Garrott Kuzzy Ideal Market Slideshow

Last night I went to the Ideal Market in Cable to drink a few brews and view a slideshow by Garrott Kuzzy - US Olympic Cross Country Skier.  It was an outstanding presentation filled with pictures of beautiful scenery, and lots of information about what it is like to be in the Olympic Village as well as what the skiing was like in Vancouver.
   I was amazed at how much time Garrott was gone traveling from about September thru the Olympics - he got to race in the 4 x 10 KM relay.. and he joked that since they pretty much had 4 sprinters - they wished it would have been 4 x 1.5KM!

  After the slideshow, Garrott spent some time with Ethan and Joseph.  He signed some cards of him skiing in West Yellowstone, and even had some US Ski Team Stickers - pretty cool.

Picture of Ethan Lynch | Garrott Kuzzy  |  Joseph Lynch

Birkebeiner 2010

The Birkebeiner had record fast conditions in 2010 with 17 skiers broke the 2 hour mark.  The Lynch family headed up after school on Thursday afternoon after school.  This year we elected to skip the Barnebirkie as it didn't seem to be that much fun last year, and it requires taking an extra day off of school.
  Friday was exciting with lots of activities.  I waxed up lots of skis this year - and spent the early morning finishing up Joe/Ethan's skis and waxing up my pairs.  Art Gorr and I went to the Birkie Trail a little after 10:00.  We drove to Janet Road and tested skis at the Seeley Hills trail crossing to the Birkie.  I wanted to get to the trail at about the same time as the race on Saturday to attempt to figure out what the snow was going to be like.  I could tell that the snow would be fast, but other than that I wasn't any more sure about what I'd put on my skis for the final layers.  As we were leaving I broke my Snow Thermometer trying to get it out of the snow.   Darn! 
  The Cheqtel was a lot of fun this year - afterwards I got my registration and talked to a lot of people.  We headed back to the cabin where Tom and Evan, Art, Eric, Leah, Tommy and Claire were all hanging around.  Scott Laven and Kim came shortly afterwards.  We had our usual contingent of folks.

THE WAX
I waxed up two pair of skis on Friday - I ended up going with my Madshus Nanosonic's with Swix MOLY BasePrep - 2 layers of Start LF Green - Swix HFBD7 - Start Nano N7 Fluro Powder.  They were unbelievably fast - and I could tell within the first 200 meters that I had fast skis -- like usual, I barely had a chance to put on my skis at the start - so I had no way of knowing how fast my skis would perform.   Since I had waxed a little warm - I had the good feeling of knowing my skis should get faster as it warmed up - and they did!  I love Start Waxes - hopefully I can get more "of the good stuff" next year!


RACE DAY.
It was all around a great day - Eric, Tom and I left drove with Art Gorr to Como field parking lot.  We were hoping to leave by 6:45.. I think we left at 6:50; so not too bad.  Even with record numbers this year (over 10,000 total skiers in all events) things seemed to be going off without a hitch.  We got on a bus right away to the Start area.  We walked to the start area, and headed right to the heated tent.  We had plenty of time to relax and get our boots on and prep for the race.  If felt a little code - and supposedly it was 0 degrees at race start - but the sun felt great, and we could tell it would be plenty warm once we were skiing. 
About 25 minutes before my Elite Wave start I headed out to get my skis - I looked down and - uggggh - my zipper had failed on my Alpina Ski Boots; the same thing happened to Eric a few years ago.  Eric helped me zip into a middle position, so it wasn't properly zipped - but it felt good and ended up working fine the whole race.
  Everything else went smooth - and lining up in the Elite Wave is a breeze - just find a spot and go when the gun goes off!   I got a relaxed easy start; no problems at the start, and I headed up the Power Lines feeling great.  I knew I was back a ways from better skiers - but I was happy with where I was at.  I ended up skiing a lot with Scott Ree/Steve Sonnyson/Justin P. and others.   At one point we had about 20 people in our pack.  Steve Sonnyson and I seemed to be feeling the best and at various times Steve would head out in front of us by 20 meters.  I didn't want to burn myself out - so I didn't follow and we'd eventually catch him.  I told him "slow down.. save it for the hills!"  He laughed, but I knew he'd be taking off for good at some point.  That point turned out to be at 35 KM.  I wish now I would have gone with him.. but even though I was feeling good - I did NOT want to die at the end of the race. 

NEED A DRINK?
At about 40K - Scott Ree, who'd I'd been skiing with nearly the entire race, asks if he can get a drink from my water bottle; he said he missed the last feed station and was kind of hurting; at first I said I thought I was out - but I grabbed it to check - and there actually was some left at the bottom; he was happy to have it! I told him to just pitch the bottle when he was done; Scott and I finished seconds from eachother - apparently he was able to hang on! Way to go Scott!


THE FINISH
  When we got to Lake Hayward, I was in the front of about 10 people, and I ended up pulling the whole way.  Kind of poor planning on my part - but I was determined to finish strong.  Going up main street I went all out - what a great feeling!  I ended up pulling away from my group - and only let 1 guy pass me on main street - all in all a good finish.   It was fast snow, and a fast year this year!  2 Hrs 19 minutes!   My 19th Birky!
  Afterwards we went to the cabin and enjoyed a few beers - later we went to Sawmill and saw a lot of people.  I'm already looking forward to next year - Number 20!

Birky 2010 - CheqTel 10K Family Race

Maureen skied with Joe in the Cheqtel family race on Friday, Feb 26th.  I skied with Ethan - who did the 5 KM event.  The race started at 2:15PM when it was nice and warm - about 30 degrees.  It was very comfortable skiing and the race organizers did a great job preparing the course.  The track was the same as past years - on the Birkebeiner loops.  Joe finished 10 KM in an amazing 42 minutes 16 seconds;  Ethan finished his 5 KM in about 31 minutes.  Ethan was flying at times - and then would rest on the uphills!  We all skate skied the course.  I had bought both Joe and Ethan skate skis for Christmas this year. 

  The ski course uses the Telemark Birkebeiner loops; these loops have some up and down, but the course generally has slight uphills and long rolling downhills.  The only challenge is a long uphill 2 KM into the race.  Ethan pretty much came to a complete stop as he climbed this hill.  Luckily the turnaround at 5 KM provides a long downhill. 


  After the race we had cookies and hot chocoa in the Hytte.. and then headed off to the Lodge.  I got Tom and my registration and checked out the Expo.  The  lines were long this year- with people everywhere! 

2/07 City of Lakes Loppet Skate

Thanks to Maureen for the GREAT Photos!

Today was the City of Lakes Loppet Skate Race. It was a great day of racing. Conditions were about 22 degrees with race start at 10:30. Everyone was doing it this year - Bill/Eric/Tom/etc. - it was great day, and I pulled off a good race this year.

The grooming was outstanding again this year, and the course turned out to be faster than I expected. I knew from Saturday that conditions on the lake were somewhat slow. In the woods and on the golf course, though, it seemed pretty fast. I'm really liking the Start wax system I'm using - and the na na na "Nano F7" was awesome today. I was outgliding just about everyone, which is always fun!

John/Dave C/Gene Kay/Nicolai Anikin

2/06 City of Lakes Loppets - Sprints

A quick note about the City of Lakes Loppet Sprints. I got signed up for the Sprints in December with my Skate Race registration. Bill Baldus and I had talked about doing it for a few years - I'm glad I participated! However - the result wasn't the greatest. There were only 8 competitors in the Masters (over 35) field. 2 Heats of 4 -- with 2 from each heat advancing. Of course I finished 3rd; just behind Craig Rudd and Piotr B. Craig is a strong Sprinter; I started in 3rd after the initial double-pole section, and could never change up the order. The course was Up and Down on the mall - 3 Up and 2 Down -- for a full 1KM course; it was softish snow, and pretty tiring. Baldus also finished 3rd in his group - so we both left a little disappointed; There was prize money on the line also, oh well! My skis were good - I'm going try it again next year; only try to make a move a little earlier in the race.
On Sunday I talked with Avho - and joked that he didn't call my name off enough to get me inspired! He asked me what I thought about the course as Finn Sisu sponsors the race. I said it'd be great if it wasn't up-down, but otherwise it's a pretty good course; it is cool that Finn Sisu/Avho sponsor the event each year.

2/03City of Lakes Loppet Course

Skied last night on the City of Lakes Loppet course - awesome! The skiing was great - I parked in the 9 hole GC lot; I did the front 9 including the back woods, the lit trail, and then the front 9. Really good skiing, my skis were surprisingly fast. I used my Madshus Hypersonic cold skis. It was my first time skiing at night at Wirth with the new lighted trail. They did a good job, and it's a good mix of hills, flat and transition. Should be a fantastic race on Sunday!

Birkie/Korte Reached Cap-Registrations Accepted Until Feb. 3rd - Birkie.com | American Birkebeiner

Birkie/Korte Reached Cap-Registrations Accepted Until Feb. 3rd - Birkie.com American Birkebeiner

The Birkie Board decided to limit Birkie registrations to 7500 this year; they are full! If memory serves me right - they had over 8000 skiers in the late 80s - and then there was a little slow down (also it didn't cost $130 to register!)