Border to Border Ski Day 3 - Bob Saves the Day!

After my crash on day 2, I wasn't sure what to expect on the morning of day 3. I was clearly injured, but how seriously and how it would affect my ability to participate were the questions to be answered.

I had taken ibuprofen before bed, but woke up at 3 a.m. to the throbbing pain in my shin. I did flexion exercises with my toes for the better part of an hour and went ahead and took a couple more ibuprofen. Sleep was tough to come by the rest of the night, but I felt rested enough by 6:30 and decided I would give it a shot as day 3 is said to be the most scenic of the event.

The walk to breakfast was gimpy at best, but I rationalized that if I kept moving straight ahead and, if I could avoid any falls, maybe this would work out.

Breakfast options were not anywhere near as robust as they were the day before, but porridge, an open-faced sandwich with meats, cheese, and herring along with water and coffee satisfied my hunger.

The course for the day would leave from right in front of where we were staying at the Ruska Bed & Breakfast in Taivalkoski.

The bus would be there at 8:30 to which we would load our luggage and we would start the ski at 9:00. Unfortunately, I would learn from an event guide just before 9 that they were unable to find rental skis in my size. Just at that moment alongside the bus, I saw Bob (who is a geologist for the state of Alaska who happens to be my size and weight) exiting the building and immediately approached him to see if his earlier offer to use his extra skis was still standing. He did not hesitate to say yes and he pulled them out of storage area under the bus and I was good to go! After gathering my pack and poles, I was one the last people to get started, but there was no hurry as I wanted to be as careful as possible.

The course started on a well maintained trail system in Taivalkoski that was located in a forested and hilly area next to town. Its undulating shape turned out to be a perfect place to test my limitations. The weather was outstanding as there wasn't a cloud in the sky. While chilly to start, the temperature would rise into the 20s with very little wind.

I quickly met Linda who lives in Seattle who was hanging back on this day to ski with a less experienced skier. It turned out that she had gotten her undergraduate degree at Northland and her husband got his MBA from MTU.

The next person I encountered on the trail was Carol from Alaska. Once I learned that she was from the Kenai, I just had to ask her if she knew our neighbors the Uponens. As it turned out, she had worked with them! BTW, Carol says hi!

As you can see, I wasn't pressing and I took plenty of time to enjoy the beauty found along the trail.

Next I would run into Steve From British Columbia. We talked for a bit, but I started picking up my pace and moved on as I started to believe that getting at least 20k would be a possibility.

Steep hills had been a concern, but the herringbone motion proved to be no problem at all. There was some tork on the shin, but taping it with duct tape provided a degree of additional support.

Once off of the nicely groomed trails, the course followed a single track groomed by a snowmobile. The terrain was rolling through a beautiful pine forest.

Once I reached the aid station at Pajujarvi, I found myself 21k into the day with the bus option only 3k away. The bus driver yelled down to on the frozen lake at that point. I quizzed him about the options ahead. It would be about 10k to lunch and another 10 after that to last option for a bus pick-up. The weather was so nice, how could I not go on?

The next 10k would be single-track trails through rolling pine forest and across frozen lakes.

After covering 10k of lakes and woods, I reached the lunch stop that was at a scenic lakeside spot.

After devouring the tasty lunch while talking to a Swedish skier who lives in Switzerland, I went in to tackle the next 10k segment that turned out to be quite a climb, but led to a beautiful snow-covered spruce forest!

I would finally reach the top where I was rewarded with this awesome view of the resort area where we would spend the night.

The ski down to the bottom of the valley below was one of the most rewarding cruises of the trip so far. It seemed to go on for more than a mile. At the bottom was the last bus pick-up point of the day and I decided 44k would be plenty!

Once I got to the Hotelli Pikku-Syöte, I had dinner with my roommate Michael from Australia and with Jared from the U.K. Then Bob showed up for dinner with the Alaska contingent. I went over and gave him a big hug for making that awesome day possible for me and I bought a round of Aura which was on draft. From there it was on to the informational meeting about the next day followed by turning in to shower and ice my leg.