Day 43 - Saturday Mar 15 - P-Keg 2008

Do you remember when you were a kid and the night before Christmas was filled with excitement to the extent that even when you finally fell asleep it wasn't for long? Yeah, that is how it was for me last night before the Powderkeg. The time finally came to awake and I was ready. I met Codeman, Jer, and Sarah at Foothill Village at 5:15 to carpool up. During the car ride up we continued our discussion from the previous night on strategy for the race. This was Sarah's first race so she needed some pointers; and since I was doing the race division tele, Cody was doing rec division AT, Jer was doing rec division tele, and Sarah was doing rec division women's tele we could all share our secrets with one another. We got up to Alta with plenty of time. This was required this year since they were closing the canyon at 6:15 for avy control work and they locked us in the Goldminer's Daughter at 7 for interlodge. Jer, Codeman, and I did have some time before the interlodge to get out on the snow and do a couple of really short laps in the dark. This allowed us to get our heart rate up and then give our bodies time to recover before the race. The idea is that if you just go from nothing to everything in the race your body wants to recover but you don't give it the chance to resulting in the inability to perform at the top of your game. We made our way back inside, checked in for the race, then chilled out until they let us out of the building. This was my first time doing the race division. It adds one more huge climb directly up Alta to the top of Collins, then across the high traverse, down gunsight, and then it continues up to Patsy Marley with the rest of the racers. The rec division does a la mans start where they start with no skis on and then run up, put them on, and go. The race division, however, starts with skis on and it is a sprint off the starting line. I was a little nervous about this since this would be my first time really sprinting on my skis. I knew I wanted to get a good position early since there was a single skin track shortly after the start that can be trouble if you are stuck behind a slow group. I started behind Mark from Voile and just tried to keep up. I found out quickly that this was going to be a difficult goal. I went out hard at the sound of the starting gun. I could have and should have gone out harder since I did get behind a few people that were not moving as fast as I wanted to at this point. I was feeling pretty good. My heart was beating, but I was able to keep moving forward. I finally reached the top and quickly transitioned and I was on my way. The high traverse was interesting. You have to sidestep up about 15 feet before you reach the top of Gunsight. Then the skiing was an adventure. The snow was super deep from the big storms we recently received. My race skis are not exactly powder skis. I was able to make turns just fine, but then there came an area where I began straightlining it and I was hauling. I felt my weight go forward just a little bit and I knew I was screwed since I did not have enough ski underneath me to regain control. I took a massive tumbler consisting of at least two big high speed rolls (I couldn't tell how many for sure since I was the one tumbling). I got back up as quickly as I could and continued on my way down. This did however, make my sunglasses useless for the remainer of the race since they were now covered in snow and ice. I was lucky enough to have put them on some Chums before the race so I did lose them in the fall. The volunteers at the second transition station knew what the story was when I arrived totally covered in snow. I was happy with my transition time here. I have been working on being faster at putting my skins on my skis without taking my skis off. This is where it began to pay off. I was rejuvinated just enough from the downhill that I could go hard again as I started to ascend. The bootpack section was cut from this year's p-keg because of all the new snow. So we took the track around in to Michigan City and then up to the Patsy Marley ridge. I was feeling pretty good at this point with some fatigue issues and the occasional side ache, but nothing serious. I eventually reached T3 and then made the transition and headed downhill. I had one little fall during this descent but it didn't slow me down too much. I began transitioning at T4 when I heard someone say, "Brother Butcher!" I knew this was Mike from my ward that works at BD. We chatted for a short time while I made my transition, but no longer. I was then on my way. This climb goes up Black Bess. This is where I really started to get tired. I kept pushing it though and was able to pass the occasional person (while the occasional person also passed me). I had some Gu and tried to continue to drink water while I climbed. This climb seemed to be much longer than it has been in the past. I did finally reach T5 and from there you can see the remainer of the race. You can see T6 back in Michigan City, T7 at the top of Davenport, and the finish line back at Alta. That Davenport climb did not look particularly pleasing. I had a bit of difficulty talking myself out of just skiing off the North side of Black Bess into Honeycomb Canyon for some killer turns since I had no chance at getting on the podium at this point. But I stayed in the race. I skied down the totally chopped up snow (barely) and had another good transition at T6. I started up to Davenport and really began to hit my wall. I don't know if it was because I knew it was the final climb or what, but it took everything I had just to keep going. Every time I thought I was close to reaching the summit I would come around a corner and realize I wasn't even close. T7 did finally come, however, and I felt good about things. All that stood between me and the finish line was one more descent followed by some skate skiing across the base of Alta. I pushed it as hard as I could. I tried to pass some people on the downhill so as to gain the edge. The descent required some navigation through the approaching storm which was more difficult than the earlier descents since I had no glasses to wear and it was now snowing in my eyes. I came out of Grizzly Gulch and began to make my way over to Alta. I did not see a drop onto a cat track at one point and took a bit of a fall in front of some spectators. I quickly got back up and continued on my way down. I passed one final person on the skate across the base of Alta and crossed the finish line 2 hours 58 minutes and 59 seconds after I had started - with a snowy beard and all. Mitch from telemarktips.com stopped me and asked me a couple questions about the race, but I really don't know what I said. I was greeted by all those who had done the race with me and those who were there to support us. Codeman had been the first to cross the finish line out of our group at 1:57:02. He took seventh in the Rec AT division. Sarah was not far behind at 2:03:07 and she was the first girl to cross the finish line making her the winner of the Women's rec tele division. Jer came in next after some difficulty with his skins halfway through the race. I guess he was winning and then during the second climb his skins decided to start falling off his skis which added a great deal of time and headache to his race. He finished in 2:19:04 coming in 7th in the Men's rec tele. Dan followed shortly thereafter at 2:22:23 giving him 11th place in rec tele. Soon after that, Mark came in from the race division at 2:27:11 making him the third man to cross in the race tele division - thus earning him a spot on the podium. He was stoked because last year he came in fourth and just missed the podium. They hung out for a while before I came in at 2:58:59 in 10th place in the race tele. I was happy with my performance. I learned a few things that will help in next year's race. Even though these races are simply a way for us to torture ourselves for 3 hours straight, it still ends up being a lot of fun. I am now really looking forward to tri season. With all this new snow, however, I am in no hurry for spring or summer to arrive. I still have time for some epic days out in the backcountry this year. On ski.