Ethan and I tested out a new TT yesterday: The Fist Annual Higley Digley Doublepole Derby!
While the Doublepole test is a good indicator of fitness and strength, it does little to simulate the kind of double-poling situations found in an actual race. So what better way to achieve that than by holding a longer-format, mass-start double-pole race? It's incredible how fortunate we are to have Higley Flow State Park at our disposal...the hills may not be too steep while descending on snow, but the twisty camp loops make for a perfect rollerski course: good pavement, varied terrain and no cars (which allows for the mass-start format). The women raced 5k, the men 7k, roughly.
I arrived at the park early and swept the pine needles off the side loops, and the race went off with only one broken rollerski tip for damages. Obviously rollerski speed varies, and especially comes into play more on a course such as this with substantial sections of gradual downhill, but the benefits outweigh the negatives in this case: A good chance to practice skiing in a group in a race setting, navigating tricky turns and descents, and a difficult effort that also has specific-strength benefits.
The men's race was led out most of the way by a pack composed of Reed, Eric, Austin (Meng) and Will. Near the very end Meng and Eric broke away to sprint for the line, with Eric just taking the win. Will lost a pole tip but still hung on for third with Reed close behind.
Kate led the women's race from start to finish, but never really pulled away from Cassidy, who was on the hunt the entire time just out of contact a few seconds back. A few of the girls skied together in pairs: Sienna and Margot worked together for the majority of the race, as did Melanie and Kelsey. Kate held her slim lead to the finish over Cass, and Lauren took the bronze. Here's the results and a quick video I put together. I was filming from a bike and obviously need a little practice with the technique of it, but I'll get the hang of it soon.
MEN
Lustgarten 21:33
Meng 21:34
Frielinghaus 21:43
Reed 21:52
Hart 23:42
Dier 24:2-
WOMEN
Mulcahy 17:40
Cichowicz 17:48
Olson 18:45
Searles 19:34
Margot 19:35
Perryman 20:28
Nichols 21:05
Swick 21:10
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