A small contingent of us left early, around 1pm on Friday, heading out for a-- what shall I say?-- less than casual 9.5hr drive to the infamous Red Doors Motel in Lincoln, NH. Given the road conditions (snowing the entire time), I'm impressed we made such good time. I should also note that elapsed time included a drawn-out stop for pizza/pasta in Bennington, VT. The highlight of the drive included the final push down New Hampshire route 118, which was like driving on a ski trail, if ski trails had giant frost heaves that would cause your car to bottom out.
Courtesy of Google Maps
Outrageously high snow banks on either side mostly obscured all road signs, and generally any sensation that you were still driving on an actual road. Given the frequency of cars on the road (we didn't see anyone the entire time) and the probable lack of cell phone service, any kind of car trouble would have been a bit of a problem...
In my haste to leave, I neglected to bring any sort of blanket and was thus reduced to sleeping fully-clothed inside of a fitted sheet I had stowed with my air mattress. A surprisingly restful (but cold) night followed by an unfortunate wake-up time (with no immediate breakfast) found us at Waterville Valley at 7am...in perfect time for the nordic center to NOT be open for another hour. Several of us quietly sat down to some juice/coffee and bagels at a small place in the town square, only to be joined moments later by the cacophonous procession of a dozen other skiers with boots, bags, wax boxes and benches. Amidst glares from the shop staff and patrons, I sat amused by the spectacle before carefully outlining the decidedly awkward situation to the remarkably self-unaware Cornell skiers. This kind of maturity and decorum only comes with age. More embarrassment ensued, as the team prepared bagels (which arrived slightly after I had purchased mine) outside the shop window and proceeded to bring them back inside the cafe to eat. At this point, myself and several others chose to ignore our association with "those people."
Saturday was a classic race in mostly new powder, but recent grooming and rapidly warming conditions made waxing a little more technical than was initially apparent. The amount of ice in the tracks made for a rather abrasive surface, so we heated in a hard wax binder before deciding on the wax of the day...or the next 30 minutes. Typical waxing circle conditions ensued (10 people + 1 wax + 1 cork), causing me to pass on the Swix VR40 and use Toko blue in secret. In my warm-up, this was kicking rather well and had excellent glide. Following a kilometer or so, I could see a certain amount of scratches in the wax indicating the abrasiveness, so I ironed what I had, and added a couple more layers for good measure.
As usual, my overall warm-up was less than stellar, but with ~15k to ski, I figured the first few thousand meters of the race was plenty of distance to get into a rhythm. It was a mass start, which is pretty fun with classic. Still outrageously hectic, and not without its casualties (see below), but you can usually pass without too much issue.
Mass start crash involving Jordan, Ed, and myself from back in the day
The first few kilometers had its share of hot-shot starters, soon to fade, and the better skiers quickly gapped the small group I was in. I was content to stay with Derrick and Justin and see what was going to develop amongst us. I was skiing decently enough, but I really had to concentrate on settling in and getting my kick to work properly. After far too many years of frantic classic (a.k.a run) skiing with sticky wax, I'm finally learning how to relax and ski properly...I think.
After probably 3k or so, a couple other Clarkson skiers came up and made a move past us, which I followed with some duress. Also, Andrew had managed to gap our small group and I could never seem to close any distance on him for the remainder of the race. I'll admit I had to work a bit harder than I would have liked to keep pace on the uphills...this posed a bit of a problem because that's usually the only spot where I can make time up. Also, as the tracks warmed up, the Toko blue was providing very little kick even when set properly. I'm sure my heart rate was through the roof during every climb...I've forgotten what it's like to suffer so completely since I haven't raced a lot or done any intensity in the past couple months.
I skied much of the first lap with a group of 2 Clarkson skiers (Andy and Drew, I think) and one trailer from UMPI before being joined by another Cornell skier, Chris, during the second time around. He took the approach of a Brian of bygone days, and could kick up every gradient the trail had to offer. He stomped his way uphill as I pulled out of the tracks at any gradient not conducive to double poling or impotent double pole w/kick. My lats and armpits told the story of a person sorely unprepared hours later. Our group of 5 shot down to 4 as Drew bridged up to Andrew, leaving us to scramble out the final kilometers. Sticky-skied Chris got dropped on the final, mostly downhill, 2k and the UMPI skier finally came around. I put forth some marginal effort, but soon acquiesced to my probable finish- I ended up 7th.
I was pretty happy about the overall race, although my finish wasn't that great. I didn't hit the wax correctly and I felt like crap, but I skied the race technically well. It's hard to judge my fitness off something like that, so I hoped the following day's skate race would provide some more definitive answers. Suffice to say it did, as I will report on shortly.
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