Jente Loppet info

Race starts at 10am, so let's plan to meet at 9am for our usual warmup and course preview.



The 5km group will start just after the mass start for the 10km group.



plan to arrive a little early if you are registering day-of-race.

Chicks on Sticks preliminary results and report

Well, wasn't that fun!!!

Official results are not posted yet, but I have some estimates based on accurate first lap splits, and estimated finish times (I have Robin finishing as the sweeper in a total time of 44:08, so everyone beat the 45 minute mark!).  My map software doesn't show the river, but my crude first attempt at measuring the course comes out at 3.5km per lap.  So these are GREAT TIMES for a 7km race, and on par with the times we saw at the Ski Hill trails a month ago for just 5km.  Here's what my estimates look like:

Racer Lap One Lap Two Total


Galen 0:12:05 0:13:22 0:25:27

Elise 0:12:37 0:14:53 0:27:30

Meg 0:13:30 0:16:00 0:29:30

RuthMabel 0:16:40 0:17:10 0:33:50

Emma 0:19:10 0:20:05 0:39:15

Amelia 0:20:08 0:23:56 0:44:04

Robin 0:20:10 0:23:58 0:44:08

On a flat course like this, you can see how important it is to have good V2 and V2alt technique so you can get efficient long glide at a decent pace, but without running out of steam.  Keep thinking about getting the poles lined up down the track, instead of out to the sides - you want all the effort going in the direction of travel.

Next week at Cabin Creek will be another 5km freestyle race, we skied the first half of the loop at the classic race in January, so we all know that portion.  The rest of the course is similar, and the 5km distance is one lap.  Total elevation profile will be similar to the Leavenworth Ski Hill course.  We'll work on some V1 before the race during our warmup.  Pre-race blog post will go up on Thursday.  I'll try to get some of the video I've taken posted during the week.

Photos are up on Picasa at: http://picasaweb.google.com/paul2tele/ChicksOnSticks2010#

Don't forget to watch for Holly at the Olympics!  You could all be there someday too!

Chicks on Sticks this Saturday

Details for the race on Saturday at Leavenworth: http://www.skileavenworth.com/event/chicks

Let's meet at the registration area at 8:30am (I'll be shooting to get there at 8:00).  We'll need to pick up bibs and get out on the trails for a preview and warmup.  The course is on the Fish Hatchery portion of the Icicle Creek trails, which is nearly dead-flat.  We'll all be skating, unless someone just HAS to do classic.  This will be an 8K race, which will likely take us between 45 minutes to an hour.  This is a great distance to work on pacing and trying to keep good V2 and V2alt technique together over a longer ski time.  Just remember that the Mt. Catherine Loop is a longer, more difficult ski, and we've all done that just fine!  Plan to ski with a water bottle or camelback, and we'll see about coordinating water/snacks near the lap/finish area for those not carrying with them.

By my count, we have seven racers participating, and I think you're all staying over in Leavenworth on Friday night (?): Galen, Amelia B., Amelia M., Elise, Emma, Meg, and RuthMabel.

This is a Women-only event, so I won't be able to sweep this week, or next week either.  But I will be moving around the edges of the course a bit to offer encouragement and pester you (depending on your point of view), and hopefully get some more good video that we can break down later.

The weather forecast looks good, overcast and above freezing - probably in the mid-30s at race time.  So red/pink glide wax again for anyone fine-tuning their skis tomorrow night.

I can't wait!