Here in Colorado, I was at Breckenridge on Sat, they had 3k of their 40k of trails open, so it was kinda crowded.. I did about 12k pulling my youngest son in a sled, good hard workout. There was a foot or more of snow Sat/Sun/Mon, so hopefully there are a few more k of trails open now.
I'm spending a week at Snow Mtn Ranch before Christmas, hope to get in a few good miles there. There's a trail there that ascends from 8500ft to 10500ft, over 12 miles. A couple of hours up, 30min down. Whee.

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"It is a good feeling for old men who have begun to fear failure, any sort of failure, to set a schedule for exercise and stick to it. If an aging man can run a distance of three miles, for instance, he knows that whatever his other failures may be, he is not completely wasted away." Romain Gary, SI interview

DONT YOU DARE JINX THE NO SNOW!!!



kingston is great right now with the road clear...as soon as it snows...all hell breaks lose.

and it might actually give me a chance to get out on the bike if the weather stays like it is this weekend...classes finish tomorrow! woooooo!



hehe....it can snow out west, so when i go home for christmas i can ski though ;)

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"Anyone can work hard when they want to; Champions do it when they don't."

Hey Fleck, I agree, altitude is killer on XC skis. In 2000, I did a 15K ski race at Snow Mtn Ranch in Winter Park Colorado and my 15 K time at ~ 56 min was actually slower than my average time per 15K at the Hardwood Hills 100K (and as you know, the terrain at Hardwood is pretty leg grinding).

Kurt, I agree that the LP 50K Skate is a tough course. I read somewhere that it has almost 4000 ft of vertical climbing over 50K (which I find hard to believe, but the legs seem to confirm it). FYI, the Keski course has 2800 ft of vertical.

Last week I got a solid 16 hour week of training, with a total of 135K on skis. This week is fortunately an easy week, but it looks like the minimal snow coverage might turn to a skating rink today with the forecast below(I acutally have my running shoes with sheet metal screws in them for my run at lunch time today):

Ottawa North (Kanata - Orleans)

FREEZING RAIN WARNING ISSUED

Currently Observed on: 7 Dec. 2004 at 10:00 AM EST Cloudy Temp.: -8°C Pressure: 102.0
kPa Visibility: 16km Humidity: 90% WindChill: -16 DewPoint: -9°C Wind: E21
km/h
gusting to 32km/h Yesterday Max Temp. -7.6°C Min Temp. -13.4°C Precip. Total Trace Today Sunrise: 7:28 Sunset: 16:20 Moonrise: 1:57 Moonset: 13:39 5 Day Forecast from Environment Canada Tuesday Tuesday night Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Freezing drizzle Ice pellets Wet flurries A mix of sun and cloud Risk of freezing rain Periods of snow Temperature rising Low -9°C Low -2°C Low -6°C High -1°C High 1°C High 0°C High 2°C High -4°C POP 60 % These icons are a summary. See complete text below

Text Forecast[/url] from Environment Canada
Ottawa North (Kanata - Orleans): Issued 5.00 AM EST Tuesday 7 December 2004
Freezing rain warning in effect.
Today .. 60 percent chance of flurries or freezing drizzle. Periods of snow beginning this afternoon. Snow at times mixed with ice pellets late this afternoon. Snowfall amount 2 cm. Wind east 20 km/h. High minus 1.
Tonight .. Periods of snow mixed with ice pellets changing to freezing rain this evening then to showers overnight. Snowfall amount 2 cm. Wind east 20 km/h becoming south 20 near midnight. Temperature rising to plus 1 by morning.
Wednesday .. Rain showers changing to wet flurries late in the morning and ending late in the day. Wind west 30 km/h gusting to 60 diminishing to 20 gusting to 40 in the morning. Temperature steady near 1.
Thursday .. A mix of sun and cloud. Low minus 9. High zero.
Friday .. Snow. Risk of freezing rain. Low minus 2. High plus 2.
Saturday .. Periods of snow. Low minus 6. High minus 4.

Normals for the period .. Low minus 11. High minus 2.

Got out backcountry skiing on Sun. Snow here in the cascades is still kinda thin. Only 42 inches at the parking lot on Rainier. No XC yet but 6000 feet of gain in the backcountry must count for something.

Dev,

I'm probably doing LPL this year, and also thinking of doing the Keski for the first time (instead of the Birkie this year). How is the Keski course compared to Mt. Van Ho?

Dan

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Dan
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póg mo thóin

Dan,

The Keski is easier than LP (usually ~ 20 min faster). The difference between the Keski and LP is like the difference between a road bike race on a hilly course and a MTB race. Keski is more like a road race. Its never flat, but lots of long grinding open climbsand descents. Drafting up and downhill are essential and can make a large differnce in your time. There are many downhills >1-2 min long at 30-60 kph (depending on conditions) where you will be in a downhillers tuck in the tracks with your quads burning (or you can be 5th man back in a group and stand up and shake out the legs due to the drafting benefit). Keski is 2800 ft of vertical vs LP at ~4000 ft. There is one long climb on the Keski that takes almost 10 min in training and ~6-8 min in racing. It is at 10K into the race. Its longer than anything on the LP course and steeper. It covers around 500 ft of vertical in that one climb alone.

Hope to see you at both events. Where do you live ?

Dev

XC skiing is great here (North Okanagan, BC) already! I start coaching Jackrabbits this weekend and it's snowing like mad. Can't wait! We had a Canada cup race out here last weekend and the reports were excellent.

Dev,

It sounds like a great course. I'm going to need some snow time soon, though. I'm in northwest Pennsylvania and we usually get a lot of early season lake effect snow, but not this year. We've only had about 2 inches total, and that was gone quickly. If we don't get anything soon, I'll more than likely head to Hardwood Hills next weekend. This is my favorite sport and I do tri's to stay in shape for XC....needless to say "I'm dyin' over here!".

LP is a definate for me, but if we don't get snow soon, I'll probably just do the 25k...those hills are tough! I'm about 70% sure about the Keski.

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Dan
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póg mo thóin

Hey RainBC, I had my Jackrabbit kids group on snow last weekend and hope to again this weekend, weather permitting. Some of the guys and gals from Ottawa went out to Silverstar last weekend to race the Canada Cup. This weekend is the NorAm Cup in Montmorency near Quebec City. I have to pass on that since I am coaching the kids again and realistically, I lack the fitness.

Dteed, LP will be my first ski race this year. I sympathize with your predicament. Let us know if you race keski. www.keskinada.com.

Another great late season race is the Tour Mont Valin 50K on 19 March. Its the home course of Ironman Stud Pierre Lavoie who just won the 40-44 age group this year in Kona (I believe he had the fastest age grouper bike split). They have a 6+ month ski season in Mont Valin, which is located just outside Chicoutimi Quebec, 2 hours North of Quebec City. It is a far trek (~7 hours from Ottawa, 10 hour from Syracuse), but it is worth the trip. www.tourmontvalin.com. The course is 10K flats, 20K uphill, 20 K rollers, 8K crazy downhill and final 2k of flat. Be careful on the downhill !

Everything is open and groomed up here in Anchorage. We finally got a good hit of snow last week so I've had four days in a row on snow. I knew our move to Anchorage this summer would mean a new sport to me. Having been a life-long alpine addict (and former racer), I've toyed on XC skis a few times but never owned my own. My wife and I went out and bought classic waxable skis and have, so far, been having a blast. It's hard not to in this town. For those who don't know, all of Anchorage is laced with trails, many of which are lit for low-light use (day or night!). Our house borders Kincaid Park, which I hear is world-famous in the nordic world. So out the door we go, right onto some truly fantastic trails.

For those more experienced than me, I saw an earlier post that mentioned slower gliding in the cold temps at Yellowstone. We experienced this on Sunday. Air temps were down around 0 fahrenheit. I thought it was a bad wax job by me, but is there something I could have done to make it better, or is it just slow when it's that cold? Thanks for any thoughts!

Todd

Hey Todd...what is the date of this year's Tour of Anchorage ? I hear the race ends right down the main street downtown !

Yes, down at 0 F, you also get zero to limited glide. Thanks for the update from Anchorage. Its amazing all the snow reports you can get off this forum ! Right now, we are getting a solid shower of ice pellets. If this holds out, the skiing will be as fast as skiing an ball bearings (sadly, it is supposed to turn to rain) !!!

Yeah, snow usually gets slow when it's that cold. The snow crystals become very sharp and pointy and they like to 'grab' on to your ski base as you slide along. Also, less water is created from the friction of your base gliding over the snow......so there is less 'lubrication' to slide on. You'll wanna use a very hard hydrocarbon wax (usually no fluorocarbons) and a stiff ski with no to very little structure. Also, after waxing brush the hell out of your base with a good brush. Nothing will be very fast when it's that cold but this may help.

-Matt

Thanks for the info on colder snow. I suspected that it had something to do with the shape of the crystals, etc. but wasn't completely sure.

Tour of Anchorage is March 6th. I don't think it goes through downtown- you may be thinking of the Iditarod! The Tour goes through much of town, but skirts the downtown on its way to the coastal trail, then to the finish at Kincaid Park. I may set my sights on the 25k race, simply for the experience. I doubt my skills will be up for any "racing" this year, but there's only one way to start!

Todd