Dan Josephson, Nordic coach at Detroit Lakes, (skiing with Jake and Dylan below) completed in the Norwegian Birkie last weekend. Dan dropped me a note on the recap and I posted it below. As I mentioned before, the Norwegian Birkie is on the "to do" list. Having lived in Norway on two separate occasions and over 35 Norskies spending a year at Maplelag, there would be plenty of contacts to connect with.
The race was and experience in itself. The shear numbers were amazing.
I think my wave had around 875 people in it and the sound of that many
skis and poles is unreal. The conditions were pretty difficult with the
temps at the start being about -3c and it warmed from there up the
mountain to around 0 or so before it dropped again at you got above the
tree line. In the valley between the to mountains the snow was icy and
damp and it was very tough to get kick in many places. With the same wax
from the start. Here the temps were above 0 and that was tough for me
since we do very little skiing in those temps here especially this year.
I was a little frustrated and my race was not going to well so about the
15 km mark I made a choice to enjoy the experience rather than blow up
and not be able to finish the race. I stopped a few times to either add
more wax or to tweak things a bit. Around the base of the second
mountain I made the choice to klister the skis since I was slipping and
could not really get up the hills. I knew in many places I would ice up
but at this point I was taking in the atmosphere and just wanting to
finish. From this point the steep hills had to be walked up due to the
numbers of other people on the trail and the klister. After making it
to the high point of the course it is really all downhill for the final
15 km. During this part of the race the klister (KR50) was working well
and I could get pretty good kick on the few up hills. I finished 5
hours 41 minutes and had a very good time considering the conditions.
The temp at the finish was around +6C. In comparison to the American
Birkie there is not quite the party atmosphere among the skiers no
costumes or funny race suits, but the numbers of spectators along the
entire course was very nice. They would cheer and give encouragement
throughout most of the race course. If you needed help they were more
than willing to lend a hand. Food stations were few and far between but
I guess that is why you need to carry a pack with water, gels and food.
At least for me it would have been a totally different race if it had
been 5 to 10 degrees colder. Next time I don't think we will plan do
the race after 2 days in London 2 days in Belfast before heading to
Norway. Too much travel and sights and not enough rest. I do plan on
heading back to try and do it again.
2 comments:
Early ice off down here. Our lake has the dark slush look to it. Could be off by the end of this week with all the rain. All the lakes must be 3+ feet low. Lowest I've ever seen it.
Crazy. Didn't think water was that low down there. Noticed Detroit Lake had that dark look to it this afternoon. Little Sugarbush is white and most other lakes in the area. Supposed to snow 2-5" next 24 and colder temps...I think the end of March going into April is going to be snowy!
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