In Preparation for the Birkebeiner

The conditions of Lapham Peak were the best, or close to as good as the best, I'd seen them all season. Having skiied these trails last a week a few times, I did a korteloppet in a little over 2 hours. The first day I skiied the blue for colder snows, but today it warmed up enough for violet and it stuck perfectly, a perfect grip wax. The hills were fast and tears strained my eyes while fast dark and light from the sun and the forest trees made for a thrilling downhill rides.

I've noticed that much time can be wasted going over the tops of hills. I've been training myself to move quickly over hilltops, going as fast as I can and resting on the downhills. A lot of yardage can be lost from dithering around the hilltops.

What I liked most is that I'm skiing classic and a lot of the skate skiiers will pass me on the flats and think 'sayonarah baby'. I catch them on the hills and speed past them on the downhills. They don't know what hit them. The classic is still the bomb.