Category: XCFeeds

The Telemark SuperTour in Cable, WI was another successful weekend of racing for the CXC Team Vertical Limit.  Bryan Cook won the Men’s 10K Classic race on Saturday, followed by Matt Liebsch (CXC Team Vertical Limit), Brian Gregg (CXC Team Vertical Limit), and Chris Cook (Steinbock Racing).  Rebecca Dussault (CXC Team Vertical Limit) won the […]

img src=”http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kx4nrnQt3r1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/pBatman Returns: Vancouver Vengeance  (via RH)/p

object width=”400″ height=”336″param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/IZQTsy3pPworel=0egm=0showinfo=0fs=1″/paramparam name=”wmode” value=”transparent”/paramparam name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”/paramembed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/IZQTsy3pPworel=0egm=0showinfo=0fs=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”400″ height=”336″ allowFullScreen=”true” wmode=”transparent”/embed/objectbr/br/pFinal training camp prior to Vancouver/p

Early season racing is over, U.S. Nationals is complete and I am back in Ketchum figuring out the rest of the year’s racing schedule. Some of you might be wondering, “what about the Olympics?” For those of you who might not know about the Olympic selection process, I will briefly try to bring you up to speed.br /br /The U.S. Olympic Team is significantly smaller this year than in previous years. This is a result of the change in criteria and the selection process, which was put into effect this past summer. Country’s such as Norway, Germany, Italy, etc., who have an overall better FIS ranking, are allotted up to 20 spots. However, if they choose to take fewer athletes, the “left over” spots get passed down to the next ranked country. Long story short, the U.S. Team was initially granted 8 spots, 4 men and 4 women. Since then, a few spots have opened up and now the U.S. has an additional 3 spots, totaling 11 athletes.br /br /I have had a good season with some strong results, consistently placing in the top-10 nationally, but unfortunately I am on the edge and with so few spots available I probably won’t make the team. (I say probably, because there is still a chance that more spots will open up). While this is disappointing, I am satisfied with the hard-work and improvements I have made throughout the season. I qualified to represent the U.S. at the World Cup races in Canmore, Alberta. I leave on Tuesday and will compete in the 10k skate on Friday, February 5th and hopefully the classic sprint on Saturday, February 6th. These races will be a great opportunity to race against the best in the world and yes, most of them, if not all, will be racing in the Olympics. So for me, I am going into these races, thinking they ARE the Olympics, at least they will be for me!br /br /I have spent the last two weeks trying to figure out what my racing plan will be for the rest of the season. After a lot of thought and figuring what will be best for me and for improving as an athlete, my travel and racing plans look like this:br /br /February 2nd-7th: Canmore World Cup – 10k skate, classic sprintbr /February 9th-14th: Aspen Super Tour- 5k classic, 21k skatebr /February 15-20th: Training block in Sun Valleybr /February 21-26th: Olympics in Whistler- spectate and trainbr /February 27-March 16th: OPA cup trip in Europe- La Feclaz, France and Rogla, Sloveniabr /March 17th-28th: Fort Kent, Maine -U.S. Long Distance Nationalsbr /br /Whoa! Quite the plan… I am very excited for the rest of the season! I am very fortunate to be able to race in Europe. It will be a great opportunity for me to race against some very fast and accomplished skiers and also to improve my points. It will be a great experience!br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/S2ZJtfzPVdI/AAAAAAAAAi0/o-q_iKMcg4E/s1600-h/ca+women+heat.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 230px; height: 320px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/S2ZJtfzPVdI/AAAAAAAAAi0/o-q_iKMcg4E/s320/ca+women+heat.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433111046448436690″ border=”0″ //abr /span style=”font-style: italic;”Me, leading the way in early season Canmore sprintsbr /br //span/divI will do my best to keep you posted as I travel and let you know how the racing goes!br /Thanks to all of those who support me! I couldn’t do it without your help!br /br /Onwards and upwards!div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5903545846797966075-3837794036900112350?l=in-the-arena-nicole.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

Our racing ended today with the World Jr Championship relays. It was a great day with close racing (top 3 girls teams within 5 sec, top 2 boys teams tied with 250 meters to go). The US skiers did well and and made us all proud and happy. It was a good way to end the 7 straight days of racing. All of our U23 team was out cheering and waving flags…it was quite the event.a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S2XNL5GEOCI/AAAAAAAACP4/0vCKiLZ_2CI/s1600-h/IMG_2630.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/S2XNL5GEOCI/AAAAAAAACP4/0vCKiLZ_2CI/s400/IMG_2630.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432974129680889890″ //aThe girls lead pack at about 1.5 km…right in the middle of the monster climb. The red suit third in line on the right is Sophie. Sophie came in 9th, 10 seconds from 4th. Caitlin paced herself brilliantly, fading to 11th, but then hammering the last km to pull the team to 6th. Joanne had a great leg, holding on to 6th and Jesse skied really well, but had a couple of team “studs” slip by her. Great, exciting races with lots of lead changes. Norway ended up winning by 1/2 second over Finland, but Sweden had also had the lead on the final leg…that’s how close it was.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S2XMgxiRUvI/AAAAAAAACPw/uOpNmTXC3eg/s1600-h/IMG_2635.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/S2XMgxiRUvI/AAAAAAAACPw/uOpNmTXC3eg/s400/IMG_2635.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432973388917330674″ //a 4th,5th….6th,7th…and Jesse D hammering to catch up with 600 meters to go. Jesse eneded up 1/2 second out of 7th. If each of the girls had skied 1 sec/km faster, they would have been 4th. If they had each skied 14 seconds faster, they would have won!br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S2XMKciHzRI/AAAAAAAACPo/gvrQEkIxR7A/s1600-h/IMG_2637.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/S2XMKciHzRI/AAAAAAAACPo/gvrQEkIxR7A/s400/IMG_2637.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432973005322439954″ //aStart of the mens relay…actually 2 km into the race.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S2XKA9EG6WI/AAAAAAAACPg/dK17Cxgd5pc/s1600-h/IMG_2639.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/S2XKA9EG6WI/AAAAAAAACPg/dK17Cxgd5pc/s400/IMG_2639.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432970643232975202″ //aDavid (above and below) scarmbled. He has been a little off this week, but he gave a great effort and brought us in with a crowd in the mid teens. Sam skied tough, but lost a couple of spots and Scott and Erik B skied very well and brought us in at 12th…Erik caught the Swede with 300 meters to go but got nipped at the line. Exciting stuff and great skiing.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S2XJ0Je30TI/AAAAAAAACPY/MZ-JsW9b75Q/s1600-h/IMG_2642.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/S2XJ0Je30TI/AAAAAAAACPY/MZ-JsW9b75Q/s400/IMG_2642.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432970423228158258″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S2XJkGJGtNI/AAAAAAAACPQ/J_Hpt185xqM/s1600-h/IMG_2643.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/S2XJkGJGtNI/AAAAAAAACPQ/J_Hpt185xqM/s400/IMG_2643.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432970147453646034″ //aSam T hammering up “the wall”.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S2XJMuzLh4I/AAAAAAAACPI/AebOxag-LcQ/s1600-h/IMG_2645.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 271px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S2XJMuzLh4I/AAAAAAAACPI/AebOxag-LcQ/s400/IMG_2645.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432969746050680706″ //aScott skied a great skate leg.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S2XI_xeNFwI/AAAAAAAACPA/PDJTdhWvALI/s1600-h/IMG_2656.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/S2XI_xeNFwI/AAAAAAAACPA/PDJTdhWvALI/s400/IMG_2656.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432969523429709570″ //aThe “Digger”.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S2XIrKRm4CI/AAAAAAAACO4/vqI4vY34Pvs/s1600-h/IMG_2658.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/S2XIrKRm4CI/AAAAAAAACO4/vqI4vY34Pvs/s400/IMG_2658.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432969169310507042″ //aThis jumbotron screen showed the action from around the course.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S2XIY3zBWrI/AAAAAAAACOw/3KxXwP9XXXg/s1600-h/IMG_2669.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/S2XIY3zBWrI/AAAAAAAACOw/3KxXwP9XXXg/s400/IMG_2669.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432968855112735410″ //abr /Some of “the gang” at the closing ceremonies.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-2677696572238304903?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div