Noquemanon 2005

The forecast is shaping up alright for this Marquette classic. I mean
classic. Jay Tegeder's experience with classic last year was enough to
convince me I needed to do this one classic.

Come to think of it, his kick wax experiment unfortunately didnt go too
well, so maybe it was the fact that I was skating once again in
Marquette on cold soft deep s l o w snow when I thought phooey, this is
perfect striding conditions, I need to stride this bugger.

The tracks could be those we read about, and no joke it could be Extra
Blue kick wax. It could be a great one. I cannot wait ! I do hope the
kickwaxin' goes better for me than for Jay. Thanks Jay for detailing
the overiding lesson from last year ("when cold, it's easy to get kick,
and easy to over do it"...and slo way the heck down)
JK from TC, who else reading this is striding the Noquey ?

After striding the last two years I have decided to skate. But conditions
do look ideal for the classic race. They've got great snow this year and it
looks like the kick waxing should be great, just finish before it gets too
warm although the latest forecasts say it will stay below 32. Don't kill
yourself on the long double pole across the lake, on the hills that follow
the past two years I saw many folks burn out. Have a great time, I've never
done the Seeley Hills, but I think this is THE classic race in the midwest,
you probably won't see a skater your entire race.

Dave

"delltodd" wrote in message
oups.com...
The forecast is shaping up alright for this Marquette classic. I mean
classic. Jay Tegeder's experience with classic last year was enough to
convince me I needed to do this one classic.

Come to think of it, his kick wax experiment unfortunately didnt go too
well, so maybe it was the fact that I was skating once again in
Marquette on cold soft deep s l o w snow when I thought phooey, this is
perfect striding conditions, I need to stride this bugger.

The tracks could be those we read about, and no joke it could be Extra
Blue kick wax. It could be a great one. I cannot wait ! I do hope the
kickwaxin' goes better for me than for Jay. Thanks Jay for detailing
the overiding lesson from last year ("when cold, it's easy to get kick,
and easy to over do it"...and slo way the heck down)
JK from TC, who else reading this is striding the Noquey ?

JK from GAYLORD !
Is not going... spent 5 hours in emergency room last night - wife has
pneumonia. Wouldnt be nice to leave her in charge of 3 little kids while I
stride the Noque !!!!! Double damn. Depression has set in..... please
don't tell me how great it was and how fast the track was and how you used
blue extra for rock solid kick. I don't want to hear it. Ok, I do.

bummed in great ski country...
JK

(FYI I have always found results right away going direct to itiming.com
instead of the race site.)

Would the preparation & anticipation for my classic marathon debut @
the Noquey pay off ??

The forecast was a little off; Fri nite forecasted low of 14F was
actually 21. I had waxed for the classic 51k with PFX10 Blue Dragon
with CeraMax fluoro powder on top. Given range of the blue is 5 - 23F.
It was 28 @ the finish. I have had limited rides on "The Dragon" and I
have to admit that I just might prefer it over the FastWax, and it has
always been fast by comparison to others while racing. I will
definitely continue to tinker with it to confirm my hunch on this.
This wax is really soft to work with for a cold wax, which was nice, it
irons like a soft wax, and scrapes soft too. That range is nice.

The good news is that the Noquey is usually Arctic Bitter Cold but the
warmup left SOLID set track which was a laugh riot for me. I just love
skiing in set track, and this was the good stuff.

I needed to really certify that I had KICK first because of all the
climbing in the first half, and I was continually just 1 layer of blue
(extra blu, toko blu) away from the necessary kick on my Fischers (in
pre-race wax dial-in). That's when Joe Jameson informed me that violet
was kicking nicely. Humidity was 82% and the dewpoint was 4F lower than
airtemp, so yes it was humid. That means you might bump up a kick wax
range, so I grabbed the red, & it hooked up big time. That was the kick
I was looking for. However, I had too much blue beneath it to really
have the best glide. The red needed less of a cushion. The result was
kinda strange:

* Awesome downhill gliding, in track, out of track, very good, likely
thanks to very good glide wax, and LJ03 structure

* Very good kick, and the glide here might have been better, but I was
relieved to be able to kick up hills past the herringbone tracks of
others, which made me feel confident that a lot of time spent on
technique has begun to take root

* Pretty good Kick Double Pole speeds

* BAD DP speeds ! Trouble !

So I guess that I had too much wax too far forward in the pocket, which
engaged when I got up on the toe for DP. This probably would have been
OK in blue kick wax conditions, but for the red, I would need less
layers. So dang. Turns out there are some km's of DP in the Noquey 2nd
half. Quite a few k's. That was tough mentally but it was a good
learning experience, if not a bit frustrating for all the prep work I
put in for the focus of my winter.

The Noquey is an awesome race, on awesome tracks, with great
volunteers, so unique having the Dead River Basin to cross (a frozen
reservoir at about 12k in), and the Wood Dome for showers & recovery &
changing right at the finish. If I had to pick one race, either the
Birkie or the Noquey, I'd take the Noquey, personally. And the classic
focus is cool. I will do that again.

I was good for 47th overall in Classic in about 3:26 for 51k, so not a
disaster, but the people I had skied with were 4 minutes up on me (my
lake buddy) to 3 minutes (the guy who was V1-ing a lot of stuff which
really helped him to move up in those sections) to a nice grupetto that
I just could not stay with early when the DP sections come up, but I
could hang on the climbs, at 6 to 7 minutes up. So I can't wish myself
into a higher finish, but if I can learn & move up, I can do quite a
bit better. It was nice to mentally knock this one off though as the
course is tough & now I am no longer a Classic Virgin. Incidentally I
spoke with several others who also did their first, so it seems to be a
very good place for striding a marathon.

Footnote on Joe Jameson: I see him about 1500 meters after the start,
standing trailside, having BROKEN a nice pair of trusty old Fischer
racing skis. He went back, borrowed somebodys car keys, got his skate
gear, notified the starter, started with Wave 2 skaters ! Way to adapt
& adjust, eh !

Dave M-K, thanks for the word not to burn up on the lake. I entered the
lake in no-mans land, & I was just doing a lite DP w/rapid turnover to
survive it, and I got reeled in by what seemed to me from my
perspective to be a Very Powerful DP'er. I knew I had to hook up to
this guy. But with each stroke, he was pulling away (AWFUL !) So I
tried a KDP, and I started to catch back, so I threw in a bunch of KDP
to surge back up to him, and I was able to relax for the rest of the
way, and at Granite Point I was back in my element, and he waved me by
after some friendly race-banter. Sadly for me, he reeled me in on the
DP sections in the last 2 k, but I was ready for Granite, so thanks.

Lastly, with reference to ski selection, I was very glad to be on the
RCS's & I felt quite stable on them as I was unsure if I could maintain
composure for 50k on them, & had considered the more stable feeling
atomics. I did fall once, inserting myself fairly deep into some fluff
when I was trying to read one of the many signs, & well, we GO where we
LOOK don't we ! Otherwise, the skis were good to me.

Glad you had a good race. I must admit that skating it for the first time
was a whole different ball game. As much as I hate to say this, I think I
enjoyed skating more. It is amazing how much more of the course you can see
when you are not head-down double poling. I also felt really good
throughout the race and had possibly the most fun I have every had in a ski
race. Had good energy, decent skis and kept a managable pace, was able to
finish strong.

Curious to hear what others used for glide. I had Fast Wax Tan on two pair
of skis I tested Friday and was going to put a top coat on after I skied and
talked to folks at the Dome. Toko guys were saying their recommendation of
Helx Cold was wrong, snow temp was much cooler than anticipated (at least on
Friday) they were saying Jetstream Old, which I don't have. They went so
far as to tell friends of mine who had Helx on to warm scrape their skis and
start over. They didn't but did put Jetsteam Old on another pair and said
they had rockets. My Fast Wax Tan was good, not great. Wish I would have
put some pure fluor on but when I tested skis with friends that had
Jetstream on, there wasn't that much of a difference.

All in all it was a great race and once again as I ate donuts and showered
in the Dome I thought that this is probably the best run race I have ever
taken part in.

Already looking forward to next year.

Dave

"delltodd" wrote in message
oups.com...
(FYI I have always found results right away going direct to itiming.com
instead of the race site.)

Would the preparation & anticipation for my classic marathon debut @
the Noquey pay off ??

The forecast was a little off; Fri nite forecasted low of 14F was
actually 21. I had waxed for the classic 51k with PFX10 Blue Dragon
with CeraMax fluoro powder on top. Given range of the blue is 5 - 23F.
It was 28 @ the finish. I have had limited rides on "The Dragon" and I
have to admit that I just might prefer it over the FastWax, and it has
always been fast by comparison to others while racing. I will
definitely continue to tinker with it to confirm my hunch on this.
This wax is really soft to work with for a cold wax, which was nice, it
irons like a soft wax, and scrapes soft too. That range is nice.

The good news is that the Noquey is usually Arctic Bitter Cold but the
warmup left SOLID set track which was a laugh riot for me. I just love
skiing in set track, and this was the good stuff.

I needed to really certify that I had KICK first because of all the
climbing in the first half, and I was continually just 1 layer of blue
(extra blu, toko blu) away from the necessary kick on my Fischers (in
pre-race wax dial-in). That's when Joe Jameson informed me that violet
was kicking nicely. Humidity was 82% and the dewpoint was 4F lower than
airtemp, so yes it was humid. That means you might bump up a kick wax
range, so I grabbed the red, & it hooked up big time. That was the kick
I was looking for. However, I had too much blue beneath it to really
have the best glide. The red needed less of a cushion. The result was
kinda strange:

* Awesome downhill gliding, in track, out of track, very good, likely
thanks to very good glide wax, and LJ03 structure

* Very good kick, and the glide here might have been better, but I was
relieved to be able to kick up hills past the herringbone tracks of
others, which made me feel confident that a lot of time spent on
technique has begun to take root

* Pretty good Kick Double Pole speeds

* BAD DP speeds ! Trouble !

So I guess that I had too much wax too far forward in the pocket, which
engaged when I got up on the toe for DP. This probably would have been
OK in blue kick wax conditions, but for the red, I would need less
layers. So dang. Turns out there are some km's of DP in the Noquey 2nd
half. Quite a few k's. That was tough mentally but it was a good
learning experience, if not a bit frustrating for all the prep work I
put in for the focus of my winter.

The Noquey is an awesome race, on awesome tracks, with great
volunteers, so unique having the Dead River Basin to cross (a frozen
reservoir at about 12k in), and the Wood Dome for showers & recovery &
changing right at the finish. If I had to pick one race, either the
Birkie or the Noquey, I'd take the Noquey, personally. And the classic
focus is cool. I will do that again.

I was good for 47th overall in Classic in about 3:26 for 51k, so not a
disaster, but the people I had skied with were 4 minutes up on me (my
lake buddy) to 3 minutes (the guy who was V1-ing a lot of stuff which
really helped him to move up in those sections) to a nice grupetto that
I just could not stay with early when the DP sections come up, but I
could hang on the climbs, at 6 to 7 minutes up. So I can't wish myself
into a higher finish, but if I can learn & move up, I can do quite a
bit better. It was nice to mentally knock this one off though as the
course is tough & now I am no longer a Classic Virgin. Incidentally I
spoke with several others who also did their first, so it seems to be a
very good place for striding a marathon.

Footnote on Joe Jameson: I see him about 1500 meters after the start,
standing trailside, having BROKEN a nice pair of trusty old Fischer
racing skis. He went back, borrowed somebodys car keys, got his skate
gear, notified the starter, started with Wave 2 skaters ! Way to adapt
& adjust, eh !

Dave M-K, thanks for the word not to burn up on the lake. I entered the
lake in no-mans land, & I was just doing a lite DP w/rapid turnover to
survive it, and I got reeled in by what seemed to me from my
perspective to be a Very Powerful DP'er. I knew I had to hook up to
this guy. But with each stroke, he was pulling away (AWFUL !) So I
tried a KDP, and I started to catch back, so I threw in a bunch of KDP
to surge back up to him, and I was able to relax for the rest of the
way, and at Granite Point I was back in my element, and he waved me by
after some friendly race-banter. Sadly for me, he reeled me in on the
DP sections in the last 2 k, but I was ready for Granite, so thanks.

Lastly, with reference to ski selection, I was very glad to be on the
RCS's & I felt quite stable on them as I was unsure if I could maintain
composure for 50k on them, & had considered the more stable feeling
atomics. I did fall once, inserting myself fairly deep into some fluff
when I was trying to read one of the many signs, & well, we GO where we
LOOK don't we ! Otherwise, the skis were good to me.

I wanted to mention that Nathan Schultz had a tremendous 51k CL race.
He was only about 2 mins behind Ivan Babikov, and he took 2nd place.
Stellar race for Nathan. This Babikov is the real deal. I noticed that
he also raced in the previous days in the Super Tour races.