Boom Goes The Dynamite!
What is it that drives someone to go and do something they know, not think, know will hurt like hell. That is what was running through my head as i flailed around for 10k at Soldier Hollow this weekend.
I got there early to take some pictures of the collegiate race. It is really hard to describe how fast the elite skiers go. To five you an idea they ski 20k in about an hour. That’s average of about 12.4mph on a course that is far from flat. That is faster than even Bart Mang goes on his MTB in the summer. I ended up with some good shots that I will put up when I can get the gallery up and running again. One ended up as the header for my new site VO2Connection. This site is very much a work in progress and not ready for prime time but check it out and let me know what you think. Take the survey, no pop ups I promise.
Oh yeah the race. It was a time trial format which for me was good as it made it hard to tell how bad I was getting beat. That is unless you know anything at all about skate skiing in which case a quick glance would tell you everything you need to know about where I would place. DrX started right in front of me and with him racing with a govenor on his big engine I figure I might have a carrot to chase for a while. In this case a while was about 2 minutes, that is how long it took him to turn his 15 second head start into a speck on the horizon dissappearing faster than America’s middle class. So much for that. In the end I got 7th (last) in my age group and turned a time slower than the 10k I ran this summer. I think my friend Abby’s spot on the Salomon Factory Team is safe for the moment.
It is funny how all guys who are fast on bikes are also fast on ski’s. Gardie, Hageman, Humbert, Davis, the results board looked like a bike race. One note about the results. I crossed the finish line and my name and placing was instantly up on the scoreboard. A far cry from the road racing scene where it take hours to get the results done and days to get them online.
Gotta say it was a lot more fun than I was expecting and I will be doing more for sure. While I was on the recieving end of a can of whoop ass Rachel was in Park City at a snowshoe race opening one. Despite having no fitness and being morbidly obese (according to her) she pulled of the win and qualified for the national championships to be held at Snow Basin in March.
Sunday I hooked up with DrX and we hit the Shoreline Trail on our Mt. Bikes. Holy crap what a blast! We started from the City Creek side and a few slips and slides aside were able to ride the climb up to the top of Bobled. From there it got a little more hike a bikey as the foot traffic was a lot less and there was less of a path. As we got closer to Dry Creek the path got better and we were able to ride more. It you are in need of some skill work I highly recommend getting out in the snow. After a few sessions in the white stuff you will be flowing like the Husla. Yaa!
