The Year of Skiing Classically

Post by Eric 

When I entered the White Bear Trail for the second time, I heard the snowmachine. I hadn’t heard that sound in a ski race in a long time. It’s the trail sweep. You know because after you pass places that have race flagging, you can hear the snowmachine stop to pick up the flags. 

I was in last place in the Sonot Kkaazoot. Legitimately! I was trying hard, but everyone else had either left me in the snow dust or dropped out. I’m not that fast and the fact that I was skiing classic-style slowed me down even more. But I knew if I finished, I would get the Red Lantern. I grinned. I’ve won a lot of Red Lanterns. I’m proud of every single one! Entered, competed, finished! 

Still, I felt a bit bad for keeping the volunteers out there waiting for me. I thanked them all. I even thanked the trail sweep for keeping me company. (I later found out I was 45 minutes behind the last person. Uff da! That’s a lot of waiting!)

Finally, I got to the Stadium at Birch Hill Recreation Area. I found some energy and double-poled hard across the finish line, hoping I looked good! It felt so nice to finish! Really finish! The Sonot was the cap to my season of classic skiing. 

Finally finished! Photo by Kristen Rozell

Why Classic Only? Birkie, Biking, and the TRC

I didn’t skate ski once this winter. Unlike Corrine, I do skate ski. But this winter I knew I had to focus on classic skiing for several reasons. 

The Birkebeiner: We decided early on to try the American Birkebeiner ski race one more time as a family trip. We bailed three other times due to a variety of reasons. But you must choose in early December whether you will classic or skate the Birkie, which is held in late February. I can classic ski in almost any conditions, less so with skating. And I knew I’d be classic skiing the TRC, so that was an easy choice.

Finishing the Birkie.

Biking: I knew I would be biking more this winter, so that meant less skiing. I’m now president of the Fairbanks Cycle Club. We have been trying to do more winter group fatbike rides. Others were excited to help. I wanted to help, too. I love winter biking as much as I love skiing. (And snowshoe running.) And Corrine and I usually do a few cabin trips in the White Mountains National Recreation Area. But we prefer biking because unless the trails are soft, biking is faster and easier to carry camping gear. So, less skiing meant I had to make my ski outings count.

FCC Sundays on Snow outing at Tanana Lakes Recreation Area

On one of our White Mountains NRA cabin trips this winter. Photo by Corrine.

TRC: I planned to race the Tanana River Challenge 25-miler on skis. I am on quest to do all disciplines that I can do in the three local winter endurance races: Tanana River Challenge (TRC), Chena River to Ridge (CR2R), and White Mountains 100 (WM100). They all have skiing, biking, and running divisions. The TRC and CR2R have two distances. I’ve done all disciplines in the WM100. I have skied and biked both distances (26 and 55 miles) of the CR2R and run the 26. (I’m too slow to run the 55.) I’ve biked and run the TRC 25 and skied the 45. (I’m too slow to run the 45 and I don’t skijor – another discipline of the TRC.) So, at the start of winter I just needed to bike the 45 and ski the 25 of the TRC. With all the other skiing I was doing, it was easy to pick skiing the 25. And since I don’t have the equipment or training for trail skate skiing, I knew I would classic ski that one, too. 

Finishing the CR2R 26-miler in 2022.

Everything was pointing to classic skiing, so that’s all I did. 

The Races

With all that focus and strategic training, how did my season go? 

American Birkebeiner – 55 kilometers (32.9 miles)

I’ve already written about my race in another blog post, so I won’t write much here. I had a good time, despite it being way too crowded for me. And I sure did like skiing to the finish line to the roar of a huge crowd despite being way back in the pack, hours behind the finishers. That felt pretty darn special. I don’t have any plans to go back, but I’m glad I did it once. 

At the start of the Birkie. I was in Wave 5.

Tanana River Challenge – 25 miles (40 kilometers)

What a core workout! A lot of this race is on the Tanana River, which is flat, flat, flat. Conditions were hard and fast, with just enough snow to make the skiing good. I had been doing a lot of double-poling this season, so I was prepared. I made good time, ahead of some slower skiers and behind the faster ones. My double-poling allowed me to just outpace a woman runner I didn’t know. If I stopped or slowed down, she would catch right up, so she was a good motivator. 

After about 7 miles of river, we hit the first aid station, where the route heads into the hills of the Tanana Valley State Forest. I stopped for a bit of refueling. The woman runner didn’t stay as long and disappeared into the trees. A couple of other runners also caught and passed me here. 

Heading into the hills changed the dynamics. Runners would pass me on the uphills, and I would zip by them on the downhills, whooping and making them jealous at all the fun I was having. I went back and forth with several for a while. Eventually, the course was mostly downhill, and I outpaced them. 

This race was quite different than the Birkie. I was by myself for short stretches (never in the Birkie), but mostly there were people around, many that I know (again, never in the Birkie). I enjoyed the mix of solitude and camaraderie. 

I loved meeting my friend Jane on the TRC. She was running it.

I finished the hills and looped back to the aid station and the river. Now I had to do the same 7-mile stretch in the other direction. I wondered how much my body would want to double-pole after nearly 20 miles of skiing. 

Not as much! Still, by pacing my double-poling with some kick and glide, I was able to make pretty good time. On the river I saw a tiny speck ahead of me. A runner. Eventually, I could see I was catching up. It was a goal worth chasing, but I also needed to not blow up my body. 

Eventually, I caught the runner. It was the same woman that had motivated me on the first part of the race. (I had never met her before, but according to the results she is Stephanie Wright.) She was struggling a bit, so I cheered her on as I passed her. 

But after a bit I heard footsteps coming from behind. I looked back to see Stephanie overtaking me. 

“Did you get a second wind or am I flagging?” I asked. 

“I got a second wind,” she replied. 

She passed me and then I saw that Chris Swingley, who I thought I had left far behind in the hills, was gaining on us. Yikes! I dug deep and found more energy. I passed Stephanie back. “You’ve motivated me!” I told her as I double-poled by her. 

I was really starting to hurt by the time I could see the finish line. But on the river, you can see the finish line for a long way. I had to dig deep and keep it up. I finished just 15 seconds ahead of Stephanie and just one minute ahead of Chris. Sure, we weren’t really competing since we were in different disciplines, but I liked having the motivation at the end. I congratulated them both at the finish line and thanked them for spurring me on. 

Oh, and for the record, my GPS watch told me that I skied 27.6 miles (44 kilometers), so a bit more than the advertised 25! 

Lots of long and flat on the river part of the TRC. Can you see the speck of a runner way out there?

Sonot Kkaazoot – 50 kilometers (31 miles)

At the start of the season, I hadn’t really thought about doing the Sonot 50K. Now that’s it’s all on Birch Hill trails, it’s much harder than it used to be. I did it last year and figured that would be my last. But then I realized I would be all trained up for it. Might as well do it one more time. 

Still, I figured my 65-year-old body might be kind of tired. The month before had been a busy one, physically. Each weekend had included one hard effort:

--February 22: The American Birkebeiner

--March 2: The Skiathon (a 20-kilometer classic race)

--March 8-10: A fatbike ride to Tangle Lakes Lodge (55 miles over three days)

--March 15: The Tanana River Challenge

Corrine and I did the Skiathon, a classic-only race on UAF trails.

So, when I lined up for the Sonot, I didn’t have super-high expectations. But I was hoping to beat my time from last year (5 hours, 24 minutes), when I finished about a half-hour behind Corrine. (I usually beat Corrine at ski races.) I blamed poor training and the skin skis I used. This year I would go with my wax skis. I’d be faster. 

Overall, my race went well. I fell early on a downhill but got up quickly without getting run over. And about 5 K into the race, I felt one of my Achilles tendons pop a bit. I’d had problems with it before. It bothered me on the Birkie, so I shortened my stride. It probably slowed me a little, but I made it through the race. I hoped I could do the same on the Sonot. 

I skied with several other people, but after the 30K racers peeled off, I was on my own. No worries. I like the solitude. 

My skis started to slip, and eventually I rewaxed at the bottom of the Sonot Connector. I was tired, but I made it to the White Bear in good spirits.  I wondered if anyone was behind me. I got my answer when I heard the trail sweep snowmachine.  

While I was super-happy to finish, I checked later and found I was three minutes slower than last year. So, it goes. My skin skis are generally slower overall, but they perform pretty well in warmer conditions and don’t need to be rewaxed. Would I have been faster if I had used my skin skis? Who knows? I don’t think I’m curious enough to try again next year. Besides, I have different goals.

After re-waxing at the bottom of the Sonot Connector. Ready to start a long uphill.

Next Year a Different Focus

Next year I’ll focus on biking. I’ll still ski, but I want to bike the Tanana River Challenge 45-miler to round out that race. And, really, I should bike the Chena River to Ridge 26-miler to make it official. The one time I did that distance on bike, I was signed up for the 55-miler. Corrine and I decided to stop short because a storm was coming. 

Biking the TRC 25-miler in 2019. Photo by Max Kaufman.

Of course, now that I’m thinking about it, I did the White Mountains 100 and the Chena River to Ridge 26-miler on kicksled, but I’ve never done the TRC on kicksled. The 45-mile would be too far, but what about the 25-mile? In two years, I’ll be 67. Will still have it in me? Hmmmm.

At the start of the White Mountains 100. But that was eight years ago!