Russian (turned Canadian Citizen)
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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