The work before the fun

We are heading up to Hayward tomorrow for the Birkiebeiner Ski Race(I'm skiing the shorter Korteloppet). It will be my 17th time racing. Unfortunately, it will be another year of being under-trained. I guess that can make it more interesting: the chance of projectile vomiting at 15 kilometers always adds that little bit of suspense.

I will be doing it classic again this year. It'll be just like the old times: starting in a late wave, classic skiing, hoping for the right amount of kick, and hoping to finish. The last two years I've skied it with my Dad. This year he is making the right decision to ski the 10k race. You don't survive being a middle-school Health and Phy Ed teacher for 30+ years without a whole lot of common sense and this year he is skiing the 10k with my wife.

Dad

I mentioned the "waves" above and I should maybe explain that to people, especially some of the relatives in warmer climes(you know who you are).

Looks fun, doesn't it?

The Birkie hosts 9500 skiers over the weekend races. About 7000 of them are racing on Saturday morning. The waves are made up of 500-800 skiers and are then started at 5 minute intervals. It is everyone's goal to be in an earlier wave and the only way to do that is to be fast. The wave assignments are based on previous race finish times. It is all very confusing to me, except for a variety of reasons I'm in the last wave on Saturday. You can figure it out(I'm slow).

A wave start

Anyway, I spent last night waxing my skis. It usually is fun, not last night. It felt more like work. I got all 8 layers of kick on and 3 layers of glide wax on. I used the Swix recomendations, but I'm nervous it'll be colder than they are predicting.

Tools of work

The work


The reward

It should be fun. We have some good friends that we typically only see twice a year and this is one of those times.

I'll have some pics posted next week of the fun we've had. Don't worry, I won't include a picture of the vomit.

JRA

Scott S.