Birkie

An average snow year. And the best conditions in ten years. I’ll take it! For the first time in a long time we’re not worrying about the Birkie being postponed, cancelled, shortened, icy or crappy.

I decided to try classic this year, my first classic Birkie since the advent of skating in the early ‘80s. They put in some sweet new trails dedicated to classic for the first 15k. So we were off on our own, four tracks wide, and out of the crush of skaters until the third food stop. Just gorgeous. Great move.

Bluebird day. Good snowpack. Excellent grooming. Wax worked well, I’d say 85% perfect. Gave up a little glide in the early going in order to make sure I had enough kick through the hills.

Got dropped by wave one, I started with one too many layers and stopped to take it off. 10k out and I was alone. On the Birkie trail. In the midst of the race. The tail end of wave one gone and the very front of wave two caught me within the next kilometer. I wanted to finish in decent shape, enjoy myself, no go out too fast. So, it’s all cool.

About 2/3’s through, got passed by the Andersson twins from Sweden. Anita and Maria. Quite-a-pair. Same skis, same wax, same suits, same warmups. Saw them at the start and they seemed to be arguing, or maybe that’s the way all us Nordics sound. They passed me midway, perfectly in sync, inches between them. Their skis tapping out the rhythm. Bap. Bap. Bap. Bap. They took their age class, classic 45-49. First and second. One second apart. And 48 minutes ahead of third place.

About the last K who jumps back into the track but those two guys from the tail of wave one! I like chasing rabbits and these guys were perfect. Someone from my wave that I can pass, a guaranteed move up two spots. I pushed and pushed, closed inch by inch. For a block down Main Street I just started hammering, furiously double-poling. Closing, closing. But after 52k, my arms started locking up, both arms – cramp city. I got around a few, missed these guys by 8 seconds. Fun! 4 hours 3 minutes, #223 out of 982.

Great to see all the familiar faces; Liz, Greg, Carrie, Ralph, Arn, Kathy, Jerry, Jeff, Mikey, Janeen,… Check out my buddy Greg Fangel’s wooden ski web site at woodenskis.com.

Saw these guys early in the race. In honor of the Vikings that carried Prince Hakon over the mountains to safety and started this whole mess. Wave one folks I did beat. But in a real knock-down…go with the big guy.