News from Steve…

Clothing: Clothing can be picked up this Saturday at the video taping, or Sunday at Mora (difficult), or at the next 2 class nights.

Powerbars: I’ve got extras as they doubled my order. Gels $5, Harvest $5, Pria $4, drink $4, Nuts $4, Original $3. The money will be donated to Lake Elmo or Wirth Park nordic causes. I’ll have the stuff on Saturday.

Video taping: Meet at Como Saturday 10am inside. Bring your USB drive if you want to take your video home. We’ll provide analysis afterwards, upstairs.

Mora Vasaloppet: Carpooling from Moore Lake Swim and Fitness. North of 694 on Hwy 65. Turn right at the lights north of the lake and park in the parking lot on your right. 6:50. RSVP so we know who to wait for..

March Road Trip: It looks like there’s not much snow on the North Shore so instead of Sugarbush (Tofte) I’m thinking about Bearskin on the Gunflint Trail. Great skiing and they do have a lot of snow. First guess would be the weekend of March 17. Let me know your interest. I need to get lodging reserved soon.

Pizza Party: Please RSVP for the party, Feb 20th. I need to know how much pizza to order. Volunteers to bring deserts, snacks, salads etc. Lots of door prizes.

Coaches reports: None? We watched video’s and ate bagels. A few people went out and skied for a while in the zero degree temps.

Steve Thatcher: On Saturday I tried skiing up a small hill in that cold weather. By the top I couldn’t catch my breath, with just one small hill. I decided right there that I would not ski on Sunday. This was not unexpected as I’ve experienced this before when it’s cold and these temps are the coldest I’ve ever raced in. So I decided to volunteer instead. In hind site, now several days after the event I think I was very dehydrated from the cold weather and the previous weeks vacation at altitude. Mora looks to be cold this weekend, but I am feeling better and I bought a face mask to use. I was the bundled up person at the last downhill corner before crossing 394. I was there for 5 hours. Just standing in that cold for that long made me quite tired. It’s amazing how exhausting cold weather can be. I felt terrible that evening. I can only imagine how the racers felt. It looked like the downhills were reasonably fast but it was the uphills that were slow in the cold snow. On the uphills, were speed is slower, you’re dealing with the “Breakaway” resistance of the snow and it’s hard to overcome that "Static Friction". On the downhills you have overcome that initial "Static Friction" and can develop enough friction to create some water under your skis so they glide faster. That’s why the downhills didn’t seem as relatively slow as the uphills. (If you believe that I’ve got some ….) It was interesting to see all the diversity in the ski community. Hot shots, racers, tourists, all ranges and all having a good time. It’s amazing how many skiers there are, even under these conditions. Only about 1/3 of the registered skiers actually skied. I gained an appreciation for the full range of skiers in the Twin Cities. There’s a huge interest for XC in the Twin Cities and it continues to amaze me that it keeps growing despite the poor Winters lately. Too bad I couldn’t ski. The course looked to be in great shape. It was a shame not to ski it. Maybe next year. I’ll have to hit it hard at Mora.

John O'Connell: Although I have skied COLL ever since it started last weekend I took Hanks advice and opted to work the City of Lakes Loppet. Although I'm pretty active in Nordic Skiing as a coach for R&G and as part of a grooming team at Battle Creek I have not volunteered to give up a race and work it since the National Masters in 2005. Everyone knows how important it is in a sport our size to contribute your services as much as possible so I guess I was feeling a bit guilty about not helping out at the races recently. The COLL is very important to the ski community in the Twin Cities and this just seemed like a good opportunity to give back.

... isn't it amazing how you can delude yourself !!!

What a bunch of crap... I did the big honkin wimp out... bailed out like a 5 year old boy getting beat up at recess... stared old man winter right in the eye and blinked like I had a nervous tic... I was wringing my hands all week as I continued to check the forecasts ( the hourly weather graph on the NOAA site will be the death of me) and by Saturday morning had talked myself out of racing after a 20 minute stint at Como to "dial in my clothes". Whine, whimper, snivel.

So here I am, instead of racing I'm working the start line. Rather than 2.5 hours out in the conditions I'm looking at 4 hours outside pretty much in one spot. However my choice for clothing was much clearer, everything I own. Our jobs were to set up the start areas, get the fencing and banners in place, serve as an early warning to skiers on how much time remained before the start of their race and handle the progression of wave movements to the front and break everything down after all racers had departed. In addition this year the organizers asked us to check all skiers before they started to insure that Dermatone, Vaseline and Moleskin were the fashion accessories of the day. People really took the weather warnings to heart and were more than willing to put on an extra layer before the start. So a part of our job was to smear Vaseline on exposed cheeks (no matter how I write that it sounds strange ;-). I spoked with Corey Brinkema, who is part of the group that runs COLL, yesterday in Finn Sisu and he said as far as he knew there were very few frostbite type injuries.

The COLL the last couple of years has added a 10K tour that starts right after the classic race. Where the COLL races are lined up to head straight up the hill the tour is set up right next to the start line to leave in the opposite direction and head out to the tamer sections of the golf course. It was amazing how many people missed the start time of the tour, we had stragglers coming out of the chalet for a good 15 minutes, not the same sense of urgency and fretting that you normally see and experience at races. About an hour and a half after the start of the tour and just after the last wave of the skaters were sent off I see this skier coming down the long hill pretty much out of control. He makes it to the bottom and I notice that he has a paper bib, he is supposed to be in the tour. In talking to him it turns out that was late at the start and came out pretty much by himself, saw the start area for the long races and just took off up the hill. When he came down the hill he asked me if he was done. I had to explain that, no he was not done, he was just starting the tour. I'm not sure if he bailed or continued on but he was grumbling as he shuffled off.

Much credit to all those who did the race. I was struck by how exhausted I was after working outside in these conditions (serious nap before the Super Bowl) so racing this day had to be a significant effort. For you weather geeks it was -12F at 8:30 and all the way up to -7F when I left at 12:30 with a wind 12-16 mph.

John O'C

I want to thank mara for getting me involved in Ride and Glide and XC Skiing, doing all the bike stuff we do together, and being there for me when I needed someone most. You hold a special place in my heart. Happy Valentines day.

I plan to be in MORA. For those of you racing this weekend, good luck!