SCUM do Ride or Glide–video and interviews by Bill Husby
In the Ride or Glide relays, two person teams either bike or ski a 9-km course. The biker must do the first leg. Mike Mathers was ahead of Corrine Leistikow on the first leg. However, Eric called Dan an old man as he passed him. It may have had something to do with the tights that Eric wore. Alternatively, Eric must not have gone off course (like he did in last year’s Sonot Kkaazoot) or his bike wheel didn’t fall off (like in last year’s Ride or Glide).
What to wear if you want to beat SCUM
Congratulations to all. I’d still be out on the course if I had attempted to ski it.
Although the sun came out today, the SCUM were less animated without Bill Husby leading us on trails less traveled:
Bill leading Norma up the Fort Wainwright alpine hill in February using the route before the Sonot Connector was built
Without you, Don and Dermot wimp skated up the Comp Loop twice after we finished the Flat Black and Tommy Knocker Extension trails. Dan and I were able to V1 and not get our heartrate above level 2 while chasing Mike on classical skis. Still suffering the residual fatigue from his epic 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot, Dermot demonstrated wimp woodeling:
Dermot wimp woodeling up the Comp Loop
We hope that your surgery went well today. We miss you and hope that we’ll be chasing you soon.
Wednesday SCUM skiers (minus Byron who skipped the Comp loop) sending blue skies to Bill Husby–photo by Mike Mathers
Help local skiers participate in Junior Nationals next year (and future years) when it won’t be held in Fairbanks. The Ride or Glide relays this Saturday support scholarships for local skiers who have qualified for Junior Nationals. You witnessed the excitement in the skiers faces as they skied up the Groomers Ramp and crossed the finish line at Birch Hill.
Help more Team Alaska skiers to have that opportunity next year.
Our FXC Masters Power Lunch class skied the Ride or Glide course today at the same time of day that the race will take place. Make sure you have structure on your skis! Otherwise, your cold bases will “suck” and you’ll struggle for glide. Unless we actually get some new snow, there’s a lot of tree debris (and dog dew) on the trails so wax your skis for “dirty snow.”
However, it’s warm and marvelous out on the trails. Have fun at Ride or Glide.
Jerome Jackson, second place among M09 men in the 30 km Sonot Kkaazoot (an age group that had only one original equipment knee out of the four skiing), was among the three back-of-the-pack skiers at the top of the South Tower loop along with Dermot Cole and yours truly. He like Dermot was using the “woodel walk” technique. However, unlike Dermot, Jerome woodel walked for 20 km and then decided to skate. The huge spike in heart rate, shown above, resulted from this decision.
In addition to be 70 years old, this is Jerome’s first Sonot Kkaazoot with his bionic knee. Jerome acquired his first total knee replacement this past summer. The rehabilitation is long and arduous after a total joint replacement, but many more years of less painful skiing are possible. More specific skate ski training may be necessary to get one’s heart rate down as low as woodel walking, though. Jerome may be the first documented prove of the value of woodel walking.
Most of the winter the SCUM meet on Sundays at Birch Hill. However, on Sunday, 5 March 2023, many of them competed the Skiathon at UAF, which was a mass start event this year. It was slow going on the graveyard loop for non-lightweight SCUM, but fun was had by all. From entry fees and donations, $1,734 was raised for UAF trails.
By definition, SCUM rises to the top, but nowhere does being a SCUM signify possessing speed. Thus, during SCUM workouts, Mom is frequently left far behind, and she subsequently takes unplanned diversions to amuse herself. So today, Bill Husby, decided that I needed to carry an Apple AirTag so that overachieving SCUM could come back and find me. (Aside: 25 years ago, when the SCUM were much younger, Sgt. SCUM, aka Mark Haas, would ski back and find all the lagging SCUM without any electronic gadgets. FWW Army band members were better at tracking than former Lathrop High School teachers, apparently.)
However, out the South Birch Hill Parking Lot, I had multiple Rosie Brennan moments where my left ski was not attached to my left boot.
Mom’s Rosie Brennan moment before workout began–all photos by Dan Johnson
Fortunately, after I had inserted my ski boot to binding a dozen times without successful attachment, Dermot came to my rescue. Seven minutes later and with cold fingers and thumbs, we headed up the stadium ramp without a lot of glide.
Boot and binding aligned and cleared of ice thanks to Dermot
We started out on the newly groomed and tracked trails by skiing the Tower, Medevac, Blue and Outhouse. At the Sunnyside cutoff, Mom and Dermot decided that Sunnyside would be much more enjoyable since the sun was out today, unobstructed by clouds. Since we were headed downhill the extra inch of snow on the trails wouldn’t be a problem.
However, eventually the air tag told Bill that we weren’t following them:
SCUM left behind, Tattletale AirTag
The SCUM caught us as we had decided to go down Cliffside and up the Sonot Connector. Dan and Bill wanted to turn back at the Cliffside gate because Dan’s feet were getting cold and Bill said Sonot Connector wouldn’t be groomed until Friday. When Dermot and I pointed out that it WAS Friday, the SCUM followed us down Cliffside and up the Sonot Connector, where apparently, Bill was pinging the AirTag:
However, I couldn’t hear the pinging because Dermot serenades everyone around him when he skis with a cacophony of groans, moans, and other animal sounds:
Dermot penguin walking with south effects--video by Joanna Fox
Dan, Tim, and Bill waited for us in the sun at the road crossing at the top of the Sonot Connector, wondering why I hadn’t heard the pinging. We finished off the incoming White Bear, where Doyon Utilities had removed a number of trees touching the power lines recently. Much more daylight was seen on the last km of the White Bear as a result. Finishing on the Warmup Loop, Bill and Dan were humored by their IT success before they headed off for the Skiathon on Sunday.
Dermot and I won’t be at the Skiathon as we need to do a several hour skate workout as we prepare for the 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot. We’ve already signed up at the early registration rate, which ends at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday.
The warmer weather and winds have brought down gobs of snow from trees along the Birch Hill trails. It also brought down a good-sized white spruce on the lower section of the N40 trail.
Here are the SCUM heroes that moved it off the trail. Doing a good deed is easy when you’re still fatigued from the 30 km Frank Soos Distance Race on Sunday.
Sunday’s Frank Soos Distance Race #3, The Unpleasantry turned out to be a tough tour on trails that were in immaculate condition at 9:00 a.m. before the 2 deg F snow started falling. The 70-year-old SCUM wave started at 10:00 a.m. when the PistenBully corduroy was still visible beneath the fluffy half inch of new snow. The tracks were ghastly slow so the three skiers on classical skis were skiing in the skate platform as were those of us who arrived with skate gear. The snow was absolutely lovely, but we didn’t see any lynx or moose tracks to distract us from our 3-lap tour of the White Cub and White Bear loops. Our tour took the “kid” among us 3:23:44.6, a full 1:34.16 behind FXC coach Jesse Wilkins. I had the opportunity to enjoy almost an hour more time on the White Bear than this “wannabe 70-year-old SCUM”.
A number of skiers didn’t start or finish because of illness, equipment failures, or better judgement than those of us who prevailed. A huge thanks to Chris Puchner, Pam Laker, Anna Sorensen and all the other volunteers who hung in there with smiles and encouragement. We really appreciated you.
Dan and Eric taking a break on Blackhawk–photo by Bill Husby
Comment from groomer Bill Husby, “Today’s ski was definitely a change of pace ski. Burned more energy climbing out of snowbanks after crashing than I did skiing today (6+ falls).”
Bernardo trying to assist two downed SCUM on the North Star–photo by Dan Johnson
When the trail groomer takes off his skis and walks the downhills that he groomed, you realize that you might have made a mistake.
Fata Morgana on Sunnyside (Robert’s belt is causing a belly mirage–really, he’s as slim as Bernardo)
Snow on Dermot’s vest isn’t from any of his tumbles on the North Classics. However, he chose to bail out of the South Classics and do the Sonot Connector to Sunnyside instead.
However, we all made it back to our cars intact, although some of the snow from the trails was still on our ski gear.
The SCUM skiers were too focused on their workouts so were unable to find all 12 of the LOL Christmas ornaments. However, we did find 8 while skiing:
LOL #1--photo by Joanna Fox on 12/26/22 on WB access during Ski Your Age in Kilometers
LOL #3 found on Skadi loop, hanger was separated from ornament–photo by Byron Broda on 12/9/22
Santa Bill with LOL ornament #4 on Roller Coaster on 12/11/22–photo by Dan Johnson
LOL ornament #5 on Medevac on 12/11/22–photo by Dermot Cole
Ornament #6 on White Bear near biathlon on winter solstice--photo by Bill Husby, who spotted it
LOL #7 ornament on White Cub, 12/9/22–photo by Dan Johnson
LOL ornament #8 on Tommy Knocker trail–photo by Joanna Fox
Byron and ornament #11 on Old Tower Loop
Bill Husby saw LOL ornament #12 on Little Bird while grooming, but we never got out there on skis, so we failed to nab that one, too. We thank the LOL for this fun addition to our December skiing and an excuse to take a rest break–a SCUM necessity.
Sonot Kkaazoot 