Category: XCFeeds
A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.
-
More Russia
img src=”http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kwvx9lwQ5K1qzvvqho1_500.jpg”/br/ br/img src=”http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kwvx9lwQ5K1qzvvqho2_500.jpg”/br/ br/img src=”http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kwvx9lwQ5K1qzvvqho3_500.jpg”/br/ br/img src=”http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kwvx9lwQ5K1qzvvqho4_500.jpg”/br/ br/pMore Russia/p
-
“Fat, doped, and stupid is no way to go through life.”
“Fat, doped, and stupid is no way to go through life.”br/br/ – em Random Anonymous Coach Musings, Pre-Olympic edition./em
-
CXC Team Vertical Limit’s Garrott Kuzzy Named to 2010 Olympic Team!
Today, the US earned 2 additional Olympic spots. Garrott Kuzzy of the CXC Team Vertical Limit and Holly Brooks of Alaska Pacific University will deservingly fill these spots and represent our country at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
You can read more about the news HERE.
We are so very proud of you Kuzzy! -
CXC Team Vertical Limit’s Garrott Kuzzy Named to 2010 Olympic Team!
Today, the US earned 2 additional Olympic spots. Garrott Kuzzy of the CXC Team Vertical Limit and Holly Brooks of Alaska Pacific University will deservingly fill these spots and represent our country at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
You can read more about the news HERE.
We are so very proud of you Kuzzy! -
Got the call!!!!!!!
span style=”color: magenta;”Hi Everyone,/spanbr /span style=”color: magenta;”br //spanbr /span style=”color: magenta;”Holly got ‘the call’ this morning at 8 AM from the US Ski Team coaches. nbsp; This is what we’ve been waiting for! nbsp; nbsp;Huge thanks to everyone for all your support along the way, cheers, hugs, and good vibes. nbsp;Holly will be updating this blog daily over the next 5 weeks, so stay tuned for all kinds of good stuff!/spanbr /span style=”color: magenta;”br //spanbr /span style=”color: magenta;”Sincerely,/spanbr /span style=”color: magenta;”br //spanbr /span style=”color: magenta;”Rob (holly’s husband)/spanbr /span style=”color: magenta;”br //spanbr /span style=”font-family: ‘Times New Roman’;”span style=”color: magenta;”We thought it would be fun to do a small fundraiser or two to help offset some of the costs of chasing the Olympic dream. nbsp; If you would like to donate through the PayPal link, we’ll send you a GO HOLLY sticker. nbsp; We also have some ‘OIA: nbsp;still awesome patches’ nbsp;as well. nbsp; nbsp;In case you were wondering what OIA stands for, it means “only in alaska.’ nbsp; It epitomizes what being an Alaskan stands for and the opportunities that we are presented with while living here./span/spanspan style=”color: white; font-family: ‘Times New Roman’;”nbsp;/spanbr /span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”color: white; font-family: ‘Times New Roman’;”br //spanbr /span style=”font-family: ‘Times New Roman’;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”color: magenta;”**Note** nbsp;The PayPal link is set up in Rob’s name (Holly’s Husband) as he is helping her out with some management stuff for her. nbsp;If you donate, you will receive an email confirmation that has Rob’s name on it. nbsp;Rest assured, these funds will be transferred into Holly’s account immediately following. nbsp; Holly is just swamped with a ba-zillion things going on, and she asked that I (Rob) manage this account for her. nbsp;Thanks!!!!/span/spanspan style=”color: white; font-family: ‘Times New Roman’;”of stic/spanbr /span style=”color: white; font-family: ‘Times New Roman’;”br //spanbr /div class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: center;”
-
Adjustment and Allocation
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_T8lplfcx_Ro/S2AZ28ZwoXI/AAAAAAAAAas/6PUeW2PEnEA/s1600-h/Anna+Hansson+Haag-6598.jpg” target=”_blank”img style=”margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 226px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_T8lplfcx_Ro/S2AZ28ZwoXI/AAAAAAAAAas/6PUeW2PEnEA/s320/Anna+Hansson+Haag-6598.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431369582326620530″ border=”0″ //aa name=”367296260653819485″/a div class=”post hentry”div class=”post-body entry-content” The ski season is in full stride now.br /br /Whether you’re skiiing the SuperTour series, or were at Sr Nationals in Anchorage, or the Double Birkie, or on your local emWednesday Night World Championships/em, you’ve gotten a chance to put a lot of km’s on your skis. At this time of year it’s important to review the performance of your skis and
-
“She had not been caught doping – she had been expelled from the team for being overweight.”
“She had not been caught doping – she had been expelled from the team for being overweight.”br/br/ – embr/Russian National head coach Yury Charkovsky on the expulsion of Alena Sidko from the Russian Olympic team. She has since been caught doping. (classy coach, classy athlete)/em
-
Dopers and Dopiness in Russia
DoperSadly, but not surprisingly, another overperforming Russian, Alena Sidko, has been caught hitting the erythropoetin. Via Skierpost:The Russian cross country skier Alena Sidko was tested positive for EPO and is therefore not appropriate for the Russian Olympic team… Sidko, with a bronze from the sprint relay in the 2005 World Championships and 2006 Olympics, tested positve for EPO during
-
Simi and Ida Lead U23’s in Germany
div align=”left”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S19PTvHuD2I/AAAAAAAACIY/YYlHxtNNEoE/s1600-h/IMG_2528.JPG”img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431146876117061474″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 278px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S19PTvHuD2I/AAAAAAAACIY/YYlHxtNNEoE/s400/IMG_2528.JPG” border=”0″ //aToday was the sprint day for the U23’s and our US kids did really well!br /Simi Hamilton won the men’s prelim by over 1 sec. Ida placed 4th in the prelim and 4th overall, and Sadie and Rosie had top 15’s. Becca and Pete had top 20’s, and Reese and Pat skied well but just missed the heats. Awesome day! The big bummer was that Simi had his pole ripped off during his 1/4 final and dropped from 1st to last with 1 pole and couldn’t catch up.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S19PJw00gSI/AAAAAAAACIQ/mQCpnNILqsA/s1600-h/IMG_2530.JPG”img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431146704775971106″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 248px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S19PJw00gSI/AAAAAAAACIQ/mQCpnNILqsA/s400/IMG_2530.JPG” border=”0″ //abr /It was another foggy day, but you could see past your toes today and the skiing was great. Sorry I didn’t get more pictures…we’re pretty busy waxing and wax testing. Hopefully I’ll be able to have one of the non racers snap some shots for us.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S19O_eTHZJI/AAAAAAAACII/48gEuXDj5wc/s1600-h/IMG_2539.JPG”img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431146528004072594″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 297px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S19O_eTHZJI/AAAAAAAACII/48gEuXDj5wc/s400/IMG_2539.JPG” border=”0″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S19Ozgf4XiI/AAAAAAAACIA/d1n5DyO5CHw/s1600-h/IMG_2540.JPG”img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431146322436054562″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S19Ozgf4XiI/AAAAAAAACIA/d1n5DyO5CHw/s400/IMG_2540.JPG” border=”0″ //aThis is the U23 women’s podium. They pull up the top 6 and it is pretty neat to see Ida up there getting her flowers. Yahoo!!!!br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S19On943IEI/AAAAAAAACH4/Gnv2kIbeaPQ/s1600-h/IMG_2534.JPG”img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431146124167028802″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/S19On943IEI/AAAAAAAACH4/Gnv2kIbeaPQ/s400/IMG_2534.JPG” border=”0″ //aMargaret Patterson is here waving the flag. Her kids race tomorrow, but she was there cheering us all on in fine fashion.br //divdiv align=”center”Tomorrow is the Jr 5/10 km classic. Forecast is for sunny skies and temps around 20. Should be fun. There will be 80-85 girls and about 115 boys racing./divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-3149238859134545656?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
-
What we know and learn
Last weekend I had a lesson. Luciano at Solda had sent me some super new wax to try. It’s not on the market yet. Weather forecast was for new snow, 28F . So I waxed up my favorite pair of old soft Fischer RCS skis with the new wax. Dani’s skis needed wax so I grabbed a small cube of Solda F31 Pink and put that on her RCRs. We went to Mt Bachelor and set out to recreate. My skis were good, but not great. Dani, on the other hand, shot past me on every downhill. “What’s up with that” I thought. Turns out the new wax is not for new snow. The F31 Pink is the best in new snow. I knew it was for new snow, but this was a clear reminder to read the directions on the box.br /br /The other thing I know and need reminding now and then, if you are the ski waxer in your household, it is always a good idea to take good care of your partner’s skis. It makes them very happy and a lot more likely to go out to play in the snow.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6589659500745667109-4835539072097026670?l=www.webskis.com%2Fwebskisblog.html’ alt=” //div
-
U23 World Championship Update: USA Qualifies 1st!!!
The U23 World Championships started today and Simi Hamilton of the USA and SVSEF just took 1st place in the sprint qualification round. On the Women’s side, USA’s Ida Sargent qualified 4th. These races are being held in Hinterzarten, Germany. Good Luck to Simi and the rest of our U23 athletes that made the heats […]
-
FAST Finish
div align=”center”br //divdiv align=”left”Before Sverre gets in here with an update to what sounds like a very good day for the U23 Team in Germany, I want to post a few pics and words from the race our FAST Week kids had on Sunday at Grafton Ponds.br /br //divimg id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431111261033546546″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 212px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_LmkUlveu30Q/S18u6qmHQzI/AAAAAAAAAEk/Ljy0f9PVrVY/s320/Raili.jpg” border=”0″ / p align=”center”span style=”color:#ffffff;”span style=”color:#cccccc;”Raili bringing it on in./spanbr //spanbr //pimg id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431111526524380418″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 212px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_LmkUlveu30Q/S18vKHoD5QI/AAAAAAAAAEs/VHqqTg8tQMo/s320/KatherineMacK.jpg” border=”0″ / p align=”center”span style=”color:#cccccc;”Katherine on the left and MacKenzie on the right. /spanspan style=”color:#cccccc;”Don’t let the smiles fool you. These two girls are fast, and all business out there on the course.br //spanbr //pimg id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431111865556709714″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 212px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_LmkUlveu30Q/S18vd2nqsVI/AAAAAAAAAE0/yDtDnaImCYw/s320/Brooke.jpg” border=”0″ / p align=”center”Brooke, our current BKL’er on the SMS Team, looking even taller as she heads over the whoopdey-doos at the end of the course.br /br //pimg id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431112271740815250″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 212px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_LmkUlveu30Q/S18v1fxgR5I/AAAAAAAAAE8/b2FAYqh7248/s320/Scott+360.jpg” border=”0″ / p align=”center”And the youngest Mooney, Scott, playing around on the bumps. This shot was after the race, BUT he also pulled this maneuver emduring/em the race.br /br //pimg id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431112629909424770″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 212px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_LmkUlveu30Q/S18wKWDjioI/AAAAAAAAAFE/Hh_r2JNeMz8/s320/Koby.jpg” border=”0″ / p align=”center”Koby with his blue ribbon. Koby was clearly a force to be reckoned with out there on the course today. He was very impressive. Very well done. /pimg id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431115831580172994″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 212px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_LmkUlveu30Q/S18zEtNWIsI/AAAAAAAAAFU/UaO1E7KEYTM/s320/Group+shot.jpg” border=”0″ / p align=”left”And very well done to all of the kids who came and were a part of our team this week! Keep up the good work. We look forward to seeing you on the trails and at the BKL Festival.br /br //pdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-7679016020046055040?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
-
Tuesday afternoon Update
First off, way to go to the U23 crew in GER. Reppin!
Last night we had dinner in our hotel, which lasted for hours. We had a nice stalemate with the waitstaff. I thought we were waiting for a 3rd course for a while, then Ashely notified me that it was up to us to ask for the check. Everybody was pretty happy talking, so we spent the better part of our evening telling stories in the restaurant.
After supper, we had a team meeting and the coaches had a chance to tell our stories — our entrance to the sport, background in racing, and in coaching. It turns out I’m the only person here that has never made the J1 Trip (I pre-date it by a few years). Both Matt and Ashely are 2-year qualifiers for the J1 trip, back in their day.
We then gave a homework assignment to the athletes. Finland is certainly a great place to visit, but part of what makes these trips cool is getting to know friends from around the country. These athletes may be great friends, still, in another 30 years (probably coaching by then!). So, everybody had to donate 1 ski-tie, then everybody pulled 1 ski-tie at random from the bag. Based on whose ski tie they got, they have to interview that person and get to know them a little better. This afternoon everybody are working on that, in between lunch and a short strength session this evening.
We got some nice team/individual photos of athletes in their uniforms. They’ll be up later today, hopefully.
From FIN, //Tim
[ C L I C K . I M A G E S . T O . E N L A R G E ]
Will demonstrating excellent Lightning technique:
Frosty tree @ night:
Kate, Kinsey, David, Logan, Jessica @ Supper:
The group takes over the hallway (we have our own wing, so we’re not too bothersome):
JJortberg, Izzy, Vigers learning the “Tally Ho” dance from Slumdog Millionaire:
-
Ole’s Valley Cup — Sinclair in Finland — Kling Qualifies U23
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/S17woD38-SI/AAAAAAAABLs/DiONVNhCx6M/s1600-h/PklingQual1-560×373.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/S17woD38-SI/AAAAAAAABLs/DiONVNhCx6M/s400/PklingQual1-560×373.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431042771680819490″ border=”0″ //aPeter Kling leads the USA U23 team with a twentieth place finish!
-
Youth and Junior World Championships Ready to Roll
Torsby, Sweden – The Youth and Jr. World Championships are set to get started January 27th with both of the Men’s Individual competitions, the Women will compete in their first race the following day. 33 nations registered for this year’s Y/JWCH’s making it one of the largest to date. Over 500 athletes and staff, not including families will inhabit the small Swedish town over the next week.
-
The Collective
Located in a nondescript warehouse building in downtown Salt Lake is The Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective. The Collective is a bike recycling program that takes in used bikes and components, then refurbishes them to donate or sell to people in need of transportation in Salt Lake. This year, The Collective is already ahead of it’s goal to refurbish 3000 bikes for people in the Salt Lake area by April.
My National Team coach Pat Casey lives near-by and spends much of his off time working on bikes at The Collective. Pat is currently in Europe coaching at the World Junior Championships (Congrat’s to Jessie Diggins on a solid sprint this morning!). I’ve wrenched at various bike shops since I was old enough to get a job and working on bikes is one of my favorite activities to get my mind off training and onto something more mechanical. I took advantage of my off day today to cruise down to SLC & work on bikes.
Earn a Bike
One of the coolest programs they’ve got is “Earn a Bike” where kids pick out their favorite bike and take a class in bicycle maintenance. They learn to work on their bike twice/week for a couple months. At the end of the course, they get to keep the bike they worked on. Sweet!
There are at least 10 work stands around the shop. You can either volunteer and refurbish bikes for The Collective or pay $5/hour and work on your own bike. They’ve got all the tools you need, color coordinated and organized for each stand.
There are surprisingly well organized bins and racks of every part you could need–except 4mm cable ends. I had to get a little creative adapting the larger 5mm ends to fit in the braze-ons. That’s the best part. . .nothing matches exactly what you need, so much of the day is spent cannibalizing parts to make a working creation.
There were a variety of volunteers working while I was there: from Scouts working on their Eagle badges to folks working off community service time. I had to leave my stand at 4pm when a group of kids from the Boys & Girls Club arrived after school to work on their “Earn a Bike.”
Spending the day at The Collective was about as close as I could get to getting back to wrench at New Moon. I definitely missed not having the usual crew stop into the shop and BS at the end of the day, but it was great to at least get some grease on my hands again. Back to SoHo tomorrow!
-
CXC Dominates again at Minneapolis SuperTour Day 2
After 24 hours of rain, calling the trails at Theadore Wirth Park sloppy was an understatement. Skiers were pulling out there super course grinds and coaches were blistered and sticky from klister.
CXC Team Vertical Limit’s Brian Gregg received his first ever individual SuperTour victory in the Men’s 15K Classic race.
Gregg summarizes the Men’s race here: […]
