Toonie Race - Cypress

Tonight I got my first taste of nordic racing.  About a month after taking up the sport....  It was pretty exciting and quite humbling....

The toonie race series is a Tuesday night affair up on Cypress Mtn.  It was quite well attended tonight - about 50 people ready to rock!

The race:  Relay - Classic and Skate.  2 skiers - one on classic skis and one on skate.  4 laps of the 3.5 k course (classic, skate, classic, skate)

Upon arrival I was immediately paired with a girl named Erin...  I would be the classic skier, she the skate skier.  Nice.  Erin seemed quite competent but not overly concerned with our results which suited me just fine.

The racers in general were WAY more hardcore than I was expecting....  but then I suppose if you are out racing every Tuesday night you are probably fairly into the sport.  

So, to the start.  Lap 1.  There appear to be three levels of skier - those WAY faster than me (85%), those a fair bit slower than me (the rest) and me.  This left me pretty much alone - unable to catch the faster and having left the slower.  So....  I got a bit lost.  They don't mark the course on Tuesdays "because everyone knows it".  I did study the map but by the time I was out there things looked a bit different.....  anyway, was skiing through a pitch black section thinking "this can't be right."  It wasn't, I had to rejoin the race at a later stage.... and finished well ahead of where I would have otherwise.  People were impressed - til I told them I shortcut the course...

Erin went off and did a nice job - I went back inside to study the map again.  

2nd lap.  Smooth - didn't get lost - tagged Erin and she headed out for the final lap.  Had fun.  Done and done.

Thanks Erin! (doubt you're reading but hey maybe...)

Next Race is the real deal - BC Cup.  This was a good primer though...

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