This weekend the elite team raced at Bohart Ranch in
Bozeman, Montana. The race was hosted by Montana State University, and it was
our first NCAA race of the year. We compete in the RMISA, the western conference
of NCAA skiing. The west is the strongest of the three regions, with the top
guys here being comparable to the best skiers in the nation, collegiate or
otherwise. As NCAA rosters are quite small, most teams traveling with 4 or
fewer athletes of each gender. Because of this even those at the tail end of
the race are really fast.
On the schedule was a 10k skate interval start on Sunday and
a 20k classic mass start Monday. The girls did 5k and 15k. Both courses were
set on the same 5k loop.
Conditions both days were painful. It dumped snow each night
we were there and continued during the races. Cross-country skiers love when it
snows, but we don't love racing while it snows. Fresh snow is slow. And it’s soft,
so as the trail gets skied the snow becomes increasingly mashed up and fights you
as you ski. Hills get especially sloppy. When you climb it feels like you are
wading through a bog and on downhills the corners get washed out so the insides
are icy and the outsides have a large berm.
On Sunday the skiers were seeded lowest points to highest.
We are usually seeded at the back of these races so we went out first. The
girls usually race first at NCAA races so the trail was already skied on when we went out. A few
of the Bridger Ski Foundation boys came out for the race and they started in
front of me. I started tenth in the field. I caught up to the two who started
in front of me pretty quick. One of them hung with me, and I got a split from
one of the MSU coaches that I was in second place. Though the top guys still hadn’t
gone out, it was good to know that I was skiing an early fast time. When I passed
Christi at about 2/3s of the way through lap 1 I was in first.
Unfortunately things went downhill from there. I was struggling
to get through the soft snow, especially on the big climbs. I really bogged
down up the hills. As I went through the lap I could tell I was slowing down. One
of the guys I had caught went around me, but I got in behind him and let him
lead. One guy who started 1:30 behind me caught me, and the three of us skied
as a group for about 2k before we were dropped. Eventually the BSF guy dropped me
too, but I didn’t let him get too far.
The 10k took me 32:34. For some perspective, I won the 15k
at USCSA Nationals in 36:14 last year. It was probably the most difficult 10k I
have ever done. I was about three and a half minutes behind the winner, which isn’t
a terrible result. After everyone had gone through, at Christi’s split on the
first lap I was in 21st place, a couple of seconds out of my goal of
20th and only about 15 seconds out of the top 15. I am pretty disappointed
that I lost so much on the second lap, but I’ve had worse days.
It was 32 degrees and snowing for the 20k which is special
conditions for a classic race. You can use special skis called a “zero,” or you
can prep your normal classic skis with something called “hairies.” A zero is a
waxless classic ski, where the kick zone has something similar to alpine skins
on the bottom. To hairy a ski you just aggressively sand your regular zone. I
opted for hairies because they were faster, though they weren’t kicking as well
as the zero. The eternal question in classic racing is going with more kick or
more glide, and I chose glide because I figured that was the best choice for
the course.
The race was brutal.
The pack stayed consolidated for a while, and I skied the whole first lap with
the group. This was really positive for me because even in my best race last
year I wasn’t able to hang on for that long. Unfortunately I got dropped pretty
quick after that, and even the stragglers at the pack of the pack dropped me. I
found myself isolated, which is a really bad place to be in a mass start race.
I skied a lot of the course alone until one guy caught me at the end of the
first lap. We skied together for a while, his skies kicking much better than
mine, but my skis glided faster. He got the better of me at the end.
It is frustrating that both days I skied really well at the start and fell off at the end. But it is encouraging that I'm able to start off well at least.
The 20k was a bad day for the men’s team. We struggled in
the hard conditions. The weekend as a whole was a battle.
Next weekend we have
two more NCAA races in Steamboat, the same distances as this weekend.
Sorry about the lack of pictures, but I dont’t have any from the
weekend.
Results can be found here.
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