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Category: XCFeeds
A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.
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Skiing Hillside on May 1st
One of my rules in life is this: If you have ski trails only a mile from your house, and they are still groomed in May, you need to give them a try. For reasons that aren’t really relevant here, I haven’t skied in a couple of weeks. But when I heard that Hillside was […]
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APU Nordic Ski Center’s Elite Team Fundraiser
You’re invited to the APU Nordic Ski Center Celebration & Fundraiser benefitting the Competition Fund May 4th, 2010 7-9p.m. APU Atwood Center Hors d’oeuvres, desserts, drinks will be provided. If possible, please RSVP to Phyllis Gross at pgross@alaskapacific.edu or at (907) 564.8250.This is a free event. Your donations are tax exempt and we hope you’ll consider joining us and contributing to
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Birkie Trail (or parking lot) Work
Expanded 'Double O' Parking Lot
Mini Dump Truck
The Birkie Foundation had a little work party on Saturday to get the expanded Double O parking lot ready to be seeded. 10 of us enjoyed catching up on spring adventures and left the lot smooth enough to be a soccer field.
Chris and I were talking the other night and he asked me I had a fake salamander. This guy crawled in to the house looking for a place to get warm. Pretty cool.
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The 2010 NCAA Champ…
img src=”http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1t2saalWv1qzt3xbo1_400.jpg”/br/br/pThe 2010 NCAA Champ…/p
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…exactly one year after Jurgen Uhl became the 2009 NCAA…
img src=”http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1t2qvezjR1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/p…exactly one year after Jurgen Uhl became the 2009 NCAA Champ. (FlyingPointRoad photo)/p
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Adventures in France
The day after the last classic race at Supertour Finals, my parents drove me to the Montreal Airport and I boarded a plane headed for Toulouse France. The city in the southwest of France is my home for spring. I’m studying in a Dartmouth foreign language problem, taking classes in French and living with a Toulousian family. The first few weeks were very difficult because my French was horrible as it had been almost two years since my last French class. I never knew what was going on and thus always felt like I was lost and living in a daze. But I’m slowly improving and now am able to understand most things and even communicate a little too thus becoming less of a mute. My host mother is great and very sweet and has been a huge help for all the problems and weird situations that I continually encounter or create.
A week ago was my school vacation week in Toulouse. My mom was planning to come for the week and we had plans to hike in the Pyrenees and do other sightseeing things in Southern France. But then Iceland blew up and all the airports in France closed. I waited through the first weekend of my break but after she had three flights cancelled and rescheduled it appeared the fastest way across the Atlantic was by boat. So I set out to find a plan B for vacation week. The trains in France were also on strike which made getting a train ticket anywhere very difficult and required waiting in lots of lines. Instead I decided to rent a bike. I thought it would be easy but after much searching I only found a white cruiser bike that weighs 25kilos. So I rented it for a month for only 10Euro and named her Babybel. She has 7 speeds, a basket in the front, a rack in the back, generator powered front and back lights, a kick stand, huge comfy seat, a big lock, and a bell. Then I bought a map of the Midi-Pyrenees region of France, packed a backpack of stuff, bought a baguette and a block of cheese and with my dad’s advice of “eat well, sleep well, and drink lots of wine,” I set off towards the mountains. I’m pretty sure my host mom thought I was crazy and was very very worried when I explained my plan to her.
But it turned out to be really fun and a great adventure. I would bike all day stopping to visit towns, villages, mountains, churches, castles and anything else interesting along the way. When I was too tired to keep going I would find a hostel, bed and breakfast, hotel, or some other cheap bed to sleep in. I had a general idea of some of the places I wanted to go but no specific plans. I passed through lots of medieval towns on the tops of hills. I biked a bit through Pyrenees but am saving the bigger mountains for a hiking trip later in the spring after more snow has melted. I visited lots of 10-13th century castles and churches following the historic Cathar trail. I went over a bunch of passes and got many funny looks from incredulous people wondering why anyone would try to climb these hills with that kind of bike. My biggest pass was up to the town and castle of Montsegur and was a 9km long and had an average grade of 5.5% and a last kilometer with a grade of 9%. It took a lot of huffing, puffing, and a little pushing to get over the top of that. For food, I would buy bread, cheese, nutella, ham, and apples and eat little bits along the way and then find somewhere to eat a bigger dinner along the way. I only had one really epic bonk when I just couldn’t keep going and I ate the only food I had left which was my “Emergencies only Chocolate” Clif bar which I dipped in the last of my Nutella and tasted amazing. But even after that I had to walk for a couple kilometers because getting back on the bike still seemed too challenging. It was times like this when I really wished I had a travelling partner but the trip was also a great solo voyage.
So 5 days, 4 nights, 400 kilometers, 9 castles, countless churches, 300 pictures, one dinner of Cassolet, 10 prescription strength Ibuprofens, one rabbit’s head that I accidentally ate, one unhappy knee, and many many baguettes and glasses of red wine later, and I’m arrived back in Toulouse safe and sound much to the relief of my French host mother.
- Babybel with the chateau de Montsegur in the background on top of the mountain!
The city of Carcassonne.
Mountain views.
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APU Celebration and Fundraiser Event
div style=”font: 16.0px Georgia; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-family: Times; font-size: medium;”/span/divdiv style=”font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Georgia; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: x-small;”bSpring time for skiers is time for rest, reflection on the past year, the beginning of the NEXT training year and of course, some fundraising efforts. nbsp;The APU team is hosting the first annual celebration/fundraiser event on Tuesday evening on the APU Campus. nbsp;Funds raised will be used to offset ever-climbing travel expenses for young and aspiring athletes. If you’re in Anchorage, we would love for you to join us. nbsp;If you are outside of Anchorage but still wish to send a donation, that can easily be arranged. There is no cost to attend the event and we are going to have some awesome items up for bid. nbsp;Just annoucned today is a training trip up to Eagle Glacier via Alpine Air Helicopter ride to ski with us during one of our summer glacier camps!!!!! nbsp;Additionally, the APU Board of Trustees will be MATCHING EACH DONATION AT 100%!!!!!! nbsp;Your donations are tax exempt and we hope you’ll consider it! nbsp;If you would like more information or have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. nbsp;Last but not least, please help us spread the word about the event by letting others know it is happening. Thank you! Sincerely,nbsp;/b/span/divdiv style=”font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Georgia; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: x-small;”bHolly :)nbsp;/b/span/divdiv style=”font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Georgia; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: x-large;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: 19px;”bbr //b/span/span/divdiv style=”font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Georgia; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;”span style=”font: normal normal normal 19px/normal Georgia;”bSneak Peeknbsp;into a few Auction Items……/b/span/divdiv style=”font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Georgia; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: x-large;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: 19px;”bbr //b/span/span/divbr /div class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: center;”
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OMG (Remix)
Matt needs to come back to Craftsbury soon, because it’s obvious based on his previous post that his tastes have been seriously compromised after his short stint in San Francisco. Matt, there is hope. Just come home, sit down at the kitchen table, eat some oven bread, and listen to some Taylor Swift with me – things will be back to normal, I promise.
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Weekly Wrap
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y-WYo3PdI/AAAAAAAACw8/0uJquf-5boY/s1600/IMG_3933.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/S9y-WYo3PdI/AAAAAAAACw8/0uJquf-5boY/s400/IMG_3933.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466453339501182418″ //aWeather played some tricks on us this week forcing a cancellation of the Wednesday bike race (too much snow), but we had a good time.br /Here are some pictures from the last couple of days. Andy and Tess joined us for some agility work, strength and a team dinner yesterday. Today we took a 40-50 mile ride in 80 degree sunshine!br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y-FRWP6yI/AAAAAAAACw0/rMWuEg_kSSs/s1600/IMG_3936.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/S9y-FRWP6yI/AAAAAAAACw0/rMWuEg_kSSs/s400/IMG_3936.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466453045486283554″ //aWe set up the slide board with the roller board that Bill Koch gave us. It works quite well !br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y9y6xFfNI/AAAAAAAACws/Hcp2upqE_hI/s1600/IMG_3939.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/S9y9y6xFfNI/AAAAAAAACws/Hcp2upqE_hI/s400/IMG_3939.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466452730187185362″ //aBrooke shows Tess the ropes in our strength workout.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y9dgwAJII/AAAAAAAACwk/SDjfKJmZuGg/s1600/IMG_3951.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/S9y9dgwAJII/AAAAAAAACwk/SDjfKJmZuGg/s400/IMG_3951.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466452362426066050″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y9EL8mPuI/AAAAAAAACwc/BCfTeA1JK0g/s1600/IMG_3959.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/S9y9EL8mPuI/AAAAAAAACwc/BCfTeA1JK0g/s400/IMG_3959.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466451927345020642″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y8sNAJv9I/AAAAAAAACwU/Q9rH7N0HLMo/s1600/IMG_3969.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/S9y8sNAJv9I/AAAAAAAACwU/Q9rH7N0HLMo/s400/IMG_3969.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466451515311505362″ //aAt the cookout we had some fun games of frisbee golf and 500.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y8VsBLxHI/AAAAAAAACwM/X0mCRprPtXk/s1600/IMG_3970.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/S9y8VsBLxHI/AAAAAAAACwM/X0mCRprPtXk/s400/IMG_3970.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466451128500339826″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y7fzwiyDI/AAAAAAAACwE/1b375d2_Zmc/s1600/IMG_3955.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/S9y7fzwiyDI/AAAAAAAACwE/1b375d2_Zmc/s400/IMG_3955.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466450202865092658″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y7KEarojI/AAAAAAAACv8/u1H4vBjCav4/s1600/IMG_3949.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/S9y7KEarojI/AAAAAAAACv8/u1H4vBjCav4/s400/IMG_3949.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466449829379678770″ //aWe had quite the crew biking today including 5 staff members, a parent, Andy, John Casella and the team. We got off to a slow start with a couple of flats, but then had a good ride. Some of the “studs” rode an extra 10 miles and we all worked up a good sweat!br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y6rpspfhI/AAAAAAAACv0/Co4lsiBLukE/s1600/IMG_3971.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/S9y6rpspfhI/AAAAAAAACv0/Co4lsiBLukE/s400/IMG_3971.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466449306811203090″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y59Vs_pnI/AAAAAAAACvs/EcgFmK4ayYk/s1600/IMG_3975.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/S9y59Vs_pnI/AAAAAAAACvs/EcgFmK4ayYk/s400/IMG_3975.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466448511169963634″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y5kW73n2I/AAAAAAAACvk/RCYLOSI5YUg/s1600/IMG_3979.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/S9y5kW73n2I/AAAAAAAACvk/RCYLOSI5YUg/s400/IMG_3979.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466448082004057954″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y5NXI1p7I/AAAAAAAACvc/DCv7s6oQ8K4/s1600/IMG_3989.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/S9y5NXI1p7I/AAAAAAAACvc/DCv7s6oQ8K4/s400/IMG_3989.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466447686921463730″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y457Kg6zI/AAAAAAAACvU/Vmf_83E14Pc/s1600/IMG_3988.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/S9y457Kg6zI/AAAAAAAACvU/Vmf_83E14Pc/s400/IMG_3988.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466447352994786098″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y4nrhDzoI/AAAAAAAACvM/BPMC-UQxyns/s1600/IMG_3974.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/S9y4nrhDzoI/AAAAAAAACvM/BPMC-UQxyns/s400/IMG_3974.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466447039556734594″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y4WMTWYwI/AAAAAAAACvE/KqxRHgwpxf8/s1600/IMG_3986.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/S9y4WMTWYwI/AAAAAAAACvE/KqxRHgwpxf8/s400/IMG_3986.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466446739119956738″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S9y4CCPem3I/AAAAAAAACu8/s_1NHxU1BNU/s1600/IMG_3983.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/S9y4CCPem3I/AAAAAAAACu8/s_1NHxU1BNU/s400/IMG_3983.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466446392821980018″ //adiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-7818017808985633827?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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Spring time!
It’s been a month now since the final races in Ft. Kent and Madawaska. Since then, the Team headed out in a variety of directions, some heading back home, some to school, some on a much anticipated vacation.br /br /The Biathlon Team has seen some turnover, most notably the retirement of Walt Shepard who has been the face of this Team since the MWSC’s inception. Below are some pictures to give you an idea of what the Team (current and new) have been up to.br /br /
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Despite Rumors to the Contrary, US Skiing Is Not Dead Yet.
pComing up on JK.com this month:/p
p- The USSA Congress: Secret Text Messages from the Back of the Room/p
p- The Johnny5 returns. (I’m voting for Marolt.)/p
p- “I Slept With Cloxxi and it Sucked.” Eyewitness Reports./p
p- More lies, hyperbole, elitism, sarcasm, general douchebaggery and crap. (I probably wouldn’t log on.)/p -
A quick Kris Freeman update: He’s been lurking in backlit…
img src=”http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1myyhTVKc1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/pA quick Kris Freeman update: He’s been lurking in backlit corners of the ski world (above) laying in wait for every person who made a less than favorable comment on the ski season- then stabbing them with his poles. Watch out 2pacmosDef. /p
