FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

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

  • Dewy Mountain Day

    Yesterday was a little bittersweet.  I’m headed to Montana on Monday for Nationals… and although I’m super excited to go end the season out west I’m bummed that yesterday was probably my last day skiing with “my kids” for the winter.  That’s right parents… I’ve emotionally adopted your children.  Congratulations Lake Placid.  I’m pretty sure that’s the final step to being attached to a community.

    I want to take this opportunity to thank NYSEF and Dewy Mtn for letting me be a super volunteer coach and  run around in the woods with your kids for the past couple of months.  It has been a very challenging season for me but you guys made Lake Placid home.  The outpouring of positive support I have received over the past couple of months has been absolutely incredible.  I feel like I am truly a part of your community and for that, I can not thank you enough.

    All that being said… way to rock Dewy Mtn Day!

    (Van coming into shoot)

    (Congratulating Liam on an awesome first race ever!  Lollipops for everyone!)

    Getting ready for awards and bib draw and hyenas… (I mean kids!) gather

    (Leading out on the snow shoe portion for team Peregrine Falcon Speedies in the BoxShort Triathlon Relay)

    (The youngest Franz boy contemplating getting in on the racing action… that or smiling for a lollipop)

    (Team Peregrine Falcon Speedies were victorious! Our anchor Tate really sealed the deal.)

    So I might not be at World Champs… or NCAAs… but I think Dewy Mtn was the place for me to be on Saturday.  After all… we are the Golden Boxers Champions of 2012!

  • Rogla, Slovenia 10km Skate (2)

    OPA races are the real deal. 11 countries brought athletes and techs to Rogla for the weekend.Same wax trailers as on the World Cup. Each country has one with their flag on the door. Colin (SVSEF), Fish (USST) and Casey (APU) gave us all some great skis today. Several different teams are represented on this trip but in the wax room we are all Team USA.

    The wax crew here is doing a great job. 

     

    We had a fast race course out there today. I went out hard and felt good. At 3km I got a split that I was 26th, 30 seconds out. Not good news seeming as my goal was top 5. I focused on skiing smooth and felt even stronger as the race progressed. I had a good battle the final 2km with the Swiss skier who started behind me. I felt good out there today although am a little disappointed with my placing. 

    10km Freestyle Results from today on FIS or click the link on my twitter.

    Most of the athletes use Swix poles. We have a second trailer for the athletes and gear.

    We took over the meeting room from the coaches meeting to watch the NCAA championships streaming live. Nice work Americans.

     

    Surprisingly I was the exact same time back as the 10km in Switzerland.Tad (5th) Me (23rd) and Gelso (21st) post race

  • Rogla, Slovenia 10km Skate

    OPA races are the real deal. 11 countries brought athletes and techs to Rogla for the weekend.Same wax trailers as on the World Cup. Each country has one with their flag on the door. Colin (SVSEF), Fish (USST) and Casey (APU) gave us all some great skis today. Several different teams are represented on this trip but in the wax room we are all Team USA.Most of the athletes use Swix poles. We have a second trailer for the athletes and gear.We took over the meeting room from the coaches meeting to watch the NCAA championships streaming live. Nice work Americans.

    We had a fast race course out there today. I went out hard and felt good. At 3km I got a split that I was 26th, 30 seconds out. Not good news seeming as my goal was top 5. I focused on skiing smooth and felt even stronger as the race progressed. I had a good battle the final 2km with the Swiss skier who started behind me. I felt good out there today although am a little disappointed with my placing. Surprisingly I was the exact same time back as the 10km in Switzerland.Tad (5th) Me (23rd) and Gelso (21st) post race

    10km Freestyle Results from today on FIS or click the link on my twitter.

    I decided to race the 30km classic tomorrow. It is going to be a fast tight race.

  • Happy Women’s Day!

    Thank you to the Russian fan for the beautiful Women’s Day flowers! You made my day!!

    So I’m a couple day late…but these things happen with the excitement of World Championships. Let me break down the excitement since the Mixed Relay: I recovered from 2 penalties in the Sprint to qualify in 49th place for the Pursuit; I shot clean (20/20) for the first time ever in a 4-stage World Cup event in the Pursuit and moved up to 41st; with only 3 penalties, I scored a few World Cup points in the Individual, and Susan Dunklee had a fantastic day, placing 5th! We’re now looking forward to the Relay event and these Championships on a true upswing. I’ll then be off to Russia for the final World Cup competitions in Khanty-Mansiysk.

    On the big screen during the Sprint race.

    Coach Jonne with some final instructions as we prepare for the Relay.

  • Oh Winter!

    … Oh Spring?  Oh winter?  Spring?  Oh for pete’s sake ya big tease!!!

    I have no idea what season it is anymore.  It changes so fast I can’t keep up!  Welcome to March I guess…  Even after almost a full day of rain and temperatures soaring well into the 50′s we managed to get snow last night.  So what’s a girl to do with a little fresh snow?  Adventure time!

    That’s right. Rocked the fish scales down the road this morning and into Marcy Dam.  The sun was shining.  The forest critters were milling in Snow White Disney-esque fashion. At one point after catching myself from nearly disastrous face plants I laughed and said, “Oh jeeze watch out there is some snow in our rocks!”

    But I made it.  Reveling in some much needed Vitamin D and quite time on the trail… I really can’t complain.

    Now here is some pretty horrendous cell-phone journalism!

  • European Racing


    The transition to Europe went really smoothly for me.  The 7 hour time difference from Minneapolis can mess with your body, but I seem to have handled it easily.  I met up with a large group of Americans coming from the World Junior/U23 Championships in Ezerum, Turkey.  My good friend, climbing partner, and college teammate Casey Fagerquist is the wax technician for the trip.  Plus my former Coach, Bryan Fish is the head coach for the trip so it is great to be working with familiar friends.  

    Tad (Birkie Champion) and I out for a classic ski on our first day in Europe.  We are fierce competitors but also good friends
    Our first set of races were Swiss Cups in Feutersoey, SUI.  The field were small but there were a few very fast guys.  Remo Fischer the World Cup veteran from Switzerland won both races.  Remo and Tad caught me in the skate race but I was able to hang on to them for a short while to finish 4th.   The weather was pretty unreal with highs near 60 degrees all week.  Thankfully there was over three feet of snow throughout the valley.
    After our week in Switzerland we drove 9 hours to Rogla, Slovenia.  This weekend we will race the OPA cup. These races are very competitive and are just a small step below the World Cup.
    Tad and I are in bunkbeds in what is described as a bungalow.  The room is tiny, but we have everything we need.  The rooms have a kitchen, table, shower and bathroom and are not much larger than 10′ x 16.’
    Temperatures are just below freezing and we had great skiing this morning.  We had a relaxed start to let things soften up a bit.  It is cool to ski many of the same hills that I have seen on televison watching the annual World Cups in Rogla.  
    Fish and Casey are taking extremely good care of us over here.  This morning they wouldn’t even let me scrape or wax my own skis.  It is serious business over here.  

    Tomorrow we race 10km Freestyle, this is a great race for me and my focus for the weekend.

  • World Biathlon Champs: USA/CAN Histories

    Since I’ve been neglecting biathlon a bit lately, I figured I owed everyone a biathlon post, particularly given the shocking 5th place finish the other day by Susan Dunklee.

    So here is some historical data on how the US and Canada have performed at WBCs over the years. First, measured by finishing place:

    The blue line tracks the median, so it’s sort of a measure of overall team performance. Also interesting is to look at how the best and worst results have trended over the years. For instance, for the US women, you see their median remaining mostly flat overall, with some modest improvements lately. But their best result generally got worse through the late 90′s, and then has improved dramatically (with some notable exceptions in the middle there).

    To go along with that, we have a historical look at overall, team shooting performance at WBCs over the years:

    Related posts:

    1. <Mid-Season Review: USA Biathlon
    2. <US World Champs Team Selection
    3. <World Champs Preview: Distance


  • Moving 190 lbs of Awkwardness

    There is certainly an art to traveling and traveling well.  There are tricks to traveling in a big group such as the US Ski Team, and there are tricks to traveling by yourself. Both have their advantages as well as their challenges.  With the USST coaches are there for support and almost always, they take care of every logistical detail. If you wish, you can simply act as a herd animal following others around you.  This doesn’t mean it’s easy and that doesn’t mean it’s not tiring.
    View out the train window headed towards St. Moritz from Zurich
    In comparison, traveling by yourself allows you to be on your own “watch” but it also means that its your personal responsibility to get from point A, to point B. If you don’t, you might not get your next meal or find a bed for the night! 

    Take this past weekend for example. It was a test in spontaneity, last minute decisions, and faith that everything would work out!  Less than a week ago I flew from the states into Helsinki, Finland to compete in the Lahti (Finland) World Cups.  If I skied well, I would be invited to continue onto Norway and if I skied REALLY well, there was a small chance that I would keep racing through World Cup finals in Sweden. 

    Well, I simply didn’t ski well in Finland. Blame it on the travel, the 50k a week prior, or just simply “not going fast enough” the options of racing in Norway and Sweden were gone.  Going into this period, I knew it was an option and had come up with plan A, B & C in theory (and theory only)! 

    Leaving the Finnish sandwhiches of Lahti… 
    I have recently decided that buying plane/train tickets and making reservations well in advance only costs money (especially when you have to change and/or cancel plans) and I can only afford to “throw away so many tickets” that I don’t use. So, on Sunday after sprinting poorly, I pulled my laptop out at the venue, and later the hotel to buy my ticket out of Helsinki for the following morning.  (As you might imagine, I was nervous logging onto kayak.com, praying that tickets hadn’t tripled in price since the last time I had looked!)
    The plan quickly and spontaneously came together: Share a shuttle to the airport with the French team, fly from Helsinki to Stockholm to Zurich. In Zurich I managed to meet up with my German Cousin Felix, whom I’ve met once, in 1995. I crashed on his couch for the night and he helped me navigate the bus and train station early the next morning on his way to work. (Thanks Felix!) 
     Me & Felix in Zurich 

    After leaving Felix I was left to schlep 190 lbs of gear by myself, from train to train and train station to hotel. I developed a strategy: move one bag 50 meters, go back for the other one, then move the next, keep all 190lbs in eye sight the whole time. As you can imagine, this is slow, tedious and a workout in and of itself. Sometimes strangers take pity on you and offer to help and other times, they’re just offended that your ski bags are in the way….. 

    When considering the hardship & expense of traveling while competing as an American in Europe, it is certainly easy to envy the Europeans.  They have so many options, so many races to choose from and home is never that far away.  If they are racing poorly, it is always an option to attend a “B level race” and then return to the World Cup when they are feeling up to it. Everything is “close” for them and they’ve grown up navigating the autobahn of Germany and the ski trails of Val di Fiemme. Heck, they’ve probably even sampled the waffles of Holmenkollen since they were 13!  Being a ski racer in Europe could mean the equivalent of chosing between a World Cup in Anchorage, a World Loppet in Fairbanks, and a high level OPA cup race in Soldotna; all within the span of one weekend!  The Washington Equivalent would be a World Cup at Snoqualmie/Kongsberger, a World Loppet in Leavenworth, or an OPA in Spokane. 
    With their knowledge, contacts, and know-how, it’s simply that easy. This past weekend while the World Cup was in Lahti, a couple of the top World Cup skiers opted to race the Swedish Vasaloppet instead. Vibeke Skofterud, one of the top Norwegians won the race to the tune of $50,000 and a brand new Volvo for setting a new course record! This is not to say that winning is easy but it certainly pays off over here if you can manage it!
    Some US girls in the Engadin Valley! Me, Nicole Deyong, Caitlin Gregg & Evelyn Dong
    What’s next for me? Night sprints in St. Moritz tonight followed by racing the Engadin Ski Marathon on Sunday! We have a great group of Americans here to take on the challenge. After this, it’s onto Toblach, Italy for OPA finals before heading back to the US for a domestic finale @ Craftsbury.  
    That’s it for the 2011-2012 racing season!
    H 
    A shot of the MASS of skiers in the Engadin (taken from the Internet)
    Caitlin standing under the Rivella blimp on the Engadin race course

  • MK Battles to 5th Place in 10 km Skate

    MK skiing at the Dartmouth Carnival earlier this year. She was 5th in the 10 km OJ girls skate at Junior Nationals.

    Mary Kate Cirelli took home 5th place in the OJ Girls 10 km skate on Wednesday. She skied with the lead pack for the duration, and weathered the storm when several girls made attacks near the end of the race, skating in through the slush to hold onto 5th place overall. I don’t have many details from the race, and I’m unfortunately not there to take photos, but it looks like the rest of the team will be gunning for improvement Tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll be able to scrape together some more info soon!

    Dev and Hans showed they can crush it in the classic sprints. After a tough day yesterday, look for them to rip out there tomorrow!

    Tomorrow our gang looks to match its strong classic sprint with some good classic distance racing. The distance is 5 km for MK and Katilin and 10 km for Hans and Dev. It promises to be fun out there!

    On a different note, I got to go watch the Bill Koch Festival at Great Glen Trails this past weekend, which was a real treat and a throwback to my days as a young racer in New England. The kids—500 of them in all, more than are at JNs—represented the typical range of young skiers that BKL attracts. Some were super serious about the racing and some were along for the ride, more interested in the costumes, the obstacle course, and the general excitement of the festival. Regardless of mentality about the racing, everyone was having a great time. It is always refreshing to get back to the roots of skiing and remember why we are all in this sport.

    I helped out in the finish corral on Sunday for the individual races, and got to pick up many of the racers after they hurled themselves to the snow in exhaustion after skiing their 1, 2, 3, or 4 km loops. After a lift up and some encouragement to breathe, almost all of them threw a big smile on their face and cheered for their competitors crossing the finish line. And every kid, when I asked them how it went, either said “fun!” or “awesome!” What a great perspective on the sport, one which I think we should recall whenever we go out and race. Skiing is exhilarating and fun: getting too caught up results can cloud the enjoyment that brings us all out to the trails.

    And some of these kids can flat out ski! On the skate day especially, I was amazed at the fluidity and grace with which some of the BKLers moved around the course. The last 200 meters came down a steep hill and across a flat before turning and climbing gradually to the finish. Some of the kids moved so effortlessly across the flat that I could have sworn I was watching miniature world cup skiers. They skied with total abandon, relaxed at every joint, carefree in their arm swing and their expressions, and big—or as big as they could be at an average of 4′ 5″—in every motion they made. Skiing is not a sport founded on brute strength or raw power: it is founded on the joy of free movement, of speed gained effortlessly and momentum preserved by efficiency. Sometimes it is important to take a step back and look at the kids who just want to go fast.

    Good luck tomorrow to the GMVS crew, and we’ll keep everyone posted on how it goes!

  • US Junior Nationals – Day 2 – Skate Mass Start

    The Black Jack Squad had a phenominal day of distance racing today. Although the racing conditions at Soldier Hollow were rather unfavourable, the team managed to pull off some impressive races. By the time the J1 Class started at around 11:00 am, the course was chewed up and slow, and was even worse when the […]

  • Happy Birthday Sverre!

    Today is Sverre’s birthday!  Sver often celebrates his birthday at Junior Nationals and we miss having him here, so all of us out in Utah, plus a few others, wanted to wish you a very happy birthday! 

    From left:  Gino (5), Paddy (1), Eli Hoenig (2), Fabian Stoeck (3), Sean Doherty (4).

    New England and SMS skiers had a great day yesterday for the mass start freestyle races.  The day started out cloudy, but the sun shone through by the time racing got underway and the course went from hard and fast for the J2s to slightly soft for the J1s to ankle deep mush for the OJs.  
    The highlight of the day for team New England and SMS was watching Paddy and Gino and three NE teammates sweep 1 – 5 for the New England Team.  Paddy and Gino got a small gap during the first lap, but 3 NE skiers (Eli, Sean, Fabian) bridged the gap up to Gino and Paddy slowly pulled away for a 28 second win.  Gino ended up 5th overall, 2 seconds out of 4th.   All the NE boys kept a large pack of hard charging Rocky boys behind them – reaimpressive for a bunch of sea level kids racing at altitude. 
    Eli, Paddy, and Fabian on the podium.  With Paddy’s win, this becomes the 16th year in a row, an SMS skier has won a gold medal at Junior Nationals.  Awesome!  
    Paddy and Gino were not the only ones with fantastic races yesterday.  Rachel Hall was on the podium with a bronze medal, with Issy right behind in 4th to lead the NE OJ girls in the 10k freestyle race.  Katharine Ogden finished 4th to get her second consecutive top 5 result at JNs. Brooke had an off day and finished 22nd – she’s looking forward to the classic races tomorrow!  Tyler, who just missed All American honors, and Hamish finished 12th and 26th respectively for J1 boys.  Koby finished 12th for J2 boys, Heather was 19th and Anika was 24th for J1 girls, and Austin Cobb was feeling sick yesterday morning so unfortunately he did not race.  We’re hoping he feels well enough to bounce back for tomorrow!  I know we had lots of parents out there taking pictures, so once we get those rounded up we’ll put them up on the blog.
    Last night was the mid-week awards and athlete ice cream social.  The top 10 in each age group receive All American honors and get called up to receive medals and stand on the podium.  In a few cases an international guest skier finished inside the top 10 so the podium would include the top 11 or 12 to represent the top 10 American athletes competing.   Out of 12 podiums that were recognized at the awards, one or more SMS skiers were on 9 of them (including all sprint podiums for all age groups) to tally up 12 All American honors for SMS!  Pretty awesome!  
    J1 boys sprint: Paddy 2nd.
     OJ boys sprint: Austin 2nd.
     J2 boys sprint: Koby 4th.
     J2 girls sprint: Brooke 2nd, Katharine 5th.
     J1 girls sprint: Heather 4th.
     OJ girls sprint: Rachel 9th.
     J2 girls freestyle mass start: Katharine 4th (girl to Katharine’s left is an international skier who finished below her).   
     J1 boys freestyle mass start: Paddy 1st, Gino 4th (New England’s Fabian Stocek finished 3rd but is an international skier so Gino receives a medal and points for a 4th place finish instead of a 5th place finish.)  
     OJ girls freestyle mass start:  Rachel 3rd, Issy P 4th.
     Team New England athletes (above) and coaches (minus wax techs, below) before the mid-week awards last night.
    We have 12 skiers racing for SMS at Junior Nationals.  Austin, Paddy, Gino, Hamish, Tyler, Koby, Rachel, Heather, Issy, Anika, Brooke, & Katharine with Matt and Liz after one of our team meetings.

    The latest edit from Revived Films, featuring sprint heat footage:

    Whew!  Tomorrow are the interval start classic races – 5k for J2s and women, 10k for men.  Stay tuned! 

  • Thursday / Friday @ BOLTON

    The roads at the Range are impassable, so we will ski at Bolton Valley.

    Thursday, Bolton Valley, 4:15 – 5:30pm. Skate skiing with Tim.

    Friday, Bolton Valley, 4:00pm. Classic skiing with Eli.

    Good luck to all the J2’s going to Rumford!

  • JN sprint Vid 2012

    2012 JN Classci sprint video New England Highlights

    Direct link: HERE

  • My Favorite Moment on Skis

    I’ve been periodically going in and skiing with the students of Lake Placid Elementary School. (Yeah they get to ski in gym class how cool is that!?) It’s been fantastic.  I think I relate to 8 year old really well… mostly because we share a very similar level of passion for skiing.  You know.  Uphills are hard… but pretty awesome.  Downhills can be scary…. but also pretty awesome. In general, skiing is… pretty awesome!

    The kids seem to really enjoy themselves.  I think I’ve only had one kid lay on the ground and yell, “I’m dieing!!!” (yes 8 year olds and I share that too… we can be a little dramatic)

    I’ve had four different classes, and once we are all back in the gym. Skis, boots, and poles aside we get to dive into a little Q&A time.  With elementary school students it really is a dive.  You can’t be sure what you are going to get.  And I do my best to field there questions in relatable, appropriate ways.  Today brought a gem of a question.  ”What is your favorite moment on skis?”  I did my best to share a good memory of mine, something about what a great day I had racing in Ridnaun last season… But on my run this afternoon I just kept thinking about it.  What is my favorite moment on skis???

    I honestly don’t know if I can pinpoint ONE favorite moment.  One memory…  But instead I’d like to share some of my favorites with you.

    Most of the moments that come flitting back to me are ones where I did “taboo” things on my skis.  I think in part because I skipped that whole “grow up playing on your skis” phase of life.   Those moments of frolic and adventure really grab my attention right off the bat.  Sharks and minnows with NYSEF and the Dewy Mtn crew.  Running across the road on my fish scales and laughing so hard at myself because I thought I was SUCH a rebel.  Being coaxed up the Whiteface toll road to the allure of boxed wine and swedish fish with good company.  Trying to ski the single track… in the dark.

    I have great memories from my first years as a skier.  (some more type 3 funny than others)

    That day when there was so much snow at practice we couldn’t see our boots or our skis.  So much snow that we found ourseleves penquin sliding down the hills on our stomachs.  So much snow if felt like we were floating.

    I look back fondly all the times Molly’s dad took us skiing at ABR.  How he tried to get us to classic ski up this (nonexistent) incline… and how I couldn’t do it.  … how I cried about it.  I picture myself stomping my feet and cursing that “stupid hill” and that “stupid drill”.  I picture myself on the verge of a total break down. and I laugh.

    There was that freestyle race I had to classic ski because I had just had knee surgery… and how I almost won.

    The weekend I realized a good race didn’t depend on where I finished on the results sheet.

    Or how about those rollerskis when its starts raining.  You stop and sort of look up at the sky… as if to say, “Really?!?! Rain?? Come on!!!” only for it to start raining even harder.

    The days with perfect corduroy or bullet-proof tracks under blue bird skies.  When you have unbeatable kick and mind blowing glide.  The days when it’s puking snow and you can’t tell which way is up.

    This winter when VanHo finally got enough snow to make the trails almost level and you get to bomb down from High Notch with a bunch of 10 year olds in tow.  Everyone so excited to be flying through the woods.

    Taking a break from racing in Europe to classic ski up some pass in Germany.  Only stopping to enjoy cold cokes and hot sausages in the sunshine.  Exhaling altogether, as if we finally have all managed to catch our breath again.

    Breaking trail up Bozeman Creek as we looked for things to huck ourselves off of.  Carrying donuts in our packs.

    Trading high fives with Lollipop racers who don’t care that it’s bitter cold and skiing makes them sweat.

     

    I could go on and on.  But I’ll spare you from my own nostalgia.  I know skiing hasn’t even been part of my life for that long.  I guess that just means… I have a lot to look forward to.  As I have many favorite moments yet to come.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Great Day For SMS

    While we were enjoying a picture perfect day of nor-pining and watching the US Open, our teammates have been crushing it around the world!

    Andy Newell was 6th in the Drammen World Cup this morning.
    Sophie Caldwell led SMS alums with a 3rd place at NCAA’s.
    Paddy Caldwell crushed the field in the mass start skate 10 km at Jr Nationals. Katharine, Isabelle, Rachel and Gino also placed top 5 in their races!
    More updates later…

    Big air on a nice day!

  • Lahti Sprint Recap

    The return of Emil Jönsson:

    I’ve removed a few times from folks who fell and had extremely outlying times. Jönsson sort of owned this one all day, it seems. Only a moderate difference between the semifinals this time (with the outlying times, just for fun):

    On the women’s side, Bjørgen was able to hold off a steadily improving Anne Kylloenon:

    and the semifinals for the women were just a big jumble, interestingly:

    Related posts:

    1. <Liberec Sprint Recap
    2. <Otepää Sprint Recap
    3. <Lahti Sprint Recap


  • Two More To Go!

    Click to view slideshow.
    Hi Everyone,

    Sitting here in my room on Wednesday afternoon, enjoying a day off from racing here at World Champs in Ruhpolding. It hasn’t been the World Champs that I was hoping for so far, but there are still two races to go. Things started off Ok for me in the Mixed Relay. I hit targets and skied reasonably well. At that point, given the prior two weeks of training and preparation, everything seemed to be going as planned. Then, two days later, I managed to put everything together in the shooting range during the Sprint, hitting all ten targets, but my ski speed was nowhere in site. It was by far the slowest I had skied in a race all season, by almost a minute! I have no idea what happened. I wasn’t nervous and I had good sleep the whole week leading up to that race. But, as we always say, “That’s Biathlon!” You just have to roll with the punches.

    The next day in the Pursuit, I skied a bit better and was shooting well so that by the time I got to my last shooting, I was in 9th place, with a chance at a top 5. This was right where I have trained to be. It’s where I want to be. It’s where I have been. And I missed the last two shots of the race! This dropped me all the way back down to 20th, where I started the day. The Individual was another step in the right direction for my ski speed but this time it was my shooting that put me out of the running. I missed 4 targets over the course of the race, and at World Champs, on this course, you can’t afford to do that and expect to place well. I finished 38th.

    There are two positive things that I am looking at when assessing the past week of racing. One; my ski speed, which started out extremely poor has improved every race since that point. Secondly; I managed to pick up just enough points in those three races to stay tied for 13th in the overall World Cup total. This means that I will get a start in the Mass Start on Sunday (At World Championships, the Top-15 world-ranked biathletes get a start spot while the other 15 Mass Start positions go to the 15 best biathletes [that are not currently in the top-15] from the Sprint, Pursuit, and Individual races at that particular World Champs)! Tim also got in, so we will have two guys on the 30-man startline come Sunday. For now, I’m enjoying the day off and looking forward to the Relay on Friday.

    I’d like to thank Toko for bringing me onboard as a sponsored athlete. I am psyched to be a part of the Toko team and excited to help out with the promotion of their product line. I’ve already made good use of the footwear freshener! It’s a must in the damp monsoon-like conditions that have persisted throughout these World Champs.

    Besides racing, things have been pretty mellow. I have stayed either at the hotel or at the venue most of the time as there hasn’t really been space for anything else. We did, however, get a chance to enjoy some Bavarian culture with the team and other various friends on Sunday evening after the Pursuit. Check out the slideshow from that night (above).

  • Pictures from Classic Sprint

    Great photos of Monday’s classic sprint from Michael Cobb!  I neglected to mention Bridger Tyler, who finished 30th in the sprint, in the last post.  Bridger skis at MSU and is competing for the 
    Intermountain team this week.  Thanks Michael for the photos!  We missed one of Issy but we’ll catch her tomorrow in the freestyle race.  Click on any picture to enlarge it! 
    Katharine.
     Heather.
     Rachel.
     Anika.
     Austin.
     Paddy.
     Hamish.
     Gino.
     Tyler.
     Koby.
    Brooke.

  • Birkie Recap

     

    Check out the most recent Toko E-Blast for a recap of the Amercian Birkebeiner Race.  

    The team had great skis, racing on a mixture of Jestream Blue and Jetstream Red (2:1 Ratio)

    toko

  • Atomic 2013 SDS World Cup Classic Skis

    New Graphics!

    A pair of 197cm Atomic SDS World Cup Classic skis arrived at noon on Feb 10th, by FedEx.     A client was in the shop, but was happy to pause while I opened the box and immediately took the skis to the flex tester to give them a quick check.     Bingo.   These were right on target for a skier in the 125 pound range.

    I basically dropped everything, and within 90 minutes had a fresh i5 grind on the skis, wax pocket marked, and race wax on the skis.

    There was a carload of local hotshot ladies heading to Canada at 2 p.m. sharp (well, as “sharp” as a carload of our local hotshot ladies can be…), and these brand new skis made it into their rocket box with no time to spare.   It was a ladies’ weekend, with a little 30km classic race tossed into the mix for entertainment.   In the Methow Valley, the women are strong and good looking and all the children are above average (except for math and science, where I think they might lag a bit).

    The instructions were to give them a try.   Test them with the other race skis, and if they were the best, then by all means feel free to race on them.  No pressure, no favors, no special requests – “Only use them if they’re the best.“

    And so, the new Atomic SDS World Cup Classic skis were on the top of the women’s podium the next day, setting a new course record for women (waxed with Start N-series glider and SF30 Powder, and with Rode Weiss grip wax over Toko Green binder).     The short report was, “These were better than any of the other skis – easy to kick but with a nice pop!    The glide was great, I could double pole and keep up with the elite men!”   This coming from a reliable ex-olympian who knows a thing or three about skis.

    It wasn’t until the skis returned home to the shop that I had enough time to really get a look at the skis, to carefully check out how the SDS camber worked, how the skis flex and close easily.     Then, at that point, I was pretty happy with everything.    They can make the cut as race boards, but they also measure-up nicely on the bench.

     The Atomic SDS World Cup Classic ski on the flex bench at Nordic Ultratune

    By now you may have heard some of the details, read about them on some Atomic infomercials with Rick Halling or Roman Toferer.      A new camber with a special lay-up schedule and materials, to allow the kick zone to stay up off the snow until crunch time, then  – Bam! – drop down with perfect kick, etc.       If you read about it and were a bit skeptical, well who could blame you.      Others have made similar claims…

    Easy to read flex info, and very closely matched wax pockets on this pair.

    But ahoy!   These actually seem to do the job!     Now, I’ll issue a caveat by saying that I’ve worked with a grand total of ONE pair of these SDS skis, but they’re exactly as advertised.

    The magic inside is, naturally, inside and thus not visible.   What is visible to see are the strips along the edge on both sides of each ski that help maintain some uniformity of the kick pocket – they keep it from sagging in the middle, I think.    So when the kick engages, it drops-in relatively uniformly on a section about 50cm long.   The whole section engages smoothly and with good solid contact.     These skis have grip and also some pop – they feel like you’re gliding smoothly until it’s time to kick and then they’re ON.

    Hairsplitting details:   The skis weigh 562 grams each.   Add 120 grams for a ProPulse binding, and you’re up to 682 grams for ski+binding.    That’s 1.50 pounds for Americans.   About 75 grams per ski heavier than last year’s ski, but still light by current standards for a 197cm classic ski.    Good.    The klister pocket (0.5mm high at the ends) is about 40cm long, while cold hardwax can go about 55cm long.     Camber height max at half-body-weight is about 1mm, which is great for hardwax skiing.   Some experimenting with klister will be needed to see how thick that can go without being draggy (on this particular pair, of course).

    Let’s summarize.  Overall I’ll say that these SDS World Cup classic skis are very nice.    They do everything a good hardwax classic ski is supposed to do.       Are they a complete game-changer?   No, you still have to ski with good technique and you still need to get a pair that’s fitted well and prepared well.   Naturally, I’d like to see NIS plates on these skis, the NIS plates would make them better.   But, even with screwed-and-glued bindings they’re going to be very easy to select and prepare as go-to classic skis.   As I saw in February, they can easily go straight to the top of the test results – even among your favorite classic skis.     And that says a lot.   Very nice.

    I’ll definitely have a bunch of these in the shop at Nordic Ultratune in the fall of 2012.    If you’d like a pair reserved, you can drop me a line any time.