XC Skiing Skijor28:24 9.66 km (2:56 / km) +7m2:56 / km ahr:166 max:173 shoes: Atomic Race Skate 2010
New location, longer distance, lots to learn.
The weird stuff with my GPS track and time is due to starting the timer late and stitching in part of the track from my second lap and adjusting the time. Does not work perfectly and transfer the time correctly. My time was 32:38.
Much more difficult to get to the start than before. It is not easy to park in the area, especially when having spectators along. We were late, Lynn dropped me at 26th and Lake of the Isles. I made it to the start with 13 minutes to spare. Mellie was pretty riled up and joined into the happy choir of dogs. Many friends were there, Chris and Toby, Dallas and Comet. Bruce stopped by to say hi, he was doing the 5 km. Joel Benton came too and helpted to settle down Mellie, much appreciated.
We finally got going and the chase was on. We had a great start from the first row, Next to Jerry and his dog from Wisconisn, whom I remembered from previous years. The really fast skiers and dogs were soon out of sight and mellie and I were bringing up the mid field. There was a dog with us for the first km who had gotten away from his owner. He looked a little forlorn but strode on. I later met the mom of the racer, someone form the 5k group who had made the mistake of not to be tethered to her dog. Fortunately, a spry high school skier, she was able to catch up with her dog and return to her start in time.
In the meantime, Mellie and I were battling with #9021, Who seemed to be a little faster than us. Eventually, we were able to drop them close to the end of the first lap, hot at the heels of our nemesis, a certain Chris Franken, #9009. Mellie was definitely slowing down, I had to keep encouraging her, sometimes having her run a little behind me. But we kept close to 9009. we started catching up with the rear of the pack of the 5 km racers when disaster struck: someone, in an attempt to pass crossed almost perpendicular to the trail and Mellie and I had no way to avoid him short of leaving the trail for deep snow. Mellie went between skier and dog and the lines got tangled. I quickly unhooked the line, and reattached it, losing about 30". I though my chance at catching Chris was gone and 9021 whom we had dropped earlier was suddenly there again, her dog still going strong.
Mellie got a second wind, not liking to be passed and I helped with double poling.in the classic tracks. We kept up with them, also slowly gaining ground on 9009. Meanwhile, the pack of 5k racers got thicker and thicker and with some nice on-by manoeuvers (i.e. Mellie did not stop to say hi to the dogs she was passing), we caught and passed both 9021 and 9009. But we could not hold off and than keep up with 9011, who had materialized out of nowhere.
The curvy and hilly entrance into the finish area held one last snafu: we were passing a group of teams up the first hill and trying to get by another few on the first steep downhill. There was room to pass between two skijors but Mellie hesitated. I ended up passing her with legs wide spread, her underneath. Definitely a crowd pleaser as we could tell from the shouts and laughter. I finished the last couple hundred meters with the tow between my legs but that was OK. Mellie did a great job on this longer distance!
I will not talk about taking the wrong shuttle (to Optum) instead of to Uptown, there were others in this situation). It seems like the Loppet organizers have a thing or two to learn before this works. I heard later that the start of the 5 km group was supposed to be after the 10 km wave had passed after their first lap. I do like the location of the finish better from a skier's perspective but for spectators it is a drag. We'll see how this develops ...
XC Skiing Skijor6:03 1.56 km (3:53 / km) +0m3:53 / km ahr:145 max:158 shoes: Atomic Race Skate 2010
Lynn dropped me off at 26th and Lake of the Isles. Just enough time to make it to the starting line with about 13 minutes to spare. Nice little warmup for man and beast alike.
XC Skiing Skijor6:03 1.56 km (3:53 / km) +0m3:53 / km ahr:145 max:158 shoes: Atomic Race Skate 2010
Lynn dropped me off at 26th and Lake of the Isles. Just enough time to make it to the starting line with about 13 minutes to spare. Nice little warmup for man and beast alike.
XC Skiing Skate25:00 5.5 km (4:33 / km) shoes: Atomic Race Skate 2010
Decided to check out the new skijoring course while picking up my bibs for the Loppet. Parked at 32nd and Irving, on skis it's not a problem but walking, it would be a hike. I'm a little worried about Mellie, about the three extra km. We'll see. Couldn't quite make sense of the finish area but I am sure it will be OK. Need to do some serious waxing, the Finn Sisu guys said green is the color for the weekend. Ran into a bunch of friends and acquaintances, first Mike and daughter Charlie, then Amy, Comet's "mom," Stephen, Kari and daughter and last but not least Pete, as I was crossing the parkway to get back to the lake. I think Pete was not there for the package ...
XC Skiing Skijor26:47 6.85 km (3:55 / km) +35m3:49 / km ahr:149 max:164 shoes: Atomic Race Skate 2010
Quick skijor with Mellie. Busy place due to the mild temps. We saw the dog from Saturday again, fortunatlely Mellie went "on-by." First lap was pretty fast, second lap much slower. Snow was quite soft, especially in sheltered areas, a mix of drifts and warm temps. Fun outing, last one before Saturday's skijoring loppet!
XC Skiing Skate1:03:37 16.29 km (3:54 / km) +97m3:48 / km ahr:158 max:172 shoes: Atomic Race Skate 2010
Karl and I went for an easy ski at Como Park. Beautiful mild evening, many peple out. Good to see that it is used well. Perfect skate deck and the tracks looked good, too. Last serious practice befor City of Lakes Loppet. Karl is doing both classic and skate, I'll just be doing skijoring and skate. We may drive out together.to the Freestyle Loppet on Sunday.
XC Skiing Skate1:40:51 22.59 km (4:28 / km) +97m4:22 / km ahr:153 max:165 shoes: Atomic Race Skate 2010
Headed for Lake Elmo and was stuck behind a series of six plows who were removing snow from I-94. Pretty amazing display of plowing power in a simple but effective choreography. Quite a few people were out there but grooming wasn't done yet. Brown's Pond Trail wasn't done during my first pole-less lap and Bur Oak Trail was not groomed for any of the laps. I had hoped to jump over from Bur Oak to Eagle Point Lake trails but the blown over conditions at Bur Oak made me reconsider. Tracks were covered up again by the time I cam by again. Good workout, but shorter time and higher HR than I had intended. 1 lap no poles 2 laps w/ poles. Saw Dana and her Meet-up group at chalet, she was just getting started.