First race of 2020!

09 February 2020 12:11 pm 

So, in looking at it from Goal # 3 (Don’t Get Hurt!), my first race of the season was an epic fail.  I raced in the Boulder Mountain Tour in Ketchum (Sun Valley), Idaho last weekend.  The Boulder is a mass start 34 kilometer freestyle (skate ski) race that goes down the Wood River Valley from Galena to Ketchum.  It is a fairly fast race, having a net elevation drop of about 300 meters.  I have raced it several times in the past with decent results, lots of type 1 and 2 fun, and no untoward incidents.

Unfortunately, that was not to be the case this year.  The snow was fast and the third wave (waves 1 and 2 are the elite men and women) was particularly aggressive.  I managed to avoid the carnage on the first fast downhill corner, but on the second downhill, as I was trying to skirt the second large pileup, I caught a ski tip and got spun around, falling backwards at speed and smacking my head on the hard packed surface.

If this had been a football game, and not a ski race, a trainer or doctor would have popped off the sidelines and administered the SCAT5 (Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 5th edition) which I probably would have failed, and I would have been pulled from the game.

(Our friend Mike, who happens to be a brain surgeon, gets paid by the NFL to wear a red baseball hat on the sidelines and perform exactly this task.  That's Mike on the far left.)

But, as it was a ski race, I was left to my own best judgement.  (Can you say a man who tries to be his own physician has a fool for a doctor?)  And I was pissed.  (as in angry, not intoxicated)  Dozens of skiers were passing me as I tried to get off the snow, and in my adrenaline toxic race mode, all I could think of was to GET BACK IN THERE.  And so I did. 

Over the course of the next 30 km I fell 4 more times.  I have skied dozens of races over the years and thousands of kilometers.  I have fallen during ski races.  I have fallen during ski days.  But never have I fallen more than once or twice in a day.  On the third fall of the day I put my ski pole on the wrong side of my ski boot and did a face plant (striking my head again).  And each time I fell I lost my increasingly lower position in the field.  At some point I should have realized that there was no way I was going to fight my way back, and that it was time to relax and enjoy the beautiful sunny day and ski carefully to the next check point and take a bus to the finish line.  But the competitor in me just wouldn’t let it go.

I struggled to the finish line despite never really being “on” my skis.  My time was respectable, 1:40 for 34 km (or 2:56/km).   But in the last 2 Boulders I finished in the top 100, and I wasn’t anywhere near that this year.

It wasn’t until I was sitting in the car with a massive headache that Nancy, the smart one in the family, explained it to me.  “You idiot, you had a concussion.”  I didn’t get “knocked out” or lose consciousness, but one of the signs of concussion is impaired balance.  And my balance was clearly impaired.  And cross country skiing is all about being able to stay balanced over your moving ski.
(Thankfulness note:  I give thanks for having such a smart and beautiful wife who has saved my life on more than one occasion and continues to care about me regardless of whatever crazy thing I am doing at the moment.)   

Fortunately for me, my symptoms of impaired balance and headache resolved over the next 24 hours and I have been able to gradually ease my way back into my exercise based lifestyle.  I have been trying to limit my screen time. (hence the lack of blog postings)  I have been trying to avoid contact sports.  But, quite frankly, I never really regarded cross country skiing as a contact sport until last weekend.  I remember when bicycle helmets went from being an accessory to mandatory equipment in the 80s and ski helmets came of age for adults in the 2000s.  Now that the skis are faster and the trails better packed, maybe it’s time we started wearing helmets on the Nordic trails.  After this weekend, I’m ready to be an early adopter.  I’m not sure exactly what the helmet will look like, and it will take some getting used to.

But apparently it's already a thing.  Although this person is competing in Bend's Pole Pedal Paddle and has already completed the downhill leg (helmet required) and is about to embark on the bike leg (helmet also required).