Apkārt Alaukstam

First held in 1984, the Apkārt Alaukstam (around Alaukst) is a 15 kilometer ski race circling Alaukst Lake in the central Vidzeme parish of Vecpiebalga. It has grown to one of Latvia's biggest races with nearly 1,200 skiers participating in 2010.


Unfortunately, I was 10 days or so late to ski in the race, but not too late to ski the loop. Prior to my visit to Vecpiebalga, I indicated a desire to ski while I was there and my contact at the school made the arrangements. Maris, the physical education teacher, was enlisted to take me out skiing and we hit the trail within a couple hours of my arrival. He seemed delighted as a matter of fact but, the more I thought about it, I would gladly give up my afternoon duties to go for a ski, too.


We circled the lake from the south end in a counter-clockwise direction with Ilgars, Maris's friend leading the way. They quickly established their superior conditioning (considering the great snow conditions they had all winter and the marginal skiing in Maine, I was happy to concede) and after learning I was 10 years older, they gave me alot of slack. We met year 10 student Matiss about a kilometer out and he stayed with me most of the rest of the loop. I took it as a sign of respect that he escorted me around, but found later that he had done 2 laps the day before!

The terrain undulated gently through most of the first 12k but just past an area I later found was my ancestral home (Zeikari), a formible hill rose up before us. Ilgars, Maris, and Matiss skied, seemingly effortless, up the long climb, while I dragged along to the rear, but they waited at the top to share the sweeping downhill toward the finish.







Later, after a shower and a hot cup of tea with honey, I slept soundly, waking the next day with slight soreness in my legs and shoulders, and well adjusted to the new time zone.

Caribou Bog Maine

Not to be one to coach a sport and not compete myself, I finally entered my first ski race of the year and was reminded of the importance of adequate training. The event was the The 24th Great Caribou Bog Wicked Winter Ski Tour & Race, also known as the Caribou Bog Ski Race, which winds from the Bangor City Forest through Veazie and Orono and finishes in Old Town.

The race is a throw-back to the classical style ski race, in tracks, on a narrow course through the woods. We even had a tight, dual-track start which was self-seeded, and quickly reverted to one track within the first kilometer. The scramble has its own strategies and calamities for some, as skis and poles (and some elbows) are flying in every possible direction.

I survived the inital scramble intact and settled into a moderate pace, the ultimate goal to maintain to the finish. Having skied no more than 12k in any single workout, my dubious pace held well until I encountered Beth at just past the 8k mark. In fact, it was almost as fast as the one 8k race I skied last year. That, of course, is a big OOPS!!!

After shedding my hat and saying a quick hi, while Beth clicked away, I rounded the next turn and promptly mugged a little old lady tourer who was too slow to respond to my "Track!! Track!!" I regret that in these circumstances, the race must go on, but if the victim, by some strange coincidence, reads this blog---I am truly sorry, both for the mugging and not stopping to see if all your bones were all unbroken.

Having skied the first half to expectation, I slowed on the climbs up Newman and Bangor Hills losing 5 or 6 places running out of gas in the process. One short dip in-between featured a sharp right turn at the bottom and, with little muscle control left, I wavered and landed hard on my tail bone.

Fortunately, the last 4ks were mostly downhill and by the end I had regained my form to finish in a flourish. The time for 16k (10 miles) was 1:12:59, not too bad for an old guy. Next year, I'll train for the full distance, and who knows how fast I can be.

For all you old-time classic cross country skiers out there, I highly recommend the Caribou Bog Race--a great course, beautiful scenery and a fun time.

The Blizzard of '09

I'm not sure how this ranks all-time for Western Maine blizzards but we woke up this morning with a 20-inch surprise, certainly good 'nough for a snow-day and definitely a test for the snow-blower Beth's Dad donated to our household last winter. Considering there was but a trace of snow at 10:30 PM last night when I turned off the Academy Awards show (Heath Ledger won for best supporting actor, as predicted, and apparently the rest went true-to-form), the rate of snowfall must have been in the 2 to 3 inch per hour range for a good part of the night. Power was out for a while here in Dixfield and longer in surrounding areas.

We all had our duties. Archie and Brent cleaned off the cars and did some shoveling, while I ran the snowblower. Beth took the official measurement and recorded it digitally (twice) for future generations to marvel at.

This was definitely one for the record books, if only that it was the first to make this blog.

Still on the top of my list is the Blizzard of 1969, though. I arrived in Lewiston just in time for that, one with the intention of visiting and interviewing at Bates College for a couple days and doing the same down the road at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. The Blizzard had other ideas, however, and my stay at Bates lasted 4 nights. I remember walking over to the Cage one afternoon for a track workout and seeing a maintenance worker just starting to shovel the walk. He was just finishing as we left and already 2-3 inches had fallen at his start point.

As an avid skier, the storm sold me on coming to Maine and an acceptance from Bates sealed the deal. I've yet to see another storm quite like that though.

Dirigo Nordic Ski Team

We're three weeks into the competitive high school skiing season and so far the results have been good and the team is having a lot of fun.

When I arrived in Dixfield to teach at Dirigo High School in 2001, there was no ski program and one of my first initiatives was to ask the principal and superintendent for the permission to start one. Maine, and especially Western Maine, is fertile ground for skiing and most schools in the surrounding districts have both alpine and nordic race programs at the High School and Middle School levels. We've managed to maintain the high school nordic team for eight years and had a small contingent of alpine skiers for a few years as well, although they've mostly moved along.

Usually the athletes join the team with no nordic skiing experience (try that with your basketball or football program) but are flexible and motivated enough to accept the challenge of learning to ski and race at the same time. Without a middle school feeder program, the current trend will continue, although there are two Dirigo Middle Schoolers racing on their own this year, so we look forward to having them join the team over the next couple years.

The key thing about Dirigo Skiing is getting out in the winter to learn a lifelong sport and have some fun in the snow. Our current group certainly has fun. That's not to say we ignore the competitive side of the sport and we've had some individual success. Ethan Ray cracked the top 10 in the Class C State Meet in 2003 with a 9th place finish in the classical race. (Coach missed the wax for freestyle race which likely cost him a top 10 finish in that event, too.)

Last season, Sophomore Kirstin Blood finished 5th in classical and 6th in freestyle in our conference meet--the best ever for a Dirigo skier. We're hoping she'll move up a bit this year--you never know!

So the next few Saturdays I'll be out in the snow somewhere in Western Maine, cheering on the team as they glide to the finish of another Nordic ski race.