All about the Birkebeiner

So it took me a little while to get this post up. The Birkebeiner was on February 23. I went up on the Wednesday before the race. The expo was Thursday and Friday. The race was Saturday and the demos were on Sunday. I was working at the Salomon trail running booth with Derek from the run shop. It was a fun, albeit exhausting, time. Evan was kicking butt at the One Way booth. Lots of people were buzzing around there.

This is how Wednesday went: I stopped by QBP in Bloomington to pick up a bunch of START wax for Evan. That was the first time going there for me. That place is very neat. Potential place of employment??? I picked up about $15,000 worth of wax. Then while I was filling up gas at the gas station some dude says, "What kind of explosives do you have in your car?" To which I replied, quite seriously I might add, "Wax explosives." Weird people. Then I was off to Evan's place to load up the car with all sorts of One Way stuff. The car was packed. This was going to be the first long trip in the Subaru. I was highly excited. I then spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon running around town to drop off poles and pick up stuff from Hoigaards and again to QBP for more wax. Finally finished with errands I left for Hayward. The drive was nice and quick. I got to Hayward and promptly brought stuff to Riverbrook. One Way and START Wax were partnered with Riverbrook for the expo. After all of that we went to the Angry Minnow for some food. We stayed the night at Evan's buddy's house and played Mario Kart! Epic.

Thursday: Got up and went to the middle school for the expo. I helped  Evan set up the One Way booth. It was looking good there. I was waiting for the Salomon folks to show up, so I could begin helping out there. Once they showed up we set up the Salomon booth and got everything ready. Around noon is when people started to trickle in to pick up their packet and check out the expo and vendors. Thursday it the shorter of the two days. The expo only goes till about 9 p.m. Derek, Adam, and I were rockin' the trail running. Adam also brought all of the new 2013 shoes. There are so many sweet shoes. I must get them all! We didn't sell a ton of shoes Thursday, but on Friday we did far better. When the expo shut down we went to Coop's Pizza. They make a real good pie. After the pizza we checked into our motel... Twas a shady motel, but it was cozy. The people in the room across from us had a little dog in their room... Yes it was yipping. Yes it was annoying.

Friday: Get up. Go to expo. Work from 9 a.m. to 9ish p.m. This is when most people will pick up their packet. The line is huge and the people are ready. We sold a lot more shoes this day than the previous. Evan was keeping busy at his booth too! It was good to see. I did have some guy come up to me and ask what was new with the 2013 Salomon S-lab skate pro boot. I told him that they moved the buckle a little bit and that was one of the bigger changes. This is when he said, "Good. Your boot broke my pole. Every 15k or so I would hit the buckle with my pole." I told him that "my boot" didn't do a damn thing. I didn't design it. I didn't make him ski in such a way that he steps on his own pole! He still insisted it was my boot's fault. I told him to go get a new pole. I don't like when people blame me for things I have zero control over. The ski boot being one of them. Ha, oh well. There is always a fool in the bunch. Once we were finished with the expo it was back to the motel for some chow and to watch Evan nearly explode when I told him that they are going to lock the wax room before he can get in there to wax about 15 pair of skis. It all worked out though. He was able to sweet-talk the manager to keep it open. Evan and Svan stayed up all-night getting those skis done.

Saturday: The big dance. We all got up around 6 a.m. to head to the start line. we hopped into the car and drove up to the Telemark Lodge. I met up with Josh so we could do our usual spectating and handing out water and energy to people! Once we got to the start line Mariah put on her kick wax we bid her farewell and good luck! Josh and I headed back to the car to go to our first spot. Northern Lights Road is where we had our first stop. We got there before any of the classic racers. This is when we become volunteer volunteers. We grab cups of water or energy and hand them to racers. It is quite fun. We have been doing this for 3 years now. We get better every year. This aid station I saw everyone: Mason, Oumar, Trevor, Elanor, Alan, Adam, and Mariah, Tons of others too. Awesome.

Once we saw them pass we headed to "00" where we parked and did the same thing at that aid station. After we left this place to head to our next stop is when things got interesting. I got the Subaru stuck in a parking lot earlier at the Sawmill and thought that our troubles were over once Josh helped get me unstuck. Nope. Josh and I decide we are going to the aid station Phipps Fire Lane. This is the same road that 3 years ago we got the van stuck. No way that could happen again. We have a Subaru! All wheel drive, to me, means that I can drive through anything. We start down the road and it is mostly plowed. Then it turns into not being plowed. We do see other car tracks and think that it's all good. Well once we start on this "road" we realize that it was a poor choice as this road is mostly meant for snowmobiles. All seems fine for the first few minutes because the trail is pretty packed down. We do decide that we must turn around at the next high point. Low and behold right before that occurs the car drifts to the side too far and we get stuck. The whole right side of the car goes off the side of the trail into the deep, soft snow. Now we are super stuck. Josh and I laugh about it because what else are we to do? Snowmobiles drive pass and we can tell they think we are fools. I don't blame them. I called Sven and let him know I will not be to the finish line for quite some time. Two trucks pass by and tell us that they will pull us out once they turn around. Excellent! Once they get back to us they give us even better news: The tractor that grooms the trail is coming and can pull us out! Only minor detail is we don't have a towrope. Josh does in his car though. Once the tractor gets to us Josh hopped in and went with him to the end of the trail, hitchhiked to his car, got his rope, drove back to the trail head, climbed back into the tractor, and they came back to the car. We hooked up the Subaru to the tractor and he towed us out. It took about 100m before the car climbed back up onto trail and out of the deep snow. We were very thankful he came along.

Once we were back on the trail Josh did a 30-point turn and we were turned around headed back to actual roads. All in all I think we were stuck for about 1 hour. Not too bad. It was because of this that we didn't get to go to any other aid stations and just went right to the finishing line. We didn't miss too much. I also did not get any exciting photos from during the race. Next year I think Josh and I will just spectate on snowmobiles. This way if we get stuck or stranded it will mean we really messed up! After the race we all went to Coops for some after Birkie chow. It was a lot of fun. The big dance was over, we were out of Phipps Fire, and on our way to relaxation.

We got back to the motel so everyone could shower and change. I went to the pool area to jump into the hot tub. My lower back felt as though I was 95 years old. The hot water allowed my lower back to attain the age of 25 once more. I also ended up chatting with a few people from Madison. They were happy with how their race went. I sat in the swirling water for quite some time. I then returned to the room and Evan, Sven, and a couple of Evan's buddies were lounging around. Sven laid down and fell asleep. Evan laid down and fell asleep. This was at 4 p.m. Guess their lack of sleep caught up with them. I attempted to get Sven to rally by drinking a rockstar... It didn't happen! Oh well. Around 9 I headed to the Sawmill to see everyone. It was packed as usual. I hung out, chatted with friends, and then left around 11 p.m. I drove Tom back to Jan's cabin because everyone left him stranded there! I can't leave a friend behind. I got back to the motel. Sven was awake for some odd reason. He looked like a zombie earlier. Evan was sleeping, and his buddies were hanging out watching some T.V. As soon as my head hit the pillow it was off to dreamland. Only to wake up at 6:30 to head to "00" for the demos.

Sunday: Demo day. I helped Evan at the One Way demo tent. It was a perfect day for it. The weather was perfect and the trails were expertly groomed. Each company had their skis, boots, and poles to try out. A good amount of people actually showed up! It was nice. The fun thing about the demos were that it wasn't nearly as hectic as the past few days. This was way more relaxed. Sven was with us and was running around trying out everything. The demos went from 8am-3pm. Another long day, but once it was over Birkie week was done! We could go home after this. Back to our own beds where the pillows awaited our return. After the demos were done we went home. We stopped at Applebees and had a bite to eat. Sven took some super weird way to get there and I became paranoid that I followed the wrong car! We were going through all sorts of back roads and country roads. Once I realized that we were just taking a faster route to Applebees in Cambridge I was no longer on edge. I was still dismayed that we had to eat there. Blah. I managed through it. I would say it was about another hour before we got back to Maple Plain where  I stopped at the One Way office to  unload all the stuff. Having accomplished the unloading I went and drove myself home. I got back around 10 p.m where I emptied all my bags, threw in a load of laundry, laid down and drifted off to sleep.

All in all it was a highly successful week. Salomon is going to hook me up with some gear for helping out at the expo too! Boom. Josh and I are planning for next year already-snowmobiles. Mason, Sven, and others are attempting to convince me to race it next year... We will see. I like cheering and spectating.

Last night we got a good amount of snow and it is still snowing. I will ski as much as I can. March always brings one last good round of snow. Ski season isn't finished yet. Biking season will start soon and the thought of that is intoxicating. I look forward to early morning rides, night rides, epic mtn bike rides, and gravel races! I also plan on running my brains out. I have started planning my racing for this season. Excited!

I am also on the lookout for Green Apple Rockstar. I must try it!

Over and out!