Wanna Be Biathlete

(click on any photo to enlarge) The last two weeks have been dedicated to my new obsession, Biathlon. After years of being a Nordic ski racer, I was introduced to the sport of Biathlon by a former US Olympic Biathlete, Glen Jobe. Northstar Ski Resort invested in a full time Biathlon Range this year and the public response has been overwhelming. I was privileged enough the work with Glen at the range this year. Every clinic was sold out with waiting lists. Well, needless to say I fell in love with this very difficult sport. It combines Cross Country skiing with shooting. I'm sure you saw the recent coverage of the Vancouver Olympic Biathlon events as NBC did a great job of showing a few of the races. If you want to watch the big boys try this link -
http://www.biathlonworld3.de/en/ then click on the Biathlon TV box on the right side. You can watch EuroSport coverage of every event of the season. Biathlon is the most televised winter sport in all of Europe. They regularly have 50,000 spectators at the World Cup events. The combination of high heartrate ski racing and calm, focused target shooting is very intriguing to me. I'm used to the high heartrate stuff and that comes very easily to me, on the other hand the shooting is very foreign. I've never been a 'gun guy', being a bark eating, Patagonia clothing wearing, treehugger. (Going into the local Cletus and Skeeter Gun Store to buy ammo is quite an experience) The Zen aspect of shooting is something I have to work very hard at. So with some dry firing practice in my garage and a fair amount of range time, I entered my first two Biathlons. The two West Coast events, The 10th Mountain Biathlon at Northstar at Tahoe and The Mammoth Mountain Biathlon happened the last two weekends in March. My first race at Northstar was quite an eye opener. I was clearly one of the better skiers there but I was on the opposite end of the spectrum when it came to shooting and range procedure. That's the dichotomy of Biathlon -If you ski great and shoot poorly, you suck - If you shoot clean and ski poorly, you suck. You have to put both together on race day, under pressure. In Biathlon you ski a designated loop (3-5km) then come into the range to shoot 5 targets at 50 meters (165 ft) and then head out on another loop. The 10th Mountain Biathlon was three 3km loops with two shooting stations - one 'prone' (laying down) and one 'off hand' (standing). All Biathlons start with weapon site-ing roughly one hour before the start. This involves shooting five rounds at a paper target and adjusting your 'peep' sites for wind, temperature, ammo type and light. This is supposed to be accomplished in 20 minutes or less. The photo above is of me and my Rossignol Tech Team teammate, Rick Eckert site-ing before the race. You look through a scope to check your 'grouping' and adjust your sites right/left and up/down accordingly. After site-ing we racked our rifles and headed out on the course to warmup. This Biathlon was interval start which means each racer starts alone at one minute intervals. I started 78th and skied as hard as I could to pass as many racers as I could that had started before me. DUMB DUMB DUMB. I came into the range after passing quite a few people, but I came in WAY too hot. My heartrate was crazy high and consequently I shot like shit, hitting only one out of five targets. That means I had to ski 4 penalty laps of 150 meters each. Its really hard to win a race when you ski an extra half mile after every shooting station! I headed back out on course and did the same frickin' thing again - skied way too fast and came into the range geetered and missed all five! Just great, five more penalty laps. I skied the last loop fast and finished pretty wasted for 9km (well actually 10.5km!) I started to put my rifle in its case and to get warm clothes on figuring I was in last place. I was ready to go home when they posted the results. I had a laugh when I saw I was 10th overall and second Master! I must have skied pretty fast. A silver medal in my first Biathlon. Because I shot so poorly, I wasn't stoked. I drove home and promised myself to improve at Mammoth the next week. I skied about 80km during the week between the races and had target practice twice to work on range procedure. Rick and I drove to Mammoth on Saturday early as we were recruited to help with the safety clinic the day before the race. The Mammoth Biathlon is the largest Biathlon in the US with almost 200 entrants. The spectators all congregate at the range to cheer the racers on and it makes for a very pressure packed shooting environment. After the clinic Rick and I got in a little range time as the sun was going down. We skied down to the truck and headed into town for dinner and to pick up our race bibs. When we went to registration, I couldn't believe how many racers were there. As we shuffled through the line we were greeted by the race promoter who knew our names and acted like we were pro skiers. He then took us to the front of the line and told the girls doing registration that we were Elite skiers and that we were to race with the bad asses in the Elite race. I was embarrassed as it was only my second Biathlon and my first one was less then stellar. I took my bib and thought I was for sure going to get last place and really embarrass my sponsors and most importantly myself! There were former Olympic Biathletes, current US team hopefuls, Euro dogs with Olympic and World Cup experience, and here I was from podunk Reno in my second race ever. Talk about being psyched out before the race even started! We went to Vons to get some food and back to the hotel to get some sleep. The alarm went off at 5am and we went through our routine. The range opened at 8am to site rifles with a 9am start. Tamarack XC Lodge sits at 8900ft elevation and all the trails are above it. We had a 3km ski up to the range. It was cold but beautiful with blue skies and light winds. We got to the range right at 8am and quickly site-ed our rifles. It was great watching the top guys go through their routine and I learned a lot. I was shooting remarkably well and my grouping was surprisingly good. Talk about beginners luck. I racked my rifle and went out on the course to warm up. The course at Mammoth is hilly, which, of course, I like. The snow was hard and fast, which, I like also. I started to gain some confidence and thought I might finish a little better than last. This race was a mass start which means everyone starts together. We were called to the line and Bang! the start gun went off. We started fast and I couldn't believe I was in third going up the first climb. We ripped down the decent and across the flat to enter into the range. The two guys in front of me started prone as they had odd numbered bibs. I started off-hand as I had an even numbered bib. Prone is typically easier because you're laying down and have more surface area touching the ground to stop your heartrate from moving the barrel around. Both of them shot clean (5 out of 5) and I only hit 2 out of 5. Shit! I thought my day was done and I was to confirm my last place. I skied my three penalty laps quickly and headed back out on the course. I skied as fast as I could. I was flying up the climbs but I didn't know what place I was in and thought for sure I was in last. The top guys might miss one or two targets but the winners mostly shoot clean. As I tucked the downhill I saw a couple of racers in front of me. Wow- If I could just catch a couple of guys I might not be dead last, I thought. I tried to get my heartrate down on the 500m of flat leading into the range. I calmed myself down and tried to tune out the crowd and other shooters. I was shooting prone, while the other guys were shooting off hand. I felt confident and shot clean! The crowd roared after my last shot. I couldn't believe it! I flew out of the range on wings of confidence. I could see another racer in the distance ahead of me. I recognized him as Mike Karch, the top Master Biathlete from Mammoth. He won the event at Northstar. I gave everything I had and started to reel him in around Lake Mary. He looked back and saw I was gaining on him and started sprinting. I tried to keep the same pace. I closed the gap to 10 seconds at the top of the climb. On the downhill I just couldn't close in on him anymore as he was tucked as low as I was and we both had fast skis. At the bottom of the decent we did the 180 degree turn to head to the Finish. I sprinted for everything I was worth. I finished four seconds behind him. I was just happy I wasn't last. At the Finish I noticed that there weren't a lot of racers in front of us. I was a bit confused because of my lack of oxygen from the effort. A lot of spectators were congratulating me and I thought they were just being nice. I found out a little later that I was fourth Overall! I about shit! The winner was multiple time National Champion Marc Shepard and second place was a friend of mine Phil Violett, that is getting ready to move to the US Biathlon Training Center in Lake Placid to secure his place on the US Team. Talk about beginners luck. The best part of the race was shooting clean at my last station. I felt like a pro for that five seconds heading out of the range. After a cooldown ski and a change of clothes, all of the Elite racers (yes, that included me!) were range officials for the remainder of the day for all of the other racers. It was a long day. We drove home exhausted, after helping tear down the range. I got home at about 7pm. Christi had some food for me and I could barely keep my eyes open to eat. I fell asleep by 8pm. What a day! Next week I'm back to being just a ski racer and I don't have to carry an 8 pound rifle on my back. I'll post after the 42km Mammoth Marathon next Sunday where I hope to repeat my title as Masters Champion. Until Then......................