Biathlon 2020

I've gotta start by apologizing for the crappy cell phone photos. Once again I left the house without my camera but naturally I had my cell phone because without our cellular tethers we might as well be walking around with no clothes on, right? And Lord knows THAT'S awkward and disconcerting.

Anyway, more photos equals less writing, although with the new website it also equals more screwing around downloading photos, fitting them on the page, and trying to figure out where that Biathlon file went that I so cagily created because it would be WAY more efficient than having a bunch of random photos scattered under the heading of "pictures". But we wanted autonomy on the website and now we've got it along with taking responsibility for our scattershot efforts at computer mastery. So quit whining, Mike. You whiner.

The photo demonstrates far more graphically than I can put into words how much the Seeley Lake Biathlon has grown and matured. For the numerically challenged I'll make it easy and reveal that there are 10, count 'em, 10 targets on the range these days. The biggest complaint from the early days of the biathlon was that we had 5 shooting stations and racers wound up standing in line waiting to take their turn with a gun. The clock keeps ticking while you're standing in line with the sweat cooling on your back, which obviously makes the racing part of the event a bad joke. There was virtually no waiting this year and from my casual observation there were always at least three or four stations open for shooting.

That probably also translated into more missed targets because if you're standing in line your heart rate is dropping, theoretically improving your ability to steady the gun. Shooting is part of the program and if you're a serious biathlete missed targets are a big deal, but for most of our racers shooting is a novelty and part of the fun, to the point that people were almost bragging about how many targets they missed.

Another big improvement is how well organized the race has become. In the past there were too many categories and long start times, causing the race to go on and on and on with racers standing around either waiting for their event to start or waiting for later races to finish so we could get on with the awards. Now we have 3k, 9k, and 21k races without differentiating between skate and classic. We start the racers about 10 seconds apart and the timekeeping is done remotely by Competitive Timing. Consequently the racing started at 10 and everyone was finished by about 1:00. At 1:30 we were starting the awards ceremony. Throughout it all there were burgers being served along with cookies and other snacks, but I have got to say the coffee was lame. Instant Folgers? Are you serious? F minus on the coffee, you guys. BUT, there was half and half so I'll raise your grade to a D-.

For spectators this is the ultimate Nordic event. These two had it figured out and parked themselves at the shooting range for the duration of the race. Since the range is situated adjacent to the start/finish as well as the penalty loop it's easy to catch all the action.

Some spectators were more engaged than others. #notimpressed.

The penalty loop is less cruel than in years past. It's still a dizzyingly tight circle, but we hauled in 2 or 3 loads of gravel last summer and leveled that sucker out. Here we have your basic shuffler packing his gopher shooter and my girl Cora with her full-on competition setup. This is a true come one-come all event.

The biathlon requires a small army of volunteers on race day. The shooting range has a monitor at each shooting station plus a couple more to keep things moving. The guys with bright vests on are all volunteers, mostly from the Wilderness Sportsman's Club.

There are a lot of moving parts to the biathlon and it takes a ton of coordination to bring it all together. Chris Lorentz was the race director and main push behind this effort and he deserves a lot of credit for making it all happen so efficiently. He was at the trails this week almost every day, making preparations and overseeing the range setup. The day after the race he was back there again tearing down the range and hauling those heavy-assed targets back to the groomer shed. Having been involved in competitive shooting for years, as well as being one of our most reliable groomers, Chris was the right guy for the job and he pulled it off without a hitch.

If you've ever considered racing in the biathlon, you should quit thinking about it and just do it. Take the plunge. It's a true community event, you can race as hard or as easy as you want, and nobody cares about your skiing or shooting skills. Try it for the fun. I guarantee you'll be glad you did.

Where There's Smoke, There's OSCR?

Another OSCR is history. That's what, 37 years worth of self-induced pain and suffering? We ran the two loop course again this year, which according to my data-addicted friend, Bruce Rieman, is 4244' of elevation gain. This race is not for the faint of heart and the weather gods made the challenge even more unkind by dropping 2" of warm snow on an already warm base at the top of the course while Bruce and Chris were grooming in the dark. That made for some slow skiing. Timing is everything in life and it's too bad we didn't have the same conditions we had the previous week, or even today for that matter. Today was scary fast and the grooming was perfect. So it goes.

Attendance was off a little bit which makes me wonder if it was the weather and lack of snow pack or the tough course that had the greater effect. Skiing hasn't been easily available for anyone living in Missoula or any of the other major towns in western Montana and lack of good training options generally dampens attendance. The difficulty of the course could play into it, also. We're talking about a boatload of climbing which can really impact the fun factor, especially if the snow is slow.

The last three years looked like this: 50k 25k (2018 was 20k)

# of skiers 2018 58 48 (50k went over Rice Ridge)

2019 65 47 (2 loops)

2020 40 44 (2 loops)

That's a pretty shallow dive into the history but I'm too lazy to dig deeper right now. It's 3:30 and I've got to finish "composing" this mess, split two sled loads of wood and walk the demanding dog who must have an internal clock since I never see her checking a watch or her phone. That all needs to happen before dark.

In any case, it will be interesting to see how things trend with the new course and participation. I heard some comments about how hard the race was but I didn't hear any major whining about the course. We'll see how it goes and whether or not Bruce and Chris can hold up under the pressure of getting it all groomed before 9:00 a.m.

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Every year I allow myself at least one rant and the time has come for the first bitch-fest of 2020. (Yes, there may be more. I am old and cranky.) Last year it was dogs and this time we're going to have a little discussion about the "efficient" stove in the yurt. As you can see in the photo above, we aren't burning clean. We aren't exactly puking black grunge but it's the next best thing. The stove in the yurt is designed to burn smoke free if the people who stoke it take a little time to use the right size wood and allow the fire to get hot enough to re-burn the gases emitted during burning.

I'm not sure which torques me more: seeing someone's mutt on the ski trails or pulling into the parking lot and seeing smoke coming out of the chimney. Far more often than not, when I drive up the product coming from the chimney looks like the above photo.

Today the air intake was set to about half way and there were several

large pieces of split fir that were smoldering. All I did was open the door about an inch, push the air intake to the top to open it wide and gave it a few minutes for the fire to ignite and get going well while I put my boots on. I went outside and verified that there was no smoke coming from the chimney, went back in and shut the door tight and left the air intake wide open. Now we're burning smoke free. Easy. Unfortunately, I have to go through this routine damn near every time I go skiing.

This is typical of the size of wood that I find in the stove when it's smoking. If you split those in half they're going to get hotter faster and consequently burn cleaner. The fire may not last quite as long but it's going to last longer than you think and you can fill the stove with them. When I first moved to Seeley sometime way back in the last century, it was a point of pride to get the longest burn time possible out of one fire. You'd stuff your homemade barrel stove completely full of big-ass pieces of firewood, shut down the damper on the chimney pipe, close the air intake and let that baby puke black, oily sludge all day long. Hell, my stove will hold a fire for 12 hours! Yeah, no doubt.

Getting the stove to burn with out smoking is pretty simple. There are detailed instructions on the wall if you're not a regular and you're unsure of the procedure. When the fire is first started in the morning it's going to smoke for a while as the fire ignites. That's unavoidable. Later in the day there is usually a good bed of coals that will help get a good hot fire going without much trouble and it won't take long for it to quit smoking. If you're a newbie or unsure, take the time to read the instructions. If you're a regular then you should know better. The key is to see what the chimney is doing. If it's smoking then you ain't doing it right. Or maybe you're untrainable. Or maybe you just don't give a damn. I don't want to assign motives but I'm having a hard time figuring out why a stove that will burn so efficiently, so easily, is smoking far more often than not.

This rant may sound self-righteous but here's the way I feel about it: it's really tough to have an impact globally but there are small things we can do on a local level that add up. We don't have any control over Northwestern Energy's backassed energy portfolio but there are things we can control that make a difference. I'm reasonably sure that as skiers we're in favor of clean air and we're not overly impressed with the type of winter we're experiencing as a result of all the crap we've put into the atmosphere over the last 150 years. This is one of those little things that we can control.

The Hu Band, Skiesta, etc.

I'm almost reluctant to make a new post since that means the image of my muse and fantasy main squeeze will be bumped from the home page. It's been a fascinating experiment to see how many hits are generated strictly by an image. KAC has received over 100 more views than the fluffy kittens proving once again that the WTF factor sells, though I have yet to receive any financial remuneration or even a quid pro quo for my efforts. Come to think of it, I've never gotten a dime from any of this drivel. Maybe it's time to switch to a subscription plan to supplement my retirement income.

Anyway, here I go, yet again, with a non-skiing related image. If you love metal and you're into world music check out this video from The Hu Band of Mongolia. It's gotten over 24 million views so it's not like it's a big secret but no one I've told about it has heard of these guys. Bill Wall turned me onto the Hu and I'm passing on the favor. Bombastic bass and drums combined with traditional Mongolian instruments plus throat singing: what's not to love? And motorcycles. Lots of motorcycles.

Skiesta was yesterday and I drove my skiers hard all week in preparation. Here they are begging for mercy at ski practice on Thursday. Mercy is never forthcoming and if I can produce tears and an emotional breakdown at least once per day, then practice is a rousing success. We compensate occasionally with a process the kids call "ski therapy" where we gather in a circle and reveal our innermost selves which generally revolves around tender feelings such as hunger for snacks, fear of Skisquatch and why some of us hate Hawkwoods. Yes, I am a tyrant, but a benevolent one.

Putting child abuse aside for a moment, Bridget Laird produced another winning event yesterday with Skiesta. Seems like we've settled into a range of 50 to 60 racers every year. There's a race at Homestake that probably siphons off some participants but we still manage to get a good crowd coming from Missoula, the Flathead and sometimes as far afield as Sandpoint.

Tim Swanberg is much too happy here. Must be early in the race. Is that a cotton shirt?

Madeline Swanberg and Aidan Duffield were waaaaaaay too relaxed in the 20k. They were talking up a storm when they passed me at Jct. 4 and Karen Pratt reported they were still chatting it up as they passed her station at the top of Whitetail Hill on the way out to the 20K addition. I joined Karen on Whitetail after all the 5k skiers had passed my post, and when Maddie and Aidan skied back onto the course from the 20k I heard them before I saw them. I asked Maddie after the race if they talked the whole time and she said, "yeah, pretty much." She tried to blame it on Aidan, but I know better. Must be nice to be young and strong with unlimited supplies of oxygen at your disposal.

Cora Stone in the 5k. Cora has moved on to high school so I don't get to ski with her much anymore. She always took the lead in ski therapy and excelled at processing her daily dose of angst, which was prodigious.

OSCR is coming up this weekend and promises to be another glorious sufferfest with the continuation of the two loop course. It seemed to be a love it or hate it affair last year with more positive than negative comments. The 25k is an honorable option if the second lap was more fun than you could handle in 2019. When we did the two-loop 50k back in the '90's I always opted for the 25k and felt like I got my money's worth. You get to ski the entire trail system plus there's the climb and the long downhill on the Auggie addition with all the panoramic views opened up by the fire. It's Seeley Lake skiing at its finest.

See you next Saturday.