The past 10 days I’ve been able to stay at home in Marquette, MI. It is funny how being at home for an extended period of time in the winter feels like vacation. I have not been writing updates because I am totally enthralled by the Olympics. Not just the cross-country races, the whole big […]
Category: XCFeeds
A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.
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Close… but no cigar…
span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-family: ‘Lucida Grande’; font-size: small;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: 11px;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-family: Times;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: medium;”Sometimes you get peanut butter when all you want is jelly… I was looking forward to soft tracks and slush and showed up at the venue to find classic tracks resembling “ice luges.” nbsp;I’m not big into making excuses for goals that come short – and I won’t. Sometimes, you just need to be faster, or have more experience, or be tougher. Today I needed, or at least wanted to be faster than I was.nbsp;/span/span/span/spanbr /br /div class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: center;”
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ski mountaineering
The ski mountaineering season is in full swing in the US. Several races have been held around the country, mostly at ski areas in the Rocky Mountains. Races at Grand Targhee,WY and Sunlight, CO served as qualifiers for the US National Team. Eight men and five women will represent the US at the World Championship in Andorra during the first week of March.
For those of you unfamiliar with ski mountaineering races, they combine skinning and bootpacking uphill with off and on-piste skiing. The races cover 5000 to 8000 vertical feet of climbing and descending, taking the winners 2 to 3 hours. Racers use all types of backcountry equipment but the fastest use ultralight skis, boots and bindings.
Toko generously supports the races and two of the US Team members. Proper ski tuning is essential for fast descents and wax is obviously important. We have found that using warmer (softer) wax allows the skin glue to stick better. Some people feel that wax hinders the glue but if your skis are too dry, the glue is more likely to remain on the bases. This slows the skis tremendously as well as allowing snow to stick to the bases.
Stay tuned for reports from the World Championship as well as the US National Championship to be held at Jackson Hole on March 20.
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ski mountaineering
The ski mountaineering season is in full swing in the US. Several races have been held around the country, mostly at ski areas in the Rocky Mountains. Races at Grand Targhee,WY and Sunlight, CO served as qualifiers for the US National Team. Eight men and five women will represent the US at the World Championship in Andorra during the first week of March.
For those of you unfamiliar with ski mountaineering races, they combine skinning and bootpacking uphill with off and on-piste skiing. The races cover 5000 to 8000 vertical feet of climbing and descending, taking the winners 2 to 3 hours. Racers use all types of backcountry equipment but the fastest use ultralight skis, boots and bindings.
Toko generously supports the races and two of the US Team members. Proper ski tuning is essential for fast descents and wax is obviously important. We have found that using warmer (softer) wax allows the skin glue to stick better. Some people feel that wax hinders the glue but if your skis are too dry, the glue is more likely to remain on the bases. This slows the skis tremendously as well as allowing snow to stick to the bases.
Stay tuned for reports from the World Championship as well as the US National Championship to be held at Jackson Hole on March 20.
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Chandra Crawford 2010-02-17 20:34:00
Wow. A great day for racing. My best qualifier (usually in the first round against the clock I’m 16 seconds behind the best girls and today I was 9). Incredible great energy from the crowds. I gave it my all in the quarterfinal – wanted so badly to make it through… alas I missed a lot of training and classic is still not my forte. Feels great to be a part of it – to have made it and be out there fighting is a reward in itself for all the hard work.
Thank you to everyone!
Chandra -
Chandra Crawford 2010-02-17 20:34:00
Wow. A great day for racing. My best qualifier (usually in the first round against the clock I’m 16 seconds behind the best girls and today I was 9). Incredible great energy from the crowds. I gave it my all in the quarterfinal – wanted so badly to make it through… alas I missed a lot of training and classic is still not my forte. Feels great to be a part of it – to have made it and be out there fighting is a reward in itself for all the hard work.
Thank you to everyone!
Chandra -
Chandra Crawford 2010-02-17 20:34:00
Wow. A great day for racing. My best qualifier (usually in the first round against the clock I’m 16 seconds behind the best girls and today I was 9). Incredible great energy from the crowds. I gave it my all in the quarterfinal – wanted so badly to make it through… alas I missed a lot of training and classic is still not my forte. Feels great to be a part of it – to have made it and be out there fighting is a reward in itself for all the hard work.
Thank you to everyone!
Chandra -
Chandra Crawford 2010-02-17 20:34:00
Wow. A great day for racing. My best qualifier (usually in the first round against the clock I’m 16 seconds behind the best girls and today I was 9). Incredible great energy from the crowds. I gave it my all in the quarterfinal – wanted so badly to make it through… alas I missed a lot of training and classic is still not my forte. Feels great to be a part of it – to have made it and be out there fighting is a reward in itself for all the hard work.
Thank you to everyone!
Chandra -
Chandra Crawford 2010-02-17 20:34:00
Wow. A great day for racing. My best qualifier (usually in the first round against the clock I’m 16 seconds behind the best girls and today I was 9). Incredible great energy from the crowds. I gave it my all in the quarterfinal – wanted so badly to make it through… alas I missed a lot of training and classic is still not my forte. Feels great to be a part of it – to have made it and be out there fighting is a reward in itself for all the hard work.
Thank you to everyone!
Chandra -
Simi Hamilton is the real deal.
img src=”http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ky080lkNrJ1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/pSimi Hamilton is the real deal./p
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Swedish coach, Wolfgang Picher on gold medals beer: …
img src=”http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ky0fbwrkcs1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/pSwedish coach, Wolfgang Picher on gold medals beer: “The first one is good. The second one is really good. The third one is really, really good…. “ (You get the idea.)/p
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In case you weren’t watching NBC, this is America’s…
img src=”http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ky0f7huNNe1qzt3xbo1_400.jpg”/br/br/pIn case you weren’t watching NBC, this is America’s perception of the sport we love./p
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This is a photo of a major newspaper correspondent hard at work…
img src=”http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ky0f2udNuY1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/pThis is a photo of a major newspaper correspondent hard at work at the cross country ski center. He is actually not hard at work covering skiing. He’s actually watching ithe Office./i He is a douche./p
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Halfway
div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9xNJ4bEswds/S3zQiysBplI/AAAAAAAAAmw/pWlKiQb47WM/s1600-h/IMGP2881.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9xNJ4bEswds/S3zQiysBplI/AAAAAAAAAmw/pWlKiQb47WM/s320/IMGP2881.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439451746097276498″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-size:85%;”br //span/divCompleting the pursuit race yesterday brought me halfway through my racing at the 2010 Olympic Games. It’s hard to believe that there are only two races left for me here in Vancouver, but I am very pleased with my results so far. Leaving no regrets behind is sometimes a very big challenge in big races like this, and so far I feel I am doing a good job.br /br /Not only was Tuesday’s pursuit my first Olympic pursuit race, but it was also my first ever international pursuit. I had fantastic shooting with only 2 penalties, and though I was hoping to have a better result, it was a great experience for me. With such good shooting in the last couple races, I am really looking forward to the Individual race tomorrow. The sunshine today and promises of more to come certainly aren’t hurting my outlook either!br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9xNJ4bEswds/S3zQYqU7EmI/AAAAAAAAAmo/5oTRdtS1eW0/s1600-h/IMGP2899.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9xNJ4bEswds/S3zQYqU7EmI/AAAAAAAAAmo/5oTRdtS1eW0/s320/IMGP2899.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439451572054200930″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-size:85%;”Inspirational Rocks are tucked away all around the village, it’s fun (and inspiring) to try and find all of them!br //span/divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5588342252406387658-7248792379150423898?l=sarastudebaker.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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The Family out on Course
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qy8LpbgYOag/S3ypDQSJnWI/AAAAAAAAATI/jIPPX95JgKU/s1600-h/GetAttachment-2.aspx.jpeg”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/_Qy8LpbgYOag/S3ypDQSJnWI/AAAAAAAAATI/jIPPX95JgKU/s400/GetAttachment-2.aspx.jpeg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439408323332513122″ //adiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2691525267872963085-1284159071311182254?l=in-the-arena-torin.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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Bib 50 again?
Hey all,br /br /The start list is posted. I am bib #50 – again. nbsp;There are only 54 racers in the field but that is not to be underestimated.nbsp;These are 54 of the fastest women in the WORLD! nbsp;Racers have to qualify for the sprint race by having good FIS Sprint profiles. nbsp;That removes many of the “exotics” (I was informed tonight that that is the proper term) and folks racing for non-traditional ski countries. Anyways, my start time is 10:27:30 for those that are interested. I’ve heard that some of the “live” coverage isn’t live whatsoever but some of you are clever enough to disguise your IP addresses to receive coverage from other countries. I don’t even begin to know how that works….br /br /Anyways, thanks for all the support. I’ll report back tomorrow after this is all said and done.br /Good night,br /br /Holly :)div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6401505974719455979-3968869269228172377?l=hollyskis.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
