[Got this idea during a great all day ski tour up north.]
Another thing I thought of—while skiing along admiring the elk tracks in our wilderness trail—was that it would be neat to put on an ultramarathon here in Michigan. At the Birkie trail they do the “24 Hours of Telemark,” and 24-hour races are popular in mt-biking. We Michigan skiers wouldn’t have to be so crazy. We could do a 12-hour race on the Vasa trail. It’s a famous, groomed trail with a campground on it. 27km per big loop. Dawn to dusk. How far could someone go? We might be surprised who would do well in such a race. It might bring a different crew to the front. It would mostly be a chance for folks to plain old see how far they can ski in a day. Without going too overboard. I think a top skier could go 100 miles. That would be 6 laps. Right on the nose. My imaginary plan for doing this in 12 hours would be to try to do a lap every 1hr:45min. Then for each lap you could stop at your campsite (with bonfire, etc.) and change clothes, then get a massage for 5 minutes, then take 5 minutes to sit down at a picnic table and eat, then get rolling again. Fun! : ) Maybe. That’s a 15.5km/hr pace to go 100 miles. Not superfast. But not slow. Seems a TAD too brisk. Like 13km/hr would make a world of difference in being a pace one could do all day, methinks. But what do I know! Nothing! It’s just an idea…
