Northfield 2005

I always look forward to racing at Northfield. It is simply a great place run any time of the year. Since I wasn't able to help out with marking the course on Friday, I didn't get a chance to see the course. After talking with Paul and Kelli, I was a little worried that my crampons would be too long for the amount of snow on the trails. We will return to this topic later.

The start was quick as usual, and I wasted no time in letting five people by me. By the time we got to the first hill, I moved by two of them and focused on Rich, who was being chased down by an unknown racer. I was working pretty hard at this point, but was determined not to make the same mistake as last year and let people get by me prior the singletrack. I felt good at the start of singletrack hills, but was having a problem maintaining my rythm on the steeper sections. Peter Maksimow seemed to be reeling me in on uphills, but I would put some distance on him on the short downhill sections.

Toward the middle of the climb, Peter asked to get by. I let him lead, and the pace seemed to slacken a bit, which was fine by me. Dan was right behind me, and we seemed to be clear of the rest of the pack. It was quite relaxing to be in a group of three of your teammates and not have to worry about racing as much. Dan must have been feeling good, as he went by me to chase after Peter, who was only a couple of steps ahead. I find it is easier to allow for some room to see where you are going.

We all hit the downhill together, and with all the passing room, the racing started to heat up. There must have been well over a dozen passes between the three of us on the way down. I would take the lead on the steep downhills and tight turns, and then Dan and Peter would pass be back when it flatten out or went uphill. I was surprised to see how much I was struggling on the uphill sections.

My stomach began to tighten towards the end and I wasn't able to take full advantage of the downhills. As a result, Peter built a gap between us, and I was behind both of them going into the last singletrack section. I smiled to myself as I passed Dan on the dirt, my favorite surface. I tried to go after Peter, but he was rolling. It was all I could do to keep Grandpa Dan at bay!

While my first thoughts after the race were that my Dion snowshoes were too heavy and hurt me on the uphills, a little research led to a different conclusion. Although the Dualtrac SL's that Peter and Dan had are somewhat lighter than my Dions, the Dion frames are actually lighter than the Redfeather racing frames, which I always thought of as a lighter shoe. I think it was my big stainless steel crampons that were creating a lot of resistence to climbing. To make matters worse, my foot placement is a bit to far back in the shoe, so my crampons are under my toes. Imagine climbing Mt. Washington with a two inch block of wood under your toes. It makes the calves burn something fierce. I probably would have been better off with the standard Dion crampon instead of my hiking daggers. In the soft snow at Massebesic, they were an advantage, but I think they hurt me at Northfield. I should have talked with Rich, who didn't wear his large crampons due to the thin snow cover. He chose wisely, I chose poorly.

Nephew say: Bigger not always better.

Ben

Doubles are rough

Massabesic 5k and Sidehiller 4.5m NH Snowshoe Race Reports


Two weeks after getting pummeled by Paul and Rich at Greylock, I was in for more punishment at Rich's Massabesic 5k. I was more excited for Steph, who was back racing after a long layoff due to a hamstring injury. During the drive we both remarked at how bizarre it was to travel north and see less and less snow. The course had just enough snow on mostly singletrack trails.

On the start, I managed to get to the singletrack first, but was soon passed by Paul. I focused on staying with him longer than the Greylock race, and was surprised that no one tried to pass on the snowmobile sections. As the trail turned into the woods, the field began to string out. I saw a couple of yellow Atlas shirts behind me, and assumed the one closest to me was Rich, and the other was Ethan Hemphill. Rich was right behind me, and we slowly pulled away from our pursuers. I could see Paul for a while, but by about 11 minutes into the race he disappeared from sight. When I looked at my watch at that point, I was hoping to see it read 15, not 11.

A few minutes later, I got passed, and suddenly realized it was Ethan, not Rich, who had been on my tail. I was able to keep up after the pass, and when he seemed to slow when we exited the singletrack, I passed him back. Ethan kept the pressure on but was not able to get by. I felt that if I could stay in front until the last snowy section, I should be able to outsprint him with my larger crampons. The problem was, I was killing myself to fight off his passing attempts. As we approached the finished, I started hammering. Dave told me I that I was throwing up an eight foot rooster tail of snow. Unfortunately, I only had about 100 meters of that in me, and I needed 200 meters. As I slowed, Ethan flew by on right, and all I could do was watch. I was absolutely exhausted at the finish. The good news was that I was only about 30 seconds behind Paul, and Rich was a minute behind me. It seemed to be an improvement over the Greylock race. Steph had a great race, but said she felt out of shape. I told her everyone feels like that in snowshoe races. She also thought she had a cut on her lip, as she could taste blood most of the race. I laughed and said that her lip was fine. She had been working so hard she could taste the blood from the capillaries in her gums. I told her I beat Rich, and she said he was probably sandbagging, or hadn't gotten to warmup (I only beat him once all last season).

Sidehiller 4m

Steph was right, Rich blew me away right from the start. I was dead from the day before, and could feel it in my quads as soon as we began to go uphill. In addition to the course being pretty hilly, the snow began to soften, and the soft snow sucked the energy right out of your legs. I ran most of the race by myself, and was able to admire the NH scenery. Although it was a nice warm winter day to be outside, it was a bit too warm for snowshoe racing, and I was soaked in melting snow by the time I finished. Tim Livingston actually ran the race in shorts and a singlet, which must have been pretty chilly. After a bowl of chili at the local cafe, I drove home and passed out on the couch for much of the afternoon.

Ben