Zack Caldwell's Z Grind

Zack Caldwell came out to the American Birkebeiner about five years
ago. I had him put one of those Z grinds on my Fischer skis. Well, it
must still be there because I only use those skis once a year which is
at the Birkie. They've been rockets ever since he put that grind down
so I don't want to wear them out at other races. I've got another pair
of fast Fischers for the other events. Anyway, the Birkie skis have a
soft tip and a firm mid-body and tail section. I'm in wave 1 and the
Birkie uphills get a little soft after 200 elite men, 50 elite women
and probably half the first wave race over it ahead of me. A ski with
a soft tip transitions much better into those uphills. My skis were
rockets as usual on the downhills. The first half of the race includes
the Seely Hills. The uphills are big and they keep coming at you. Once
you get through the big Seely climbs, you still have two monster
uphill left handers before the halfway point at County Highway OO. I
followed John Fitzgerald, Dale Thompson, Andy Wood and Jeff Arndt
through the hills. I could barely hang on to those guys on the climbs.
The thing that saved me was that I'd catch back up to them on the
downhills. Wood and Arndt took off and dropped Fitz, Thompson and I
before Double OO. I stayed with Fitz and Thompson all the way to the
big downhill one kilometer south of Double OO. At that point, the
course turns to my favor. Slight downhills, long flat sections,
rollers and uphills that are nicely spread out along the second half
of the course. After the big downhill past Double OO, I blasted ahead
of Fitz and Thompson. I was cruising now. Next up, I caught Steve
Sands, one of the top guys in the 60-64 age group. He wears this old
1981 red polyester suit at every race. Sometimes he wears a 1981 white
polyester suit. Those things have to be heavy. Anyway, I drafted off
Sands for a while because I though his pace was good. We cught up to
Andy Wood's pack and drafted off of them for a few kilometers. I was
fine with that but Sands wanted to go faster. He took off and I
followed him. We dropped those guys and continued on for a few more
kilometers. All of a sudden, this big guy comes up from the back and
goes around us. I decided to jump on his draft and thought Sands would
too but he didn't. I followed the big guy. While behind him, Mike
Myers, Bjorn Daehlie and Gus the classic winner came by us. We stayed
close for a kilometer or two but those guys were strong and they skied
three Ks more than us! Anyway, we kept cruising to the Mosquito Brook
Road feed station. Right before the feed, Henry Wisnewski was on the
course giving feeds to the Atomic guys. Henry knows me so he gave me a
feed. Warmed up and defizzed Mountain Dew. That stuff was fantastic! I
dropped the big guy there and went up the big Mosquito Brook climb.
Between there and Bitch Hill, I passed Jeff Arndt who wasn't moving to
fast. He must have gone out to hard. I kept passing guys and got to
Bitch Hill. It's called Bitch Hill because it is one steep and big
climb. I single sticked my way to the top and passed Clay Diggins who
was struggling. I blasted down the big downhill and kept passing
slower skiers. There were people who went out much faster than me.
They were probably much faster than me the first half of the race
because I just try to get up the big early climbs without blowing up.
The race is 51 kilometers and like I said, the second half suits me
much better. I caught another pack and skied with those guys a while.
Then, another ski goes around us. I went with him and we V-2ed all the
way to the next big climb past Wisconsin Highway 77. That's another
tough climb. I single sticked my way up that one too. I can go just as
fast as the V-1 skiers on the uphills so I figure I might as well do
that and conserve energy. After that climb there's a downhill,
followed by an easy uphill and then a long downhill which leads to the
flats before Lake Hayward. I dropped that guy on the downhill and kept
passing other skiers who were slowing down. I got to the lake and
followed a couple of second wave guys who were moving really well. I
had plenty of energy to hang with those guys on the lake. In fact, I
think I'm an elite wave lake skier!... I passed John Jerecek on the
lake and and then kept passing guys on Main Street. I had plenty left
at the end. The question is; Could I have skied faster? No way! The
uphills early on are just way too tough for me. Tons of skiers drop me
in those hills and then I have to chase them the second half of the
race. I placed 591st out of all the men which should keep me in wave
1. Last year, at 180lbs, I was in the high 700s. This year at 173lbs
was much better. My best Birkies were when I weighed 163lbs. Maybe my
age now, 51, won't let me get back to those days. Anyway, I'm sure I
beat a lot of skiers who would have beaten me if they had had skis as
fast as mine.

Jay

Congrats on your race. I was told it was called Bitch Hill because of
the crazily-dressed women who hang up there every year to scream at
and deride the skiers.

Gene

wrote:

It's called Bitch Hill because it is one steep and big
climb.

I think the hill came before the bitches, but hard to tell at the time!!
lol

Mike


wrote in message
...
Congrats on your race. I was told it was called Bitch Hill because of
the crazily-dressed women who hang up there every year to scream at
and deride the skiers.

Gene

wrote:

It's called Bitch Hill because it is one steep and big
climb.

Thanks for the race report.

Did you say "Daehlie"? : ) ...Only *once*?

That was a pretty blase' namedrop!

--JP

PS: It's so much fun having great "Birkie" skis at the Birkie! Soft
tips...

I only did it once and had ROCKETS. Pelts with sofffffttt tips. What
fun to swim so fast in all that deep mashed potaters!

On Feb 23, 9:46*pm, "Mike" wrote:
I think the hill came before the bitches, *but hard to tell at the time!!
lol

Mike


Yeah, it was called Bitch Hill because it's a bitch to climb. Although
some say it's called Bitch Hill because when the race used to go from
the south to the north, it was one nasty downhill... The women who
dress up, cheer on the skiers while they are climbing and call
themselves bitches, came after the hill was named. When I did my first
Birkie in 1984, the race went from the south to the north. That route
was much tougher than north to south.

Jay

Thanks for clarifying the history. On its own, that hill is not
particularly hard, but at that point of the race, some 40-odd K in,
it's a different matter. South to North, tho is a different matter.

Gene

wrote:

On Feb 23, 9:46*pm, "Mike" wrote:
I think the hill came before the bitches, *but hard to tell at the time!!
lol

Mike


Yeah, it was called Bitch Hill because it's a bitch to climb. Although
some say it's called Bitch Hill because when the race used to go from
the south to the north, it was one nasty downhill... The women who
dress up, cheer on the skiers while they are climbing and call
themselves bitches, came after the hill was named. When I did my first
Birkie in 1984, the race went from the south to the north. That route
was much tougher than north to south.

Jay

cool Jay! Nice to hear from you again.

On Feb 24, 10:06*am, wrote:
cool Jay! Nice to hear from you again.

It's hard for me to figure out how my Fischer skis were in the new,
fine snow. They felt slow, and I fought my skis nearly all race long,
but others didn't didn't seem to outglide me on the flats or
downhills. On the big downhills (25 mph+) my skis would release and I
shot by a few people on two of the three of the big hills (before OO,
after OO and after the 77 hill). The skis also released during a few
sections around roads on the second half.

I skied behind the women from about 30-35 km on. They ended up
splitting a group of us guys on bitch hill into about three packs, and
I was in the middle pack. Tom Meyer worked hard to maintain contact,
and then Randy Beckner took over before Tom went to the front again. I
thought we could catch the lead group, so when my skis got fast before
Hwy 77, I hit it, and chased all the way up the following hill. I
finally got on the group by the top, and then had a free ride across
the lake. The guys behind me seemed to have problems on that last
hill. The woman's pack pace slowed on the lake and Brent W and I kept
looking back because we should have been getting caught. I put a pole
into the top of my ski which (rightfully so) freaked Brent, but I kept
it up. Finally, Tom Wood went to the front and put in a hard effort
into the wind. That gave the women a break and our group ended up
catching some guys on Main St. So the results have three of us guys
spread over five spots even though we finished almost tip to tail.
Afterwards I had a couple Harps...don't think that's a good recovery
drink. It kicked my butt. Well, maybe it was the other two beers with
lunch. Not sure.

Jay (the other one, out of the woodwork) W

Jay you're back !!

JKal.


wrote in message
...
On Feb 23, 9:46 pm, "Mike" wrote:
I think the hill came before the bitches, but hard to tell at the time!!
lol

Mike


Yeah, it was called Bitch Hill because it's a bitch to climb. Although
some say it's called Bitch Hill because when the race used to go from
the south to the north, it was one nasty downhill... The women who
dress up, cheer on the skiers while they are climbing and call
themselves bitches, came after the hill was named. When I did my first
Birkie in 1984, the race went from the south to the north. That route
was much tougher than north to south.

Jay