Oh, my God I am so sore! I have a bruise the size of a
dinner plate and the shade of a New Mexico sunset on my left ham, another
bruise, the same size but not as colorful, on my right thigh, and everything
from my shoulders down to my fingers is tired—especially my forearms. It is
that deep tired I just fought hard ache, but I also fought a lot.
If you’ve never been to the tournament at the Market Day at
Birka, it is the most fighting you get in in one day anywhere. It is a three
hour holmgang/bear pit with ten 10x10 fields (step out you lose your leg, step
out with both feet you are dead). Each fighter is given a number. Fighters line
up and are fed in to a field to fight the fighter already there (who has just
won the previous fight). They fight, and the losing fighter reports to the
lists minister with his own number and that of the fighter who won (“107 beat
71”). The winner gets two points, the loser gets one point. Then the loser gets
back in line and cycles through again (or takes his or her helmet off to rest).
This year there were 144 fighters. In three hours they fought a total of 3,101
fights, an average of 17.23 fights a minute.
And *I* thought it would be a good idea to go back to
gamboissed cuises for this event. HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
WORKOUTS
Since last I typed, on December 19, I’ve logged 49 workouts,
though many of those were short. These included a wicked 10 mile hike around a
steep mountain course, and a three mile run in the smoggy Fresno County air,
which was so bad that I ended up with a smoker’s cough. It’s included pell work
and a few lifts, and every day so far this year I have done 50 pushups. I also
went to Cali and Vegas, ate big rich meals, drank more than I normally do in a
year, and turned 50 (yesterday).
TECHNIQUE
Are you kidding? Birka is not about technique.
FIGHTING
As I said, Birka is not about technique. It’s not about
endurance or strength or training or victory. Birka is about fun—it’s about
fighting until you just can’t fight anymore.
Fearing my own mortality (it’s true) and having only been in
armor twice since Crown, I set myself on a pitch count. I promised to pop my
helmet and rest as close to the finish of every 5th fight as
possible. If I cycled through the line with five losses I would stop and rest.
If I lost two bouts but then on my third time through I had a run of three or
five or fifteen, then I would rest. Then I’d go out for another round. It was a
good policy. I wasn’t out to win, just to fight. If I had any goals, I wanted
to make it all the way through and be fighting in the last group, and to fight
more than 50 fights (which is not hard at Birka but was a bit symbolic). As it
turned out I had a pretty good day.
The person who wins Birka is the person who wins his fights
the quickest. You need to have long runs of one or two shot fights and get
through lots of fighters quickly. That was my game 20 years ago, but today I
fight defense and win after long fights in which I don’t throw a lot of shots. That
was my first big issue.
I started out slowly. I was a bit rusty and it showed mostly
in my focus. I’d win a fight, lose a fight, cycle through again. I found that I
was thinking my fights too much. I’d get jumped while planning what to open
with. I try not to think in my fights anymore. Not working. I also noticed
there were certain people/styles that I was losing to, but since it was the
styles I always find difficult—guys my height or taller, with kite shields that
cover them from nose to knee, and who love to crowd you: in other words, the
Northern Region—I just figured I was not doing too well.
In my first round I fought Breeder and really turned it on.
He hit me in the leg and I felt a great shooting pain. Then he killed me. But
it had been one of the most intense fights I’ve had in a long time and I felt
very good about it. Then I took my break.
About midway through my third cycle I went on a good run. I
killed a bunch of people in a row. I realized something interesting: the reason
I was losing to the big guys was because I couldn’t retreat. I was locking them
up and trying to beat them belly-to-belly. After that I did a little better.
At some point I killed Duke Edward. I kind of dissected him.
He was using a center-grip kite. I took his leg. Then I threw a snap followed
by a slot, and it almost killed him. I threw it again and this time he had it
covered, moving his shield more to the center. Rule of 3: I threw the same snap,
faked the slot shot, passed forward on the right, and hooked his shield. At
this point he knew he was out of position and he ducked. I short-sticked him to
the back of his helm and won the fight. In Birka winning a fight means about as
much as it does in practice. For all I know I had been Edward’s 10th
fight in a row. Often times, especially when legged, opponents will kind of
give up so they can get out and rest a bit, because the real enemy in Birka is
time. Still, killing Edward felt good, and a lot of stuff clicked. And that’s
when I realized I wasn’t sucking at all. I was doing pretty well.
About half way through the second hour I started putting
together some good long runs and I started killing some good fighters. Then I
went on a really long run. I had a lot of luck in that one—I fought Breeder again
and he rolled his ankle and yielded, which is not a victory for me but kept me
going. I was fighting like it was 1990
and I was Prince of the Mists, using all my old one-shot techniques, which I
rarely use anymore. The only things I didn’t kill people with were that rising molinee
and the foot stomp. I used a rising snap, a wavy rising snap, a stutter wrap,
the butterfly (both Radnor’s version and the Gendy version), and several
successful hook-thrusts. A few times I successfully used Lucky’s passing shot
on lefties (Snap, pass on the right diagonally off line to the left—in other
words step through between your shield and your opponents, pass on the left,
turning to the opponent and throwing an off-side head shot). Twice I had runs
that were so long that someone cycled back through and faced me twice, and one
of those times I killed that person again. I even killed somebody with Jade’s
lazy floating snap (that’s where you start with your sword and shield down and
pass forward on the right, just raising you sword into a thrust that comes up
then down over your opponent’s shield).
I also lost a bunch of fights and got the crap beaten out of
my leg. I did some stupid stuff and got sloppy when I tired out. One polearm
one-shotted me (he had a left hand lead and I stupidly opened with a face
thrust) so hard I probably should have quit. But that was my rest break anyway
and after some water I felt fine. The only time I violated my pitch-count rule
was right at the end, when I finished a long run just before they closed the
line. I wasn’t tired at all, so I jumped back in and won a few more fights
after the close. The last two fighters were Ajax of Sparta and Duke Omega
(Darius), which was highly appropriate. I shouted “Thermopylae!” as Omega won
the fight.
I had a great day. I accomplished my goal of fighting till
the end and fighting at least 50 fights. The only two fighters who really
dominated me were Douglas and Breeder (who finished 1-2 in points). Doug one-shotted
me with a shot that I knew was coming but did nothing to prevent—he faked a
right hand snap and thrust me in the chest with his left-hand sword. That’s
classic Musashi stuff, and it’s why he won the tournament. I fought Breeder
three times, losing twice and once with him retiring: but I killed Edward, Gregor,
Evaldr (that was a lucky shot) Prince Brenan (with a hook thrust, same as in
crown), the King of Ealdomere, and several other knights. I double-killed with
Omega. Some of those were when they were fresh and were being cycled in to face
me. In the final results I was ranked 14th out of 144 (that ranking
is deceptive, since they don’t gap for ties, meaning there were three people
ranked 3rd and the next person was ranked 4th when he
should have been ranked 6th, but it’s still top 20). I finished higher than Omega. I fought 64
fights, with 48 wins, 15 losses, and 1 double kill, for a winning percentage of
75%. That was the 7th highest winning percentage, behind Douglas,
Breeder/Ionnis, Gregor, Edward, Konrad, Griffith, and Thomas of Ravenhill, who
had a 92.9 win percentage but only fought 56 fights. I was winded a few times
but I was still strong at the end. The workouts are definitely helping. In my
third go-round I broke my tip-heavy sword and finished with my hilt-heavy
backup. That sword always kills well. Even now, two days later, my forearms are
achy and fatigued, my shoulders worn out, and I’m limping from the bruises. Considering
that puts me right up with the three of the dukes in the list and ahead of the
fourth, I actually had a pretty good day. Fighting wise it was the best I’ve
done at Birka.
Results are located here: http://www.northernarmy.org/results/market-day-at-birka/market-day-at-birka-2014
Afterward I was so amazingly tired. I don’t know if I was
dazed, concussed, de-hydrated, or badly in need of caffeine, but I had a killer
headache and was just in a stupor. I think it was a caffeine headache, because
it came on long after the list was over, not during or right at the end, and a
cup of coffee banished it. Hot tub helped too. But the ache was as great as from
any crown I’ve fought in.
At midnight I turned 50, so I drank.
The pre-season has officially begun. It is 110 days until
Crown Tourney. My next time in armor will likely be Sunday at Brooklyn
Practice.
