I double poled the qualifier, as did most of the men. It was snowing lightly the whole time. I didn't feel as snappy in the race as I did in warmup and I ended up 31st Senior Man, 0.16 seconds from qualifying. This was really frustrating because we have worked a lot on double pole this year and today it didn't work out.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Mass Start 20km Noram at Sov. Lake
It was a beautiful sunny day here, with perfect winter conditions at minus 4 C, although the snow temperature was colder. I had bib 20, so was looking to move up off the start. As I reached the end of the starting grid, I had no room to skate so I kept double poling. Eventually, I was able to skate a bit, but I was actually further back in the field than my start position. I managed to get over to the right side of the trail where there was a bit of room, but I ended up skiing over top of the classic track for most of the first 5k lap. By the end of the lap, I was roughly in 20th.
Next up was 2 loops of 7.5k. On the second lap, I used the climbs on the way to the top of the course to establish myself in the lead pack, about 15 strong mid way through the race. At one point, I may have been as high as 6th, but guys were constantly jockeying for position and I got shuffled back again. I remained with the lead pack, which had been whittled down to just 10 after the longest climbing section on the course. On the next uphill, Alex Harvey made a move at the front and I got detached from the others. I kept pushing as hard as I could, but first 3 guys passed me and then another. One more guy followed me into the stadium and blew by going into the finish. So I still didn't have the acceleration in the last few kilometers, but overall it was a good result taking into account my tough start.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Sovereign 15km Skate Noram
The day started with a big dump of snow. A couple of days ago, it didn't look like there was enough snow to set a track, so we couldn't have a classic race. They regroomed the course about one hour before the start and it was in great condition and there were no rocks to worry about. I started near the front of the fastest seed, so there was a lot of fast guys starting behind. I had a great start and got a split that I was 1 second in the lead after half a kilometer. The next split I was 8 in the lead and then 10. In the meantime, I had caught Brian Gregg for 15 seconds and we took turns leading to keep the pace high.
We worked well together, but I was slowly tiring to the point where I could no longer follow Brian, and he ended up 10 seconds ahead of me. The last couple ks were a struggle for me and I lost some time in the final uphill kilometer. Overall I ended up 16th in Open, or 14th Senior Man, 1:51 back.
The races that were supposed to be in Whistler were moved to Sovereign on Thursday and Friday, and Silver Star on Sunday. So, we will be staying in Silver Star.