USCSA number 1

Wow! We’re at the halfway point for the season. We’ve done a lot of racing so far this year but we still have a lot more left. 

I realize this post is a little late. With school I don't have quite as much time to write these up. I try to make them good and worth the read so it takes me a little bit. 

This weekend was our first race in the USCSA season, hosted by Colorado Mesa University. I elected not to race this weekend due to lingering fatigue from the long season I’ve had this year. I’ve put in 137km of racing this year by my count, and I would like to save a little bit for the end, so it was an off weekend for me. That being said I accompanied the team to Mesa for the races and served as team photographer/cheerleader.

We traveled with 17 athletes plus myself, a huge increase over the meager five that we had in Steamboat. We stayed at a sweet ranch close to the venue. Unfortunately finding our lodging was quite difficult in the dark, and involved backing Clifford plus the trailer down narrow icy roads several times. The road to the place was treacherous, but we did make it eventually.

The view from our place

On race day, the size of the field impressed everyone. In previous years the USCSA RMC has consisted of four schools: Wyoming, CMU, Western State, and the Air Force Academy. This year, in addition to these schools we are joined by Colorado College, and OSU Cascades, a USCSA team from another conference, who competed here and will also be at the Cowboy Chase. 

Not only are there more teams this year, but the number of athletes in the races has doubled, and the level of competition is much higher. We won’t sweep every podium at every race this year, which might sound like a regression, but we all much prefer having strong competition to race against. Previously we have done 20 man sprint brackets, but this year we did the full size 30 because of the large fields. Each heat was much more competitive this year and there were battles to move on almost every time.

Saturday was a classic sprint, a preview for the second race at Nationals. If you aren't sure how sprint racing works, I've gone over the basics in a previous post. The question of the day, especially for the men, was whether or not to double pole. The course is very flat, with one tiny but steep rise early, a little bit of a gradual up, a quick downhill and then somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 meters of flat into a headwind, which was variable in its strength throughout the day. In the qualifiers, Kyle and Mason chose to double pole while everyone else chose to use kick wax. A few guys from other teams also chose to double pole. When you double pole a classic race you wear skate equipment. The advantage is that your skis will glide much faster than if you were on classic skis with kick wax, but the tradeoff is that it takes more energy to climb and you may be slower going up too.

The team performed well in the qualifier, with Mason taking bib 1, Kyle in third, and the rest of the team taking 5th, 7th, 8th, and 12th. The girls were equally as strong, with Elise in first, Sierra in second, and the team taking 5th, 6th, 10th, 11th, and 18th. 

Taylor and Mason in their quarterfinal

The heats began and I had a blast watching. On the men’s side, the boys showed up in force, with the entire team advancing to the semifinals. Mason and Taylor went 1-2 in the first heat, Trevor easily won his, Ben was an easy second, and Kyle took the last heat while Sam came in third for the lucky loser. 

 For the girls, Elise was dominant throughout, winning her quarterfinal and followed by Britta in second to secure a spot in the semi. The girls continued to shine as Sierra and Leann went 1-2 in their heat, and Bridget took her quarterfinal ahead of Meghan, who secured a lucky loser spot with a fast third place. Unfortunately Kristy and Victoria didn’t get past the quarterfinals, but they still put up a strong showing for UW. 

Sierra, Leann, and Kristy in theirs

The semis were even more fun than the quarters. For the men both semis had large groups swinging around the wide left, everyone competing for a coveted top two and the guaranteed spots in the A final. Those who don’t make the top two or get the two lucky losers compete in the B final to determine 7^th-12^th place. The first semi had four of our boys in it: Mason, Taylor, Trevor, and Sam. At this point Taylor had switched to his skaters, and Trevor double poled on his classic skis. The group stayed together up the hill and into the woods, and emerged on the other side with five skiers. Sam had fallen off early with dragging skis, and opted to save it for the next round. The five in the group continued together through the flat, with Mason pulling a little ahead. At the end Mason slowed down and finished second, Taylor was third, Trevor 5th and Sam 6th. Taylor now had to wait with anticipation to see if he would make it to the A final. That would depend on the speed of the second heat.

Kyle and Ben raced that one. The group stayed fairly tight through the entire heat, with all six athletes hitting the flat together. The long straight into the headwind began to separate the group, and Kyle looked to be in trouble in 5^th place. But he had another gear and managed to go around everyone to take first, while Ben lunged for third place right behind. 

After the semis, Ben emerged as a lucky loser while Taylor missed out. 

(UW, L-R) Trevor, Mason, Taylor, and Sam in the semi

The girls’ semis was next. The first one had Elise, Bridget, Yara, and Britta. Elise quickly moved to the front and the heat turned into a battle for second place. The group strung out on the flat and Yara came in second, Bridget 4^th and Britta 6^th. This meant that Bridget had a small chance at the lucky loser. The second semi had Sierra, Leann, and Meghan racing. The group stayed together up the hill but splintered on the flat. Sierra emerged in front and lead the group in, with a significant gap. Meghan came out in third and Leann was 5th. 

Meghan got a lucky loser spot to advance to the A final. 

(UW L-R) Elise, Yara, Britta, Bridget in their semi

Up next were the men’s finals. The B final always runs first, and it is followed by the A final. Three of the six athletes in the B final were UW, which is a very strong showing. Sam threw his skate skis on for this one, and he later mused that he probably could have skied a stronger semi if he had been on skaters for it. The fatigue was beginning to show, and the group fell apart earlier than in the previous heats. However, Sam skied the entire heat in front and Taylor followed him. The two of them had a gap on the rest of the heat coming in, and Sam had a gap on Taylor. Sam took the B final to get 7^th place overall, and Taylor was behind him in 8^th. Trevor came back after falling behind early to grab the 5^th spot in the B final for 11^th overall. 

Mason took the lead early in the A final but he was followed closely by Ben and Kyle. UW’s three skiers in the A final immediately took over, but the other three were right behind. The group separated in the woods, and Mason emerged in front with a short lead over Kyle who was being ridden by another skier. Mason maintained his gap and took the win, and Kyle beat out his competition to get second. A bit further back Ben fought and finished in 5^th.

In the girls’ race we once again had three in the B final and now four in the A final. 

The girls’ B final had roommates Britta, Bridget, and Leann skiing together. The skiers headed up the hill in a group and emerged from the woods in a line. As they continued up the flat the pack strung out a little more. Bridget was in a battle to take the B final, and Britta, Leann, and another skier were fighting for the next places. Bridget was narrowly defeated at the end, so she finished 8^th. Britta also was beaten on the line, and came in 10^th with Leann right behind for 11^th overall. 

Elise, who had been the clear favorite all day, continued her show of force and quickly took the lead in the A final, with Sierra skiing right behind her. Yara and Meghan were in back but there was no gap to the rest on the hill. When they hit the flat Elise had a clear gap to everyone else. Sierra was in second with a further gap to third and 4th. Meghan was a bit further back in 5^th and Yara was in 6^th. The gaps stayed about the same, and that was the final finish order.

Elise seeing how much she's winning by

UW had convincing wins in the team race for both races. I had a lot of fun sprinting back and fourth between the finish line and the first hill, and I think I got some good shots. 

That night it dumped snow, and in the morning it continued to snow. After (only) a little trouble we got everyone down the hill and to the venue. When we arrived we were horrified. The parking lot had been plowed, which was great, except they had burmed in the trailer and our tents. Assistant coach Ava and the honorary assistant coach, me, got to work digging a path so Clifford could get the trailer. It took a lot less time than I expected, so I had plenty of time after we finished to do a ski of my own.

Day 2 was a 10k mass start. 

 

Unfortunately I failed as a cameraman on Sunday and missed the start. It was just a bad day for pictures and cheering in general because the course goes off into the woods for most of the race. I found one spot towards the end of the course, where I hoped I would be able to see everyone and still make it back to the finish. Unfortunately this didn’t work out, as I didn’t get everyone there and still didn’t make it back in time for the finish.

So I don’t have a lot to write about for this one because I didn’t really see much. When Sam passed me he was around 20 seconds up on the next guys which was a group of three. One of them was Mason. Kyle was next, all alone. Gradually our guys came through. Elise came by with a massive lead on second place, Meghan, third place, Sierra, and fourth place, Bridget. After that I figured I needed to get down to the finish, so I moved quickly. But not nearly quickly enough. I got to the finish and Sam had already finished. He won by a big gap. Mason came in 4^th, not far behind 2^nd and 3^rd. The nasty conditions, snowing with lots of powder on the ground, made for a long race with lots of separation. At the end the results stood Sam first; Mason 4^th; Kyle 7^th; Trevor 11^th; Ben 14^th; and Taylor 16^th, in a field of 26. For the girls, it was Elise 1^st; Meghan 2^nd; Sierra 3^rd; Bridget 4^th; Kristy 7^th; Yara 11^th; Leann 14^th; Britta 16^th; and Victoria 18^th, in a field of 24.  

 

Sam on his way to victory in the 10k

Results from the races are here. 

This weekend we travel to Crested Butte for our second USCSA race. I’ll be back for this one. We’re doing the 21km Alley Loop, a super cool race where they groom up the streets, and a 5km classic.