It’s early February, so I am getting psyched up for the City of Lakes Loppet, which will be run in Minneapolis on Sunday the 8th. This year – after some waffling – I decided to do the “Hoigaard’s Classic” race, which is run over a 24km (15 mile) course and uses the slower but (I think) more elegant and tougher “classic” ski technique, versus the regular Loppet, which I skied in 2008 and 2009 and is run in the the faster freestyle or skating style.
I figure that the classic-style race will be a nice challenge since I really haven’t done much classic skiing over the past couple years. Thanks to our early and reliable snow and fantastic grooming in Carleton’s Arb, I’ve now done plenty of technique drills, quite a few long classic-technique sessions, and hours and hours of workouts in the third main ski technique, double poling. I hope that all this training will combine with the full field (about 360 racers – a fraction of the Freestyle Loppet, but a big race nonetheless) and what might be the best weather and course conditions in years to make the race on Sunday less than the straight-up sufferfest of last year. I mean, it will hurt, for sure, but I hope I can enjoy the event too, and even race it. Passing people is fun.