-1.7°C There was a good youth turnout for the time trial yesterday with over 20 participants. Sara thomas showed up in the late afternoon to squeak by Millie Sutter for top female. The Blaney Bomber also showed up in the late afternoon with dreams of glory and his glorious new poles but Mack Faulkner’s time of 10:35 remained just fast enough to keep the poles at bay! Admittedly the snow was getting slower as the afternoon wore on.
While standing around the finish line one of the officials was bragging up his best Strava time, albeit done with skate skis rather than the classic variety all the other local Stravites use. Jack “One-Ski” mentioned that during his pre Canada Games training he had gathered a group of buddies from teams NB and NS and they decided to do the CTT in a pace line, setting off full of a cocktail of pre games fitness, adrenaline, endorphins and lots of Joie du Vie. Most of us are familiar with the benefits of drafting on a bike, but at usual ski speeds this would seem unimportant. Jack assures me that with this crowd and their average speed pushing 30 km/hr(he reckons they were close to 60 coming down the hills), it was significant. Each of his friends took a turn at the front at max velocity then collapsed on the snow like a European Soccer star whilst the next guy took over. Jack remained tucked in behind until his last colleague hit the snow and “glided” past the start line in 5 minutes 30 seconds!!!. Oh for a video, though just thinking about it makes me happy- simple I know….
Finally, it is good to see that most of you wisely have avoided hitting the trails today. They are very glazed with speeds in the 3.5+/4 range, lots of debris in the tracks and grip close to zero. By late afternoon there will be some slowing in the sun, although shaded areas will remain pretty fast. I think Bucky will groom tomorrow morning which will slow glide and improve grip, and warmer temps in the afternoon will further slow glide. There is still whacks of snow but the power line below the bench has bare spots so be cautious there.
Cheers, and let me know when we are going to try that paceline thingy…
While standing around the finish line one of the officials was bragging up his best Strava time, albeit done with skate skis rather than the classic variety all the other local Stravites use. Jack “One-Ski” mentioned that during his pre Canada Games training he had gathered a group of buddies from teams NB and NS and they decided to do the CTT in a pace line, setting off full of a cocktail of pre games fitness, adrenaline, endorphins and lots of Joie du Vie. Most of us are familiar with the benefits of drafting on a bike, but at usual ski speeds this would seem unimportant. Jack assures me that with this crowd and their average speed pushing 30 km/hr(he reckons they were close to 60 coming down the hills), it was significant. Each of his friends took a turn at the front at max velocity then collapsed on the snow like a European Soccer star whilst the next guy took over. Jack remained tucked in behind until his last colleague hit the snow and “glided” past the start line in 5 minutes 30 seconds!!!. Oh for a video, though just thinking about it makes me happy- simple I know….
Finally, it is good to see that most of you wisely have avoided hitting the trails today. They are very glazed with speeds in the 3.5+/4 range, lots of debris in the tracks and grip close to zero. By late afternoon there will be some slowing in the sun, although shaded areas will remain pretty fast. I think Bucky will groom tomorrow morning which will slow glide and improve grip, and warmer temps in the afternoon will further slow glide. There is still whacks of snow but the power line below the bench has bare spots so be cautious there.
Cheers, and let me know when we are going to try that paceline thingy…