New Legends In The Making
Ski Museum Of Maine Holds First Annual Seniors Race.
Medaling were left to right: Leigh Breidenbach (Turner). Ginny Bousum (Kingfield), Paul Rogers (Camden), Jill Gray (Farmington), Michael Becker (Winthrop), Tip Kimball (Cumberland Center)
Credit: David Eden
Just when the afternoon light was at its best, the Ski Museum of Maine hosted its first Legends of Maine GS Race at Sunday River. The goal was to benefit the growing museum based in Kingfield as well as to show racing for seniors is both doable and fun.
Off and running. Credit: David Eden
Twenty skiers, 50 to 80 somethings, were assigned decade-appropriate heats. Younger competitors presumably most able to handle the ruts went last. Everyone enjoyed a well pitched course, groomed to perfection by Sunday River officials on Monday Morning off Barker Mountain.
Many racers were veterans of Sunday River’s Wednesday race group clubs, but for some it was a step up from the usual NASTAR course.
Tip Kimball, the only male to enter the 50-59 category, was fastest overall. Maybe youth does still have some advantages. Greg Sweetser, Executive Director of Ski Maine, was only 5.34 seconds behind in the 60-69 division, not bad for an older guy.
Leigh Breidenbach of Turner and a manager for Sport Thoma ski shops, took first in the 60 plus category. She says she raced because, 1) she is a board member and 2) she was the director of the Ski Industries Program at UMaine, Farmington for many years under Doc DesRoches, so she supports the industry any way she can. Her husband, Bede Wellford, 64, was gamely racing “on a new hip.”
Beth Hodgkins in the 60 plus group.
Credit: David Eden
Wende Gray of Bethel and President of the Ski Museum of Maine, also took part. The last time she entered a race was in 1988 at Lost Valley for a ski association event. Her words of triumph after this race: “I did not crash, and I finished.” She took the gates wide to stay out of the ruts, enough to earn a bronze medal.
Top woman finisher in the 70 plus category was Virginia Bousum, 77, of Kingfield, and 13th overall.
Virginia was nervous despite her freshly tuned Dynastar GS skis, her “visualization” prep of Michaela Schiffrin running GS on YouTube, and not listening to the other “guys” warning each other about the tricky gates ahead. Her pre-race training had gotten sidetracked by teaching six-year-olds over the busy school vacation week at Sugarloaf. For moral support, she brought along her granddaughter who had taken the day off from school.
Ultimately though, “It was fun, just ski down, nothing tricky. It was a nice course. They set it up really well,” she says.
For the record, her last major race was a Bonne Bell suntan lotion sponsored race back in the 70s at Sugarloaf.
Bill Hayes, 82, placed third in the 70 plus category on his G9 GS skis. He continues to train at Sunday River with the kids from Gould Academy, where he used to coach. No slouch, he was also on the UNH ski team and coached the U.S. Ski Team. A downhill specialist, he came close to the 1955 Olympics in Cortina but an injured leg kept him out.
How was the race?
“Great, but I gave it too much room. What else am I going to do, sit at home?”
An awards ceremony following at the Barker Bar, with food and drink and Gray’s presentation of medals, plus two trophies, Centrum, ski wax, and Bandaids.
Going forward, plans are to move the race around to other Maine ski areas to spread the word. With any luck the race will take place at Sugarloaf next year with more legends in the making.
Cross-Country: Tracks vs Touring
Groomed XC Trails Are Becoming More Prevalent; Does That Ruin The Aesthetics Of The Sport?
The “natural” experience, just like it was meant to be…Or…
For the past 50 years or so, there’s been a generally amicable debate whether cross-country skiing on machine-groomed trails is preferable to making your own way over the fields and through the woods. The argument has a lot of angles, including “Free vs. Fee” and “Pristine, Silent, and Serene vs. Speedy, Social, Service-based, and Secure”.
…Groomed trails at Appleton Farms, Ipswich, MA, easier and less tiring.
Credit: NS Nordic Assn
Clearly, you don’t have to choose one over the other – they’re both delights (and the world’s best exercise), in somewhat different ways. The thing is, as my increasingly complaining bones and joints frequently announce, groomed trails for classic and skate techniques have more and more going for them.
One huge differentiator is that if you want to take up the sport, you’ll be smart to start with one or two lessons from a professional instructor at a cross-country ski area, learning and practicing efficient movement. Undesirable options are learning by yourself off-track (I know someone who tried to do that while consulting a printed manual – results weren’t pretty) or getting often-incoherent suggestions from a friend while floundering in unpacked snow (‘nuff said).
Whether you’re a long-time practitioner or a newcomer, groomed trails make things easier, faster. For classic style, you’re riding on a consistent, packed surface, with your skis guided forward in compressed tracks. (It takes some effort to get lost that way too; whereas I’ve been known to ski in circles in fresh snow, totally convinced I was moving in linear fashion.) Gotta love it, especially if you have balance or vision issues, as I do.
Almost as important, your pole tips are digging into packed snow and no further; while breaking your own trail, the entire basket may sink, throwing off your balance and helping you to get up close and personal to the snowpack. And as many of us have discovered, getting up in deep snow is challenging.
Skate skiers need a packed surface even more than diagonal striders. Two or three inches of fresh snow even on a groomed trail are enough to grab an edge. It’s nearly impossible to skate in ungroomed snow except for spring crust-cruising (not the same as skiing on ice – you can set your edges), which is a joy – crust lets you go almost anywhere, speedily zipping along. Euphoria!
One of the delights of cross-country is that you can evolve from a groomed trail skier to a tourer, if you wish. You’ve developed good classic technique in the tracks; you know how to make your legs do the work and your arms help out – now you can apply those skills in a quieter setting, with shorter strides but still good balance.
Cross-country areas have services – anything from plowed parking to lodges with food and drink, heated bathrooms (also heaven on a brisk day!), rental, retail, even overnight accommodations. Also, groomed trails may have signs, maps, possibly ski patrol, probably snowshoeing – and if you’re wild for something different, increasingly there’s fat biking available.
If you’re taken by the charms of overnight tours, there may be Forest Service cabins in your area (bring your own food, clothing, sleeping bag…). (Editor Note: See Steve Hines’ article on skiing to the AMC Little Lyford Pond Camp in Maine.) And finally, for true adventure, there’s snow camping (bring your own stove, too). Touring with a pack in fresh snow is truly character-building (been there, done that, I happily leave it to today’s kids).
This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (March 16)
St. Patrick Brings Snow To (Much Of) Ski Country, Mystery Myth, The Snow Song, Bundled Pass Impact On Seniors, Maine AMC XC Lodge, Friendly Little Mountain In Idaho.
Brodie Mtn, MA, ground zero for St. Patrick festivities, circa 1970.
Credit: NewEnglandSkiHistory.com
The good St. Patrick might have driven the snakes from all of Ireland, but his advent this year has brought late winter snow into the resorts of the West and Northeast which have all been waiting patiently all season for some healthy depth. If you’ve been praying for snow, you got it. Now also buy a lottery ticket.
Please Give Our Discounts For Seniors Page A Visit
This week we’d like to feature two vendors who have joined our Discounts For Seniors page, where you can find a collection of offers of interesting products at steep discounts.
The Tea Spot, a purveyor of specialty-artisan teas and infusers, may seem like an unlikely participant for senior outdoor enthusiasts. But think about. The Tea Spot’s products are not just Lipton look a likes. Tea Spot’s products are loose-leaf teas and its innovative Steepware, designed to extract the full health benefits of tea. The company’s founder, Maria Upsenski, is a cancer survivor who was drawn to the health benefits of tea during her recovery. With a steadfast mission to foster health and wellness through tea, The Tea Spot donates ten percent of all sales in-kind to cancer and community wellness programs. To date, they have supported over 100 organizations and touched more than 10,000 lives. The Tea Spot is a Colorado-based, woman-owned and operated philanthropic business. So, that’s why they are with SeniorsSkiing.com.
Another terrific vendor we discovered at the OR show is OS1st which offers medical grade supportive compression sleeves for knees, feet, arms, elbows, and wrists. OS1st’s compression technology is designed to basically hold joints, muscles, ligaments, and tendons in the right anatomically place. That supports and stabilizes the underlying anatomy is either speeds recovery or prevents common injuries. Currently on the Discounts For Seniors page is a KS7 Knee Compression Sleeve Brace which we think many readers will find useful to relieve or a least mitigate knee pain.
Another product is the FS6 Foot Brace Compression Sock that is designed to prevent PF pain. If you’re an active senior who runs, hikes, skis, plays tennis, golfs, you know that Plantar Fasciitis can create foot pain that ranges from uncomfortable to miserable. Here’s a product that might be helpful.
All these products are currently being or will soon be reviewed by readers and correspondents. We’ll let you know their impressions.
This Week
After missing our deadline last week because of a power outage, we have a very challenging Mystery Glimpse this week. Readers who are steeped into the deep history of skiing might get it. Check it out here.
With all the snow in the East (and West) this week, we couldn’t help passing along a really funny song by a Maine journalist aimed at the perpetual grouches who think snow is the enemy. The production is fun, too. Watch it here.
Correspondent Steve Hines visits a remote AMC hut deep in Maine via cross-country skis with a small crew of friends who have been heading into the woods annually for many years. Here’s his report on the Little Lyford Pond Camp.
Co-Publisher Jon Weisberg reports on his visit to Pommerelle—no, not a wine. Pommerelle is a small area east of Twin Falls, ID, the kind of area that is a magnet for seniors. Gentle terrain, accessible, not expense. Read his dispatch from a great off-the-beaten track resort.
Next Week
Thanks for reading SeniorsSkiing.com. And thanks for the contributions you’ve made that are really helpful in defraying expenses. It is gratifying to see the support we’ve received.
Visit our Discounts For Seniors page, tell your friends, and watch for a very special surprise next week having to do with ski songs!
Remember, dear readers, there are more of us every day, and we aren’t going away.
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