Vasaloppet '04 Damm Lies and Statistics - Joy in Mudville!

What a race.

Here is my story and sticking to it.

I was over with John O'Connell (dubbed "logistics man" after doing the half
race on Tuesday). We got up about 3:00 am with temps in the hills above
Mora at 25 degrees. I had waxed colder HFBD7 with FC7 over the top and
several layers of VR 40 with a final two layers of VR45. I put a layer of
VR50 followed by VR45. We left for the start at 3:45 and were the only car
on the road. We stopped for coffee about 20k from Salen and by the time we
took off again it was field of dreams with a long line of cars behind us.
We arrived in Salen shortly after 5:00 with the temp at 10 and with people
everywhere. I hopped out of the car and headed to gate 1 to set down my
skis. The gates opened a 6:00 so I waited in line for 40 minutes until the
gate opened. I was about the 8th in and set my skis down in the "Front
Row"behind the elite wave. Testing my skis in the gate I realized I had
little or no kick, so a couple more layers of VR45 with a final layer of
start Black Magic to at least give me kick up the hill. I saw Chad and
spoke to him briefly before the start as he took a final leak in the gate
close to my lane.

Then we were off. Up the hill I had good kick and was in 620th place at the
first check point (11k). For the next flat section I DPed at sub 3 minute
Ks and passed close to 100 skiers to come down to 524th at the next check
point (24k). The next section drops into a valley and up the other side.
My skis were scary fast on the downhills with me just hanging on for dear
life, but on the next set of uphills my kick was marginal at best. So
through the next 2 checkpoints I dropped over 100 places with one stop to
re-wax with little improvement in kick. At Oxberg with 28k to go I was
695th. The rest of the course was flat enough to DP most of the hills so I
cranked it up and started passing people at a great clip. Somewhere in the
final 25k a guy took me down on a slight rise and I fell on my pole and
snapped it. &*^$#*, but within 2 minutes a spectator gave me a pole and
then a second so that they would be the same length. The temps continued to
rise into the mid 30's I my skis were still faster than most around me, so
DP and kick DP up the hills to the finish. Over the last 28k I improved 105
places to finished at 590th and 4:47. (100 places and 45 minutes faster
than my race in 2000)

The race was outstanding. The Swedes run a tight ship, with everything
organized and efficient. Just after I crossed the line the woman who had
loaned me the poles walked up and gave me my poles and took back the loaners
(she was just a spectator on the course). Then it was on a bus to get my
clothes and back to the Hotel Mora for a quick change and into the car for
the trip back to Stockholm. John got back to Mora in time to watch the race
(no commercials) on a big screen TV in the hotel restaurant and monitor my
progress on the hotel computer through all the checkpoints.


The FrontRunner







"Jay Tegeder" wrote in message
om...
Some great analogies can be made between The Swedish Vasaloppet and
American Baseball. We in the U.S. have a saying; "There's joy in
Mudville!" This saying is used after the hometown team wins. However,
not just any win. Usually, we're talking about a team that has tried
for years to win the big one but always seems to fall short. Finally,
when they reach the pinnacle and win the World Series, "There's joy in
Mudville!" Well, think of all of Norway as Mudville... After years of
trying and coming close to victory, they finally won the World's most
prestigous race, the Vasaloppet. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think
the last Norwegian to win the Vasa was Harold Gronigen in 1971. The
last decade has seen Erling Jevne and Anders Auckland have several
chances each to win the race, only to fall short. Anyway, Anders
Auckland finally put it all together and took the Victory. Making it
even better, his brother Joergen took 3rd. In my bias, I rank
victories in the following order; 1) Olympic Gold Medal, 2) Vasaloppet
Victory, 3) World Championship Gold Medal.

Here are some statistics (BTW, a baseball term is "Damm lies and
statistics.";

1) Anders Auckland NOR 3:48
2) Raul Olle EST (former Vasa Champion)
3) Joergen Auckland NOR
4) Oskar Svard SWE (last year's Vasa Champion)
5) Marco Cattaneo ITA
6) Daniel Tynell SWE (former Vasa Champion)
9) Stanislav Rezac CZE
13) Staffan Larsson SWE (former Vasa Champion)
14) Silvio Fauner ITA
27) Morten Brors (NOR)
28) Vincent Vittoz (FRA)
35) Hiroyuki Imai (JPN)
39) Mika Myllyla (FIN)
60) Fabio Maj (SWE)
590) FrontRunner (Greg Worsnop) USA 4:46

Half Vasa
Nordic Norm (John O'Connell) 3:38

Town Sprints - Where tons of cash can be made...
Raul Olle - 4 wins
Stanislav Rezac - 1 win
Norway - 2 more
Anders Auckland - 1 - the most important Town Sprint!

Jay Tegeder
"I faders spar for framtids segrar"
1996 Vasa participant - 6:43 - The World's Greatest Race!!!

Gene Goldenfeld wrote in message ...

Did you take a look at Chad's splits? From about 25th at the first
marker, his placing fell progressively. Will be interesting to read his
report.

I se him as 63rd in Smågan. Anyway, what strikes me is
that he seems to have had a particularly hard patch
between Evertsberg and Oxberg.

After Oxberg *everyone* slowed down, but Chad seems to
have. if not bounced back, then at least fought back.

(In comparison: the recent poster, Bjørn Bergheim who
finished 42s ahead of Chad, lost 3 mins to him after
Oxberg.)


Anders

FrontRunner wrote:
[great race story snipped]

Congratulations!

the trip back to Stockholm. John got back to Mora in time to watch the race
(no commercials) on a big screen TV in the hotel restaurant and monitor my

No commercials? Of course there's no commercials!

Did you notice that the racers never stopped racing for any commercial
breaks?
:-)

More seriously, the key break can happen at any time, you'd really want
to be live at that moment.

Terje

PS. On NRK transmissions they've started to allowe up to three sponsors
about 2 seconds each at the beginning and end of an event, in the form
of a voice-over saying something like:

'This program has been sponsored by VG, Bygg-Makker and Hydro'.

Not totally commercial-free, but I really don't mind knowing which
company has been willing to pick up (parts of) the cost of setting up a
live broadcast from a sporting event.

--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

"FrontRunner" wrote in message ...

I was over with John O'Connell (dubbed "logistics man" after doing the half
race on Tuesday). We got up about 3:00 am with temps in the hills above
Mora at 25 degrees. I had waxed colder HFBD7 with FC7 over the top and
several layers of VR 40 with a final two layers of VR45. I put a layer of
VR50 followed by VR45.

Had I been man enough to be there (and if I were a Swixman),
I´d probably have stuck to the softer wax, VR50, because of
the high humidity. (I´d have been worried sick, though...)


We left for the start at 3:45 and were the only car on the road.

Take the bus! Take the bus!:-)

(...) Testing my skis in the gate I realized I had little or no kick,
so a couple more layers of VR45 with a final layer of start Black Magic
to at least give me kick up the hill.

Start Black Magic Grip or Flour Grip? The latter would seem
to have been better suited - but who am I to say, I´d have
been running in a circle, flailing my arms and screaming:
"Grip Tape, anyone? Pretty please"!"


My skis were scary fast on the downhills with me just hanging on for dear
life, but on the next set of uphills my kick was marginal at best.

So, all you wax wizards out there! What would have been the
perfect grip wax job for the day?


BTW smashing well done!



Anders

Only had the nonflour Black Magic. I think klister with a hard wax cover
would have been a better choice, but the rising temps made it a tough wax
day regardless.

The FrontRunner

"Anders Lustig" wrote in message
om...
"FrontRunner" wrote in message
...

I was over with John O'Connell (dubbed "logistics man" after doing the
half
race on Tuesday). We got up about 3:00 am with temps in the hills above
Mora at 25 degrees. I had waxed colder HFBD7 with FC7 over the top and
several layers of VR 40 with a final two layers of VR45. I put a layer
of
VR50 followed by VR45.

Had I been man enough to be there (and if I were a Swixman),
I´d probably have stuck to the softer wax, VR50, because of
the high humidity. (I´d have been worried sick, though...)


We left for the start at 3:45 and were the only car on the road.

Take the bus! Take the bus!:-)

(...) Testing my skis in the gate I realized I had little or no kick,
so a couple more layers of VR45 with a final layer of start Black Magic
to at least give me kick up the hill.

Start Black Magic Grip or Flour Grip? The latter would seem
to have been better suited - but who am I to say, I´d have
been running in a circle, flailing my arms and screaming:
"Grip Tape, anyone? Pretty please"!"


My skis were scary fast on the downhills with me just hanging on for
dear
life, but on the next set of uphills my kick was marginal at best.

So, all you wax wizards out there! What would have been the
perfect grip wax job for the day?


BTW smashing well done!



Anders

I was lucky eonugh to be in Mora for the Vasalopppet week this year.
What a great way to end the ski season. This was my second time here,
we did the full Vasa in 2000 while finishing off the Worldloppet
Masters. This time around I'm doing the shorter races and am now half
way to my "Silver" designation. The Frontrunner gave a very complete
race report asnd many others have described the events well so I'll
try to offer some info not reported. As Gary Jacobson has written, if
you ever get the chance to get over to Sweden for this event you
should jump at it in a heartbeat. I've now been to 14 Worldloppets
outside the USA and this is absolutly my favorite event as the course,
organization, lodging, treatment of the racers and the excitement in
town is outstanding.

I got some very good advice from Brian May and others on the newsgroup
on catching a train from Arlanda (Stockholm Airport). Just a short
walk from my arrival to the train station under the runways...a couple
of hours wait and then a 4 hour train ride to Mora on a sunny
afternoon. Pretty easy to sleep in a warm, gently rocking rail car
after a long overnight flight. The train to Borlange was only about
25% full but I was glad that I reserved a seat on the connecter to
Mora as it was packed. This was Monday afternoon and I was registered
to do the 45K Half Vasa the next morning.

Although it had been cold and they had had some new snow prior to my
arrival it got very warm that Monday in Mora. Lots of melting snow and
large puddles as I walked the 2.5K from the train station to my hotel.
I was carrying a hard plastic sportube with two skis and sets of
poles, a large duffle on wheels, a small duffle and a backpack. once
again I packed way to much stuff and was soaked by the time I
struggled to the hotel, not an optimum night before a race strategy.
It looked like waxing was going to be very difficult (this was a
classic race) as the temps were supposed to just dip a little below
freezing....klister or binder and hard wax? As I had completed my
glide waxing and scraping two day earlier in St. Paul and had ironed
in Swix VR35 binder my only decison was on kick, I'm glad I waited
until morning. The course went right by my motel so then next day at
5:00am I went out to see how the tracks looked and it had gotten
colder then anticipated, they were set up like concrete. I used a
purple Swix Klister that was supposed to be good from just below to
just above freezing, covered with some VR45 hard wax for the start.
Many people missed the wax by opting for just hard wax, including one
of the major wax companies that were waxing skis for a fee.

This race has an "Oppet Spar" feel to it. It was advertised as a timed
event with chips but no overall or age group results are kept and you
could start anytime from 9:00 to 9:30 am. So I'm thinking I'll get
there early, warm up, test my wax and take off when I feel like it...
WRONG. I was on the first bus and when we embarked I noticed that the
start area had only four sets of tracks and as far as I could see
skiers had placed their skis in the tracks reserving a start position.
I had to walk quite a ways back to get my spot. Later I had heard
their were almost 3,000 skiers in this event and as we know the Swedes
disdain wave starts. It actually took me 8 minutes to get to the start
line when the race began. While waiting to go I had a nice
conversation with a skier who was all decked out in a VOLVO race suit,
after we heard a series of urgent sounding announcements I looked at
him and his face had a look of gloom and he said " be very carefull,
it sounds like lots of ice on the downhills". Well, they got that
right. This course starts near the half way point at Evertsberg and
after a little loop we started down. In 2000 with fresh snow and 20F
temps all I remember was that this section was a nice break from
double poling. Today it was bloody. Every little downhill was backed
up as there were many skiers crashed and people were trying to
snowplow down ice on classic skis to avoid them and a similar fate. I
saw four major accidents with injuries that were requiring medical
help during the first 5K and three major multiskier pileups at the
bottom of moderate downhills. In all the first 12-15 K seemed to be
just an attempt to stay upright and avod breakage of body or
equipment. At about the 30K to go point I had survived and the course
opened up and you were able to ski pretty freely...at about 20K to go
the wax had been stripped off and it became a double pole fest (which
I like as my size and strength becomes an asset, not a liability, on
flat courses). I finished very strong passing lots of people on the
way in. Blue sky, temps were about 34F at the finish and the
difficuties of the start were quickly forgotten as I had a strong ski
and a decent race (3:38) A quick search of the results showed that I
was first American (honesty disclaimer...there were only 7 of us).

As in the USA Mora race, The American Birkie, the City of Lakes Loppet
and other races that finish down a main street, pushing hard to the
end with people cheering you on never gets tiring... I can't wait
until the next time we get back here.

John OC











Terje Mathisen wrote in message ...
Mitch Collinsworth wrote:
On Sun, 7 Mar 2004, Terje Mathisen wrote:
Anders intentionally (at least it did look that way on TV) let Raul win
all of the town sprints while they were alternating the lead during the
last 30 K.

I suspect he wanted Raol to win them both because he probably needed the
money more than Anders, and because he was hoping that Raol would expend
a little extra energy each time, making it easier to beat him where it
really counted.

I didn't see it on TV (yet, hopefully Janne will make it possible yet),
but from looking at the 2003 video on his web site and from your
description, this is clearly turning into a sport similar to bicycle
road racing. A lead pack travelling at such speed that drafting is

Absolutely right!

The only way to make it more obvious would be to have everyone skate. :-(

critical and from which it's difficult to make a break that will
stick. Cycling has the advantage of many, many years of practice in
honing strategy and teamwork. One such strategy is "deal-making".

When two guys get away together their best bet at staying away to the
finish is to work together, which is obviously what they did today.

Yeah, from watching it it looked like the first 10 K or so was spent
partly testing each other (Raol had slightly better grip on the uphills,
Anders the strongest arms), but they soon started to alternate, with the
lead guy stepping out of the track and waving the other forwards.

If the break succeeds they are each guaranteed no worse than 2nd place
(assuming noone else succeeds in bridging up later in the race). Of
course they would both still like to be 1st place, so one strategy might
be to attempt to conserve energy in hopes of beating the other. But if
overdone this can lead to the break being caught. But that's no good.
2nd is still far better than getting caught and having to fight it out
at the end for 30 places. So what to do? This is where deal-making
comes in. Raul and Anders may well have brokered a deal on the spot.
Anders gets the win and Raul gets all the town sprints. Now that that's
agreed, let's put our energy into staying ahead as a team and not into
battling with each other.

That's definitely a possible scenario, but not what happened this year:

Considering that they won by two minutes, Raol kept pressuring Anders
all the way to the finish, which wasn't needed at all. I.e. I haven't
seen any list of splits from each of the last 10 K or so, but my guess
is that the leaders never relented at all compared to the big pack
fighting for third place.

Anders stated on NRK last evening (NRK + Bjørn Dæhlie picked him up at
Mora with a small Cessna, so he didn't need to drive the four hours back
to Oslo. This gave him some time to say hello to his wife and newborn
son, Oliver, before the interview) that he tried to make Raol pull as
much as possible, and 'giving away' the sprint victories were part of
that, i.e. each time they got sufficiently close, Anders would gasp "Go
ahead! Get the sprint money!".

But maybe that's not entirely fair? The deal may have been more
extensive. Anders may have pledged to help Raul win a future race.

Anything is possible, but I'd give 10:1 odds against that having
happened here. Remember that Raol won some years ago by making a break
after just 1/3 of the race, then staying ahead. He made an attempt again
this time, but was reeled back in relatively quickly.

Anders was very inactive at this period.

Later on, when Anders did make his break, they were both on camera
continously with the snowmobile staying _very_ close to them all the
way. They didn't have any chance for any kind of secret communication at
this time.

Speculation? Certainly. But this stuff happens all the time in
cycling. Once you get into mass start pack racing, it's good to have
as many friends as you can in the pack.

The friends he had were _very_ obvious: Chiefly his brothers Jørgen and
Frank.

Their plan, which worked so nicely, was for Jørgen to do his very best
to slow down the pack when Anders broke away. He skied close on the
heels of Svärd, clicking his heels a few times, sliding up alongside on
the downhills, saying stuff like 'Hey, your glide seems to suck, man!',
and generally having a great time with the guy who beat him on the final
stretch last year. :-)

Jørgen did go in front a few times, but only to immediately slow the
pace down again.

Previously (i.e. in the first half of) the race Jørgen had been in
trouble a couple of times, on both occasions Frank waited for him and
helped pull him backm into the leader pack.

The Aukland brothers also had a backup plan: If Svärd and/or some others
should manage to make proper team effort and pull up to Anders, Jørgen
would hang along, and then make an immediate break as soon as they
caught up, being more rested than any of the others at that point.

In the end, this sort of happened anyway, because at the 5 K marker the
relatively rested Jørgen didn't have any problems breaking away from the
pack and ski in to an uncontested third spot.

Terje

"FrontRunner" wrote in message ...

Only had the nonflour Black Magic.

Well, my suggestion came purely from "paper experience" -
and it was the red, non-fluor RM that was recommended by
Start (mixed and ironed in w/Synthetic Violet and Blue,
w/a final thin layer applied cold, all on top of Extra
Base).




I think klister with a hard wax cover would have been a better choice,
but the rising temps made it a tough wax day regardless.

I take it that you mean "(a base wax or klister and a)
klister with a hard wax"; that is a description that
can include almost a myriad of products and combinations,
you know:-) A Universal klister and a Violet fluor grip,
perhaps?

(Or was it your grip wax being worn off - rather than
"just" losing grip - that forced you to stop and rewax?)


BTW Start suggested Grip Tape as the alternative, and I
don´t think it was merely a marketing ploy - in those
conditions it could well have been the best of all possible
grip wax solutions, even for the "moderately ambitious"
skiers (providing, of course, that they knew how long a
tape to apply, and where).


But if it was a tough wax day for skiers of your class,
think how tough it must´ve been for those who stayed on
the course for five hours longer, the snow getting warmer
and warmer, the tracks getting mushier and mushier...

OTOH many skiers in that category are usually willing to
accept a relatively greater loss of glide as a price for
getting good, durable grip - and many of those who had to
stop for a rewax probably welcomed the opportunity to
rest a bit:-)


Anders

Anders Lustig wrote:

"FrontRunner" wrote in message ...

I was over with John O'Connell (dubbed "logistics man" after doing the half
race on Tuesday). We got up about 3:00 am with temps in the hills above
Mora at 25 degrees. I had waxed colder HFBD7 with FC7 over the top and
several layers of VR 40 with a final two layers of VR45. I put a layer of
VR50 followed by VR45.

Had I been man enough to be there (and if I were a Swixman),
I´d probably have stuck to the softer wax, VR50, because of
the high humidity. (I´d have been worried sick, though...)

It was -11C at the start, but as i approached Risberg ~30k it was up to 0C
and above in the sun. At the finish it was +8C and the sun was keeping us hot.
Soo it was definitly red klister at the end. To make it real impossible
to was it was blue extra at the start.

Yeah, what happend to your Vasa Anders?

(...) Testing my skis in the gate I realized I had little or no kick,
so a couple more layers of VR45 with a final layer of start Black Magic
to at least give me kick up the hill.

Start Black Magic Grip or Flour Grip? The latter would seem
to have been better suited - but who am I to say, I´d have
been running in a circle, flailing my arms and screaming:
"Grip Tape, anyone? Pretty please"!"

Black magic was overplayed after Evertsberg, here it was down to klister.
One that had Start grip tape said that the grip was fairly good but
no glide, maybe to long tape.

My skis were scary fast on the downhills with me just hanging on for dear
life, but on the next set of uphills my kick was marginal at best.

So, all you wax wizards out there! What would have been the
perfect grip wax job for the day?

Rex Powergrip in the bottom covered with some red or yellow with blue extra on
top.
This would have worked to Oxberg or maybe to Hökberg but after that you have to
poll for the most. This was my plan before i saw the weather prognose (don't
belive them), i opted for the colder hardwax option all the way, BIG mistake.
The worst skiis i have ever had in a race, no glide and with no grip after
Risberg,
did one rewax at Evertsberg, it was overplayed after 5k where you needed klister.
I did not have it with me so i just had to use my arms instead.

--

Forward in all directions

Janne G

Janne G wrote in message ...

It was -11C at the start, but as i approached Risberg ~30k it was up to 0C
and above in the sun. At the finish it was +8C and the sun was keeping us hot.
Soo it was definitly red klister at the end. To make it real impossible
to was it was blue extra at the start.

There have been cold races and warm races, but probably
not so many races like this, I suppose.

(Although this kind of weather with rapid swings of the
temperature are typical of "spring-winter", late winter,
they´re not common as early as the first weekend of March.)


Yeah, what happend to your Vasa Anders?

That flu turned out to be the real thing, four days of (for
me) high temperature. I did get well in time to rest and
recover before the Finlandia, but the way I *didn´t* feel
good doing it convinced me to trade my entry and (at a small
loss) travel package.

With hindsight, it was a *smart* decision:-)

(It also makes it two in a row, and makes me a world
champion of training goals...)

One that had Start grip tape said that the grip was fairly good but
no glide, maybe to long tape.

I played around with it, and even a small change, 1 cm,
can mean a lot, and it´s probably "when in doubt, make
it shorter". (The problem is that one´s kick may not be
snappy enough all the way, if the lenght of the tape is
just right for glide...)



The worst skiis i have ever had in a race, no glide and with no grip after
Risberg, did one rewax at Evertsberg, it was overplayed after 5k where you
needed klister.
I did not have it with me so i just had to use my arms instead.

So maybe it was a race where - beyond the absolute elites -
there was *no* perfect wax job, at least without a built-in
rewaxing stop.

Anyway, considering all of the above, you did rather well -
damned well, if I may say so!



Anders