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Category: XCFeeds
A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.
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Hayward School Visit
The ‘Skiers’ came to class at the Hayward Primary School on Monday. Kristina, Heather, Katie and I presented a short skit of the Birkebeiner Story, brought in our ski equipment for show and tell, taught the crowd a few skiing cheers and shared our experiences as professional cross country skiers. pThanks to Janet Wisdom for helping to organize the day, what started out as visiting one classroom grew to 19 different classes. We had a lot of fun./p p style=”text-align: center;”img class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-596″ title=”hayward-school-visit-002″ src=”http://kletz.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/hayward-school-visit-002.jpg?w=270amp;h=177″ alt=”hayward-school-visit-002″ width=”270″ height=”177″ //p p style=”text-align: center;”emCross Country Ski Show and Tell /em/p p style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9V9RUbOlZzs/SZJL-TMio8I/AAAAAAAAAKg/oXFsJsETZl4/s1600-h/Hayward+School+Visit+005.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9V9RUbOlZzs/SZJL-TMio8I/AAAAAAAAAKg/oXFsJsETZl4/s400/Hayward+School+Visit+005.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301383245045343170″ border=”0″ //a/p p style=”text-align: center;”emProtecting young Prince Hakkon. Kristina told the Birkebeiner story and we acted it out. /em/p p style=”text-align: center;”img class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-598″ title=”hayward-school-visit-033″ src=”http://kletz.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/hayward-school-visit-033.jpg?w=270amp;h=202″ alt=”hayward-school-visit-033″ width=”270″ height=”202″ //p p style=”text-align: center;”emRefueling our bodies and minds at Lunch /em/p p style=”text-align: center;”img class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-600″ title=”hayward-school-visit-161″ src=”http://kletz.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/hayward-school-visit-161.jpg?w=270amp;h=202″ alt=”hayward-school-visit-161″ width=”270″ height=”202″ //p p style=”text-align: center;”emWho wants to play tag? /em/p p style=”text-align: center;”img class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-601″ title=”hayward-school-visit-153″ src=”http://kletz.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/hayward-school-visit-153.jpg?w=270amp;h=202″ alt=”hayward-school-visit-153″ width=”270″ height=”202″ //p p style=”text-align: center;”emXC Skiing is Cool, but nothing beats ‘Tag’ at Recess /em/p p style=”text-align: center;”img class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-604″ title=”hayward-school-visit-1621″ src=”http://kletz.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/hayward-school-visit-1621.jpg?w=270amp;h=202″ alt=”hayward-school-visit-1621″ width=”270″ height=”202″ //p p style=”text-align: center;”emWith staggered Lunch/Recess and fresh teams of kids led to a fun and intense 45 minutes of ./em/p p style=”text-align: center;”img class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-602″ title=”hayward-school-visit-157″ src=”http://kletz.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/hayward-school-visit-157.jpg?w=270amp;h=202″ alt=”hayward-school-visit-157″ width=”270″ height=”202″ //p pem/emThe Barnebirke is on Thursday February 19th at 12:30pm. Come on out and ski and cheer, it will be a good time./ppThanks Kristina Owen for the photos. For larger images go to http://www.xcSkiLife.com/ppbr //pdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8083254037538554650-3777460845663609439?l=in-the-arena-brian.blogspot.com’//div
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Boulder Wrap-up
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://www.webskis.com/uploaded_images/bert@rest-762610.JPG”img style=”margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;” src=”http://www.webskis.com/uploaded_images/bert@rest-762600.JPG” alt=”” border=”0″ //abr /To begin with, I love winter. This weekend was a reminder of that fact. When work, travel, race day anxiety and other stresses build a wall over which it is hard to see winter, it is refreshing to have a weekend like this last one to revive the feeling.br /br /To begin with. The skiing was great. Not a lot of new, soft snow, but a great surface prepared by people who care and want to do a good job. If you have not skied in the Ketchum/Sun Valley area, it can be a real treat. Then there is the challenge of figuring out the snow and the wax, always a challenge there due to the nature of the Northern Rockies snow crystals and weather. I learned again that I should follow my own advise better and wax colder than I think. My skis were good. Could have been great. I learn and that is good.br /br /As far as Team SOLDA/WEBSKIS made out, pretty good results at Boulder. Brad Bauer, Seattle, was 9th over all in a very strong field. Brad was 1st in men age 30-34. Dan Packman, Bend, was 43rd over all and 3rd in men 40-44. Kathleen Kretz, Bend, was 3rd for women 40-44, 22nd overall for women. Dave Knoop, Park City, was 2nd in men 50-54 with Larry Katz, Bend, in 8th in that stong class. I was 11th in men 60-64, 20 minutes faster than last year. The winning times this year were 7 min faster than last year. Nice to know I am getting faster at something other than falling asleep watching the news after work. Kerie Raymond coached, chaperoned and also raced to a time of 2:10 for the 32 KM.br /br /Farther afield, Pat Lanin won his age group, 70-74, in the Mora Vasa Loppett in Minnesota. That is a 42 km classic race. Solda F31 Violet covered with S20 was gliding fast and Rex Blue Klister covered with Rode Green was kicking hard.br /br /Cynthia Engel finished her stay in France at the Masters World Cup with a 7th place in her age group on a goopy 30 km skate race. We are an international team ;-)br /br /Early Sunday morning I left Hailey, Idaho and headed toward Oregon. Not much traffic. Sky blue, no wind. Holly Wow!! The shadows in the folds of those open Idaho hills were deep blue agains the sparkle of a dusting perfect flakes. There had been fog, now lifted, and every branch and twig was encased in a white sheath. Telephone poles in both sides of the road were laced together with strands of crystal. A coyote loped along on the glittering surface. As I said, I love winter.br /br /Have a good one,br /br /Bertdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6589659500745667109-3278393915835977346?l=www.webskis.com%2Fwebskisblog.html’//div
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Coming back to the surface (Thank you)…
After coming to the surface this afternoon after 3 days of full-on ski prep and racing, I’m caught between trying to remember what I have to do next and replaying everything that just happened over the last couple of days. A lot of effort and emotion poured out on the trails this weekend. One thing I’m sure of: I’d like to send a big thank you to all the coaches who helped out this weekend (Nick, Brandy, Marius, Greg), and all the parents who helped run the snack bar and volunteer at the races. Without all your help I wouldn’t just look messy, I’d be a mess. Come sunny days or clouds, I’m very proud of these athletes and everyone else involved with FXC. So thanks to all of you.
Pete out.
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Skate Sprints at the Race of the Methow
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A Week In Telemark
Last week the Super Tour made its rounds to Telemark, Wisconsin. With temperatures as low as -15, it managed to warm up to zero degrees to kick off the skate sprint on Wednesday . The course wasn’t any ordinary sprint course. To put it plainly, it mainly consisted of two up-hills…one big hill and one really big hill. I skied to a solid second place in the qualifying round and ended up forth overall in the A-final. Colin Rodgers skied strong all day, qualifying in second place and holding his second place finish in the A-finals. br /br /We had two days off before we found ourselves back on the trails racing. Saturday was a 5/10k classic on a very challenging course. My energy felt good and I knew I had to go out there and hammer every bit of the course. Despite a tumble on a down hill, I managed to get 5th place, 10 seconds out of a podium finish. Dave Chamberlain proved his dominance in classic skiing, finishingbr /br /Sunday was a 10/15k skate mass-start. After watching the men’s race at 9:30am, I learned that the course and its lack of hilly terrain was probably going to make for a tight finish in the woman’s race just as it had for the men’s race. A pack of 20 men came into the finishing stretch within a matter of about 10 seconds. Colin Rodgers finished 8th and Dave Chamberlain finished 12th. The top women stuck together in a tight pack until the last two kilometers. I decided to put the hammer down and begin my charge to the finish. Kristina Stranberg followed close behind and it came down to a sprint in the final 50 meters to the finish. Unfortunately, I did not have quite enough in the tank to maintain first place…she out-edged me by 1 second! br /br /Overall, it was a successful week in Telemark. Many thanks to Dennis Kruse for housing several of the athletes this past week! We appreciate your hospitality! br /br /I am back in Sun Valley, getting ready for the Boulder Mountain Tour this weekend! I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. br /br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/SYs9iu6H0lI/AAAAAAAAAQY/pUZcNMQk8vA/s1600-h/telemark+podium.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/SYs9iu6H0lI/AAAAAAAAAQY/pUZcNMQk8vA/s400/telemark+podium.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299397053448180306″ border=”0″ //adiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5903545846797966075-559311514439182266?l=in-the-arena-nicole.blogspot.com’//div
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Kershaw’s Korner: Ruu-sss-ee-a
After an ever-so-brief time spent basking in the glory that was home (in Canmore), it was back on the road for two more months of racing action.
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an unfortunate day off
I was anticipating a positive report from Germany this week during my pre-World Champs training camp, but instead am using this as a diversion during an unfortunate day off.br /pMy team has been passing around a stomach bug for the last week, and until this morning I thought I was able to stear clear of it. I will spare you the details, but got up at my normal time to only head back to bed and sleep for 5 more hours. Looking ahead at this afternoon, I am still not feeling 100%, so am wondering what to do. A movie perhaps? /pAnyways, while fiddling around on the internet I found some things that might be of interest.br /br /I receive a montly e-mail flyer from Green Goddess Foods. On February 28th, they are hosting a family cooking class. It didn’t give details to reservations, but you can call them at 523-4676 or e-mail
