Thursday, December 25, 2008
Happy Holdiays
I am spending today with my family and I hope that all of you are around people who you care about. Enjoy the winter weather, or summer if you are in Australia. My parents and I have created a maze of trails for my dog in our backyard, as the snow is too deep and tough for her to get through on her own, she does these sprints through our snow packed paths and puts on quite a show. Anyway, pictures to come....Happy Holidays!
Monday, December 8, 2008
Colors
Day off after two days of racing. Our first sprint of the season was on Saturday and a 10K skate followed on Sunday. It was great to be racing on a loop again, as West's out and back classic race and point to point skate race made it difficult to have much terrain change. Our coaches dialed the wax both days and worked their tail ends off helping us out. Canada is into getting things done quickly, which is awesome, especially on sprint days. Saturday's race was done in an equally efficient manner, sending all 100 dudes out, one every 15 seconds, and then immediately, with no break, all 50 girls out right behind the last boy starter. If having a girl start 15 seconds behind you when you are a junior boy doesn't get you going, I don't know what else would. As a coach trying to get splits for his athletes, it was a cluster, but as a skier it was pretty fun.
Silver Star is beautiful and it is always fun to stay in one of the houses on the knoll whose color is one that your mom would never think to paint your own home. Bright yellows, greens, blues, purples, pinks, you name it, and in many cases the trim is an equally exciting shade, making the house look all the more inviting. After all, anyone who lives in a house whose shade is a bright pink, must be one of the more friendly people you will ever meet.
Taz Mannix starting off
Mo hammering
Noah hanging with Frederic Touchette
Coming through the stadium for Lap 2
Weirdo skiing with Kristina Strandberg
Kuzzy starting things off
Things are great here, but I have to say, our cheer squad from West was missing in a big way...
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The Drive....
Yesterday, our Continental Cup (CC) Team got in the car at 6 am and drove the 16 hours it takes to get to Silverstar, BC. We are all a bit sore and stiff today, but very happy to be here. Here are a few more pictures from West Yellowstone, as our internet connection is much better here.
Leif Zimmermann after a great race on Saturday
Our strength coach, Alex Moore made the trip from Park City for the week.
He is from Australia and is the guy in shorts running behind me...
Alex having a little "squat picnic" with our PT Aaron Saari on the trails. These guys were the best cheerers out there. On Saturday they both showed up in shorts and T-shirts, clad with pots and pans (drums) and parked themselves 500 meters from the finish and at the bottom of the biggest hill on the course. They banged the drums for every skier and had full on bruises on their legs from hitting these drums so hard all day long. Best cheering squad I can remember. Someday they need to go to the Vassaloppet just to cheer because they would be the life of the party, and that is saying something since all 70K of the course is a party. Big thanks to these guys for making the trip, bringing their expertise, and cheering like hell.
Members of the CC Team doing a presentation in West last week
Left to Right: Lindsey Dehlin, Lin Willi, Noah Hoffman,
Garrott Kuzzy, Morgan Arritola, Matt Gelso, me
Thanksgiving
Tax Mannix
Noah Hoffman on his way to a 4th
Rosie Brennen, Lindsay Williams and Lindsey Dehlin skiing hard in the classic race
Thanks to Dan Dehlin for the photos.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
West Yellowstone
Well, West Yellowstone pulled it off again. This is the third year where the snow has been very slim leading up to the Yellowstone Ski Festival and the first Supertour races of the year. Last year, the girls from the local coffee shop, rode their bikes in bikinis around town the day before the festival was planned to start. They woke up the next morningto 6 inches of fresh snow, just enough to get the races off. This year the snow never came, and neither did the bikini bike ride, but the event organizers plowed the road up to the "plateau" (a network of trails about 1200 feet above town), groomed some 30 kilometers of trails, and held the races there. Our team put up some good results with Morgan Arritola leading our girls squad both days and Noah Hoffman and Leif Zimmermann leading it for the boys on Friday and Saturday respectively. We are now headed to Silverstar, BC, as West Yellowstone is not the only place in the country lacking snow right now and both Bozeman, MT and Soldier Hollow, UT races were cancelled. We are driving tomorrow and hoping to make it there in about 15 hours. I will keep you posted on what we find in Canada.
Morgan Arritola heading for the win on Saturday
More pictures to come.....
Friday, November 14, 2008
NYC
Sunday, November 9, 2008
First Post
This is my first post, so for all who do not know me, I will fill you in a bit on who I am. I am a nordic ski racer who grew up in East Montpelier, Vermont, went to school at a ski academy called Burke Mountain Academy, and now live part time in Park City, Utah to train.
I then went back home to Vermont for a three week block of family time and continued low altitude training. During that time, with Onion River Sports sponsoring the event, I put on a clinic at Morse Farm Touring Center, at which 25 people showed up. As usual, I was impressed with the turnout of avid cross country skiers, all itching for the first snowfall of the year. Thanks for all the enthusiasm of all who came, and especially to the high school skiers who gave up half their Saturday to come to a clinic. It's really awesome to see how much fun everyone is having with the sport. Ben and Jerry were right, "If it's not fun, why do it?" You all brought such a great spirit to the day, and it made for a really fun day for me. So thanks to all, and especially to Onion River Sports and Morse Farm for making it happen.