the gold rush '07 is in the bag

I survived my weekend and so did hollie. She had a real good time with her mom, sis and niece in SF and I got through the 50km Gold Rush at Royal Gorge Nordic center today. (hollie is not back yet, so i will let her fill you in on her weekend.)
The race conditions were very warm, but the snow was cold and icy...boiler plate icy. The first lap was just nuts no one was in command and the front group was around 25, (until 1/2 way around the first lap) then the climb up stage coach split things up a bit. Having a bad start, I was on the wrong end of this group and had to go big to get around the exploding skiers to catch up to the front. It took about 5 km of frantic skiing, but I made it back. Then I had to settle down a bit and find a rhythm. I settled in and tried to stay out of trouble. as we left the stadium for lap #2 I felt good about how things were going. We approached the first downhill turn and i strted to step through it when I noticed I was flailing and could not get any edge, I barely made it through. As we approached the big downhill I gullped and feared if i would get through the technical sections without stacking it. Again, I could not get any edge. The snow was like frozen dust on top of ice it just sucked, you could tell who the good skiers were as they adjusted their techniques and railed that section. Another gap to close. I fought hard and got back on after about 7km. Right as I got back on there was a little attack that sent me out the back. I regrouped quickly and focused on skiing hard and smooth. I ended up not getting back on and I guess i missed the final fireworks which saw the bad ass Carl Swensen go away for good! I skied the rest of the race with a University of Utah skier...I told him I was a former Ute and he tried to drop me...he did not, and i shelled him going into the stadium at the finish. The nice thing about skiing with him was that he was so smooth it allowed me to settle in and ski hard and calm! I ended up 12th on the day, 2:08:??. I will take it. I did not bonk and I skied okay. it was a beautiful day and a blazing fast race.