It did not help that the 45 k sign was at the bottom of a hill. -----Original Message----- From: Rudolph, Stuart E [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 9:04 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [XC] 46.7km Birkie
Scott, I was similarly disappointed and only figured it out when I came to the 45K sign and could hear that the finish line announcer was still way in the distance. It was my first Birkie. I was skiing classic with too much klister (no kick due to icing, and terrible glide). Past the 45 K sign I saw smoke from a fire in the distance, and assumed it was the snack stand at the finish, and they had a warming fire, or were burning the cups, like at all the previous food stations. Ha! It was somebody burning trash behind their garage. I also was giving it what push I had left, knowing if I could speed it up just a bit I would hit the 45K at under the next hour mark on my elapsed time, which I did, but finished the 46.7K at 5 min past the hour. (I'm too embarrassed to say what hour it was...) It is good training to deal with the unexpected. However, I don't think it is unreasonable to ask the foundation that they get the mileage correct in pre-race press releases. They know exactly where Duffy's Field is. Stuart Rudolph -----Original Message----- From: Scott Bachmeier [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 8:51 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [XC] 46.7km Birkie OK, I've heard similar things from enough other folks now to know that it wasn't just me who was a bit surprised by the "extra length" of the Birkie. You see, I thought it was a 45km race, so at 43km I decided to use up what was left in the tank (which wasn't much)... but that extra 1.7km they added was *really* tough for me. I bonked pretty hard right at 45km, and then got a bad attitude when the tracks all but disappeared the rest of the way. So my question is: were the rest of you surprised at the extra distance at the end? When did they decide to make it 46.7km? Should comments be directed to the Birkie Foundation, or should we just have the attitude "what's a couple-a kilometres amongst nordic friends?" -- Scott Bachmeier University of Wisconsin - Madison / SSEC / CIMSS mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] | http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/~scottb _______________________________________________ http://www.MadNorSki.org/ XC mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/xc _______________________________________________ http://www.MadNorSki.org/ XC mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/xc _______________________________________________ http://www.MadNorSki.org/ XC mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/xc
