there are solid reasons why feeble ilg was scared to the core and hunkering in White Thunder this morning
moments afore the Start Gun before my final chance to win the second of the two season long Nordic Race Series
that are the goals of any Nordic Ski Racer in the American Southwest…  find out why, below…

Date: March 15, 2026
Venue:  Final Race of the Grand Mesa Nordic Race Series (4 races beginning in December, ending today)
Location:  Grand Mesa Skyway Nordic Trailhead
Race Start Elevation:  10, 380′
High Point of Race:  10,801′
Race Distance: 20k
Race Start Conditions: 11-degrees, wind@23mph gusts to 50mph, track icy and the forested sections inundated with debris (pinecones, pine moss, limbs, et. al) 

Saturday, March 14, 2026:
waxed my Nordic race skis for the final time this paltry season…back in the day used to shiver and huddle next to a propane based “Mr. Heater” to wax berfore races… this year?  once again, heading into my final race?  no shivering… just a beautiful meditation in warmth…ugh..

ironically?  the forecast for the race up at Grand Mesa called for categorically different and much more harsh conditions within 24 hours of my waxing race skis in Durango, 3.5 hours south of my final race in which ilg was leading, yet?

See that Russel Bollig character just several points behind ilg going into today’s race?   Yeah, Russel.  He and ilg go waaaay back.  Mt. Taylor Winter Quad daze.  We’ve been battle dancing and trading podiums across all the high Colorado/4 Corner mountain sports for decades.  Russ is a league more efficient than feeble ilg in Nordic Skate Skiing – the bastardized yet wildly more popular version of Nordic Cross Country Skiing than the Classic (think; kick-and-glide) version which is truly the genuine yet unacknowledged great great great (did ilg say GREAT snuff?) grandfather of ALL winter sports – so ilg knew toeing today’s incredibly windy, cold start line?  ilg had to finish within a few racers behind Russ to retain my Series Lead and thus regain this Series Crown once again;  a title ilg has been honored to wear in OA, 50-59, and 60-69… yet today was the tightest of all the AG Races…

pic:  ultimately for those Nordic waxing enthusiasts;  ilg knows this is like Nordic Porn;  yet,  chose to wax two race skis to test… one pair was underbased with Max Glide and top coated with Swix 7 and the other (warmer) ski was still based with Max Glide – a black wax – because ilg knew with the high winds, there would be a ton of debris on the race course (pine cones, limbs, etc.) 

the waxing was crazy hard;  ilg had to wax one day before the race…called upon Evan Elliot (pro USSA Nordic Ski Wax Technician and former coach of my daughter for Durango Nordic and his Dad,  Mike Elliot was my first Nordic Coach)…also even texted Russ on his TAF’s for waxing for which he gladly offered … you see, dear reader,  ilg was fortunate enough to have the fitness/ski skills to beat Russ last week during the Snow Mountain Stampede 50k weekend… as ilg alluded to earlier in this blog….Russ and ilg’s epic rivalry go waaay back and continue to these precious days upon the Sacred Snows… when many of ilg and Russ’s peers are hooked up to o2 bottles and live with a host of mental/physical problems?  ilg and Russ still out there, just charging hard and beating peeps several decades younger than us and still giving chase and thus inspiration to the younger ones kicking our old asses…

Sunday, March 15, 2026:
fuck a warm up…just gonna test my two ski pairs…

that, ilg’s dear friends was literally ilg’s pre race TAF’s… reckon if Dewa was still racing by my side,  ilg would be more aggressive to do a warm up in the biting -9 degree wind and cold…
now alone?
no Dewa at my side to influence?
ilg had like close to zero motivation to venture into the monster wind and cold to warm up… so, ilg huddled in White Thunder,  did specific pranayama (yogic breathing exercises) to expand the plasticity of my
lungs and then,  toed the Start Line…

actually used a cool new idea;
employ not one but TWO BreatheRight®  strips across ilgs notoriously large noses (you know what “they” say about large noses?  yeah, def true) not just to increase nasal/pulmonary ventilation yet also to help provide my nose from frost bite in the -9 degree wind temp… you heard it here first, bruh…

Race:

dear GOD,
dear Lord Shiva…
like REALLY!!??!
WHY does this sport HURT SOOOO HARD FOR SOOO LONG!?!??!

gun goes off,  Russ is already 20 meters ahead of ilg going into first hill..
“it’s ok ilg, just stay with Peter*” ilg says to himself as HR soars into 185+bpm….  (*2nd in this Series behind ilg and see what happens)..

what happens!?!??!

ilg is totally ON!   ilg is on Peter like a Beaver Being chopping into an old Cottonwood Tree Being at rivers edge…
he’s like 6’3″ and a total great windbreak for ilg to get my teeth into and just stay on his skis… if Ilg does this?  mathematically might just win the and yet another season
Series Title by staying on Peter and let him pull ilg into a high math finish whereupon ilg can beat Russ (who was probably a kilometer in front of ilg this whole race)…

then 3k out from the finish of Lap One,  ilg’s archaic, ancient, antique ski blew a flat for no discernible reason… was mid stroke in a V1 and suddenly saw ilg’s left Madhus ski fly off my foot into the side pack…
fell onto my left knee…it hurt…numbed yet season by decades of going down hard as a semi pro road bicycle racer (2x State Champion, Tour de Gila Champion, Furnace Creek 508 Champion) ilg just stayed calm and
got my ski back on… yet?  Peter was already 300m ahead…

chased hard

all race long….

no one passed ilg

yet?

was not enough…

lost my Second Series Title of the Season by 2 POINTS to my friend:  Russ…

lost the Title on a mechanical… racing on antique equipment compared to ilg’s peers, yet, single daddy with a daughter in pre med?  have no choice…gotta just keep racing on antiques…

driving home to durango?   all-Ways grateful… 

it’s pretty solid that as ilg types these words to you?
for the first time ever,  ilgs lateral thighs are sore…(aka; feeling well trained in WF lingo)
that means,  ilg has uncovered a new technique layer in this stupid Skate Technique…
and THAT, my young friends?
is WAAAY MORE THAN ENUFF to keep ilg focused to Rise Higher next winter ski race season!
great job on the Series W, Russ!

ilg’s Winter Racing Series Results;  2025/26

55+ AG Champion at age 63:   SouthWest Nordic Race Series
60-69 AG Runner Up (by 2pts):  Grand Mesa Nordic Race Series

• GMNRS #1 + SWNRS #1:  Winter Start –  5k CL –  32/66, 5th AG
• SWNRS #2: Pagosa Cabin Fever – Jan 10 – 20k FS – 1st AG
• GMNRS #3; 10k Classic – Jan 24 – 5th OA, 1st AG 
• SWRRS #3: Chama Chili Classic – Feb 14 – 1st AG, 18k FS 
• Chama Chili Classic -Feb 14 – 2nd OA Male, 1st AG 6k Snowshoe
• Chama Chile Classic – Feb 14 – King of Mountain;  fastest times combined 18k Ski into 6k Snowshoe
•  GMNRS #4; 15k FS – Feb 15 – 14th OA, 3rd AG
• SWNRS #4; 30k Langlauf – 1st AG
• Snow Mountain Ranch Stampede: Race #1/2 – 25k FS:  39/OA, 4th AG
• Snow Mountain Ranch Stampede: Race #2/2 – 25k CL: 9/OA, 1st AG
• Snow Mountain Ranch Stampede King Of The Mountain: 60+ AG fastest times combined 25k FS into 25k CL
• GMNS #5: March 15 – 20k FS – 3rd AG, 21st OA