Bretton Woods Classic Marathon

I haven’t been able to ski the reconstituted BW Marathon since its recent inception after the demise of the oh-so-grand-in-concept but fraught-with-difficulties-to-organize point to point Great Glen to Bretton Woods Marathon several years ago.  I got to ski that one once when the scheduling worked out around my coaching duties at the J2 (now U16) Championships and the Eastern High School Championships.  That one was an epic event and I pulled off one of the best bonks of my ski career with the haze of exercise-induced total systems failure hitting me just about 1km from the top of the Jefferson Notch Road, which tops out at just over 3,000 ft., leaving me to DP home with limp noodles for arms.  

BW was also my very first ski marathon back in 1984 after I’d ended my running marathon career.  Now that was a glorious day, with skiing as good as it gets at BW and I hung on to the end without going under and thought “Wow, these ski marathons are great!  I’m still walking  and look at all the great food and I actually feel like eating!!”.  And thus a new career got started……

So, I was excited by the prospect of another BW Marathon, hoping the snow would be good and unlike most recent years, with straight-forward waxing.  Well, the ski gods smiled down on us this year and we were treated to a beautiful, bluebird sky, blue stick, CSU blue ski day for our 2 laps around BW.  And to top it off, some of the competition was doing only the 1-lapper for Zak Cup points.  

I had gotten a ride up with Tom and Emma Simon and Emily Nottonson and we’d spent the night at Highland Lodge, so there were no complicated logistics to get to the start (although the hiker in my room did get up at 2:30 am to start a hike somewhere!).  After the Birkie two weeks ago it seemed like we were cheating somehow.  Get up, have a leisurely breakfast, pack up and drive 2 miles to the start.  Way too easy and uncomplicated!!  The only hard part was resisting the bacon for breakfast, but I was wise and resisted such earthly pleasures. 

The crowd was the largest yet for this race, somewhat over 300 people between the 21k and 42k races.  CSU was very well represented with Robert, Anne and Bob Burnham getting in their last race before the Norwegian Birkie, Tom, Jody, Hannah Smith, Clinton, Albert, Sue LaChance, Kathy Maddock, a bunch of ex-CSU Jrs. skiing for their college teams such as Olivia Meyerson (Williams), Rebecca Smith (Williams), Calvin Wight and Chris Burnham (Colby) and lots of others.  For the wax geeks, I waxed a bit warmer than the suggestion because the weather forecast kept changing and went with Toko LF Blue covered with HF Red and at the last moment ironed in Blue Jet.  Kick was straight Toko Blue stick over binder.  I must say, I was very happy with my skis for the entire race. 

At the start I lined up a few rows back on the right side of the course, which I think was a mistake. The course narrowed down too quickly from lots of start tracks to about 6 to 2 in very little distance and found myself DPing down the right side out of the tracks and there was no room to fit in for quite a ways!  Eventually, as we wrapped around the golf course and back by the start area things got sorted out and as we headed off on Bridle Path I was in a good position and not hemmed in by other skiers.  But I’d lost sight of my competition who were all ahead of me somewhere.  Another slow start.   I tried to find some rhythm as we rolled along and as we popped up onto B&M I found it on that long kick and glide stretch and started feeling pretty good.  Then we turned up Tunnel (which isn’t much of a tunnel these days due to logging activity) and caught up to a couple people as we turned onto Willey’s Way, and started rolling down.  I was skiing with Elisa Bradley, who is a nice smooth skier and so that worked pretty well.  On the first big downhill, where apparently the front of the field had a massive pileup, the guy in front of me took a big crash as I think he hit the tracks sliding around the corner, but the groomer had put down the tracksetter too soon.  As this guy (Mike Kavanagh) skittered off to the right I dodged left across the tracks and managed to barely stay on my feet up the next hill.  Well, that was exciting!  I made some remark to that effect to Elisa to which she agreed and we headed across Perimeter.  There was a funky little left-hand turn onto Sebosis that caught everyone by surprise and Elisa went down just in front of me.  Again I skittered around the turn trying to avoid her skis and poles and once again made it safely.  This little turn claimed some bodies this day!  On Sebosis I caught sight of Robert Faltus and chased him down as I tried to take advantage of this long kick and glide section.  I suffered a bit on the steeper parts and near the yurt Elisa rolled on by as we headed toward Clinton.  This section was fun with all the little ups and downs and somewhere along here I dropped Elisa on some downhills (did I say my skis were running well?) and spied Hannah Smith quite a ways ahead.  The chase was on!  Hannah and I had skied back and forth at Jackson and I barely managed to stay ahead of her to the finish.  On the hilly little loop (Peter’s Path I think) I was catching up and then I caught her as we turned into the biathlon range.  Hannah looked over and said “Oh, its you!”  but she couldn’t hang with me with all the DP on this section, but I knew she was lurking back there somewhere as we headed up Bridle Path for round two.  

The skiing on lap 2 was even better then lap 1 and my wax was working great.  I was suffering a bit on the steeper pitches but really tried to go on the kick and glide sections.  I really felt good on Sebosis and Porcupine Way this time around and was a little dismayed after the yurt to have 3 UNH girls and Hannah go motoring by on the way to Clinton.  That deflated my bubble!  However, I hopped on and for a while stayed with them pretty well, but on every little uphill that darned rubber band stretched a little more so that by the time we hit the little section in the field near Highland Lodge it had broken.  But Hannah had lost the UNH girls and so I gave chase.  All this time I was wondering where Dyan Nirmegh had gotten too, being the main competition in the M7 group.  He had crushed me at the Bogburn and finished about a minute ahead of me at Jackson and I was bummed that he was out of reach.  On the hilly section on Pete’s Path I could see Hannah but I think youth was winning out this lap.  I was tired!  She gapped me for good somewhere around here and I got back to focusing on Mike.  Slowly I was reeling him in.   On Dark Forest there was one squirrelly little corner where I was catching a touring class guy and I just knew he was going down but he got there ahead of me.  I headed over the bump and around the turn and sure enough he was down.  I dodged right but there was Sara Mae Berman down on the right and with only a narrow slot between the two.  Completely off balance with my ski tip heading right for this guy’s head, I threaded the needle on one foot and resumed the chase down and onto the biathlon range.  Mike was just ahead, Hannah was long gone and then I noticed another NWVT suit.  And just like Jerry Seinfeld saying “Newman” I thought “Nirmegh” and fired up what little I had left to give chase. The biathlon range esker is a nice long, very gradual uphill and with every stride and kick DP I was closing the gap.  My arms were starting to fail, getting all noodly, but I kept the hammer down and could see I was making up ground.  By the last downhill I was only 50 feet back and as we turned onto the golf course I had almost caught up.  On the bridge toward the touring center I had caught him and moved over into the other track for the pass.  But Nirmegh is no rookie, saw who it was, and cranked up whatever he had left and the two old farts DP’d furiously toward the finish line.  I shot my foot (well, ok, maybe I nudged it slightly forward) and looked down……..and he’d gotten me by all of about 3-4 inches.  Well, that was fun!  We fist bumped and yucked it up and a great race was done.  Bretton Woods had put on a great race on a beautiful day in great conditions with fabulous blue stick snow…..in March!  Doesn’t get much better than that!   The sun was brilliant, Mt. Washington was visible in all its winter glory, I'd managed to stay on my feet while others crashed around me and now I could barely shuffle back to the start for my clothes.  

CSU had a great day to go with all the other greats mentioned above with many trips to the podium for the prize glasses.  The Burnham’s, Albert, Robert, Sue, Kathy, Jody, myself, the Bermans and undoubtedly others who I have forgotten to mention.  

Jamie

The Westonloppet

Wes Denering has always wanted to hold a long race at Weston and with all the snow hanging around Weston made it happen!  A very respectable crowd showed up for the 1st Westonloppet 30km race on a dark and dreary and sprinkly morning to ski 9 laps of a modified and slightly longer course than our usual Tues. evening loop in some pretty soft and mushy conditions.  Akeo, Chris and Tom took it out fast immediately leaving everyone else in their wake as little groups formed up and pretty soon skiers were scattered all over the place!

Here are a few photos.  Lots more at:  http://jamiedoucett.smugmug.com/Ski-Photos/2015-Westonloppet/

CSU at the Bretton Woods Marathon

Some of the CSUers - Albert, Robert, Jamie, Anne and Bob on a glorious day

CSU took a lot of the prize glasses!  Albert, Bob, Andy, Robert among them.

Jamie’s No Muss, No Fuss Birkie

Last year’s Birkie presented all kinds of obstacles just getting to the start on time and I barely made it with only 5 minutes to spare, no warm up ski or wax testing and Alex missed hers. This year, no bad driving, no near disasters, the Birkie solved the bus problems and instead of a foot of new snow which there was only an inch or two of new snow the whole trip and race went very well. 

Coming over the Birkie Bridge, last target in site (Birkie Photo)

After a quick visit with my cousin in the Twin Cities I headed off, sorry that Lisa wasn’t with me since she was recovering from her hip injury and Evan, who had bowed out this year since he was applying to grad schools.  The only excitement on the drive up was watching a guy in front of me veer once, twice and then finally on the 3^rd time right off the road and down into the ditch on a dead flat, perfectly straight road.  Fortunately he didn’t roll over and when I ran down to check on him he was already on the phone seeking help.  I checked one more time with him and then moved on.  Perhaps he’d had a Wisconsin breakfast beverage or three???  Snow was coming down pretty heavily as I rolled into town, not a bad thing as there really wasn’t a lot on the ground on the drive up, and checked out the new bridge we’d have to ski up that went up and over the main road, a new and final last hill onto Main St.  I managed to get out of the expo with my wallet intact but picked up a pair of One Way poles to deliver to one of the CSU Jrs from Geoff Hurwich, long-time CSU friend who gave us a great deal on One Way equipment this year.  Next up was some skiing and wax testing at the OO trail head before the rest of the drive north to the shores of The Big Sea Water, Gitche Gumee.  The skiing was very nice and verified that Toko blue was going to be just fine for kick.  After 45 min. of very pleasant and not so cold skiing I headed off toward Ashland, hard by the very frozen shores of Lake Superior.  When a lake that big (it holds 3 quadrillion gallons!) is frozen solid as far as you can see and people are driving their big trucks across the ice to their bob houses to fish you know you are in a place that gets cold, really cold, and stays cold.  Tom Simon, who’s brother lives in Ashland, invited me over for a carbo load dinner which made for a fun evening as stories started flying.  Tom’s family and most of both brothers families were skiing either the Kortolopett or the full Birkie which is so great and pretty typical of the Birkie.   The good food and great company made for a great and early evening. 

Birkie morning I awoke at 4:45 having spent half the night worried about the logistics of getting to the start on time.  I needn’t have worried.  I managed to down some coffee, instant oatmeal and a bagel and headed out the door for the drive to Cable, trying to cram more calories into my mouth to stave off any pending bonks.  No cars on the road in front of me all the way to Cable!  Awesome!  The short bus ride to the old and now closed Telemark Lodge went off without a hitch and I made the walk down to the start.  It was snowing and cold, but no wind this year.  So many people were already there!   I waited in line at the Avenue de Porta Potty then got down to business of testing my skis (perfect, no touch ups needed) and on to the start after dropping my bag and 5 chilly minutes in the pens.  Wave 1 start was a bit different from Wave 5 last year.  When the rope lifted in the 2^nd corral I had to sprint with skis and poles in hand to the starting line.  No gentle jog this year to the front line.  I ended up 4 rows back and then let Alex’s old teammate Adam St. Pierre ahead.  5 min. later the banners lifted and off we went.  It was snowing pretty hard at this point and so we had half-filled tracks to contend with.  The half filled tracks meant leading was not the best tactic and pretty soon the peleton narrowed down to 2 and then 1 good track as we hit the first hills on the powerline.  My skis seemed a bit slick on the kick side of things and I had to work to make them work, but I was running up the backs of those in front of me on the downhills.  5 km in the snow stopped falling and my kick immediately improved as the track got skied in.  For many kilometers there was lots of jockeying for position.  I focused on staying smooth and not thrashing around as we went through the rollers, past the drummers and off into the woods.  There were 3 tracks, one completely unused, one that was slower and was used mostly for passing and one skied in track.  Not ideal with all these skiers trying to move up!  If I got gapped a bit on some of the uphills I could pull it back on the downhills.  So nice to just get in a tuck and let them run!  Once things settled down and a good group formed I started really having fun going back and forth and slowly catching and spitting out the back some of those over-eager starters who couldn’t maintain the pace.  Occasionally we’d get a glimpse of the skaters over on their trail as we rolled toward the high point of the course about 13 km in.  The feeds were crazed with skaters and classic skiers coming together, yelling out what you wanted, trying not to get GUs stuck to the bottom of your skis and of course, not crashing in to each other.  Mass confusion!  I made darned sure I got GU whenever I could and Gatorade or whatever.  No bonk…..

A bit before half way I was really getting in a good groove and skiing better and better while some of those with me started to flag a bit.  One guy was quick on the uphills but drove me nuts because he’d stand up too soon after a downhill and to avoid him I’d have to pop out of the track or run up his backside or switch tracks.  Just after OO the skate and classic trails come together for good and I made my move on a really nice long, fast downhill and left my group arrears.  I then managed to latch on to one of the elite women in a pink polka dot suit (rather easy to follow!) who was skiing really smoothly so I hopped in with her for several k, but while she was great uphill, on the downhills the Fat Man just had too much of an advantage and finally I went by and moved on.  Somewhere around this time I yelled to Terry as he skated by “Go CSU”.  We exchanged greetings and he slowly pulled away to have an excellent finish.  I was fighting off a few moments of tiredness here and there, so it was good to see Terry, but also on every downhill I’d recover.  My race was going well!  Wax was still good, I was focused on driving my legs up the hills and carrying every bit of speed possible on the downhills and staying hydrated at the feeds.  The last big steep uphill, Bitch Hill as it is fondly known, where there is always a crowd and you can do shots  (I would fall over dead if I ever tried that!) wasn’t too bad this year as I trudged up the long herringbone with the reward of a nice ride down afterwards!  I started the push to the finish and the last longish uphills where I started to poop out last year and get wobbly.  I stayed focused and went into full Vulture mode, hauling in a few people on the last of these and then focused on downhill speed to the lake.  I was flying down these last hills which was oh so nice, prepping myself for the big 2km push across Lake Hayward.  After last year’s cold wind sandblasting the left side of my face, it was almost pleasurable.  True, there still was a head wind (I believe that goes along with death and taxes), but there were nice solid tracks and I had a couple people to hunt down. Kick DPing my way along (why do so many people just DP??) I finally caught up to some guy and got a breather in his draft and we caught an elite woman for more drafting.  When I felt the wind start to subside as we neared town I moved over for the pass and went for one last target, who I caught just after the bridge onto Main St.  A nice little downhill off the bridge, some kick DP and I’d knocked off one more as I skied through the finish with Peter Graves announcing my name (and that I came from Geneva, Switzerland!) and finally paused.  I cajoled a kid to undo my skis for me since I couldn’t bend over very well, got my 2^nd year finish pin and slowly, very slowly made my way to find my bag, to change and get hot soup and just sit for a while.   I wandered around town watching people finish and soaking up the crazy atmosphere but missed watching Lisa and Evan finish this year. 

I’d had a good, solid race, left nothing out there, my skis were great and I’d hit my goal of the M7 podium in 3^rd.  With 1^st and 2^nd only a minute ahead and 4^th and 5^th only a minute behind it turns out the M7 age group was packed in much tighter than any other age group in the race!  And, we’d gotten really lucky with the weather.  Two days before the race the sprints were cancelled due to the extreme cold and the morning after it was -10F and windy when I woke.  A last hour ski at OO in immaculate conditions and then off to the airport and the flight home.  An excellent weekend adventure!

Spring Arrives!

Springtime pokes its nose into NE for a little tease

Costume Ski and Awards Dinner

Last evening was the annual costume ski and awards dinner at Weston.  Its always a good time to see what people will come up with!  The McNatts of course outdid everyone in the costume department and I especially liked the fact that Terry was having a bit of trouble skiing with his Roman armor so its the only time I've even seen him all season!  It was a warm and slightly slushy evening for a race and I believe the first time all season the temperature was above freezing!  Maddy wasn't even cold before the race started!!!  After a good dinner awards were announced for the top skiers in the race series (Ian Case and Alex Jospe) and in each age group.  Chocolate and beer were the awards, and we're talking big beers and big chocolates!  Great night!  A few photos of the fun.

Maddy is happy with her prize!

Alex and her propellers

John Dillinger keeping everyone away until his beer prize is selected

A German selects his prize very carefully

Larry was the inspiration for the costume theme of 1934

Ari looking thoughtful

CSU Jr. Practice at Weston

I had a little time to kill last Tuesday before the race so got  a few photos of CSU Jr. practice: