Can't Wait?

Don't want to wait until January for headlamp skiing?  Jon tells me there were at least 25 people there last Wednesday night, skiing around in the dark, lit only by their headlamps and their big smiles, and he said the grooming was fantastic.  Peter and I are headed up tomorrow after work; see you there?

Headlamp Racing -- Coming Soon!

The new 2012 schedule is now posted over there on the left, so it's almost time to block out Wednesday nights all winter, throw your skis in your car, and head up to Cabin Creek for another season of headlamp racing!

You know the drill: bring your own headlamp and your own watch; start whenever you want to and time yourself; write down your results on the sign-in sheet in the cabin.  That's all there is to it.  If you don't want to race, come anyway and enjoy a fun couple hours of skiing after work.  The cabin will be warm and open, available all evening for changing clothes and eating dinner and telling stories with your friends.

This is a super fun way to get a blast of fresh air in the middle of the work week, and the sight of all those headlamps twinkling in the trees is magical.  You want to be a part of it this year!

Happy holidays, everyone, and see you in January!

While We're Waiting ...

Patience, my friends; winter is on its way back!  While you're waiting, check out a special invitation for all headlamp skiers over on the other blog:

www.xcskigirl04.blogspot.com

And keep training!

Mar 18, Relay

Okay, that's it for another year!  Winter gave us one last blast for the end-of-season relay, snowing and blowing at the pass, and our old friend the wintry mix, sleety rainy snowy, at Cabin Creek for the race.  Didn't matter; 20 loyal skiers came out to say goodbye to another successful headlamp season, blasting through the sprint relay, then heading up to the cabin for dinner and age-group awards and draw prizes, courtesy of Mr Helle Hansen, Brent Turner.  Thanks, Brent, for the awesome prizes!

And thanks, Jason and Neil, for these photos.

Here are the final season standings:

Men 20-29 (three racers)
1st: Jim Wood
2nd: Jordan Goldwarg
3rd: Owen Burbank

Men 30-39 (ten racers)
1st: Alex Horner-Devine
2nd: Bryan Schaeffer
3rd: Kyle Nagle

Men 40-49 (15 racers)
1st: Jon Fewster
2nd: Jim Cahill
3rd: Chris Fast

Men 50-59 (nine racers)
1st: Brian Dumais
2nd: Peter Boveng and Jeff McGrew (tie)

Men 60-69 (one racer)
1st: Richard Rice

Women 20-29 (one racer)
1st: Heidi Fischer

Women 30-39 (three racers)
1st: Jessica Kleiss
2nd: Emily Rimas
3rd: Martina Widman

Women 40-49 (four racers)
1st: Mona Deprey
2nd: Carey Gazis and Amy Snover (tie)

Women 50-59 (three racers)
1st: xcskigirl
2nd: Joy Cordell
3rd: Elizabeth Bailey

Junior Boys (two racers)
1st: Magnus Melbourne
2nd: Nils Melbourne

Junior Girls (one racer)
1st: Elise Stacey

Many thanks to everyone, especially to Brent, the guiding force behind this super fun event; to Brian, the go-to guy for getting things done when they needed getting done; and to Robert, for grooming as well as he could, given the conditions.  But most of all, thanks to you and you and you, for showing up, week after week, in the rain and snow, bringing your energy and smack talk and love of skiing to the dark dark trails.  It has been another fantastic season, and I will miss all of you! 

We'll start back up again next January, and until then, have a great summer.  I'm transferring my focus now to the training and racing blog, http://www.xcskigirl04.blogspot.com/, so if you have any fun roller ski/mountain bike/trail running/other adventure stories to tell, send them on to me and I'll post them so we can all share in the fun!

In the meantime, you know what US Ski Team Coach Pete Vordenberg says:

"Train, train well, train a lot, train hard, balance it with rest.  Train."

Bye!

Mar 16, Preview

It's time for the end-of-season relay and party!

Relay: starts at 6:30.  Two-person teams, one skating and one classic.  Each person does three sprint laps (alternating skating and classic) around the first part of the Berg loop, then coming straight back down the road and around the little PK loop to tag your partner.  Results don't count for this one, so it's fun to mix up fast skiers and slow skiers.  We probably won't even need headlamps!

Party: bring your own food and drink; there may be a grill set up to barbecue.  Hopefully Brent will bring schwag for prizes, both age group winners and draw prizes.

This is always a super-fun evening, so bring your friends and come up for one last night of headlamp skiing before you get out your running shoes and mountain bikes!  See you there!

Mar 9, Classic

Wow, I can't possibly improve on the awesome race report submitted by Anonymous in the March 2 comments section!  So I'll just add a few results and leave it at that.  Thanks, Anonymous!

Masters, 5k

Jon Fewster, 17:25
Brian Dumais, 18:23
Brent Turner, 19:24
Chris Fast, 19:33
Jeremy Littell, 21:11

Just Skiin'

Melbourne Boys
Ian Whyte (skating!)

Mar 2, Skating

It looks like I missed some interesting weather while I was in Sweden!  Many thanks to Chris Fast for wading through two feet of snow to open up the cabin, putting out a list, collecting the results, and sending them to me.  Here is his report on conditions:

2 feet of fresh snow got groomed in the morning.  The track was very bumpy and rutted.  Poles with powder baskets were the gear of choice tonight, because the poles kept punching through.  The first time classic would have been considerably faster than skating!


I'll try to track down the results for the other week I missed; if anyone picked them up, please let me know.

Next week: end of season relay and party!  Details to come.


Masters, 5k Skating

Nikolay Nachev, 16:56
Chris Fast, 17:20
Eric Kamila, 17:50

Just Skiin'

Tim Melbourne
Jon Fewster
Brian Dumais