Vasaloppet 2020
Time to evaluate Vasaloppet 2020. Well, it was snowing. Heavily. Just like 2019 the snow started during the night and just went on and on. I slept over at my friends parents in Mora so that Göran could drive me to the bus. Thank you, Göran Rudell. That saved me a lot of time to sleep. When we arrived with the bus at around 6 a.m. there was a chilly wind through the valley from the north with snow flings hitting the face and eyes like nails. On with the sunglasses.
Still the spirit was high. I felt in great shape and my decision to try to double pole the whole of Vasaloppet was about to come to its test. In the very hardest way. Since Tuesday I had been recovering well from Vasaloppet 45, in which I had done my best classic cross country skiing to date. Especially the last 20 km from Hökberg to Mora I really found my resources to be almost infinite. It was with that feeling I went about my preparations at start gate 6 in the cold snowy morning of March 1st., 2020.
The start of the race went okay. I was walking up in herring bone with everyone else at the first climb. It was the usual mess of people wanting to move forward to get warm and the ‘die harder’ who wanted to get 5 minutes ahead. Knowing I was on blank skis I didn’t push it to double pole here as I did not want to entangle myself in people using herring bone and diagonal, so I just followed the slow line on the right side of the course. I knew my time would come as we came over the top and onto the mires above. Once there I could really begin to acknowledge what a great work Marcus Laggar of Lager 157 Ski Team had done selecting these Madshus Redline DP for me and getting them stone grinded by Thomas Söderberg with the famous TS BLUE grinding. On top Marcus gave feedback from Oxberg to Orsa Grönklitt at the waxing shop on what they were treat onto my skis for optimal glide perfomance. In addition they put a 0.2 mm rilling from the toe to back to optimize the glide for Vasaloppet. Worked perfect.
To have these guys work on my skis is a testimony to the fantastic culture that exists in the world of cross country skiing and particularly in Dalarna county in Sweden and sorrounding Orsa Grönklitt, Mora and Vasaloppet. I am not an elite skier, still these guys treat my skis with the same care and accuracy as they do with the Pro Team Wisma Ski Classic team members of Lager 157 Ski Team. Marcus Laggar, who is the leading sports manager of Orsa Grönklitt as well as waxing chief of Lager 157 Ski Team, is such a nice guy along with all the other personel at Orsa Grönklitt.
I took almost 700 places from Smågan to Mångsboderna (the first and second control). How many places I took from the top of the first climb and to Smågan is impossible to say but it was many as well. Considered I had to ski out to the left of the track in the new snow this is a real testimony to just how good a job these guys did with my skis.
In total I took almost 1600 places from Smågan to Mora. By far the best effort I have done in my four participations in Vasaloppet beginning with 2017 until now. I even beat my earlier personal best from 2018 by six minutes which is quite an achievement considered the snow conditions this year. To put it in perspective I was 1 hour 10 minutes faster than in 2019 when it was similar. Since you can’t really compare the time at the finish line from year to year I can say that I was 2696 places better than in 2019, 2567 places better than 2018 and 7580 places better than my first year in 2017. This year I was placed as number 5560 in total and 5169 in my gender group.
All in all I am happy although I felt I could have given more and taken more positions towards Oxberg, Hökberg and Eldris but the track were narrowing down to only a small corridor down from Hökberg only allowing one skier at a time. After Hökberg there was such a big crowd that it was almost impossible to overtake anyone. It didn’t thin out until the climbs up to Eldris.
What I take with me is that I kept taking much more positions than I lost and even on the climbs I double poled faster than many others that were skiing in diagonal. In the end I was 30 minutes from Gate 5 but I kept my position in Gate 6 for next year. All in all I have participated in 4 competitions this year, Craft Ski Marathon, Orsa Grönklitt Ski Marathon, Vasaloppet 45 and Vasaloppet. In all four races I qualified for start gate VL6 for Vasaloppet 2021. This is more than I dreamt of at the start of the season. It motivates me to aim higher at VL5 for next year starting with Craft Ski Marathon at January 3rd, 2021 in Orsa Grönklitt.
As for double poling the famous six I didn’t manage to double pole the first climb. As I was in VL6 I had to walk up in herring bone and when it was thinning out further up I just decided to keep with the line to save energy for the marshes above where I took so many positions.
I double poled the whole climb to Risberg and passed many people here as well. I also double poled the climbs up to Evertsberg except some few minor ridges where the track was too mashed up in herring bone patterns to be able to get a glide.
The climbs at the section from Evertsberg to Oxberg were probably the sections at which I took most positions set aside the marshes. I had to stop to pee after the Enervit service at Vasslan meaning I lost some positions at the beginning of the first 1 km climb after the road crossing. But onwards from that point I took more than 300 positions towards Oxberg and the Lundbäck climb up to Oxberg felt really good. Even though I didn’t go nearly as fast as in Vasaloppet 45 here a whole 3 minutes slower.
I had a bit of a weak period towards Hökberg when I ran out of sesame kex. Fortunately there was another Enervit depot at Gopshus followed by the Stadium control to refuel. The climb up to Hökberg was tough on me though I did double pole that too. Lost 4 minutes here compared to Vasaloppet 45. After Hökberg I started to get my energy back on the descents but it was virtually impossible to pass anyone before Krångåsen due to the heavy traffic in the tracks. But here again I was passing people on the way up and down towards Eldris.
In conclusion I can say that double poling isn’t such a bad idea for Vasaloppet. If you build a lot of strength and get some good DP skis and good poles it is absolutely doable. You gain a lot of motivation from gliding past everyone else at the flats and when you find out that you pass people even on the climbs as you feel things are coming almost to a stop it is even more motivating. Ok, confession time. I did double pole like 1500 km on snow this season. My friend Linus who was also starting at VL6 but on kick wax came in 35 minutes faster than me but he did not take 1600 places from Smågan to Mora (only about 800). He was 11 minutes faster up the first climb but from Smågan to Mångsboderna he lost about 90 places when I gained almost 700. I plan to come back even stronger next year. Then we shall see. 🙂 My aim is still to finish Vasaloppet in less than 8 hours and I dream about finishing in less than 7 hours. I do not believe it is unrealistic even with diabetes.
My blood glucose levels were quite stable during the race. I did the same as with Vasaloppet 45. I did not eat too much before the race. This meant that I had a much more easy morning and not so much stress. I stuck to my plan of eating a sesame kex every 8-10 km and drinking from the Coxa Carry belt during the first half of the course. At Evertsberg I dropped the belt to my friends family that were there cheering us on. I did not suffer the cramps I had from Evertsberg last year. I am in much better shape but I also believe that having a lower blood glucose level from the start saved me a lot of trouble. I didn’t have any back pain either. The Polar Vantage clocked my activity level to 1002%.
Of course as I was getting ready to drive home Wednesday in the snow fall it was all beautiful and wintry in Mora. You almost can’t believe the difference between these two pictures. The first picture is taken Saturday, the second is taken Wednesday when I went home but it looked like this already Sunday at Vasaloppet. So this is the difference between Saturday and Sunday.
One of the best investments I did last year was getting a training lesson with former Wisma Ski Classic Pro; Fredrik Byström (now working at Orsa Grönklitt as well as meticulously grooming the tracks there to mine and other visitors endless joy). It has meant a lot to my skiing development. I’ve noticed it on roller skis, but even more on the snow this season as it has moved down my heart rate curve in double poling as well as upping my average speed significantly. I really felt it on the last half of Vasa45 when I went the best 20 km stretch I have ever skied and just felt: ‘Let this continue a few more miles, please’. That was 18 km/h in average speed.
Hótigris 
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