I did a long day-ski tour last Sunday and got a few wild ideas out
there in the boonies.

The short version follows...

(But here's a link to the long story---with some nifty pics.
http://outyourbackdoor.com/article.php?id=576.)

Ideas:

*Hold informal singletrack loppets on famous Michigan hiking trails
(that are good for skiing).

*Have a really long singletrack point to point loppet in Michigan, set
up a bit like the CSM. Between ski resorts might work. From Boyne
Mountain to Schuss Mountain is the whole Mackinaw State Forest. Setting
a track between them would probably go 100km. Call it the Mackinaw
Marathon.

*Lastly: What about a "12 Hours of Vasa"? See if we could set up
campsites/trailers at Timber Ridge campground on the Vasa course (well,
the Timber Ridge trails merge right into the Vasa trails). 27km per big
loop. Let's make it dawn to dusk. How far could someone go? We might be
surprised who would do well in such a race. It might bring different
skiers to the front. It would mostly be a "fun" chance for folks to
plain old see how far they can ski in a day. Without going too
overboard like the crazy "24 hours of Telemark" folks. I think a top
skier could go 100 miles. Or maybe we should pull out the stops and do
teams and 24 hours and the works? The main idea is that the campground
along the trails might be very conducive to bonfires, picnic tables,
warming tents and trailers, etc.

Anyway, 100 miles would be 6 laps. Right on the nose! My imaginary plan
for achieving it in 12 hours would be to do a lap every 1hr:45min. Then
for each lap you could stop at your campsite (with bonfire, etc.) and
change clothes, then get a massage for 5 minutes, then take 5 minutes
to sit down at a picnic table and eat, then get rolling again. That's a
15.5km/hr pace to go 100 miles. Not superfast. But not slow. Seems a
TAD too brisk. But really I have no idea.

Maybe it's been done already: anyone know the Vasa trail nonstop
distance record?

--JP