2008 Birkie

Ok, didn't anyone ski this? It's been pretty quiet around here.

They had probably the best conditions I've seen in 17 years of skiing
the race. Really good and considering how cold it started, the snow
was fast. I used BD4/6 with FC7. My legs have been tired for a couple
weeks from racing each weekend. I can tell when I try to do intervals
that I lack speed, so I did pretty well at the Birkie with what I had.
I skied from the High Point to OO pretty much solo, and then got
caught by about 12 guys. I took 4 in the sprint with the remaining 10
or so or this group.

Jay

On Feb 26, 8:07*am, Jay W wrote:
I took 4 in the sprint with the remaining 10
or so or this group.

That should be, I took 4th in the sprint with the remaining 10
or so in this group.

I quit drinking coffee about 10 days ago. That's my excuse and I'm
sticking to it.

Jay

Hey, you did great, Jay! 80th overall.

I didn't see many of the usual lower Mich suspects in the results. And
no foreigners in the top 10.

It's neat seeing a 60+ age-grouper get 7th overall in the classic
division. The classic division also seems huge---wasn't it new kinda
recently? I recall it being kind of an oddball division.

Good show, Jay, and anyone else who did the Birkie. I think it was
last season that it was taken off the World Loppet championship
series list, so there's no special incentive for the top Euros to come
over.

RM

"Jeff Potter (of OutYourBackdoor.com)" wrote:

Hey, you did great, Jay! 80th overall.

I didn't see many of the usual lower Mich suspects in the results. And
no foreigners in the top 10.

It's neat seeing a 60+ age-grouper get 7th overall in the classic
division. The classic division also seems huge---wasn't it new kinda
recently? I recall it being kind of an oddball division.

YOU QUIT DRINKING COFFEE???
What sort of a crazy decision is that? Coffee is the life blood of
midwestern, scandavian type people Jay !!
Hurry ! Get back on it quick and you might salvage your ski
season !!!!
Up to 7 cups/day here and skiing strong.
JKal.

On Feb 26, 9:56*am, Jay W wrote:
On Feb 26, 8:07*am, Jay W wrote:

I took 4 in the sprint with the remaining 10
or so or this group.

That should be, I took 4th in the sprint with the remaining 10
or so in this group.

I quit drinking coffee about 10 days ago. That's my excuse and I'm
sticking to it.

Jay

On Feb 26, 4:33*pm, 32 Degrees B wrote:
YOU QUIT DRINKING COFFEE???
What sort of a crazy decision is that? *Coffee is the life blood of
midwestern, scandavian type people Jay !!
Hurry ! Get back on it quick and you might salvage your ski
season !!!!
Up to 7 cups/day here and skiing strong.
JKal

I love coffee...love it. The coffee was messing with my stomach to the
point where I was thinking I had the stomach flu or was
sick...screwing with my sleep...and that was two cups a day. (Strong?
well maybe.) I also think that coffee was getting me to eat more to
buffer the stomach, so cuting back on the java has helped the
overeating.

I think the Birkie is attracting the 20 somethings that it didn't
previously. College guys and national types are booking flights,
showing up, and making the top 50 tougher. Also, the top masters seem
to be showing up also, so people like Jon Engen are coming every year.
So yeah, no Euros, but frankly, I don't think the Birkie needs the
Euros or the hot shot Euros anyway. The competition is pretty deep,
and Babikov is no slouch.

Having snow this year, even though it was snow from December with only
a few new inches, has really helped the local attitude. One more year
like this one....or a Madison year would really be huge.

Jay

One thing that will be interesting to see as time goes by is how many people
do the classic. There were probably 15-20 elite wave skiers that opted for
the classic this year.

The Birkie (and the midwest for that matter) need good solid winters at
least every 2-3 years to keep numbers up. In the Keweenaw this year we have
probably seen fewer tourists because people can ski closer to home. We need
that every so often. If skiing becomes something that you always have to
travel to do, participation numbers will go way down.

Dave

"Jay W" wrote in message
...
On Feb 26, 4:33 pm, 32 Degrees B wrote:
YOU QUIT DRINKING COFFEE???
What sort of a crazy decision is that? Coffee is the life blood of
midwestern, scandavian type people Jay !!
Hurry ! Get back on it quick and you might salvage your ski
season !!!!
Up to 7 cups/day here and skiing strong.
JKal

I love coffee...love it. The coffee was messing with my stomach to the
point where I was thinking I had the stomach flu or was
sick...screwing with my sleep...and that was two cups a day. (Strong?
well maybe.) I also think that coffee was getting me to eat more to
buffer the stomach, so cuting back on the java has helped the
overeating.

I think the Birkie is attracting the 20 somethings that it didn't
previously. College guys and national types are booking flights,
showing up, and making the top 50 tougher. Also, the top masters seem
to be showing up also, so people like Jon Engen are coming every year.
So yeah, no Euros, but frankly, I don't think the Birkie needs the
Euros or the hot shot Euros anyway. The competition is pretty deep,
and Babikov is no slouch.

Having snow this year, even though it was snow from December with only
a few new inches, has really helped the local attitude. One more year
like this one....or a Madison year would really be huge.

Jay

On Feb 26, 10:17 pm, Jay W wrote:

[ ]
So yeah, no Euros, but frankly, I don't think the Birkie needs the
Euros or the hot shot Euros anyway. The competition is pretty deep,
and Babikov is no slouch.

Local spirit! : ) localspirit.org...

Having snow this year, even though it was snow from December with only
a few new inches, has really helped the local attitude. One more year
like this one....or a Madison year would really be huge.

Jay

A Madison year? What's that?

On Feb 27, 8:14*am, "Jeff Potter (of OutYourBackdoor.com)"
wrote:

A Madison year? What's that?

I heard Madison got a lot of snow this year.

Jay

I'm with you DMK -
Good to see the classic race taking on a life of its own.
last year (or the year before?) I posted that the birkie should go
skate one year, classic the next ... would be cool, but won't happen.
anyway, I'm thinking about doing the classic birkie next year, nice to
see they will have mostly their own trail. Maybe the birkie will end
up like the Noque and favor the depth in the classic race versus the
skate ! ??

JKal.

On Feb 27, 9:11*am, "Dave M-K" wrote:
One thing that will be interesting to see as time goes by is how many people
do the classic. *There were probably 15-20 elite wave skiers that opted for
the classic this year.

The Birkie (and the midwest for that matter) need good solid winters at
least every 2-3 years to keep numbers up. *In the Keweenaw this year we have
probably seen fewer tourists because people can ski closer to home. *We need
that every so often. *If skiing becomes something that you always have to
travel to do, participation numbers will go way down.

Dave

"Jay W" wrote in message

...
On Feb 26, 4:33 pm, 32 Degrees B wrote:

YOU QUIT DRINKING COFFEE???
What sort of a crazy decision is that? Coffee is the life blood of
midwestern, scandavian type people Jay !!
Hurry ! Get back on it quick and you might salvage your ski
season !!!!
Up to 7 cups/day here and skiing strong.
JKal

I love coffee...love it. The coffee was messing with my stomach to the
point where I was thinking I had the stomach flu or was
sick...screwing with my sleep...and that was two cups a day. (Strong?
well maybe.) I also think that coffee was getting me to eat more to
buffer the stomach, so cuting back on the java has helped the
overeating.

I think the Birkie is attracting the 20 somethings that it didn't
previously. College guys and national types are booking flights,
showing up, and making the top 50 tougher. Also, the top masters seem
to be showing up also, so people like Jon Engen are coming every year.
So yeah, no Euros, but frankly, I don't think the Birkie needs the
Euros or the hot shot Euros anyway. The competition is pretty deep,
and Babikov is no slouch.

Having snow this year, even though it was snow from December with only
a few new inches, has really helped the local attitude. One more year
like this one....or a Madison year would really be huge.

Jay