Jay Richards

Wow. The City of Lakes Loppet is the coolest ski race I have done in my life. The race, especially considering the conditions skiers were faced with today, completely test the all around skills of a skier.
I have always wanted to do this race but never was able to sneak away. I registered earlier in the week once it looked like was a possibility but after yesterday, I had my doubts I would make it down. I groomed early Sat am for about 3 hours then had lessons all morning and most of the afternoon.It was cooler on Saturday then I was thinking and I got a bit chilled after being outside for 8 hours and a bit under dressed. After lessons, had to wax some guest's skis, mount some bindings and impregnate a pair of woodies. Go figure. The smell was nice though and lingered through the whole lodge. Anyways, at 7pm, I was toast. I was going to drive down that night and stay at Adelsmans but I was too wiped out. So I was able to get to bed by 10pm and set the alarm for 4am. I thought if I felt good I would go for it and if not, then stay home. I woke up before the alarm so that was a good sign. Drove down and made it to the shuttle area by 8:30am. Got to Theo Wirth, picked up bib, shot the breeze with fellow skiers and ran in to Sam O and chatted with him a bit before going out to loosen up a bit. I worked on my skis more than I ever have this week and the early test....they were runners.



I had my skis lined up on the front row but after putting my clothes bag on the truck, it was crammed at the lined so I moved back to the second row. I had an Infinity pole for my left pole and a Silver Swix Star CT1 for my right. I broke a couple infinity poles over the years so had just the one. And when I was putting a new grip on the Swix poles a few weeks ago, I broke the top of the right pole so that left me with a pair. I was a bit worried about the Infinity pole getting stepped on so I figured a second row start would be good and I made sure to power from my right side so my left pole would be lead. After the start, I was probably in 100th position but worked my way up quickly and had fun cutting corners and using fast skis to pass people the first few k's.



The first big downhill I was carrying a ton of speed so instead of wedging the corner, I went wide off the course and on the non breaking crust. On the next uphill, I stayed off the side and skied on the crust as it was faster and passed probably 30 people on that climb that were turning in sugar. I caught up to fellow skinnyskier Grant Nelson and figured he was good as any to ski with as he is a smart skier and always finishes strong.


So we picked our way through and caught up to the Tabor,Hanson, Chapin,Raymond, Rogers etc. group. We worked with that train for about 5 minutes then Chip must of went to the front and the paced picked up. Matt Aro, Grant and I were off the back, not able to hold that pace and along with Paul Peterson, we had our own group. Aro broke free and Grant, Paul and I skied most of the rest of the race together.




When we hit the last lake, I took a gel and thought we had 30 minutes left but we only had 2.5k to go. So I sucked Grant's pole until 1k to go then I went to the front and poured it on in the wind. Grant came around 500 meters to go with Paul in his wake. I then broke on the right side and just clipped Paul at the end but not Grant to come across in 27th. A super strong field, all the top guns in MN there so really happy with the result but felt great. Boy, what fun racing .The course was super cool. Technical, some good climbs, flat section, lake sections even some singletrack type stuff on a few connectors. Just a ton of fun. Cranked out 2:51ks which is crazy fast, thanks to the conditions. Skiing fast is such a blast, especially in a pack like that. Incredible job to Munger and all the volunteers, groomers etc. that made it happen. Top of the list for sure. Bruce was amazing, he skied the whole course from start to finish, cut offs of course but I saw him three times. Just incredible that guy. There is no one that even comes close. And way cool for Margaret to ski the National anthem.
At home, Jonell went out with the boys on Lucky's Loype in the afternoon. Nicely done Jonell.
Friday I was at Bemidji for the morning to watch the Bemidji Pursuits. Jake had one of his best races of the year in the classic, coming in 13th. All the Section players were there except Alexandria. Jake had the bullseye on his pack for the Pursuit and a few skiers caught him and he ended up 18th overall which is a great finish. It was the Ellefesons sweeping with Summer holding off the Little Falls train in the Pursuit and Lars putting the hurt to everyone. After the race, Lars didn't even look tired. Sections are on Wed at Camp Ripley. Should be exciting on the boys team side as Alex, Bemidji and even Fergus all have a chance at state. February is a great month!!