on January 15, 16, 17, and 18th I went to the Methow to race the Supertour races. Saturday was a 1.3k skate sprint, and sunday was a 15k classic race. It was super cool to ski alongside the greats such as Koos and Valaas. Saturday I woke expecting rain, but instead got sun and a slightly icy course. My qualifier was not great for me, but mid-distance sprints have never been my best event. But I still raced a 3:18 which was good enough to make the cut for quarterfinals, where I got whooped along with Evan Turner. I don't particularly like when the J1+OJ fields are mixed, as it means high schoolers like me are competing against college age kids who are able to train almost full time (PNSA, are you listening). But I was still the top 1993 YOB racer and west sider.
For the classic course at liberty bell conditions were dismal, so a new course was groomed at Loup Loup. New snow, 33 degrees and misting was not the best, and when combined with an hour delay creating start lists, most people were cold and wet at the start. With a 3.5 k climb, a bit of flat, and some sketchy s turns down to the base of the climb for a 5k loop, zero skis were the trick for the day. I passed a few people climbing, got passed by a few, and then managed to bite it not once, but twice while going downhill behind Koos. The next lap I somehow fell in the same spots too, but kept up the power climbing even though grip was less than ideal on a several hundred foot climb. I finished very glad such a cold and wet race was over, and waited for the next Seattle racers to come by and by (wow Lakeside, no wonder math and chess seem to be your specialties). But agin I came in first west sider and 1st 1993 racer, despite being a couple minutes off the lead with a 47:23.
Warm temperatures continued when I went upvalley to ski on Monday. In Mazama, my skis were very slow, and so were almost everyone else's. The temperature must have been at least 40 degrees because I managed to ski in just race tights.
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