Fifty Plus (50+) - Bike or Skis?

You folks who are looking for some competition to jazz up the juices should check this out. No wimpy paved roads or boring circuits. The White Mountain 100 is the lastest of several human powered events.


http://newsminer.com/view/full_story/12475434/article-Trail-may-favor-skiers-in-2011-White-Mountains-100?instance=home_features_lead_story1

From the pictures those trails look really good for skate skis. I ski classic and there's no way I could keep up with a skater on a trail like that and not for 100 miles either. I'd rather bike it instead. Those skis look to be really short for skate cut. They must be super stiff then. Wow.

The fun part in these human powered races is that they are in wilderness with all the accompanying challenges and uncertainty.

I know of a couple guys where I ski who have done the Canadian Ski Marathon it's a 100 miler done in Quebec.

http://www.csm-mcs.com/index2.html

Classic skis only though.

We are really gettiing warm here. Temp yesterday was up to +41F. That means snow is getting soft and sketchy. So the skiers should have the advantage even with the bikes on fat tires. But all it takes is a fall, or a moose, or bear running across the trail, or....... and the whole dynamic changes. Who knows, maybe the post holers will even have a chance? That is the beauty of competition here; there is no way to control any part of conditions.

Especially on a 100 mile race where you don't know what you're going to run into over that next hill. Skate skis would probably be better than a classic ski when it's that warm. Waxless classics might work but I can't stand them myself. At 41F, that means klister wax... ugh.. gets on yout skis, on your clothes, hands, gloves... and anything that happens to be sitting on a bare spot like grass, straw..

TV says a change in trail conditions for the racers to cope with. A bit of snow is forecast. The trails are snowmachine trails which means they are compacted for a couple inches on top with raw snow underneath. If a person punches through the surface crust they can go way deep. I've stepped off a snowmachine to take a break, wandered too far off the trail and gone in up to my waist. So the racers will have snow, crust and ???. Should meet their highest desire for challenge.