Tuesday – Rest Day!
No ski races today, as it is the official “rest day” of the World Masters. We had a leisure breakfast of Bill’s famous oatmeal and some sufficiently strong black coffee. I think Bjorn had to dilute it with 2/3 water just to drink it down. Will, Odd, and Bjorn headed back to the Ponderosa State Park for additional skiing and analysis of the race course, as preparation for Odd and Bjorn’s relay races on Wednesday.
John, Bill, and I opted for a change of venue and prepared our classic skis for a day of diagonal skiing at a location called Blackhawk On The River. Blackhawk is the title sponsor of this year’s Master’s World Cup, and they are a real estate company that is developing land and properties along the Payette River, just west of McCall. As the title sponsor, they hosted an open house at their property and gave us the opportunity to ski on their 12 kilometers of private groomed ski trails. The skiing was beautiful, as it offered spectacular scenery of the Payette River, just feet away from the ski trails, and the surrounding mountains.
We were even filmed during our ski!! As part of the promotion, Blackhawk hired a film crew to take shots of the open house and skiers out on their trails. While out skiing, we ran into the cameraman out on the trail. Bill, never shy about conversation or additional attention, recommended that the three of us be filmed skiing down the track. We skied back down the trail 30-40 meters, turned around to face the camera, lined up shortest to tallest (Bill first and Eric in the rear) and then began to double pole towards the rolling film. However no more than one double pole in (or maybe while he was still standing still), John stumbled and fell over his skis. It must have been those magnets in the boots again, like what happened in his 10K race on Monday, that caused his fall. So, we took a 2nd take of video, this time with Eric in the lead and yelling Hej! Hej! Hej! as we passed the cameraman. Instant rock stars, we believed. The cameraman said that he would possibly post the video on their website. (http://www.blackhawkontheriver.com/). We’re anxious to see if we very actually make the promotional video and what royalties that we may receive so that we can retire early and focus our second careers solely on the World Masters circuit!!
By this time, we were convinced the free food was likely being served back at the Blackhawk lodge house, so we quickly headed back to the start of the trail. Exceeding our expectations, we got in line for a nice complimentary lunch buffet of meat perogees, platters of sliced bratwurst, onions and garlic, diced beef, chili, snack mix, Mirror Pond draft beer and bottles of wine. A nice way to get nourished after an hour of skiing.
After our trip to Blackhawk, we returned to the rental house and rested for a short time before heading into McCall to hear a 3pm presentation by a sports physiologist on health and performance, especially related to Nordic skiing. We picked up two Italian skiers walking into town and gave them a lift. We tried to explain to them we were from Minnesota by showing them Eric’s “Minnesota Finlandia” ski hat, but we think the result of this was them believing we were from Finland instead! Lots lost in translation during this international exchange. The talk was interesting, but humbling too, as he showed depreciating performance and muscle strength curves as a function of older age.
Pasta again for us tonight back at the house – spaghetti and Prego sauce.
Tomorrow we look forward to cheering on Odd and Bjorn in the relays as they ski for the US in the M8 and M10 classes, respectively. 4x5K relay races (1st two legs are 5K classic racers followed by 3rd and 4th leg as 5K skate racers) start at 10am tomorrow at Ponderosa State Park.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Day 6 - 45K Classic
Hey -- just a quick posting; I uploaded some photos to Picaso. They're at http://picasaweb.google.com/johnnyj.lynch
Today was the long classic for everyone. No one in our group did the race. We're all skiing tomorrow at the long skate (45K for Bill, Eric and I; 30K for Odd and Will; 15 for Bjorn)
Another gorgeous day in McCall; Sun, Sun, Sun...
Someone asked about the altitude, we heard that the Norwegians came 10 days early to acclimitize; Bill, Eric and I only had 1 day. But... we all seemed to adjust fine, and I can't say that I've felt any altitude issues. I've made sure to stay hydrated. Bill says he feels it at the top of hills a bit. The altitude is 5000 ft even. People have told us that it is just below the threshhold of where it matters.
All for now... later!
Today was the long classic for everyone. No one in our group did the race. We're all skiing tomorrow at the long skate (45K for Bill, Eric and I; 30K for Odd and Will; 15 for Bjorn)
Another gorgeous day in McCall; Sun, Sun, Sun...
Someone asked about the altitude, we heard that the Norwegians came 10 days early to acclimitize; Bill, Eric and I only had 1 day. But... we all seemed to adjust fine, and I can't say that I've felt any altitude issues. I've made sure to stay hydrated. Bill says he feels it at the top of hills a bit. The altitude is 5000 ft even. People have told us that it is just below the threshhold of where it matters.
All for now... later!
Day 5 - The Relays
Odd and Bjorn take on the big hill at the Relays
Wednesday was the day for relay competition. In the relays nations compete against eachother rather than individuals competing. Like other International World Cup/Olympic events, the format involves multiple skiers from the same team skiing both classic and freestyle (skating). This event was 4 by 5KM for a total of 20KM. Each skier skis one 5KM leg. The first 2 legs are classic, and the second leg, including the 4th "anchor" leg are skating.
Odd and Bjorn were both invited to be on the relays from our group. Odd is in the M8 65-69 years, and Bjorn is in M10 75-79. They both skied the 3rd leg, which meant they skied freestyle. Both Bjorn and Odd are from Norway, and they ski on Madshus skis, like Bill and I do, which are skis made in Norway. The national rep for Madshus, Peter Hale, has been here all week, and he offered to wax skis for Bjorn and Odd. So they both have had real fast skis most of the week.
We saw Odd coming up the hill as the 2nd person in the M8 class. He was really moving fast -- the photo doesn't quite capture it -- and this was a big uphill. His team finished 2nd out of a lot of teams, which was really an outstanding result; There are fewer teams in the younger divisions, but in the 50+ age groups there are teams from USA, Canada, Italy, Norway, Russia, France and other countries.
Bjorn also had a good race. He was also skiing fast up the hill -- later he told us that he thought the hill was even bigger, and was surprised that he had reached the top up where we were cheering; surprised, but happy. Bjorn's team finished 2nd, just behind the Norwegians. Bjorn knows everyone out here, esp. other Norwegians; and he is such a good sport, congratulating the Norwegians and others that are doing well.
The Russians are doing really well. They brought 100+ skiers to McCall, and they are fast skiers. The M2 division had the fastest time; and they won several divisions. We saw the M3 guys skiing as well; The team was Rune ? originally from Norway, Dale Niggeman from Wisc, Ian Harvey, former Olympian, and Eric Jensen, a Swix rep who is skiing really fast. Ian Harvey skied the 3rd skate leg and made up over a minute of time; and then Eric Jensen passed a Russian to take home the Gold - that was a great win for the USA.
Eric, Bill and I spectated and had a fun time. I brought a bunch of stuff -- including a couple of US flags. A russian woman came over to me and pointed at my US flag and said -- "can I have flag"; she really wanted my $1.99 US Flag -- I was more than happy to oblige.
In the morning as we were suiting up to go watch the races, Eric had zipper f%@$ on one of his Alpina Skate boots that he'd need for the 45K Skate race on Friday. He couldn't get the zipper back in place and ended up finding some tape to tape the boot up. Peter Hale told him he should be able to find a pair of Madshus boots.. luckily we have a few days to figure it out.
Later we went for a 15K ski on what would be the race course for Friday. We decided to take a detour up to the high point that overlooks Lake Payette. Breathtaking! Well.. that's all for now; Thursday we have another day off to rest for the big 45K race on Friday. J.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Day 3 - Monday 10K Skate Races and The Rest of the Day Off the Skis
March 3, 2008
Temperatures on Monday were in the upper 20s, so a bit warmer than Sunday’s races, especially for us in the afternoon skate races. 10K classic races were this morning, followed by a brief re-grooming of the course, and then 10K skate races starting at 12:30pm. The fact that we could not see our breaths during our warm-up laps, like we could before Sunday morning’s races, was a sign to us today that it was going to be a warmer run around the trails today.
Given the shorter races today, Bill and John were insistent on a thorough warm-up, meaning multiple loops and loops around the practice track. A 1K loop, if that. Our pre-race routine wouldn’t be complete without some glides down the glide hill. This was essentially a meaningless exercise for Bill and Eric, as they both had only one pair of skate skis and nothing to do if the skis were dogs and running slow. John, on the other hand, had skis waxed with both HF7 and HF8, and he worked hard on evaluating which ski to use. He went with his newer Madshus Nanosonic skis in the end, I believe. None of us made it as far as some of the long distance markers at the end of the glide hill that some skiers seemed to be indicating was their superior glide distance. However, I wonder if our competitors were simply placing markers 5 meters farther in distance than any ski could realistically glide in today’s conditions, just to play psychological games with us shortly before the start of competition??
Convinced that adding some additional structure to our skis may improve our glide, Bill immediately became good friends with one of the Toko reps working his tent in the practice area. Before we knew it, Bill had convinced him to place a rill in all 3 sets of our skis. These were not “chevron” rills, but instead lineal rills, which some believe may be inferior to the chevrons. Simply content on having additional structure in our skis, we headed back to our practice loop for additional warm-up, proud of our skis that suddenly seemed significantly faster. We certainly attributed it to the rills!
By 12:30pm, M1 class race was starting. We proceeded to ski marking and check-in quickly. Eric’s M2 race started at 12:40pm, John & Bill’s M3 race at 12:50pm, and Odd and Bjorn’s races not until closer to 3pm. Will had already completed his day’s race as he raced the classic 10K in the morning and was now strategically positioned out on the course for some action photography shots. Too bad he wasn’t able to get John’s crash early on in the race!
Due to starting problems from previous days’ races (such as John getting tracked and jumping out of his lane prematurely during his 30K race the day before), the starter reminded us again of proper starting procedures and rules: (1) Do NOT leave your lane until it ends (Herr Lynch) and you enter the “mix zone”; (2) M1-M6 racers are skiing the RED 10K loop today – l lap only; Do NOT ski the Blue course! (3) the air horn will sound 1 minute prior to race start as your first warning; (4) orange flag will be raised with 30 seconds prior to start; (5) lowering of orange flag commences the race.
The orange flag went down, and it was a clean start for M2. No crashes observed. The Russians and Italians seemed to take the early lead mixed in with an American. Eric raced better in M2 today than yesterday’s 30K, maybe due to a full day’s experience with World Masters racing, or better glide wax with the warmer conditions, or was it the Toko rill? John & Bill did well again in their M3 race, with both of them skating down the finish lanes side-by-side with skiers behind them. A close finish, but John got Bill by 0.3seconds. Maybe a redemption for the victory by Bill over John the day prior. Following the M1-M6 races, we watched some of the women’s 10K freestyle races out along the course and cheered them up the hills. We caught the start of M10 and saw Bjorn head out for his 5K freestyle race, and then watched Odd finish as the #2 American in his M8 class. Like Odd, Bjorn also finished #2 USA skier in his class and 4th overall.
One of our new close personal McCall friends now, Brian, picked us up for the shuttle ride back to the Majestic View house. Bjorn entertained us as usual by giving a Swede a hard time for not giving his seat up for a lady who had just climbed onboard. Bjorn was even receiving hugs onboard, simply due to the fact, as he put it, “I’m Norwegian”.
For the second day in a row, Bill was confident enough with his multi-functional briefs/swimsuit/jacuzzi jockey outfit that we headed to the hot tub for a second day in a row. We met some new friends again, and even ones that told Bill – “you’re a famous Midwest skier!” Must have been that decades-old Vasaloppet win that some people just can’t forget. Even more fun, though, was listening to the next group that entered the hot tub who shared stories of celebrity costume parties on the downhill ski slopes and one man’s attempt at being a Britney Spears look-a-like. At that point, our finger tips were wrinkled, Bill’s self-confidence in his attire was waning, and it was time to leave.
Upon arrival back at the house, we realized we had very limited options for dinner, yet Will, Bjorn, and Odd were waiting for a dinner decision. We did have a dozen eggs in the refrigerator along with tortilla shells and some apples, but that was about it, so we went with it. Hard to beat a dinner of scrambled eggs on top of over-crisp tortilla shells and a platter of sliced apples (including the cores) on the side. The camaraderie during the dinner definitely trumped the food, as we shared good stories and laughs.
Following dinner, John, Bill, and Eric headed into McCall to experience what could be had for night life at 9:30pm on a Monday night. Our initial plan was to visit the local brewpub, but unfortunately we discovered that they had already closed at 9pm. A brewpub closing at 9pm??? We couldn’t believe it, so John tried to enter the closed brewpub and convince the workers that they should stay open for tourists like us --World Masters Skiers. Needless to say, he was back in the minivan less than a minute later. He did get a recommendation though to head a few blocks up the street to “The Mill” where the local brew could still be found on tap.
We entered “The Mill”, but soon learned that it would be closing within 15 minutes at 10pm. How could this be?? Fortunately, the bartender and waitress soon warmed up to our humor (or felt sorry for us) and bar closing time eventually seemed to slip until nearly 11:30pm. The only close call of nearly getting kicked out of the establishment by 10pm was when Bill grabbed the “poker” for the open-pit fireplace in the middle of the bar and started taking log rearrangement and placement into his own hands. After a brief warning, Bill found his place again in his chair-lift seat along the perimeter of the fire pit.
We did share some international goodwill with the nearby Germans at the table next to us. Eric noticed familiar faces from meeting some of these same Germans at the shuttle stop at Ponderosa State Park earlier in the day. We soon realized that we had re-connected with Erwin and Pietra!! Via marginal German language comprehension and a bit of eaves-dropping, Eric seemed to hear the word “Jaegermeister” be repeated several times. Unbeknowst to the Germans, Eric’s seizied his chance for a prompt, unannounced benevolent World Masters gesture and ordered up a Jaegermeister for the Germans to enjoy. It was soon delivered to the Germans, and they were astonished (and maybe impressed?) about what had just arrived on their table, but soon howled in laughter regarding the timing of this. That broke the ice and our two separate groups soon became one. As is true with every European he meets, Bill continued to invite the Germans to come over to race in the American Birkebeiner and stay with us. Maybe it was lost in translation, but we weren’t sure if they ever accepted or rejected Bill’s invitation that night. Maybe we’ll find out via a phone call from Germany a week before next year’s Birkie? It was a fun evening without worries about waxing later that night or getting ready the next morning for an early morning race. Ah, a rest day to look forward to on Tuesday!
Temperatures on Monday were in the upper 20s, so a bit warmer than Sunday’s races, especially for us in the afternoon skate races. 10K classic races were this morning, followed by a brief re-grooming of the course, and then 10K skate races starting at 12:30pm. The fact that we could not see our breaths during our warm-up laps, like we could before Sunday morning’s races, was a sign to us today that it was going to be a warmer run around the trails today.
Given the shorter races today, Bill and John were insistent on a thorough warm-up, meaning multiple loops and loops around the practice track. A 1K loop, if that. Our pre-race routine wouldn’t be complete without some glides down the glide hill. This was essentially a meaningless exercise for Bill and Eric, as they both had only one pair of skate skis and nothing to do if the skis were dogs and running slow. John, on the other hand, had skis waxed with both HF7 and HF8, and he worked hard on evaluating which ski to use. He went with his newer Madshus Nanosonic skis in the end, I believe. None of us made it as far as some of the long distance markers at the end of the glide hill that some skiers seemed to be indicating was their superior glide distance. However, I wonder if our competitors were simply placing markers 5 meters farther in distance than any ski could realistically glide in today’s conditions, just to play psychological games with us shortly before the start of competition??
Convinced that adding some additional structure to our skis may improve our glide, Bill immediately became good friends with one of the Toko reps working his tent in the practice area. Before we knew it, Bill had convinced him to place a rill in all 3 sets of our skis. These were not “chevron” rills, but instead lineal rills, which some believe may be inferior to the chevrons. Simply content on having additional structure in our skis, we headed back to our practice loop for additional warm-up, proud of our skis that suddenly seemed significantly faster. We certainly attributed it to the rills!
By 12:30pm, M1 class race was starting. We proceeded to ski marking and check-in quickly. Eric’s M2 race started at 12:40pm, John & Bill’s M3 race at 12:50pm, and Odd and Bjorn’s races not until closer to 3pm. Will had already completed his day’s race as he raced the classic 10K in the morning and was now strategically positioned out on the course for some action photography shots. Too bad he wasn’t able to get John’s crash early on in the race!
Due to starting problems from previous days’ races (such as John getting tracked and jumping out of his lane prematurely during his 30K race the day before), the starter reminded us again of proper starting procedures and rules: (1) Do NOT leave your lane until it ends (Herr Lynch) and you enter the “mix zone”; (2) M1-M6 racers are skiing the RED 10K loop today – l lap only; Do NOT ski the Blue course! (3) the air horn will sound 1 minute prior to race start as your first warning; (4) orange flag will be raised with 30 seconds prior to start; (5) lowering of orange flag commences the race.
The orange flag went down, and it was a clean start for M2. No crashes observed. The Russians and Italians seemed to take the early lead mixed in with an American. Eric raced better in M2 today than yesterday’s 30K, maybe due to a full day’s experience with World Masters racing, or better glide wax with the warmer conditions, or was it the Toko rill? John & Bill did well again in their M3 race, with both of them skating down the finish lanes side-by-side with skiers behind them. A close finish, but John got Bill by 0.3seconds. Maybe a redemption for the victory by Bill over John the day prior. Following the M1-M6 races, we watched some of the women’s 10K freestyle races out along the course and cheered them up the hills. We caught the start of M10 and saw Bjorn head out for his 5K freestyle race, and then watched Odd finish as the #2 American in his M8 class. Like Odd, Bjorn also finished #2 USA skier in his class and 4th overall.
One of our new close personal McCall friends now, Brian, picked us up for the shuttle ride back to the Majestic View house. Bjorn entertained us as usual by giving a Swede a hard time for not giving his seat up for a lady who had just climbed onboard. Bjorn was even receiving hugs onboard, simply due to the fact, as he put it, “I’m Norwegian”.
For the second day in a row, Bill was confident enough with his multi-functional briefs/swimsuit/jacuzzi jockey outfit that we headed to the hot tub for a second day in a row. We met some new friends again, and even ones that told Bill – “you’re a famous Midwest skier!” Must have been that decades-old Vasaloppet win that some people just can’t forget. Even more fun, though, was listening to the next group that entered the hot tub who shared stories of celebrity costume parties on the downhill ski slopes and one man’s attempt at being a Britney Spears look-a-like. At that point, our finger tips were wrinkled, Bill’s self-confidence in his attire was waning, and it was time to leave.
Upon arrival back at the house, we realized we had very limited options for dinner, yet Will, Bjorn, and Odd were waiting for a dinner decision. We did have a dozen eggs in the refrigerator along with tortilla shells and some apples, but that was about it, so we went with it. Hard to beat a dinner of scrambled eggs on top of over-crisp tortilla shells and a platter of sliced apples (including the cores) on the side. The camaraderie during the dinner definitely trumped the food, as we shared good stories and laughs.
Following dinner, John, Bill, and Eric headed into McCall to experience what could be had for night life at 9:30pm on a Monday night. Our initial plan was to visit the local brewpub, but unfortunately we discovered that they had already closed at 9pm. A brewpub closing at 9pm??? We couldn’t believe it, so John tried to enter the closed brewpub and convince the workers that they should stay open for tourists like us --World Masters Skiers. Needless to say, he was back in the minivan less than a minute later. He did get a recommendation though to head a few blocks up the street to “The Mill” where the local brew could still be found on tap.
We entered “The Mill”, but soon learned that it would be closing within 15 minutes at 10pm. How could this be?? Fortunately, the bartender and waitress soon warmed up to our humor (or felt sorry for us) and bar closing time eventually seemed to slip until nearly 11:30pm. The only close call of nearly getting kicked out of the establishment by 10pm was when Bill grabbed the “poker” for the open-pit fireplace in the middle of the bar and started taking log rearrangement and placement into his own hands. After a brief warning, Bill found his place again in his chair-lift seat along the perimeter of the fire pit.
We did share some international goodwill with the nearby Germans at the table next to us. Eric noticed familiar faces from meeting some of these same Germans at the shuttle stop at Ponderosa State Park earlier in the day. We soon realized that we had re-connected with Erwin and Pietra!! Via marginal German language comprehension and a bit of eaves-dropping, Eric seemed to hear the word “Jaegermeister” be repeated several times. Unbeknowst to the Germans, Eric’s seizied his chance for a prompt, unannounced benevolent World Masters gesture and ordered up a Jaegermeister for the Germans to enjoy. It was soon delivered to the Germans, and they were astonished (and maybe impressed?) about what had just arrived on their table, but soon howled in laughter regarding the timing of this. That broke the ice and our two separate groups soon became one. As is true with every European he meets, Bill continued to invite the Germans to come over to race in the American Birkebeiner and stay with us. Maybe it was lost in translation, but we weren’t sure if they ever accepted or rejected Bill’s invitation that night. Maybe we’ll find out via a phone call from Germany a week before next year’s Birkie? It was a fun evening without worries about waxing later that night or getting ready the next morning for an early morning race. Ah, a rest day to look forward to on Tuesday!
Bill's MWC Posting and Haiku
Haiku #1
Idaho tall snow
World master ski real fast
Hot tub big reward.
Today was our well-deserved rest day.
Our group is wonderful in many ways, but we need to invite a support crew next time like the Europeans have. We spoke with the German physical/massage therapist today, nice guy by the name of Renna. They also have a coach. I think we need a cook. Somebody who could help us with our suppers: Saturday, pasta with Prego; Sunday, cereal with bananas*; Monday, scrambled eggs with tortillas; Tuesday, pasta with Prego again.
*Please note: we did have a giant burrito lunch at 3pm.
We’ve been so busy setting up camp, waxing, and racing that it feels good to have a day off to just knock around. Just for kicks and to get more fresh air, we’ve been taking daily runs of 20 – 30 minutes. Very little traffic and lots of options for sideroads etc.
10 Things We Don’t Want to Forget
1. Our van driver is Brian, but he has more close friends than just us
2. Everyone in the hot tub is jealous of Bill’s two-tone wind-brief swimsuit
3. Odd and Bjorn will speak to each other in Norwegian, the rest of us love to listen
4. John drives like he skis downhills – with reckless abandon
5. We’re on our 3rd 12-pack: Fat Tire, Mirror Pond, and now Henri Weinhard’s Hefe Weizen
6. Will is going to produce his National Champion chili tomorrow and we hope to post the recipe on our blog
7. We’re all a little concerned about going back to work and reality next week but nobody has mentioned it.
8. UBP = upper body power which most of us feel like we’re lacking and have high hopes of rectifying once and for all this year
9. Two new vocab words:
Chevron = special term used casually in the most serious ski circles to refer to a slant or angle that a rilling tool can make on the bottom side of your skis in a desperate attempt to make them work in soggy conditions.
Trimp = a training impulse (this is a brand new word to the English language that we’re excited about and should be used infrequently and pronounced carefully)
10. We’re already laying plans to stay with Eric Hedman’s Great Grandpa’s sister-in-law’s Godmother’s great grandcousin twice removed for the 2010 World Masters in Falun, Sweden.
11. Despite a history of run-ins with the TSA, Bill is going to try to bring home an almost-full bottle of concentrated All (scent and dye free) laundry detergent rather than jettison it here in Idaho.
12. We know St. Anthony is the patron saint of lost stuff, but can’t remember who covers ambulances en route to an accident.
My Secret Oatmeal Ritual (not to be leaked to the Italians)
a. One cup of dry, steel cut oats per two people
b.2.5 cups of water
c. Bring to a boil while chopping things to toss in like raisins or other dried fruits, apple bits, FC8 if you have it
d. Reduce heat and keep stirring with right hand, get bowls and spoons out with left
e. Shoot for that gloppy, goey matrix that makes it tolerable
Side note: Don’t leave the brown sugar out overnight since it does not behave like white sugar.
Idaho tall snow
World master ski real fast
Hot tub big reward.
Today was our well-deserved rest day.
Our group is wonderful in many ways, but we need to invite a support crew next time like the Europeans have. We spoke with the German physical/massage therapist today, nice guy by the name of Renna. They also have a coach. I think we need a cook. Somebody who could help us with our suppers: Saturday, pasta with Prego; Sunday, cereal with bananas*; Monday, scrambled eggs with tortillas; Tuesday, pasta with Prego again.
*Please note: we did have a giant burrito lunch at 3pm.
We’ve been so busy setting up camp, waxing, and racing that it feels good to have a day off to just knock around. Just for kicks and to get more fresh air, we’ve been taking daily runs of 20 – 30 minutes. Very little traffic and lots of options for sideroads etc.
10 Things We Don’t Want to Forget
1. Our van driver is Brian, but he has more close friends than just us
2. Everyone in the hot tub is jealous of Bill’s two-tone wind-brief swimsuit
3. Odd and Bjorn will speak to each other in Norwegian, the rest of us love to listen
4. John drives like he skis downhills – with reckless abandon
5. We’re on our 3rd 12-pack: Fat Tire, Mirror Pond, and now Henri Weinhard’s Hefe Weizen
6. Will is going to produce his National Champion chili tomorrow and we hope to post the recipe on our blog
7. We’re all a little concerned about going back to work and reality next week but nobody has mentioned it.
8. UBP = upper body power which most of us feel like we’re lacking and have high hopes of rectifying once and for all this year
9. Two new vocab words:
Chevron = special term used casually in the most serious ski circles to refer to a slant or angle that a rilling tool can make on the bottom side of your skis in a desperate attempt to make them work in soggy conditions.
Trimp = a training impulse (this is a brand new word to the English language that we’re excited about and should be used infrequently and pronounced carefully)
10. We’re already laying plans to stay with Eric Hedman’s Great Grandpa’s sister-in-law’s Godmother’s great grandcousin twice removed for the 2010 World Masters in Falun, Sweden.
11. Despite a history of run-ins with the TSA, Bill is going to try to bring home an almost-full bottle of concentrated All (scent and dye free) laundry detergent rather than jettison it here in Idaho.
12. We know St. Anthony is the patron saint of lost stuff, but can’t remember who covers ambulances en route to an accident.
My Secret Oatmeal Ritual (not to be leaked to the Italians)
a. One cup of dry, steel cut oats per two people
b.2.5 cups of water
c. Bring to a boil while chopping things to toss in like raisins or other dried fruits, apple bits, FC8 if you have it
d. Reduce heat and keep stirring with right hand, get bowls and spoons out with left
e. Shoot for that gloppy, goey matrix that makes it tolerable
Side note: Don’t leave the brown sugar out overnight since it does not behave like white sugar.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Day 3 - 10K Skate
Sunday night we prepared for Monday’s big events. Everyone in our group was doing the 10K Skate except Will, who was doing the 10K Classic.
Eric, Bill and I waxed up our Skate skis in the garage again. This was working well, and on Sunday we even stopped by to get groceries and we found a cheap plastic tarp and extension cord for our waxing operation. The weather was forecasted to be about 15 at night warming to 28 at race time, with a high of 35. Bill was using the Start Wax system, but did put Cera F FC8 on top; Eric used Solda warm, and I used the Swix recommendation of MB77 Moly, w/ HF8 and Cera F FC8 on my new Nanosonic skis. I decided to wax up 2 pair of skis for this race, and waxed my second pair of Madshus, a pair of Hypersonics that were stoneground this year w/ a fine grind. On these skis I just put on MB77 Moly and then HF7. When we got up on Monday morning it was already 25 degrees, and Eric, Bill and I weren’t racing until about 1:00. Will, Odd and Bjorn took off earlier than us.
Will had his classic race at about 11:00. He had planned to use Start Grip Tape – but ran out of tape halfway thru one of his skis! Luckily Peter Hale from Madshus was there to help him out. Will says he used a torch to heat up and remove the goop, and put on some other hard wax. Will said he had a good race and a fun time.
It was a glorious day as we did our warmup with the sun shining and lots of people out and about. Unlike the other events, the 10K State and Classic are held on the same day. So everyone was at the events, especially midday. I tested my pair of skis on the wax testing hill. The other skiers, Italians, Russians and Norwegians were gliding down and then placing sticks in the snow where they stopped. I wasn’t getting anywhere close to them on either of my skis. But the weather was changing fast, and I hadn’t put structure in the skis yet. Bill, Eric and I stopped at the Toko tent to get a large 1.0 mm rill in the skis. On the warmup my skis seem to feel fast, and I decided to use my new Nanosonics.
The Race
We watched Eric start 10 minutes ahead of us. I got a few photos of him getting into his starting position. We saw Eric start, and their group was flying! I got the feeling that we were really going to be pushing at the start. Bill and I did some running around to stay loose. Then we got in our start lanes. This time I started in Lane 10, row 2. There were more people in this race, and someone started in back of me in row 3.
The race started, and the Russian in front of me started out with a bang! I couldn’t double-pole as fast as him, but I was pushing hard. By the time we got to the first corner, I found myself in a good position. I was ahead of Bill, and I counted only about 10 people ahead of me. I had made up my mind to try and stay with the front group as long as possible.
At about 2K the front group started really pushing, and I got gapped by 20 meters or so. Then Bill caught up to me and we skied together through a slight uphill. Shortly after that Bill put on an epic push to catch back up to the lead group and he succeeded! I stayed right on him and tucked in right behind him. Shortly after we caught the lead group, there is a left turn and a nice easy downhill. I was following Bill just after the crest of the hill when I clicked my boots together – they caught up in eachother – and the next thing I knew… crash! I went down into the snow. What a dumb fall, no one was even near me. Dazed, I got up and watched 4 people blow by me. Chris Humber, an American wearing a Rossignol suit was the last skier to pass me. I worked hard to catch back up to him, and one by one we passed more people tell we were about 25 meters behind Bill. Bill was skiing by himself and really moving. Chris was really flying too, and had a really great V2 technique. We skied together until the hill at about 6K, and then Chris started pushing harder and harder until we caught Bill. Bill and I then skied together, but we couldn’t stay with Chris. A few guys were now close behind us, and I pulled alongside Bill too take the lead for a little bit. We started getting closer to Chris, but I looked behind me and there were 5 or more guys close on our tail. I saw the finish area and went for the center lane. Bill took the right lane – I felt like I was holding him up, because I knew he can really sprint. I ended up finishing ahead of Bill by .2 seconds – and 4 of us finished within a second of eachother. What a fun race.
Eric had a great race also. He finished just a few seconds from 3rd place American!
After that we hung around and watched Bjorn and Odd – Odd skied 10K, and Bjorn skied 5K. We came home later, took a nice hot tub, and then made a not so great meal of eggs and cheese.
Eric, Bill and I waxed up our Skate skis in the garage again. This was working well, and on Sunday we even stopped by to get groceries and we found a cheap plastic tarp and extension cord for our waxing operation. The weather was forecasted to be about 15 at night warming to 28 at race time, with a high of 35. Bill was using the Start Wax system, but did put Cera F FC8 on top; Eric used Solda warm, and I used the Swix recommendation of MB77 Moly, w/ HF8 and Cera F FC8 on my new Nanosonic skis. I decided to wax up 2 pair of skis for this race, and waxed my second pair of Madshus, a pair of Hypersonics that were stoneground this year w/ a fine grind. On these skis I just put on MB77 Moly and then HF7. When we got up on Monday morning it was already 25 degrees, and Eric, Bill and I weren’t racing until about 1:00. Will, Odd and Bjorn took off earlier than us.
Will had his classic race at about 11:00. He had planned to use Start Grip Tape – but ran out of tape halfway thru one of his skis! Luckily Peter Hale from Madshus was there to help him out. Will says he used a torch to heat up and remove the goop, and put on some other hard wax. Will said he had a good race and a fun time.
It was a glorious day as we did our warmup with the sun shining and lots of people out and about. Unlike the other events, the 10K State and Classic are held on the same day. So everyone was at the events, especially midday. I tested my pair of skis on the wax testing hill. The other skiers, Italians, Russians and Norwegians were gliding down and then placing sticks in the snow where they stopped. I wasn’t getting anywhere close to them on either of my skis. But the weather was changing fast, and I hadn’t put structure in the skis yet. Bill, Eric and I stopped at the Toko tent to get a large 1.0 mm rill in the skis. On the warmup my skis seem to feel fast, and I decided to use my new Nanosonics.
The Race
We watched Eric start 10 minutes ahead of us. I got a few photos of him getting into his starting position. We saw Eric start, and their group was flying! I got the feeling that we were really going to be pushing at the start. Bill and I did some running around to stay loose. Then we got in our start lanes. This time I started in Lane 10, row 2. There were more people in this race, and someone started in back of me in row 3.
The race started, and the Russian in front of me started out with a bang! I couldn’t double-pole as fast as him, but I was pushing hard. By the time we got to the first corner, I found myself in a good position. I was ahead of Bill, and I counted only about 10 people ahead of me. I had made up my mind to try and stay with the front group as long as possible.
At about 2K the front group started really pushing, and I got gapped by 20 meters or so. Then Bill caught up to me and we skied together through a slight uphill. Shortly after that Bill put on an epic push to catch back up to the lead group and he succeeded! I stayed right on him and tucked in right behind him. Shortly after we caught the lead group, there is a left turn and a nice easy downhill. I was following Bill just after the crest of the hill when I clicked my boots together – they caught up in eachother – and the next thing I knew… crash! I went down into the snow. What a dumb fall, no one was even near me. Dazed, I got up and watched 4 people blow by me. Chris Humber, an American wearing a Rossignol suit was the last skier to pass me. I worked hard to catch back up to him, and one by one we passed more people tell we were about 25 meters behind Bill. Bill was skiing by himself and really moving. Chris was really flying too, and had a really great V2 technique. We skied together until the hill at about 6K, and then Chris started pushing harder and harder until we caught Bill. Bill and I then skied together, but we couldn’t stay with Chris. A few guys were now close behind us, and I pulled alongside Bill too take the lead for a little bit. We started getting closer to Chris, but I looked behind me and there were 5 or more guys close on our tail. I saw the finish area and went for the center lane. Bill took the right lane – I felt like I was holding him up, because I knew he can really sprint. I ended up finishing ahead of Bill by .2 seconds – and 4 of us finished within a second of eachother. What a fun race.
Eric had a great race also. He finished just a few seconds from 3rd place American!
After that we hung around and watched Bjorn and Odd – Odd skied 10K, and Bjorn skied 5K. We came home later, took a nice hot tub, and then made a not so great meal of eggs and cheese.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Day 2 - Sunday 30K Freestyle (Skate)
Bill and EricOut place has lots of amenities; including a full kitchen and living room with comfy couch and chairs. Bill whipped up some delicious Oatmeal; and we ate bananas and pretty much everything we had as we hadn’t really gone grocery shopping yet. There is limited parking at the race start, so they encourage everyone to take the shuttle buses. We weren’t sure if the bus was going by our house or not… but we decided to walk down towards the main road – about a mile. After walking for 2 minutes, a bus came by and picked us up… we were set.
Ponderosa State Park where we are racing is amazing. The Park is basically a peninsula that juts into Lake Payette. The views of the lake are beautiful and remind me of Glacier Park with the mountains in the background. The start/finish Stadium area at Ponderosa definitely makes you feel like you are racing in the World Cup or the Olympics.
The people at registration and information were very helpful and we got our bibs and packet stuff picked up right away. We wear the same bib for all races. You also get a credential to wear around your neck when you’re at other events.
The Race
The Sunday races were a 30K Freestyle for most of us; 15K for older men (like Will and Odd); Bjorn did 10K. The race was fun! The Ponderosa trails are excellent with nice views and majestic Ponderosa Pines lining the course. The start area is really cool with flags and very official ski marking areas and lane assignments.
Eric started 10 minute in front of us; I was able to see him start; He seemed primed and ready for the race. Eric started on the far left in lane 19;
I was also on the far left - assigned lane 20 (or position 20) way on the left.. but in the first row. There was about 40 or so skiers in our 40 to 44 age group. Bang! The gun went off and away we went. The rule was you had to double-pole the first 200 meters. After about 50 meters I received a wack on my left side by a ski pole! The foreigner, Italian? Behind me wanted me out of his way! Luckily the guy on my right was going slow so I could cut into his lane. I learned later that it was illegal to change lanes, and presumably also illegal to track someone.
Baldus and I got out together and skied with the lead group for about 2+K They were flying and we pretty quickly settled into a group of 4. Bill, myself and two other Americans, aka, “guys who don’t like to lead”. The course was sweet, with flats, easy transitions, and just a few hills, with one twisting hill that did me in on the 2nd lap, but really wasn’t that large.
Bill led for much of the 2 laps, I took an occasional lead, and led up both hills. One of the other guys, Scott?, was looking pretty strong, but every time Bill pulled over to let him pass, he just dropped back and wouldn’t take the lead! We skied together for about the first 28K; Eventually I fell to the back, Bill and the other American skied neck and neck – and darn! Beat out Bill by about a foot length. I stumbled in just past them very pleased with my finish and getting the first race completed successfully. Bill finished 6th American, about 15th overall; I finished 19th overall.
Eric and the rest did great. It was fun watching Odd, Bjorn and Will. Odd finished 2nd American so we’ll get to see him on the podium. Later we ate at a Mexican restaurant and spent some time downtown McCall. We saw the awards ceremony and then went to the USA gathering. A little bit of waxing for the big 10K Freestyle on Monday and off to bed!
Ponderosa State Park where we are racing is amazing. The Park is basically a peninsula that juts into Lake Payette. The views of the lake are beautiful and remind me of Glacier Park with the mountains in the background. The start/finish Stadium area at Ponderosa definitely makes you feel like you are racing in the World Cup or the Olympics.
The people at registration and information were very helpful and we got our bibs and packet stuff picked up right away. We wear the same bib for all races. You also get a credential to wear around your neck when you’re at other events.
The Race
The Sunday races were a 30K Freestyle for most of us; 15K for older men (like Will and Odd); Bjorn did 10K. The race was fun! The Ponderosa trails are excellent with nice views and majestic Ponderosa Pines lining the course. The start area is really cool with flags and very official ski marking areas and lane assignments.
Eric started 10 minute in front of us; I was able to see him start; He seemed primed and ready for the race. Eric started on the far left in lane 19;
I was also on the far left - assigned lane 20 (or position 20) way on the left.. but in the first row. There was about 40 or so skiers in our 40 to 44 age group. Bang! The gun went off and away we went. The rule was you had to double-pole the first 200 meters. After about 50 meters I received a wack on my left side by a ski pole! The foreigner, Italian? Behind me wanted me out of his way! Luckily the guy on my right was going slow so I could cut into his lane. I learned later that it was illegal to change lanes, and presumably also illegal to track someone.
Baldus and I got out together and skied with the lead group for about 2+K They were flying and we pretty quickly settled into a group of 4. Bill, myself and two other Americans, aka, “guys who don’t like to lead”. The course was sweet, with flats, easy transitions, and just a few hills, with one twisting hill that did me in on the 2nd lap, but really wasn’t that large.
Bill led for much of the 2 laps, I took an occasional lead, and led up both hills. One of the other guys, Scott?, was looking pretty strong, but every time Bill pulled over to let him pass, he just dropped back and wouldn’t take the lead! We skied together for about the first 28K; Eventually I fell to the back, Bill and the other American skied neck and neck – and darn! Beat out Bill by about a foot length. I stumbled in just past them very pleased with my finish and getting the first race completed successfully. Bill finished 6th American, about 15th overall; I finished 19th overall.
Eric and the rest did great. It was fun watching Odd, Bjorn and Will. Odd finished 2nd American so we’ll get to see him on the podium. Later we ate at a Mexican restaurant and spent some time downtown McCall. We saw the awards ceremony and then went to the USA gathering. A little bit of waxing for the big 10K Freestyle on Monday and off to bed!
Day 1 - McCall
Greetings! Read on if you want to hear the tales and tribulations of some Minnesotans taking a journey to the land of potatoes and lots of snow.
River going to McCall - Bill accosted by Helga
River going to McCall - Bill accosted by Helga
The Group
Eric Hedman, Bill Baldus, Odd Ossland, Bjorn Lasserud from Twin Cities; Will Grosnold from Grand Forks, ND and myself. Bjorn and Odd were able to go out on Friday ahead of time, and then Eric, Bill, Will and I traveled out together on Saturday, March 1st 2008.
MSP
We arrived at the Minneapolis Airport with plenty of time. Sister Terese dropped Bill and I off at the airport. Thanks Terese! For a change, things went pretty smooth for me – in the past I’ve had to deal with extra hassle of getting my boarding pass as “John Lynch” is on the national terrorist list. Eric Hedman arrived a little after us, but he moved through the lines quickly. Bill neglected to pack some of his liquids in the prescribed clear plastic bags, so Helga, the not so friendly TSA agent pulled him aside for a little chat. I was concerned that it might turn into a smackdown, and, as she had about 100lbs on Bill, I didn’t think that would bode well for his ski racing! Bill left with a few less items, but otherwise unscathed.
Eric Hedman, Bill Baldus, Odd Ossland, Bjorn Lasserud from Twin Cities; Will Grosnold from Grand Forks, ND and myself. Bjorn and Odd were able to go out on Friday ahead of time, and then Eric, Bill, Will and I traveled out together on Saturday, March 1st 2008.
MSP
We arrived at the Minneapolis Airport with plenty of time. Sister Terese dropped Bill and I off at the airport. Thanks Terese! For a change, things went pretty smooth for me – in the past I’ve had to deal with extra hassle of getting my boarding pass as “John Lynch” is on the national terrorist list. Eric Hedman arrived a little after us, but he moved through the lines quickly. Bill neglected to pack some of his liquids in the prescribed clear plastic bags, so Helga, the not so friendly TSA agent pulled him aside for a little chat. I was concerned that it might turn into a smackdown, and, as she had about 100lbs on Bill, I didn’t think that would bode well for his ski racing! Bill left with a few less items, but otherwise unscathed.
Boise
The flight to Boise was uneventful; and we arrived at the airport at about noon Mountain time. Eric had arranged for a rental Van – and we all gathered our skis and bags. All skis arrived and were undamaged which was a relief… we all stopped and admired Will’s nice Hardcase that he got at Finn Sisu; it was pretty sweet… and seemed a lot less work that my 8” Aluminum duct work home job. We found the van, and then the first practical joke was played on Eric; as he was loading skis in the back, Bill and I moved his gear bag on the other side of an adjacent bag. Eric nearly soiled his pants when he went looking for it and it was nowhere to be found.
The drive to McCall was beautiful! Flowing rivers and more and more snow as we drove towards McCall; there wasn’t any snow in the town of Boise.
McCall
We arrived at our destination; and hooked up with Odd. Odd was nice enough to meet us in town so we didn’t have to try and find the home we were renting. We met in a grocery store parking lot; and then he led us to our estate on Majestic View Lane. The house is amazing with 4 large bedrooms; a 2 car garage and snow piled higher than the roofline in places. After unloading our bags, we decided to go for a drive to see if we could pickup our bibs and registration. We were able to tour the starting area at Ponderosa State Park –but the registration area was closed down for the day. We ran into Dave Christopherson and a few other people we knew.
We headed home and had the obligatory pre-race pasta feed. Then off to the wax room – the garage. We decided to do just 1 pair of skis; I waxed with HF7, and Sera F, FC7.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Birky 2008
Russian (turned Canadian Citizen)
Ivan Bavikov
John skiing alongside Joe Haggenmiller
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This will be my first post... I hope to keep this site active with ski related posts/blogs/wax information and the like. What better than to have the first post be about the American Birkebeiner 2008.
The race was held on Saturday, February 23, 2008. It was a great day to be skiing. I came up with the family to stay at our cabin on Thursday night. Brother Tom, Art Gorr, Eric Hedman, Leah, Claire and Tommy stayed with us; Scott Laven and Kim came over for a great dinner Friday night.
Friday... and the power goes out
It seems like that should have been a lot of time to get ready for the race, have fun at Telemark, wax and do the usual pre-Birky preparations; but I felt like I didn't have a moment to rest on Friday.
Maureen and Joseph skied the Cheqtel 5K on Friday. It was a blast to watch. Conditions were great; about 23 degrees, sunny for a change, and good classic tracks. I guestimated it would take Joe about 1 hour 15 minutes to finish -- and it took him about 35 minutes; he can really move when he wants to. Maureen had a lot of fun.....
I walked around Telemark/worked at the Alpina tent with Paul Gerten and talked to a hundred people. Maureen made a great pasta dinner; and at about 6:15 the power decides to go out; We ate dinner by candle light; me and others wondering how/if I'd be able to glide wax my skis. Luckily the power came on about an hour later...
Birky Saturday Morning
We got up early; got ready... and the power decided to flicker on/off about 5 more times. It didn't go out this time though! We left for the bus at 6:50; 10 minutes later than we wanted to... it was busier than usual at Como field for parking. We ran into John Munger and others getting on to the bus. While riding on the bus, I looked over at someone with their Timing Chip around their ankle and thought... hmmm, I didn't bring my timing chip! It was too late to turn back now; We got to Telemark, I unloaded and ran into the registration area; There was another guy that had the opposite problem, he had his timing chip but no bib -- the lady said we ought to get ready together! It took her about 30 seconds to give me a new timing chip; I ran out of there all ready.
The Race
I had a great race; and met my goal of skiing a good consistent race; not bonking and most importantly having fun! I received bib #150; and I said if I finish better than my bib number, I'll be happy.... I finished about 131st; so I was happy! The times were fast this year... 2 Hr, 28 Minutes.
I skied with a good group of folks; started strong but not too fast on the Powerlines; and then rolled thru the hills up to the High Point. I knew I was feeling good as I descended from the Hight Point; but I kept telling myself not to push too hard. I skied with an ol' college friend, Joe Haggenmiller; now the coach for Michigan Tech in Houghton MI. He was fun to ski with -- very relaxed; unlike some of the others I was skiing with; I got stepped on by one skier at the top of a fast downhill -- I went down hard and lost all of my momentum; another skier came to a complete stop at an aid station... I had to duck to miss yet another skier who was reaching over to grab a glass of water and then I ran over the ski of the first skier who yelled out "I'm going to complain to Dorcas..." blah, blah; recognizing my Alpina ski suit... ahhh, you know you're at the Birky.
Later, a few folks started passing me; and I started seeing stars at the top of bitch hill; but I hung on and actually felt pretty good on the 77 Hills. Dave Christopherson and Jey Carlson passed me around Hiway 77; I couldn't stay with them -- but then Seeley neighbor Craig Kalesheur came by me around Duffy's field -- I stayed with him; Eventually I tried to turn it up a notch on the lake and starting getting close to a pack of men; I couldn't quite catch them... But I was moving fast and did pass a couple of stragglers. Main Street was sweet! Packed firm with nice cordoroy. I grabbed a lane, and finished strong; Nice finish, but Craig K did get me at the end.
The rest of the gang did well; Baldus -- Top 150 finish was excellent starting in Wave 1; Eric was around 250; he had a very strong race. Tom almost broke 3 hours which was his goal
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