The amazing Dr. Owen Q. Hanley, who decades ago told me that he was unable to skate ski, crushed the 30 km virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot in 2:43 on his skate skis through several inches of new snow.

He writes: “Several inches of new snow meant double poling downhill to the WB turn-around and granny-skiing up the hills. I need a pair of e-skis!”

Sorry, Owen. You can skate, and if you can skate the hilly 30 km Sonot Kkaazoot course in 2:43, you do not need a pair of e-skis. So far, only 3 skiers have attempted to skate the 30 km course, and they are all a lot younger than you.

Eric Troyer skated his way around the virtual 10 km Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot today in 51:43.

Eric writes: “I did my Sonot 10k today, skating since it was so warm. Among a few others, I saw Molly Yazwinski and Carl Hemming out there. Both said the snow was slow despite the temps in the 20s. I agree! It seemed particularly slow on the uphills. Still hoping to try for 50k on Sunday, but we’ll see.” 

Sounds like Eric’s ski gives support to Dr. Don’s theory of skiing uphills and downhills. However, the 50 km virtual Sonot Kkaazoot will be the real test.

Don Pendergrast and Cam Leonard classical skied the 30 km virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot yesterday in a time of 3:21:23.

Don writes: “Temperatures were 26-28 degrees, the tracks had just been set (Yippie), but the light snow made them slow.  Wax was Start Tar 5 and worked well.

We kept up a steady pace throughout the course, but a careful examination of the pace data revealed something that I’d expected for some time; the data support that I ski faster down hill than I do up hill.  I wonder if others have noticed this phenomenon?  I believe further studies with more participants are needed to verify this observation.”

Congratulation, Don and Cam! I think Don has come up with a suitable topic for his second Ph.D. dissertation. Get to work on it.

On Sunday, Bad Bob and Sharon Baker skate skied their virtual 30 km Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot. Sharon finished in 2:11:48 and Bad Bob’s time was 2:21:43.

Bad Bob writes: “Sunday was a beautiful day to ski at Birch Hill.  Sharon and I skated our way around the 30 kilometer course under blue skies and 15 to 20 degree temps.  Most of the trail system was fairly freshly set with wonderful corduroy and smooth tracks! 

Unfortunately, both Sharon and I have not skated a whole lot, and before we even climbed out of the BLACK HOLE, our legs were screaming, NO!!!  It was at about this point in our virtual 30, that Sharon began to pull away…nothing physically I could do about it, but just keep skiing and hoping for a bodily comeback, which never happened. 

FINAL RESULTS for us were….Sharon 2:11:48, and for BAD BOB  2:21:43.  I measured 28.97 km for a distance, but hey, that’s what the course is, so no need to ski any farther, besides, I was not sure I could…very humbling.  Can’t wait for the 50K!”  

Dan Johnson skied the virtual 50 km Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot in three segments, where he used his classical skis with grip tape for the first two days and skated the third. His time was 4:48:24.

Dan writes:

“I skied the 50 km Sonot over three days, Sunday (19.3 k), Monday (16.2 k) and Tuesday (13.4 k), March 21,22,23.  Total time was 4:48:24.

It was beautiful skiing all three days although a little cold on Sunday and some fresh snow today (Tuesday).”

Although retired, Dan still has a current RN license, so he documents his work. Here’s how he tallied up his 50 km Sonot:

I got almost 49 km:
19.3 @ 1:57 (the 20 k loop we all did together… allowing for starting timer in car before walking up and putting on skis);

16.2 @ 1:35:04 (Stadium to Relay to South Tower, down Tower to Stadium, Warmup, Blacks, Blue, Outhouse, Relay, Tower, Medevac, Roller Coaster to Stadium);

13.4 @ 1:16:20 (WB Access to WB, WB, MM, WB Access to Stadium, Warmup back to start point) = 48.9 (call it 49) @  4:48:24

Thus, Dan Johnson becomes the fourth SCUM to complete the 50 km virtual Sonot Kkaazoot. In between doing the virtual 10 km Sonot Kkaazoot on Wednesday, and the 50 km over Sunday through Tuesday, Dan shot more arms with COVID-19 vaccine than kilometers skied in doing his virtual 10 and 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot.

So what is your excuse for not skiing the virtual Sonot Kkaazoot? Where are all the younger skiers?

Dermot Cole, a writer and journalist, skis without hinderance of electronic devices to record his workout data. However, unlike Frank Soos and me, Dermot does own a smart phone that he carries when he skis to keep tabs on the pulse of the news.

He reported Saturday that he skated the 10 km virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot on Friday. He writes:

“Did the 10K course Friday, skating. Took an hour. More or less. Probably more. This is an estimate because I did have a timing device.”

This explains why Dermot misses most of the SCUM workouts as he arrives “more or less” at the appointed time. However, he thoroughly enjoys his workouts without the SCUM nagging him to look up.