Training Log Archive: biggins

So the airplane I was supposed to take up to Vancouver got replaced with one that had quite a few less seats, so once we got to the gate, they bumped all of us that were in the back end of the plane. And not just to another flight, but to a totally different airline, in another terminal. Which at LAX in the middle of the day is not so fun, given that the arrive-3-hours-before-your-flight thing they tell everyone is almost true here. So after two trips through the checkin-security-security process I got to the gate for the second flight and found out that the first airline had bumped me onto an already oversold flight on the second airline. Fortunately I beat everybody else over from the other terminal, so I was close to the front of the standby list and did get a seat.

Obviously my skis didn't make it, they never even left LA, so after an hour in customs and another hour dealing with the skis I finally found Dad and we headed up towards Kamloops.

took two solid shots to the face, so I might be working on a pretty pair of black eyes for the weekend!

feeling fast today
4:59, 4:32, 4:37, 5:02

80 degrees?

Birkie. Had a really good race, felt strong almost the whole time. About 10 degrees when we started, maybe 20 by the end, but it was -10 overnight so the snow was nice and solid. Wax was perfect. I had heard bad things about the fast waves, but it wasn't too vicious at the start, everybody was pretty civil on the first few hills. Started getting into it after 10 or 15 km, and by OO I still felt good so I just started pushing. Had 10 or 12 people together in a loose pack where we kept passing back and forth and picking off the slow wave 1 guys. The last notable climb is at 44k or so, and after that me and some lady took off through the last couple fields. She passed me and led the first half of the lake, but had more left than I did so she pulled away closer to town. The half of our pack we hadn't dropped I led up onto main st, but I was dead from chasing that lady so two of them got by me in the finish. Got both my goals though: don't bonk and break 3:00.

5k splits:
18:45
17:42
17:31
16:23
16:54
15:12
16:39
17:04
18:16
15:35

easy ski around the trails at OO. nice and warm by the afternoon. got the boot collar replaced by the rossi guys, so thats good.

In WI for the birkie. We were playing around trying some demo skis today. Dad got a lot of skiing in, while I spent most of my time giving the rossi guys crap about my new broken boots. Still fun though.

Rim Nordic again. They managed to hold the snow for two weekends, although just barely. There were a few spots that were covered on the first lap, but by the third (only 2 hours later) they were just dirt. But still not too bad. It didn't freeze too solid overnight, so it started soft and got softer. Warm and sunny all day.

It seems everybody was out to play: ran into Dan and Jackie of BAOC Ski-O fame, and also Jeff Coker of SDO.

again

and again

palisades ridge

6:40, 5:08, 4:48, 4:47
5:37

20k down at the beach, then home from the car shop

crazy hot today. 80?

had the brakes on for the uphills
6:26, 5:52, 5:40, 5:28
6:35

Rim Nordic. Skiing the way it was meant to be done - in a T-shirt. Got a late start (both the car headlights are now out, so I couldn't leave too early) but got there at 8:30. It was already a pleasant 45 degrees. Trails were icy and fast, and in the woods it was crusty corn snow. Did all the trails they had, and also took a random detour off trail up along a ridge for a km or two until it got too steep, just skating around between the trees, then got some quality backcountry turns in on the way down. The off-trail was actually better than the on-trail this early, since it was rock solid but still had a little give to it so you could edge.

C • Sounds like a great day. C... 1

loop two. the trails had softened up and things were smooth and crazy fast. everybody raves about special blue days or some crap like that, but the real stuff is HF10 days - where the worst thing you have to worry about is sunburn. no offtrail this time, too soft out there.

loop three. I had stopped for some yogurt and nutella (delicious by the way) so it was about noon by now. still good conditions, but they were on their way down for the day. some of the sunny spots were starting to drag a bit, and were getting pretty soft. I found a new trail that I hadn't seen the first two loops (for a bonus 2km) and it turned out to be one of the nicer ones. I'm pretty sure there were people standing in front of it all four times I went by it in the morning. The bad thing about this place is that since all the trails are fire roads, everything is out and back, and also uphill. If they kept grooming further there'd be great trails along the tops of the ridges, but nobody would ski that far. Still a nice place though. exit temperature in the sun: 72 degrees

with a few sprints at the end.

also both my car headlights weren't working this morning, as opposed to the one that was out last week.

felt really tired today. back hurts a little from the driving.

so the drive home. got down to Sacramento to drop off Dad at the airport by 7:30, and started down to LA. Looked like an easy drive, I even had both headlights working, should have gotten home around 1 or 2. It started raining about 11:00, then started monsooning about midnight. Got to Bakersfield and it turned to snow (thats at 400ft elevation in the desert. it doesn't do that.). They had roadblocks up at the start of the climb over the mountains - I5 was closed. 58 was closed. All of the roads that went over the mountains were closed. Theres only one other way to get to LA - out around the mountains to the west along the coast - but that was closed due to flooding. So I took a nap. Got up at 5, it had stopped snowing but all the passes were still closed tight and they couldn't say when they'd be open, but were guessing by lunchtime. The coast road was open again, so I drank the better part of a gallon of Mt Dew and took off in that direction. I started 70 miles from home, and got to do this - quite a pretty drive, though it was 280 miles, and the first 100 was two lane road with more trucks than a Tonka factory (ha. see thats what a gallon of Dew does). Traffic wasn't actually too bad, even when I hit the valley during the middle of rush hour. Got home at 10am. Rode to work and in a meeting by 10:15. Nap time.

C • Tough drive! I got home ... 1

Day 4 at Auburn Ski Club. A foot of new snow overnight and an entire trail that was ungroomed turned what could have been a pretty fun course into a long slog. Three loops, each of which had a control down and back a few hundred meters of the ungroomed stuff. The rest of the trails were pretty soft, but at least skiable.

control pickup with Mikkel

Day 3 at Royal Gorge. Not a very dense trail network here, so most of the game was picking the right trail then just skiing it to the end. Had one mistake where I started down the wrong trail out of a 5 way junction, but only lost a minute or two. Some new snow overnight, some more during the race, but still ok conditions.

control pickup with Mikkel and Dad.

rest day. Went to Auburn and wandered around the trails a bit. Kinda soft trails.

more after lunch