The Birkie, Sleeping Giant Loppet, and Great Bear Chase

 First, the Birkie in bullet points:

• My goal was to start fast and double pole hard in all the double pole sections. This plan was quickly thwarted as we got a dusting of snow right before the start and everything felt super slow. This was perhaps compounded by my decision to use my almost 20 year old Fischer skis because (1) I thought they kicked better than my new ones and (2) I wasn't certain about the trail conditions.
• Wow, but do I ever have in internal regulator that keeps me at Level 3. It's like I just lock into a pace to take things conservative to High Point and this is no trouble at all.
• Definitely felt the best ever climbing up to High Point.
• Am I EVER going to learn how to stride? Back in December we did a video technique session and made the change that I shouldn't let my ski swing back so far. The result: lots of ski slapping. Back then I thought: I'll work on this rollerskiing. So I just spent my time on skis trying to not kick my skis back so far, get some glide, or else just run. So I ski slapped my way to Hayward.  
• Similarly, am I EVER going to get comfortable skiing downhills and around corners in the tracks? I should arguably practice more. I do practice some. There's some screamers after High Point and I usually get out of the tracks and ski over on the side where it's not tracked. This often is quite fast but this year with that dusting of snow it was pretty darn slow and I likely lost a couple places in this section.
• This was my last year to qualify for an Elite Wave colors bib. After next year I'll always be in purple (or black or whatever the 40 year will be:)
• One of my process goals was to feed better than I ever had before. I got something at all but two of the aid stations and three times I took both a gel and energy drink. I really liked this year's gel. It was so liquid and easy to get down.
• Sometime between Gravel Pit and Mosquito Brook I got tired. Molly passed me, I skied with her, passed her, then she pulled away a bit. But we were catching and passing a few women. Painfully slow. It's hard to describe my fatigue when I'm not in it but just about every muscle in my body is just done. When I passed Molly back up climbing out of Fish Hatchery I said "I'm so tired." But somehow, I think when I get so tired, and everyone is so tired, I can slog on better than the rest. At least I had the lake to look forward to. On that very last big uphill heading up from hwy 77 I just kept the pressure on since I'd just passed a couple women. But man, the classic Birkie is the hardest thing I do every year by a long shot.
• But then we got to the flats before the lake and the lake and I felt really good. I just locked into a steady double pole rhythm. The skaters were still slowly passing me but no one caught me in the classic and I think I reeled in just a tad the couple women in front of me. I felt so strong.
• I finished 18th on my 18th Birkie. Turned 40 two days before the race but won the 35-39 age class (and would have won the 40-44 as well) but that 45-49 age class is stacked! 
• A couple weeks later it finally dawned on me: if the Birkie is the hardest thing I do, maybe I should train more/harder! I haven't been doing the long rollerskis much the past couple years due to a combo of boredom and desire to do other things in my life. And as for this winter, well, likely had it been warmer and had there been more snow I would have done more skiing and less walking. But I don't know if it matters because somehow every year that classic Birkie gets me. 

Starting out in my 18th Birkie. Photo: Jackie Schneider

 

 Sleeping Giant Loppet

    The Sleeping Giant Loppet has been on our bucket list for as long as I can remember (or at least, since I learned about it probably at least two decades ago now). Erik and I have tossed around doing it multiple times but somehow the early morning start coupled with the time change has always made us think twice. But this year we finally committed.  

    And so on the last day of February we were driving north Thunder Bay bound. There was a big snowstorm moving into the area and at least for our driving, we were glad to only have wintry conditions the last hour. Bib pick up was at Kamview Nordic Centre. After grabbing our bibs, we did an easy hour ski on the trails. Or at least as easy as we could go considering they'd just gotten a foot of fresh snow. After the meltdown earlier in the week, we were lucky to have a fresh coat of white stuff. 

    Conditions were slow and our ski pushes churrned up the skate deck. But it was so great to be skiing new trails (for the first time all season) and be skiing in a winter wonderland. The trails were all a maze and we mostly stuck to the lighted loop which had been freshly groomed. 

    The next day was the Sleeping Giant Loppet. Due to the snowstorm, the race was postponed by an hour which meant we could have a leisurely morning before driving out to the park. We had the option of taking a shuttle bus from Thunder Bay but had ultimately decided to go with the freedom of driving ourselves. Temps were cold and it was a shocker to go from running in 50 degree temps four days earlier to zero degrees. But it was sunny and I wore the same clothes as Mora and I was never cold. 

My GPS of the Sleeping Giant Loppet course. It starts out with a clockwise loop around Lake Marie Louise and then does a counter-clockwise loop to the north before finishing along the east side of the lake.

    Even though I'm a classic specialist, I had decided to skate the Sleeping Giant. This was two-fold: I figured I ought to do some skate races and also two years ago my patella-femoral syndrome had really flared after the Birkie making classic skiing really painful. This didn't happen this year and so I was kinda bummed to not be classic skiing, especially with all the new snow. Erik, in contrast, was classic skiing. 

    When I went to line up there was a woman in the front row with a wind breaker tied around her waist next to Caitlin Gregg. There was a spot on the far left and I decided if the chick with her tied-on windbreaker was on the front row, I could be, too. The gun went off and conditions were super slow. The trail was initially mashed potatoes but fortunately this didn't last long (must've been where everyone was warming up). A bunch of women passed me as I settled into my rhythm, most of my skate pushes breaking away. The first four kilometers flew by but I spent most of the first 12 kilometers salty for not doing the classic race and debating whether it was worth it to cut corners or try to find some firmer snow where my skate pushes wouldn't break the snow. 

    After 12 kilometers the trail left the park road and we headed onto a hiking trail with more "flowing" terrain. This was winding with small uphills and downhills, a section where skating is often more fun. I'd been skiing by myself up to this point but now formed a pack with another woman and two guys. Our pack broke up at the aid station and crossing of the main park road. From here we had the biggest hill on course, both climbing and descending. There were some corners and I did a couple short snowplows. Then we headed back out on another road for awhile before another flowing section. I tried to take in a bit of scenery, especially as we crossed some low lands or passed by some creeks. 

    Near the end, the race comes back to the main park road, initially sharing a couple kilometers from near the beginning before heading back to the start/finish. I was getting done by the last five kilometers. I can't say I was anywhere near as fatigued as in the Birkie, I most certainly wasn't, but it wasn't a great skate day and by then it's hard not to want to just get to the finish. This certainly wasn't an A race for me and with the slow conditions it took me 3 hours and 9 minutes. 

Ski Vacation

    On Sunday we returned to Kamview. I was stoked to do so and we had our best ski conditions of the entire trip. I classic skied all the trails I hadn't done on Friday, including the Lookout Trail. We expected that trail to have some big downhills but even though there was some decent vertical, there were no sketchy hills. Most of the course was fairly flat and I decided I liked Kamview a lot. 

Almost all of the trails at Kamview in one shot.

 

    On Monday we drove out to Lappe. In previous years we'd tossed around the idea of doing 24 hours of Lappe, but this never came to fruition. Despite a somewhat confusing trail system, Lappe is intended to be skied as one of four loops: a 14 km expert loop, a 10 km advanced loop, a 5 km intermediate loop, and finally a 1.4 km easy loop. The day was going to get warm and it was already sunny by the time we got to the trail. We headed out on the expert loop which had some gigantic hills and one of the most banked corners I've ever seen. It was definitely expert and I'd say makes Michigan Tech pale in comparison. The snow started transforming before we'd completed the loop and Erik needed a break so I went out to do a very slow 10 km loop on the transformed snow. It had been my intention to follow this up with the 5 km loop and then finally the 1.4 km loop but since the 5 km is the second half of the 10 km loop, I thought better and gave up and just skied the 1.4 km with Erik. 

    That afternoon we found some good terrain to practice our mountaineering skills and use some new gear in anticipation of another attempt on Gannett later this year.

Erik looking out to the Sleeping Giant from a park in Thunder Bay

 

    On Tuesday we took a break from Nordic. I ran in town in the morning and then we went downhill skiing at Loch Lomond. There was some good vertical and the price was right even if the chairlifts were old. Erik was impressed that we could see Isle Royale from the summit. 

    On Wednesday, on our way out of Thunder Bay, we stopped for another classic ski at Kamview. It was snowing again and we slowly trudged along on what was becoming the theme of this trip: lots of new and/or transformed snow. It was snowing too heavy to have a view from the Lookout Trail. 

    We need to go back to Thunder Bay again. It's only a six hour drive and we only skied once at Lappe. Give it a few years, and I'd happily spend a few more days at Kamview. Heck, I even thought about trying to move to Thunder Bay. But the reality is, Kamview was only so good because it was novel, and then it would no longer be novel. I think we'll be back for the Sleeping Giant Loppet- but next time I'll classic ski:) 

    Then we drove back to Minnesota along the North Shore to make our way to the Great Bear Chase, spending the night in Superior where they'd just gotten an ice storm followed by some blowing and drifting snow.

    On Thursday we skied at Wolverine since they'd just gotten a lot of snow. Well, that and we'd brought the sled with and I knew about the old ski jump in-run and figured that would be a good place to go. So we had another slow ski between all the fresh stuff and some transforming snow. Then Erik went sledding while I tried to practice my self-arrest skills with the ice axe (it doesn't work so well in a foot plus of fresh powder).

Erik doing some extreme sledding at Wolverine.

    We spent that night in Houghton and on Friday Erik went downhill skiing at Mount Bohemia while I tried but was rather unsuccessful at finding a nearby walking adventure. Largely there was too much snow and despite all the gear we'd brought with us, we'd failed to bring the old school snowshoes. 

The hike views weren't all bad.

 

Found a waterfall!

    That night we returned to Houghton to join some other Vakava skiers who'd come for the Great Bear Chase.

The Great Bear Chase

    Last year I wanted to do the Great Bear Chase but mother nature had other plans and it was cancelled. We were able to roll over our entry to this year. I returned to classic skiing and so was Erik. After a number of races this season, I had the suspicion that Erik intended to ski behind me for a decent chunk of the race. I'd won the classic race in 2019 and 2020 and had no intention of getting any other place besides first. In warm-up my skis felt slow again which wasn't surprising given the start was around 10 degrees and they'd gotten a bunch of snow three days previous. 

Great Bear Chase course: 2 x 25 km laps

 

    As we stood on the start line the announcers asked us to be kind to the slower skiers we were passing. "You're here to have fun!" the announcer said to which I yelled: "No, we're here to chase the bear!!!" 

Dave in the skate marathon still chasing the bear. He got a grizzly award for being 75. Something we can all aspire to do.

    I started on the front row which wasn't hard to do because the start was super wide but I feel like it establishes the tone. I didn't notice any other women but I could tell I was near the front of the race, if not time-wise, at least place wise as we headed up the first hill. Erik slotted in behind me. We mostly skied outside the tracks which seemed faster and was firmer for the pole plants. The skiathlon started 5 minutes in front of us and we ticked off a number of skiers throughout the race. The lead skate pack, who started 5 minutes behind us, passed us in the snaking hills and the entire first lap felt congested. 

Erik and I skiing together.

    And hard. OK, not that hard. I'd once again settled into a nice rhythm but I wasn't striding much, instead running outside the tracks and my double pole felt slow and not at all strong. Erik got ahead of me in a flatter section towards the end of the first lap, just before we hit the north punchy hill section. But he was never really out of sight, I just couldn't catch him. 

Ben with game face on. He said he enjoyed the classic but not so much the skate.

    Then we were onto the second lap. The tracks felt faster but most of the pole plants punched through a bit. I gained on Erik in the south punchy hills but then he really pulled away from me in the gradual downhill to the low point of the course. Then it was the grinder gradual uphill. I could barely see Erik as I saw him pass #409. Then we were back to the punchy hills on the north side and there was Erik, #409 having left him in the dust. But he never tanked too hard and must've seen me behind him in his bright pink as he kept the pressure on.  I noticed that instead of trying to stride in the tracks, which just seems like so much work, we'd just get out of the tracks and run. And we herring-bone ran when it got too steep. I'd never skied an entire marathon so close to him. It was kinda weird.  

Ian doing the skiathlon.

    I never could catch Erik. I wondered if I would've pulled out another gear had he been a woman. In the end he beat me by 12 seconds. We were on course for 3 hours and 22 minutes, just 8 minutes less than the Birkie. I was happy to call it a season.

    "Did you have fun?" our teammate Adrienne asked Erik and I when she finished. We both were like "No, not really. Racing is hard." And this brief conversation, other than saying earlier that we were here to chase the bear, were my most fun parts of the race.

    I won again and had more competition than previous years with the top four women all Birkie Elite Wave qualifiers from this year. So I'll take that. 

    That night we were treated to some aurora borealis from the deck of the Vakava house.

I'd never seen the northern lights in this "ribbon" pattern before. It almost looked like fire smoke. Of course, it always looks way better in the photos. It looked white to the naked eye. Photo: Ben Mullin

    On Sunday morning, before driving home, we skated at Michigan Tech. This was only my second time skiing the trail system. We had about half an hour of perfect conditions before it started seriously transforming. But there was still some snow in the trees and it was pretty. We skied down to the low-point of the course on the Skidder trail which had some fun turns. When we'd skied here in 2021 we'd skied the Cemetery Loop on very icy conditions. I didn't really want to do that trail again but we did and there is one super steep hill out there that almost got me again. 

Ski at Michigan Tech

 

Finishing up our week of natural snow for the 2024-2025 season. Photo: Laura Cattaneo

     And just like that, my natural snow season is likely over, outside of the Birkie and a couple skis in Bemidji and the Twin Cities, barely a week after it begin.