Training Log Archive: biggins

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

Day 2 at Tahoe XC. Nice day, didn't start snowing until we were all finished, and the trails were fairly solid. At least they were all groomed today. Had one control that was about 300m away from where it should have been, so I ended up doubling back and forth once thinking I'd missed it before I went way out to find it. Lost about 4 minutes on that one.

warmup

Event: 2008 Sierra Avalanche Ski-Orienteering Championships
 

Race 1 at Tahoe Donner. Got a foot of snow overnight, so they started grooming everything fresh this morning. Trails were actually pretty solid, so not too many problems there. First few went ok, and I was feeling good with the skiing, wax was great (on one good ski + one rock ski), so I was getting into it. Then at about control 4 I found out that since I was one of the first starters (the first on blue) it was apparently my responsibility to make sure the dotted trails existed. So I lost a few minutes bushwacking through bottomless powder to get to the next trail (the alternative was a km and 10 contours). The next few were fairly uneventful, until #7 where there was an entire solid green trail that wasn't groomed. Spent a few minutes thinking I was lost, then confused, then just pissed because I had to set more bushwack trail. Lost at least five minutes to dad on that one. After that we started to loop back through parts of the map we'd already been on, so I knew which trails existed or not, and we had also finished all the wicked climbs, so things were good to the end. I think I finished fourth, a whopping 25 minutes behind Margus Hallik, and a few minutes in front of Randy and Dad.

C • Another way to save your edges 2

We got there early, and they were still grooming trails and setting controls, so before the starts they sent Dad, Randy and I out into the nearby beginner trails to create/pack the dotted trails. Much fun wading through powder. Until you lose your balance and your poles go in up to the handles.

Control pickup in the afternoon, with no poles and no map.

Royal Gorge. So the weather said it was going to flurry in the morning and start snowing hard in the late afternoon. By about 10am it was coming down an inch or two an hour. We went out trying to follow the groomer around, but the best we could get were some trails that only had about 4 inches on them.

Afternoon loop, we tried to find some better trails, but it turned out that the groomer had stopped for the day about 11am, so everything had at least 6 inches on it, most of it was above the boots. Not so good.

Tahoe Donner XC. Got another foot of snow overnight and it was still coming, so we were chasing behind the groomer by an hour or two and there was already 4 inches on top of what he groomed. So a somewhat slow morning.

Out again after lunch. Still snowing, but only an inch or two on the trails this time. Spent some time following the tread tracks of the groomer (in the deep stuff they just drive it first before they groom it) practicing the ski-o-jump-skate to mild success. Then fell into a soft patch of snow followed by a hard patch of snow and cracked the tip on one of my [previously-good] skis. I'm pretty sure I started it in Switzerland on one of my spectacular falls on the long course, since there's been a little hitch in its springiness ever since. There's a big hitch now, and a crack in the top of the ski.

C • Shifting blame... 2

Tahoe Rim Tour 2008.
A new race this year, the idea was that it starts at Tahoe XC, climbs up over the ridge, then drops down the other side into the Northstar trails for about 30k. Well they sortof got a foot of snow last night (after a couple feet last week) and the winds on the ridge were gusting to highway speeds, so they rearranged the course to a 20k loop just around the Tahoe XC trails, which actually turned out to be 15k by dad's gps.

So I'm not sure what exactly to pin it on, but for some reason I wasn't really feeling too strong:
a. 3.5 hours of sleep
b. going 0-7000ft 3 hours before the start
c. the 10 mile run yesterday
d. a powerbar breakfast.
e. my glide wax was crap.
f. all of the above.

Combined with the new soft snow that made everything difficult, I bonked on the big long hill about 5k into it. Got passed by a few people, caught most of them on the downhills afterwards but lost a lot of time wheezing my way up the hill. Finished after the local acclimitized guys (they were around 50 mins) but still in front of all the old folks. Looks like I was 28th out of 110 or so.

a few k warmup, plus skiing from the finish back to the car then back to the finish, plus a long slow cooldown loop with dad after lunch.