Frigid Bozeman
The day following Liz’s excellent post, “How to Stay Warm in Barely Legal Temperatures,” the skiers in Bozeman, MT did get to put their staying-warm skills to use for a classic distance mass start Supertour race. Sunday December 8th dawned cold, but slightly less cold than the previous day, and we were hopeful that by the 12pm scheduled start the temperatures would be within the legal range. From our perch in the big house overlooking the Bohart Ranch venue, we made frequent trips to the window to check out the scene, and even more frequent trips to every weather forecast website possible to check out current temp and hour-by-hour trends.
With a jury meeting scheduled for 11:30am, and the women’s start planned for 12pm, Liz and I didn’t have much of a choice but to venture out before any decision about the race was announced. We typically like to warm up for around an hour, or at least start our warm up an hour prior to the race so that there is time to test skis, change into race suit and bib, and maybe eat a snack. So at around 11, we bundled up and left the house, even though the temperature still was a bit low, something like -6 to -8F. While skiing through the stadium during the beginning part of the warm up, we learned that the start was postponed at least until 12:30, so Pepa encouraged us to jump in the car and stay warm rather than skiing too much. At 12 we were still in the car, waiting on an updated decision… which came at 12:10, informing us that the start was now postponed until 1pm. So more waiting. At 12:25 or so it was time to get out of the car and get ready, but shortly after starting to ski, we learned that now the start was postponed to 1:30pm, and that instead of a 10k mass start it was changed to a 5k mass start. Yikes! At this point there’s not much you can do except find amusement in the situation, keep trying to stay warm while skiing around, and wait to hear what comes next. The last time I did a 5k mass start was as a J2 in Houghton, MI for Junior Nationals in 2006 (I think)… so this was going to be an interesting format. And then, 15 minutes before the start, after mentally preparing for a 5k, it was turned back into a 10k… sort of a relief, sort of a bummer.
So finally, after the many delays, the race was set to start. Most of the women reluctantly pulled off warm up pants and jackets at the last minute, and some just kept them on, and everyone had buffs or neckwarmers and hats and a few of us even raced in AirTrim breathing masks. I often find with race that I feel like I’m in a bubble, in touch with the turns of the course and the skis on the snow and my body, but nothing else in the exterior world. Wearing a breathing mask, which I find worthwhile for the warmth and humidity it adds to the air, combined with general cold, makes the bubble effect more pronounced. Hearing, feeling, seeing is dulled and my mind is focused towards one goal – to ski as fast as possible and finish the race quickly in order to get out of the cold. Of course that’s pretty similar to the goal in any race… race as fast as possible… but something about the extreme temperature adds an extra urgency. All unpleasantness about the cold aside, I was actually very happy to get to race, and it was a fun mass start. It was a difficult day to be well prepared for the race when it did happen, but all of us racers were in it together adapting to the challenges. Chelsea Holmes skied very well and broke up the women’s field by half way through the race – I chased her down with all the energy I could muster, and though I fell a painful 43 seconds behind her by the finish, I was still pleased with 2nd place. Liz skied to a strong 7th place after passing several racers in the 2nd half of the race.
Women’s race shortly after start, Caitlin and Liz in 2nd row. (All photos by Margaret Hillhouse)
Chelsea Holmes (7), eventual race winner, leading Caitlin (3) up a hill
Liz Guiney climbing during the race
Caitlin cornering
Caitlin within a few k of the finish
The men’s race started before the women were even finished, but Liz and I watched the end of their race during our cool down, and all the GRP guys were certainly fighting for their positions – Gordon was close behind the lead pack in 10th and Andrew slightly behind that in 12th. A few of the guys were a little disappointed with the results I believe, but I’m confident that they’ll be building into the season and getting stronger after more race starts – watch out for them in future weeks!
Men’s start
Post-race look. I think I nailed the natural version of those eyelashes Liz talked about in her post – they were quite distracting, though not quite as bad as the frozen contacts.
Raising the core temperature in the hot tub after racing. Hats were imperative for the outdoor tub.
While most of the GRP Supertour skiers headed back on Tuesday to Craftsbury, where they’ll be helping with the upcoming master’s camp and racing in the Eastern Cup in a week, a few of us stayed west for one more weekend of races. So now Liz, Andrew and I are in Rossland, British Columbia with Nick waxing our skis for two Canadian NorAm FIS races. Saturday we’ll race a skate sprint and Sunday a 10k/15k classic individual start. None of us had been here before, and the impression so far is very good! Lots of fresh powdery snow, scenic tree-covered mountains and hills in every direction, relatively warm temperatures in the low 30s, European-style hilly and hard courses on wide trails. Check out the race website here for information if you’re curious: http://skiblackjack.ca/noram (and www.zone4.ca for results)
Also don’t forget to watch for all the GRP skiing and biathlon athletes racing around the world this weekend: Ida in the Cross-Country World Cup in Davos, Switzerland (www.fis-ski.com), Susan and Hannah in the Biathlon World Cup in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, France (www.biathlonworld.com) and Clare, Ethan, and Mike at the US IBU Cup Trials in Minnesota from Saturday through Wednesday of next week (http://www.teamusa.org/US-Biathlon.aspx). Wish us luck!