Sunday Races

A bit late on this update - sorry about that...

Lots of racing going on last Sunday. The ECT was at Holderness for the final Eastern Cup race, the Cheri Walsh Memorial, a 7.5/15k mass start classic race. Several of the carnival team skiers came over the day before to give support. We were fortunate to have great hospitality from 2 sets of parents for this race: the men stayed with the Cooks in Bradford, and the women and I stayed with the Pedrin-Nielsons in Plymouth. The course was in great shape in the morning, with cold dry snow and firm tracks, but things softened up considerably as the sun climbed higher. We ended up with some tricky waxing - the sun was blasting some parts of the course, and hard waxes didn't seem to be kicking, but the snow stayed cold and dry in the shaded areas. Fortunately, I had a number of enthusiastic volunteer assistant coaches to help out, and we got the skiers to the start line just in time. The wax was hit or miss on various parts of the course, but others seemed to be running into the same issues, and our skiers toughed it out to post some decent finishes. Tom and Matt had a great duel to the finish, with Tom taking it by a ski length. Matt has been coming on strong for the last few weeks after being sick on and off ever since Thanksgiving - it was great to see him continuing to make progress. If we can keep him healthy next year... I'm also pleased to report that Shem edged out a Colby skier at the line - those little individual victories matter, especially when it's Colby. Overall, a beautiful day for racing, with some great efforts by our skiers. Here's a link to results. As always, the parents were amazing, and we walked away with as much food as we could carry for the ride home. That didn't stop Nick and Nat from doing an impromptu donut challenge on the way home. Nat had been talking up his eating skills all week, but Nick gave him a good thrashing - 19:50 to 53:09 for the dozen. Still, they both deserve high praise for finishing - many donut-loving Bowdoin skiers of years past (including myself, 3 times) have tried and failed.

That same day, John, Colman, and Forrest raced the Stowe Derby. Forrest had bib 1, based on his second place finish last year. He was gunning for the win, but he got a bit too aggressive with a full tuck on one of the long straightaway downhills, and he ended up with a really painful crash that had him hobbling for the rest of the race. Colman posted an 8th place finish and was the 2nd college skier. John started with bib 211 and had to pass dozens of people on a thoroughly trashed course, but ended up 11th nonetheless. Results here, and photos here.

Walt was our other racer of the day - he competed at a citizen's race in the Sebago area and dominated, with future Bowdoin skier Spencer Eusden finishing 2nd.

Here are some photos of the Cheri Walsh, courtesy of Tom's brother James:

Middlebury Classic

I was right - today was even better.

A few inches fell yesterday, leaving the course in great shape for classic racing. Waxing seemed straightforward - hard wax with a little binder - yet somehow we found ourselves scrambling right up to the gun. There was enough coarse icy stuff under the tracks to make things a bit tricky - we brought out the heavy artillery for Courtney and Sarah (I believe the term is "panic waxing") and prayed that they wouldn't have to stride down the hills. They didn't. Instead, the whole women's team nailed it - 42, 43, and 44 for Sarah, Elissa, and Courtney, and solid races by Maresa and Grace as well - our best overall team performance of the year, even better than last weekend. Elissa was deep into the 30s for a while before a couple falls set her back several places. Frustrating, but a nice reminder of the speed that's been waiting to come out all season. She had a big hole to climb out of after Christmas, and she's done a great job of getting back into racing shape - the season's just ending a bit too soon. This group has made a lot of progress this season, and I'm really proud of them. We'll have all 5 back next year - I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do with another year.

Our men did a nice job of fighting their way up from their seeds in the back of the pack - passing lots of bodies takes a lot of energy, but they made their way into the thick of it and kept moving up throughout the race. Walt led the team in 31st, just seconds from the mid 20s. Faster skis would have gotten him there - perhaps a bit too much binder. John Hall went out in style with his best classic race ever. Early in the race, he got taken out when another skier crashed in front of him, but this just seemed to light the fire - from that point on, he just kept picking people off and ended up in 34th, just a stone's throw from the 20s. Forrest also ended on a good note - 41st in spite of draggy skis. He's overcome his earlier struggles with tensing up in classic races, and he skied smoothly and held his technique together well. We'll miss both of these guys next year, both in terms of results and character. They won't be easily replaced.

So - that's it. No more college racing this year. It's been a good season - many personal victories, some history made, and a few lessons learned. Next year will be even better. For now, though, we'll catch our breath, jump into a couple fun citizen races, and enjoy the last few weeks of winter.

PS - The ECT raced today at the Silver Fox Trot in Hanover. I don't want to say too much in case someone's going to write a more thorough update for us, but for now, here's a link to results. Great work by all of these guys to pull this trip together by themselves, and to Nick for pulling off fast skis in his role as volunteer wax tech. Eastern Cup finals tomorrow at the Cheri Walsh in Holderness - several of the carnival team folks will be there to cheer them on and help with waxing. Right now we're comfortably settled in at Maresa's house in Plymouth - great hospitality from her parents. Tomorrow should be a fun day.

Middlebury Skate

What a great day of racing - fresh snow, narrow winding trails, tons of fans, good food, and lots at stake. Last chance for skate qualifying. This was particularly meaningful for us, since Walt was sitting on a 5th place finish and needed to finish 3rd today to qualify. A 3rd seemed like a long shot since he'd been in the teens for the last few weeks, but we knew he could make it happen. And...

8 seconds! 5th place, 8 seconds out of 3rd. In any normal year, two 5th place finishes would make you a shoo-in for NCAAs, but not this year. Too much depth - too many guys capable of pulling off big finishes, especially in skating. That's not a bad thing - tougher competition in the conference makes everyone better - but it's tough to see Walt missing out by such a narrow margin.

Lots of other strong races today - one of our best team races of the season. Sarah and Colman had PRs today - Sarah was 40th, our best women's finish of the year, and Colman was 32nd. Forrest and John were 21st and 38th, respectively, in the final skate race of their college careers. Times were super tight, and just a handful of seconds would have put both guys 8 or 10 places higher. Like I said, the depth in this field is amazing. Still not sure what the team scores look like, but this was definitely one of our better days score-wise.

Some non-racing highlights: Classy handmade red headbands for the women - elegant yet functional. Look good, feel good, as Bill Yeo would say. The ECT showed up today - they're racing in Hanover tomorrow, and they drove out a bit early so they could cheer the team on. It was great to have their support - we even pressed them into service with some last-minute ski prep, brushing out the men's skis and skiing them in after we'd put on the topcoat. Best of all, their presence gave us a chance to take a team photo with everyone present. We also had several team parents here, and the spread was more impressive than ever - we barely made a dent, even with the ECT helping out. Lastly, Marty was able to make it to the races. He's been recovering from a broken hip for the last few months, and we haven't seen him all winter, so it was pretty special to have him here today. A fun day, and an even better one coming up tomorrow.

ECT Weekend Recap

Another update from Nat on the adventures of the ECT (it should be noted that last weekend's races technically weren't Eastern Cup races; however, the team is still known as the Eastern Cup Team, at least to Nat):

This weekend's Eastern Cup Index:

Approximate temperature (F) half an hour before the start of the Wonalancet Wander: 8

Approximate temperature when Bowdoin racers crossed the finish line: 22

Length of head start given to the oldest racer by Wonalancet's handicap start system: 9:01 (that's nine minutes and one second)

Number of parents of Olympians participating in the Wander: 2 (Sally Swenson and Donovan Freeman)

Number of times our assistant coach, Ezra, suggested that he would beat the author of this report in the Flying Moose Classic: at least 5

Time elapsed between the author's crossing the finish line and Ezra's crossing the finish line: 8:06

Time elapsed between the first woman's crossing the finish line and Ezra's crossing the finish line: 5:15

Percent of wax applied before the race to the ECT's skis that remained on those skis at the finish: 5

On Saturday morning at 5:30 A.M., around the time when most of the campus turns in after a night of party-going, the ECT stuffed 5 people, 7 pairs of skis, a wax table, two forms, and 5 duffel bags into the author's Passat station wagon. With seatbelts for all, we left Bowdoin and headed west, towards the hamlet of Wonalancet. If you've never heard of Wonalancet, it's probably because its residents are buried under ridiculous quantities of snow for 3/4 of the year. After driving down one of the bumpiest, iciest roads in the world, we arrived at a dead-end-parking lot in Wonalancet. There, we found the race organizer digging out the lone Porta-Potty from about four feet of snow, much to the chagrin of five of us who had been sitting in a car for two and a half hours. Given this incentive, I kindly offered to finish the job, albeit at a much faster rate.

As the ECT unpacked the contents of the Passat, we attracted the attention of the volunteers, to whom we must have seemed a lot like one of those clown cars with 30 clowns in it that you see at the circus. We set up our wax table and forms, and went out to test. It was really cold, and straight up Swix green seemed to be doing quite well. Given the warming trend, though, we all put a bit of special blue underfoot for some extra kick.

The Wander had an interesting age and gender handicap system. Given that the ECT is made up of men at or near prime skiing age, the bulk of the field had around a five minute head start. Jeff, Shem, and Bowers got a 39- second lead on Tom and I. The grooming and trails at Wonalancet were excellent--fast and twisty--but also quite narrow, and this made for an interesting race given that most ECT members had to pass 10 skiers each. Given that the trail was barely wide enough to herringbone, things got interesting when our wax stopped working (which seems to have been at the exact moment we arrived at the bottom of the first hill). Fortunately, a relatively flat course made for mostly double poling, which also made it easier to get around the citizen racers.

While no other college racers were present, the challenge for the ECT was catching all the people who got massive head starts. By the third 3.3k lap, only one obstacle remained between victory and the lead pack of Tom, Bowers, and me: Donovan Freeman, father of extremely fast skier Kris Freeman and an obvious owner of excellent genes. Freeman had plenty of wax on his skis, and threatened to stay away as we climbed the last hill, but our lack of drag allowed us to pass him with about 1k to go. Tom, Bowers and I swept the podium, while Jeff and Shem cruised in shortly afterward to take 6th and 7th (with the 4th and 5th fastest ski times). After some delicious peach upside-down cake and some great prizes, the ECT headed home. A brief but delicious stop at Wendy's in Falmouth completed our day.

On Sunday, we had both a van and a coach for the Flying Moose Classic, a 20k organized by the Bethel Outing Club. One might think that these resources might have made for a little less pre-race hectacity, but the ECT has a way of ensuring excitement no matter what. After getting our bibs in town, we drove a short distance to the Gould trails. Since the Gould trails are shaded, and the start area was sunnier and warmer, this seemed to be the only way to be sure that the wax we tested would work during the race. The only problem was that without access to power, we couldn't plug in an iron or heat gun. Sparing the reader another sleep-inducing account of technological mishaps, I'll just say that the torch we used to heat up our binder layers may not have been equal to the task. With 15 minutes until race start, Elissa and Bowers finished preparing the last pair of race skis, and we all piled into the cargo van. We arrived at Gould with 10 to go.

The race was a mass start, self-seeded. This meant that there were about 20 people crammed into the first two rows--Ezra had a particularly good spot in three feet of powder on the left side of the trail. Surprisingly little chaos ensued, although I do admit to a rather dumb maneuver that may have involved sticking a pole half an inch into my boot and falling over in front of around 20 speedy racers at the top of the first downhill.
For most of us, the race went pretty well for the first 10k. Around this point was where most of us realized the woeful inadequacy of our binder layers. Fortunately, there was minimal climbing in the second half of the race, although Shem did have the audacity switch his skis in hopes of getting some kick. While Ezra somehow managed to have wax on his skis at the finish (perhaps he wasn't going fast enough to wear it off?), the rest of us had less wax than....well, let's just say that we had a good cooldown--skate skiing.

With some competitive skiers from Colby and Burke Mountain Academy in attendance, the field was tough. The ECT managed to pull off 10th, 11th, 18th, 36th, and 39th. Nick had an especially epic duel with a fast Burke girl who had way more wax, but persevered and dropped her with some strong double-poling.

My parents treated us to an excellent lunch at a bakery in Bethel. Quesadillas, calzones, and pastries were a few things that we consumed. With that, another weekend for the ECT was in the books. Next week should be just as exciting, with a 10k skate at the Dartmouth Skiway, and a 15k classic mass start at Holderness.

Ed. Note - Here's a nice article about the Wander from the North Conway Mountain Ear. Results for both races can be found at www.nensa.net.

Williams Sprint Relay

Today was a good day, but it didn't start off that way. It was a cold morning, and we were expecting yesterday's transformed snow to freeze into typical klister conditions, so we showed up a bit early to test waxes. Ezra and I were the first coaches at the venue by at least half an hour, but we didn't get much done with all that extra time. We set out to test some klister and found that none of the 57 matchbooks that we had would light, so no torch. The shed with electric outlets was locked, so no power for our heat gun. Eventually we got power, but it went down quickly - too many irons and heat guns going. Back to the torch. We got ahold of a lighter, but for some reason the torch head wasn't working. Back to the heat gun. We found another power source, but Ezra nearly electrocuted himself when he plugged in the gun - the cord was worn, and today was the day that it finally frayed through to expose the wires. No more heat gun. Back to the torch. Bates generously agreed to lend us a torch head, and at last we were in business. We soon found that all our troubles were for naught, though, because somehow hard wax was working better than klister - just enough of a dusting last night to keep the surface fresh, I guess. After some testing, I determined that straight Toko green binder was kicking and gliding better than hard wax, so this was our call for the men. I'd been waiting for years to use straight Toko binder in a race - today was the day at last. Happy day. However, the snow was ridiculously abrasive, and the wax showed wear even after just one turn around the 1.2k loop - fortunately, the race format allowed us to reapply wax to each person's skis after each lap. The men gave a good show - Colman scrambled, and was right with the leaders until nearly the end of the lap when he wiped out on the downhill - tough skiing in a crowd with such sketchy conditions. Later, on his second lap, he crashed again when trying to pass another skier - tough day, but he skied pretty well when he was on his feet, which is encouraging. Forrest and Walt skied well and kept the team in the thick of it - they ended up 14th overall, with Walt posting some of the better lap times of the day. Nick, John, and Niko skied solidly and finished 18th.

The women's race was a treat to watch. Something was up with our women today. Maybe it was the image of the Virgin Mary that Elissa and Sarah saw in the fog on their motel room window. Maybe it was the tasty Fruit Roll-Ups the restaurant owner gave us last night at dinner. Maybe it was just hard work paying off. Whatever it was, they were on. Elissa got off to a fast start and put the team right in the middle of the action at the first tag. She, Courtney, and Sarah skied strongly throughout the race and ended up 16th. However, they were upstaged by Maresa and Grace, skiing on a mixed team with a UVM skier, who finished just ahead in 15th. Both of these two were skiing with as much snap as I've ever seen from them - they looked great. All in all, this was a great day for all 5 of them - by far the most competitive race our women's team has had all season. I can't wait to see them ski next weekend.

A vast number of Hall family members were at the race today, which was great - so nice to have Bowdoin fans cheering our team on. As always, they provided us with a wonderful lunch - I'm starting to wonder if there's some kind of competition going on among the team parents. Right now I'm daydreaming about the peanut butter cookies. Can I make it till next weekend?

Williams Skate

5/10k skate at Prospect today for the Williams Carnival. The grooming was somewhat suspect, but nice and fast snow - loose frozen granular. A decent day for our team, if not great. Maresa skied well in spite of a crash, and John had a PR in 32nd to help the men to a 6th place team finish, just 3 points from 5th. Times were really tight today - Walt was 14th, just 5 seconds from 9th - he had been only 7 seconds from the lead on the first lap before fading. Forrest was also in good position before he tripped and had a very painful fall - he still managed 24th. Our expectations are high these days, but a 6th place team finish isn't something to be dismissed - one of the best finishes ever for a Bowdoin team. Classic sprint relay tomorrow - our first and only relay of the year. Great chance to show off as a team - should be fun.

PS - I almost forgot to mention the amazing lunch provided by Sue and Lloyd Crawford: sandwiches on homemade bread, soup, cookies, fruit. It was what you'd expect if you hired a caterer, but better. Outstanding.

VT Eastern Cup Report

Here's a brief report from Nat on last weekend's Eastern Cup races:

Before bogging you down with the tedium of a race report, I first offer you this week's Eastern Cup Index (the term Eastern Cup Index is trademarked by Bowdoin Nordic):

Hours the Eastern Cup Team (ECT) spent in the van this weekend: 11
Hours each ECT member spent racing this weekend, on average: about 1
Number of waxes the ECT tested at Vermont Academy on Sunday: 6-7
Number that got both kick and glide: 0
Number of teams that used hairies: at least 2
Number of snow tires on the rental van: 0
Number of hours the ECT spent pushing the rental van around in the snow: about 1
Cumulative number of racers that Bowdoin skiers beat in Eastern Cup races, despite all of these challenges: 309

Amidst fierce snow showers on Friday afternoon, the Bowdoin Eastern Cup team departed the College for a weekend of racing at Prospect Mountain and Vermont Academy. An hour into the drive, the van's windshield wipers began working; an hour after that it stopped snowing; and two hours after that, we arrived at the Putney School in Putney, Vermont.
Having graduated from Putney in 2005, I fearlessly found changing rooms for the team and we set out on a pre-race ski. After some good pick-ups and threshholds, we cooled down with a powder-8 competition in the pristine powder adorning Putney's fields, with Nick and I the winners by a landslide. We followed a hearty dinner at the Putney Diner with some waxing, then bed.

Saturday was an excellent day for a skate race at Prospect--warm and overcast, with surprisingly firm skating tracks (firm and Prospect Mountain are words that very seldom accompany each other). The going was sticky on our rock skis, but much better when testing the race boards. The men raced first, at 11:00. A field of nearly 100 hungry athletes lined up for what was sure to be a hectic mass-start, and it was on. Bowers was taken out by a rogue high school racer, but fought on, and apparently Jeff exacted revenge on the upstart.
When the dust settled, the Bowdoin men had taken 42nd, 70th, 77th, and 91st in a tough field.
Grace raced next. Her start was was considerably less chaotic, and two laps later, Grace crossed the line in 57th, besting a few Colby and Bates skiers.

With Jeff Bush's mom, brother, and brother's girlfriend (Kathy, Matt, and Hannah) in attendance, we were treated to chili that seriously rivaled the stuff my mom served the team back in the fall. I personally had two huge bowls, as well as a few pieces of some amazing pumpkin bread. After everyone had eaten, we started our way back to Putney as a mid-day blizzard set in, making a brief stop for some homemade cider donuts at a sugarhouse on the way back. Oh yeah, and both Nick and Jeff's brother caught mice INSIDE the Prospect lodge--yet another reason why that place sucks (firm trails notwithstanding).

Amazingly, our snow-tireless van conquered the hill up to Putney, and we drove down the back side to the hostel before settling in for a nap. Around 4:30, everyone but Nick piled into the van again to drive back up to the school to wax our. Nick planned to meet us at the wax room after a jog to clean out his legs.

With me fearlessly at the helm, the van made all the way out of the driveway and at least 20 yards up the hill before pathetically drifting backwards into a snowbank. After a lot of pushing, some sand from a bemused pickup-truck driver, and no help whatsoever from Nick, we managed to turn the van around and drive the 20 yards back to the beginning of the driveway--which is about 200 yards of gentle uphill. With intensive thought and engineering, the Nick-less team devised a strategy involving spinning the tires until they kicked up a strip of dirt (SoD), backing up onto the SoD, and using the SoD as a launching pad to gain speed and momentum. Just as the van rolled into its parking space, Nick conveniently reappeared, refreshed from an easy jaunt up the hill.

I'll spare you all the gory details of our quest for dinner, but suffice to say that two hikes up the hill later, Kathy met Matt Bowers at the top of the hill with the ingredients for a delicious dinner, and there was much rejoicing. Jeff went down to the Putney Inn for the night, while the rest of the team waxed on the kitchen table, doing our best to keep the fluoros distinct from the food.
Sunday morning we awoke to a plowed driveway. With a stop to pick up Jeff at the Putney Inn, we cruised on up to Vermont Academy for a 10k/5k classic. Given all the new snow, we were all but assured of perfect, extra blue conditions, and we arrived with just over an hour before Grace's start--plenty of time for the guys to pick the right hardwax while Grace warmed up.
The first indication that things might not be going as planned was the brief but fierce snow that kicked up as we unpacked that van. As I noticed blow torches and klister boxes on other teams' benches, I started to wonder if things might not be as simple as we thought. The bottom line is that Sunday would have been a perfect day for waxless skis. With high humidity, intermittent snow squalls, and warm temperatures, the tracks were going from powdery to icy and back again quicker than coaches could say "uh-oh." Grace ended up racing on silver covered with yellow klister, and in spite of the crappy wax AND breaking a pole still fought to 72nd place.
Most of the men opted for a different tack. Shem went for Toko orange klister, which was underwhelming, but the rest of us opted for VR70. The 70 kicked like Jackie Chan outside the track, but also attracted clumps of powder like honey attracts Winnie the Pooh. This made for tough going over the tops of hills, turning the race into more of cross-country running event. The men pulled off 47th, 53rd, 58th, 78th, and 83rd.

Kathy pulled through again for us with some delicious sandwiches and cookies. After consuming these with gusto, we set out on the final leg of our journey, which turned out to be no less epic that the rest of the trip, given that we had to conquer the third snowstorm of the weekend. Both Jeff and I kept us on the road, though, and we pulled into Bowdoin in time for a delicious dinner at Thorne. And if you made it all the way to the end of this ridiculous race report, let me know--I'll send you a medal...