Drove up the afternoon before with my friends Heather and Dayton. We were actually all disappointed that the event had been shortened to 31k but we were glad it wasn't canceled.
We made Ironwood easily, took the shuttle to ABR and finished getting ready. Because of the cold, Heather had made the decision to switch to classic a couple days before the race. We saw her off with the women elites, she had a great finish as fourth woman overall and first in her age group.
I got going with freestyle wave one. Big difference from last year, when I was leading wave 3, this year I was in the middle tier of the pack. Wax felt decent and the cold did not bother me, if anything, I felt a little overdressed. The Toko windbreaker over-mitts were working great, warm hands, even without handwarmers. But I did feel my legs tiring, I kept passing slower skiers from my wave and hung on to some who were about my speed. Somehow, Peltonen Passout did not seem as scary anymore nor did the other steeper downhills. Maybe the slower snow? For long stretches it seemed I was skiing by myself, nobody in front, nobody behind. As I was coming by the ABR trailhead for the second time, I saw one of the 21k waves taking off. All of the sudden, the trail was populated again. classic skiers from the 42k race and many classic and freestyle skiers from the 21k were mixed in. I passed and was being passed a lot now, until the field stretched out again after the long straight on the old railroad grade. I did notice that a paramedic gave me a close and scrutinizing look when she handed me a cup of HEAT. What was that about, I wondered. I pushed on, again being often alone. Eventually, I caught up to a skier whom I had followed before. He had much better technique than me and I had written him off as someone I could pass. I had caught up to him in the hills only for him to pull away on the flats or downhills. Apparently he could not stomach the undulating terrain close to town and he stepped out of my way to let me pass in one of the short hills. I finished a couple minutes ahead of him.
In terms of pace, this was a slower race than last year. In terms of placement, I finished slightly ahead of last year, both overall and in my age group. Percent back from leader looked not as good, 38% last year, 455 this year. But I won't complain, it was a hard event.
One funny thing at the finish line: A paramedic made a beeline for me, cup of HEAT in hand, asking me if I was OK and scrutinizing my face. I said I was feeling just fine and he agreed that I looked just fine. Apparently the paramedic who had looked me over earlier had called ahead and told their colleagues to check me over. The paramedic was followed by several photographers who asked if they could take my picture, That's when I realized that I was sporting a massive icycle on my stubble.
I went for my bag, a shower and a sauna at Lahti's and then for the great pasty feed at Memorial Hall and felt like a human being again rather quickly.