A Small Town Dream

It was about 6 degrees Fahrenheit when I pulled into the Mancelona High School parking lot. My alma mater. Home of the Ironmen. Jittery from caffeine and nerves. Lightly perspiring despite the chill. I was anxious about my wax, and I knew that I was about to step out into the cold to ski my brains out for 40ish kilometers. Even if everything went perfectly, I expected to suffer like a dog. “It never gets easier, you just go faster.” - Greg Lemond

This morning would be the 50th edition of the White Pine Stampede, one of the oldest cross country ski marathons in North America. For decades the race has started in my home town of Mancelona, MI and finished just outside of Bellaire. It is a true cross country race because you actually ski, well, cross country. I'm signed up for the classic marathon, and it has been my dream to win this race ever since I caught the Nordic skiing bug.

“Jack McKaig was like a Tootsie Pop. He was a curmudgeon on the outside, but a softy on the inside. He cared deeply about the sport and the race.” - Alyse Tarbutton, Volunteer Coordinator

Almost certainly inspired by Bill Koch’s Olympic silver medal from the season before, the first edition of the White Pine was held in February of the infamously brutal winter of 1977. Koch’s success created a fervor for Nordic skiing in the US that inspired co-founders Jack McKaig and Gus Konopnicki to dream up a race through the great towering pines between Crawford and Antrim counties. That race was from Frederic to Mancelona, and is remembered by local legend Tom Sutter for its -35 Fahrenheit wind chill and deep winter conditions over its 50 kilometers.

Despite the harsh conditions, 40 of the 90 participants completed the journey, and a seed was planted that would bear fruit almost every year for the next five decades. That's how it all started!

Fast Friends

Traverse City was my temporary home in my twenties, and I quickly picked up a cycling habit. A lot of the cyclists I met were also skiers, but I was reluctant to join the fun. All of my disposable income was going towards cycling, beer, and pizza. Could I afford another sport? Eventually I gave in and was then immediately hooked. Obsessed, I sought out all things Nordic skiing.

Watching videos of world cup racing, reading books, pouring over catalogs, bugging the heck out of Eli Brown…The challenge of skiing is not just one of strength, but the subtleties of technique are just as important, if not more so. It didn't take me long to realize that my cycling fitness only enabled me to ski badly for longer than I otherwise would have been able to. After a season of stumbling around the trails, I wondered; “Was I ready for a ski race?”

Have you heard about the Stampede?

Growing up in Mancelona, I was only peripherally aware of the White Pine Stampede. I knew about it somehow, but I didn't learn about it at school, or hear about it from my friends’ parents.

The people that I met in Traverse City knew about it, though. I'm sure some Mancelona folk have participated over the years, but there must be some kind of dissociation. The race starts in our town, but the people of Mancelona barely acknowledge its occurrence. Maybe it is because Mancelona has always been a poor community, and Nordic skiing can be an expensive sport.

For a lot of families in Mancelona anything more than groceries isn't in the budget. Sure, if you know what to buy second hand it can be cheap, but that requires knowledge. Knowledge that is rather obscure. They call it “nordorking” for a reason. The average denizen of Mancelona isn't very likely to crack the code on their own. After my sort of rediscovery of my home race, I had an idea. It was more like a dream, because it turned out that winning a ski race would be especially hard,... But what if a guy from Mancelona actually won the White Pine Stampede? It wouldn't change anything about how economically depressed the town was, but it might mean something. Maybe it would inspire another kid to sign up for a ski race.

Stepping Stones

My first attempt at the Stampede was in 2013. I signed up for the Freestyle Marathon with enthusiasm and a belief that I was going to fight with the best and maybe win. The hubris! By the time I was within sight of the finish line at Shanty Creek (The course has had multiple permutations over the 50 years. It currently finishes at Schuss Mountain), the better skiers were long finished. The course had destroyed me. Every couple of yards gained required me to stop completely to catch my breath. Each time I restarted it took everything I had, but finally, agonizingly, I completed my first marathon. 47th overall and almost an hour behind the winner Alex Vanias (Good job, buddy!). I was annihilated, and I loved it! I knew I would be back for more.

So maybe I was more of a classic guy. I still fell down a lot when I skated (I still fall down when I skate, fml). My thinking was that the classic marathon is the real deal! The original! Freestyle, aka skate skiing, didn't become a thing until the mid ‘80s. Racing classic technique I would be able to focus on my effort and not worry so much about falling over. My love of Nordic skiing only grew stronger as I trained through the summer and fall. I roller skied, I ran, I raced bicycles, and I continued to dream my little dream.

The 2014 edition was an important chapter in my White Pine story. I signed up for the classic marathon. My technique had improved, and more importantly, I had been humbled by my experiences the previous season. Long story less long, I finished 3rd overall! So close! Kinda. A skier named Jim Harrington was 14 minutes faster, so it wasn't exactly a sprint finish. Still, this was an important step towards achieving my dream. I started to believe again.

Nordic skiing is an amazing sport. You shouldn't be surprised to be out-skied by a senior citizen, or a child, and if you're male, don't take it too hard when you get “chicked” (it will happen). The sport demands both strength and balance. Endurance and technique. It's taken me over a decade of skiing to still be kind of awkward on skis, but I keep learning. Always learning.

Waxing and Waning

Three years went by before my next Stampede. Not sure what happened. I was probably prioritizing bike racing. Maybe I spent all of my registration money on beer and pizza. Whatever, I came back for the 2017 edition. It was a low snow year, so no marathon. I raced the 20k classic, but I didn't have enough kick (none), so 2017 wasn't my year either.

This whole time I had been living in Traverse City, but in 2018 I moved back to Mancelona. Things in my life had changed a lot. I spent several years swirling around the toilet bowl that life can be sometimes. Fitness was out the window and ski racing was far from mind. I was kinda depressed. But then I met Melissa and her kids. Coming together to form a family with them was the best thing that ever happened to me! Amongst other things, sharing Nordic skiing with them drew me in deeper than ever before. Family gave me the direction and support that I was lacking. The self discipline that was required to take care of them begot the self discipline that I needed to get back into shape. First I needed them to be with me, and that meant I needed a house. Getting my act together wasn't easy, but a year later I bought our house on the same street I grew up on, right around the corner from the start line that I never knew was there when I was a kid.

My Dream Renewed

My dream had changed. In my original dream, when I won the White Pine I would be recognized and be an inspiration to the… Mancelonans?, Mancelonians?, umm, the people of Mancelona, but now I had my own family to inspire and be recognized by. That gave me more purpose than ever.

Here and There

I did the 10k skate with a friend in 2020. Pretty casually. It was nice to ski the trail without any self imposed pressure. I was looking forward to doing the event the next year. Then the Covid 19 pandemic crashed everyone's party. Faced with cancelling the 2021 race, Ben Tarbutton and the other organizers had to get creative, and they came up with the idea of a virtual race. Skiers could participate while still maintaining social distancing. Clever! I was busy spraying Lysol on my groceries at the time, so I didn't participate, but kudos to everyone who did.

Low snow in ‘23 and ‘24 meant the White Pine organizers had to get creative again, and thus White Pine Stampede 2.0 aka King of the Hill. This version of the race was held on man made snow at the base of Schuss Mountain’s ski runs in the early morning before the lifts started running. Too early for me! Even though I lived so nearby, I couldn't be bothered to get out of bed that early on my day off. What can I say? I'm pretty lazy for a guy who often wears a heart rate strap and thinks spandex is fashionable.

In 2025 I'm in pretty great shape…? Hubris again. I raced the 20k skate and was just ok. I'm still that guy who falls down in front of you during a race. Sorry about that. That's ok.

My daughter had just started skating, so telling her about how Mandy Paull chicked the whole race was stoking her imagination! Did she start to share my dream? What if…?

The Race

Back to the parking lot. The 50th edition of the White Pine Stampede. Both of my kids were going to be starting the 10k later in the morning, their first Stampede. No matter what would happen on the trail, I was so proud to share this with them. Nordic skiing is a very special sport. Skiing connects you to nature. You learn to have fun outdoors, to embrace winter as a season to look forward to, and that there's always more to learn, even when you've already accomplished a lot.

It's almost time to race. I heave myself up and into the high school, I go through the pre-race rituals in the same cafeteria where I ate lunch as a student, before I know it I am on the start line, and then BANG! We're off and flying. Well, everyone else is. I'm dragging my wax. I overdid it by a lot! I have to work hard down all but the steepest descents. No rest for the weary.

The next three and a half hours added up to be the biggest effort I have ever done according to my Strava relative effort score, and in that time I was certain that this race was lost. DFL. I don't know why I didn't give up and skip the first or second loop. Somehow that would have been harder. I guess I wanted my kids to know that I finished what I started out to do. When I finally scraped across the finish line, I was destroyed again. My daughter had already finished and my son was not too much longer. I hugged them both, so hard, happy to see them in a new way. I didn't notice the pain had disappeared while we shared our stories from the race. The thrills and spills. We had so much fun! We did it together.

A Dream Come True

On the shuttle bus back to the high school I checked our results with my phone. The kids did great! 3rd and 1st in their age groups. My daughter was the 5th fastest woman overall! And then I saw my result. My name was at the top of the list. I could barely believe it! I won the MFing White Pine Stampede! The first person from Mancelona to do so. My dream had finally been realized, but it was even better than I could have imagined. I shared the experience with my kids, the day's adventure brought us closer together, and that felt better than any public recognition ever could. I still hope that someday some other kids from Mancelona will discover the joys of Nordic skiing and dream about winning our home race. It starts in our backyard, so why not?

Share the Love

Thank you Jack and Beth McKaig. Thank you Gus Konopnicki, international man of mystery. Thank you Ben and Alyse Tarbutton-and all of the other members of the ski race committee. Thank you to the 100 men and women volunteers that make the race possible every February. The seeds of your efforts will bear fruit forever. And thank you to the Michigan Nordic skiing community. The welcoming warmth of your smiling faces on the trails and in the lodges are what makes this sport so great.