Indiscriminate Beatdown

On Saturday I did a 10k ski race. This was the first ski race I'd done in 2 years, because I spent last year in exile in Florida. I finished the 2004-2005 season by winning 2 of the last 4 races I entered and placing a very respectable 9th at the Maine Sprint Championships.

What does this have to do with a ski race in 2006, you might ask?

Absolutely nothing.

I got beat down by men, women and children alike on Saturday. The top 4 women beat me. The top 7 juniors beat me. The top 4 45+ guys beat me.

And people my age and gender? They crushed me.

In the end I finished 23rd out of 47 men, just squeaking into the top half. The numbers don't look that bad compared to my cross results, but I've been doing this sport for my whole life, so I have slightly higher expectations. Unrealistically high, usually.

In any case, the winter is shaping up so terribly that I may not have to ski race again for quite some time. I'm not complaining about that -- it will give me some much needed time to hurt myself on rollerskis and try to get up to speed with the rest of the nordic community, which has been "training" or something while I raced cross.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sam Anderson Cheats at Mountain Bike Racing

Image
Note that this is NOT the 24 Hours of Great Glen   Race Report. 24HOGG delivered another AMAZING race weekend that reminded me how much I love this event and why it keeps going strong in its 19th year, long after the 24-hour craze of the 90s has faded.  I will be back in 2015, and you should be too! ---- update:  I made a second post  that answers some questions and has some more info. The only individual prizes you can get at a team 24 hour race are the "Fastest Lap" and "Fastest Night Lap" prizes. If you're a serious racer (which most people at this race AREN'T), you pay attention to this stuff. Back when I used to do the race on the Back Bay Team, we'd fight over who got to ride 2nd because it was the "hot lap spot" -- the first rider on the course who didn't have to do the Le Mans start. This was better than going 3rd or 4th on your team because lapped traffic quickly started appearing -- your best bet at taking "fastest
Read more

Do-It-Yourself March Cycling Blog Post

So, are you a cyclist? Do you have a blog? If you answered "yes" to both of these questions, I hope you've already written your March Training Blog Post . You know what I'm talking about. To make it easier for those of you who haven't yet written the required cycling-blogger March Training Post , here is a handy template. Just cut and paste the text and then choose whichever option from the brackets [option1|option2], or add in the details [something vague] for whatever fits your training more accurately, and BAM, blog post DONE! Early Spring Training Post Template Just a [quick|surprisingly detailed] update about how training is going this year, in case any of the [joke about small number of readers] care. This week I've done [15 hours|30 hours] in the saddle, [getting up at 4 am|returning after 8pm] each time. It's been pretty chilly out there-- 5 below [celsius|fahrenheit] when I [started|finished] yesterday, but I'm toughing it out because
Read more

US Cyclocross Nationals Travesty Report: Junior Girls

Image
Note:  if you're a USA Cycling representative or Austin 2015 representative, and want to add a comment, rebuttal, fact, or perspective to this discussion, feel free to email me at colin.reuter@gmail.com and I'll post it here verbatim.  I fully accept that I wasn't there and don't know every issue that may have contributed to the decisions that were made.  There may be an explanation for these events that I am not aware of, and if so, I would love to hear it. Important Facts Update and Hyperbole Correction - The Junior Girls 15-16 race was supposed to be 30 minutes long, so the 7 girls who made it 2 laps were not "pulled" from the race, they were removed from the course after the finished their race.  Without firsthand testimony it's impossible to know how clear they were on their race duration being 2 laps shorter than the boys race happening simultaneously -- based on Turner Ramsey's quote to Cyclocross Magazine, it was certainly not a straightforwa
Read more