FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.

  • So much fun so little time… so little air!

    The people of Mammoth Lakes, California really know how to plum tucker you right out.  From the moment I stepped onto the tarmac until I collapsed back into that airplane seat 5 days later we were on the move.  Go go go!  Every night sinking into bed only to be jolted from sleep 8 hours later.  Had it really been 8 hours? 8 hours!? …felt more like 10 minutes.

    The first day on the mountain was cold and foggy.  The range was nestled at 9300feet.  And was merely a ski up two different alpine runs.  Nothing says good morning lung burn quite like skiing up that.  It was only 2km from the base lodge to the range but you could easily be wiped, legs shaking, breathing hard by the time you ever reached the venue.

    The venue is a whole other story.  They put up a temporary range digging out both a 25meter and 50meter firing line.  20 targets ready to go.  This is one self-sustained professional group!  Or rather… one really gung-ho community!  Passionate about the outdoors (I can see why, they live in some incredible landscape) and enthusiastic about biathlon for not other reason than it is such a cool sport!

    After training the first day we helped run 8 hours of biathlon clinics in the gym at the local fitness club.  8 hours of laser rifles.  Can I log that?  Awesome.  Awesomely exhausting.  But every time we got tired you would look over at Mike Karch (the man behind all this madnesss) and be motivated by his enthusiasm for this wild event.  The next day we took on the roles as “race officials” providing direction (and smiles) to racers of all ages…. something like 200+ novice racers took to the ski trail on saturday.  That IS something to get fired up about!  The youngest racer was a tiny 8 year old who nearly fell over she was V2ing so hard out of the range.   6 hours in the sun. a failed attempt at the local hot springs (sooo much nakedness). settling for a hot tub with a view and a home cooked meal another day was in the books.

    Sunday morning we raced in a cloud. The snow was coming down, rumors were spreading that the mountain was expected 18 inches.  We got to do a mass start, men and women together, and as you can imagine chasing the boys was alot of fun!  One good wipe out  (yep go figure, Corrine fell down…again) and too many missed targets later I was across the finish line.  1st Women. 3rd Overall.

    Once my lungs remembered how to get oxygen to the rest of my body I got all my warm clothes back on… including two extra jackets from Mike (thanks for keeping me warm). We spent the rest of the afternoon helping with the adult racers and doing interviews for the Pursuit Channel and ESPN Latin America (no joke!).

    It was an incredible couple of days.  Exploring a new mountain, welcomed in by a whole new community.  This is an event I hope continues to grow in the future.  They are talking about getting a permanent range put in!  Can you say altitude training? I can not thank everyone enough for putting us up in your homes, for keeping us fed, and for letting us be a part of your family.  Hope to see you all again real soon!

    Thanks to Jim Stimson and Jimmy Barnes for the photos below!

    Going over the range with all the volunteers

    Giving the kids some last minute rifle advice!

    Mike Karch all smiles about to start another wave of young racers

    More pre-race smiles

    Mia looking determined!

    Mia (Mike’s daughter) won her age group for girls and was the top shooter her age male or female!

    Getting a few pointers on the range

    Girls With Guns showing off!

    Getting on the line with the boys

    Attempting to hit some targets…

    In my own little pain cave.

    This is what plum tuckered out looks like.

    Tired… but at the top of the podium!

  • Video from Spring Series Mass Start Classic

    Here’s a video from yesterday with a combination of the top skiers and the GMVS athletes and alums. Nice work out there!

  • A Few End Of The Year Numbers

    Just to follow up on a few tweets over the weekend…

    Skiers from 10 different nations had podium results in men’s events, and only women from 7 different nations did the same.

    The nations with the most podiums are in stark contrast. For both the men and women, you of course have Norway in the lead. They had 9 different men reach the podium 32 times, and 7 different women reach the podium 67 (!) times.

    Behind Norway you have Switzerland (tied with Russia) each with 20 men’s podiums. But “the Swiss men’s team” is actually just Dario Cologna, one guy. Similarly, the second most women’s podiums went to Poland, i.e. Justyna Kowalczyk.

    Interestingly, the numbers for biathlon are a bit different. There, 8 different nations had podium winners in men’s events, and 11 different nations for the women. Amazingly, none of the women’s teams had more than 2 different women with podium results. For the men, the Russians had 6, while the Germans and Norwegians each had 3. (Granted, I think the biathlon schedule has fewer starts in it, though I could be wrong.)

    The season isn’t quite over, but across every FIS race I collected so far this season, Justyna Kowalczyk is leading with the most number of starts (including stage races) with 42. Of the ten with the most starts, 8 are women. The two men are Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey. (Obviously, this is a silly statistic, because there are tons of races that are not FIS sanctioned. But we’re allowed to be silly every now and then.)

    The largest FIS penalty this season was 211.20. (The largest I have recorded is 246.40). The largest FIS points earned this season was 2643.82.

    Related posts:

    1. <Measuring Competitiveness Using Churn
    2. <Battle Of The Sexes
    3. <Week In Review: Friday Feb 18th


  • Eight Count: The Passing of Bert Sugar

    From our earliest years, we all have some memories etched in our minds from the time we spent with our parents. Many of mine are from the family-vacation and kinestetic variety: like the annual summer roadtrip back to Minnesota, five tight in the 1965 AMC Rambler; Or, heading to Eugene, Oregon’s Hayward Field with my dad for the NCAA Track Championships, and sneaking my way to watch the event from the most intimate seat out big house to jogging, striding and stretching among the competitors during their final pre-race preparations on the warm-up track.

    Another more everyday rememberance I am reminded of today with the expiration of Bert Sugar came from the crackling light of the transister-tubed living room television set. On new Simpsons episode days, commercial time could be treacherous as ESPN Classics was apt to replay classic boxing matches. My dad – or “Pappa” as I used to call him back then – is a bit fascinated by boxing. I don’t know exactly why, but this interest in boxing surely says something about him. One Simpsons or Seinfeld commercial break could turn into fifteen rounds of championship boxing. Of course, as a kid I could not take my eyes off Ali’s fluttering legs and lightning jabs, though my favorite boxer at the time was the slippery, counter-punching “Sweat Pea” Pernell Whitaker. Mr. Whitaker was not a knockout artist; but, rather a steady-attacking surgeon in the ring.

    I always liked how Michael Buffer boxing announcer always finished his introductions with the guttural roaring, “Let’s get ready to rumm-mm-emm-mm-ble!” Anything else was anything less. Without Mr. Buffer’s trademarked catchphrase, a fight felt a bit anti-climatic, even before the boxing began.

    Another boxing character was the felt fedora wearing, always cigar chomping, gristled old-schooled writer Bert Sugar. If I ever find my voice as a writer, I’m sure it will be from following the advice in the words of Mr. Sugar, quoting Red Smith:

    “You first cut your wrist, then you bleed on paper. Then you write.” It’s in this process that one finds the story lead, the storyline, and the personalities worth talking about.

    (Mr. Sugar covered more than just boxing. Consider this lead while covering a no-hitter in baseball: “It was as unbelievable as Santa Claus suffering vertigo, Captain Bligh sea sickness, Mary having a little lamb…” With a lead like that, you either scare the hell out of the Sunday morning edition sports reader, or you hook ’em.)

    At the beginning, I could hardly stand this television. Soon, though, seeing and hearing Mr. Sugar talking with the Sugar Ray Leonard and Angelo Dundee’s of the world made for an education. Hearing him talk, you saw a man who could cut through the chaff and get to a truth revealed in the arena. You got the unmistakeable feeling of a man who loved his work, who was encyclopedic in his learned knowledge, and respected by both the trainers and boxing artists themselves. Hearing him talk was to hear in the back of your mind the tip-tappering of his keys, Mr. Sugar’s face marred by sweat, concentration and the filament of typewriter ink.

    I am sure many a man appreciated Mr. Sugar’s candor from the ringside corner view. He’s the man who brought Sugar Ray and Sweat Pea and Boom Boom Mancini into my cultural encyclopedia. In doing your job, you helped me understand something about my dad — and, thus, have helped me understand a little something about myself. Mr. Sugar, thanks for cutting the wrist, and bleeding on paper.

  • EurOPA Finals in Italy

    The final few weeks of the ski racing season are mostly racing with not much training.  With 8 races over 16 days the goal is to rest and recover.  Usually we don’t get much opportunity to explore the places we travel to for races but with a bit more down time this week I enjoyed exploring a bit of beautiful northern Italy.  Toblach, Italy  has been an annual host to World Cups for the past few years.  I remember checking the place out in 2009 when my teamate Garrott came over to compete in the World Cup Finals.  
    The stadium, note the hill created by going over the race builting.  Pretty awesome and that hill is legit.  Also pretty nice to have carpet laid over the mud for the 2 minute walk from the hotel to the venue.

    Clarke Sullivan has joined the wax crew here for the Finals.  We had to wax outside and without power for the first days but these guys are on top of it.  It wasn’t too rough considering temperatures were in the sixties.

    Race course for the weekend. 

    Tad and I testing out our Salomon skis.  

    Most of the racing in the US is on cold dry snow so it has been fun to test out my warmer skis.

    The mountains are amazing here, but the most beautiful thing just arrived in Toblach.  
    Caitlin has had a tough trip to Europe.  Chipping a tooth her first day to Switzerland and suffering a concussion in the Engadin.  She is playing it safe and will not be racing this weekend.  We are both sad that she won’t be racing but it is great to have her here.  She has done a fantastic job supporting the group taking video of the races for technique analysis, giving splits, and cheering everyone on.

  • Blegh. And maple syrup.

    The briefest of notes about today’s 15km CL mass start: woof. I was pretty tired coming into the race after four starts in the last five days, and definitely felt the fatigue in my legs at the start line. Because of yesterday’s finish I was seeded 8th in the mass start but quickly lost the leaders and from that point focused on staying smooth and conserving my power for the long climbs without totally blowing up. I kept dropping farther and farther back but just didn’t have the gears to make up time. Not the best day.


    After the race I took the opportunity to replenish my spent glycogen stores with some tasty Vermont confections at the Mansion House Sugar Farm in Johnson, VT. This weekend is Vermont Maple Weekend and a lot of the sugaring shacks opened their doors to visitors to share samples of syrup and other maple products. My folks and I had some “sugar-on-snow” – reduced maple syrup poured over snow which then cools to a taffy-like consistency. Also, maple creme donuts. That helped recovery.

    Sampling the different grades of syrup

    This particular sugar house processes between 700 and 1300 gallons of syrup a year, in a season which generally spans from January to late March

  • Spring Series Classic Mass Start

    It was a tough day out there at Spring Series, with slushy snow and rain making kick difficult and glide slow. The skiers in the men’s race looked like they had already skied 15 km after the first 2.5 km lap, and the women’s field strung out almost immediately as well. We battled through the challenging conditions and posted solid results, while learning a lot about how to ski in slush.
    Antoine classic skiing!

    The men’s lead pack going up the hill in the stadium. This 25 foot wide platform served as the start, the lap lane, and the finish today.

    Dylan Grald had a great race, finishing 23rd overall.

    Hans is still struggling with a cold, which made today especially difficult. His selection of zero skis also was problematic, as they began to slow down and slick up after two laps out there. We learn from all these races and will be better going forward.

    In the meantime, Hans focused on making good strides out there.

    Peter Kling says he has never felt so tired: racing for months in Europe will do that to you! Still skied great out there and look for him in the classic sprint on Tuesday.

    Dylan leading his teammate Fritz Horst on a wet day.

    Pete Hegman and David look a little tired at the midway point. This course and the conditions were as taxing as they come.

    Our West Yellowstone bunkmate Sam Tarling had a standout race today, finishing 7th overall.

    The girls start out of the stadium.
    Heidi and MK cruising in the middle of the pack: the season’s length is starting to wear a little but these girls still battled out there.

    The women’s leaders, gapping the field.

    MK starting up the last lap.

    After today we get a one day break then come back at it Tuesday for what promises to be a lot of fun. Classic sprints on a course that should harden up as temperatures drop dramatically from this false spring we’ve been having! Stay tuned.

  • Super Tour Finals Update

    SMS alums & cousins Anya and Sophie.

    We have had the first two races of the Super Tour Finals at Craftsbury. Competiton has been stiff, with a field that is stronger than the one at US Sr. Nationals. Consider the fact that we have 6 women and 5 men here who have scored World Cup points this year!
    Midd freshman/SMS alum Heather Mooney is with us this week! 
    Craftsbury has done an amazing job at keeping snow on a 2 km loop and the races have been well run and fair. As usual in the spring, it is an advantage to race earlier, so races are seeded fastest to slowest. It is great to see the competitive races and our skiers are doing very well.
    Paddy – top junior in the prologue and the classic race with Jack Hegman (3) & Ben Lustgarten (2 – not pictured).  
    Yesterday was the 3.2 km freestyle prologue. Simi Hamilton and Jessie Diggins skied to solid victories in their respective races, but then it got tight. SMS was led by Paddy Caldwell in 15th and Anika Miller in 30th. Paddy was the top Jr. and led SMS J1’s to 1,5,6,8 placings. Anika was 3rd J1 behind Corey Stock and Heidi Halvorsen. Results can be found easily on the web, so check them out and look at how strong the competition is.
    Izzy – 3rd junior in the classic race with Annie Hart (1) and Corey Stock (2).
    Today the males had a 15km classic and the females raced 10 km. Individual winners were Kris Freeman and Sadie Bjornsen. Paddy once again led our group in 20th overall (1:45 ahead of the second place Jr.). Hamish, Tyler, Gino and Calvin placed 5,6,10,14 for J1’s. Brooke Mooney led our girls in 33rd overall. Brooke won the J2 class and would have been 4th for J1’s. Anika, Mollie and Kate all skied solid races and held their technique together in the tough, wet conditions.
    Tomorrow we have a “rest” day and then we continue with a classic sprint and a hill climb before ending the season with the long races on Friday and Saturday.

    Hats off to Craftsbury for all of the work that they have done. It is amazing that the skiing is as good as it is.

  • Spring Series Day 1 Photos and Video

    We’ve only had one day of Spring Series and it has already been a ton of fun! This is the strongest field we have skied in this year—better than US Nationals, better than West Yellowstone and Bozeman in November—and there is no lack of inspiration to be had on the trails. Almost all of the big names in US skiing are here, and the field is not just strong at the top, as many of the NCAA skiers and juniors are here for one more shot at competition after NCAA Championships and Junior Nationals.

    And in a year defined by the lack of snow and heroic efforts to hold races, it is only fitting that we are racing on a short loop up at Craftsbury, where the crew has made a 2.5 km course its labor of love and is holding the season finale after a week of 80-degree temperatures in New England. It’s been an amazing year in spite of it all up here.

    We came up here midweek to test things out and look at the snow…
    Needless to say there was a little more snow than after all that 80-degree weather, but amazingly the conditions are holding and the courses are covered and fair for racing.
    Today we settled right back into a routine that we have become accustomed to this year: warm up and cool down on foot, race on loops.
    Heidi heads to her start with Craftsbury’s unbelievable fleet of snow moving machinery as a backdrop.
    With the course closed for everything except racing, all of the athletes took their first skiing strides of the day when they left the start gate!
    MK explodes out of the blocks.
    Flying through a ribbon of snow: grass and mud surrounds the course on all sides and spectators are urged to stay off the trails to preserve the snow.
    MK hammers home up the final climb.
    Hans, ready to go.
    Alum David Sinclair has had an amazing end to his season: he was 2nd and 3rd in the final Eastern Cup, 3rd in the final carnival at Trapps, finished as the top junior in several races at Canadian Nationals, and skied to a strong 25th place today. Incredible job David!
    Hans is battling a post-JOs cold and didn’t feel his best out there today, but focused on making strong movements on a day where glide was super important.
    Dev paced his race like a champ and skied higher than his bib today. He’ll take tomorrow’s race off and then return for the sprint on Tuesday.
    Our friend from the North, Antoine, has finished his biathlon season but donned the green and white threads to ski some races in the US. It’s always good to have Toine around!

    David was the second junior today, the highlight in a group of great results for GMVS and its alums!
    These guys do it right: we had nothing but fun out there today, with a double-decker podium and a good vibe all around. Spring Series is a great opportunity to get exposure to the elite physical levels of American ski racing, but also gives us great insight in the mentality that fosters success and enjoyment of the sport. We have some great role models to look up to, and it promises to be a great week rubbing shoulders with the stars!

    GMVS Results:
    Heidi: 27th
    MK: 49th
    David: 25th
    Peter Kling: 26th
    Dylan Grald: 30th
    Dev: 78th
    Hans: 80th
    Antoine: 103rd

    The video from today:



  • Super Tour Finals – Prologue

    This morning was the 3km prologue of ST Finals in Craftsbury, VT. The organizers here have done an astounding job of preparing this course despite record high temps in the 70s all last week. The weather is starting to turn now and it got just cold enough last night to firm the track up a bit. I felt pretty good this morning in my warm up and despite not being able to test skis myself, MWSC coaches Will Sweetser and Seth Hubbard did a great job on the boards and gave me confidence when they handed me my skis before the start. Nordic Ultratune’s m1d grind continues to fly in these conditions with my SC camber Madshus skate boards.

    The ribbon of snow…it has been non-stop work for the course crew to keep snow on the ground. They’re laying down snow from a stockpile until early in the morning and then grooming around 3am.

    The prologue is perhaps one of the toughest races to do. It’s long enough to where you need to have some semblance of pacing, but short enough that you have to go really hard the whole time. Basically I skied the first lap like a sprint then tried to do it again, and when the bottom started to fall out about 500m from the finish, tried to hold on as best I could. I ended up 8th, 21sec out of 1st. Not a bad start to the week and it gives me a great start position for tomorrow’s 15km classic mass start. Former MOD athletes and Methow natives Sadie and Erik Bjornsen both racked up some great finishes in their first races on domestic soil in a few months – Sadie was 3rd and Erik tied for 3rd with USST member Noah Hoffman. Good to see the Methow packing the top ranks in the nation!

  • Go Girls Go

     

    It’s late March and the end of the ski season is upon us. After racing (or cheering) in Italy Brian and I flew straight into Burlington, Vermont. We stayed with our (new) friends Tom and Anna in Burlington and reminisce about Minnesota before heading over the mountains to Craftsbury. When we arrived in Craftsbury the weather was sunny, clear and a balmy 77F. Brian and I moved into our home for the next two weeks with our wonderful hostesses Rebecca and Olivia. Every morning we are greeted with free-range eggs, beautiful views and the freshest and best tasting milk I have ever had. We are so lucky!!

    Olivia is part of the after school running group called Run Girls Run. I joined her and her classmate Anna for a 3 mile run and then lead them through a routine of stretches and core exercises. 

    After our run Olivia and I met with the younger Run Girls Run group and we talked to them about the Olympics and how far running can take you! The girls were psyched to have a new running partner and Olivia and I joined them as they ran aroung the common across from the school.

     

    We have our first races tomorrow. We will both be racing the 3K prologue. The snow has been hit pretty hard here in the Northeast Kingdom. We are lucky to be skiing at all considering the warm weather from the past week. We will keep you updated on the remaining race schedule as we find out about it.

  • Spring Series Preview Video

    Craftsbury still has snow! And believe it or not, we’re racing tomorrow. Here’s an update from trailside…
    Racing gets underway tomorrow with a 3.3 km prologue skate race. Should be sweet!

  • Canadian Nationals Sprint

    Last week I was in Mont Ste Anne, Quebec for some races at Canadian National Championships. I primarily wanted to focus on the skate sprint as I knew the Canadian National Team guys would be home from Europe and their recent successes and corresponding points profiles would make for a competitive and fun event. I’ve been fortunate through this Eastern racing series to have been taken under the wing of Maine Winter Sports Club coach Will Sweetser, who has been providing amazing ski service and will continue to work with me through Spring Series.

    But to the sprint. The course, which for the entire week had been slush and mush, was generously salted the night before the race and firmed up really nicely. The qualifier had some icy sections and some wavy sections but mostly was firm and fast, just my type of skiing. I had really fast skis thanks to Will’s superb waxing and an Ultratune M1d grind, and qualified 11th, about 5.5 seconds out of 1st (Harvey) and right in the mix with some strong World Cup skiers.

    Leading out my quarterfinal – me on the right (111), Harvey on left (101), Darragon behind (121)

    My quarterfinal was quite a doozy. It consisted of, amongst others, Harvey and Roddy Darragon, a veteran French World Cup skier. The start area was quite small and only had three lanes, so the first three guys picked the front and the last three had to stand behind in a second row. Being third ranked in my heat I picked a lane up front. Out of the start I double poled hard and seemed to get a little ground over Harvey and Nish, who both then apparently tangled up and I think Harvey broke a pole. I suddenly was in the lead by about 5m and found myself leading the charge. I tend to not like leading in sprints as it leaves one prone to attack and being overwhelmed in the latter half of the race, but with the circumstances such as they were I put the accelerator down and went for it. I led over the first big climb, down a hill, over another, and into the stadium. There was a lot of commotion going on behind me and I could hear poles breaking and see coaches running from the sides to offer replacements. Occasionally my baskets would get stepped on so I knew all the racers behind me were jockeying hard.

    At the far end of the stadium Harvey made his move and shot strong forward beside me. At that point I hadn’t realized Darragon was so close, until he slipped right in behind Harvey, and ahead of me. As we turned into a short, steep pitch Nish and I were side-by-side and at the top he got the inside corner and pulled in front. At that point we were on a narrow lane and I skied hard to maintain contact. Coming down a short bender and into the finish stretch we all pulled hard for the line. I ended up about 2sec behind Harvey and a little less than 1sec behind the other two. Because lucky loser was determined by heat time (akin to the World Cup format), finishing fourth still gave me a chance at the semis. I waited until the end of the quarters to find out I just missed the cut, along with a few other Americans.

    Needless to say, Canadian skiers are A BIG DEAL. Harvey, Kershaw and Valjas were mobbed by media, autograph-seekers and well-wishers everywhere they went. There was a low-flying film helicopter during all our heats taking video and tons of fans. It was quite a different feel than racing, even US Nationals, in the states. And the level of competition was certainly elevated; definitely a worthwhile experience, esp. given that they ended up being my best sprint points of the year.

    Now I’m in Craftsbury, getting set for Super Tour Finals this week on a narrow ribbon of ice, dirt and rare snow bits. The organizers here are putting forth a superhuman effort to get these races going and I’m psyched to see so many athletes out enjoying preparation. When there’s racing fever in the air it really doesn’t matter what the conditions are; everyone will have fun and go like hell.

    First race tomorrow: 3km skate prologue. More to come!

  • Jessie Diggins and Young Talent

    Earlier this week I tweeted a little nugget I stumbled across: that Jessie Diggins now owns around half of all top 30 results for US skiers 21 years old or younger over the past two decades. In contrast, the most any single Norwegian contributes over the same time period is around 10% of all their top 30 results by skiers 21 or younger.

    That fact illustrates two things to me: (1) Jessie Diggins may be the best talent the US has seen since in a long, long time, and (2) the US is really quite bad at developing skiers at younger ages. Usually, our best skiers are well into their late twenties or even thirties.

    Among young World Cup skiers, how does Diggins stack up? Well, of her 16 starts, she was in the points over half the time. This is well behind the likes of Krista Lahteenmaki, Maiken Caspersen Falla and Heidi Weng. But it was better than Finn Hagen Krogh, Gleb Retivyhk, Petr Sedov and Hanna Kolb.

    This all got me wondering what the age breakdown has been more generally for top thirty finishers, so I made this following graph:

    (The handful of bars that don’t reach all the way to 100% are due to a small number of skiers, mostly Russian, from the 90′s who I don’t have a year of birth for.) Not surprisingly, the under-21 crowd is more strongly represented among the top sprinters.

    Related posts:

    1. <Best Young Sprint Skiers: 2009-2010
    2. <Should Jessie Diggins Be On The A-Team?
    3. <Is Sprinting A Young Person’s Game?


  • Engadin Battles and OPA Podiums

    Once again, sorry for the delay in posting. I suppose I’ve been busy hopping time zones, countries and racing scenes.  Surprise, surprise, racing takes it out of you and add some intense travel on top of that plus the new-found 75 degree heat that greeted us in Vermont and I’m tired. But don’t worry, not tired enough to pull out a few more good races on good ole USA soil! 
    Pretty happy to be back on US Soil!  
    To rewind… My last post was right before the Engadin Night Sprints in Downtown St. Moritz.  This was my first night sprint ever and it didn’t disappoint.  There were no qualifiers or times, just elimination and head to head battle.  As in any night sprint, there were some good crashes, it was almost impossible to pass and there was some nice cash on the line – in the form of Swiss Francs.  
    Night sprint course – most of the spectators were “in town” at the start and finish…. As you can see, the upper section was QUITE dark, living up to it’s name (Night sprint!)
    Here we are on the podium.  The two other girls are Swiss, from just over the mountains.  Lauren, the girl that won had her first World Cup podium back in December in the Davos Skate sprint. 
    With Clark (left) who made fast skis and team leader, Tony (right) who had all the answers!

    While in Switzerland we did some serious spectating and cheering from the Telly. A big group of us would pile into a room and yell at the TV, cheering on our friends. Highlights were abundant and we had a blast cheering on Susan Dunklee when she claimed 5th at Biathlon World Championships, Bryan Fletcher (Nordic Combined) when he won the Oslo World Cup and the Hoff (Noah) when he was leading the 50k Holmenkollen!
    Watching races live in Europe is a blast….. 
     
     We had a cappuccino or two… 
     And also gawked at the amazing abundance and selection of Swiss chocolate
     The night before the race we had a big pre-race meeting and Tony delivered our bibs.  Here is the whole crew, minus Billy Demong who flew in directly from Oslo, arrived in the middle of the night, slept two hours, raced the race and flew back to the states, all in the span of about 24 hours!
     Front row (l-r) Lars Flora, Clark, Torin Koos, Bettina Gruber (Swiss/Torin’s girlfriend) Back row (l-r) JD Downing, Evelyn Dong, Caitlin Compton Gregg, Matt Liebsch, myself, Nicole Deyong & last but certainly not least, Tony. 
    So, unfortunately I don’t have any pictures from the race itself. Or the finish line for that matter.  The entire experience was one part battle, one part exhilarating, one part frustrating, and one part learning experience.  Basically, I wasn’t quite prepared for the flash mob of skiers that overwhelmed the trail once the starting gun went off.  Basically, the “elite women”start with the elite men at 8:30 in the morning.  Well, there are multiple other waves of “elite” people that start at the same time, simply 50 meters behind us.  So basically, you have a bazillion people starting at the same time – skiing into a headwind.  There is no where to go and nothing you can do except for try to protect your skis and poles from being broken and anticipate gigantic crashes all around you.  As a female skier, its difficult to keep track of where the other females are because there may be 20 master-aged men in between you and them.  The first 15k or so of the race are on big, flat lakes and we faced a ten mile per hour headwind the day of the race.  What does this mean? It means that the guys in front don’t go very fast and this has the effect of a carbonated drink about to explode.  Let me just say this:  It was pure battle and I wasn’t exactly prepared for what I faced.  
    A Steinbock, native to the region…. 
    Luckily I made it through without any broken equipment but at some point, leading up to the bottle neck of the course (big steep wall of a hill) I got separated from the lead women.  Shortly after, a gap formed with the female leaders skiing in a pack of 30-50 men – simply along for the ride. I was in a pack one group back.  Because of the headwind I was simply unable to bridge the gap to the next group and no one in my group was competent or fast enough to pull us back in.  In fact, all the men we were skiing with simply pulled over with a “ladies first” attitude.  There was simply no where to go and the race was over once I lost the female leaders at the 15k mark.  It’s unfortunate because for the majority of the race I didn’t even feel as if I was skiing hard.  I just missed the train, or the pack – literally.  
    Houses in Europe and particularly Switzerland seem to be obsessed with exterior decor and specifically, window shutters.  This is one that I really like… 
    After the race, others compared the Engadin to a road race. In fact, I think there was a funny comment about it being similar to a road race in that you saw people out there of “all funny shapes and sizes” doing well.  It wasn’t really a race of fitness or ski skill (I am certainly not trying to take anything away from the folks that did well) but more a race of positioning, marathon experience and a bit of luck.  
    It wasn’t until the end of the race that I also learned that some of the top marathon girls ski with men to help get them through the pack and if need be, provide a draft to pull them back up to a group.  Coming into this experience I had no idea how many similarities this would have to bike racing.  I promised myself that when I come back to race this race again, I will bring my own domestique!  
    In Switzerland they also love their window lace tapestries.  
    All said and done, I was frustrated because I had goals of making the podium but instead finished 8th.  But, next time I will be better prepared.  Nonetheless, it was a great time and a nice change of pace to experience a European World Loppet.  There is a huge circuit over here for these big races and I certainly hope to hit up more of them in the future. Thanks so much to Tony for leading our group and providing great enthusiasm and vision for the US crew!  
    Following the big race half of the crew was scheduled to fly home and the other half was scheduled to continue onto Toblach Dobbiaco Italy for Europa (OPA) cup finals.  OPA is basically like the central European Super Tour and we had a huge group of Americans that participated.  
    First, we had to GET from St Moritz to Toblach which included four trains, one bus, one car ride – narrowly escaping Italian jail and load upon loads of gear and awkward ski bags that never seemed to fit in the trains properly. 
     
    This picture doesn’t do justice for the amount of gear we had with us…. Upon our arrival in Toblach we felt very accomplished yet exhausted!
    Along the way I got a good chuckle from the choices in the vending machine.  From left to right your choices are party stix, a “Maybe Baby” pregnancy test (15 euro), condoms & lighters.  Europeans are certainly more liberal about some topics…. 
     #36 – Maybe Baby! 
    This was my second trip to Toblach this winter, the first being for the middle stages of the Tour de Ski.   This time around Toblach was balmy and the only reason we had snow was because most of the venue is in a valley, shaded during the heat of the day.  
     The Toblach sprint hill goes OVER the building!
     The series was also a reunion with the APU ladies team! 
    The race was a three day mini tour with back to back races including a skate prologue, a classic 5k and a 10k pursuit start.  Prizes for the races included GINORMOUS chunks of meat and cheese. (The one pictured above is the small one)  
     With Olympic Champion, Italian Pietro Piller Cottrer. 
     Prizes from day 2 – Classic 5k win! 
     Erik Bjornsen throwing his glasses to us in the skate race while we cheered him and the other boys on!
     The podium for the final day!  Each of the three days of racing were surprisingly close between myself and two Slovenians, Barbara & Alenka.  In fact, the middle classic day less than one second separated the podium – in an individual start race!  This shows the importance of every second counts! Or in this case, maybe every TENTH of a second counts! 
    The last day I won a beautiful 5+ kilo pound of local, Toblach cheese.  In lieu of trying to carry it onto my International flight claiming, “No, I do not have any animal products!” I decided to give it to our beloved waiter for the week, Bert.  He played awesome tricks on us all week included my favorite, pretending to spill a hot bowl of soup on you only to catch the (empty) bowl with a spoon!  
    Racing the OPA scene was a great experience for me.  As many of you know, my rise to elite level ski racing was somewhat backwards…. OPA is usually seen as a stepping stone for the World Cup and Championship level skiing.  Instead, I qualified for the Olympics first, then proceeded to gain World Cup experience, followed by OPA. Most people attend these events/races in the opposite order.  Needless to say, it felt great stand on top of a podium and racing OPAwas a blast. Thanks a ton to Bryan Fish (team leader) and Casey, Clark & Colin for providing good boards!  Thanks also to NNF for helping provide support for the trip. 
    WHEW…. that leads me to where I am now, Craftsbury Vermont.  I am back with the APU team and this weekend we will race Super Tour finals and the National Championship 30k.  Crazy as it sounds, temperatures are in the high 70s…. in fact, its so hot that our team had to seek out a thrift store today to buy shorts and tank tops.  My winter ski racing attire doesn’t cut it here! 
    That’s it for now. Thanks for reading the novel. More to come from Vermont! Cheers, 
    Holly 🙂

  • Canadian Nationals Day 6, Open Sprints

    It was another warm day and there were large crowds for the mens and womens open sprint races today. Alex Harvey is a hero in Quebec and with the whole Canadian team racing along with top skiers from the US, Norway (including last years WJC winner), France (including WC podium racers), it was quite an exciting day. Alex did not disappoint as he won both the prelim and the final.

    The temps only dropped to 50 last night, but they salted the course and that helped it stay very firm for the prelims and quite firm for the heats.
    Our day started well. Skyler blistered out of the start and even though he faded a bit at the end, he had an excellent race and placed 15th.
    Nick took a tumble (never a good idea in a sprint race), but skied well and Corky and Charlie just missed making the OJ heats. They skied hard and had fun..they wished they could race it again… having faster snow made the skiing more enjoyable 🙂
    On the womens side, we did not have any current students, but alums Sophie C and Megan K (both Dartmoth) had great days. Sophie qualified 2nd (ahead of several World Cup regulars) and Megan qualified 19th!
    Skyler got to race the 1/4’s with a bunch of Canadian national Team skiers! Here he is about 40% of the way through skiing in 2nd :). He held on really well until the final downhill where his fatigued legs abandoned him and he fell…. still… it was a great effort and experience!
    Sophie, Ida and Jenny B leading their semi final half way through.
    And at the finish.
    That thing in the air was here to film the race for the news.
    Chandra won the A final handily, with Jenny and Ida placing 3rd and 4th :).
    All in all it was another great day for racing and spectating. Thanks to Mte Ste Anne for doing such a good job with holding the races in the summer-like conditions.
    1/2 of our group is on the way home and the rest of us are getting ready to end the season at Craftsbury. Should be fun!

  • Red Bull NordiX 2012 – Holmenkollen

    Official Red Bull NordiX Trailer:Check It Out!

  • Toblach Mens 15km Freestyle Pursuit Viedo

  • Can Nats Day 5 – Mooney Wins Sprint!

    Yet another gorgeous day in Mont Sainte Anne!  The temperature in the van when we got in to go home at the end of the day read 68F!  We had the junior and juvenile sprint races today, starting with the prelim in the morning, and had both Kate Kerin and Brooke Mooney qualify for the heats in their respective divisions.  For Kate, it was her first time qualifying for a sprint heat ever!  Awesome!   Katharine, Tess, Pip, Calvin, & Mac all raced in the morning too, but missed making the afternoon heats so they did a great job cheering their teammates on and being supportive in the afternoon.    Full results/brackets here.
     Kate qualified 29th – here she is in her quarterfinal trailing the girls seeded 19th and 22nd.
    Kate came zipping around the downhill corner into the finish and slingshot herself from 6th to 5th in her heat, passing the girl seeded 22nd and improving her placing.
     Kate and Mollie after Kate’s quarterfinal.
     Brooke heads out of the start in her quarterfinal – she ended up 2nd in her quarter, advancing her to the semis…
     In the semi’s she didn’t have the best start and ended up 5th heading out onto the first hill of the course and onto the flat middle section.
     Sprinting at the line for 3rd in the semi – she ended up 4th, but lucky losers were based on time and Brooke’s heat was fast so both the 3rd place girl and Brooke advanced to the A final.
    A final!  Brooke got a great start, skied in second for most of the race and then V1’d through the deep slush to pass the girl in first and ski away (see below) for a six second win!  
    Sprinting for the win!
    Brooke & Katharine wait at the awards ceremony this evening.
    Brooke on the podium in first!
    They had to redo the podium from Katharine’s win in the skate race yesterday, so she got to come back up and pose with her skis again. : )   Tomorrow we’ve got the open sprints for the seniors and our OJs. Stay tuned!  

  • A Bozeman Break

    The calm of the post season has started to settle in, I’m doing my best to leisurely do nothing… sort of.

    So far Bozeman has given me a little spring break that is just how I remembered.  Sunny and 60, shorts, sandals… only to wake up to 6 inches of snow in town and word coming in that it was dropping an inch every 20 minutes up on the Bridgers.  Today we are moving back towards 60.  But that’s Bozeman… winter will sneak up on you again.  When you least expect it… when you least want it back.

    I’m giving my body whatever it is it needs.  Meaning… I’ve been sustaining myself almost solely on coffee, salt and vinegar sweet potato chips, and sunshine.  Ok and the occasional baked good… and maybe a little curry.  But I couldn’t be happier.

    Making decisions.  You know.  Mountain bike shopping, deciding to move out of the training center, and re-enrolling as a student at Montana State University.  (currently only a handful of online summer session courses)  Just normal every day life choices.  Feeling a little too productive?  yes.  Hello a little office work. A little food for my soul.  A little trekking through the snow.  All fine by me.

    Up next? Mammoth CA.  Followed by a raging appearance at Spring Series.  (packing my sunscreen for both!!!)