Quarry Road Opener

December 8, 2024

Well, the secret is out...Four masters women lined up at the Quarry Road Opener 8K skate race, along with the usual suspects, i.e., the Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin women's nordic ski teams.  Whereas in the past, Cipperly (that being me) could count on winning the master's race just by showing up, that was not the case this year.  Direct competition for age group rankings was even in play, as our CSU friend Michele Smith made the trek up from the greater Boston area to get her first weekend on snow this season.

I checked out Quarry Road Saturday afternoon on the classic rock skis, and the typical race course was rocky.  In the past, it has been a mind-numbing five or so loops on the man-made snow loop on the flats and ravines adjacent to the registration yurt, with Hero's Hill thrown in if there is enough snow.  Saturday had a big mound of man-made snow in a crunchy pile out in the open.  But one of my favorite trails at Quarry Road, North Koons, magically had a sufficient layer of natural snow.  I hoped against hope that this would be the race course.

Arriving the next morning, I was pleased to find that, in fact, we would be racing North Koons, and the snow pile in the stadium had been expertly groomed into a smooth path.  An added bonus was a fresh layer of powder. College racers were heard to exclaim- "Powder- we don't get to experience this very often, so enjoy it!" And instead of 5 a kilometer and change loops, we would have three laps on a 2.5km loop with climbs, recoveries, technical turns at the bottom of hills, and some flats- a lovely variety instead of brain-numbing loops (can you tell track was my least favorite season in high school?).  Michele Smith noted as we lined up that the climbs would be arduous, but she did not get to experience the steeps of Hero's Hill.  Alanna McDonough Tucker, of the Quarry Road Nordic Team, noted that we seemed to be seeded by age, with the high school and college students heading out first, and the four masters bringing up the rear.  It made for the first two laps of me trying to not impede the college skiers' progress on the trails (with the powder, the passing opportunities were few and far between, allowing me to hold off Michele for the first lap).  The third lap, when the endorphins finally kicked it, was blissful as I could finally stay in the packed center of the trail once all the college women were off the course.

The hills burned my lungs and legs; even the fit college women were struggling to catch their breath. As one of the photographers said on my final loop- "just grind out this last one." It was a case of keeping the skis and poles moving up the half-kilometer hill with a 35-meter elevation gain (thanks, Strava) until I could catch a breath on the s-turn and u-turn downhill back down into the stadium.  It felt so good to finish...and I sure hope the snow gods deliver next year so we don't have to do those darn loops in the stadium.

Signing off from the Eastern contingent of the club.

Cipperly