Into the wild….

[disclaimer- Cory may be pissed I’m posting, but he can always delete this later]

After yesterday’s snowstorm, today’s clear skies were a relief. I doubt any of the racers were excited to see several inches of soft snow arrive, but maybe the nice weather will bring out the snowmobilers and they’ll pack the trail.

There wasn’t much left for the racers to do at the start, since all the gear choices and prep were complete by the time they arrived. Everyone was ordering burgers and fries for one last warm heavy meal and trying to choke them down. It was outwardly calm, but the racers were generally withdrawn into their own little worlds. It was so strange, even I started to feel that pre-race nauseous feeling.

At about 1:45, Cory pulled his sled together, took a short spin to decide which poles to use at the start (skate poles), and then we said our goodbyes. I thought his sled looked pretty compact compared to a lot of the others, but there were a lot of different sizes and designs. A couple of runners were checking out Cory’s suspension system.  They were using rubber tubing over ropes, so their system looked very lightweight, but runners have very different needs than skiers. The only sled that was intriguing to me was Peter Basinger’s metal frame on skies with a backpack attached. It rides a 3-5 (?) inches off the ground, and supposedly it can be lifted up and carried on his back.  With the inches of new snow, it looked like it was gliding easily.  The other skier had a pretty compact backpack, although supposed his load was about 35 lbs.

Watching 50 racers start doesn’t take too long, and Cory was smiling and waving as he passed us. I took some photos (the race website has better ones), and watched until the racers were all out of view. If I hear any updates, maybe I’ll try to post.

-Linda