Double Birkie Recap

Having participated in three Double Birkies to date, and never having seen a writeup that might help newbies know what to expect in their first event, I thought I’d write a few lines about my 2010 experience.

This year’s Double Birkie occurred on the Monday after Christmas. The timing was right for my participation, as our family does an annual 4-o or 5-day ski trip to Minocqua Winter Park, usually ending on New Years day. So our family drove to our in-laws’ cabin in Trego (SW of Hayward) on Sunday, where we stayed with Odd (pronounced “ode”) Osland, a long-time Twin Cities skier who regularly places in his age group in the Birkie.

Due to the Telemark Resort closure, the traditional midpoint of the event (lunch stop) was moved to a private residence on the Telemark Trail system. Usually my wife and son drive to Telemark and hang out in the pool on event day, so that the family car is there for clothes/ski changes. This was obviously not going to be possible, so Sunday evening Odd and I drove to the lunch stop and dropped off skis and a bag of dry clothes each.

Monday morning we got going bright and early (on the road by 6:45) and drove to the OO warming cabin to drop another bag each w/ clothes, water, and food. We arrived at Fish Hatchery Park just before 8:00 (Hwy 77 S. from Hayward about 3 miles, left on Fish Hatchery road.)  The temp was about 14F (warmer than forecast). As I was planning to stride to lunch and skate back, I had waxed w/ Swix VR30, which was correct for the event start temperature but a little slippery for the forecast high of 25deg. After a 2k  “tour” of the park trail system (took a wrong turn), I came back to the park and skied straight out the backside (behind the picnic pavilion) to the Birkie Trail. There I found most of the skiers gathering for the traditional pre-event picture, but as I didn’t want to be left too far behind by the faster skaters, I started north immediately (at about 8:20).

The tracks were deep and fast but with good kick, so I made good time and reached OO just behind the last of three larger groups (roughly a dozen each), but ahead of a few of the straggler skaters. Odd was already there, so I quickly drank a bottle of Cytomax and walked across OO to continue north. The temp was still below 20F and my kick had stayed good, so I didn’t touch my wax. I left OO at the same time as most of the skaters, and I ended up staying with one of the slower groups all the way to lunch. When we turned off onto the Korteloppet trail toward the lunch cabin, I had to start hammering a little to stay with the skate group I was in so I wouldn’t get lost. We arrived at the lunch stop at about 11:15, and at about 20F, with my VR30 still holding up untouched after 40k!

After a good lunch of burgers and lasagna (thanks, Jim!) I started to get a little worried, as I hadn’t seen Odd yet. I tried to get hold of an operational cell phone (mine had no signal) to call Odd, but no one seemed to have one. I was hastily putting on my skate boots at about 12:15 when all 40 or so skiers headed out the door for another group photo (did I really do the event if I’m not in the pictures?)  I ran down to the trail and left with the last group of 7 or 8 skiers. The pace was a little high, especially on the hills. When I jumped into the middle of the group I saw the Texas Roadhouse jerseys of two pro road (bike) racers I had seen at lunch. At that point I realized I felt no compulsion to match their pace for 40k so I dropped back and skated alone at a reasonable pace to the high point. From there I tried to call Odd again but got no reply. So I continued on toward OO, eventually catching and skiing with the same group, which had broken apart (no doubt due to the fast pace) and then regrouped just after I caught the lead skiers, who were waiting by the side of the trail at the top of the first big climb before OO.

At OO I ate some cashews and drank a couple bottles of Cytomax, and was uncertain whether Odd was ahead of me or behind. As I was clipping on my skis with a brisk south breeze blowing, I decided to change into dry clothes for the last leg. Looking up, I saw Odd walking across OO! So I changed into dry clothes and after a total stop time of about 45 minutes we left together at about 2:20 and did an easy skate for the last 20k leg, arriving back at Fish Hatchery at about 4pm.  Although the event was advertised as 90k, due to the closer lunch stop it ended up being almost 80k round trip.

As we were removing our skis, event coordinator (and former 7-Eleven pro road racer) Tom Schuler came out and talked to us. After telling him about Odd’s misadventures (he never found the lunch stop and went instead to the North End trail cabin instead to warm up and eat), Tom was amazed that, at age 69, Odd was able to not only finish the full event, but in a very respectable time no less. He also informed us that Odd was to his knowledge the oldest skier to ever start, let alone complete, the Double Birkie in its 20-odd year history. He invited Odd to Cable for free pizza as an “oldest skier award”, but we had other family dinner plans. 

After retrieving our bags and skis from the lunch stop and OO, we picked up a couple pizzas on the way to the cabin and had our own “award dinner”. We both agreed that it had been a pretty nice day for a long ski, and we both look forward to doing the Double Birkie again in the future.

Some notes on the skiing:

I have completed three Double Birkies, each one using a different technique mix. The first time I did it, I skated to Telemark and strode back. While this did allow me to ski with other groups for most of the event, I ended up working too hard trying to stay with the skaters after leaving Telemark, and ended up striding (walking, maybe?) the last leg at a very slow pace, arriving at the finish in deep twilight. Luckily I had company the entire leg, as Brent Oja and Chris Ransom “swept the course” with me (thanks, guys!) They would skate ahead and wait for me to plod past, then repeat.  I was literally stumbling tired when I arrived at the finish, and I think the parking lot was empty when we left.

The second time, I skated to OO, changed to classic, and strode to Telemark and back to OO with my teammate Kevin Ivens, an excellent classic skier. This DB was memorable for its warm (35 cooling to 30deg), slow conditions, and also because Kevin’s purple-Powergrip-waxed classic skis had zero kick when we arrived at OO. Luckily I had left three pairs of classic skis there (waxless, grip tape, and hard wax). I used the grip tape skis and Kevin ended up on my (too-soft) waxless. So needless to say, our two classic legs were not lightning fast. We ended up hammering (skating) from OO to the finish on a by-then lightning fast trail (not an easy feat on shaky legs), again arriving at dusk and feeling pretty wasted.

I think the classic out/skate back strategy worked best and was the most enjoyable, so I’d recommend it for those of you who love to classic ski but don’t want to stride the entire distance.  Due to my relatively slow skating pace, I ended up feeling pretty fresh at the end – not really at all trashed as I had the other two times – and arrived in broad daylight for the first time.

I’d definitely recommend this event for anyone who can maintain a reasonable pace (15k/hr) in Birkie-distance or longer events.  There are also multiple distance options: start and finish at OO (40k), start at FH and finish at OO (60k) and bum a ride back to the start, start at OO at 8:00 and ski south to meet and ski with the group, then finish at OO (also 60k, but finish at your car).

See you there sometime!