The idea is the dog is supposed to pull the skier! Sometimes it just doesn't work that way. 🙂 Skijouring!

City of Lakes Skijoring Loppet and Junior Loppet from Scott Brown on Vimeo.

Perfect! This is the only way I can describe yesterday's ski race at Minnesota's Marine O'Brien State Park. The local ski club and the state park system did a phenomenal job of grooming, particularily when one considers the rain and ice of last weekend. Used hard green with a touch of blue under my foot, and it was the ticket! Enjoy some photos I took with my head cam … after all I'm ski cam man! (more head cam photos)(more Nordic Skiing content via MinnSki)

For next weekend's City of the Lakes I think I'll either have the camera point backwards, or take some videos! It might be nice to see a few faces in the photos. I'm still experimenting. Below the slide show, I've also included two of my favorite photos from an aide station stop!

slideshow Marine O'Brien 25K Classic on PhotoPeach

And the two promised aide station photos. Note the warm water on its way through the air! I missed the volunteer!  🙂 (Click upon any photo for a full sized view)

And finally 2 photos .. not taken by me, but one is of me!

Yesterday Molly and I had the privilege of being "founding skiers" of the first Birkie Tour. The idea is simple … The American Birkebeiner folks sponsor a relaxed day of touring on the course with aide stations, and food at the Fish Hatchery near Hayward. Yesterday's event was shortened to 44 km due to the impending rain. My wife told me the skating conditions were great, but classic was ugly! I had fun, but six attempts at rewaxing out on the trail never achieved the ultimate combination of hard  purple, yellow and klister to combat the icy tracks which had all kinds of pine needles and other debris. However, I didn't talk to any other classic skiers who had better luck. Anyhow, here are some photos and Garmin data from the Birkie Tour. The photos were taken with my GoPro wide angle lens camera (head mount). To see additional "ski cam man" photos link to MinnSki section!

Click upon the Garmin data to view full sized.

It's hard to imagine what the American Birkebeiner and the O'Reilly Ignite Conference could have in common. On the surface …

• The Birkie is America's premier cross-country skiing marathon
• O'Reilly Ignite is a conference that sets the tone for innovation

The similarity rests with the Northstar Nerd. I'm working with some folks in Minnesota to host a local version of Global Ignite Week in early March. Even if your geographic area does not hold a local conference, you need to learn about Ignite. We always challenge people to "think outside the box". Consider for a moment the number of boring presentations you've watched in your life. Ignite requires that no presentation last more than 5 minutes, and each slide MUST advance every 15 seconds. Thus, the probability of Death by Powerpoint is significantly reduced. At the end of five minutes a presentation is over. Presenters are yanked off the stage!

If a message can not be delivered in five minutes, is the message really understandable? Do your corporate presentations really need 10 point font bullets? Would you be willing to hold an internal meeting based upon this premise (5 minutes | 15 seconds per slide)? These are intriguing questions. I've attended many unconferences. There is no reason corporate presentations could not follow some of the innovations found via Ignite and Barcamps.

Okay, if you're wondering how the American Birkebeiner relates to Ignite, I decided to create my own Ignite style of presentation. For better or worse, I give you Skiing Outside the Tracks (YouTube Link). Innovation in the guise of the Birkie Tour. Given the fact that most Nordic skiers will never actually win a race, the Birkebeiner has created a new kind of "marathon", the Birkie Tour. The idea seems simple; innovation often is!

If you like the concept of Ignite, and can't attend .. you may wish to watch past presentations via Ignite's YouTube Channel. The upcoming event in March will also be webcast.  You may even learn how to be a better Scrabble player!

There was quite the crash at the start of the Twin Cities Championships classic ski race yesterday. The majority of the photographs are my own … courtesy of my head mounted ski cam, but the crash photos were taken by CyclovaXC … a cool Nordic Ski Portal. Regardless, see what it is like to compete in a cross-country ski race at -2F (slideshow).

See my Nordic Skiing Section of NorthstarNerd.Org.

Twin Cities Championships on PhotoPeach