FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

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

  • Jalbert Residence Center, LLC


    Thanks to Phyllis Jalbert and the Jalbert Residence Center, LLC, the MWSC Biathlon Team has a new place to call home. Tucked in on the hillside, overlooking the beautiful St. John River and into Canada, the house is within walking distance to the 10th Mountain Center as well as town itself. Athletes will be able to call this their home and feel like a part of the community as they train daily in and around the surrounding area.

    The house will be renovated over the summer, but we took a few pictures of the “before”. Check back to see how the new athlete residence center evolves!


    Phyllis and the crew.


    A view of the front entrance


    The back side showing both levels and a nice deck ready and waiting for a grill to “accessorize” it!


    The view off the deck looking towards the St. John River and Canada.


    The living room. Take note of the cieling…ouch!


    Russell admiring the design in one of the bedrooms.


    Appliances that “pop” out at you. Push the button and presto, you have a blender!


    Most definitely from the 70’s!


    Uhhh, not sure what this is?

  • Jalbert Residence Center, LLC


    Thanks to Phyllis Jalbert and the Jalbert Residence Center, LLC, the MWSC Biathlon Team has a new place to call home. Tucked in on the hillside, overlooking the beautiful St. John River and into Canada, the house is within walking distance to the 10th Mountain Center as well as town itself. Athletes will be able to call this their home and feel like a part of the community as they train daily in and around the surrounding area.

    The house will be renovated over the summer, but we took a few pictures of the “before”. Check back to see how the new athlete residence center evolves!


    Phyllis and the crew.


    A view of the front entrance


    The back side showing both levels and a nice deck ready and waiting for a grill to “accessorize” it!


    The view off the deck looking towards the St. John River and Canada.


    The living room. Take note of the cieling…ouch!


    Russell admiring the design in one of the bedrooms.


    Appliances that “pop” out at you. Push the button and presto, you have a blender!


    Most definitely from the 70’s!


    Uhhh, not sure what this is?

  • Let’s Move Outside article of note

    div style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: medium;”br //span/divspan class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: medium;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k1DHbqzFvCE/S_GV0AVNvdI/AAAAAAAAA-U/3evH-XOhEdM/s1600/IMG_1256.JPG”/a/spandiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: medium;”br //span/divspan class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: medium;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k1DHbqzFvCE/S_GVzu3RbaI/AAAAAAAAA-M/0tQNkfHAOHg/s1600/IMG_1252.JPG”/a/spanspan class=”Apple-style-span” style=” ;font-family:Arial, Verdana, sans-serif, ‘Trebuchet MS’, Tahoma;font-size:12px;”h1 style=”margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Georgia; “

  • Weekend in the Pyrenees!

    This past weekend I decided to head to the Pyrenees to do a little hiking in the mountains.  So I took a train early Friday morning to the little ski town of Ax-les-Thermes, got a map of the hiking trails in the area, and headed off into the mountains.  ”Walking season” doesn’t start in the Pyrenees until June so most of the huts were still closed and I had to instead do day hikes and stay in the town.  I soon found out why the summer is better than the spring for hiking as I found lots of snow not that far above town.  The weather also turned out to be not the best hiking weather and I spent a lot of the time especially in the higher elevations in a snowy foggy cloud.  So I can’t say I saw too many of the mountains but I know they are there as I hiked up some pretty steep trails!  Here are a few of the pictures from the weekend.

    weekend6Mountains and clouds

    The town of Ax-les-Thermes

    The town of Ax-les-Thermes

    Lots of snow!

    Lots of snow!Hot sp;ring baths in the center of town!

    Hot spring baths in the middle of town!

    weekend8weekend9weekend10Ummm....

    Ummm….

  • what a week…

    Last week was pretty crazy (as far as hospital visits go…). So here’s a quick recap.

    Tuesday: down to the Mayo Clinic for the super-special-MRI test.

    Wedesday: back down to the Mayo to hear the results and have a consult with the vascular surgeon.
    In a nutshell, the super-special MRI was very helpful. They could finally pinpoint the spot in my leg where the blood vessles were being squeezed shut, and I was offered a surgery to release the artery (which is what they tried to do last year, but the surgery the Mayo is offering a different procedure. they would go in from the side of my leg instead of behind my knee). Functional Popletieal Entrapment Syndrome (aka PAES) is such a tricky thing to fix, so the surgery isn’t a guarentee BUT there has been success with this procedure in the past. The doctor would only do one leg at a time, and he would only do the 2nd leg if the first one showed signs of the surgery being successful.
    I didn’t make any decisions about surgery right then and there, I went home to think things through.

    Friday: Stitches were removed from my thumb, and x-rays were taken. AND good news! the thumb joint is fusing nicely! so at least tha seems to be headed in the right direction for a change!
    So then I called Mayo because I decided I want to go ahead with surgery.
    I haven’t done any hard workout since Febuary, and my legs only seem to be getting worse. It would be awesome to be able to make another Olympic team, but if I don’t I am OK with that. I just want to be able to use my legs and do the things I love. I want to be able to do the Birkie when I am older, I want to go for runs in the woods, I want to jump in some triathalons… So now I am waiting to hear back from the Mayo to see when I can get in.

    BUT I did manage to fit in some more cooking videos… check out my HOLEY MOLE PIE! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twCjYTnWr44

  • Photo

    img src=”http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l2jd8vaj4K1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/

  • “Are you a teabagger?”

    “Are you a teabagger?”br/br/ – emOutgoing Coaches Committee Chair to Incoming Coaches Committee chair discussing politics at dinner post Congress. This line was delivered without a hint of humor or irony and as such was freaking hilarious./em

  • Back in the Saddle

    Mountain bike racing for the second week in a row!  Can’t remember the last time I did back-to-back weekends of bike racing. . .probably not since I rode my bike more than once a week.

    Cable, Wisconsin hosted the Cable Classic–23 miles of bike racing on the local CAMBA trails.  After a brutal awakening to the bike season in Rhinelander last weekend (it was all I could do to make it to the finish on my bike), I decided to start this weekend’s race a little more conservatively.  It was great to be in the field with a bunch of familiar faces from the ski and bike world.  A big bottleneck at the start of the race to get into the single-track also kept me in check from going out too hard at the start.

    Instead of getting dropped by everyone that passed me this week, I was able to hang on to most of the wheels in front of me and occasionally close the gap up to the next group.  From the stories afterwards, it sounds like about half the field took a wrong turn at some point during the race, but I was somehow able to stay on the right track (thanks to some reminders from the riders around me!).

    In the end, I came into the finish with a pack of about five riders, giving me the chance to work on my finishing tactics (something I don’t get to work on much in individual start ski races).  It was great to be competitive at the finish of this weekend’s race, even if I did finish 12 minutes off the leaders.  Being back with the mountain bike crowd got me fired up to spend more time on the bike this summer and get back into the swing of riding.

    photo: jay richards & skinnyski.com

    Jack Hinkens, Hopkins skier and mountain bike racer, ended up 6th after riding an extra mile going off trail in 2nd place.  He’s off to Germany to train with the US Junior National mtb team in a couple weeks.

    photo: jay richards & skinnyski.com

    I got to catch up with two of the Midwest’s top junior racers, Jack Hinkens and Jake Richards.  Both guys ride all summer and are two of the fastest skiers in the State in the winter.  It probably doesn’t hurt that Jake has some of the best bike and ski trails right in his backyard at Maplelag Resort.

    While I’m on the subject of shout out’s, I’ve got to thank New Moon for the bike once again this weekend.  Without them, I would’ve been sitting on the sideline watching the past two bike races.  One of these days, Specialized will get my bike in stock & I won’t have to race on a rental bike anymore!

    One final shout?  Want to read a great race blog?  Ted King is the man.  My Middlebury Cycling teammate is riding in the Giro d’Italia for Cervelo and has some great insight and humor from inside the peloton.  He somehow finds time after racing six hours a day to punch out some classic entries on his blackberry.  Check it.

  • Pictures from the Week

    a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-_cDz7F5AI/AAAAAAAACzk/i9NQJpTsNxM/s1600/DSC00763.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-_cDz7F5AI/AAAAAAAACzk/i9NQJpTsNxM/s400/DSC00763.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471834030314218498″ //aThese three pictures are compliments of Tamra. On Wednesday the bike crew had their last race, the league Championships. 18 teams and lots of great action. Everyone raced well and had fun (except Hallie who flipped over someone in the finish). The girls won the A race!br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-_b5LS7PLI/AAAAAAAACzc/VjcDsNh6yTo/s1600/DSC00753.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-_b5LS7PLI/AAAAAAAACzc/VjcDsNh6yTo/s400/DSC00753.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471833847609638066″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-_bvzJGaiI/AAAAAAAACzU/lombCuOFM_I/s1600/DSC00750.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-_bvzJGaiI/AAAAAAAACzU/lombCuOFM_I/s400/DSC00750.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471833686507153954″ //abr /We have been doing our strength workout after a run and agility work on Mondays and Fridays. We’re starting to see some pretty nice stuff.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-85gs3zg0I/AAAAAAAACzE/mSvSwkurlD8/s1600/IMG_4062.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/S-85gs3zg0I/AAAAAAAACzE/mSvSwkurlD8/s400/IMG_4062.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471655306242261826″ //aAs always, you can click on any picture (except the first 3) to enlarge.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-8456nm_EI/AAAAAAAACy8/8SByaIAhXtk/s1600/IMG_4053.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/S-8456nm_EI/AAAAAAAACy8/8SByaIAhXtk/s400/IMG_4053.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471654639917530178″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-84PpWhohI/AAAAAAAACy0/i74Z9ifTQ88/s1600/IMG_4063.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/S-84PpWhohI/AAAAAAAACy0/i74Z9ifTQ88/s400/IMG_4063.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471653913727967762″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-83oKkLMUI/AAAAAAAACys/YYxy0WxD7yw/s1600/IMG_4052.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/S-83oKkLMUI/AAAAAAAACys/YYxy0WxD7yw/s400/IMG_4052.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471653235448820034″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-82xeBh8jI/AAAAAAAACyk/lvZzG1P1YTU/s1600/IMG_4067.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/S-82xeBh8jI/AAAAAAAACyk/lvZzG1P1YTU/s400/IMG_4067.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471652295779414578″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-82Oy8YP_I/AAAAAAAACyc/6162Ey2Z9Ks/s1600/IMG_4069.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/S-82Oy8YP_I/AAAAAAAACyc/6162Ey2Z9Ks/s400/IMG_4069.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471651700099530738″ //aOur Saturday bike tour took us up through Londonderry, Andover and Weston and back on a nice hilly loop. It was fun having Andy Newell along for the ride.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-81KaqA3iI/AAAAAAAACyU/gBW0TskfmIk/s1600/IMG_4070.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/S-81KaqA3iI/AAAAAAAACyU/gBW0TskfmIk/s400/IMG_4070.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471650525348945442″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-8zwc5ccbI/AAAAAAAACyM/NBPLFyqTmqk/s1600/IMG_4073.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/S-8zwc5ccbI/AAAAAAAACyM/NBPLFyqTmqk/s400/IMG_4073.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471648979762311602″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-8yvCjOrVI/AAAAAAAACyE/rq9OMWrr91E/s1600/IMG_4074.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 265px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-8yvCjOrVI/AAAAAAAACyE/rq9OMWrr91E/s400/IMG_4074.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471647855998315858″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S-8x-K-1W2I/AAAAAAAACx8/etKCw8n6Goo/s1600/IMG_4076.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/S-8x-K-1W2I/AAAAAAAACx8/etKCw8n6Goo/s400/IMG_4076.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471647016447990626″ //adiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-6857117164697064457?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

  • Footage of the USSA #Fungress2010

    pThis is what happens when people start speaking out of turn./p

  • Live footage of the conversation around the Junior National…

    object width=”400″ height=”326″param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/vLiwqmJY314rel=0egm=0showinfo=0fs=1″/paramparam name=”wmode” value=”transparent”/paramparam name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”/paramembed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/vLiwqmJY314rel=0egm=0showinfo=0fs=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”400″ height=”326″ allowFullScreen=”true” wmode=”transparent”/embed/objectbr/br/pLive footage of the conversation around the Junior National Relay at the USSA Fungress. /p

  • “Quit making this a PANSY sport.”

    “Quit making this a PANSY sport.”br/br/ – em R.A.C.M.  #Bestlineoftheday #Fungress2010/em

  • “Well that’s at the Banquet.”

    “Well that’s at the Banquet.”br/br/ – em Random Anonymous Coach responses to the discussion about racing in relays having too much “bumping and grinding.” #FUNGRESS2010/em

  • What did you have for breakfast?

    The new training season has gotten off to a good start and our first training camp is right around the corner. It was nice to have some some down time this spring and a relaxed start to the season.div style=”text-align: center;”***/divdivbr //divdivdivIn continuation of the post about Michelle span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_0″Obama’s/span bspan class=”Apple-style-span” style=”color:#330099;”Let’s Move program/span/b I wanted to share an interesting article about a matter that I am increasingly interested in. Rachel

  • “WELL SHE WAS TALKING RIGHT THE F#CK OVER ME!!!!”

    “WELL SHE WAS TALKING RIGHT THE F#CK OVER ME!!!!”br/br/ – em Not so random anonymous coaching edition.  #SweetFungress2010 Edition/em

  • Photo

    img src=”http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l2f4nxzOw81qzt3xbo1_400.gif”/br/br/

  • “Don’t Bring Back the Ice Carver with the Chainsaw.”

    “Don’t Bring Back the Ice Carver with the Chainsaw.”br/br/ – emRandom Anonymous Coach Requests,  USSA #Fungress2010, Junior Nationals Planning Edition./em

  • Whiteface Repeat Challenger(Unofficial Fundraiser)

    View of Lake Placid from Whiteface Mt

    This Saturday I am going to have the First Whiteface Mt Repeat Challenge. It will be an un-sanctioned rogue fundraiser with all funds raised going to National Sports Academy in Lake Placid. An excellent school providing aspiring Olympians the ability to grow and prosper academically while growing as a Athletes and Citizens of the World.

    The Goal is to 5-Peat the Toll road an 8 mile climb with just 3500ft vertical. This endeavor shall take approximately 6 hours and have a total vertical of 18,000 ft. Awesome.
    So far I have Five donations raised. Join the Challenge.
    If you want to Support the Repeat Challenge
    Donations can be sent to

    • You can send a check in one of the remittance envelopes found in our newsletter or by sending your gift to the school in care of Angela Price at NSA 821 Mirror Lake Drive, Lake Placid, NY 12946

    • Whiteface Repeat Challenger(Unofficial Fundraiser)

      View of Lake Placid from Whiteface Mt

      This Saturday I am going to have the First Whiteface Mt Repeat Challenge. It will be an un-sanctioned rogue fundraiser with all funds raised going to National Sports Academy in Lake Placid. An excellent school providing aspiring Olympians the ability to grow and prosper academically while growing as a Athletes and Citizens of the World.

      The Goal is to 5-Peat the Toll road an 8 mile climb with just 3500ft vertical. This endeavor shall take approximately 6 hours and have a total vertical of 18,000 ft. Awesome.
      So far I have Five donations raised. Join the Challenge.
      If you want to Support the Repeat Challenge
      Donations can be sent to

      • You can send a check in one of the remittance envelopes found in our newsletter or by sending your gift to the school in care of Angela Price at NSA 821 Mirror Lake Drive, Lake Placid, NY 12946

      • Whiteface Repeat Challenger(Unofficial Fundraiser)

        View of Lake Placid from Whiteface Mt

        This Saturday I am going to have the First Whiteface Mt Repeat Challenge. It will be an un-sanctioned rogue fundraiser with all funds raised going to National Sports Academy in Lake Placid. An excellent school providing aspiring Olympians the ability to grow and prosper academically while growing as a Athletes and Citizens of the World.

        The Goal is to 5-Peat the Toll road an 8 mile climb with just 3500ft vertical. This endeavor shall take approximately 6 hours and have a total vertical of 18,000 ft. Awesome.
        So far I have Five donations raised. Join the Challenge.
        If you want to Support the Repeat Challenge
        Donations can be sent to

        • You can send a check in one of the remittance envelopes found in our newsletter or by sending your gift to the school in care of Angela Price at NSA 821 Mirror Lake Drive, Lake Placid, NY 12946