Nashotah race is on!

I went over to Waukesha County's Nashotah park and the young lad at the front gate said that this Saturday's race is *ON*! The trails were groomed nicely and the groomer was already working the start area. I'll be there shooting pix of course so watch these pages for those!

Nashotah Race Flyer

Christmas Eve

Well, it's skiable! I went over to Minooka Park in Waukesha and while there is a TON of snow, it was 33F, raining, and no recent grooming so you had to ski in your own tracks. Pretty low on the Fun-O-Meter. I did try some WD40 on the skis to help in the glide (well, it is a water repellent, right?)It worked okay, not much glide to work with anyway though. So, we'll let it rain and see what we've got to work with after it's all over.

Spring Thaw?

Nah, can't be that, it's only the second day of winter! The forecast for the next few days is looking grim though. I slipped out to Minooka Park last night to sample the 2 - 3 inches of snow we picked up. Plenty of depth, but it was slow! Should have waxed my no-wax skis.







This photo was taken at night, it's just a 7 second exposure.

Today, I'm heading up to Ozaukee County again to try a new place. Check back to see were I went!

Ski on.

Pike Lake State Park

Sunny, 10F, but breezy. Brrrr. Plenty of snow, but the base was very irregular - soft, crusty, lumpy, deer tracks, boot tracks. Very tricky. I did ski for 1hr 45min though and the hills beat me up. I fought the trail ... but the trail won!

Ski rental list

After four days of skiing this week, I took the day off. Instead I started a listing of places that rent XC skis and put that on the side bar. I still intend to add other cities and towns to the list, but if I missed a place, or you would like to recommend one, pass it along! Definitely need places in Illinois. Google is not showing much.

Good Tour!

Zillmer Trail - Northern Kettle Moraine

Another super ski. Fully groomed trails with a classic track. Get to bed early so you can log lots of K's this weekend!!

Southern Kettle Moraine - Nordic Trail

Where did this cold weather come from? LOL 5F this afternoon in the Southern Kettle Moraine Forest of Wisconsin. This week's blizzard did break some trees across the trail so those need to be cleared and then more grooming done to the snow. It was absolutely beautiful today though. Just beautiful.

First Night Ski - Lapham Peak State Park

It's winter! Whooo Hooo! 8 - 10 inches of new snow just west of Milwaukee. The trails are groomed. Here's the report I filed last night before the cold blast set in.

First ski of the year! This last storm deposited about 5 inches of snow in the West Bend to Port Washington area and it made for some pretty decent skiing!

2009 Birkebeiner

 

Here’s the best of the pix I shot.

I was hanging out just past “OO”

where the classic trail met skate.

Click each thumbnail

for a larger view

Women:

Kristina Owen leads the women’s pack just past “OO”.

  

in order: kristina Owen , Evelyn Dong, Rebecca Dussault,  and Kristina Trygstad-Saari. Then two men try to hang on !

 

  

                               Nicole A Deyong                      Lenka Palanova

    

          Jan L Guenther               Angela B Robinson        Heather Zimmerman

   

                   Erin M Carter          Jennifer L Pearson            Muffy L Ritz

       

         Jamie G Misner                    Jenna Dickinson               Jena K Ogston

     

         Bailey Roberts                   Michelle Flanagan-Haag              Deborah L Adams

 

Men …

David Chamberlain leads just past “OO”.

   

Matthew E Liebsch, here in second place, leads Lars Flora. 

Around the corner, David Chamberlain pulls the group, and

a little “HEY! My line !” action.

         Zack S Simons,  Mark Iverson, Karl Walczak       Chad T Giese, Jonathon M Rulseh, Dan M Goltz

 

 

                                   The King … Bjorn Daehlie.

(yeah, he get’s his own section)

 

At first glance, #1379 appears to know who just joined the group

from the classic only trail. I have a feeling, however, he’s just wondering

if he can jump in that gap and cut the corner, but unless your name

is Thomas Alsgaard,  you’re not getting in there buddy!

There’s the finish!

 

Out of time for now, here’s the link for all the pix.

I’ll dump the better of what’s left on there  probably tomorrow.

(not that anyone actually reads this)

Technorati Tags: 2009,birkie,birke,birkebeiner,hayward,john,wilke,photos,pics,pictures,bjorn,dahlie,daehlie.

2009 Madison Winter Festival - Recap

 

 

 

All new photo’s Monday night …

Be sure to check ‘em out!

 

Team Fischer leads in heat #1

Is it Colin Rodgers or David Chamerlin?

(email me if you know)

More pix from Saturday here.

I am just out of time for today.

A big THANK YOU to organizers, skiers, and

of course all the volunteers for putting

on another great event.

Look for Sunday’s pix starting tomorrow and

Wednesday featuring the Wisconsin High School

Sprint Championships! Then don’t forget,

I will be at the Birkie some where after “OO”

depending on snow conditions Saturday.

2009 Madison Winter Festival – Day 2

 

 

Here’s some teasers from today – Sunday

Check back Monday for more racing action once I

can find the official results!

the drama:

 

the emotion:

and of course, the podiums:

 

(Next week … the Birkie)

until then, you can watch my video from last year