CSM-Agony and Ecstasy (long)

I completed my first CSM (bronze) yesterday, with a good friend. It
really is an amazing event, utterly unlike any other ski event I've
done. The most amazing thing, looking back on it with very early
hindsight, is that for much of the two days of skiing, I was asking
myself why I was doing this (I had fallen on icy downhills countless
times, was exhausted and in a lot of pain, dreaded more skiing, etc.),
but by the last 2 sections yesterday, and certainly when I finished, I
was ecstatic--not just for having finished at all (which I had more or
less given up on halfway through the first day), but at the wonderful
weirdness of the whole event.

What impresses me most is how unlike a race it is. That is, there is an
extraordinary range of people skiing--old and young, men and women,
kids, people from all over the world. No one seems in a hurry. At many
climbs you hear people saying, 'no, after you.' People chat as you ski,
chat at the rest stops, chat in the buses, etc. Time matters in a vague
way, because you have to make the penultimate checkpoint by 3:15 (which
turned out to be much harder than I'd expected), but mostly you just
keep moving, a little shocked by the fact that you actually can ski for
8 hours, and then ski for a few more hours. And that you can end the
first day in physical agony, sleep on a floor, dread the next day, get
up at 3 in the morning, get on your skis again, start moving, and then
feel better, much better, then you could possibly have imagined.

The CSM is worth doing simply for learning that you can adjust to
skiing such long distances. I still can't believe that I felt better at
the end of the second day than at the end of the first (though the
fantastic weather, much better conditions, and spectacular trails of
the second day, surely played a big role in that). Honestly, I felt
better at the end of the second day than I normally feel at the end of
even a 25k race. But I felt worse at the end of the first day than I
have ever felt in my life!

Some more amazing things about CSM:
1) Seeing all those gold bib people. I can't imagine ever doing the
gold, but I am filled with awe by those folks. I had thought of them as
masochists, but when you see them on the trail, you realize they are
not suffering but having fun. For many it seems to have become a yearly
ritual, an exclamation point in the middle of winter. So many of them
too are 'seniors', which gives one a profound sense of how to tackle
life with gusto. I also saw a few teenagers going for the gold, which
also stunned me. I heard of one 14 year old doing it!
2) The unbelievable organization! It's a very, very, complex events,
with seemingly thousands of volunteers. Everything runs smoothly and on
time. It's mindboggling. The volunteers are also just about the nicest
people on the planet!
3)It's truly a celebration of cross-country skiing. You face just about
every possible kind of skiing, kind of trail, from the sublimely
beautiful to the sublimely horrifying (think ice, trees, rocks, hairpin
turns). You are with 2000 other people who think of skiing not as
competition, but as a part of life.
4) It's actually longer than they say! I wore a GPS for the first day
(the battery would not have lasted the second, and I couldn't find a
place to plug it in in the dorm), and we actually covered 87.5 km, not
the 80.4 that was advertised. Ouch. Who knows how long the second day
was.

I could go on, but I'd better get to work at last.

Onno Oerlemans

"Onno61" wrote in message
ups.com...
I completed my first CSM (bronze) yesterday, with a good friend. It
really is an amazing event, utterly unlike any other ski event I've
done.

The CSM is not a race, but a severe endurance test of body, mind and spirit.

Where else can you cross country ski 85km for 11hours carrying a loaded,
25lb packback; change clothing, prepare your meals and camp out over a
winter's night; and ski another 75km for 10hours. (The hours were my times.
Some Coureur des Bois were out there for a couple of hours more each day!)

There are few parallels though some have likened it to completing an Ironman
Triathlon. Imagine completing the swimming and cycling legs of an
Ironman... and then camping out overnight in the winter to complete the
marathon portion the next day! You get the idea. (Like the CSM,
completing the Ironman for most participants is not a race but a test to
finish.)

The 160km of the CSM traverses some challenging geography of the Canadian
shield. Section 3 is notorious for the treacherous downhill going to the
Rouge River travelling northwest on odd years (or severe climb of several
km's going south east on even years). Sections 4 and 8 also present a
continuous series of tough climbs and descents often made more challenging
by icy tracks... like this years previous week rains ensured. You do not
complete the marathon without a few accounts of falls, near miss crashes,
muscle strains and injuries.

There is a wonderful, magical feeling out on the trail. Coureurs des Bois
(those attempting to complete the entire 160km distance) are not competitors
but fellow trekkers. Tourers (those completing one or more sections) are
out to enjoy a unique Canadian winter experience. The spirit is always
'high' at Checkpoints with music cheering participants and volunteers alike.
Milling about sharing stories about the last section completed and the way
ahead. Volunteers serve hot soup, gatorade, honey wate, water, bananas,
bagels, trail mix, cookies, fruit bars, energy bars, peanuts and chocolate
covered peanuts. A local ski shop is set-up at each set point offering grip
waxes, wax services and even some minor repairs. The volunteers are
outstanding whether at checkpoints, ensuring road crossing are snow covered,
moving baggage, etc. I know of no other event of the logistical complexity
presented by the CSM.... and execution is close to flawlesss.

The Coureur des Bois category is progressive. You must complete Bronze
(ski the entire distance) and Silver (complete the entire distance with a
loaded pack) before attempting Gold (ski the entire distance camping out
overnight). For Coureur des Bois Gold participants, there is the further
challenge of completing five Gold CSM's for a "permanent" gold number. If
that isn't enough, there is the "Hat Trick"award for those who complete a
Coureur des Bois category , a running marathon, and a two-day bike event of
at least 200 miles... all in the same calendar year.

For myself, there was nothing more spine tingling than turning off the main
CSM trail to the Gold Camp on my first Coureur des Bois Gold participation.
Each year the Gold Camp endows a special, unique feeling sharing a very
special ritual with a group of dedicated, endurance cross country skiers who
have put in months of preparatory training.

Challenge Canada's Winter and earn the right to call yourself a Coureur des
Bois!

Congratulations on finishing. Wow.

JFT

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Yeah, great job! It represents to me the spirit of skiing and being
outdoors in the winter in a "stand up for winter" kind of way. I like
that 'exclamation point' way to describe it. Kind of like jumping into
ice water after a sauna, only stretched out. I mean, it's a mighty long
exclamation point, but the long winter nights deserve a LONG
celebration. Man, I'd like to try it someday. --JP

Congratulations on your achievement Onno, and everyone else who participated
in the CSM. Also, yet another super job by the CSM organizers, the
incredible volunteers, and great work by the trail and grooming crew under
such difficult conditions over the 160 km. Given all the rain and ice we had
the week before it, I don't know how they pulled it off so well, but I'm
glad they did!

Onno, your posting captures the CSM experience so well. I think the Bronze
Coureur des Bois you achieved is the toughest category: you start 15 minutes
later and have more traffic, and more scraped hills, yet you have the same
3:15 pm cut off. It only gets easier for you from now until you're camping
for Gold ;-)

I had a good CSM, couple of falls on the first day, icy tail end of section
3, but no injuries. The new route to the Gold camp added 5.5 km and made it
a ~85 km day for Saturday to the Gold camp. But it was through some very
beautiful country. So, I took it easy and enjoyed the scenery rather than
push and bemoan it. When we arrived at the camp we were greeted by Quebec
minister of sport, Jean-Marc Fournier. Of course, I encouraged him to be on
his skis next time we meet :-)

As you said, Onno, the second day was a glorious day of skiing, nice
conditions, with a lovely afternoon at the finish in Buckingham, Gatineau.
It was a special finish for me, because a friend whom I introduced to the
CSM got her first Gold and we got to the finish line together.

Talking about CSM chatting, I got on the bus at the end to go the school and
banquette in Buckingham. I was chatting with an 8 year old girl who had done
3 sections over the two days with her great grandmother. They were just
brimming with wonderful achievement together.

I also chatted for a bit with Peggy Austin, who was skiing the 17 kms of
section 9. She is the almost 90 year old daughter of the legendary
Jackrabbit Johannsen, the 'patron saint' of CSM (
http://www.jackrabbits.ca/resources.asp?page=johansen ). She was wearing
bib# 111 which is the permanent number retired for her father when he passed
away at that age.

This was my Coureur des Bois Gold #6. Even though the old body is creaking a
bit today, you can be sure I'll try to back next year. My permanent CSM
number is 166. So, if I keep on doing the CSM, like Jackrabbit, maybe I can
try to get to be as old as my number, eh :-)

Parham.

Awesome post Onno, and congratz (Parham as well).

I must concurr with everything said - this event is every bit as awesome as it sounds. The people are fantastic, the scenery beautiful, the volunteers and organization required to make it all happen is incredible. Definitely a celebration of winter, fitness, friends !!

It has to be the hardest event I've participated in, yet also the most gratifying (though treeplanting for a summer comes close). THis year was a Silver year for me - completing all ten sections of trail with 5kg pack.

Most people found the second day easier this year - about 5cms of snow having fallen overnight insulating the ski (a bit) from a very icy and, at times, dangerous, base. I found the first day much easier for some reason. I was able to double pole through much of it, my skis were rocket-fast and I felt great. I actually started over half an hour late and made the final checkpoint with time to spare.

The second day - a very diffent story. Skis were dog-slow (the blue glider wasnt doing it), the body took for ever to warm up and I didnt feel mentally ready for the task at hand. Actually had a bit of a scary experience about 30kms in ... for those who have done/did it, it was at the end of the second section after the lonnngggg wind-in-your-face trek across rolling fields just before the last uphill. I pulled off the trail to wax, had a headache (probly from the wind blowing in my face), and felt weak. Anyways, had a funny taste in my mouth, all of a sudden, and the next thing I knew I was spitting out blood!

Continued very slowly through the last 1km to the checkpoint and asked a buddy about it. He didn't know quite what to say. Didn't want to go the the Red Cross tent, was worried they'd hook me up to a million things and not let me continue. After a bit of food and drink, however, I felt better - and was no longer spitting blood. Figured I'd continue real slow through the next section all the while monitoring the situation. I asked someone else about it, and they thought it could have been a ruptured membrane in the back of my nose or something .. instead of blood coming out my nose it was coming down through and into my mouth. This made sense, as I was pretty sure the blood hadn't come from my lungs (ie. coughing), it had just appeared in my mouth.

Well, I felt much invigorated over the next section and for the rest of the day, for that matter - no more blood coming from anywhere! Anyone ever had this before????

ANyways, an aweome event and definitely habit-forming (I'm sure I'll be back nxt year). But for now, its time to get ready for the Keski nxt Sunday!

Steve

It's certainly true that my skis were much slower on Sunday, partly
owing to the new windblown snow, and partly because I didn't have the
time or ability to redo the glide wax Saturday night. I barely had the
energy to drag my butt to the shower and to dinner! The slow skis
explains too why my time on Sunday was only an hour shorter than than
Saturday, though we covered a shorter distance and I felt as though I
was making much better time. Saturday still looms large in my memory as
especially unpleasant because of the ice--I dreaded coming to downhill
sections. It just took the fun out of the skiing, and made me feel like
a lousy skier.

Spitting blood sounds horrific! I think I might have stopped at that
point. I wonder if it has to do with the cold very dry air, which used
to give me occasional nose bleeds. Congrats on finishing!

Onno

"steve" wrote in message
...
Anyways, had a funny taste in my mouth, all of a
sudden, and the next thing I knew I was spitting out blood!

Blood does have a special kind of "metallic" taste...

Well, I felt much invigorated over the next section and for the rest of
the day, for that matter - no more blood coming from anywhere! Anyone
ever had this before????

Manning "checkpoints" at Loppets, I often see skiers with a bleeding nose.
The odd time it is from a fall but most of the time it is exactly what you
think, small ruptured blood vessels in your nasal passage, most likely
because of cold dry air.

I was on the southernpart of Quebec last Sunday and I remember the temp to
be around -14C in the morning with medium-low humidity...

BarryT