It seems that after the Birkie the season always seems to start to wind down really fast. This year after the Birkie the weather seemed to immediately change from Winter into Spring. For the past two weeks I have not skied without it being over 40 degrees and sunny. It really has been amazing, but […]
Category: XCFeeds
A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.
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While back at home…
Since I’ve been home I’ve been skiing with a bunch of local kids – during their school recess, regular Bill Koch and Dewey ski practices and out at our local ski areas – Mt. Van Hoevenburg and Dewey Mtn. br /br /I had enough bibs when I skied with Pat Gallagher’s Bill Koch kids for each one of them to get to ski with a World Cup or an Olympic bib. br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k1DHbqzFvCE/S5hCiuDczdI/AAAAAAAAA5k/fjHcVv2S6E4/s1600-h/IMG_0963.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/_k1DHbqzFvCE/S5hCiuDczdI/AAAAAAAAA5k/fjHcVv2S6E4/s320/IMG_0963.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447176913550101970″ //abr /br /I’ve been connecting with the Lake Placid Elementary 4th grade class all year and this week I got to join them for a ski during gym class. In addition to skiing around the soccer field they taught me tennis ball biathlon. br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k1DHbqzFvCE/S5hCjMgludI/AAAAAAAAA50/YGZizS3eH2E/s1600-h/skiing+at+school+045.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 190px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k1DHbqzFvCE/S5hCjMgludI/AAAAAAAAA50/YGZizS3eH2E/s320/skiing+at+school+045.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447176921725385170″ //abr /br /And we also chatted a lot during our skis; the weather was gorgeous, blue skies and sunny, and way more fun than sitting inside. br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k1DHbqzFvCE/S5hCjX4juSI/AAAAAAAAA58/wpxgXOISdt4/s1600-h/skiing+at+school+062.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 215px; height: 320px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k1DHbqzFvCE/S5hCjX4juSI/AAAAAAAAA58/wpxgXOISdt4/s320/skiing+at+school+062.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447176924778707234″ //abr / br /And then, our communities got together and hosted a parade for local Olympians! All together it was a pretty awesome first week at home. br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k1DHbqzFvCE/S5hCiyzWCoI/AAAAAAAAA5s/8Yt3l1wS4x4/s1600-h/IMG_4528.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k1DHbqzFvCE/S5hCiyzWCoI/AAAAAAAAA5s/8Yt3l1wS4x4/s320/IMG_4528.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447176914824727170″ //adiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1362992899157556571-6901853395790852851?l=comeskiwithme.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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Meanwhile, life continues on the home front
While most of the team is racing at JO’s, Mac, Brooke and I are enjoying the bright sunshine and great skiing here. Mac had a good time at NE J2’s last weekend and we are off to EHSC’s on Friday. For now, we are loving this weather and skiing at Stratton.br /Yesterday we took a tour up above our Sun Bowl Trails. The crust held us up, but our poles tended to break through and we can all attest that there is still well over two feet of snow everywhere!br /This morning we worked on skate technique and then Brooke did a pacing workout. The goal was to ski 4 laps in control, thinking about technique and then finish with 3 laps hard. Her times were 1:40, 1:48, 1:52, 1:55, 1:53, 1:52, 1:48. I would say it ended up being great pacing. Our tendency is to take it out too hard and then die. Working on technique and being in control seems to be faster!br /Congratulations to everyone at JO’s. Keep up the fast skiing! It’s pretty cool that 1/2 of the kids in our program have had a top 10 at JO’s this week!!!!div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-4293016024297895952?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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en route to the NCAA banquet (LF photo)
img src=”http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kz3u6bqtt61qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/pen route to the NCAA banquet (LF photo)/p
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Another great season
Well, it has been a great ski season. I know that span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_0″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”JOs/span are still happening out east, and spring series and other races have yet to be run, but for me (and probably most Minnesotans) the ski season is over. It is 40 degrees and raining pretty hard right now, and even the span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_1″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”snowmaking/span loops at elm creek and span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_2″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”wirth/span will have a hard time holding on for long.br /br /I think my last ski will have been the Slush Rush at Elm Creek last Saturday. It was a lot of fun, and there was a family rate for the race so my parents, wife, and brother-in-law Ben all decided to come race too. The only problem was that Ben had skied a grand total of 2 times in his life, probably totaling less than 10k. True story: the race started at the bottom of the sleding hill, and Ben was having such a hard time getting up the hill that half way up the race organizers came down to him and pushed him the rest of the way up the hill. Needless to say he was a bit over his head, but was smart enough to cut the race short before he hurt himself (or my borrowed equiptment!). The good news is that he enjoyed himself enough to borrow my boots and skis for the rest of his spring break week and is currently skiing on some trails in Wisconsin with some college friends. Only bad part of the race is that I managed to catch a head cold and am now paying the price by having to carry a box of kleenex around with me in the clinic all day (is there anything worse than a runny nose under a surgical mask?). At least this is a good time to take some time off. It is probably good for me too, since I otherwise would have jumped right in to running with Nichole, and last spring that meant that I never really took any significant break after the ski season. This year I will. I will also have to do a deeper retrospective on my training log for the year. It was a good season for me – probably not quite as good as last year, but darn close – and I will have to figure out what type of changes I should make for next year.br /br /As for Vakava as a team, I will simply quote Dave’s last email: “It’s been a lot of fun seeing all of our hard efforts paying off with some very good skiing and some very good results. Aside from just having a lot of fun on the snow together, Vakava had 14 overall race wins this winter, and more than 50 age-class wins. We’re looking forward to continuing to build on that success.”br /br /It will be time to break out the Marwe’s in no time!div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1572647974447867713-6860861630369329114?l=vakavaraceteam.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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Wisconsin
I’m back home in Hayward for the first time in over 4 months. How long is that? Well, when I walked into my room, my roller ski vest was still hanging on the door to dry after my last roller ski in the rain on October 28, 2009. The house looks great though. My roommate and teammate, Brian Gregg, took off after the Birkie last week for Europe and left the house clean and the refrigerator semi-stocked. Between November 1 and March 1, I actually spent more time in Canada than the United States. Needless to say, it feels good to be home again.
I almost didn’t make it though. . .
The starter is the latest thing in my truck to go and it took over an hour to finally get it started before I could leave the driveway in Minneapolis. My first stop back in Hayward was to visit my mechanic. He agreed that the starter had burned out and was able to install a new starter so that I could make it back home to Cresthill.
That said, I’m in the market for a new vehicle. I’m looking for a reliable, used wagon (ideally VW Passat or Jetta (tdi would be sweet!), but Volvo, Subaru, Mazda, etc would work) in descent shape with around 100,000 miles. If you know of a ride for sale that matches this description, feel free to let me know.
The drive back to Hayward was refreshing. I got to see a couple of bald eagles in the St Croix River Valley. . .
. . .and had the country music cranked with the windows rolled down.
Of course, it felt good to be back where you can buy fireworks year-round.
I’m finally relaxing a little bit at home, listening to pow-wow music on WOJB, the local public radio station from the LCO Ojibwe reservation, while I digest an excellent venison dinner.
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Hopkins
I had the opportunity to talk with the Hopkins High School “Captains Council” this morning. Every month, the Athletic Department hosts a meeting for all Captains and they bring in a speaker. It was really cool to catch up with former coaches like Rob Fuhr and Mike Harris, as well as to talk with the Hopkins student-athletes, over 50 in all, getting ready embark on their post-high school endeavors. There was an especially good showing from the skiers, who are just coming off of a solid ski season.
They all had some good questions. Some questions you can prepare for, others a are a little more unexpected:
Q: “How many years did you have to live out of your truck?” (from Jack Hinkens, who I’m pretty sure wants to be a pro mountain biker and live out of his truck).
A: “You can’t be a ski racer and live out of a truck–you’d get too cold. . .though I did spend a couple months living in a van down by the river.”
Q: “Did you get Lindsey Vonn’s number at the Olympics?”
A: “What happens in the Village, stays in the Village. . .”
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Footage of yesterday’s sprint at the Presque Isle Junior…
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A Day Full of Surprises
Our day began with a morning run and breakfast. It was a little colder today, twenty or thirty degrees instead of thirty or forty degrees. We then left for the venue and after cleaning our race skis we skied around the classic course. The course is pretty awesome with some epic downhills and pretty difficult ups. The only bummer of the day is that two Midwest J2 girls are now on crutches. I guess there was a pile up of Midwest girls on one of the downhills and some of them flew into the woods, causing some substantial damage to their knees. So hopefully those girls will have speedy recoveries.br /This crash got some of the other divisions scared so they petitioned for an interval start tomorrow instead of a mass start. We know they only wanted an interval start because they are scared of New England’s performance yesterday! So, tomorrow’s race has been switched to an interval start, but we are not fazed, we are all ready to kick butt again tomorrow!br /The real highlight of the day came during our nightly meeting. It began with Boobar going over tomorrow’s logistics, and then Will gave us a superb pep talk about tomorrow. Then the fun began. Boobar surprised us with a piñata so that we could all unleash our frustration over the sudden change of race start. We had a marvelous time! After about fifteen or so people hitting the ducky, Bridger made a little hole and then Sammy T absolutely destroyed the duck. The candy is delicious, but we didn’t get very much because all of the OJ boys were crouched and ready to go and immediately jumped as soon as Sam took his swing. We’re all ready to ski fast tomorrow and secure our Alaska Cup, overall club, and Girls and Boys High School leads!!!!!br /Isabel and Heatherbr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S5b9jWqHICI/AAAAAAAACiA/AwN-DM7M9Jg/s1600-h/photo-2.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/S5b9jWqHICI/AAAAAAAACiA/AwN-DM7M9Jg/s400/photo-2.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446819583170650146″ //abr /David being David.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S5b9DcSEokI/AAAAAAAACh4/qSyYAQuKD6M/s1600-h/photo-1.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S5b9DcSEokI/AAAAAAAACh4/qSyYAQuKD6M/s400/photo-1.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446819034924622402″ //abr /Hamish and his snuggy with his sword.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S5b8lVc8HEI/AAAAAAAAChw/ymCwxt3WEdY/s1600-h/photo.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/S5b8lVc8HEI/AAAAAAAAChw/ymCwxt3WEdY/s400/photo.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446818517695077442″ //abr /Ducky and the Alaska Cup.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S5b-HaC8RWI/AAAAAAAACiI/2o5PNbxtNO0/s1600-h/photo-3.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S5b-HaC8RWI/AAAAAAAACiI/2o5PNbxtNO0/s400/photo-3.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446820202555393378″ //abr /Boobar has found true love!div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-807032632620610617?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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Two days to NCAAs
img src=”http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kz0s0hOUd91qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/pTwo days to NCAAs/p
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Thumbs up at Presquizzle. (RT photo)
img src=”http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kz0ru1VAOF1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/pThumbs up at Presquizzle. (RT photo)/p
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JO’s Day 1 from Issy P, Cam
p class=”MsoNormal” style=”text-indent: 0.5in; “We’re having a great time up here in Presque Isle, despite being in the middle of nowhere! The drive up went smoothly regardless of the multiple bathroom stops. Coach Boobar fueled his driving with a humongous whoopee pie. It was roughly the size of his face… We’ve spent the last couple of days previewing the course and enjoying ourselves in the sun. It feels like Truckee here even though we’re on the opposite side of the country! One thing we’ve noticed about our New England coaches is their superior driving skills; they’ve definitely showed up those Mid Westerner drivers. ( Check out pictures below).o:p/o:p/pp class=”MsoNormal” style=”text-indent: 0.5in; “span/spanToday was our premiere day of racing and there was nothing but great news to report except for the temporary demise of our J1/ OJ girls van because of the hours of blasting music! The team woke up to another beautiful sunny day for the sprints. Guided by Pete Davis’s excellent announcing, the prelims went smoothly; 10 out of the 12 New England J2s qualified for the heats with the first place of the prelim going to SMS’s Heather Mooney. The J2 girls ended up with a New England podium sweep in the heats with Corey in first, Heather in second and Maddie in third. New England dominated again in the OJ/J1 category, with 8 of the older SMSer’s making it to the heats. The speedy skiing didn’t stop there, Isabel Caldwell went to take gold for the J1 girls and Gage killed it coming in with a close 3suprd. /supThe boys had a great showing as well, Skyler got second in the OJ boys even though he broke 2 poles in the A final! SMS Alum Chase Marston was third/pp class=”MsoNormal” style=”text-indent: 0.5in; “Bridger was skied into and onto by another racer in the semi’s so he was allowed in to the A final and ened up an impressive 6supth/sup for J1 boys. But the most exciting results of the day had to be the OJ boy’s sweep with 10 in the top 13! All together it was a very successful day in spite of the red faces coming in from lack of sunscreen!/pp class=”MsoNormal” style=”text-indent: 0.5in; “Special Note: Walker Bigelow(SMS) Had the performance of the day, hands down. He barely made the JO team. Goes on to qualify 28th, wins his quater!, then finished 11th overall the country!/pa onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xxDw1qNK1JA/S5ZGRpvIK9I/AAAAAAAAAkM/-i7_V286e6k/s1600-h/P3060006.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/_xxDw1qNK1JA/S5ZGRpvIK9I/AAAAAAAAAkM/-i7_V286e6k/s320/P3060006.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446618068426435538″ //adiv style=”text-align: center;”The hotel has a really nice meeting room for the coaches. Jordi, sms alum and Boys JO coach admires the Alaska Cup./diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xxDw1qNK1JA/S5ZF02_aRRI/AAAAAAAAAkE/iXXRBVriJds/s1600-h/P3050001.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/_xxDw1qNK1JA/S5ZF02_aRRI/AAAAAAAAAkE/iXXRBVriJds/s320/P3050001.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446617573768185106″ //adiv style=”text-align: center;”A 9 hour drive some times requires some fuel./divp class=”MsoNormal” style=”text-indent: 0.5in; “br /br //pa onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xxDw1qNK1JA/S5ZDDD-nh1I/AAAAAAAAAj8/TJiUgCEGut8/s1600-h/photo.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xxDw1qNK1JA/S5ZDDD-nh1I/AAAAAAAAAj8/TJiUgCEGut8/s320/photo.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446614519237805906″ //adiv style=”text-align: center;”We love the sweet parking/divdivbr //divdivbr //divdivbr //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xxDw1qNK1JA/S5ZCiryTR9I/AAAAAAAAAj0/yJ2IsmV70x8/s1600-h/IMG_0162.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/_xxDw1qNK1JA/S5ZCiryTR9I/AAAAAAAAAj0/yJ2IsmV70x8/s320/IMG_0162.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446613962987882450″ //adiv style=”text-align: center;”Heather won the prelim and second in the finals/divdivbr //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xxDw1qNK1JA/S5ZCOrLsAQI/AAAAAAAAAjs/RDhZUcMpXMI/s1600-h/IMG_0165.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/_xxDw1qNK1JA/S5ZCOrLsAQI/AAAAAAAAAjs/RDhZUcMpXMI/s320/IMG_0165.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446613619228541186″ //adiv style=”text-align: center;”Skyler second with two Broken poles, Chase third with a hole in his leg from pole going into his quad during the semi’s/diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xxDw1qNK1JA/S5ZB_0vnQfI/AAAAAAAAAjk/McUJHXKSTfM/s1600-h/IMG_0160.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/_xxDw1qNK1JA/S5ZB_0vnQfI/AAAAAAAAAjk/McUJHXKSTfM/s320/IMG_0160.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446613364097106418″ //adiv style=”text-align: center;”Izzy and Gage on the Podium/div!–StartFragment– p class=”MsoNormal” style=”text-indent:.5in”br //p !–EndFragment–div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-1698147131403046329?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
![IMG_2301](http://www.craftsbury.com/blogs/grp/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/IMG_23012.jpg" "IMG_2301")
