Wasatch Citizen Series Race #3

I've had so much fun racing the citizen series the last couple of years. There are alot of races that I'd like to do, but when you figure in the cost of the entry fee and travel, etc. on top of all of the gear you need (running,  triathlon, skiing) there are a lot of of "someday" races. Last night as we were all bottle necked going up some switchbacks doing kickturns by headlamp, someone behind me said "Who put in this track? No double track?" I laughed and said "Do you want a refund?" The beautiful thing about the citizen series races is that they are FREE. And they are basically in my back yard here in Utah.

The 12/18 race was possibly the funnest of the citizen series races that I've been to. There were 50+ people, it was cold, snowing, and everyone is so friendly, to the guy that laps people, to the being lapped. Really, a great atmosphere. Skiing by headlamp is really fun too.

The race included 4 laps on a course that included a single skintrack, booter, kickturns, and even a little kick & glide. The skiing was fantastic with 12" of new snow. Powder turns turned into mogul turns as the night wore on--the conditions kept it interesting. I couldn't wear my goggles on the last run because of snow in them and by the end my eyelashes were freezing together.

The skinsuit mafia is getting faster--it seems every race there is someone that has new race skis. Even though no results are kept, the races are very competitive. At least with me and the guys in front and behind me. I always spend time in the pain cave and counting steps to the transition area when I'm really blown.

A big shout out to my main man Andy for being the scoutmaster of this operation. He shows up early, flags the route, puts in a skintrack/booter, does the race, cleans up the flags, and hands out free stuff afterwards (including pies that he buys with his own hard-earned money). Seriously, a real dude. We owe him alot--he has done a lot to promote skimo racing here in Utah.

Ski Trab has been awesome and gave out a pair of $80 race poles last night and has given Andy a demo fleet for the FREE races. Seriously, you can't get better support for a non-entry fee event.

12/6 Ski Tour 10K

Mountains that face south would have you believe that winter hasn't started yet. View down Cardiff Fork , BCC.

Yesterday I felt like a 10k. 10,000 feet of elevation gain that is-despite the loss of hearing and congestion from the cold that I've had.  I headed up LCC and made a lap up hidden peak. As I was about to rip skins at the top of the Peruvian lift, sitting there coughing--I looked down and saw someone skinning upwards. I decided to wait and see who it was. It was Teague. He easily talked me into the the last couple hundred feet of vert up to the tramdock. We ripped skins and skied down. I tried to follow Teague down, but he outskied me pretty easily. I hopped in the car and drove up to Grizzly gulch where I met up with the Asian Sensations: Andy, Jason, and Jared. Josh was there too. More getting outskied was about to happen.

If I have any chance in keeping up with the Sensations I have to be on full race gear. The pace was pretty fast until Jared and Jason left us at noon. We continued skiing, continuing west along the LCC/BCC ridgeline until we were too pooped or time ran out.

Under bluebird skies, we headed up Grizzly to the honeycomb cliffs, skied some rocks and powder into Silver, climbed up Davenport(?) & out Silver (Jared and Jason leave), skied down Jaws (really aesthetic line) into Days Fork, then up and out Days, over to Holy Toledo (best run of the day!)  into Cardiff, around the subridge, up to the top of Cardiac Ridge (super cool line--I wouldn't have done this without Andy breaking trail for a long ways to the top) including booting the last couple hundred feet stepping lightly on a rock slab covered with snow. (Steepest, coolest looking run of the day)

Booter to the top of Cardiac Ridge. Stolen from Andy's Blog. So sue me, I steal.

Then finally making my way over to pole line to exit Cardiff & did a little Hellen Keller skiing back down to the highway and walking back to the Grizzly Gulch parking lot.

In my dreams I think of runs like the ones I skied. The snow was better on some than others, but all runs were excellent, high-quality, giggling-inducing fun skiing. May this winter have much more of the same.

Clouds moved in later on in the day. Looking back towards Cardiac Ridge.

10k and feeling great!

Stats: Garmin showed 9,539 but doesn't include about 20 minutes of skinning from me forgetting to push start. I think I can comfortably call it at 10,000.

Skin failures: 4. Thankfully I had two pairs of skins. Need to fix the glue again though.

Calories: Not enough. The last couple hours I was thinking about sandwiches. Big tasty sandwiches.