Zen and the Art of Speedskating

Posted on 08 Jun 12:33 pm

Greening

A little over a year ago, I was out mountain biking with my friend Zane, and we rode some trails where wildfires had charred the mountainside.

Groves of skeletal trees, ash stains imprinted on the ground, wildflowers beginning to push into view among the devastation.

That day, I was sleep deprived by my 6 month old, riding poorly, feeling weak & fat, and through exhaustion & trying to keep up with a ‘ragin Zane, those charred trees felt like they were speaking:

“this was your life, you are nothing more than crumbling ashes, but look at all these blooming flowers, this is new life”.

I wrote about this then, but never published it, I was too “new-parent-overwhelmed-syndrome” on that day, and too depressed to blog what I was feeling.

But this past Sunday, I went back to those same trails with another friend, local mountain biking cat 1/semi-pro Kevin Wilde.

Wow can he ever big-ring steep dirt climbs. Amazing.

Kevin also has a little baby at home, and we talked in depth about our experiences as our mountain bikes zipped & danced through the singletrack.

We agreed it’s pretty much impossible to systematically train when you have a little kid.

Impossible for me, as a speedskater, to consistently train all the complex “pieces” of the skate-training puzzle. Impossible for Kevin to regularly complete 3.5-4 hour epic training rides, so he can big-ring climbs at the end of 3 hour mountain bike races.

But we still love getting out, as much as ever, even though we are slower than we once were.

Our wives understand this about us, & actually kick us out of the house every now and then, precisely because we are committed fathers.

And on this day, keeping up with Kevin, my former life is truly crumbled and gone, I almost don’t see those blackened tree trunks anymore, ashy groundstains swallowed into the landscape of dim memory.

But what do I see? Something so much more beautiful. Flowering. So alive.

My little girl… There are far more ways for a man to measure himself than the fruits of being hyper-competitive. I get that now.

RZ you are always my teacher, thank you.

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Filed under: baby stuff

Richmond- Board

A live picture from a freezing room at the Holton in Richmond, VA, full of people incredibly passionate about a frozen sport-

John Dimon was always fond of saying:

“The way people act, speedskating is not life or death, it’s FAR more important.”

You see that a lot at this meeting. All level of the organization engage fully. The folks who really run the nuts and bolts of every level of Speedskating, so many are here.

And it’s all about the athletes yaknow. From Juniors to Seniors, Olympians, Masters, First timers. How can we improve that experience stepping onto the ice. From a first time kid to an Olympic games moment. The organization has an impact.

I’m rooming with Travis Jayner, and here is his Olympic bronze medal, in his hands.

It’s a wild item. The design of each one is completely unique, like the journey of each athlete who has earned one. It’s really, really heavy.

Travis said that at one of Jordan Malone’s webcast events- some fans were asking him “show us your medal”, and when Jordan pulled out his own relay medal. Travis just got chills looking at it, even though he also has one.

I’ve written before from board meetings; an incredibly hard event to capture in words. It’s my 4th, but my first one as a board member.

When I picked this up at the registration table-

it gave me chills too. Not because it’s an award. But because it’s an ethical responsibility. A seal of trust. A pragmatic responsibility.

At what moment does an outsider become an insider? Maybe that dialectic is the wrong one; there are multiple sides, a dodecahedron to each moment.

Many surfaces to stand, I’m watching, finding my footing one this new surface- stay tuned.

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Filed under: USS board

Posted on 18 Apr 08:21 am

Orientation

(Originally written on the 18th, pubished on the 30th)

By myself at an empty public skate session, just my battered boots & me.

Drills, easy laps, orientation of the complaining body to the skates again-

Skate politics is filling my brain, as much as my hips are being oriented again to the unnatural pain angles of the skate position, my brain is being oriented to spending hours on the phone discussing, learning, absorbing, caucusing with like-minded.

Sit on the push, back half of the blade, let the right position make the pressure- don’t force it-

So little blade actually bears our entire weight+gforces+muscle power, it’s a wonder short track is possible at all-

So it might be in skate-politics.

There has always been a lot of vehemence in skating politics. There are REAL chunks of money flying around, careers, ego, thriving and dying clubs, Olympic teams, endless investment of hours.

Listening to the new board orientation conference calls, forcing my heart to be as positive as possible. Is this how they really are, or how they want to be

US Speedskating has traditionally been like a 4 year phoenix. Immolating & reborn every Olympic cycle. The attrition among office staff has been frightful.

Lots of empty cubicles at the US Speedskating offices; tracks of who has gone before. I’m looking hard at these trails in the ice, what techniques are tried by what people.

It’s so easy to throw bombs from far off. To kvetch to your social circle; To organize/suggest workable policy is awfully hard.

Early season, just feel the push, dammmmm… Let momentum & level shoulders/hips carry you through ouch+ouch+ouch.

execute from depth.

There were a number of things that have been said by some of the experienced board members to me. In rough paraphrase

The athletes are getting better, faster, of a higher level every year. The governance of this sport needs to up its game as well!

Every 4 year cycle seems to get more intense, there are more demands, more specificity.

Recover—recover between sets makes each effort more- Protect your eyes so you can see no matter the wind (& flying ice chips)

Skate quiet off the back half of the blade, pressure; just skate right.

Then try your heart out–

& fall 10 times, fail 100 times, then get back up again. Understand and execute. Finally.. Fly.. Speedskating. Speedskating policy.

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Filed under: USS board

The Board-

The news came on Friday. My peers in the general membership have elected me to US Speedskating’s board of directors.

It is a deep honor.

After reading the election results, RZ and I took a walk down the alley next to our house.

She took every opportunity to stand in the puddles, often looking me right in the eye and saying “WOW!” as the cold water soaked into her sneakers.

Standing in mud & puddles teaches you so much more than looking at them from a distance. You know immediately the temperature of the water and how deep the puddle really is. With patience you even begin to notice reflections, rocks, crinkles in the asphalt, other puddles in the fissured alleyway-

I’m not making any explicit metaphor that speedskating is a muddy puddle, or that board of directors galumphs around like a kid in a fancy parka in the alleyway of small sports.

But I will do my best to communicate what is going on as this soaks into me. I’ve shied away from politics on this blog for SO LONG, I did not even mention I was running here.

But that will not be possible anymore.

Unlike every board member who came before me, I was clearly elected by a constituency of masters skaters. If you want to know the platform of policy items I ran on, here is what I wrote to the members.

What I did not say in the bio is that I have no illusions about the pummeling I have volunteered for. Complaining about things or people is easy; creating decent public policy is dammed hard. Triply so in a sport so many are so passionate for.

And there is this idealistic belief that I hold to; it goes something like-

“if you can make a difference in something you care about, then you have a moral obligation to do so”.

The hard work I have done with International Masters Speedskating has been incredibly rewarding, but this is totally different.

I am friends with many who have served in the Board of Directors. Better folks than me have been chewed up & spat out by volunteering in speedskating.

Despite my words & outlook here, don’t assume I don’t also have an iron set of policy fangs when it’s time to chew on hard issues. I hide them well, but I’m a veteran of many organizations, and my parents are Jedi masters of this stuff.

But I do have this moral belief, and maybe if enough of us stick our feet in the puddle, it will become a better place.

It might even freeze by next winter, and be good skating (short track, a very, very short track).

Stay tuned–

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Filed under: USS board

Posted on 01 Apr 10:54 pm

Colors

We have names for the colors we can see; Reds, greens, blues, bent through cornea, lens flare and pixels.

But our cornucopia of names trails off when color arcs into ultraviolet and infrared, X-ray and gamma, even though those powerful wavelengths flow through us.

So it is with love. Such a simple word, but I am out of the arc I can describe. It cuts through me and leaves the bones of things glimmering & clear.

Wife, kid, a simple walk on a beautiful spring day.

Why has it taken me almost 40 years of life, to arrive here?

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Filed under: baby stuff

30 stitches, glass half-full

60+ bicycle racers at the start- by the time we were ripping towards the final turn of the race, there were still 40+ in it to win it. The pack was boiling back and forth across the road like a scalded snake.

Earlier: Sounds of coffee percolating, was on baby duty last night, I question if I should race this afternoon. Woozy on my feet. Pot ‘O coffee 1 does not do the trick. Pot ‘O coffee #2, and I feel moderately better.

Am in 5th position, feeling solid, clipping along at 32mph, saved lots of energy to spend in this push to the line. The pack surges on every side, suddenly I’m in 25th place. Crap! Cyclists fill the road curb to curb at full power towards the final corner.

Earlier: New race wheels, new pedals, the balance point of my bike just feels a little different during warmup-, or maybe it’s just my lack of sleep headache- maybe I should not race today—

In the final 160 degree turn I am on the extreme inside of the pack, passing people, the rider in front of me crashes, I lean deeper and make it past, on the absolute limit of traction.. The leading riders are out of the turn, going straight and begin to sprint, Still leaning hard, I get out of the saddle and start hitting the big gear to catch them.

Earlier: That little voice starts again: I’m getting old, crits are dangerous, why do I love doing this so much?

My front wheel folds, I flip over the handlebars, and smash headfirst into the pavement at race velocity

Sunglasses shatter and my helmet cracks

Right shoulder digs into the asphalt and my elbow gashes through arm warmers-

Back, hips, and ass slam into the pavement, like a flyswatter.

Numb, spinning, disoriented, full body shock. Sounds of the race wizzing by, sounds of more crashes, yelling. Then silence.

This is not happening. Total sensation too powerful to speak or move. Crushing… I can…. breathe… again… ohhhh…

Others on the ground as well. I see blood on the pavement. Blood on my hands, My face? Where is it coming from?

After a few minutes I sit upright, the EMTs are there. Peeling off my arm warmer already stiff with dirt & blood, copious amounts of skin are stuck to the inside.

So that’s where I am cut. So many friends come riding over to me. Blur of faces.

Are you ok? Do you need a ride home? Wow Andrew, that’s gonna need some stitches!..

One offers that he did this as well last year, did not notice his concussion until his drive home. Chris Needham is about to start his first bike race today. Takes one look at me, asks if I am ok, then they call him to the line.

Strangers I don’t know come up, asking if I am alright. One fellow says “wow, did you clip a pedal? your rear wheel went straight up into the air before you slammed down!!”

Under an hour later, am in the ER, getting soaked & scrubbed.

The crash was my own damm fault. Maybe tiredness, maybe the different balance point of my new wheels, but I got out of the saddle too early, maybe I was thrown off by that crash right in front of me. But it was rider error. Stupid

A few more pedal strokes seated, finishing the turn, I would have been fine–

But really, what is to be learned? Maybe only that I need to be kinder to myself when sleep deprived. I am not young enough to bull through it, not when high speeds are involved.

My wife never said “Why the hell do you do this to yourself”. She understands, and accepts this part of me that is completed by racing. By trying hard, and sometimes failing, sometimes even falling.

She and the awesome ER doc had a great time comparing stitching techniques as I was being sewn up. I felt like a valued knitting project.

I’ve felt almost no pain from this nasty looking gash. A lot of other things hurt more, getting off the table after an hour of lying down, my hips and sternum were screaming at me. I never felt the needle.

There is a line between injuries and owies, and this is a very nasty owie.

If I draw my perspective correctly, it fills my glass half-full, and if I learn a lesson from this, hug my daughter a little tighter and cherish my wife a little more, the glass will be all the way full.

But right now, I need to heal.

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Filed under: RACE DAY

Posted on 17 Mar 04:48 pm

Season’s End

How does that saying go? It’s not over till the fat lady sings? I have an addition to that saying, specific to speedskating.

“The season is not over till Mahoney slides”

I’ve seen Charlie do this to ceremonially end the season a couple of times. He gave himself some pretty nice iceburn on his back. At least he is already a medical professional.

His skills were unfortunately needed at the Champions Challenge this year, as top athlete Kelly Gunther had a horrible crash, one of the worst seen on the long track at the Utah oval in a very long time.

She snapped her leg in multiple places, and is going to have a very long recovery. So many of us wish her a speedy recovery.

Many of the SLC crowd ended their season here. I ended my season the moment I stepped off the ice in Baselga three weeks earlier. I won’t lie, it’s been a hard year.

Two disappointing ice seasons in a row now.

There certainly were some good things that happened this year; but when it comes to me vs. myself, I’m not satisfied.

Speedskating is such a brutally difficult sport, if you are not making clear progress, it can leave a bad taste in your mouth.

However, so many other good things are happening, I am at peace. Things like this–

RZ is on a kickbike here. It has no pedals, and so she can walk along with her feet on the ground. Eventually she will figure out that she can pick up her feet and coast along after a good strong kick.

Most kids who learn on a kickbike never need training wheels.

Daddy is very proud.

Ice… SchmIce… my daughter has a BIKE!!!!

12 Comments »
Filed under: from home

Masters Allaround Worlds, Day 3

Masters worlds is much more than just the racing. It’s also the people you share it with.

For example, here is the amazing Arne Kjell Foldvik, cheering on another Norwegian. Arne is in the 75-80 category. I asked him how many are competing in the 75+, he said with a huge grin “3 survivors!”. Arne trains a lot with 10-15 year olds.

Arne is as sunny in his outlook on life as the morning conditions were on the ice.

A 3 day allaround is a long meet, and it’s not just a physical contest, it’s a contest of emotions and expectations, the battle on the ice and the one in your own heart. (Final results of all this heart-effort, are here)

And heart is what is needed to race a 5k hard. Finnish sprinter Pertti Kiiskinen has a lot of heart, and a good pain face, 3 laps to go! (nice pictures Jess!)

His father Pentti also was racing, finishing 3rd in the 65 category.

One of the tightest races, as expected was the USA’s Marty Haire vs the Jan Duif from the Netherlands in the Men’s 45+.

As it has over the past 2 years, it came down to the 5k, this is where Marty has proven stronger. They matched each other stride for stride.

Jan put in a surge, in the crossover, Marty had to give way & stood up for a moment.

Jan hit the warp speed button, and swung his arm in the straightaway for the last 6 laps. FINALLY finishing ahead of Marty. You can see how close each race was in the results.

Jan came across the finish line a burning mess. Totally spent, and so happy.

In my own race, I tried to go out easy, and then pick up the speed halfway through. My pair, Thomas Roste of Norway, went out hard. Here he is, pulling away-

I have just been passed by the other pair, Thor Olav Teveter and Ard Neven. Who went on to finish 1st & 2nd.

I tried to hit it hard here, and for a lap, I dropped my lap time from a 39 to a 37, but then my legs blew to bits, and I crawled to the finish line. Dropping from 3rd to 5th overall.

Norwegian Masters Speedskating co-ordinator Sven-Aage Svensson or Norway. Coaching. He was not skating this year, but was still there for the strong Norwegian contingent.

Note his surgical booties, gripping the ice.

Did I say how strongly Norway loves it’s skaters? Here is an example:

These masters are true fans. It was quite the experience to watch the EuroSport coverage of the Olympics, in a room full of Finns & Norwegians, talking trash about their cross country skiers.

As the 5ks began to wind down. Jessica & I took a walk into the town of Baselga di Pine. It’s pretty quiet.

But it does have all the good things- skating, skiing, camping, sleeping, pizza, and coffee.

Ragnvald Naess, he won the 3k and 5k, and is on his way to 2nd place in the 55+, showing some old school technique here. You often see this with lifelong skating masters, the old toes up push from fixed blade habits. He does this on the left foot as well.

(more soon, will finish this entry later)

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Filed under: RACE DAY

Posted on 03 Mar 07:27 am

Masters Allaround Worlds, Day 1 & 2

(on the flight, I did work on my report from Masters Sprint Worlds, almost a month late, but I will publish it this week.)

17 nations, almost 300 athletes. It wasn’t the Olympics, but Baselga di Pine in Italy did a great job hosting Masters Allaround Worlds.

This competition is a wonderful blend of the best Masters athletes, + those who do skating for the pure joy of it, all came together to try their best on the beautiful outdoor ice.

Day 1-

When outdoor weather is great, there is nothing like outdoor racing. However, outdoor skating is often feared, because of conditions like this-

This is the Netherland’s Bram de Vries, fighting through some extreme snow. He is the Dutch Rep to the IMSSC, and has as many ranked masters in his organization as there are speedskaters in the USA.

The weather became rain mixed with snow crusting into a sodden mess on the ice. Marty Haire of the USA keeps his spirits up; because this veteran of Lake Placid & St Foy knows an ancient speedskating secret; you go faster if you smile.

The women got the worst of the conditions. Many were 7 to 10 seconds slower than their 500m PB. Sorry I have no images of that, I did not want to take my camera for a swim.

Things did get gradually better as the day went on. The ice went from almost unskateable to just crappy, then from crappy to almost passable. The snow stopped, and things began to improve.

Vladamir Tkachenko of Russia here, in a skinsuit covered in galaxies, starts to see better ice.

I slipped 3 times during the first 50 meters of my 500, and never really “sat down” into a good skating position after my slips. Here I am passing Dutch goodfella Ard Neven 210 meters into the 500.

Even though I won the 500 in my age group, I really needed to put 3+ seconds on talented all-rounders like Ard in the 500m. In this race, it was only 1.6 seconds, and Ard would make up more than that deficit in the 3k & 5k. I skated a great 3k (well, great for me), so had hope for the 1500 tomorrow.

But really, I lost my realistic shot at the podium during my best event. Funny how sports work.

Italian Sylvia Tassara, racing a 1500m past rain soaked pads. There is some physics thing happening here with her push direction of her foot, and the pointing of her hand.

As the Men’s categories began their 3,000m races the clouds lifted to reveal beautiful soaked & frozen mountains, (click on image for a larger one).

I think this is a German skater, in matching green fast suit & boot covers. The central building behind him was wonderful. Locker rooms, full bar/café. Indoor rink, etc (click on image for a bigger one).

One of the matchups everyone was waiting for this meet was Dutch Skater Jan Duif and American Marty Haire. These two phenomenal athletes had gone toe-to-toe for the past 2 years in a row, with Marty coming out on top both times.

After the 500m and 3,000m on day 1, they were practically tied. Amazing.

Day 2

WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!

Here is one of the top Dutch women driving off the line with relaxed power during a 1500m under bright sun. The early morning condtions were great.

A lot of 1500m races on tap today. The pain cave of the 1500. You can see the intensity of the sun in the shadow of this Dutch skater

Canadian Randy Plett skating phenomenally all weekend. Here he chases Russian Boris Orlov in a 1500m, they solidified their placings in 3rd & 4th overall out of the 20 competitors in 45-50

Jon Gauslaa from Norway. Some athletes do this funny thing with their tongue at maximal effort. Greg Lemond was well known for it. Jon shows it here.

There should be a name for this technique. PowerTounge?

Jan & Marty were paired in the 1500m, the whole rink went beserk watching another tremendous battle, Jan’s raw speed vs Martys short-track endurance.

They traded leads several times, and had another tie at the finish line!!!

My own 1500m was not so good. I overcooked the start, and was cooked on the last lap. Instead of taking time out of the Allarounders, I lost a full second. Meh.

Tiredness comes in so many flavors, we need more words to properly describe it.

You can be happy tired, discouraged tired, inspired tired, or just crusty tired. I have long said that Masters speedskating allows an individual to experience this sport any way their hearts direct them. It’s the best blend.

You can be serious, or not, and if you are tired & discouraged, no one begrudges you a few glasses of wine at the end of a long, hard day of skating.

In fact, when it comes to Masters Skating, they will pour the glass for you, and join in freindly conversation. Somehow, that makes tiredness all the sweeter.

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Filed under: RACE DAY

Baselga Di Pine

Awaking from the turbulent dream of international travel, the rough ministrations of an Altalia 747 spits me out, punch drunk, jet lagged, into a strange country where everyone is skinny and dresses very well.

Must be Italy.

One sleep in a hotel bed, wake, one cup of tremendous Italian coffee (taste, not size) and I look out the window, to see this—