Ski to Sea is a seven-leg multi-sport relay race from the Mt. Baker Ski Area to Bellingham that attracts over 400 teams, and finishes with a huge party in Fairhaven. Even if your idea of competition is limited to microbrew arm-curls, it’s a must see, must do event in the Pacific Northwest.
The running / cycling exchange area at about 8 AM.
The legs include:
1. 4-mile Cross-country skiing race
2. Downhill skiing (really mostly a 900 vertical foot uphill climb)
3. An 8-mile run (downhill) from the Mt. Baker Ski Area
4. A ~38-mile road bicycle race
5. An ~18-mile canoe down the Nooksack River
6. A ~9-mile “mountain bike” race (more of a cyclocross/urban race)
7. A ~5 mile kayak across Bellingham Bay
Some competitors rely on bicycles like this.
The top teams include elite athletes from the Pacific Northwest and around the world, and they finish in five to six hours. Many of the recreational teams hope to finish before the beer garden closes.
Thoroughbreds: Some of the elite racers warming up on their wind trainers.
This year’s race was marred by extraordinarily high water in the Nooksack River, which forced cancellation of the canoe leg. Although the elite teams probably would have enjoyed the challenging river conditions, many teams had no river canoing experience, and it would have been too dangerous. Everyone I’ve talked with about it says it was a good call.
In addition, steady winds of 10-15 mph (gusting to 28 mph) churned Bellingham Bay into a boiling cauldron, and officials decided to shorten the kayak course. While waiting for our kayaker, Dave Peebles, to paddle into the maelstrom we saw 2 kayakers being rescued.
In the history of Ski to Sea when was the last time competitors could get in some pre-race tanning?
On the plus side, the weather on most of the course was gorgeous, especially compared to last year. At the start of last year’s bike race it was 37 degrees and raining; perfect conditions for a visit to the nearest barista. This year it was about 70 with brilliant sunshine.
The Race
For the past three years I’ve ridden for Unsafe at Any Speed, which has competed together for about 10 years. Whether I make a positive contribution to the team is debatable:
In 2006 I raced well, but handed off to the wrong team, which resulted in disqualification. In my defense, the only previous contact I had with the teammate I was supposed to hand off to was “a bad picture, and he doesn’t really look like this anymore.”
In 2007, I managed to hand off to teammate Tom Kunesh, but got scolded by team captain Julia Menkee for showing up too early. Early arrival meant that my canoe racing teammates had to paddle against serious racers in sleek kevlar boats.
It is worth noting that to date, I have not suffered the humiliation of being passed by another competitor dressed as a vegetable.
The first racer to leave the exchange: Chris Teufel riding for the Bagelry rolls out with a motorcycle escort.
This year, I expected our runner, Laurie Olafson, to arrive at about 11 AM, but he showed up at about 10:40, which forced sudden interruption of a seemingly important conversation with the Kulshan Bike Shop crew.
Laurie ran his leg faster than expected. All of my other teammates: XC skier Ed Halasz, downhill skier Helen Lastovica, and mt. biker Chris Sandvig all had personal best times in their legs.
I pushed my way through the crowd and grabbed the timing chip from Laurie who had been waiting for about 3 minutes. I was gunning for a personal best in this year’s race, but I handicapped the team before I even clipped into the pedals. I have a reputation to maintain.
I swerved this way and that down the road while I buckled my helmet, stuffed the timing chip and my gloves into a jersey pocket, and turned on the heart rate monitor. I was about 1/4 mile down the course before I eventually started to race.
For most racers, the cycling leg starts out as a solo effort like a time trial. If you are lucky, a group forms and racers benefit from working together in a paceline. Depending on the experience of the racers, the group may operate as if they are in a road race, or ideally like an ad hoc team time trial.
I was well beyond Glacier (mile 15-20) before I became part of a group. 2 racers passed, I jumped behind them, and we had a threesome. Within a few minutes we had about 10 in the group, including what looked like a Wookie with human dreadlocks. He pedaled like a Wookie too, and I decided it was prudent practice to stay in front of him. Fortunately, almost everyone seemed to understand the meaning of “let’s do 15-second rotations,” and we harmoniously traded leads not unlike Team Discovery.
A short steep climb into Maple Falls exorcised only a few and most of the group stayed together for the next 8-10 miles.
At about mile 25, during a pull at the front of the paceline, my left leg became immobilized with a calf cramp. I could barely pedal, let alone pedal fast enough to stay with the paceline. For a few tense minutes I evaluated whether I would have to completely abandon. I barely stayed with the group. I had blown a fuse in that leg and was unable to recover for the rest of the race.
With about 10 miles to go, the course turns west onto South Pass Rd., which involves enough climbing to permanently fracture most groups. I dropped back with 2 others from the paceline, and we stayed together until the last mile, where they spit me out as they hammered to the finish.
Despite my difficulties, the Monday edition of the Belligham Herald printed this image of me (registration may be required to view) that makes it look like I was “speed(ing) down the final stretch of the road bike leg.”
Pictures can be deceiving. In fact, once I dropped behind the two other racers I limped to the finish. My official time was 5 minutes slower than last year and well off my sub 1:30 target time.
