The ICEMAN cometh

Usually when it's -18 outside I like to stay indoors, close to heat registers and warm blankets. I drink tea and I'll eat whatever is left in the fridge regardless of how many days past it's due date it is to avoid going into the icy cold void that lies between me and the grocery store. Well last weekend me a a couple of Balance Point Racing pals Andrew Sellars and Kevin ventured up North for the annual Prince George Iceman.
For those of you unfamiliar, the Iceman is a multi sport race beginning with an 8km xc ski, then a 10 km run into town to the rink where you skate 5km on speed skates, take em off and run 5km to the pool to complete the race with an 800 meter swim. If it sounds crazy, that's because it is. Crazy is often fun, however, and Andrew and I had a blast doing this race. http://www.mag-net.com/iceman/index.html
The part of the race that was the most fun was the speed skate. I learned how to speed skate on the Tuesday before the race on a pair of skates that were clearly older than I was. I ripped my shoes off, got my skates on and slowly wound it up on the 400m oval. One of the volunteers counted my laps for me, and on the 3rd lap she yelled out "third lap!". Well, I guess it kind of distracted me and as I looked over her way, I went onto the wrong edge of my skate and was suddenly traveling towards her at a very fast rate! Thanks to 7 years of hockey as a kid, I was able to pull it together and not bail at high speed (I guess this is why they made us wear helmets this year!) Thanks to Joanne from the Salmon Arm Speed Skating Club for coming to Vernon to give me a lesson, teach me how to sharpen the skates and lend me a pair of them.
The strangest transition in the race was going from the 2nd run to the pool. You run into the pool, strip down all your layers of clothes until you're just in your speedo and jump in the pool. It felt like jumping into a hot tub after running around like a fool for the past 2 hours in -18. I was a little dissapointed that the water melted the great ice mane that I had developed from having sweat down the back of my head for so long outside. Congrats to Andrew for coming 5th overall in the solo category! I was next in after him so having 2 BPR members in the top 6 isn't bad... but next year watch out you Prince George boys!
Now it's time to prepare for the next non-triathlon multisport event: the Ski 2 Sea in Kelowna: www.ski2sea.ca. I did it solo for the first time last year and it was such a great experience that I'm planning on doing it again... The BPR team will be putting in more than one team as well, so if you're interested, contact Andrew or myself as we have a list going of current team members to put on teams.
Thanks for reading, I plan on writing again this weekend when I go for the first OUTSIDE ride of the year!
Mike