Winter to spring

in 12 hours.
This weekend was regionals for skiing, in Marquette, MI. We had quite the haul to get there. Almost 8 hours of driving.
Saturday was the 10k skate race. The rumor is that that particular course is the hardest in the midwest. It very well could be, it was friggin hard. Lots of steep uphills, and only tiny downhills. It was very hard to recover. Despite the course, I had my best skate race ever. I was able to hammer the uphills even though I was dead tired. I just relaxed and my technique improved greatly, combine all these things and you get good results. I think I was 33 or so out of 80ish. Which I am pretty sure is my best skate result any where.

Sunday was the 15k mass start classic. Somehow I lucked out and got the very last position in the echelon, not that it mattered too much since some people behind me had a straighter shot when the trail narrowed down, but I was not complaining. It was quite a fast start, and I was able to avoid breaking anything. Somehow I ended up farily far up in the pack, for the first few km it was crazy, people everywhere. It was impossible to pass or be passed. Eventually it began to spread out and I got some breathing room. By the end of the first lap I had gotten into a nice little group of 5. The 5 of us skied the rest of the race together (until the very end). It was really fun to be in a pack skiing, I have never been able to do that. I was always just a bit faster than those behind me, but not quite as fast as those in front. This race felt a lot like a cyclo-cross race, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. In the end the guys I was with got ahead on the final hill, but I was only a few seconds back at the finish. Overall I think I was in the mid 20, again out of 80. Oh, and the temp was about 10.

Monday, after a few classes it was time to hit the roads again. The weather was a tropical 40 degrees aand sunny, perfect spring riding. At 3:30 a whole bunch of us (10 or so) meet to go and enjoy the warm roads on our bicycles. So off the massive group went, some people took off at about an hour 15, but a few of us went for 2. It felt great, skiing has put me in great shape for biking. All I need to do is build my strengh up and Ill be set. We will have to see what happens with the weather and skiing, I still have to ski my best in Colorado in a few weeks...