Race start was early, at 8:30. This had me out of bed around 6:15 to make a quick breakfast and get everything into the car. Then out to Bridger for the earliest first chair of my life at 8:00. Put the skins on and waited for the start. 2100 vertical feet later, I was at the top in ~11th? Left my skins on until the top of the nose, then clipped in and out of my skis across the ridge to the Bitter End and the downhill to the finish.
My gear was built more for the downhill; looking at the Pro divisions gear, my skis were HUGE. They were skiing on 160 cm carbon fiber skis, super skinny; my skis were 190 cm and roughly twice as wide, meaning I had about 4x the ski they had. Didn't have the top speed of other competitors; I was on pace most of the time, but if I had to stop to adjust risers, I couldn't pick up the pace and catch back up. Largest skis there? Yes.
At the end, I was 5th in the male division, getting third in my age group and sixth overall in the Rec... Sixth ... yes... I got girled.......... and I'm blaming my skis. The winner skiied in at 1:23, the girl at 1:26, and myself at 1:30:05. Less than seven minutes off the pace. Third in my age group = medal!
Legs felt great, I felt great, just no speed.
http://www.skitrab.com/index.php?cmd=viewart&id=9
ReplyDeleteeach of my skis weighed 5x those...