-5C, cold, old snow, perfect day for a double pole HAMMER FEST. Today was a 7k classic race at the Tapiola Reipas Sports Complex, here in Thunder Bay. It was well attended, with the usuals: Steevfe Hart, Chris Butler, Timo Purias, Mike Somppi, Werner Schwar, and myself. As a must at the Reipas Club, you have to have the Finnish Weiners, I couldn’t wait until after the race, it’s tradition.
It was a mostly flat loop of 3.5k with a few gradual uphills, and downhills and one steep harring-bone hill. Butler (a.k.a Boerre Naess) and I ( a.k.a Tor Arne Hetland) decided we would test our double pole strength by doing the 7k on skate skis with skate poles. Steevfe gave in to peer pressure and skied on skate skis aswell, but opting for the shorter classic poles. Somppi held fast sticking to his classic Hibbies…Only time will tell.
17 minutes or so later, after completely hammering, the standings were as follows:
1st- Steevfe
2nd- Somppi
3rd- Hetland
4th- Naess
5th- Timo
So although Somppi got us marginally I felt very pleased to have put an awesome ski in hammering the double pole. Next time I feel that choosing the shorter classic poles may be been a wiser decision, and with doing no double poling with skate poles, I’ve found an interesting set of rhomboid muscles between my shoulder blades that have been torn to shreds, I think Naess’ lats took the brunt of his skate double poling.
Next week, some solid resting with sprints, and off to Callaghan Valley Thursday.
Some short videos by an enthusiastic Pate Neumann of Hetland, and Naess harring-bone up a short steep climb.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Rollin' with Heat
Hopped into the van this morning headed to Kamview for the 10k continuous pursuit at Kamview Nordic Ski Centre, and what was the first song pumping through the speakers, my fav "Rollin with Heat" by The Roots- featuring Talib Kweli. I knew the day had started in a good direction. Everyone had planned to race, except Jesse who is on the edge of something so with only a week before nationals it's always better to be safe than sorry.
Chris, Pate, Thomsen, Mike, and I along with the Thunder Bay boys of Steevfe Hart, Luke V., and Chris Ham to name a few, headed out on our first leg of 5k classic. Chris hammered the first leg, Steefe sitting comfortably in his draft, and the rest of us holding on, hoping not to blow up. My skis were fast opting for less grip as it was a fairly flat course, there were rumours that some people were going to attempt to do the classic portion on skate skis, none followed through.
Timo, annililated a crossing chipmunk, poory little feller, scooted just past me, but took the brunt of the Fins weight behind me. Timo took the glory of having the fastest classic time putting on a solid push coming into the stadium and transition area. Butler and I out of the front group were out of the transition first putting a little gap on the field, I let him know by chirpping, but Butler opted to settle into a solid groove before hitting the Upper Cut, a solid climb at Kamview. The lead group was now Chris, myself, Steevfe, and Somppi, with Timo and Pate in the chase group.
Chris pushed the tempo up a smaller hill, dropping the failing Somppi, to our frustration, he immeidately caught back up on the pursuiing donwhill, again the the so called 'hibbies'- Peltonens were running well. The final downhill lead me slowly past Chris with Sompii and his 'hibbies' on my heels, I pushed hard into the finishing stretch not really know how I was going to outlast them in a sprint. Rounded the final corner, and opened the throttle up. Edging out Somppi in a long legged lunge, with Steevfe a boot length behind, and Chris crossing right after. I won!
5th was Timo, 6th Pate, 7th Luke, 8th Thomsen. Awesome fun, again Peter Crooks at Kamview had the course immaculate, and Bert V and the volunteers put together a solid race.
Special thanks to Chris Butler for putting down a punishing pace and leading for the majority of the race. Somppi and I were pleased, as this is a good sign going into nationals next week.
Thanks again, hope you enjoyed the race.
Phil
also had an interview with the local t.v station, I don't recommend tuning in, flushed and out of breath I didn't have much to say.
Chris, Pate, Thomsen, Mike, and I along with the Thunder Bay boys of Steevfe Hart, Luke V., and Chris Ham to name a few, headed out on our first leg of 5k classic. Chris hammered the first leg, Steefe sitting comfortably in his draft, and the rest of us holding on, hoping not to blow up. My skis were fast opting for less grip as it was a fairly flat course, there were rumours that some people were going to attempt to do the classic portion on skate skis, none followed through.
Timo, annililated a crossing chipmunk, poory little feller, scooted just past me, but took the brunt of the Fins weight behind me. Timo took the glory of having the fastest classic time putting on a solid push coming into the stadium and transition area. Butler and I out of the front group were out of the transition first putting a little gap on the field, I let him know by chirpping, but Butler opted to settle into a solid groove before hitting the Upper Cut, a solid climb at Kamview. The lead group was now Chris, myself, Steevfe, and Somppi, with Timo and Pate in the chase group.
Chris pushed the tempo up a smaller hill, dropping the failing Somppi, to our frustration, he immeidately caught back up on the pursuiing donwhill, again the the so called 'hibbies'- Peltonens were running well. The final downhill lead me slowly past Chris with Sompii and his 'hibbies' on my heels, I pushed hard into the finishing stretch not really know how I was going to outlast them in a sprint. Rounded the final corner, and opened the throttle up. Edging out Somppi in a long legged lunge, with Steevfe a boot length behind, and Chris crossing right after. I won!
5th was Timo, 6th Pate, 7th Luke, 8th Thomsen. Awesome fun, again Peter Crooks at Kamview had the course immaculate, and Bert V and the volunteers put together a solid race.
Special thanks to Chris Butler for putting down a punishing pace and leading for the majority of the race. Somppi and I were pleased, as this is a good sign going into nationals next week.
Thanks again, hope you enjoyed the race.
Phil
also had an interview with the local t.v station, I don't recommend tuning in, flushed and out of breath I didn't have much to say.
Sibley
Results from last weekends Sibley 20k and 50k Skate races.
Men's 20k:
FINAL Place FINAL BIB
PLACE Division Div TIME PACE NO. NAME
1 1/15 16-19 53:42.85 2:42 666 Luke Viljakainen
2 2/15 16-19 53:43.65 2:42 550 Michael Sumppi
3 1/17 20-29 53:45.35 2:42 549 Phil Wood
4 3/15 16-19 53:47.20 2:42 548 Thomsen D'Hont
5 4/15 16-19 55:38.00 2:47 321 Christopher Hamilton
Men's 50k:
FINAL Place FINAL BIB
PLACE Division Div TIME PACE NO. NAME
1 1/18 20-29 2:19:03.40 2:47 231 Stephen Hart
2 2/18 20-29 2:19:49.45 2:48 143 Murray Carter
3 3/18 20-29 2:24:29.55 2:54 134 Nikolai Anikin
4 1/37 40-49 2:24:37.70 2:54 190 Bernie Lacourciere
5 2/37 40-49 2:27:08.30 2:57 96 Werner Schwar
Women's 50k:
FINAL Place FINAL BIB
PLACE Division Div TIME PACE NO. NAME
1 1/11 30-39 2:43:18.05 3:16 209 Brook Latimer
2 1/13 20-29 2:48:01.75 3:22 47 Kerrie Fabius
3 2/13 20-29 2:52:12.60 3:27 144 Erin Carter
4 1/18 40-49 2:54:34.30 3:30 150 Janet Findlay
5 2/18 40-49 2:55:25.10 3:31 125 Deborah Sussex
It was a perfect day, hard track temperatures around -5C. The pace was pretty comfortable for the first 10k with the group working together. Then after the 20k’ers turned off the fun began. Chris Hamilton pulled the grouped a little then stood up waiting a break. I hadn’t led up till that point, so it was my turn. We passed the 14k mark, 6 to go. I didn’t want it to come down to a sprint finish so I’d thought I’d try to push the pace a little and see if I could break away to avoid being outsprinted. The course coming into the final few kilometers are rolling with no climbs, so more or less flat. We had a punishing one-skate going and I thought I was dropping them, after the 18k marker I turned around hoping to only see Sompii, who I could hear. Unfortunately the group of Luke, Thomsen, and Somppi were all still in toe. I thought I can’t hold this pace till the end and still have a sprint, so I let up, and tried to draft to keep some energy till the finish. With a few hundred meters to go, everyone skiing on a hair trigger, wondering when the attack would happen, Luke pulled up beside me, Somppi leading around a slower skier doing the 10k race. Somppi goes right, Luke gets an edge on me left, and that relegated me to third, coming into the final stretch. My sprint finish held off Thomsen, but couldn’t gain anytime on Luke or Somppi.
It was a fun race, and it was good pushing the pace and seeing how my body handled skiing out front and the tactics involved. I’ve learned that to break away on a group on a flat course, you have to hammer, and hammer hard, and long to really break it up. A little more undulation in the course may have created what I needed to break off the front. Good experience. Good times, Good race.
Special thanks to Peter Crooks grooming into the wee hours of the night to make Sibley’s grooming absolutely perfect. Well done to the organizing staff, with nearly 1000 participants.
Cheers
Men's 20k:
FINAL Place FINAL BIB
PLACE Division Div TIME PACE NO. NAME
1 1/15 16-19 53:42.85 2:42 666 Luke Viljakainen
2 2/15 16-19 53:43.65 2:42 550 Michael Sumppi
3 1/17 20-29 53:45.35 2:42 549 Phil Wood
4 3/15 16-19 53:47.20 2:42 548 Thomsen D'Hont
5 4/15 16-19 55:38.00 2:47 321 Christopher Hamilton
Men's 50k:
FINAL Place FINAL BIB
PLACE Division Div TIME PACE NO. NAME
1 1/18 20-29 2:19:03.40 2:47 231 Stephen Hart
2 2/18 20-29 2:19:49.45 2:48 143 Murray Carter
3 3/18 20-29 2:24:29.55 2:54 134 Nikolai Anikin
4 1/37 40-49 2:24:37.70 2:54 190 Bernie Lacourciere
5 2/37 40-49 2:27:08.30 2:57 96 Werner Schwar
Women's 50k:
FINAL Place FINAL BIB
PLACE Division Div TIME PACE NO. NAME
1 1/11 30-39 2:43:18.05 3:16 209 Brook Latimer
2 1/13 20-29 2:48:01.75 3:22 47 Kerrie Fabius
3 2/13 20-29 2:52:12.60 3:27 144 Erin Carter
4 1/18 40-49 2:54:34.30 3:30 150 Janet Findlay
5 2/18 40-49 2:55:25.10 3:31 125 Deborah Sussex
It was a perfect day, hard track temperatures around -5C. The pace was pretty comfortable for the first 10k with the group working together. Then after the 20k’ers turned off the fun began. Chris Hamilton pulled the grouped a little then stood up waiting a break. I hadn’t led up till that point, so it was my turn. We passed the 14k mark, 6 to go. I didn’t want it to come down to a sprint finish so I’d thought I’d try to push the pace a little and see if I could break away to avoid being outsprinted. The course coming into the final few kilometers are rolling with no climbs, so more or less flat. We had a punishing one-skate going and I thought I was dropping them, after the 18k marker I turned around hoping to only see Sompii, who I could hear. Unfortunately the group of Luke, Thomsen, and Somppi were all still in toe. I thought I can’t hold this pace till the end and still have a sprint, so I let up, and tried to draft to keep some energy till the finish. With a few hundred meters to go, everyone skiing on a hair trigger, wondering when the attack would happen, Luke pulled up beside me, Somppi leading around a slower skier doing the 10k race. Somppi goes right, Luke gets an edge on me left, and that relegated me to third, coming into the final stretch. My sprint finish held off Thomsen, but couldn’t gain anytime on Luke or Somppi.
It was a fun race, and it was good pushing the pace and seeing how my body handled skiing out front and the tactics involved. I’ve learned that to break away on a group on a flat course, you have to hammer, and hammer hard, and long to really break it up. A little more undulation in the course may have created what I needed to break off the front. Good experience. Good times, Good race.
Special thanks to Peter Crooks grooming into the wee hours of the night to make Sibley’s grooming absolutely perfect. Well done to the organizing staff, with nearly 1000 participants.
Cheers
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
