A weekend at the Mines

There's nothing that swells this father's chest with pride like seeing his sons out skiing. 

Karl and Johann (and their parents, too) are getting ready for their ski races in Mora, Minnesota and Hayward, Wisconsin.

The Mora Vasaloppet is the first weekend in February.  At 58k for the big people, the freestyle race is a grueling effort.  The distance isn't the biggest challenge; it's the lack of hills, maybe three in total as the course crosses small river valley.  Three hours of field skating will cause cramps in anyone!  By the time we reach the sharp hill at the foot of Main St. in Mora, the body can be locked up pretty good. 

Besides the unrelenting terrain, another unique feature of the race is the blueberry soup.  What is it?  I don't really know.  It comes in packages from Sweden and it's served hot at the aid stations along the trail.  Serving it up is the most amazing feature of the race: the host of volunteers from Mora.  The entire town gets out for the race, though very few actually ski it.  Our family is hosted by the Bangmas each year and Jeff is out there in the morning at 6am, getting to his post at the race start to serve blueberry soup. 

The racers line up, over a thousand, self-organized by our expected finish time.  I usually choose 3:30 as a realistic goal.  And we wait for the start signal; a stick of dynamite that follows the national anthem.  Last year no one took their hat off during the anthem.  I think the -7 degree temps froze it to my scalp...

 

Saturday at the Mines was our friend's first day on cross country skis!