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Old February 17th 04, 09:16 PM
Tim Dudley
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Default Keski 25k Classic. View from the back.

Cool. After all these years, I've never known until now where Northwest
Passage was.

Pretty impressive tour, Ken - especially after skating the 50K on Sunday.
You people are crazier than I thought!


Tim


on 17/2/04 08:50, Eddy Rapid wrote:

Nice report Ken. Looks like you didn't freeze off anything too serious and
mainly had fun at a good pace.

On your tour, did you go over the edge of Lusk lake and climb up to #1, and
turn left for McKinstry? If so, you've done one of the nicest "back country"
routes in the Gats (sometimes known as the "Northwest Passage".).

Why not join us for the real Big Tour the weekend before the Keski?

Parham.


"Ken Roberts" wrote in message
...
Yes all my parts made it thru the Keskinada Loppet 50K Free course on a
pretty and very cold day Sunday.

Pete Hickey wrote
. . . most parts of Ken did well also.


But I discovered afterward that my earlobes had "gained weight" --

swelling
from frostbite -- very visible at dinner. Even a giant blister on my

right
earlobe, like a second-degree burn. They were "dripping" the next day or
two, but now they seem on the path to recovery.

The first half of the race was fun, the second half painful. Dinner on
downtown Ottawa with Pete and John and Sharon and Qinghua was fun again.
And the next day was perhaps even fun with a backcountry interconnect tour
in northern Gatineau Park.

All those scary weather reports had my over-dressed before the race, so I
frantically took off clothing at the last second. Which led to me

starting
with the following wave -- which turned out to be a great idea. But also
left me wearing a cap that kept riding up higher on my head.

I had lots of fun out skiing in the sunshine with the others, letting

people
pass me on the first couple of long hills, but passing a few just after we
came over the top. Seemed much hillier skating than I remembered from the
Classic course two years ago. Got to a gentle climb, started to have a
little too much fun using my V2 / 1-skate to pass someone.

Then I heard the word "Penguin" -- whoops, I immediately slowed down even
before I could see the steep hill. Fortunately the skiers in front of
helping out by holding me back, so I survived the main Penguin climb. The
sharp turn, and I remembered there was more, and glad I had saved my
strength. Then before the top I pulled left and passed some people --

what
was I thinking?

I was thinking that Keskinada was an easy course, and that I had just

about
finished all the tough climbs. Some more pleasant rolling stuff. Then
_another_ steep climb. Whose idea was this? People were behind me, so at
first I tried to "prove" I could keep up my speed, but then I paused to

rest
for a bit (but the damage was already done). Up to some more rolling
cruising that would have been fun if my legs were not burning.

At last Fortune Parkway -- easy cruising now, right? Except that in the
cold snow my skis weren't gliding well, even in the classic striding

tracks,
so it was work, and pain. And John passed me and sounded like he was

doing
OK, better than OK. It was so unfair.

Then we merged with the 25K course. This was supposed to be fun for me,
passing all these other skiers. But I was hurting -- and the 25K skaters
who were slow enough for me to catch them now looked like they were

thrashed
(fried?) -- I felt sorry for them. (For all I know they were happy

inside,
but the 25K Classic striders I passed two years ago _looked_ happier, so I
felt better passing the 25K-ers when I did the Classic race).

I felt like I could barely more up the final Mont Bleu hill, but I came

into
the stadium with a strong V2 skate that might have fooled the spectators
into thinking I still had lots of energy remaining. (maybe I did?)

Next day to my surprise I was able to do another longer day of fun skiing

in
Gatineau Park. Sharon and I went up north to a different section, Lac
Phillippe. Thanks to Pete's careful route advice, I was able to make a
backcountry connection to the main network of groomed trails used in the
race. I skied the from parking area P19 to the McKinstry cabin and the #1
trail that joins to Fortune Parkway (with the help of several skiers who
broke trail on previous days of the weekend). Interesting pretty tour

that
had everything from fast skating on perfectly groomed roads (using my
classic skis), to crossing backcountry lakes, to steep side-stepping

climbs,
and some improvisational backcountry downhills.

And I did it with the strategy I should have used on race day: Just keep

a
fun pace most of the way, then the last 20 minutes go fast to get back to

my
agreed rendezvous time at the car with Sharon back from her tour. Next

trip
to Ottawa, I'll allow more time to try for a wild north Gatineau loop,

like
Meech - Herridge - Lac Phillippe - McKinstry - Meech.

Ken







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