FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.

  • Running: An Essential Part of Ski and Cycling Training

  • Fort Building


    Check out our Fort. Helena, Caitlin, Idanias, Brian, Jayden, Shaina.

    I am settling back in to life in Hayward after Lake Placid and Chicago. This is an important recovery week for me to absorb all the training from the last three weeks.  With several afternoons off I have been enjoying spending time with my kids at the Boys and Girls Club.

    Enjoying a good meal around the table: Jayden, Kaynen, Brian, Idanias

    We built a little village out in the woods.  Complete with living quarters, kitchen, table, cupboards, gates, doors and windows.  We braided grass for rope and used it to tie the sticks together.

    The kids loved having Caitlin come to visit

    My favorite playground is nature’s playground.  It is amazing what you can build with just what you find in the woods.  I think more playgrounds should be like this one…

    http://www.methowvalleynews.com/story.php?id=4125

  • Week In Review: Sat Oct 16th

    Clearly, I was a bit distracted yesterday, so the week in review is a bit delayed.

    Finally, it appears that FIS race scheduling is again in the news, this time with discussions of some wacky ski-cross type event.  Reactions have been, well, mixed.

    For my part, I’ll take this opportunity to repost the following chart showing the changes in the WC race schedule over the past 18 years or so for the men:

    I sympathize with the marketing problem that FIS has.  Everyone wants skiing to be both exciting and popular.  It probably is tough to get advertisers for a product that consists mostly of long races with interval starts.  The problem is that by inventing new and ever more “exciting” events, you are tacitly accepting (and reinforcing) the idea that the more traditional events are simply boring.

    It may be that it isn’t possible to win the viewing public (in Europe, mostly) back to the notion of more traditional races.  But it’d be nice if someone tried.

    Related posts:

    1. <Week In Review: Friday July 2nd
    2. <Week In Review: Friday July 16th
    3. <Week In Review: Friday Sep 3rd


  • Sprint Practice in LP

    a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLi3gf4pl1I/AAAAAAAAEyY/qGFV6gJ4rjw/s1600/IMG_8840.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLi3gf4pl1I/AAAAAAAAEyY/qGFV6gJ4rjw/s400/IMG_8840.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528370311540086610″ //aHere are a couple of pictures from this mornings sprint practice in Lake Placid. I was a finish timer so I did not get to take pictures once the action started, but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the weather turned from nasty (42 and a light rain) to worse (cooler with a harder rain). I lined our van up next to the finish and had a good, warm, dry place to work.br /For some great pictures and times, go to nccsef.orgbr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLi3SWHwb4I/AAAAAAAAEyQ/WEVvZvbXJW0/s1600/IMG_8842.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLi3SWHwb4I/AAAAAAAAEyQ/WEVvZvbXJW0/s400/IMG_8842.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528370068400926594″ //aEveryone started with a 1.3 km prelim and then we sent out 4-5 at a time in heats. We sent the 4 fastest together so that they could practice racing against people of similar speeds. Everyone raced 3 heats. The set up and the idea of the workout were very good, but the weather made it really tough for people to stay warm. It turned out to be a really good workout for learning how to deal with the elements, but it isn’t something that you want to expose yourself to many times. This afternoon people are pooped. It is more from dealing with the elements than from racing 4 sprint laps. br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLi3C9lFKII/AAAAAAAAEyE/iRR6FhPxkbQ/s1600/IMG_8844.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLi3C9lFKII/AAAAAAAAEyE/iRR6FhPxkbQ/s400/IMG_8844.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528369804114995330″ //aThe pictures from above are from the start of the prelim, when it was relatively warm and dry.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLi2m33MVNI/AAAAAAAAEx8/uGALZ_7XCG0/s1600/IMG_8849.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLi2m33MVNI/AAAAAAAAEx8/uGALZ_7XCG0/s400/IMG_8849.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528369321544013010″ //aThis started just as we finished the final Heat! Thank goodness we had a strength workout planned for this afternoon.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-7223173184335793469?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • A Chance to Ride with Lance Armstrong!

    ttspan style=”font-size:x-small;”by Ryley Walker/span/ttbr /br /ttspan style=”font-size:x-small;”Although I’ve followed Lance Armstrong on Facebook and Twitter and watched him in bike movies like, “Chasing Legends,” it wasn’t until Tuesday that I realized that he is the man, the myth and the legend by biking next to him for 10 miles. /span/ttbr /br /ttspan style=”font-size:x-small;”Lance Tweeted and Facebooked that he was going to be riding from Waterbury to Sugarbush lodge and invited all bikers to come. After seeing this I heard that a few fellow Gumbies had been on his Facebook and Twitter as well. We headed out at 3 to ride to Waterbury so we could join Lance on his ride back through Waitsfield and then to Sugarbush. The group consisted of Vinnie Scalia, Tim Henderson, Thomas Walsh, Elena Luethi, Kyle Penny, Maddie Leopold and myself. /span/ttbr /br /ttspan style=”font-size:x-small;”The 100 or so riders who had congregated to ride with Lance were more like a group of paparazzi than bike riders. When we started to ride people started to get tired and only a small group stuck with him. Thank god I’m a Nordie. Vinnie, Kyle and I were confused to the location of Lance so we figured he was up in the front of the pack and after about 2 minutes of ferocious cranking we were in the front of the pack and then realized that we had passed Lance. /span/ttbr /br /table class=”tr-caption-container” style=”margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;” align=”center” cellpadding=”0″ cellspacing=”0″tbodytrtd style=”text-align: center;”img src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/TLiwQKhB_pI/AAAAAAAAB24/n3mN6DzMT0g/s320/photo.JPG” style=”margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;” border=”0″ height=”320″ width=”240″ //td/trtrtd class=”tr-caption” style=”text-align: center;”Lance Armstrong right in the middle, headed through Duxbury./td/tr/tbody/tablediv class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: center;”

  • Guess The Medalists: Answers Revealed

    Well I guess that quiz wasn’t quite as popular.  I suppose it was a bit harder than I thought.

    In any case, the race in question was the women’s pursuit at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.  That means the top five was

    1. Beckie Scott – Mystery Skier D
    2. Katerina Neumannova – Mystery Skier C
    3. Viola Bauer – Mystery Skier A
    4. Julija Tchepalova – Mystery Skier E
    5. Nina Gavriljuk – Mystery Skier B

    Go Canada!

    The correctly labelled graph is below:

    Related posts:

    1. <Prediction Game: Who’s Gonna Podium In Their Very Next Race?
    2. <Who Is This Mystery Skier?
    3. <Mystery Skier Revealed!


  • When Every Second Counts

    object width=”640″ height=”385″param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/bA136W8Qo20?fs=1amp;hl=en_US”/paramparam name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”/paramparam name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”/paramembed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/bA136W8Qo20?fs=1amp;hl=en_US” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”640″ height=”385″/embed/objectdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2910103639238326543-3907616848731213560?l=methowolympicdevelopment.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • How To Ship Your Skis

    div style=”border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;”/divdiv style=”border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;”I’m continually asked for advice on the best way to ship skis. Here’s how I would ship skis./divdiv style=”border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;”br //divdiv style=”border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;”Probably the easiest and quickest way to ship skis is to use your ski bag and some bubble-wrap./div  br /div style=”text-align: right;”/divFedEx will ship a ski bag without any problems. Before you worry too much about the skis being destroyed, let me assure you that the FedEx employees treat your skis better than airline baggage handlers. Just about the only “planning ahead” you’ll need is a trip to the hardware store for a roll of bubble wrap and a roll of packaging tape. A roll of bubble-wrap cost $3.45 at my local hardware store. br /table cellpadding=”0″ cellspacing=”0″ class=”tr-caption-container” style=”float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;”tbodytrtd style=”text-align: center;”

  • Utah Camp photos – UPDATED!

    div class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: left;”After a chilly and rainy rollerski this morning in Placid I look fondly back at the ideal training climate that we had in Utah. Just checked NOAA and we’re in for more snow and rain./divdiv class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: left;”br //divdiv class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: left;”Our annual fall camp in Soldier Hollow, Utah was productive and fun. We kept the focus and quality high during training to return home a bit more fine tuned and ready for the race season ahead. Training at a higher altitude is interesting, but the older and fitter I get the easier it is for me to adjust. This is my 5th fall in Utah and every time I gain a better understanding of how I am affected by altitude. I paid particular attention to this this year because it added an interesting element to training analysis and it will give me insight into the two weeks I will spend in Canmore, Canada later in November. I am super psyched about starting the year off in Canmore and look forward to the qualifying trials that will fill up the rest of our World Teams for December. With important races coming up ahead at higher elevations, Utah proved to be a good test.nbsp;/divdiv class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: left;”br //divdiv class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: left;”Check out a recent article on FasterSkier.com –

  • Night riding

    Got out for a night ride tonight. . .for the first time in about 10 years.  I forgot how much fun riding single-track is with a light.  It’s like discovering a totally new sport, chasing the crescent moon rising in the south, with the sun setting behind the hills to the west.  Every Thursday night, a group of about 20 riders attacks the CAMBA single-track for a night ride.  Jeff Schmid twisted my arm and convinced me to join the group this week and lent me a light.  Awesome.

    Judge Jerry – Lighting Up

    Taco'd wheel = long hike out of the woods.

    Can’t wait for next week. . .

  • The Polish Experiment

    A

  • Lake Placid Update

    a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLeD3H8WfgI/AAAAAAAAEx0/tVE4SJEHQM4/s1600/IMG_8808.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLeD3H8WfgI/AAAAAAAAEx0/tVE4SJEHQM4/s400/IMG_8808.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528032050668797442″ //aI am up at the USST training camp in Lake Placid for 4 days. Most of the USST is here along with the National Elite Group (top Jrs from around the country), a NENSA elite group and a big group from Sun Valley. br /This morning we ran a classic Prologue (2.4 km for females, 3.7 for males). The course included a good mix of terrain with a long climb on each lap. Roller ski speeds vary greatly so it is hard to get too excited about results, but I was impressed with everyones effort. The USST men looked very good, as they went 1-4 with some of the slower skis in the race.br /Our SMS skiers skied well and worked hard :). Heather, pictured above, mixed it up with the big girls and Austin was close to a bunch of kids with much faster skis Skyler is fighing a head cold so he skipped the race and took some pictures.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLeDX1d8VrI/AAAAAAAAExs/6sQ8QcrjI3w/s1600/IMG_8813.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLeDX1d8VrI/AAAAAAAAExs/6sQ8QcrjI3w/s400/IMG_8813.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528031513133471410″ //aAs you can see, it was a nice day in Lake Placid.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLeCiggMCRI/AAAAAAAAExk/R8rXVgEaiA8/s1600/IMG_8815.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLeCiggMCRI/AAAAAAAAExk/R8rXVgEaiA8/s400/IMG_8815.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528030596972677394″ //aThe girls did 1 1/2 loops and the boys did 2 1/2 loops on the course that winds around the bottom of the jumps and then up through parking lot and towards the jump take off area.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLeCLoEiAXI/AAAAAAAAExc/GxMLSz4-2zc/s1600/IMG_8820.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 346px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLeCLoEiAXI/AAAAAAAAExc/GxMLSz4-2zc/s400/IMG_8820.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528030203867169138″ //aWarming up.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLeBxDtxF0I/AAAAAAAAExU/ymK_FQOrgYI/s1600/IMG_8826.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLeBxDtxF0I/AAAAAAAAExU/ymK_FQOrgYI/s400/IMG_8826.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528029747431413570″ //aDavid Sinclair breaks into a stride on the uphill.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLeBOB8cm3I/AAAAAAAAExM/rGhS1aLUR9o/s1600/IMG_8834.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 388px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLeBOB8cm3I/AAAAAAAAExM/rGhS1aLUR9o/s400/IMG_8834.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528029145660693362″ //aKris had his slower wheels on and still posted the 4th fastest time.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLeA9QFk7PI/AAAAAAAAExE/utqg6urD2WI/s1600/IMG_8838.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TLeA9QFk7PI/AAAAAAAAExE/utqg6urD2WI/s400/IMG_8838.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528028857399307506″ //aAndy.br /This afternoon, USST Devo coach Bryan Fish gave a nice presentation on technique basics that included some good drills designed to help get our weight forward. We ended the afternoon with an easy 1 hr run and some volleyball.br /This evening we have a presentation on nutrition and tomorrow we have a classic sprint race.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-1935330057129994220?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • SORRY!

    CIMG0492i’m sorry about the lack of updates recently… life has just been a bit hectic (in an absolutely great way)!!!
    I’m settled into my apartment (which I absolutely love), I’m working alot (making great food for hours and hours), and school has started (YAY)! I’ve been meeting alot of great people, and keeping very busy…
    that being said, i gotta get going…

  • SORRY!

    CIMG0492i’m sorry about the lack of updates recently… life has just been a bit hectic (in an absolutely great way)!!!
    I’m settled into my apartment (which I absolutely love), I’m working alot (making great food for hours and hours), and school has started (YAY)! I’ve been meeting alot of great people, and keeping very busy…
    that being said, i gotta get going…

  • SORRY!

    CIMG0492i’m sorry about the lack of updates recently… life has just been a bit hectic (in an absolutely great way)!!!
    I’m settled into my apartment (which I absolutely love), I’m working alot (making great food for hours and hours), and school has started (YAY)! I’ve been meeting alot of great people, and keeping very busy…
    that being said, i gotta get going…

  • SORRY!

    CIMG0492i’m sorry about the lack of updates recently… life has just been a bit hectic (in an absolutely great way)!!!
    I’m settled into my apartment (which I absolutely love), I’m working alot (making great food for hours and hours), and school has started (YAY)! I’ve been meeting alot of great people, and keeping very busy…
    that being said, i gotta get going…

  • SORRY!

    CIMG0492i’m sorry about the lack of updates recently… life has just been a bit hectic (in an absolutely great way)!!!
    I’m settled into my apartment (which I absolutely love), I’m working alot (making great food for hours and hours), and school has started (YAY)! I’ve been meeting alot of great people, and keeping very busy…
    that being said, i gotta get going…

  • The Necessary Contents of Your Water Bottle Carrier

  • When the training plan says hike for 3 hours…

    That means go hunting. I bought a small game license and with a little help from the Barnes twins and BethAnn Chamberlain, I landed a couple of grouse. Time for a small feast.

    My first sucessful hunt.

    My first sucessful hunt.

  • One year and counting. . .

    Wow, October 14 is the one year anniversary of www.garrottkuzzy.com.  It was built in one long afternoon waiting for a flight in the Albany Airport.  CXC’s design specialist, Irina Komarova, is responsible for the banner graphics and technical advice for getting the site going.

    It’s been a great way for me to keep friends, family, and fans up-to-date on the latest news.  One of my goals with the site was to keep it updated regularly with interesting, insightful, and funny stories and photos from the life of a professional ski racer.  Chris Rodgers put in his two cents early, saying a good website is updated regularly so there is always something to check out.  Over the past year, there have been over 165 posts, for an average of one post every 2.2 days.

    There have also been over 55,000 visits–that’s an average of over 150 visits per day.  If each visitor spent just one minute on the site (a conservative estimate), that’s a total of 38 straight days that people have spent (wasted?) reading this site.  Well, I’m glad you’re following ’cause all those visits inspire me to keep the posts coming.

    I turned off the “comments” section a while back, because I spent more time deleting spam comments (like: “Click here to get your official South Africa 2010 vuvuzela!” when I included the words “World Cup” into a post) than writing actual posts.  Of course, I always enjoy feedback, so don’t hesitate to email me: <garrottkuzzy@yahoo.com> if you’ve got any questions or ideas for the site.

    Recently, the CXC Team has gotten me into regular status updates on Facebook.  To follow along, go to Facebook.com, search CXC Skiing, and click “like” to get brief, daily updates from CXC skiers.  That’s also a great place to post comments and questions.

    Thanks for following along and keeping me motivated.  You can look forward to another exciting year on garrottkuzzy.com!

    Santi, Kuz, and the Rodgers Bros. – high atop Whiteface Mountain – October 8, 2010