Hardest. Workout. Ever.

Let's begin the week with some hyperbole!

Today is the annual Kancamagus Roller Ski for the UNH Ski Team. Every Veteran's Day Monday, rain or shine, the UNH Nordic team wakes up very early, gets in the ski vans, and heads a couple hours north to what is affectionately known as "The Kanc". It is a brutal workout, involving skiing from sun-up to sun-down, and to finish it is a huge badge of honor.

The Kancamagus Scenic Byway is what out here in Colorado we would call a pass. The first phase of the workout is a classic roller ski up one side of the pass. If I recall, this is about a two hour trip. I could always do well on this section. If you were the first one to the top of this side, you won the "Robel" award. Robel Telemarkian was a skier on the team from Ethiopia and he always kicked ass on this work-out. So, we ended up naming a fake award after him. I wonder if the team still gives out this fake award. Hmmmm.

Once you made it to the top of the pass, you hop in the vans and get a ride down the first half of the backside of the pass. It is way too steep to actually ski down it, although I guess some old timers back in the early 80's tried it to less that perfect results. Halfway down, there is a campground, and that is when you unload and change your skis. Where as before we went up the steep front side on classic rollerskis, now we are skiing the flatter backside on skate rollerskis. We would be on the skate skis for much longer than we always thought, about 3-4 hours at least, depending on how fast you could go and not bonk out. We would ski down the pass into town, then turnaround and head back up to the campground. It was always the heading up that seemed to get me. Stupid gravity.

One year we had rain of Biblical proportions, so we had to cancel the Kanc ski during this phase. That was the year Chris Wolski brought his dog and the dog was running alongside us for hours. Poor dog, but she seemed to enjoy it. Probably more than I was enjoying it at least.

Once you got back up to the campground at the halfway point, you changed your skis again and got back on your classic equipment, for the final push to the summit. This is where you separate the varsity skiers from the development skiers, even in November. It is getting dark, it is all uphill, you are totally spent, usually by yourself, and you are sick of rollerskiing. It is as much of a mental test as a physical one.

My first year doing the ski, this is where I bonked out totally. It was miserable. I don't remember much of it, but I was skiing up by myself. It was getting dark. I pulled over to the side of the road and stood there for a while. Next thing I know, my coach pulls over and I get in the van. No fighting, no arguing, I just knew I was 100% out of fuel, and I probably hallucinated the whole way home. Not good.

The next year was the rain-out, and the third year I participated, we changed the course somewhat. The new course was pretty difficult, as we took a detour due to bad road conditions and went up a different pass. I finished that one near the front of the pack, even heading up past the finish line to ski to the Mt. Washington Hotel and back. I was with Jeff Erenstone and the aforementioned Chris Wolski. I remember hearing a gunshot in the woods, (it was hunting season) and being so exhausted and rubber-legged I was thinking we were getting shot at. I remember the Upham's making sandwiches at the end of the day and me wolfing down about 8 of them. I remember the giant jugs of cranberry juice we would drink the whole time. And I remember the Cheeseburger Challenge, but that is for another blog post.

As you read this, the UNH skiers are probably double poling up some lonely road, and the coaches are having breakfast in a warm little roadside diner. The leaves have all fallen off the trees, and I really hope the sun is out. Having the sun out always makes this brutal workout a lot easier. Trust me. So, I wish good luck to the UNH team this year, I know they will do well on dryland and on snow, and one of these years, I will make it back for The Kanc. Just to ride in the vans. :)