C5 Golfer Posted May 25, 2006 Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 I got my arm twisted to do the snowboard leg of this fantastic race to the Sea this Sunday. Any other Pacific Northwest rider in this with me? http://www.bellingham.com/skitosea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeW Posted May 25, 2006 Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 Whoa! That's insane!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted May 25, 2006 Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 Have fun Al! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C5 Golfer Posted June 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2006 I made the cover Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Dahl Posted June 1, 2006 Report Share Posted June 1, 2006 way to represent! I gotta find a team to ride for next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted June 1, 2006 Report Share Posted June 1, 2006 badass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C5 Golfer Posted June 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2006 way to represent! I gotta find a team to ride for next year. here is what the Seattle Times says about the race: By Ron Judd Seattle Times staff columnist "It looks so fun!" said my hopelessly optimistic sister, Linda. We were standing on a beach in Bellingham, watching a klatch of kayakers straining against the wind to make landfall at Marine Park. Once there, they tumbled out of their kayaks, stumbled onto the beach, then ran up the hill to ring a brass bell. It's the traditional last leg of the Ski-to-Sea race, a multisport relay race from Mount Baker Ski Area to Bellingham Bay — a longstanding Bellingham tradition. Of course it looks fun, I thought to myself. The kayak guy/gal is the Ski-to-Sea show pony — the one contestant from a team of eight who does not toil in anonymity climbing through wet snow in the cold rain, bashing his or her knees into meatloaf running downhill on pavement, or bailing water with a tin can to keep a canoe from sleeping with the fishes in the Nooksack River. But I knew what was coming next. "We have to do it next year!" Linda proclaimed. Her husband, Mike, and I exchanged worried glances. Uh-oh. She might be serious. The Ski-to-Sea, one of the oldest and best Blank-to-Blank multisport relays in the country, has roots in the early 20th century, when hardy (polite historic code word for "nutso") individuals would race all by themselves from high on Mount Baker to Bellingham. Early on, in 1913, the race got called off after one guy fell into a crevasse and died. Now, under the modern format run every Memorial Day weekend since 1973, people don't die very often. They just occasionally want to. Today's 82-mile Ski-to-Sea requires a team of eight optimists: One to ski a hilly, four-mile cross-country course at the ski area, one to climb up a steep slope, then ski back down on downhill gear; one to run eight miles, all steeply downhill, on Mount Baker Highway; one to cycle 36 miles farther down the highway; two to canoe 18 miles down the Nooksack from Everson to Ferndale; one to mountain bike nine miles to Squalicum Marina; and one glory hound to kayak the final 5 miles — always into the wind — across Bellingham Bay to the finish line. The race attracts some 400 teams, ranging from ultra-serious squads in the Open Division — teams that always find a way to bring in some Olympic-caliber ringers — to groups of grannies and high-school kids simply out to finish. The truth is, it would be fun to put together a team of 40-something sloths and actually complete the race, as the majority of racers seek to do. I've thought about it from time to time, but two mitigating factors — being (A) too old and (B) too slow — always seem to prohibit getting © too serious. But just so I could say I did, I ran through my qualifications for each of the seven legs one more time in my head. Let's see: Leg One: Forced-march XC ski. Endless series of badly executed downhill telemark turns or horribly embarrassing snowplows: Entirely new level of hell. Skinny skis. Skinny people. Fat chance. Leg Two: Downhill skiing, mostly uphill. In ski boots. Pancake-sized blisters. Hacking cough. Searing lungs. Did anyone happen to bring a solar-powered defibrillator? Leg Three: Running. Downhill. Pavement. Eight miles. Two-thousand-foot elevation drop. An orthopedic surgeon's M*A*S*H tent at the finish line. Leg Four: Cycling. Thirty-six miles. Doable, but advisable? Last time we spent that much time in a bike saddle was 20 years ago. The pain in the rump region finally ceased the day before yesterday. Leg Five: Canoe. A strong possibility. Upside: It's all downstream, and some years, like this one, the Nooksack is rolling along mightily. Worse comes to worst, you just float. Downside: Deadly snags, eddies, whirlpools. Leg Six: Mountain biking over hills, dales, dikes and cow pastures. Again, not out of the question. But with a number of on-and-off-the-bike scrambles up and down bridges and overpasses, probably about as much fun as inverted flight on a 737. Additional downside: wholly-inadequate-mountain-bike shame. Leg Seven: Kayak. Into the wind. Saltwater. Deep saltwater. Hypothermic saltwater. Lifetime aversion to any sport requiring a "spray skirt." Do the math. There you have it. If my sister persists, I might ring up the Old Man and ask him to evaluate the odds we could negotiate the Nooksack for that many miles in his old war canoe. And Mike might have to stop rowing and start paddling for his morning workouts. But a year from now is a long, long time. Enough to get ready, for sure. And also enough for her to simply forget. Pray for the latter. Or make a preemptive donation to Search and Rescue. Ron Judd's Trail Mix column appears here every Thursday. To contact him: Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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