Three Frosties Wear Bibs

On a cold and beautiful Sunday morning, three of the Ripton Frosties met up at 7 a.m. for the drive to Montpelier and the Maple Onion 15k skate race. Rick Klein--having driven 600 miles the day before--was behind the wheel, and soon got us to the Morse Farm ski area three miles past the capitol building. We were the very first ones to register, which gave us plenty of time to tour the 5 k loop; it wound through a couple of open fields, and then into a narrow corridor through the woods, ending with a couple of steep and sweeping descents back into the starting field. About 60 people were on hand for the race, including some very capable racers fresh out of college--when the gun sounded they were off fast, and the rest of us strung out behind. The snow was soft, which meant it was hard work skating; there were no steep uphills but lots of long, grinding ones.

Anyway, Mia Allen came in 4th among the women--missing the podium by 8 seconds, and Rick Klein was second in the 60+ age group. Mostly it was fun to do it as a team--and to have bibs on for the first time this season!