First Race : A-Basin Rise and Shine #1

This was my first race alone. Typically Maggie is there with me, equally tired and anxious. But this time it was just me. The drive was the easiest I’ve had to an A-Basin race because it’s only November. Early snows had come and gone and Loveland Pass had been blown down to the rocks by the recent high winds. So getting there was the easy part.

We couldn’t remember if we had driven up in most of our race gear or if we changed into everything in the locker room. I drove up in comfy sweatpants and a puffy jacket thinking I’d be fine on timing. The crowded check-in room proved me wrong. There were nearly 100 people scrambling to get bibs, pay for the race, and put on boots in the heated comfort of the base-area check-in. I was starting to sweat, not from the heat, but from nerves.

After checking in I had about 13 minutes to run back to the truck and get all my gear on. I decided not to worry about taking everything to the locker room and just stripped off my warm layers right there in the parking lot to get into my race suit. With hands shaking I bucked my boots and stretched my skins across the bottom of my skis. I locked the car and hustled to the starting line.

With about 45 seconds to spare at the start line, I fumbled to start my watch tracking because at the very least I needed to get some data out of this experience. Now with no warm up and my first time on skis this winter, the starter set us loose.

I recognized some of the people at the front of the pack so I knew that I would be getting lapped at some point. I started strong and tried to settle myself into the middle of the pack, which was my usual position last year. Only about half way up the first lap, I felt like quitting. I had lost so much strength from the previous season, I had no warm up, my lungs were burning from the cold air. But as the top of the run flattens out, my mental state changes. I made it up to the top, and I wasn’t last place.

Last year Maggie and I just had the goal of finishing every race we started. We were able to do that and much more. We were pleasantly surprised to be pretty much middle of the pack no matter what. My new goal this year is to finish each race, and not be last place in the USSMA standings. Now this will be dependent on how many sanctioned races I am able to make it to, but I’ve gone out on a limb this year and want to actually go somewhere with this. That doesn’t necessarily mean ever making the national or worlds team, but it does mean that there will be a record each year where I can look back and show incremental improvements. That might mean more races each year or it might mean better times each year. But starting now, there will be some mild amount of documentation.

After finishing one lap and skiing down, suddenly I felt fine. I wasn’t moving extremely fast and people were starting to lap me the second time up, but I could breath and I could keep going. The second lap went down easy and I pushed for a third. The people I had kept pace with were slightly faster on the uphills, but my transitions were faster so I would inevitably get roughly the same lap time. On my third and final uphill I felt like changing that. I dug a little deeper, pushed a little harder, caught and then passed three people I had been chasing down the whole race. With a quick transition at the top and a speedy ski down to the bottom, the race was over for me.

I learned a lot from this one. I need to get to the race early. I need to figure out how to warm up properly, even if it means doing a significant climb right before the start. And I need to remember that this is hard work. I may have lost a lot of last season’s strength, but it will come back. My gear all works, my technique and skills have stuck around, and with hard work on strength and honing in my body, this should be a good year.