Category: XCFeeds

img src=”http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l3eim49d4f1qzt3xbo1_400.jpg”/br/br/p…a stronghot-dog vending machine/strong, installed in your lodge is a great place to start raising funds. (viaKW)/p

We ran our mountain time trial today under cloudy skies and 70 degree temps. We have not been running much and have yet to hike so we were pleasantly surprised to see that most of the team set PR’s (personal records). Maybe the biking has helped with leg strength/endurance.a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TAWgk0aM8OI/AAAAAAAAC6E/46LAEBbsjSI/s1600/IMG_4468.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/TAWgk0aM8OI/AAAAAAAAC6E/46LAEBbsjSI/s400/IMG_4468.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477961076170354914″ //aAustin Cobb had a breakthrough and knocked 2 minutes off of his previous best.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TAWf9jM53vI/AAAAAAAAC58/Sxet3haucfk/s1600/IMG_4469.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/TAWf9jM53vI/AAAAAAAAC58/Sxet3haucfk/s400/IMG_4469.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477960401536278258″ //aSky-dog finds that being big and strong is not such an advantage in a hill climb. He still did well and was just off his PR.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TAWeg71Oa7I/AAAAAAAAC5s/pBEyibirF4o/s1600/IMG_4470.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/TAWeg71Oa7I/AAAAAAAAC5s/pBEyibirF4o/s400/IMG_4470.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477958810420014002″ //aBridger is intent on catching Skyler. He did it, but was nipped in the final sprint.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TAWd2kaPypI/AAAAAAAAC5k/b6HYKVj1F50/s1600/IMG_4472.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/TAWd2kaPypI/AAAAAAAAC5k/b6HYKVj1F50/s400/IMG_4472.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477958082578336402″ //aMagnus always starts carefully and finishes strong. Today that meant a PR by over a minute.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TAWdIgCtwnI/AAAAAAAAC5c/BOx8LZ14N8g/s1600/IMG_4474.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/TAWdIgCtwnI/AAAAAAAAC5c/BOx8LZ14N8g/s400/IMG_4474.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477957291131912818″ //aIzzy hammered the hill and Mac finished strong after dealing with his cramp.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TAWS-8I2MfI/AAAAAAAAC5U/xtFEZUZ0PRU/s1600/IMG_4476.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/TAWS-8I2MfI/AAAAAAAAC5U/xtFEZUZ0PRU/s400/IMG_4476.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477946131758854642″ //aHallie, Gage, Rachel and Cam battled each other the whole way up. When Heather came by, Hallie and Cam were able to hang on for a sprint finish with Rachel and Gage not far behind.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TAWSTX8ADCI/AAAAAAAAC5M/mo3TUNfmv9M/s1600/IMG_4479.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/TAWSTX8ADCI/AAAAAAAAC5M/mo3TUNfmv9M/s400/IMG_4479.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477945383306923042″ //aHeather paced herself very well. She let the group go at the beginning, but reeled them in and finished with an excellent time and a PR.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TAWRCEZwCpI/AAAAAAAAC48/As1_fgVwD44/s1600/IMG_4481.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/TAWRCEZwCpI/AAAAAAAAC48/As1_fgVwD44/s400/IMG_4481.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477943986493590162″ //aBrooke knocked nearly a minute off of her PR.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TAWQBZpNZFI/AAAAAAAAC40/Tq5pwsTmmWE/s1600/IMG_4484.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/TAWQBZpNZFI/AAAAAAAAC40/Tq5pwsTmmWE/s400/IMG_4484.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477942875504075858″ //aRussell Boswell made his mtn. climb debut with an impressive time of 34:32.br /Austin Cobb, Mac and Cam get skiers of the day for crushing their PR’s.br /Here are the times with stars for PR’sbr /Austin Cobb 24:45*br /Skyler D 25:37br /Bridger T 25:38*br /Matt B 25:55br /Magnus 27:28*br /Mac F 28:39*br /Izzy C 29:08*br /Hunter R 29:43br /Heather 30:00*br /Cambria 30:02*br /Hallie 30:04*br /Rachel 30:19br /Gage 30:35*br /Brooke 33:30*br /Russell 34:32*div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-2623015244957720389?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

…and how do we keep more involved? Here’s an interesting article from Fasterskier.com about the efforts and ideas put towards this issue in North America:divbr //divdiv

img src=”http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l3cay16Pgs1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/p(andynewell.com)/p

img src=”http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l3cau6b36A1qzt3xbo1_400.jpg”/br/br/

pp class=”MsoNormal”Because he…goes for it, because of his constant balls to the wall attitude. – emAn email nominating Andy Newell for the Johnny5/emspan /span/p
!–EndFragment–
p class=”MsoNormal”Imagine if this year hadn’t been an Olympic year, if Apollo Ono’s greatest contribution to the cultural record had been merely another season on emDancing with the Stars /emspanand if Shaun White had stayed hidden in his secret half-pipe lair high in the Rockies. (I like to envision it as a James Bond villain’s home really.)span  /spanWere that the case, were we to have avoided being caught up in the pomp and exuberance of the “Old-limp-dicks” as a former Olympic participant described them, then perhaps, aspan/spans a skiing country, we wouldn’t be crying on our Olympic issued Polo Ralph Lauren hiking boots.  Rather we’d be celebrating the powerful improvement and success of the ski team, most notably and consistently, the efforts of Andy Newell.span  /span/span/p
p class=”MsoNormal”span            /spanIt would be stupid to describe Andy Newell here and now.span  /spanIf you’re an English speaking skier who doesn’t fully know the depths of Andy’s abilities, you should relegate yourself to the fantasy island that Cloxxi lives on training solely on Catskis.span  /spanWhat you don’t know, and what may surprise you is that in addition to being a great athlete with interests in making movies, skateboarding and general dude-bro pasttimes, Andy Newell leads a silent revolution against the weight of succeeding in our sport.span  /spanHe balances his athletic obligation with more school visits than Jamie Oliver.span  /spanHe’s been known to call up non-profits during important days and ask if he can be involved.span  /spanHe’s remained powerfully loyal to his home program, the Stratton Mountain School, lending support and consistent presence to their program. Rightly so as Stratton started him on the road to World Cup success. In general, he’s a good guy./p
p class=”MsoNormal”span            /spanSo how does this push skiing forward in 2010?span  /spanSimple, while the rest of the ski world is mooning via interwebs (including this site) over what to do next, Andy knocked down five, top-ten finishes in World Cup sprints, two of those in the Tour de Ski as the first American competitor to take on the significant event in the world cup calendar and one of those a podium in Drammen, which for those of you in the cheap seats is in NORWAY where they eat Americans and shit our dreams. Think that race wasn’t hotly contested??span  /spanThere are dudes still upset they were Americanned at that event./p
p class=”MsoNormal”span            /spanFurthermore, were there no Andy Newell, there’d be no explosion of Simi Hamilton onto the scene as Sim’s confidence grew out of workouts against Andy (and, to be fair, Torin) in the summer leading up to this season.span  /spanSimply put, Newell is one guy pushing the envelope, the whole envelope as we grope towards a more focused future of skiing in the US and he does it with aplomb./p
p class=”MsoNormal”span            /spanIn a place where we are constantly trying to qualify ourselves as a skiing community on the world stage, it’s useful to have Andy Newell leading the charge./p
!–EndFragment–/p

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Chad and Hons battling to the finish line (timing cards in hand) Photo: Bellingham Herald

Mom and Dad Camping Out the night before the big race

I like to camp

Warm Temperatures but plenty of snow at Mt. Baker. Fun Fact: Mt. Baker holds the record for the most snow fall in a season 1,140 inches (1999)

Mom and Chad post race

How sweet is it to have a ski race in May?  Each year the Ski to Sea multi-sport relay race kicks off with a xc ski race on Memorial Day Weekend Sunday.  This year was one of the most competitive fields ever.  Ivan Babikov made the trip and he is one of the best climbers in the world (plus he was 5th at the Olympics)

A blast of dynamite starts the 450+ cross country skiers.  A pack of 10-15 elite skiers formed pretty quickly at the front of the race.  I started off conservatively and let drafting and my skis do most of the work on the downhills.  We began the big climb (9-10 min) and Babikov, Koos and I had a small gap on the field.  About halfway up Koos showed signs of tiring and Ivan started breaking away.  I decided to just go for it and made a surge to bridge the gap.  I haven’t skied near Ivan very much but it was easy to see why he is such a good climber.  He pulled over to let me lead but I didn’t have much interest in that and stayed behind.  After asking me several times to take a pull I reluctantly went to the front.  I wanted to do my fair share of the work, but perhaps this was a mistake.  With about 1km to go Ivan took the lead and a few feet slowly turned into 24 seconds.  Still a great race for me and a good position for my team Sportmans Challet.  I tagged off to my high school friend Sol Woras for the downhill ski.

Me, Martin, Dave, Torin and Kent enjoying a long cool down. Martin (15th Vasaloppet gave us some good double pole tips and advice, thanks!)

Results

img src=”http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l37qsesWVv1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/

img src=”http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l37qqw8iCE1qzt3xbo1_400.jpg”/br/br/

pp class=”MsoNormal”“It’s about access.span  /spanGetting to experience the speed and then getting used to it.” – emBilly Demong on improving in international competition./em/p

p class=”MsoNormal”!–[if !supportEmptyParas]– !–[endif]–/p
p class=”MsoNormal”One hears a lot about the gaps in US skiing.  There are gaps in how many athletes get taken into the sport as young people.span  /spanGaps across the country that are costly to move through en route to races.span  /spanGaps in training in the 16 y/o and over crowd.span  /spanGaps in the difficulty of our race courses compared to Europeans.span  /spanNo gap is greater, however, than the gap between the level of competition readily available to juniors and developing seniors in the United States and that available in Europe.span   /spanWhen Scottish-born skier, Andrew Musgrave took up residence in Norway, he explained it simply,span  /span“That’s where the racing is.”span  /span/p
p class=”MsoNormal”span            /spanCertainly, there is strong racing in the US, given the improved fields at junior and senior nationals as well as the FIS-U events in the West and Eastern College Carnivals.  The US provides possibilities for starts but they still all pale in comparison with European counterparts.span  /spanSimply put, to push skiing forward, more skiers from more programs need to get Americans to European races.span  /span/p
p class=”MsoNormal”span           That can happen a bit easier /span(almost by accident) this year with the revival of the National Cross Country Ski Education Foundation.span  /spanThe non-profit started by Reid Lutter in the earlier part of this decade had been on its last legs when a large donation came in the form of an inheritance gifted to skiing.span  /spanRenewed with money, NCCSEF jumped back to life and began supporting athlete trips, its origin mission.span   /spanPerhaps most importantly, the organization supported a two-week OPA cup trip populated with up and comers in the skiing world and set out a path that would help US skiers find improvement.  It’s a trip that will happen again this year.  APU will bring skiers over for almost 9 weeks, a similar trip as the one described above is schedule for 7 weeks of OPA racing.)  This is big.  NCCSEF gives financial hope to be able to emfeel/em the difference in European racing.spanbr//span/p
p class=”MsoNormal”span            /spanSylvan E. described the partially NCCSEF funded trip this way on TeamToday.org, “France has such an awesome history.span  /spanSkiing here feels different than anywhere else.span  /spanI don’t know why, it just does. This is a good different. Twenty-one coaches and athletes rocking it here in France for the next couple days.span  /spanCan’t wait to see what is to come.”/p
p class=”MsoNormal”span            /spanWith the growth and renewal of NCCSEF, we should all feel similar anticipation.span  Too often kids have been sent home with a large bill from European trips, with the growth and renewal of NCCSEF, 2010 became a year closer to the time when we won’t have to tell (read: lie) to a kid, “if you love the sport, you’ll find a way to pay for it.”/span/p
p class=”MsoNormal”             That’s something you won’t hear in basketball./p
p class=”MsoNormal”spanbr//span/p
p class=”MsoNormal”span        Donate at:

Eric, Torin, Sam (Team MOD) and Me (CXC) after our final ski in Bend

Smith Rocks Climbing Take 2

Naney

First lead climb in a long time

Great time in Bend. Rest/Travel day and Ski to Sea tomorrow.  Good Times

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TAAfn4D7ILI/AAAAAAAAC4s/ZBenLKO514E/s1600/IMG_4446.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/TAAfn4D7ILI/AAAAAAAAC4s/ZBenLKO514E/s400/IMG_4446.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476411916806725810″ //abr /Congratulations to our X-C Graduates! br /Skyler and Austin Caldwell have deferred from college and will be back at SMS for a PG year. Isabel, Gage and Austin Cobb are off to Dartmouth, UVM and Middlebury.br /They will all be training with us this summer.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-6818443052487894245?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

Sam and Erik express their opinions of not being able to climb

We dropped Scott off at the airport yesterday afternoon and decided to take advantage of being so close to Smith Rocks.  A beautiful area that has held a firm place in my memory after my junior coach ‘Flash’ took Sam, Chad, and I here when we were in Bend for J3 Championships back in the day.  Our plan was a nice run and climb, unfortunatly the rain and lightning made the trip a run only.  Perhaps we can climb this afternoon.

img src=”http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l34sd6bvOS1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/