NA Vasa report?

anyone out there ski it?
Dell?

JK

Weird. No detailed results anywhere that I can find. Usually they're up
right away. Not in the Traverse paper website. Not at the Vasa website.

The paper has the story of the winners, but that's it. I also noticed
the story says that skiers were down from 655 to 580. Weird as well.
Great winter for snow...usually makes for more skiers not less. And the
report says the course was great and fast. Sounds like the top dogs had
a blast. Lastly, it looks like the fancy teams didn't send many skiers.
I don't mind it being more a local race, but still, I wonder what
happened.

--

Jeff Potter
****
*Out Your Backdoor * http://www.outyourbackdoor.com
publisher of outdoor/indoor do-it-yourself culture...
...offering "small world" views on bikes, bows, books, movies...
...rare books on ski, bike, boat culture, plus a Gulf Coast thriller
about smalltown smuggling ... radical novels coming up!
...original downloadable music ... and articles galore!
plus national travel forums! HOLY SMOKES! 800-763-6923

50km Free

Dave Stewart
Milan Biac
Steve Kuhl
Dave Maclean
Hugh? Pritchard
Tim Triebold
Chris Ransom
Greg Worsnop

50km Classical

Randy Bladel

27km Free

Cliff Onthank



"32 degrees" wrote in message
...
anyone out there ski it?
Dell?

JK

Great job, Mr. Speedy!

--

Jeff Potter
****
*Out Your Backdoor * http://www.outyourbackdoor.com
publisher of outdoor/indoor do-it-yourself culture...
...offering "small world" views on bikes, bows, books, movies...
...rare books on ski, bike, boat culture, plus a Gulf Coast thriller
about smalltown smuggling ... radical novels coming up!
...original downloadable music ... and articles galore!
plus national travel forums! HOLY SMOKES! 800-763-6923

"32 degrees" wrote in message ...
anyone out there ski it?
Dell?


At your service !

(Second Hand Info on the leaders, as I am working on skiing at the
front, but I did not manage it this weekend)

Subaru Factory Team ace Dave Stewart & Milan dropped the lead pack at
The Wall. I have the Wall mentally @ 13k, but the newspaper has it @
8k. Anyway, it's pretty steep,one single steady pitch, and comes after
some rolling hills when youre at threshold or beyond. It can put you
under. Good place to make a move. Then Stewart makes an immediate move
on Milan after those two broke free. Then Stewart skied alone, &
Milan did too, into 2nd by about 3 minutes, and Steve Kuhl in 3rd
about another 3 or 4 minutes adrift. Worsnop - The Front Runner was
back in action with the rib injury from 2 weeks ago & that was some of
the best news of the weekend.

It was a bit windy, but the trail is thru the woods (beautiful). It
was much easier to ski with a pack than try to go it alone.

Temps were kind of tricky with a forecasted cold front that was due to
move thru during race time. Mid-20's @ the start, maybe a little
colder @ the finish. Some 2" new snow on top of wonderful hard groomed
track made for fast-ish conditions. The parts of the trail where there
is a 2nd loop for some of the 50k race were tamped down very nicely by
that time. (IOW, by the 2nd time we skied it, it was skied in, and
faster snow by later waves of skiers that skied behind us the first
time thru).

Amy Todd got 2nd overall womens 27k CL !

For my race, once I realized Dave Stewart & Milan Baic were a touch
too strong for me (that's just me being funny - I am around ahalf hour
behind the leaders of a 50k), I tried to stay with the remnants of
some of the lead groups, in order to stop being the train locomotive,
as it seems has been my habit this winter. This time I wanted to move
up to the faster groups, and ride caboose with them. I have seen some
long trains this year - just ahead of me, and I thought that nobody
would mind if I were the 12th guy or something. Well nuts, my plan
sort of went too well ! I found myself PULLING the faster guys and
EARLY ! I was hearing guys behind me saying things like, "C'mon guys !
Bridge up NOW !" Thanks for the encouragement from back in the draft,
pal. So I was on the verge of going under while skiing by trail signs
that had numbers on them like "7km" But eventually a couple faster
guys (Pete "Birkebeiner" from Nordic hotspot Paw Paw, MI in his first
race of the year ?! and Joe Jameson from Marquette, and others) slid
up the trail where they belonged, some guys apparrently slid off the
back & I was left with a train of 4 skiers, more or less sharing
equally in the pulling chores. Not precisely what I wrote out ahead of
time, but after about 35k we were informed we were racing for the 20th
spot ! (Aha, tactics & strategy)

I was able to ski together with Jon Morgan, Tom Wood & Ken Dawson. We
had a gentlemanly race with a minimum of contact, and apologies at
that. It seemed we were each skiing close to our limits that day. When
I found out we were quite far up like that, it helped explain the
pain. Tom Wood, predictably given his experience as an NCAA Div 1
Nordic ski racer @ NMU, was able to gap us on the Headwaters trail
(final 3 or 4 km is some of the more intense hillwork of the race),
and he led out to the finish line for 20th. Well done. I was able to
fend off Jon by about 16 sec, with Ken in hot pursuit.

Crazy watching phenom of 2004 Derek Prechtel come shooting thru @
25km. He was placed in Wave 2 (very rigid wave requirements I hear !).
So he was 3 or 5 minutes behind us at the start. I heard some cheering
for him, and it was not clear to me (in my mid-race fog) why he was
only coming thru at 25k, with two matching poles. I couldn't figure it
out. I pulled him & the train for maybe several km's, then it was Kens
turn. He was good for a short trick, then it was Derek's turn. I
didn't realize that he was using us for a way station. He pulled out
of the station madly. I wasn't recovered yet from my pull, and he was
going flat out to break us. I went as hard as I was able, in order to
try to reel him back in, or go with him. When I saw HIM stumble, I
came to & realized I've got 25k to go. The next guy can reel him in.
So that turns out to be Andy Triebold. He'd just gotten a new pole
after skiing single handedly for 15k. He then went flat out & I'm
thinking MAN ! Can somebody please just pull me ? Two guys in a row
trying to drop me. Then HE stumbles ! I gave chase to him too, but
even worn out, the kids a truck, and I'm not. When Andy realized he
could at best match Derek but not reel him in, and our train wasnt
going to be able to, he stood up & waited for us, and I never saw him
again, though he was not far behind me.

I rode my factory grind (for a few more days anyway) skatecut plus's
on FastWax HFTan (12 to 28F) with Dr D's fluoro powder. It seemed Tom
Wood Ken Dawson & I had equal skis in all conditions (up, down,
groomed, windblown, skied in, tracks, etc), and Jon Morgan had better
glide in general.

Didn't see Potter.

Also - the guy who said to hang a lanyard around the neck for an
upside down bottle of hammergel is pure mensa. This is by far easier
than dealing with a gel foil pack. I mixed with a teence of water for
decreased viscosity. It hung behind my race bib, just below. Always
freely accessible.

The sunday 16k CL race was fun too. Not as cold as predicted. I was
able to avoid another Classic Clunker & eeked out a pretty respectable
race, but I have long way to go there too. I was able to avoid bad
skis, and had great kick (toko bright blue new snow - same as Amy)
Love the challenge. Cool seeing Hugh Pritchard from London show up for
our little race weekend. Dude's pretty quick on evidently nearly zero
training & racing.

Great report Dell.
Man, I've skied that race so many times and I wish I coulda been there this
year. Wife sick with KIDNEY STONES - ouch ! So I am Mr. Mom this week.

A few thoughts on the North American Vasa - and questions for that matter.

I just dug out my archives. 1989 - approx 300 males in the 50km race with
big names like Kristian Knaess, Steve Poulin, Erik Wilbrecht, Jim Curran,
.... in fact the FIRST Michigan finisher was 13th place !! YIKES It seems
that the NA Vasa in Traverse City Michigan was a BIG national draw for
skiing talent in the 80's and into the early 90's. The, boom, its off the
map. They still get the occasional factory skier or two (Nathan Schultz,
Chamberlin, Trond Nystad) but not the huge turnout they used to get. I
remember one race in the mid 80's that had some Norwegians come over for it
!!

Why the change? I think it was dropped from the US Marathon circuit.
Plus - minnesota has the Minnesota Finlandia.... but ... the 50km this year
also had ONLY 91 males in in !! Geez, that's not a lot of guys ! In fact,
the race is turning into just another "Michigan Cup" race - not the
international or at least national event it used to be. It sure used to be
cool to see all these big names here - Vordenberg and Swenson had an EPIC
battle in 96 or 97 ...

anyway... wishing I was there still.... and now heading out for a night ski
since the kids and wife are in bed !

JK

"Dell Todd" wrote in message
om...
"32 degrees" wrote in message
...
anyone out there ski it?
Dell?


At your service !

(Second Hand Info on the leaders, as I am working on skiing at the
front, but I did not manage it this weekend)

Subaru Factory Team ace Dave Stewart & Milan dropped the lead pack at
The Wall. I have the Wall mentally @ 13k, but the newspaper has it @
8k. Anyway, it's pretty steep,one single steady pitch, and comes after
some rolling hills when youre at threshold or beyond. It can put you
under. Good place to make a move. Then Stewart makes an immediate move
on Milan after those two broke free. Then Stewart skied alone, &
Milan did too, into 2nd by about 3 minutes, and Steve Kuhl in 3rd
about another 3 or 4 minutes adrift. Worsnop - The Front Runner was
back in action with the rib injury from 2 weeks ago & that was some of
the best news of the weekend.

It was a bit windy, but the trail is thru the woods (beautiful). It
was much easier to ski with a pack than try to go it alone.

Temps were kind of tricky with a forecasted cold front that was due to
move thru during race time. Mid-20's @ the start, maybe a little
colder @ the finish. Some 2" new snow on top of wonderful hard groomed
track made for fast-ish conditions. The parts of the trail where there
is a 2nd loop for some of the 50k race were tamped down very nicely by
that time. (IOW, by the 2nd time we skied it, it was skied in, and
faster snow by later waves of skiers that skied behind us the first
time thru).

Amy Todd got 2nd overall womens 27k CL !

For my race, once I realized Dave Stewart & Milan Baic were a touch
too strong for me (that's just me being funny - I am around ahalf hour
behind the leaders of a 50k), I tried to stay with the remnants of
some of the lead groups, in order to stop being the train locomotive,
as it seems has been my habit this winter. This time I wanted to move
up to the faster groups, and ride caboose with them. I have seen some
long trains this year - just ahead of me, and I thought that nobody
would mind if I were the 12th guy or something. Well nuts, my plan
sort of went too well ! I found myself PULLING the faster guys and
EARLY ! I was hearing guys behind me saying things like, "C'mon guys !
Bridge up NOW !" Thanks for the encouragement from back in the draft,
pal. So I was on the verge of going under while skiing by trail signs
that had numbers on them like "7km" But eventually a couple faster
guys (Pete "Birkebeiner" from Nordic hotspot Paw Paw, MI in his first
race of the year ?! and Joe Jameson from Marquette, and others) slid
up the trail where they belonged, some guys apparrently slid off the
back & I was left with a train of 4 skiers, more or less sharing
equally in the pulling chores. Not precisely what I wrote out ahead of
time, but after about 35k we were informed we were racing for the 20th
spot ! (Aha, tactics & strategy)

I was able to ski together with Jon Morgan, Tom Wood & Ken Dawson. We
had a gentlemanly race with a minimum of contact, and apologies at
that. It seemed we were each skiing close to our limits that day. When
I found out we were quite far up like that, it helped explain the
pain. Tom Wood, predictably given his experience as an NCAA Div 1
Nordic ski racer @ NMU, was able to gap us on the Headwaters trail
(final 3 or 4 km is some of the more intense hillwork of the race),
and he led out to the finish line for 20th. Well done. I was able to
fend off Jon by about 16 sec, with Ken in hot pursuit.

Crazy watching phenom of 2004 Derek Prechtel come shooting thru @
25km. He was placed in Wave 2 (very rigid wave requirements I hear !).
So he was 3 or 5 minutes behind us at the start. I heard some cheering
for him, and it was not clear to me (in my mid-race fog) why he was
only coming thru at 25k, with two matching poles. I couldn't figure it
out. I pulled him & the train for maybe several km's, then it was Kens
turn. He was good for a short trick, then it was Derek's turn. I
didn't realize that he was using us for a way station. He pulled out
of the station madly. I wasn't recovered yet from my pull, and he was
going flat out to break us. I went as hard as I was able, in order to
try to reel him back in, or go with him. When I saw HIM stumble, I
came to & realized I've got 25k to go. The next guy can reel him in.
So that turns out to be Andy Triebold. He'd just gotten a new pole
after skiing single handedly for 15k. He then went flat out & I'm
thinking MAN ! Can somebody please just pull me ? Two guys in a row
trying to drop me. Then HE stumbles ! I gave chase to him too, but
even worn out, the kids a truck, and I'm not. When Andy realized he
could at best match Derek but not reel him in, and our train wasnt
going to be able to, he stood up & waited for us, and I never saw him
again, though he was not far behind me.

I rode my factory grind (for a few more days anyway) skatecut plus's
on FastWax HFTan (12 to 28F) with Dr D's fluoro powder. It seemed Tom
Wood Ken Dawson & I had equal skis in all conditions (up, down,
groomed, windblown, skied in, tracks, etc), and Jon Morgan had better
glide in general.

Didn't see Potter.

Also - the guy who said to hang a lanyard around the neck for an
upside down bottle of hammergel is pure mensa. This is by far easier
than dealing with a gel foil pack. I mixed with a teence of water for
decreased viscosity. It hung behind my race bib, just below. Always
freely accessible.

The sunday 16k CL race was fun too. Not as cold as predicted. I was
able to avoid another Classic Clunker & eeked out a pretty respectable
race, but I have long way to go there too. I was able to avoid bad
skis, and had great kick (toko bright blue new snow - same as Amy)
Love the challenge. Cool seeing Hugh Pritchard from London show up for
our little race weekend. Dude's pretty quick on evidently nearly zero
training & racing.

Dave Stewart
Milan Biac
Steve Kuhl
Dave Maclean
Hugh? Pritchard
Tim Triebold
Chris Ransom
Greg Worsnop
Dennis Paull - (couldnt leave him off, good freind Greg - did you ski
with him?)

50km Classical

Randy Bladel

27km Free

Cliff Onthank



"32 degrees" wrote in message
...
anyone out there ski it?
Dell?

JK

Marathon series wanted them to change to January date (which they did one
year with low turnout) So they opted out of the series. You are right it is
just a another Mi Cup race in terms of numbers, but with 5 events the
numbers get spread around quite a bit. The other factor is that ski racing
is on the decline. Poor snow years, no younger skiers, and competition from
downhill skiing, has made this a sport one in decline. If you look at age
groups the only ones with any numbers are from 40-55. As we age and have
the inevitable dropouts we will continue to see the numbers drop. As for
Denny I think he was in the top 12 or so.

Conditions we good with a little snow on the course. My race went well with
a good start off the line in 4th place which I quickly realized was no place
to be and let a few guys go by before settling in about 10th. Andrew
Triebold and I skied together until a couple of km past the wall. We could
see no one behind or in front. I led for about 5k and asked him to take a
pull which he reluctantly did. After about a km I took over and dropped
him. With no one in sight I expected to ski by myself for the rest of the
race, but just before the 50k cutoff at Timber Ridge I saw Tim Triebold,
Chris Ransom and Luke Menet about 100 yds ahead. This was quite a shock
and I was able to close the gap and catch them. On most of the extra loop
for the 50k Chris and I traded off the lead and Luke dropped off.

Chris goaded Tim into taking the lead just before we rejoined the 27k
course. My reaction, as Tim pushed the pace, was "Jeez this was a great
idea!" I was working a whole lot harder just keeping up than leading. Tim
took the lead again at the base of the last hill in Jack Pine valley and
opened up a 10 yd gap by the top of the hill. Chris went by me about 3 km
later and I had not enough in the tank to go with him. My skis were faster
on the course where there was an inch or two of fresh snow, but were slower
when we rejoined the 27k course and the snow was hard packed.

I was please due to skiing with bruised ribs from a fall two weeks ago.
With enough Motrin you can do almost anything.

The FrontRunner
"Have Motrin will Ski"










"32 degrees" wrote in message
...
Great report Dell.
Man, I've skied that race so many times and I wish I coulda been there
this
year. Wife sick with KIDNEY STONES - ouch ! So I am Mr. Mom this week.

A few thoughts on the North American Vasa - and questions for that matter.

I just dug out my archives. 1989 - approx 300 males in the 50km race with
big names like Kristian Knaess, Steve Poulin, Erik Wilbrecht, Jim Curran,
... in fact the FIRST Michigan finisher was 13th place !! YIKES It
seems
that the NA Vasa in Traverse City Michigan was a BIG national draw for
skiing talent in the 80's and into the early 90's. The, boom, its off the
map. They still get the occasional factory skier or two (Nathan Schultz,
Chamberlin, Trond Nystad) but not the huge turnout they used to get. I
remember one race in the mid 80's that had some Norwegians come over for
it
!!

Why the change? I think it was dropped from the US Marathon circuit.
Plus - minnesota has the Minnesota Finlandia.... but ... the 50km this
year
also had ONLY 91 males in in !! Geez, that's not a lot of guys ! In
fact,
the race is turning into just another "Michigan Cup" race - not the
international or at least national event it used to be. It sure used to
be
cool to see all these big names here - Vordenberg and Swenson had an EPIC
battle in 96 or 97 ...

anyway... wishing I was there still.... and now heading out for a night
ski
since the kids and wife are in bed !

JK

"Dell Todd" wrote in message
om...
"32 degrees" wrote in message
...
anyone out there ski it?
Dell?


At your service !

(Second Hand Info on the leaders, as I am working on skiing at the
front, but I did not manage it this weekend)

Subaru Factory Team ace Dave Stewart & Milan dropped the lead pack at
The Wall. I have the Wall mentally @ 13k, but the newspaper has it @
8k. Anyway, it's pretty steep,one single steady pitch, and comes after
some rolling hills when youre at threshold or beyond. It can put you
under. Good place to make a move. Then Stewart makes an immediate move
on Milan after those two broke free. Then Stewart skied alone, &
Milan did too, into 2nd by about 3 minutes, and Steve Kuhl in 3rd
about another 3 or 4 minutes adrift. Worsnop - The Front Runner was
back in action with the rib injury from 2 weeks ago & that was some of
the best news of the weekend.

It was a bit windy, but the trail is thru the woods (beautiful). It
was much easier to ski with a pack than try to go it alone.

Temps were kind of tricky with a forecasted cold front that was due to
move thru during race time. Mid-20's @ the start, maybe a little
colder @ the finish. Some 2" new snow on top of wonderful hard groomed
track made for fast-ish conditions. The parts of the trail where there
is a 2nd loop for some of the 50k race were tamped down very nicely by
that time. (IOW, by the 2nd time we skied it, it was skied in, and
faster snow by later waves of skiers that skied behind us the first
time thru).

Amy Todd got 2nd overall womens 27k CL !

For my race, once I realized Dave Stewart & Milan Baic were a touch
too strong for me (that's just me being funny - I am around ahalf hour
behind the leaders of a 50k), I tried to stay with the remnants of
some of the lead groups, in order to stop being the train locomotive,
as it seems has been my habit this winter. This time I wanted to move
up to the faster groups, and ride caboose with them. I have seen some
long trains this year - just ahead of me, and I thought that nobody
would mind if I were the 12th guy or something. Well nuts, my plan
sort of went too well ! I found myself PULLING the faster guys and
EARLY ! I was hearing guys behind me saying things like, "C'mon guys !
Bridge up NOW !" Thanks for the encouragement from back in the draft,
pal. So I was on the verge of going under while skiing by trail signs
that had numbers on them like "7km" But eventually a couple faster
guys (Pete "Birkebeiner" from Nordic hotspot Paw Paw, MI in his first
race of the year ?! and Joe Jameson from Marquette, and others) slid
up the trail where they belonged, some guys apparrently slid off the
back & I was left with a train of 4 skiers, more or less sharing
equally in the pulling chores. Not precisely what I wrote out ahead of
time, but after about 35k we were informed we were racing for the 20th
spot ! (Aha, tactics & strategy)

I was able to ski together with Jon Morgan, Tom Wood & Ken Dawson. We
had a gentlemanly race with a minimum of contact, and apologies at
that. It seemed we were each skiing close to our limits that day. When
I found out we were quite far up like that, it helped explain the
pain. Tom Wood, predictably given his experience as an NCAA Div 1
Nordic ski racer @ NMU, was able to gap us on the Headwaters trail
(final 3 or 4 km is some of the more intense hillwork of the race),
and he led out to the finish line for 20th. Well done. I was able to
fend off Jon by about 16 sec, with Ken in hot pursuit.

Crazy watching phenom of 2004 Derek Prechtel come shooting thru @
25km. He was placed in Wave 2 (very rigid wave requirements I hear !).
So he was 3 or 5 minutes behind us at the start. I heard some cheering
for him, and it was not clear to me (in my mid-race fog) why he was
only coming thru at 25k, with two matching poles. I couldn't figure it
out. I pulled him & the train for maybe several km's, then it was Kens
turn. He was good for a short trick, then it was Derek's turn. I
didn't realize that he was using us for a way station. He pulled out
of the station madly. I wasn't recovered yet from my pull, and he was
going flat out to break us. I went as hard as I was able, in order to
try to reel him back in, or go with him. When I saw HIM stumble, I
came to & realized I've got 25k to go. The next guy can reel him in.
So that turns out to be Andy Triebold. He'd just gotten a new pole
after skiing single handedly for 15k. He then went flat out & I'm
thinking MAN ! Can somebody please just pull me ? Two guys in a row
trying to drop me. Then HE stumbles ! I gave chase to him too, but
even worn out, the kids a truck, and I'm not. When Andy realized he
could at best match Derek but not reel him in, and our train wasnt
going to be able to, he stood up & waited for us, and I never saw him
again, though he was not far behind me.

I rode my factory grind (for a few more days anyway) skatecut plus's
on FastWax HFTan (12 to 28F) with Dr D's fluoro powder. It seemed Tom
Wood Ken Dawson & I had equal skis in all conditions (up, down,
groomed, windblown, skied in, tracks, etc), and Jon Morgan had better
glide in general.

Didn't see Potter.

Also - the guy who said to hang a lanyard around the neck for an
upside down bottle of hammergel is pure mensa. This is by far easier
than dealing with a gel foil pack. I mixed with a teence of water for
decreased viscosity. It hung behind my race bib, just below. Always
freely accessible.

The sunday 16k CL race was fun too. Not as cold as predicted. I was
able to avoid another Classic Clunker & eeked out a pretty respectable
race, but I have long way to go there too. I was able to avoid bad
skis, and had great kick (toko bright blue new snow - same as Amy)
Love the challenge. Cool seeing Hugh Pritchard from London show up for
our little race weekend. Dude's pretty quick on evidently nearly zero
training & racing.

"32 degrees" wrote in message news:

A few thoughts on the North American Vasa - and questions for that matter.

I just dug out my archives. 1989 - approx 300 males in the 50km race with
big names like Kristian Knaess, Steve Poulin, Erik Wilbrecht, Jim Curran,
... in fact the FIRST Michigan finisher was 13th place !! YIKES It seems
that the NA Vasa in Traverse City Michigan was a BIG national draw for
skiing talent in the 80's and into the early 90's. The, boom, its off the
map. They still get the occasional factory skier or two (Nathan Schultz,
Chamberlin, Trond Nystad) but not the huge turnout they used to get. I
remember one race in the mid 80's that had some Norwegians come over for it
!!

Why the change? I think it was dropped from the US Marathon circuit.
Plus - minnesota has the Minnesota Finlandia.... but ... the 50km this year
also had ONLY 91 males in in !! Geez, that's not a lot of guys ! In fact,
the race is turning into just another "Michigan Cup" race - not the
international or at least national event it used to be. It sure used to be
cool to see all these big names here - Vordenberg and Swenson had an EPIC
battle in 96 or 97 ...


I heard the problem was the trail. The American Ski Chase/American
Marathon Series folks thought the course was too narrow and not up to
par with other events. I also heard there were political reasons why
the trail couldn't be improved.

Does anyone know for sure if that is one of the reasons?

Jay Tegeder
"Keep training, lycra never lies!" JT

"FrontRunner" wrote in message ...
50km Free

Dave Stewart
Milan Biac
Steve Kuhl
Dave Maclean
Hugh? Pritchard
Tim Triebold
Chris Ransom
Greg Worsnop


Richard Kimball had the "One armed man" and now the FrontRunner has
Ransom... Is there a confrontation at a water-tower in your future?

Jay Tegeder
"On the podium if the right people don't show up!" JT