Lake Placid Loppet 2000
Three members of the Flatland Posse skiied the Lake Placid Loppet on January 29, 2000. This citizens' race is held on the ski trails used in the 1980 Winter Olympics.
Marc Gilbertson, who went to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, won the 50k event with a time of 2:22, finishing nearly seven minutes ahead of the next two finishers. Of course we only saw these guys on the starting line, BEFORE the gun went off, and at the awards ceremony later that evening.
The day started out in bright, cold sunlight with the temperature around 0. While it warmed into the low 20's later in the day, it was tough going early in the race. Lars prepped his boards with the old standby, Start Green, and elected to ski the 25km Kort-Loppet. Dave Baker, who hadn't skiied in Lake Placid before the starting gun went off, and I signed up for the full 50 km sufferfest.
Lars had a great race, finishing 7th in his age group in a time of 1:44.03. This despite the fact that he treated it like a tour as he headed into the heart of the Porter Mountain section. The revolutionary, 100-hour-per-year training plan didn't quite pan out. He spent a good part of the race going back and forth with someone who was a lot stronger but an inefficient skier.
"He can't ski and I couldn't drop him," Lars said later. After the last feed, he gave it everything he had and edged out his rival at the finish.
"I was totally baked at the end," Dave said afterward. "Now I know how to train for next year."
I had a slow start with the cold weather but my glide improved as it warmed up. The eventual men's Kort-Loppet winner, John Sackett, passed me around the 18k mark and glided away like I was standing still. Tired phrase but appropriate.
I caught up with Rob LaPorte in the stadium at the end of the first lap, and we worked together over Porter Mountain and up Russian Hill. Rob began to pull away heading up towards the timing hut on Ladies 5k, and gapped me by about a minute as we headed out to the "biathlon" side of the course. I skied the last 6km without a heel plate on one ski, after losing it a brain-fade type fall. I think we all slept well after some fun on the snow.