Winter finally makes an appearance - just a little bit too late

Well as if to prove that mother nature has a sense of humour we recieved 12+ inches of snow 6 hours after the Birkie was essentialy canned as a race. This essentially meant that all the training I did this winter was for nothing. But ever the optimist here are the high points of this winters ski season for me.

1. The City of Lakes Loppet. I've avoided this race in the past because narrow trails and skating usually means one huge traffic jam, but what do you know the crowds quickly thinned out and by the 10K mark I had noone but myself slowing me down. The trails themselves are the stars of this race, nice hills both up and down. Oh and how cool is it to ski through the city! It was a chilly one though.
2. The Minneloppet at COLL. It just makes you proud when your two year old embraces the things you love. Given that it was -8 F I think my wife would have been justified in stopping this endevour, instead she came along and walked along with me while the half pint skied his first race. Now what did the sons of Norway put in the hot cocoa afterwards? It certainly gave the half pint a sugar buzz for the drive home.
3. Getting a "Wee Horsey" at Mora. I'm not a great skier by any stretch of the imagination, but due to the average 35-39 year old male being more preoccupied by work and family it appears to be a pretty easy age group when it comes to skiing. The only age group with slower times were the 55+ year olds. The horses at Mora are perhaps the most cool age group awards of any citizen race. Mine is now proudly displayed in a cabinet at home.
4. My week before the birkie long easy ski, some training sessions you come out of just knowing you are ready to race. this was one of them, conditions at Elk River were perfect, and for the first time in years I felt my technique had come together in time for the big race.
5. The Birkie, I know it was cancelled and turned in to a 25K tour but this is my favoritest day of the year, and it was kind of fun not to have to deal with the trauma of getting a good start spot before the race. The best bit though was the fact they continued the tradition of adding an extra few K to the trip. Just as every one reached OO they discovered they still had 2 K of skiing to go. A few years back in a shortened 44 K race they added an extra 1.6 K. The best part was the whole additional distance that year was uphill making for a very tough and long sprint to the finish. Happy days.

Beer of the Blog: It's been a long time since I posted so I'm not sure what the most memorable beer I've had in that time is. Let's go with the Scotch ale I had at The Angry Minnow, in Hayward, WI this weekend. The advantage of a non competitive Birkie was the ability to drink beer the day before the race. This beer was full bodied, it appeared to have a nice balance of sweetness from the malt and smokiness, presumably from some peat malt. The peated malt did contribute a bit of acidity to the beer which I have never actually seen in a Scotch ale from Scotland, but as a lover of acidic beers I can not really complain too much about that. A really nice beer