Nationals, Super Tour Finals, and another Nationals

Finally. Finally I’m racing where I should have been all year long. Though I had only two weeks left to take advantage of my shape I suppose it was better late than never. One race to the next from December onwards I was always on the edge, on the edge of being healthy and on the edge of recovering. I was consistently OK. But I’ve had enough mediocre races to learn that mediocre races don’t get you anywhere. All it took was a couple easy training weeks, 8 hours or less, lollygagging around some easy trails every other day, none of this peaking nonsense. I’m convinced now that there’s too much science involved in skiing and all you have to do is come into races healthy and rested. There are people out there training more hours than I am, they’re glued to their heart rate monitors, they fill their training log everyday; well-rounded athletes no doubt. But you better make sure you’re listening to your body and not your watch, and you’re filling that log for yourself, not your coach. Otherwise your making work for yourself and the moment skiing becomes more work and less fun you’re going in the wrong direction. Disciplined fun is what you want.  Anyways…

At Nationals I started things off right in the team sprint with Dave. We didn’t let being the Yukon’s “B” team get in the way of our performance and cruised through the semi final in first place. In the final Dave tagged me off in second place and I managed to hold that position thanks in part to a fall that took out rival Phil Widmer. Colin and Graham were third and the Yukon filled 2 spots on the podium!

The 10km skate was won by the amazing Brian McKeever who is legally blind but can somehow still weave his way around the course faster than anyone else. I had a good day finishing 22^nd but not as far off the pace as my position may suggest.

Classic 15km: best race of the year so far! Alain gave us killer skis and striding the hills was rhythmical like one of those conductors waving a stick in front of an orchestra in perfect harmony. That’s how I skied. I finished in 8^th place, 6^th Canadian.

My form continued in the sprint the next day where I ended up 6^th, 5^th Canadian. I felt strong as ever from my qualifier to the final but in the end my top speed is just a little less than those other guys.

The 50km skate did not feel like a ski race. I felt as though I was skiing on stilts. From 20km my legs were so crammed up I straight legged it up the stupidly hard course as fast as I could. I managed to get through it to keep my final aggregate position but it didn’t quite match up to the previous days.

I had planned on calling it a year after Canadian Nationals but I was pleased enough with my results I figured I could fight it out for another week down in California at the US Super Tour Finals. I’m glad I did.

In a frantic rush to change plane tickets, sort out who would wax my skis, where I would stay, and a million other things I ended up hopping in with Thomsen D’Hont and Kajsa Heyes. The Honda Fit was packed to capacity as we barreled down the highway towards our final destination: Truckee California. Stopping only briefly to spelunk some lava caves. We made it to Truckee with a day to spare before the first race.

The first race was a 3.3km skate: a prologue. The course was intimidating. The “wall” as they call it is the 3-minute long up-hill in the course, steep as a cow’s face. To make things worse we were racing at an altitude of over 2000m. My legs felt like garbage and breathing was like sucking air through a straw. Starting 40 minutes behind the fastest seeded guys, the course was slowing down. A mixture of snow and rain was falling from the sky but I somehow made way around the miserable course in the second fastest time of the day. This is the best result of my LIFE! All the fastest guys in the US were there and I just placed 2^nd. I am still dumbfounded at how the best result of my life was at a race that I felt like crap in.

The classic race the next day had the same hill in the course, only we did it 3 times! Grown men walking (with skis on) up hill was a sorry sight to see. It’s a weird feeling to be walking, yet breathing at your lung’s maximum output. Hardly a ski race if you ask me. I finished well behind the leaders in this race. After the prologue, was this a slap in the face to put me back where I belong?

The classic sprint was interesting. Snow and rain alternated throughout the morning. Wax techs worked hard as racers were switching between harries (wax-less skis), klister, and skate skis. Nobody could decide what was best. Double poling (skate skis) seemed to be good in the qualifier… but only if you are a strong double-poler. Anyone who used skate skis in the heats suffered big time. I stayed on klister the whole day and finished off in 8^th, a solid result.

Next was the hill climb. I would hardly qualify this as a ski race either. The course is UP a downhill ski mountain. The course favors lightweight guys but anyone who was actually able to ski up it and not walk on their skis would do well. As we neared the top of the mountain we were blown sideways by 80km per hour winds. Course marshals pointed you in the right direction, as it was a complete whiteout. I held it together best I could to finish 18^th.

I had a few days to kill between the hill climb and the 50km. That was good because I was once again scrambling to find out who would wax my skis, where I would stay and how I would get back home after the 50km. APU saved my ass by letting me crash at there big house and they also gave me waxing support for the 50km.

I was seeded near the back half of the mass start so it was hard to weave my way towards the front. Instead I decided to be patient and ski in my position until people started to drop off and I had an opportunity to make a move. Before the end of the first 10km lap there was already a breakaway. I was still stuck behind a wall of skiers but as others started to fade I kept a good pace. I was skiing my own race. I’d catch a group of skiers but then just pull away from them on the up-hills. I was catching people constantly but had no idea what position I was in. Apart from a few mild tricep cramps starting at 40km I knew I was in a good position to make up some time on the last lap. I got into a good rhythm, put my head down, and hammered the last 10km, catching people as they were bonking. I had Tad Elliott in my sights a few hundred meters to the finish and I really pushed to catch him right before the finish. I finished in 4^th place. It doesn’t beat my 2^nd place prologue in terms of position but it was a better race for sure and an awesome way to end the season.

I hitched a ride with Andy Shields and Jimmy Gunka to San Francisco. The next 24 hours where quite shitty and included flying a few hours out of the way to Phoenix and sleeping over night on a bench in the Vancouver airport. But I must say, its good to be home.