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What color lantern was that? The forecasted high of 4 degrees F was more intimidating than the 25 km course I was about to tackle. And the course looked pretty tough. Having never skied more than a third of that distance, and not having skied all that many times ever, I simply had no idea what to make of the distance or the elevation profile. 
A closer look at the elevation grid shows only a 70' differential from low to high point. Had I noticed that delta before the event, my cycling experience would have told me no big deal. Turns out, foot for foot, XC ski climbs take a lot more out of you than a comparable gain on a bike. Out on the course, though, the climbs, while fatiguing, certainly weren't soul-sucking. In any event, it was the temperature that captured my pre-race attention. What to wear? The question wasn't so much whether I had enough clothing, it was which of that clothing to actually don. After a brief false start with one extra fleece, here's what I ended up with.
We didn't get moving from Stowe at 7:30a as planed (ahem!)--it ended up being more like 8:15a. We rolled into Craftsbury Common around 9a, headed to the Outdoor Center, parked, lugged our gear to the main lodge, and suited up. The elite men started at 9:00a, with the elite women going out at 9:10a, the high school racers at 9:20a, and finally the recreational skiers at 9:30a. Not that being there at 9:30a was critical given our goal of merely getting in a good day skiing (as the results will show, neither of us threatened the podium), but we (Nitz, Betsy, and I) didn't get underway until 9:45a. Here's the course map. 
I was READY. Except for two things. It became apparent almost instantly that my skis weren't gliding all that well. They're waxless, and I've never used wax on them, but we tossed on a bit of glide was the night before. Oh well, onward, see previous comment about the podium. Then, at about the 2km mark, I took a sip of water from my Camelbak. Nothing. Water in the hose had frozen solid. Going in to the race, with the low predicted temperatures, I was concerned about this but figured my body heat would keep the water warm. That may have been true of the bladder, but it certainly wasn't of the hose. Hydration turned out not to be a problem at all. Volunteers at several points around the course offered heated HEED-infused water that was exactly what the conditions warranted. When the course looped back to the starting line at about the 2.5km mark, we stopped so that Betsy could swap out her waxed skis for her waxless ones (Nitz continued--we were just going to be slowing him up anyway). Since the waxless ones were back in the car, we lost 10-15 minutes or so. Several times throughout the rest of the first lap, we stopped for equipment adjustments on the order of another 15 or so minutes. In short, we weren't on pace for a course record. The course itself was a lot of fun. Challenging climbs, but nothing soul-destroying. Fun descents, nothing terrifying. The last aid station was at the 8km mark about as far on the course as you could get from the start/finish area. By then, the glide wax had apparently worn off and I was sliding much better. We got back to the start/finish line for the end of lap 1 with about 2h 55m showing on the race clock. I'm not sure if that clock started at 9a or 9:10a, but I'm guessing the latter, so we were really more like 2h 20m into the race. Betsy was getting nothing out of her waxless skis and planned to switch back to her waxed ones. I continued on for my second lap. Without the stops and despite progressively heavier legs, it went quicker than the first and I finished right around 2pm. Betsy, back on her waxed skis after the second swap, finished a bit later, we ate, and called it a day. I was pretty sure I didn't have a good GPS capture of the race. My Garmin is consistently unreliable off the bike. I'm not sure if that's poor satellite sightlines when buried in a pocket or the relatively slow speed of skiing/hiking. Strava on my phone didn't appear to be working at all given the complete absence of a cell signal in the Craftsbury area. When I uploaded both the Garmin and phone tracks after getting back to the house, both showed only partial captures at best. So, I was reasonably pleased to find that on Sunday morning (the day after the race), my phone had somehow uploaded the full Strava track. From that, the Garmin, and the race clock, here's what I was able to figure out.
But this race wasn't remotely about the numbers. It was about the adventure of braving (and managing) the temperature and about significantly extending my max XC distance. One memorable point occurred on the Bailey-Hazen trail on loop 1. I was chugging along in the right track (of three). A paceline (do they call them pacelines in XC?) of 8 elite skiers came blasting past in the middle track just off my left shoulder. Think Silver Bullet only faster, colder, and without the indignity of Coors Light. Absolutely great event. Fantastic volunteers. Plenty of food and drink out on the course, then a nice chili lunch after the race. If you're game for a challenge but hardly an XC master, give this one some serious consideration. |
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