Der Weiße Rausch
White Grass Touring Center, 10K Race
Davis, WV
Pop Quiz
After accepting an invitation to go cross country skiing for the Very First Time, do you:
- Rent skis, boots, poles. Make sure everything fits just right and sign up for a group lesson.
- Rent necessary gear; recognise you need more individualized instruction, sign up for private lessons.
- Rent gear, hit the slopes, anyone can ski, right?
- Rent skis, etc. Try it out for 10 minutes, enter 10K race. Don’t carry water, just drink the moonshine offered at the aid station.
Sunday was casual. It was race day but I didn’t know it yet and so there were none of the usual nerves. Down in Amelia’s restaurant three delicious, golden brown pancakes and the Sunday Post waited. Outside the sun shone bright in a deep blue sky. Several inches of the most perfect powder found east of the Mississippi lay on the ground.
The ski lodge at White Grass had probably been a barn in another life time. It was painted a deep red/maroon and contrasted against the nearly blinding whiteness. Inside bodies bustled, moving in every direction. Lenses steamed from the heat.
Some were there to just ski. Some were there for the 25 Kilometer race. I was there to watch and maybe play around a little.
I tenuously clipped rented boots into rented skis for the first time. Then promptly crossed the tips, lost my balance, and fell hard into the snow. Off to a terrific start.
On my next try I was gliding up the hill and feeling more comfortable on my skis. It really wasn’t that bad. This is when I learned about the 10K race. It was only 10K. It was only $12. Others were doing it too. Peer pressure is a bad thing, right?
Casual. That’s the best way to describe the whole event. It was the most casual pre-race briefing I’d ever heard. The course was probably marked, though they didn’t say how. There might be course marshals out directing the way. Basically just follow the person in front and you’d be ok. Assuming you could keep up.
After the first mini-lap I was overheated and ready to admit that perhaps I’d bitten off more than I could chew. Maybe there was something to the claims of achieving a total body workout from those NordicTrack machines. The commercials were true and I was dying. I ditched a layer and stopped for a refreshing beverage that may or may not have been moonshine.
Up and up and up. I followed my two angels who constantly looked back (often way back) and shouted encouragement. Then it was time for the downhill. I tried to follow Lori’s kamikaze lead but had to stop for frequent snow inspections (usually performed in an awkward, face first manner).
1 hour and 53 minutes later we had completed the 10K and added on an additional 3K just for fun! My arms and legs, already sore from the previous day’s activities, were shot. I was exhausted, soaked with sweat, and blissfully happy.
Back in the lodge I devoured some warm food and found a comfortable chair next to the wood stove. My head listed and I drifted off for a power nap while visions of Leni Riefenstahl skiing through the Alps invaded my dreams.
