This post has been late going up, partially because post Birkie my motivation for doing most anything has been low (due to being sick mostly), and partially because I'm still processing the race. I think I set some overly ambitious goals for myself this year, and even when I have achieved those goals I've had this feeling of what more can I do, which leaves me excited for the next race, but not really sure what to make of my results. In retrospect I am pretty thrilled about what I have achieved this year, and the Birkie was no exception, I just don't have many good ways to gauge my effort against past races to put the day in context. So without further ado, here is the recap.
Getting to the Birkie was every bit as hard as racing it this year. My travel plans were pretty uncertain until the trip was about halfway over. I usually drive to my parents Thursday night and ride up Friday morning with the Johnson family, who are amazing fun people to stay with and who have a sweet connection with a cabin a couple minutes walk from the start line. I am very grateful that they are willing to take me into their extended family for the weekend, it makes the Birkie weekend much less stressful and much more celebratory. This year however they were planning to drive up a day early to spend a bit of extra family time together, which left me to find my own ride up. Not a problem except there really isn't room for another car where we stay, so I would have to find a place to stash mine nearby. This plan changed with the weather however. The Thursday before the race started out with a steady rain that turned to a heavy snow creating a layer of thick ice with up to 17" of snow on top of it. The high winds that followed the storm made for some of the worst driving conditions possible, glare ice with huge snowbanks extending onto the road and very low visibility. The first half of the drive to my parents I didn't see actual pavement anywhere, and never got over 30 mph. Slow and steady won this race though, and eventually I made it to my folks, met the Johnsons, who delayed their trip, and we got up to Hayward without incident.
The weather conditions were not pretty, but they did seem to be pretty predictable, so
I switched to the Birkie Classic race this year for several reasons.
- First, because nearly everyone I have talked to that has done the classic race has raved about how great the race is, how wonderful the classic trail is to ski, and very few of them have switched back to the skate race. The exceptions to this are Andy Brown who was denied a spot in the classic elite wave and had to ski by himself out of wave 1, and Elspeth who despite a laundry list of complaints about last years classic race and the Birkie in general was back doing the classic race again.
- Second, I had promised myself as a naive Birkie skiing youth that I would ski the race classic on my 10th Birkie if I didn't make the elite wave before then (an unlikely event for a guy who was a consistent wave 2 skier at the time). Well, I did make the elite wave, but reneging on my promise always left me feeling a bit guilty, especially when they made the classic race longer. I usually like doing the longest race possible at an event.
- Third, my classic skiing had been improving slowly but steadily for a few years while my skating was seemingly plateauing. I had skated slower times 3 Birkies in a row and was getting a collection of bibs in the 90's. I knew I could place higher than this in the weaker classic field, so the chance to get one good finish before I passed my peak was tough to pass on. I ended up skiing my best placed Birkie soon after making this decision (but still a slower time than the year before), which caused me to waver, but then went on to win a very slow, snowy Pepsi Challenge classic race which reaffirmed my commitment to make the switch.
- Fourth, Peer pressure. Nearly everyone else in the cabin I was staying at was skiing the Classic race, so I was feeling a bit left out as a skater. In fact this year only one person in the cabin skied the skate race.
Race morning was cold, but all winter has been cold, so most racers were used to it. I had talked my way into the classic elite wave so got to try the mad dash to get a spot on the start line following the start of the women's elite wave. I didn't do well at this and ended up about 3 rows back. Things weren't crowded or crazy when the gun went off though, so I was easily able to make my way into about the top 20 by the time the trail narrowed. From there I moved up a couple spots through the lead pack as openings were available. About 3k in I was skiing with Travis Hinck and Bjorn Batdorf, two great friends who I met in college and have been on various great adventures with since. Travis has had multiple top 20 finishes in the Birkie classic, and Bjorn is all around a great skier with some big wins under his belt including City of Lakes loppet and Seeley Hills, so I knew I was in good company. We hung out in the middle of the lead pack, keeping an eye on the guys up front. I was having an absolute blast at this point in the race. The sun was out, the woods were gorgeous with everything covered in a fresh, heavy layer of snow, I was skiing comfortably with the lead pack of the race and right around some of my best friends. Every Birkie where I have skied with Bjorn has been a great Birkie for me, and this one was turning out to be no exception.
The pace was very manageable as the front skiers were doing a bit of extra work to knock down the frost that had formed in the classic tracks when the windblown snow set up. I was surprised when we hit the highpoint of the race at about 16km and I looked back to find that I was now at the back of the lead pack. Over the next 10k the pack continued to thin a bit, and when our trail joined with the skate trail the pace picked up noticeably and more skiers, myself included, fell off the back. Bjorn and another skier went on ahead and tucked on to the back of the pack, and I was dangling off the back alone. I did a quick count as the leaders were getting away and figured I was in about 13th. I settled in to ski my own race after this point. My goal had been to stick with the leaders as long as I could then see where the race went from there. I had hoped to hold on a bit longer, but wasn't willing to dig myself into too deep of a hole with almost 20k of racing left. I got some great cheering from my parents and the other volunteers at the gravel pit aid station and soon after caught sight of another classic skier ahead of me.
My reach goal for this race was to hit the top 10, so when I fell off the pack I knew I would need to keep focused if I wanted to stay close enough to pick off stragglers. I tried to keep the pace just at a slightly uncomfortable effort, reminding myself that I had less than 20k to go, and steadily closed down the skier ahead of me. After I passed him he was unable to hang on for long, but he kept me in sight for a while. I used skate skiers as targets to help me keep looking forward and chasing, then at about 40k I caught sight of a blue CXC uniform up ahead. Bjorn was skiing by himself up ahead. I was gaining some ground on him on the climbs, but none at all on the flats. I cranked up the effort a bit, if I could just get within striking distance I could make a big charge on Bitch hill and hopefully reel him in. This is exactly what I did. He was tiring and was herringbone walking in a line of skaters so I was able to stride right up to him. I tailed him just until he noticed me then I took a pull to help us gain back some speed. He went by me on a downhill (coming out of my draft, his skis didn't seem any faster than mine) and I tucked on with him until the next feed station.
After the last feed stop there is are a nice long climb. Not steep, but it goes on for a while. When skating I can get a good feel for the snow speed and my remaining energy based on whether I can V2 this hill or need to switch to the V1 climbing technique. I got a small gap on Bjorn almost right away going up this hill, so I knew I had a bit more left in the tank than him. I cheered for him to hold on and tried to keep my pace steady, but it was clear that he wasn't going to tag right back on. I kept pushing up over the hill, then decided that since I had a gap I might as well make the most of it. I pushed pretty hard over the flat and caught fellow Vakava skier Bonnie as we were dropping down the last hill towards the lake. Eugene also went by about this time, so we had a little Vakava crew for a short bit of time, all of us coming from different start times but converging with only a few km to go in the race. I tried to keep pace with Eugene as best as possible to make sure my speed stayed high.
When I got onto the lake the full force of the wind and the magnitude of the task ahead of me sank in. It was a fierce, cold headwind and there were 3km of skiing left to get to the finish line. I was pretty evenly fatigued, so I kick double poled across most of the lake. I know many other classic skiers ended up striding, and I kind of doubt anyone double poled the whole thing. After my poor lake skiing at City of Lakes I resolved to keep the tempo high and put power into my poling. I was keeping pace with skaters pretty well, so that was reassuring. Bjorn is a stronger double poler than I am, so I fully expected him to be closing on me if he had any energy left. About halfway across the lake I spotted another classic skier ahead and briefly entertained the idea that I might catch him because he was striding, but I didn't appear to be closing on him quickly enough. The gap kept coming down however, and all of a sudden on the short little bump up from the lake to the road that would lead in to the finish I was going by him. The buildings in town also cut down the wind some, so I cranked it up, trying to gather a bit more momentum. The skier I passed (Jake Boyce) had no response and I easily got away with a mix of kick double pole and some fast striding.
I finished in 3:06:39, in 10th place. This met my placement goal and I was very pleased with my effort on the day and that I kept my technique together and managed my energy levels well. I wish I could have held on to the lead pack longer, but that is something to work on improving for next year. Bjorn came in about a minute behind me, and Travis another minute or so after that, so the three of us went in and changed then spent the rest of the day eating and chatting with every skier I recognized, which is quite a few after 14 years of skiing and racing around the Midwest and making this annual trip up to Hayward for the American Birkebiener. The general consensus was that this was one of the hardest, slowest Birkies on record. For me however it wasn't even close. Even though I was skiing in a slower technique and a 4km longer course I was still over 40 minutes faster than my first and slowest Birkie.
That wraps up the big race of the year. I raced the Pepsi Challenge last weekend and finished 5th. I think it was the only time using blue kick wax for the whole season. Now it is on to running and biking season. I'm headed down to pace the speedy Sharon Snyder for a half marathon in a couple weeks, so I have to get my running legs back under me right quick. I also have less than a month until the Ragnarok 105 gravel race, which I won't be completing all of due to time constraints with a wedding that afternoon, but will see how far I can get in the time I allow myself. This was a pretty epic post, now I can see why most bloggers split up posts for their A races, and for their season transitions. Oh well, if you made it this far, go out and run or something, it will be a better use of your time, but thanks for hanging in there :) More posts coming on hopefully a more regular schedule.
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