to keep their snow, and it looked a lot like churned-up manmade snow, despite its natural origins.  The interesting thing was that despite the crystals acting totally transformed, skis and rills that are good on natural snow were running quite well, leading me to a stiff pair of fresh-snow skis.  I have to say, between the good Madshus skis and the CSU wax team's application, I probably had the fastest skis in the field.  Now that's how I like to ski race!

I managed to draw a 6th place seed, but looking at some of the hungry juniors in the race, I knew I'd be pleased if I could hang on to a top 10.  The fast snow would help me, but I'm still not 100% confident in my ski fitness, so the plan was to ski well over the crests of hills and stay relaxed on the long climbs.  The course unwinds in such a way that the last half is all climbing, so I didn't want to blow up too early.  Off we went, and I was happy to let some of the young guns take the lead, thrashing up the first hill with far more energy than I had at my calling.  It had been a long week, and testing wax and leading course tours and warming up perhaps a wee bit more than I'd meant to meant I didn't have the pop in my legs I'd hoped for.  Luckily, the first climb is followed by 2km of downhill, and I had no trouble making contact with the leaders after that.  As we started the gradual climb back to the stadium, punctuated with some transition-filled downhills and one long grind of a climb called highschool hill, I fell in with the chase pack, and let a small gap open ahead of me on highschool hill.  This was in keeping with my pre-race plan of not blowing up, but in retrospect, I should have pushed a bit harder there, to stay with Cate and the two MWSC skiers.  I skied the downhills well, but spent the rest of the race dangling behind that group, watching them play tactical games while I just suffered.


I knew I had some girls closing in on me, some of them from my own team, and I really didn't want them to catch me.  Luckily, as I approached Highschool hill the second time, I could see one of the MWSC girls had fallen off the pack, and looked like she was really suffering.  So I put my head down, remembered to use my arms and my core, and heaved my wheezing self to the top of the hill, narrowing the gap but not quite closing it.  There is some skiing left after Highschool hill, so I thought I could reel her in, but she had coaches yelling at her about how close I was getting, and I didn't make contact until it was too late, zipping under the bridge to the stadium.  Another 10m of course and I probably would have had her, but as it was she held me off by half a second, leaving me in 8th for the day, and only behind one of my skiers.  A solid race for me, but I definitely need to start doing some ski intervals if I want to feel proficient at this sport again.  Skiing is hard! And I can't always rely on having the fastest skis in the field.

I elected not to race the classic race on Sunday; in part because my elbow still hurts when I use classic poles, but also because the wax job was a bit tricky, and we needed all hands on deck to get 35 pair of skis out there in time. We had some great results (and only a couple bummer results), and hanging out with the CSU wax army is always a fun time. From there, one more day of skiing up at Jackson, where the snow was surprisingly good! I was pretty wiped, though, and nearly had to stop and take a nap halfway through my ski. Haven't been that tired in a long time. I guess ski racing is hard? And coaching is hard? Nah, gotta be something else.

The course was in great shape, despite all the rain and ice and lack of snow. Love that spectator bridge!




Only problem is that there's always a lot of schlepping to get to wax rooms.

 

A rack of test skis.

I got home to Boston as the sun was setting. It looked pretty, and made me like the city I live in. Yay!

Simulated blizzards

The first Tuesday night race was last night. Tuesday night world championships! Intelligent people were suggesting that it would be good to stay inside, because of the "arctic vortex" whipping around. It was indeed chilly, eight degrees or so with 30mph gusts. Because it's finally cold, Weston had all the guns going, full blast making some fake snow. Skiing through snow guns means your face gets blasted with little ice pellets, that freeze to the first thing they hit. The fresh snow out of the guns is wet and slow, deep and lumpy. Everywhere else, glare ice. 

I had second thoughts about coming to race. Even third thoughts. I got home, and knew if I went in the door I wouldn't come back out. Somehow I got in the car and drove to Weston. I certainly didn't have the right racing mindset; I knew I didn't want to be there and my body was tired and not looking forward to a hard effort. But habit is a hard thing to break, as is peer pressure - everyone else looked ready to race, therefore we race. Sixty three nutcases were out there battling the simulated blizzard, ice pellets whipping into bare skin and finding any gaps in the clothing layers. 

I couldn't find it in myself to shift gears into race pace.  I skied hard, but was unwilling to ski alone, chasing the leaders, so ended up in a pack of guys, playing the tactical game. I couldn't come around Victor at the finish, and ended up second in the pack, for 9th overall. It was fun, after the fact, to ski around in silly serpentines with sixty two other whackos! What a crazy sport...

Vacation, and the Bogburn

From Craftsbury, it was on to Rochester for some pagan rituals involving "loot" and "goo", those terms referring to what goes under versus on the tree. A few short days, and the adventure-mobile headed north and east, through the belly of a snowstorm that added 3 hours to the trip, landing me at Mt. Sainte Anne, Quebec. As expected, the skiing was fabulous. I basically skied until I couldn't anymore, and like every year, it is too easy to fall into the routine of eat, ski, eat, sleep, ski, eat, sleep... Kathy and I ran a tight ship, and our condo of "orphan" CSU kids was well-behaved and fun to have under our charges.

After skiing more than was good for me, the trip wasn't over. South I went, and came to a stop in Weston VT, for a proper new year's celebration, where it was cold enough that the beer was frozen. So more skiing ensues, because what else can you do when it's that cold out? I suppose some might consider indoor activities, but I've never been too bright.

Finally, my vacation came to an end, and I had to re-enter the world where days have meaning and time goes by too quickly. But not without a quick stop by Pomfret VT, for the Bogburn, a true classic of a race. Individual start, single track, one lap, windy awesome trails. The course had gotten the full brunt of the snowstorm two days earlier, making for some fabulous skiing. I had trouble going any faster than 30k pace, which was unfortunate for the results-oriented department of my brain, but I really enjoyed being able to pass all the people I passed, and ski racing because I love it.    

A snowy Christmas Eve walk through Rochester. Actually a cool city, now that we're out of the suburbs.

Doing some coaching on the Mt sainte Anne trails. 

Kathy and I got out for a ski one afternoon. So cold, but so fun. 

The annual camp pursuit race went off at five degrees (Fahrenheit!) and blustery. I had fun racing with my juniors, and managed to just sneak ahead of Kathy, but Rob beat me in the all-important coaches race. 

Sometimes they are little monsters, but most of the time our group was awesome. 

Pretty star at the New Years party!

Ed's beer was frozen. Thankfully no bottles exploded!

Sharon had an awesome penguin hat!

 

Two feet of snow at -15F. Wowzers!

Craftsbury EC

Last weekend was the first Eastern Cup of the season, up in Craftsbury.  They had enough snow to hold the classic race (10k mass start) on the real race trails, moving away from the silly little manmade loop that we all end up racing around most of the time.  I nearly signed up, but decided that we had enough skiers showing up that my time would be better spent waxing, and anyway, elbow isn't really 100% ready for prime time on classic skis yet.  So, I signed up for the skate sprint, expecting that I just laid down $35 for 1.3km of racing - with all the college kids in town, and everybody all trained and fit and strong, I did not expect to be a contender.  But, skate sprints are fun, and a new pair of skis just showed up in the mail, so I needed to see how they ran!

An early morning jogeroo shook the cobwebs out of my legs - I spent too long sitting down on Friday, and then frantically packing for a two week vacation.  Woo!  It's exciting to take this time off, but a little sad how much I'm looking forward to getting some work done. Wait, I think I'm doing vacation wrong... anyway, I'd felt pretty stiff and groggy, but the jog woke me up and got the blood flowing, and I was in full-on Alex-on-a-race-day-morning mode by the time I hit the dining hall for their scrumptious bacon!  We got out testing skis, and the course was fast and hard, not at all feeling as slushy as I'd expected given the temperature.  Colder grinds and colder waxes were running fast, and our skiers were on some speedy boards by the time I rolled up to the start line.

Speaking of start line... the women's race start was delayed.  First by 10 minutes, then another 10 minutes. I'm apparently quite terrible at math, because somewhere in this mix I thought I had an extra 12 minutes before I started, when actually I had less than 1.  I heard them calling my number, and thankfully my skis were near the start, so I skied over, stripping off clothes and poles, jumping a barrier, and getting both poles on (but only one glove) with about four seconds to spare.  Whoops.  Oh well, I could use a shot of adrenaline!  The nerves combined with criminally fast skis meant I felt jittery the whole way round the course, never settling into a rhythm and never feeling like I was riding my skis.

Always treat a sprint like you've moved on, so I took care of myself and got some lunch down, before heading back into the rain for the heats.  CSU had sent 12 (including some alumns) into the heats, and I was pumped to watch all the blue suits zipping around the course!  I'd qualified in 23rd, nearly 16 seconds back (wowzers, that probably shouldn't have made the heats!), so I knew I wouldn't have the speed to just run away from my heat.  My plan became to tuck in and freeskate as much as possible, let my fast skis carry me past people on the downhills and then try not to die on the uphill into the finish.  My goal was to move up a few spots by finishing 3rd or 4th in my heat, but if I didn't move on I was quite ok with that. Ski racing is hard, and my legs didn't feel like they had three more races in them today.  That may sound pessimistic, but I was having a bit of trouble motivating the give-a-damn.

The heat played out according to plan, thankfully two girls tangled and went down on the first downhill, leaving me clear to just hang on to the front pack of Corey, Emily, and Hannah.  It was work to ski that fast, but not impossible, and I moved up into third climbing the wall in the stadium.  One last rest down the hill into the horseshoe, and then it was an uphill finish, and I ran out of gas, sort of as predicted.  Turns out, skiing takes strength and coordination, and I didn't have much of either going for me.  My oomph ran out, and Hannah snuck ahead of me into the finish lanes behind Corey and Emily, and I didn't have the fight to go around, so finished 4th in the heat.  This moved me up nicely from 23rd to 19th, so I was satisfied with the day.

I was super pumped watching some of my juniors racing.  Two of my girls are total pros, and they moved smoothly through the heats and into the A final, finishing 4th and 5th overall.  Another of my gals skied a gutsy race to move from 26th to 15th, and one of my juniors in the junior heats had a break-out race, moving into the A final and taking 4th! We had three J2s in the heats, one boy and two girls, and they all skied with heart and really learned from the experience, which was pretty sweet to see.  Despite the rain, we were all pumped to give it another shot tomorrow in the classic race.

Unfortunately, the temperatures dropped and everything froze overnight, while it kept raining.  They managed to groom the course, but the trees were so coated with ice that the branches kept falling, making a noise like gunshots.  They rightly canceled the race, because it was too darn dangerous to be skiing out there, and that was the right call, but a little depressing for the skiers who wanted to make up for the sprint day with a good grind-it-out distance race.

To leave, I had to use a metal putty knife to chip the ice from my windshield, but eventually I got out of there, and kept driving until I got to Rochester, for the holidays at home.  Next up, Mont Sainte Anne!