Jr Nationals

Kathy Maddock forwarded a few photos from Jr Nationals highlighting podiums (3rd) by Eli Hoenig in the OJ class and Julia Kern (2nd) and Leah Brams (3rd) in the J2 race.  Nice skiing!  Results can be found at Summit Timing.

NE sweep in J2 girls with Julia Kern and Leah Brams 2 and 3!

Eli Hoenig on the podium!

NE team wax room

Weston Awards Dinner

Tuesday evening was our annual costume race at Weston.  A good number of skiers came up with a costume they could actually ski in with varying success.  Once again, Sue and Terry McNatt won the top prize for their costumes, although I must say, chasing Terry in his was like chasing the Pillsbury Dough Boy the way his Tyvek suit ballooned out.  I still couldn't beat him though!  Andy and Rob served as Masters of Ceremonies and handed out awards (beer or chocolate) for the overall winners of the Weston Tuesday Championships of the World, who this year were John Sakalowsky and Maddy Wendt and to the age group winners.  A good post-race dinner and frivolity were enjoyed by all.  A few photos of a few of the winners:

Costume Skiers

Terry and Sue

Andy and Rob

3rd Place Winners in various age groups

1st Place Winners in various age groups

John and Maddy, series overall winners!

Mark was presented with the Golden Pole-Putter for Weston's tireless work

And Another Birkie Tale

Birkie Denied

Now that Evan is living in Madison, he had the idea that Lisa, he and I should all do the Birkie.  Great idea!  Then the Burnhams decided it was time to do the Birkie too, so last Thursday we started our long trip to Hayward, but Lisa, who never gets sick, came down with a nasty stomach bug and really suffered on the flight out and then felt so bad she couldn’t even go to dinner with Evan and I in Madison. My only, admittedly selfish thought was “This is not going to turn out well.”

On Friday we got up early, met Evan at his apartment and started the long drive to Hayward as snow started to fall.  I enjoyed the scenery of snowy, rolling Wisconsin farms by the hundreds.  What a difference from the east! We met up with the Burnhams (Bob, Anne and Jim) at a grocery store in Spooner to stock up on supplies and then a while later found the house that we were staying in, about 10 miles from the finish of the race.  We got out for a nice hour ski at Fish Hatchery Rd, and got our first look at the Birkie course.   It was a highway through the forest!  With rolling hills and sweeping downhills, very nice. I tested a couple kick waxes, as did Bob and after an hour of pretty pleasant skiing sans track, time for dinner, waxing up Evan’s race skis and getting to bed early. With light snow falling it looked promising for tomorrow.  Lisa was feeling better too after getting fresh air and a ski! 

Now, the Birkie is a logistical nightmare.  Do you drive to the start and then catch a bus back after the race or do you drive to the finish and catch a bus to the start?  Lisa was doing the Korte (1/2 marathon), which starts and finishes at the Telemark Lodge while the rest of us finish on Main St in Hayward.  Did she want to drive a car to Hayward after, or take a bus?  What about parking?  To catch the bus you need to get cracking at 0 dark 30.  Will there be enough parking?  What about dry clothes?  Wax, since I was doing classic? Evan was decidedly not excited about getting up before 5 am! 

Finally, we opted to drive to the finish and bus to the start and Lisa would take a bus down after her finish.  I think all these mental gymnastics put me over the edge and as I’d predicated, I started feeling really lousy and couldn’t eat a whole lot and I had to drink gallons to get it down.  I slept poorly and 4:45 came mighty early (well, 4:45 IS early!).  After 3 bites of oatmeal I bolted out of the house, sure I was about to lose it, but fortunately I guess, I didn’t.  What to do??  I was now feeling pretty terrible and felt like I had a bowling ball in my stomach.  However, time to soldier on, so we loaded up the cars and headed in to Hayward through the light snow. 

We caught the bus and the trip to the Telemark Lodge in Cable went as smoothly as a school bus ride can go on bumpy roads with a queasy stomach.  Fortunately, I had no need for facilities since school buses are not so equipped.  These bus rides with loads of skiers and skis are always somewhat interesting, listening in on the snippets of conversation about waxing, training, how to pace, do you take GUs, this hill here, Bitch hill there, Snowmobile Corner over there, how many Birkies people had raced, etc.  Lousy as I felt, I was enjoying the instant connection to all these other nut cases who have gotten up well before the crack of dawn to do what?  Ski 50 or more km across some far northern Wisconsin glacial hills and eskers?  In the winter?  In the cold?  On snow? Beautiful!  My kind of people, by the thousands!

Telemark Lodge, when we arrived, resembled a refugee camp and was stuffed with skiers lying all over the place trying to relax before it was time to make the ½ mile walk down to the start when it was time for their wave.  What a mass of humanity!  But, all skiers, how cool is that!  I finally decided that since I came all the way to Wisconsin, lousy as I felt I was going to start the race and go easy and just see what would happen.  It was time to experience the Birkie!  What is the worst that could happen?  I’d just get sicker I suppose. 

I made the long walk to the craziness at the start with hundreds of skiers milling about, some in a huge tent trying to stay warm, others cuing up for the start.  I tested my skis and kick wax on a large oval warm up track that had one track for classic and I had to admit, my skis were feeling good!  Fast and solid kick!  Ok, now that right there made me feel somewhat better and encouraged!  Miraculously I ran into Sue McNatt who was headed for the start pen.  She was clearly hyped up and ready to roll to Hayward!  I also ran into

Finally, I shed my warm ups, handed off my bag of clothes to the truck and slipped into the holding pen and carrying my skis and poles lined up next to Bob and Jim for the race before the race.  The wave on the line took off skating furiously and moments later our wave ran with skis in hand to the starting line.  Jim, Bob and I were on the front line and put on our equipment for the start a few minutes later.  When the banners lifted we were off and after about 50 yds of hard double poling I looked up and it was Jim, Bob, me, some Russian guy and a guy from Alaska all alone off the front!  Ok, I thought, that was WAY easier than a Tuesday night race at Weston.  So, with Wave 5 easily dispatched, off we headed into the woods to hunt down Wave 4.  We passed a couple stragglers from Wave 4 who were doing the Korte and I was getting pretty comfortable, although I had to let Bob and Jimmy and the Russian go, there was no way I was going to try and keep up with them today.  I skied with the Alaskan guy (John Wood, 4^th place in 65-69) for a while and then we popped out onto the powerline and there they were…..masses of humanity skating on the right and classic on the left.  Hundreds of skiers from Wave 4 stacked up at the top of the rolling hills, herringboning all the uphills.  This was going to be interesting!  Mentally I was prepared for this, and I   come over the top of the first hill, popped in the track, tucked and shot by about 10 people who were herringboning, sliding right between them.  Then I got in line and trudged up the rest of the hill.  On flatter sections I went from track to track, passing slower skiers at will.  My skis were running so well and were so fast compared to everyone else that this started to get fun.  I forgot about the bowling ball in my stomach for a while and worked to pass as many people as possible on downhills or to shoot by them as they started herringboning up the next hill.  It is really fun to shoot down a hill in a tuck, go up and over the next bump still in a tuck while everyone around you is working so hard!  I was feeling rather smug, I must say.  I have no idea how many people I passed, but it was almost dizzying.  On the nice kick and glide sections, of which there were many, I tried to ski as smoothly and effortlessly as possible since there was no way I could hammer this day.  I was having fun though!  Ski smooth, use the downhills and flats and trudge up the hills.  Not a race winning plan, but not a bad one for my situation.  At the 9km cutoff I was actually not so bad off, 38^th in my age group and 325 overall in the classic race. 

On the bigger, faster downhills lots of people would snowplow.  But the downhills were not difficult!  The course is so wide and the curves so nice and gradual that it just wasn’t difficult.  I took great pleasure in popping into the track, tucking and seeing how far I could go in a tuck.  On some of the longer, faster downhills 3 troughs would form, one for each track as people snowplowed up a nice berm.  Parallel bobsled runs!  Weird.  This all went on kilometer after kilometer as I worked through Wave 4, then Wave 3 and I started catching Wave 2 skiers by about 20 km. 

And then……the wheels started coming off, one by one.  At 20km I started feeling really tired and I could feel that bowling ball in my gut again.  While I’d been essentially walking the uphills, now I started trudging.  I started looking for the kilometer markers 21….22…..23.  Oh, man, they are going by so slowly now.  I was now aiming for the feed station at Highway OO (what is with the county road numbering system anyway??) .  OO is the half way point, 27km for the classic race.  People I’d just passed now started passing me on the uphills.  I moved over so I wasn’t in the way.  Where is km 24?  25?, 26?  1 km to go to OO.  There goes another wheel….really wobbling now.  Finally there it was, another giant feed station where classic and skate trails come together and there is a mass of humanity flinging cups, and GUs and trying not to step on GUs because they wreck your glide…..and I pulled over and reluctantly took off my skis and in a daze wobbled over to the medical tent.  I had played my hand and had had to fold.  (Know when to hold em, know when to fold em) I was kind of in a daze and grabbed 2 blankets and lay down on a cot for about 20 min.  My day was done.

I got up finally, feeling a little less trashed, and started chatting with a young guy.  Turns out he was the McNatt’s cousin Lars.  He said he’d tried to keep up with Sue and her relently V1 (we both laughed about her lack of V2 and V2 alt).  Lars learned that Sue may only have one technique, but she’s a darned fast practitioner of it!  Every little while another waylaid skier would enter the tent and gather around the propane heater with the rest of us trying to keep warm.  A guy from New Mexico, a young woman who’d gone to BU, a woman from Madison, another woman who had on the back of her jacket “You’ve just been chicked”.  By the time a bus finally arrived to get us back to Hayward we had a cheerful little group.

We got back to Hayward in time to see Evan ski up Main St, which was pretty cool.  He’d survived his first Birkie on about 50km of ski training for the winter and riding his bike indoors.  Lisa had skied well in the Korte, finishing 8^th in her age group.  As for the Burnhams, Bob had survived running over a GU and stopping to rewax, while Jim had had an excellent race, finishing 118 overall!  And Anne, skiing from Wave 9 finished 2^nd in her age group.  Not a bad day for the group.  We headed off for a shower and an early dinner in a restaurant on Main St, complete with people still wearing their numbers proudly, good Wisconsin food and a very tasty beer.  All things considered, while personally disappointed, it was a really fun day!  Next year?  A distinct possibility….I have unfinished business on the trail from Cable to Hayward.

More Birkie Stories and Photos!

First up is Terry McNatt's side of the McNatt story:

The race to the race begins on the way to my one long training race, the Jackson 30K classic.  After much packing and bustling about Newton, Alex and I are shooting up 95 heading for 2 Santa Lane in Jackson NH.  My phone rings.  Sue is frantically telling me about the frozen busted pipe spewing water into our basement crawlspace.  Fast forward to the flat double pole section of the 30K, approaching our last lap around the wave.  Instead of visualizing the course and skiing it well, I wonder how deep our new “koi pond” is in the crawl space.  Fast forward to the big storm on Bill Koch Festival weekend, shoveling, coaching and herding lollipopers instead of skiing.  Then KABOOM! half a tree is knocked onto our 6 month old minivan by a passing MasTec utility truck.  The losers cut the part blocking the road, but leave the one on our van pinning us in and then take off.  After Ed, a random orienteering skier and I heave the tree off our car, Sue dries her tears and heads home.  The long day ends with an abbreviated ski and some quality time with broken glass, duct tape and a makeshift plastic van rear replacement window.  Two nights out to see our daughter in the middle school musical equal two nights up till midnight, plus packing, waxing, coordinating car insurance.  Then sprinkle in a bit of ongoing home improvement construction and a crawlspace spelunking adventure to find a similar pipe to the one that burst the week before.  Man I feel tapered and ready to rock a Birkie!

With the van in the shop, my friend, officemate and fellow cheesehead Mike gives us a ride to Logan Friday morning.  We barely wedge into his Highlander with 4 huge just under 50lb bags, plus 5 loaded backpacks plus a ski bag stuffed with 7 pairs of ski poles, 7 pairs of skis, 3 pairs of ski boots, 2 pairs of snow boots, a couple coats for padding and a partridge in a pear tree.  The trip to Logan and on to Minneapolis are both pleasantly uneventful, and I even took the highly rare opportunity to read for pleasure.  I’m not talking computer screen, but a real bound paper book, so old school!  BUT before we can even sit down after unloading the rental car at Sue’s sister’s in Minneapolis, our youngest son realizes he paid more attention to the computer bag than his backpack.  After driving back to the airport and retrieving the abandoned bag from the friendly Minnesota State Police, I sneak out for a quick sunset ski with brother in law Leif just before the mercury drops into the single digits.  Only 8 days to the Birkie and counting.

After a crisp and squeaky Minnesota am ski we load up the rental and head home down to Middleton a close burb of Madison Wisconsin.  After crossing the border the cheesehead state of mind is evident.  I see more drivers in their tuks, more people sportin their winter camo gear and ice fishermen in their huts or just sittin on their 5 gallon buckets.  We stop for gas and as I’m out stretching my legs and soaking up the winter sunshine a local farmer in full overalls and mud boots remarks, “That sun shore do feel good, maybe it’ll melt summa all this sno we ben gittin.”, friendly as all get out he was.  Yes we have arrived in America’s Dairyland, where the cheesehead state of mind is contagious.  We visit with my parents and brother in Middleton, tour the Capital building, catch up with other old friends and get in a couple skis at the local version of Weston, Black Hawk Country Club.  I’m feeling ok, but way south of chomping at the bit, so I guess the Birkie fever hasn’t spiked yet.  Of course it could be all the traveling, plus the unfamiliar single digit weather, plus all the dinners out including the local Culver’s for butter burgers, french fries, frozen custard and everyone’s favorite fried cheese curds!  All of a sudden it’s Wednesday and time to head North to the wilds of Hayward Wisconsin, Musky Capital of the world and home to the American Birkebeiner, 4 days to the Birkie.

After almost 5 hours on the road we head off the main drag into the Lac Courte Oreilles region 15 or so miles Southeast of Hayward, navigate an alphabet of county roads, E to N to CC and finally arrive at our Birkie base camp for 2013 on Chief Lake.  Sue’s parents are already there and we are all pleased with the modern and spacious accommodations this year.  We go for a quick exploratory ski/hike on the lake with the kids and come back pink cheeked and numb as the mercury drops with the sun.  Barnebirkie morning brings sun and 20’s, perfect for 1,000 kids to glom up and ski 1, 3 or 5 K en mass to the hot chocolate and cookie tent.  Kyler goes big with the 3K, and despite his excellent start position in the 2^nd row, he gets tangled up multiple times with other skiers, costing him a sure podium spot.  After a couple cold ones including my favorite the Bitch Hill Belgian Ale at the Angry Minnow Brewery, we grab our numbers at the expo and head back to Birkie base camp.  The rest of the Keeney/Carlson/McNatt clan arrive until we number 12 plus 2 dogs, 2 days to the Birkie.  Sue goes down for a few hours spiking a true Birkie Fever, but manages to nap it away.  After a snowy Friday am ski on the trail, it’s time to wax 4 pairs of skis, carbo load and try to hit the hay on the early side.  I finally felt mildly fresh skiing today, a good sign for the big race, but the snow continues relentlessly all day.  The last party member Peter arrives at base camp and immediately begins waxing for the morning.  Twas the night before Birkie and all through the house not a creature was stirring except for me struggling with the usual pre-race restless jitters before a gawd awful pre-dawn wake up.

Beep beep beep argh!  Time to wake up and try to stuff in enough calories for 50K without too much gagging, oatmeal and a bagel to start with.  I feel like a small bag of doggie poo poo, which is unfortunately normal for this witching hour time of day.  Leif, Marcia, Lars, Moe and Peter all end up in the Carlson Subaru, while Sue and I roll in the rental out into the murk towards the 50K race start at Cable.  Sue’s parents, our kids and Anika will follow later and ski the Prince Haakon 12K, and we’ll all hook up later at the Main street finish in Hayward if all goes as planned.  The ride up Mosquito Brook road to the shuttle bus to Telemark Lodge to the start line is smooth, and I’m left with an hour plus to warmup, gear down and enter the starting corral system.  I’m feel fine, just plain old vanilla fine, still no fever, but the 2 stage race to the actual start line does fire up some adrenaline, especially when some wave 1 hooligans are jumping the gun and ducking under the gate even before it’s lifted.  I finally get to put my skis on in about the 3^rd row.  There really is no row order as we are packed in like sardines, my tip sitting at boot level with the guy in front of me and straddled by the guy behind me.  An orderly NASCAR start is not in the cards.

After 5 molasses minutes the gun finally fires and we’re all off toward the finish in Hayward.  I have a good start and things sort out quickly.  I only witnessed one boner move this year with a guy inexplicably and instantly going from full speed V2 alternate to full body face plant at around 1K.  The weather is a balmy low 20’s, but the inches of fresh snow from yesterday make for a soft and slow track.  I roll with the head of wave 1 heedless of the extra energy going into each uphill stroke hitting 9K in 30:24 in 331st place overall.  The 10K split is slow, but I’m still skiing solid and staying with my group.  The next 10K are uneventful, just solid work getting up one soft, slow uphill after the next.  My skis are running well on the downhills, but I’m starting to bog down on the ups.  I grab GU #1 to ward off the bonk and hit OO at 22.8K in 394th place, but things are slipping and I don’t mean my skis.  My quads are starting to feel way overcooked already, and I’m panting like a big dog on even the wimpiest uphill.  I try to meter out my efforts and manage the lethargy creeping into my body.  After 30K it starts to get ugly with my form breaking into a slog on every incline.  Appropriately, my watch is reading “Laps Full”, and with 15K left to ski my race is indeed effectively over as the cramping starts.  Starting as a 9V zinger coming up my inner quad at the bottom of each hill and kicking out spasmodic clenching if the hill is too long.  I slam my final GU and creep past the 39K snowmobile club party, scan the line of wound up woodsmen and women and breathe in the alcohol laden atmosphere.  Appropriately, they are CRANKING Micheal Jackson’s mega hit Thriller as I slowly, stiffly and jerkily zombie V1 up the pre-bitch hill climbs.  At 38.1K I’m in 487^th place and falling without a parachute watching conga train after conga train leave me in their wake. 

“And though you fight to stay alive, Your body starts to shiver, For no mere mortal can resist, The evil of the thriller”

music http://www.kevinbertel.com/mp3s/mp3s/Michael_Jackson-Thriller.mp3

video (scary!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdL496Oc3VQ

Lurching up Bitch Hill at 41K I’m on of those lameos who comes to a creaking halt just over halfway as the quads melt down.  Mercifully, the course offers some downhill relief where I can lock in the tracks on moderate downhills and actually keep up with the skiers around me.  I’m feeling encouraged with only a few K to go and only a flat lake to cross to get to the finish.  I jump onto a passing few skiers and match their tempo, bad idea.  My right leg doesn’t just cramp, it locks stiff, and I’m forced to double pole straight legged for almost half a K.  Only 2K to go and I once again manage to actually skate across the lake, past the 1K to go.  With only 500 meters now remaining we come off the lake and my left quad locks on the miniscule shore bump.  I double pole a few strokes, but then hell bent to finish this race begin a grotesque V2 Franken Skate to the finish line.  Birkie 18 is finally, mercifully done and put down in the books.

A young volunteer thankfully removes my skis for me as I stand there afraid to reach down or bend my legs at all.  After changing I cheer in our gang one by one.  First Sue with the race of the day, a first ever top 100 women finish, less than 10 minutes behind me.  Then Maureen, Marcia.  Then Sue’s parents arrive with Carson, Lucy, Kyler and Anika.  Then Leif skiing his first classic Birkie.  Lars unfortunately ended up yiffing at halfway hanging with Jaime Doucett of all people who was also under the weather.  With Peter is closing in on Hayward Sue and I begin the bus shuttle and drive back to Birkie base camp on Chief Lake.  Race stories, beers and carbs are cycled though until we all succumb to sleep.  Sunday morning after blueberry pancakes, packing and one last car pushing out, we drive back to Minneapolis and back to Boston.  Driving back home wedged into our Smurfs Transport minivan the snow is falling lightly.  I watch the flakes drifting though the Mass Pike lighting and vow that next year my quads will be ready for Birkie 19.

Epilogue: Back to Reality

Monday morning Sue retrieves our now fixed minivan only to learn that neither the MasTec insurance company or ours have done diddly squat while we were gone and it’s still unclear how this will all get paid for.  Uff Da! Those stinkers!  Tuesday driving in to work I’m stopped in traffic and get rear ended and slammed into the car in front of me.  One car out of the shop, the other in, at least my skis and I escaped damage, and I was able to race at Weston that night. Double Uff Da! doncha kno!

And Bob Burnham's

Anne finishing 2nd from the 9th wave in her age group!

Bob, Anne, Lisa, Jamie, Evan and Jimmy at the finish on Main St, Hayward

 

Epic :  Ann, Jim and I loved skiing at the Birkie and the race shows that the Midwest has over 10,000 touring skiers they can get to do 25 and 50 KM of skiing.  That is a remarkable concept that we need more of in New England.  Think if they converted some of that energy into JO skiing.  Wow – the machine might make CSU look small.  New England has really high quality races and racers and lots of junior / college racing, but at the touring level, the Midwest has really achieved something in their dozen marathons with the Birkie as the king!  As for the Burnham clan, Jim was 106, Bob 218, Ann was 426, but 55^th women and the big news was 2^nd in her age group while starting with bib 19286 (which is not quite that many skiers).  

So what is this all mean.   So for Ann 1 equals classic 9 equals wave 9 – or the back – and there are about 400 between Korte (25K and Birkie 50K in classic and maybe 850 in the corresponding skate waves?   With elite waves, there are 21 waves I think.  Oh Joy.  See the photo – of 1 wave! And you get the concept.  So we estimated that Family Burnham with Birkie, Korte classic and after 28 K Birkie skate, passed between 4000 and 5000 total skiers.  I passed the fewest as Jim and I were with Jamie in wave 5.  Note that with the exception and me and Jamie for 25K, Jim probably won his wave by an hour...  

So what is it like to pass 10 skiers a minute for over 3 hours.  Well in classic, it is daunting.  You get to a hill with 3 lanes wide of touring herring bone skiers all splayed out and deep light powder on the sides.  You guess where the spots will align, because track is not really effective.  Also, how many people asked us, why are you going so fast, what is the rush, it is 54 KM.  Of course you nicely go by and say I have a lot of people to pass, hunt for the harder spots of trounced track or sometimes double pole the herring bone.  The Midwest is flat, but the Birkie is a bit on the relentless side.  Alex warned us that it is glacial with 50 feet up, 50 feet down for the whole race.  Still not say Trapp, but lots of hills.  Hence, passing does get exhausting both mentally and physically, but we had an objective.  Finish the race, without really risking a terrific hurt dance, and have a time that moves us way up next year if we choose to return.  We all accomplished that pretty well.  Note that I did get passed, two Russian Men, who clearly were elite passed me from 20 minutes back.  The fastest was about 18 min out of first and I would argue from wave seven he lost more than 18 min.  So it is not just New Englanders that get stuck in the back on year 1!  Note that V2 alternate was invented by Gunde Sven, who in my day was the dominant skier probably more so than anyone today.  He came to the Birkie, got stuck back from the elite wave and may have skied fast enough to win, but the winner is who crosses the finish line and not the “chip time”, so he did not win. 

Once you accept that then you will have a really fun time.  The classic is easier to pass than the skate as I spoke with Nat Lucy in the finish…  Believe it or not, the Midwestern skaters did NOT trash the last 26 KM of the classic tracks!  Herring bones were trampled, but the tracks were ok for soft snow – back to Ann!  Bravo Midwest – would we be so nice?  So try the Birkie someday and encourage some of the better touring folks to try one of our half marathons in the east!  If you want more, you can always camp at the Canadian Ski Marathon -)  Bob

Birkie Stories and Photos!

Last weekend were some big ski marathons, the American Birkiebeiner and the Canadian Gatineau among them.  Below are some stories and photos from CSUers who attended.

Birkie Fever I’m Eager as a Beaver, Get me to the start line, I’m ready to GOOOOO!!!

This is one of the top songs from the Birkie album and very apropos for my race this year!

I will paraphrase the early parts of our trip to the land of Cheese and snow (lots of it this year) since the pre-race prep was nearly identical to last year once we landed in the Midwest.  We did have a change of arrival venue and sprung for a ride all the way to Minneapolis instead of our usual Milwaukee, WI stop.  This allowed us a wonderful night visiting my sister, Marcia, in their newly remodeled home all done by their own hands.  We took an extra trip back to the airport  to retrieve our youngest son’s backpack, which he left next to the vending. By this point, the multi-striped pack full of legos and cute stuffed animals, was in the hands of the airport Fuzz for inspection.  Thankfully, the litter critters were spared being blown up and made it safely back into Kyler’s possession.  On to the beginning of carbo and beer loading that night, then up early the next morning  for an UP tempo ski with my sister and brother in law, Leif.   Boy, I was working the hills that day and wondered if I had trained enough for the Powerline monsters on the Birkie course. I chalked it up to jetlag and the pre-trip stress of dealing with one pesky pine tree pulled down onto our new Honda Odyssey during the BKL festival the Sunday before.  The week preceding the Birkie was spent with several hours on the phone trying to track down the responsible party, then figure out our airport transport.  But , the car troubles were erased once we got out on that beautiful SNOW right outside my Marcia’s door.  Minneapolis is gorgeous in winter. Perfectly groomed trails around every lake and on every bike path-a skier’s paradise.

Onto Middleton,WI that afternoon for time with Terry’s parents where we got to see our niece, Sydney and Terry’s brother,  Steve and did some boot skating on the little pond.  We also participated in indoor mini golf, a Madison Capitol tour and some skiing on a man- made loop at a small downhill area and many hours of eating!  Wednesday we headed up to Hayward, WI to check out a new house for our Birkie family reunion this year. Thursday brought the Barnebirkie for Kyler who wore #5 proudly in the 3K(only b/c I was competitive and got on-line early to register him). He finished with a smile and in about 20^th place.  Cookies and Hot chocolate were followed by a delicious lunch at the new Brewery in town, The Hungry Minnow, complete with 2 orders of the “best fried cheese curds we have ever had”. Then, we went to the Expo and as is tradition, ran into Tom and Emma Simon also purchasing Birkie souvenirs.

Thursday night brought the arrival of Marcia and Leif and also Lars, our 20 year old nephew.  Later, with an extra 90 minutes of driving due to an unsolicited detour to Wausau, arrived the other cousins, Anika and Maureen and little Travis (a 4 month old Australian sheep dog) and Teya (a 10 year old mixed breed). They were loads of fun! Several pre-race games of Apples to Apples and Sequence were played. The competitive nature of the group was coming out!! 

Friday dawned and it was snowing!! Beautiful flakes kept coming down en masse. Up to 5 inches by the end of the day, pretty but not so fast! Terry and I had a great ski from Mosquito Brook (see photo taken by a friendly Midwestern skier) with Carson and Lucy up “B” hill. Boy, it seems even smaller than Mount Weston when you haven’t pounded yourself for 40K already. On Friday afternoon, the eating and planning commenced and for Terry, the waxing!  Our house this year was a bit far out so we had to be serious about our pre-dawn plans on race day. Finally after several rehashes and deliberations, it was decided that we would leave the house by 5:45 AM in 2 cars and arrive at Como parking field by about 6:45.  That should put us in the start zone by 7:30.  Carson, Lucy and cousin,  Anika would ski the 12k so they would be transported by Grandma and Grandpa Keeney, my parents, to the start zone. The last family member, my Niece’s fiancé Peter, arrived in his tiny rental car, barely making it to the house, getting stuck in the driveway due to all the snow! Happy to see him, the dogs and everyone got reenergized! Strategy discussed. My lofty goal was a top 100 position among  the women, a place that I had flirted with for a few years now. To do this, I needed to try a more aggressive start (which I dreaded, I really dislike the sprinting with your skis and poles in hand, the elbowing etc) and also better energy consumption during the race. I made sure I had a GU available for the latter Ks.  Bags packed, skis waxed (thank you, Terry), coffee ready for morning brewing, post-race chocolate packed and try to sleep.  5:00 AM alarm sounds off early, but was preceded by dog woofing anyway.  Guzzle coffee, make some oatmeal, get dressed and on our way. Always some pole stress by the Carlson crew, this time Peter had to use some old skate poles without any grips for his 54k classic ski. But he always steps up to the challenge with a smile.

I have to say, this was the most relaxed pre-race I have ever had! We drove and parked and were in the start zone by 7:20. Plenty of time to re-group, photo shoot with Terry, good luck to Terry (skate wave 1) and Leif (Classic wave 2) pee, pee again, drink various items, warm-up, strip down, drink and eat again (I was feeling quite full by now) and calmly enter the start zone. I was questioning my pre-race caffeine Starbucks double-shot, until I saw the trash can full of Mountain Dew, Coke, all kinds of 12 hour energy etc.  My calm quickly evaporated as I realized the side entrance to the staging zone opened last! On no, my plan of just behind front line might be nixed! However, I ran to the far side of the area, and ended up in row 3-4, coincidentally right next to nephew, Lars. How fun!  We could sprint together 2x to hold our positions until we could don skis and poles.  Successfully, we did manage to end up in row 3 or so despite hurdling several dropped water bottles and a few falls by unlucky folks. People just jumped over them, ruthless!  This was reminding me of the early 1990s-1000 plus skiers trying to run through mashed potato snow on an uphill to get the coveted start positions-nightmare!

Good starting position, adequate hydration and nutrition-get me to the start line, I’m ready to GO!! Wave 2 is aggressive, but also concerned about equipment. The shouts of “no broken poles", “watch your poles”, “keep your line” echoed nearly as loud as the pre-race countdown!  Only funny outfits I saw were Cammo man and some kind of German looking short outfit,?Lederhosen! And we were off!!  The early Ks flew by and I felt happy with my position.  I hardly slowed at all through Power Line.  I looked up and Lars was right beside me, skiing well.  I decided to follow him as he could deftly maneuver through other larger skiers (his High School ski racing history had prepared him for this).  Feed 1 and I was determined to hydrate well. I nixed carrying my personal bottle in favor of actually taking their feeds.  I quickly regretted that decision as I poured ¾ of the cup of Heed onto my chest at the first stop and felt the icy cold penetrate my ski suit. Well, at least it was a warm year, so I wouldn’t have frozen ski suit stuck adhered to my skin. Terry later told me to squeeze the cup carefully and delicately, must practice next year.  On to Feed 2 where I actually stopped for a stride and successfully engulfed ½ a cup of Heed. I didn’t see Lars at this point but assumed he was on my tail, as he looked so strong early on.  I just continued to push, but at some point questioned my sanity and decision-making on being aggressive.  I was really breathing hard and a heart rate monitor would have been begging me to stop.  I did recall some recovery Ks after the highest point, but where was the highest point? I always forget-soon I hope. Then I saw the sign around 12k and breathed a sigh of relief.  Less then ¼ of the race over and I was feeling a bit wiped.  Hmmm….and I was doing the per K math and we weren’t speeding up yet. Looked like it could be a long day!

I kept my eye on red suit man and also floral print tight girl. She was the only skier who spoke a word the whole day I was on the trail. Mentioned something about almost dying on a hill, then she took off!! Everyone seemed to be working extra hard this year and breathing heavy, no chit chat!  I must say this mashed potatoey soft snow suits my V1 style well.  I kept hydrating and taking 2 HEED feeds when I could. After 00, I was feeling revived and steady.  Then suddenly I was feeling a bit logey and spacey. Keep pushing…but I knew I should save something for the 39K hill and also “B” hill right after.  Strategy-take a GU at the 38K Mosquito Brook feed zone. I have to admit the only time I have ever had a GU was in a bonkfest ½ marathon I did years and years ago. Didn’t work out well.  I was relying on the Feed Zone GU as during my pre-race prep I realized I had no way of attaching my packet to my bib.  Didn’t seem to work anyway as I saw several full packs on the trail.  The only problem was, the GU feed was at the end of the zone and I hadn’t grabbed any H20. I pressed on, hoping to see a spectator with little cups like in a running race. Well, at 39k there was a big crowd, cheering wildly and they had cups!  In my dazed state, I meandered to the right side of the trail, ready to beg for drops of liquid. It was then that some sixth sense overcame me and I looked carefully at the cups which read SHOTS on them, and it was obvious the group had imbibed in a few already (it was after 10:30 AM by now and it is Wisconsin!)  That would have been interesting-shots of vodka as a GU chaser!

I tried to wet my whistle with saliva or something and just not think about it.  Hammered up B hill (or I thought I did) but then I heard a women’s voice behind me.  Surely I was not being caught, I edged over to the right a bit and a Classic Wave 1 woman skier was striding past me on B hill!! I really wanted to encourage her, but I couldn’t even make a sound. I did find her in the tent after to tell her how amazing she skied. At the top there was someone dressed as a leprechaun this year cheering us on, as opposed to the usual “Bs”. The other folks must have been deemed “inappropriate and disallowed”-pity since they were much more exciting that the little green person. Up and over B hill and survive on dry mouth until the final feed. Terry had mentioned something about super special pre-feed Solomon bottles of “power something”. I guess I was early enough this year to snag one and gulped part of it down-sweet awesome drink!! I was ready for the final 5k plus. I kept telling myself 2 more hills then straight down and then the flat (but endless) lake.  I could still see floral pant girl, but she was very steady. I caught 2 fading women who looked a bit cooked.  Lined up for the lake ski and just followed red suit and a 3^rd waver all the way in.  Look up now and then. The longest 2K you can imagine. Decided to pass on the Jagermeister shot  at 1.5K to go!  Certainly not as spunky as in years past, but my early pace was making my quads burn.  Kept focusing on my goal, every second counts and you never know who could come up behind you from the later waves.  I finished as strong as possible in the very mashed up snow coming down Main street.  I found floral gal and congratulated her and she told me her name was also Sue!  I didn’t have the brain cells left to ask her where she got those cool flower print tights, though, darn! Staggered and limped to my bag and there was Terry, all changed and souping it up. He shared with me that his quads had burned up with about 5k to go. Not his strongest day due to the soft conditions.  I continued to limp into the change tent(my left foot appeared to have lost function) and found a spare chair. Occasional spasms as I changed my clothes, first in the abdominal muscles, then the foot, then the quads. I managed to stand up without help but caught a few concerned looks as I gimped out to the crowd.  Post-race chocolate with Terry and we were able to see my niece, Maureen, and Leif (her father) finish within 30 seconds of one another, despite different techniques and wave starts, pretty cool. Leif looked solid in his first Classic 54K race and Mo kept up the V2 tempo all the way to the finish.  Marcia finished strongly a few minutes later.  Computer glitch, so I didn’t know my place for several hours, so I had to wait patiently. Carson, Lucy and Anika along with G and G Keeney and Kyler arrived from Cable, all smiles and happiness after their 12K Prince Haakon event. It was so great to see them! The only bad news was that Lars had to drop at 00 after puking somewhere along the early hills.  I felt very badly for him. I had shared a shotblock and one sip of double shot pre-race but maybe his stomach didn’t like that. Good news was that he met Jamie Doucett at 00. Not so good news for Jamie since it meant he was hanging out at Double 0 also not feeling well. They realized quickly that they knew someone in common, the McNatts!  Guess they bonded with the other medical emergency folks. We ran into Lisa Doucett (strong Korte finish) and Jamie in the finish area and they helped us with a family photo shoot (see pictures attached).

Got the slip with my place and I looked at it, cautious and disbelieving-86^th women!!!  I had surpassed my goal.  I celebrated quietly b/c it is possible to drop a few places when the later waves come in. Not this year though! Next year, hmmmm, in the top 75 women?  Train harder, technique work, more aggressive start, better feeds and practice the HEED and GU consumption! Possible, maybe?

Got our car in Cable and headed to the house for celebration of another Birkie family Reunion. We   heard the other race finish stories. Peter, Mo’s fiancé,  hammered in with his brand new boots and a few blisters for a 5:40 Classic ski.  Everyone relived the slow snow with hilarious stories of the day.  We are already planning for 2014. I just don’t want to wait 359 days from now!!  Thank you to our family for making it possible.  Thanks to the Birkie, the greatest “Show on Snow”.  Sign up is on tax day this year!!! Don’t miss it!

Sue McNatt

Brett Rutledge:

Was very pleased with my first Birke skiing out of wave 2.  I started on the front row as planned and felt comfortable for most of the race.  I was happy with a 3:04 considering the very soft conditions for most of the race.  I really enjoyed the entire experience and will definitely be going back next year!- Brett Rutledge

Bruce Brinkema:

Finished my 35th birkie Saturday.  First in my age group (the ranks are real thin in my category) with a time of 4h 24 minutes.  new snow made for a lot of high stepping going up the hills.  Each year i forget the incredible amount of hills in the race as well as my promises to myself to spend more time on my bike during the off season.  For the last two birkies i had boulder nordic wax my skis with good results; i was as fast as anyone on the downhills.  having them do the servicing really eases the nerves the night before.   Looking forward to a couple more good ski weeks at waterville before mud season.

I also had some offspring ski last week.  grandson lars (8) skied in the junior birkie on friday; and grandson torsten (13) skied the junior birkie and his first korteloppet with a time of 1hr 24.  Remiss in not mentioning that my daughter in law Maree also raced in the birkie.  Forgot, probably because she beat me by 6 minutes.  I'll
get her next year.

My son Corey got dropped from the elite wave with a tough race last year and started in the first wave last week.  he finished with a 2:46, still presentable.  the best part of him racing is that for the last several years, after his finish, he skis back with a waterbottle of classic coke (stirred, not shaken) and meets me just after bitch hill.  it's the best lift you can imagine.  the coca cola and the image of crowding in The Angler for brats and beer are the juice that gets me to the finish.
bruce brinkema

Alex's story and photos are on her blog at:  http://alexjospe.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-birkie.html

The Gatineau

Hi,

Here is my experience with Gatineau Loppet 2013.

I.       General impression.

Wonderful race held on perfectly groomed and marked (except one point described below) trails, enough competition for skiers from CSU top string down to my level and I believe for everybody. I got perception of being a part of ski holiday.

  There is 1200 m to climb, so my pace was 10% lower than at Craftsbury. Feed stations are further from each other than at Craftsbury. The liquid they offered was warm enough despite on -13C windy weather. To those who rely on feed stations fuel: no gels are offered, just some cookies (I tried one, it was good but took too long to swallow even a little piece; I though survived 55km on 2 gels I had).

II.    The story.

I was thinking about doing it for several years and eventually signed up this year. The pre-race period was not very encouraging, I was half-sick starting with Sunday before the race, it worsened by Monday night, I had to skip Weston on Tuesday and wasn’t sure I’d be able to go until Thursday evening when I decided I was already good enough to drive for 8 hour one way, race a Marathon then half-Marathon and drive back alone; my wife was still having sore throat, so her participation was out of scope. Though, fortunately I signed for just half-Marathon on Sunday, which had to be over by 11AM; thus I could shower, change, eat lunch, applaud to winners and leave by 1PM, still enough time even if I had to stop for some rest. 

     The temperature was steady +2C all the way from MA to the Canadian Capital. Nevertheless at 8PM on Friday the guy who was handling over wax recommendations was very confident with his Swix VR30 (he looked at my unshaved beard and hesitantly added that some older folks wanted to add a layer of VR40). I didn’t have VR30, waxed with Start racing wax for -7 to -15 and one layer of some old Rode for -4 to -10. May be it was a bit druggy in the open windblown fields (albeit am not sure, I actually was not losing double poll sections to anyone whom with I could compete, perhaps just usual cold weather glide) but I had perfect kick for the entire race.

  School busing to the start from the school took slightly less than an hour. With -13C on windy  morning, I fidgeted a little longer than necessary with final selection of clothes for the race, pinning the bib on the top layer, fastening poles over thick gloves and started at the very end of my wave “C”.  Though, doesn’t matter, I’m not to win this race and I knew nobody (except Wes who was in earlier wave) in this race, so wouldn’t know whom to try to stick to anyway.

  With my way worse than in 2012 shape, terrible performance at Weston where I was not just lazy but half-sick at most of the races, I actually had very modest even by my standards goal. The minimal was to get at the first 50%  (I just read Alexandra’s Birkie report, she’s laugh at such “goal” but better something than nothing) and the maximum would be to do it out of 4 hours which looked easy judging by just 5km shorter Craftsbury but this race was expected to be as I thought 1.5 times more hilly.

   First 13 km are smooth rolling hills, folks would probably double-pole most of them in shorter race. 5 minutes breaks between 5 waves make crowd thinner on first 5km, so there was no mess like climbing Jodel at Jackson in 2km after the start.  I looked at the watch at 10km mark – about 40:50. I multiplied 41 by 5.5,  226 minutes make 3:46, so I had about 15 minutes on slowing down to finish in 4 hours – far from granted and not even very plausible provided no climb has happened yet but theoretically possible, let’s go on; I began to pass those who got tired, folks from wave B appeared among them eventually.  I young boy from wave D passed by as if we weren’t moving, obviously too fast to hang on. . Technical section on narrow road falls on 14^th to 19^th km with the only turn onto a bridge I wouldn’t like if the conditions were any faster at 17^th km.  

  At about 20^th km after the 2nd feed station the trail widens and real race begins. [I swallowed the 1^st gel – extremely unprofessionally I confess, by some unknown reason I put it into my waist bag and with thick gloves on spent too long digging it out and opening – at -13C, the gel coat acquired the resistance of armor steel – so the train of 10 or more skiers went away. It will fall apart on the uphill and I’ll have to chase them all one by one.] I didn’t do any races except standard set on New England Marathons, so for me the climb is compatible only with Sugarloaf Marathon they held only once or maybe twice about year 2005 on Sugarloaf trail 50. I didn’t have to herringbone too much but sill it was a good exercise! At the moment we all weren’t even looking at each other too much, just puffing and dragging our feet meter by meter, another young skier from wave D chased us – a girl this time. She was passing slowly, so I decided it’s an opportunity to change racing order in out group and tried to follow. The incline has decreased down to kick-double-pole angle, so I switched the style and following turned to be not as hard as I expected. In couple of hundred meters the girl looked back, said something encouraging in fast French and even changed track to follow me. Well, it lasted for a km or so, at next steeper section she easily dropped me and a man whom we just reached.

  Soon somewhere about 25km the 38 and 55 km races part the ways, so trail becomes way less crowded. My new co-racer was very concentrated on pushing forward, I heard not a single word except what I grasped as some French cursing when his ski slipped at occasion – albeit he had a perfect kick, probably better than mine, so I had hard time on uphills. We reached a flat section, the guy tried to accelerate then started to slow down to the point that I got in front by dozen meters and (as I couldn’t fight feeling that he disliked me thus bringing this to personal level competition) decided to keep it so on the coming downhills. I usually lose downhills terribly even at Weston. But this time either because my skis were well glide-waxed or I recollected couple of years ago experience of following team of college girls at Rangeley and how they were actually working (not just resting) on downhills by taking the most aerodynamic body position and choosing the shortest line, I managed to stay ahead. Well, might be he just over-waxed of course but winning downhill gave me some boost; the man stopped chasing me and I switched to couple of skiers in green and white who just appeared ahead on this winding trail.

  At this about 30km point, I started to feel accumulating tiredness. It was not bonk-threatening yet but it was still only 2:1X in the race time-wise and there was about Jackson race distance to cover. The hills here were not too long and not incredibly steep but they were coming on us one after another, the folks in white/green ahead were getting closer by just lollipops steps, I started to wonder whether I’ll be able to catch even them. Until today, I was at times getting cramps and felt reaching the point of exhaustion at Marathons but no earlier than by 36 or 37 km, it came too early today; plus we had 5km more to go.  Well, we’ll see, there is nothing to do now but keep moving.

  The trail led us to wider road again, the incline decreased. There was sharp 180 degrees turn with chip control point and course started (in general, or in my perception at least) to descend.  The guys whom I passed weren’t in immediate proximity, few dozen meters minimum.  Another little group of obviously tired skiers is left behind. I ate my 2^nd and last gel at the next feed station, pushed a little and surpassed the green/white couple (one of them turned to be a woman). The trail became easier and it has its effect; from 36^th km I felt as it was all downhill – it was not terrain-wise, there were uphills of course but rolling ones, I could hold my breath even on them and folks ahead were gradually becoming slower (well, sure all the fast skiers were simply way ahead but we compete with our peers). I realized I could push full steam, most probably I wasn’t to bonk. A skater (probably on the warm up for tomorrow skate race) caught me up on that wide road, I decided to follow him. In 300m he turned to me and said something in French then digested for a few seconds my reply that I don’t speak French (I even thought I had replied in Russian, was dizzy enough for that) then he said “you’re doing well, let’s catch that black-and red guy ahead, you can do it!” . I trusted him and reached the guy and couple of others by next (the last) feed station, the feeling was they were slow. I obviously was in one on my best races, at least for the second part. Something about 3:40 at 50km; I probably won’t break 4 hours but should be up for 4:0x, hopefully x<=5, it wasn’t so hilly anymore!

III. Stupid part of the story.

   Soon after 51km, there was a well marked left turn with fat arrows and few signs. Straight read “51km” – OK, this is for tomorrow 51km skating.  20km to the left, some other signs to the left. Where is 55km??! Damn, NO 55. I walked around all the signs – still no 55. No flagmen. Both trails make turns ahead, I could see nobody ahead. Looked backwards – I’d done a good job, those bypassed aren’t even visible, it’s about 300m or more to the turn behind. I remember there was a left turn in few km to the finish, so perhaps all the classical races go to the left. I turned left. That was fatal: in few minutes after descent there were still no people. What to do? I continued until reaching a trail fork with few recreational skiers waiting. “Where is 55km race?” They weren’t sure (well, how clear do I speak through all this ice on my beard?). “Did you see anybody with bibs like mine for the last few minutes?” No they didn’t. That was like that man from the woods who hits a marathoner’s head with a frying pan. Everything started to hurt. Shouldn’t I just go to the stadium (perhaps I can hear it, not too far..), what’s the point of racing after taking a walk through the woods for  . . I didn’t even look at the watches,  don’t know for how long I’m here – and I’m too lazy now even to lift my hand.. OK, nevertheless DNF would be the worst. U-turn takes essential effort – thigh cramps at the attempt to turn ski backward, I have to do it in few short steps. I slowly walk back to the main trail, the modest uphill seems as big as the major climb 30km ago. I check again for 55km sign at the fork – no miracle, it is not here – and start the last 3.x km. Lifted the head and saw in 70-100 m the man in read whom I had raced 30km behind on the major hills. Damn, it’ll be completely unfair if even he finishes ahead of me! Perhaps I still can double-pole, that thigh cramp has gone, arms and abdominal aren’t too bad (perhaps 1300km of kayaking per summer help, I noticed I became better in this technique after starting kayaking 5 years ago and particularly after essential improvement over there during previous 2 years).

  I did reached that guy and few others on the last 3km, felt relatively fast again – though, it’s not a big honor to be fast at finish line vs. people who would have been couple of km behind if you hadn’t taken a leisure walk prior to finishing the race. I was sure very angry about the sign, the final time of 4:21 but still, the impression is good. The real left turn was about 1.5 km ahead, most of others raced here before or weren’t alone at this point, so the absence of sign looked like my personal problem. The irony is if I hadn't dropped the train few km earlier by more than 500m but stayed in just few dozen meters, I would have won over them all - most people did it previously and knew the trick; perhaps I had become too stupid after 51km, otherwise could guess in just a couple of minutes that I was not on the right trail.

IV. 27km half-Marathon on Sunday

My “Saturn” said it was -19C in the morning. Add a strong wind to understand that they moved the start 30 minutes forward. It warmed up to -17 but the wind picked up, so the benefits of the time shift were doubtful. I was scared of cold and perhaps slightly overdressed; albeit, some folks of my wave “C” were wearing something like 3 outer layers, you could count them!

  The snow was screaming under the skis but as it was mostly re-frozen, it was not as slow as I had expected.

  My Sunday 27km race went generally uneventful. I was sort of afraid of falling asleep while driving 8 hours alone from Gatineau in exhausted state and didn't dare to push hard most of the race; after all, I was less than 50% sure I’d do it at all, thought I might be coughing again after a week inside followed by 55km on Saturday. First 9km are easy, mostly wide trails, flat or with rolling hills. Then there are lots of climbs on narrow trail 15 - perfectly groomed but the only way to pass is double-polling uphill, the thing I had no energy for after 58 or so km on the ski I actually did yesterday. Skating race waves are divided by 2 minutes only (why??) therefore there is a big jam of us, slower folks from previous waves and faster ones from the next waves.  So, few dozens of us were climbing step by step for quarter an hour until hitting wider road again. Feed station, take a drink.. A gel taped under by bib is easy to reach but at -17 it’s almost as solid as glass, I fight this time not the strength of its coat but its resistance to leave it.  At about 15km, 27 km race left the wide road and we’re on trail 15 again. This time, the climb is steeper but there is twice less thick crowd, so it’s getting shape of a race. As the fast folks are out of reach and there is no crowd, I am able to pass a few folks on these hills – with thinner crowd, everybody is polite and allows to overtake him/her. Descents are not bad, at least not with these conditions.

  For the last 5km I realized I won’t kill myself and could push. I passed the same man in red at almost the same place where I took a wrong turn yesterday then had to work hard to drop him off which led to passing a girl and a man of nearly my age who had stuck to her right on the stadium - probably I looked at the edge of collapse because volunteers at finish rushed to take the skis off me, sort of unusual... Gosh, volunteering in the open field for few hours in such a weather .. I admire these folks, they must be real enthusiasts! 

Regards,

Michael.