Jay T's Noque Big Saturday - Sunday Birkie Trail 1-24/25-04

Hey everyone! I classic skied the 51K Noquemanon Ski Marathon in
Marquette, MI on Saturday, Januray 24th. In the process, I met another
RSNer, Dell Todd! Potter, where were you? Anyway, I learned the
meaning of Drag Coefficient... I totally blew the wax. Yeah, totally!
But who cares, I still had fun... The race day temp was 5F. I used
Star Blue for glider and Toko Blue for kick. The fast guys were using
cold powder for glide but the glide wax wasn't the problem. Maybe the
Peltonens I used are too soft for me. Maybe waxing for low moisture
content "lake effect" snow is a different animal. After racing for
over 20 years, you'd think I'd know something about waxing. I corked
in 3 layers of Toko Carbon Blue over Toko Green as a binder. I had
monster, I repeat, MONSTER kick. However, I had so much snow clinging
to my kick zone that my skis just dragged along the course. At the
first feed stop, I begged some Swix Green off of a guy and corked it
in. It didn't work too well on top of 3 layers of blue. At the second
feed zone, I borrowed a pocket knife off of a volunteer and scraped my
skis as best as I could. I still had monster kick so that didn't
work... When I got to the 3rd feed zone, I grabbed some Swix VR30 from
a skier. Too warm for the temp but I thought it might glide better
than the Toko. Still no luck. At the 4th feed, I borrowed another
pocket knife off of a volunteer and scraped kick wax until I was
taking petex off the base. What happened! I still had monster kick and
no glide. I kept passing people who passed me when I was waxing or
scraping. Finally, at the 25K point. I bummed some Toko Turqouise off
of a guy warming up for the 25K classic. Still not great, the skis
worked the best they did all day. At that point, I was passing all
kinds of people into the finish. "Stick around this sport long enough
and you'll beat everyone at least once!" Larry, 61 year-old, Myers
passed me at the second feed zone He wound up beating me by 9 minutes.
John Weiland passed me at the second feed too. I caught him later as
he tired. The thing is, I felt strong all day. The top skater, Cory
Wubbels passed me at 28K. RSNer Brian May passed me about 2 kilometers
later. He was the second skater. The FrontRunner passed me with a
group of guys at the 28K mark. Oh well, as I mentioned, I still had
fun. At the start of the week, I thought I'd cut back the training
hours to be fresh for the race. After a 45 minute ski on Friday at the
Blueberry Trail in Marquette, I had 3 hours 45 minutes for the week.
After skiing the race at a "blistering" 4:16, I wound up with 8 hours
for the week!!!

After the race, I cruised to Hayward, Wisconsin. I chased the sun
across Michigan 28 from Marquette to Ironwood. It has to be the
loneliest road in the lower 48. Big forests everywhere among the hills
and rushing rivers. The only vehicles on the road were logging trucks
and Ford Crown Victorias driven by the old people in the area. Why
they have to drive cars that look like State Trooper vehicles, I don't
know. Anyway, I don't think there are any young or middle aged in the
area. By the time I crossed into Wisconsin at Hurley, the sun was
pretty low. It had set by the time I reached Mellen and the sky had
only faint light by the time I got to Hayward. I grabbed a motel room
there and skied for 1 hour on the famed Birkie Trail on Sunday
morning. One hour was all I had in me. I felt strong enough but my
body was pretty sore from the 4 hour 16 minute Noque effort.

Jay Tegeder
"Stick around this sport long enough and you'll beat everyone at least
once! JT"

meaning of Drag Coefficient... I totally blew the wax. Yeah, totally!
But who cares, I still had fun... The race day temp was 5F. I used
Star Blue for glider and Toko Blue for kick. The fast guys were using

in 3 layers of Toko Carbon Blue over Toko Green as a binder. I had
monster, I repeat, MONSTER kick. However, I had so much snow clinging
to my kick zone that my skis just dragged along the course. At the

Too warm and too much! If you have soft skis it's amazing how little
wax you need at really cold temps. Two thin layers of Mint (used to be
Turquoise) would have done the job. Also, get Zach to flex test those
skis!

Rob Bradlee
Toko Tech Team

Hey Jay! I strided the 51K too - sorry I didn't meet you.

I too used Toko Blue for kick, and it was perfect the whole way. I
don't know why it didn't work for you, but then what do I know about
kick wax? I'm that Seattle guy that almost always resorts to grabbing
my waxless pair to race on. I've had so many slip-kick disasters in
the near freezing conditions that prevail near Seattle. But while I
was racing in Marquette, the hard wax was easy, reliable, and grippy
for me - I could get used to these conditions! I loved it!

The Toko blue had worked so well during the 15K classic on Thursday
(BRRR!), that I didn't even bother to alter it before the Noque. We
planned to show up at the start only 10 minutes before the start, to
conserve heat, and in those 10 minutes we confirmed that our wax was
still fine, and then I did add a couple of additional layers, just in
case, and carried the blue and green waxes with me, along with spare
gloves and a couple of energy gels.

I skied the whole way with fellow Washingtonian Per Johnson. Per is
the master of pacing, and kept me sane in the early going - we'd
agreed after 4 races in the last 7 days, we might be a bit tired, tho
in truth I suspect that if I'd considered it a race and paced myself I
would have started too fast and faded in the end, recording a slower
time than our 3:38. I did fade in the final 1K.

We were passed by the lead skater about 5K from the finish, and I
finished maybe 30 seconds before the 2nd one. I'd sort of been
looking forward to seeing a bunch of fast skaters zoom by. But
classic was the way to do this race, at least on this day. Much of
the first 3rd looked like the trail for skaters, well, sucked. There
were many Ks where the skate lane was narrow, not level, and had a rut
in the center. And then an inch or two of cold slow powder on top.
The last 2 thirds or so looked much better for skating, but still with
the powder on top. I'm glad I chose to stride.

But enough bitching. Overall, the course was really fine, and the
organization was excellent. And the sun came out as we approached the
finish! And when you do finish, you take off your skis and walk
about 30 seconds into a huge sports stadium that is warm and out of
the weather, and there were ski valets and showers and hot soup and
fruit and these donuts holes that I stuffed on after each race this
week.......

My glide was fine for the most part, but it was slower for a while
around 40K, then freed up again near the end. I think that we all had
poor glide while crossing lakes - no skate lane at all on the lakes..
Another odd problem there was that your poles would go in deep and
come out with a bit of ice on the tips that would grow with each pole
plant. I was able to knock it off several times during the long lake
crossing. Per's turned into a solid ball that he had some trouble
getting off at the end of the lake.

About glide - once we were skiing in the company of 2 others when we
came to one of downhills, which were all really easy. Per was in front
of the train, and I was third. Per just glides down, and the second
guy throws in a tiny snowplow at the top and I and the woman behind me
do the same to keep from hitting him. So of course Per just glides
away from us. And then I hear one of these 2 wonder aloud "I wonder
what kind of wax he has on his skis!". My glide was as good as
Per's, and these 2 were gliding as well as I was - I just wonder how
often it is that people get misperceptions about someone's glide when
the only difference was they that they applied the brakes where there
was really no need to.

All in all, a fine day to do a fine event. Lotsa great volunteers on
the course, feed stations every 7 K, and even some sun at the end.

Erik Brooks, Back in Seattle, where it's gray and 50s



----- Original Message -----
From: "Jay Tegeder"
To: "Multiple recipients of list NORDIC-SKI"

Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2004 1:48 PM
Subject: Jay T's Noque Big Saturday - Sunday Birkie Trail 1-24/25-04


Hey everyone! I classic skied the 51K Noquemanon Ski Marathon in
Marquette, MI on Saturday, Januray 24th. In the process, I met
another
RSNer, Dell Todd! Potter, where were you? Anyway, I learned the
meaning of Drag Coefficient... I totally blew the wax. Yeah,
totally!
But who cares, I still had fun... The race day temp was 5F. I used
Star Blue for glider and Toko Blue for kick. The fast guys were
using
cold powder for glide but the glide wax wasn't the problem. Maybe
the
Peltonens I used are too soft for me. Maybe waxing for low moisture
content "lake effect" snow is a different animal. After racing for
over 20 years, you'd think I'd know something about waxing. I corked
in 3 layers of Toko Carbon Blue over Toko Green as a binder. I had
monster, I repeat, MONSTER kick. However, I had so much snow
clinging
to my kick zone that my skis just dragged along the course. At the
first feed stop, I begged some Swix Green off of a guy and corked it
in. It didn't work too well on top of 3 layers of blue. At the
second
feed zone, I borrowed a pocket knife off of a volunteer and scraped
my
skis as best as I could. I still had monster kick so that didn't
work... When I got to the 3rd feed zone, I grabbed some Swix VR30
from
a skier. Too warm for the temp but I thought it might glide better
than the Toko. Still no luck. At the 4th feed, I borrowed another
pocket knife off of a volunteer and scraped kick wax until I was
taking petex off the base. What happened! I still had monster kick
and
no glide. I kept passing people who passed me when I was waxing or
scraping. Finally, at the 25K point. I bummed some Toko Turqouise
off
of a guy warming up for the 25K classic. Still not great, the skis
worked the best they did all day. At that point, I was passing all
kinds of people into the finish. "Stick around this sport long
enough
and you'll beat everyone at least once!" Larry, 61 year-old, Myers
passed me at the second feed zone He wound up beating me by 9
minutes.
John Weiland passed me at the second feed too. I caught him later as
he tired. The thing is, I felt strong all day. The top skater, Cory
Wubbels passed me at 28K. RSNer Brian May passed me about 2
kilometers
later. He was the second skater. The FrontRunner passed me with a
group of guys at the 28K mark. Oh well, as I mentioned, I still had
fun. At the start of the week, I thought I'd cut back the training
hours to be fresh for the race. After a 45 minute ski on Friday at
the
Blueberry Trail in Marquette, I had 3 hours 45 minutes for the week.
After skiing the race at a "blistering" 4:16, I wound up with 8
hours
for the week!!!

After the race, I cruised to Hayward, Wisconsin. I chased the sun
across Michigan 28 from Marquette to Ironwood. It has to be the
loneliest road in the lower 48. Big forests everywhere among the
hills
and rushing rivers. The only vehicles on the road were logging
trucks
and Ford Crown Victorias driven by the old people in the area. Why
they have to drive cars that look like State Trooper vehicles, I
don't
know. Anyway, I don't think there are any young or middle aged in
the
area. By the time I crossed into Wisconsin at Hurley, the sun was
pretty low. It had set by the time I reached Mellen and the sky had
only faint light by the time I got to Hayward. I grabbed a motel
room
there and skied for 1 hour on the famed Birkie Trail on Sunday
morning. One hour was all I had in me. I felt strong enough but my
body was pretty sore from the 4 hour 16 minute Noque effort.

Jay Tegeder
"Stick around this sport long enough and you'll beat everyone at
least
once! JT"