Relays Provide an Exciting End to JOs

Kincaid Park is at the end of a runway -- sights like this are common.

Greetings from Anchorage (for the last time),

It was team relay day at Kincaid Park today and I think the Great Lakes had their race hats on. Team members seemed to perform pretty well, overall. I talked to Jay after his race -- his best of the week -- and he wonders why this didn't kick in until today. I told him next year he'll have to go to Truckee a week early and race a few times before JOs. Ruth said she felt good today; Olivia not so good. Christina had a good race but was coughing like crazy afterwards. Kai seemed to race OK, except he wasn't quite ready for the tag when it was his turn at the exchange zone -- not sure what happened there. Madelyn also had her best race of the week.

Here are a couple of short videos of Jay:

Rounding the bend
Heading uphill


It was a chilly, windy and overcast day at the venue -- no views of Mt. McKinley today. Teresa and I found a spot in the woods where we could see the skiers probably 100 meters after they left the stadium. Then we could move over to another spot to watch them come up a hill.

Jan left this morning at 9 a.m. (same flight we're on tomorrow). We found a cool bike shop on our way back from picking up the wax bench and wax box from Mike at the hotel. They seemed to be
doing a pretty good business, given that it is cold and there is snow on the ground. I've noticed, though, that there are quite a few folks out on mountain bikes, even in the winter.

I should also tell you a story that Mike Young told me. There's a brew pub across the street from their hotel. Last night, he and other coaches went for one beer prior to dinner. The waiter took their orders, then asked Mike for some ID. How long's it been since YOU'VE been carded? To top it off, today (March 15) is his birthday and there was a cake waiting for him at the team meeting last night: "Happy Birthday Tokoman" -- black letters on yellow frosting.

It has been a real pleasure being on this trip. I thought it would get pretty boring with four days of racing, but between watching our skiers and watching some of the close contests at the finish line, it was pretty exciting. It was also nice to not have any responsibility for the race and to just walk inside and warm up for awhile, if that's what I wanted to do. I wasn't thinking I'd want to attend a JO again but after this week I might.

So farewell to Anchorage,

Dean

Classic Day at JOs; One Race Day Left

Greetings from Anchorage.

It seemed to be a better day for Great Lakes skiers today; if not in terms of finish places, at least in terms of spirit. Everyone seemed upbeat today, both before and after the races. Temperatures stayed below freezing. In fact, when we left our apartment this morning at 9:30, it was 17 degrees.

It was classic day, with the J1/OJ boys doing 15 km, the J1/OJ girls doing 10km and the J2s going 10km. The tracks were fast and the course looked to be in very good shape. The stadium looked, again, much better than it did Wednesday and like a completely different place than Monday. The organizers have done a good job getting things in shape.

Christina Mishica and Mariah both said they felt pretty good during the race. Mariah said the course was very fast. Jay had a pretty good race for the first 12km or so and then he said he started to fade. Madelyn skied a good race in the J1 girls and looked very strong at the finish.

Kai started strong, but was involved in a crash early -- just out of sight of the stadium. I talked to him afterwards and he said there was a pile-up in front of him and he slowed down and was looking for a way out, when someone crashed into him from behind. He probably lost 20 seconds or so and, in a 5km race, that's hard to make up. He said this was the best he has felt all week. Ruth also looked very strong at the end. In the last 200 meters, she was making up time on the girl in front of her, but ran out of time :-)

Olivia did not race today. She fell yesterday and did something to one of her arms. I talked to her at dinner and she said she is definitely racing in the team sprints tomorrow.

We had dinner with the team -- well, sort of. To say we had dinner WITH them is a bit of a misnomer. We had dinner in the same room as the team.

The day just seemed to fly by -- of course I wasn't racing 15km. Because all of the OJ and J1 races were two laps, we had many opportunities to see the skiers, if we moved around.

Today was also the first clear, sunny day of racing and Kincaid was gorgeous. From the high point of the stadium, right by their chalet, you could look in the distance and see Mt. McKinley. It is 250 miles away. Even so, it looked very impressive -- it must be just magnificent when you are closer.

If time allows -- i.e. if I get packed in a timely way, I'll post one more message tomorrow night.

Power Shopping and Elevator Blues

This is the new Pisten Bully 600 at Kincaid Park.
It has nothing today with today's post, but I forgot my camera today.

I'm still in Anchorage for the 2008 cross country skiing Junior Olympics and today was the last non-race day. It is hard to believe it has already been a week since we set out on this journey. Classic race Friday and the team relays on Saturday, then we're back on that big airplane to Minneapolis.

The high was again above freezing today, but temps dipped into the 20s last night. We're supposed to have teens tonight and upper 20s tomorrow, so let's hope the course is fast and that Mike hits the wax!

We (i.e. the parental units) started out to "get a couple of things" from the shops in downtown Anchorage today. We left the apartment about 11:30 a.m. We returned at 5:45 p.m. Yes, we did some power shopping today. I guess it wasn't all shopping. I learned what an "ulu" is (http://www.ulu.com/aboutulu.htm) and we saw videos about the earthquake of 1964 and one about Denali National Park. We had lunch at a downtown deli and what trip to Alaska would be complete without finishing the day with some Moose Tracks ice cream?

A group of skiers, including Jay and Madeline but we're not sure who else, went to the Portage Glacier today (same place we tourists went on Tuesday). Jay said it was an incredible trip - that it gave him a taste of Alaska's beauty (see my post from Tuesday for photos of the glacier).

Meanwhile, this just in from the Westmark Hotel, Madeline reports that she and Olivia and 17 of their (now) closest friends got stuck in the hotel elevator for 40 minutes tonight. The elevator sign notes the capacity at 2600 pounds. Nineteen people. Do the math. The machine slowly descended down and stayed put. This apparently was not the first occurrence this week, according to the hotel operator. People were sweaty and there was condensation everywhere, but apparently there were no claustophobes and no one lost it.

More tomorrow....

Freestyle Race at '08 Junior Olympics

Jay Woodbeck

Greetings from Anchorage.

The freestyle races were today -- 5 km for the J2 boys (14-15 years) and all of the girls and 10 km for the J1 (16-17 years) and OJ (18-19 years) boys.

Kai Sharp

The difference between Monday and today was amazing. Monday, the stadium was an ice rink. While not perfect yet, the stadium was usable today, thanks to colder temperatures last night (i.e. 24 degrees) and a couple of inches of snow.

It was a tough course today. The girls had temps of about 28 when they started this morning and the first group off had a little fresh snow to contend with. Even after that was scraped off the course, the girls still reported a fairly slow day.

Ruth Oppliger

The older (J1/OJ) boys, on the other hand, were the last to start, so they all went out after noon, when the temperatures had climbed above freezing and portions of the course were slowly turning to mush. I talked to head coach Nick Baic after the race and he thought that everyone held their own, although he did say that everyone looked much better yesterday during training. But conditions were different and the course was much faster yesterday (i.e. still kind of icy). He's going to encourage much resting tomorrow in preparation for the classic mass start on Friday.

After Jan, Teresa and I returned to our apartment, Teresa and I went to the Hillside trails (across town from Kincaid) for some skiing of our own. The skiing was much better than it was earlier in the week, but those trails were also mushy.

I had klister on, which worked until I hit a couple of steep downhills and left it all behind. I ended up on a trail that was very hilly -- it had a pretty substantial elevation climb (at least for a ... well ... middle-aged guy who hasn't skied much in the last week).

The summit, however, afforded a beautiful view of Anchorage, Kincaid, the mountain that sits across the inlet from Kincaid, and some very big mountains to the north. You are supposed to be able to see Mt. McKinley from Anchorage on a clear day -- so I've convinced myself that I did.

More news tomorrow.

Dean

The Portage Glacier -- All it's Cracked Up to Be

A shot of the Portage Glacier, about an hour south of Anchorage.

Greetings from Anchorage, where I'm attending the 2008 Junior Olympics for cross country skiing.

We didn't see the skiers today, since it was a training day. Thanks to a tip from an old friend , Jan and Teresa Shoup and I went to the Portage Glacier today. The glacier is about an hour south of Anchorage.

The trip was just incredible. As you drive south out of Anchorage on the Seward Highway, the mountains and Cook Inlet converge and the highway follows the water with mountains on either side. There are several turn-offs that are ideal for picture taking. The mountains aren't as large and craggy as the Rockies, nor rolling and rounded like the Appalachians. They jut up from the Earth, but seem sort of squat.

This same type of terrain surrounds Anchorage, but the city sits in sort of a coastal plain. As you head south and east, that plain disappears and the mountains sometimes seem to rise right out of the inlet. We saw a number of spots where avalanches had occurred, ending right beside the highway.

We arrived at the visitor's center at the glacier only to find it closed (the visitor's center, that is. I don't think the glacier keeps regular hours). However, we had a map and our skis in the Alaska compact rental car (i.e full cab Silverado).

We drove out of the visitor's center parking lot and noticed a spot that had been plowed -- sort of an indent from the road that would fit 2-3 cars. It looked like a trailhead and we figured, what the heck. Came all this way. Brought the skis. Why not?

The first 200-300 meters were pretty rough -- large chunks of iced up snow covered with a thin layer of power. After that, though, it was smooth and the skiing was just like spring crust skiing in the Keweenaw. What a treat. (BTW -- the wax of the day was two-day-old klister covered by Swix Violet).

It turns out that it was a road that is closed in the winter. We skied back a couple of miles and ended up at the lake fed by Portage Glacier. The road ended at a boat dock where you can take an excursion to the glacier. It was closed. I wanted to ski out on the lake and to the glacier, but was outvoted. Since I had the car keys, they insisted.

As you'll see on the photos, a stop sign was almost buried -- there was easily six feet of base. Way, way, way more snow than at Kincaid Park. And the views were spectacular -- with the mountains and some blue sky and some fog all happening at the same time. That's the news for today. Back to racing tomorrow. Let's hope for some good performances by the GLD skiers.

Here are some shots of the mountains and glacier around Portage Lake.







These shots are from the drive along Cook Inlet south of Anchorage and heading toward Girdwood.

First Day of Competition -- 2008 JOs

Greetings from Anchorage. I'm finally adjusting, I think, to the local time and I've, at least, started to overcome the additional confusion of daylight savings (which has always been a rant of mine -- don't get me started).

Today was sprint day at the JOs -- the first day of competition. Among our locals, Christina Mishica came closest to moving to the next round. She placed 27th in qualifying among the OJs and 24 moved on to the quarterfinals. I did a story for Cross Country Skier with a newsy recap if you are interested (www.crosscountryskier.com).

Anchorage continues to suffer from weather. It was 44 degrees yesterday, 36 degrees this morning at 7 a.m and 40 this afternoon. Tough day for ski racers and ski race organizers.

Kincaid has this very large stadium area, complete with a nice two-story timing/announce building plus a permanent scoreboard. It must help to have a lot of oil money and Senator Stevens, who knows how to bring home the bacon. The stadium looks to have suffered the most from the recent rain and warm temperatures. It sits in a bowl and is basically a sheet of ice with no hope of being groomed.

This is a look at the stadium area at Kincaid Park today.

Organizers had to change the sprint course plus abandon the stadium area altogether and move both the start and finish. The course and tracks held up well this morning. It is windy at the venue which seems to be helping keep the snow colder.

The start line was only accessible to skiers and coaches and was not visible from any spectator area. The finish line was at the very edge of the stadium, with very limited viewing. We could watch the skiers come down a hill, make a 90-degree turn and head up the last 50 meters to the line.

The temperatures are supposed to stay in the mid- to upper-30s the next couple of days, but lows are supposed to dip to around 27 tonight and tomorrow. The media center person told me they hope to get out their new Pisten Bully and crunch up the ice tonight and/or tomorrow. But I'm writing this at 8:15 p.m. and it is still 37.

Tomorrow is a training day for the skiers. I'm going to take a trip to Girdwood, south of Anchorage, and gander at a glacier and do some other sightseeing.

I looked around downtown Anchorage this afternoon, which has a lot of t-shirt shops but also a five-story mall, complete with Nordstroms, in the middle of town. We wandered into the Alaska Troopers museum, which was interesting -- some old police equipment like breathalyzers and lie detectors, and some interesting stories about life for troopers stationed in places inaccessible to the rest of the state (except by air).

They also have a sort of visitors center in the federal building for all of the wild lands and national parks in the state. I watched a documentary about the earthquake of 1964 that registered 9.5 on the Richter scale, the strongest earthquake ever recorded in North America.

So there's your race recap, your weather report and your attraction reaction all in one spot.

Moose on the Loose in Anchorage

Today was opening ceremony day at the JOs (2008 Junior Olympics in Anchorage, where I'm spending the week, along with my wife, Jan, and Teresa Shoup).

We started the day with a ski and the consensus is that this will be the last ski for us this week. The temperature, as I write this at 4:30 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time, is 42 degrees. We went out at 9 a.m., in honor of those of you starting the Great Bear Chase. Even then, the temperature was 36. The trails have snow, but are icy and rutted, since it hasn't been below freezing in at least three days.

I made a couple of nifty slide turns at the bottom of hills that, while looking quite classy on any highlight reel, effectively removed my klister. So I basically skated a few loops on my striding skis.

I interviewed the chair of the JO organizing committee before the opening festivities (in my media capacity with Cross Country Skier magazine -- see today's report at www.crosscountryskier.com). They had a shoveling party yesterday and are plotting trail re-routes today.

Kincaid Park is huge -- something like 1400 acres. Some of the trails go along the ocean or sound or whatever they call this body of water that connects to the Pacific. Those deteriorate first in marginal weather, so they'll be moving Wednesday's classic race inland. They have a boatload of trails at Kincaid (60 km).

Tomorrow is sprint day and the biggest problem has been the stadium. There is water in part of it, but most of it is still snow. So they've reconfigured that and still have a decent 1.3 km loop. Temps will stay above freezing tonight and are predicted to approach 42 again Monday. I recommend the Rex yellow klister that I had (briefly) on my skis today.

And, finally, two things about Alaska.

They think big. I reserved a compact car for $99 for the week. Here in Alaska, that means a 2008 four-door Chevy Silverado. More power, baby.

(Actually, the cars they had didn't have back seats that fold down and we have this at no additional cost. That beast will hold a lot of groceries.)

The second thing -- the stories about city moose are true. We sat as one crossed the road in front of us about three doors down from our apartment. And this apartment is in a city neighborhood, with houses close together like in west Houghton only closer.

Springtime in Anchorage?

Greetings from the 49th state, where I'm visiting Anchorage for the 2008 Junior Olympic cross country ski championships. That's one of the views from the venue, Kincaid Park, above.

We have five skiers from the Copper Country Ski Tigers race team who have qualified (Kai Sharp, Jay Woodbeck, Olivia Orr, Madelaine Shoup and Ruth Oppliger, as well as Ski Tigers alumnus Mariah Featherly).

Teresa Shoup and Jan Woodbeck are here with me (we're the parental contingency).

The Anchorage Convention and Visitors Center says there are more than 100 miles of groomed trails in the city. That's, what, 175km? But there isn't much grooming going on right now, with temperatures around 40 today (Saturday, March 8). They are shoveling snow onto the race courses, but the media relations person told me today that the races will go on.

I visited Kincaid Park, the JO venue, today, then skied the trails at the Hillside area, across town from Kincaid. Hillside is at a slightly higher elevation and actually had snow yesterday when it was raining in town. I shopped Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking and purchased three different kinds of klister. Rex Yellow was the choice for warm weather and wet snow and that's what I used. I actually got great kick on tracks (when they were there) that were icy and a skating lane that has a hard base but various between icy and soft on top. Not your ideal conditions.

That photo to the right is the Kincaid chalet.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is the parade of athletes and opening ceremonies. Races start on Monday.