APU's Sadie Bjornsen (also USST) and Kate Fitzgerald head for the final tagoff.
BEND, Ore. – It may have been spring at Mount Bachelor this weekend, but by the time Wednesday rolled around, it was more like winter. Snow had fallen overnight and stuck to the mountain’s flanks, and flurries continued to drift from the sky as the U.S. and Canadian national ski teams competed in relay races with several club teams.
Canadian Olympian and current Alberta World Cup Academy coach George Grey skied the course before the start and estimated that it was about eight minutes long. It featured a long, grinding climb up the “central corridor” from the start/tag zone at Emil’s Corner, before looping behind the nordic lodge and back down a descent back to the start. Conditions were fairly ideal – fresh powder on top of a packed, icy, base meant that neither the early-morning ice nor the midday slush skiers had contended with over the weekend were anywhere in sight.
Racers were matched up more or less randomly, and usually pairs included athletes from separate teams. Among the clubs represented were the Alberta World Cup Academy, the Sun Valley Gold Team, the Maine Winter Sports Center, CXC, Team Homegrown, Bend Endurance Academy, XC Oregon, Steamboat Springs, the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, and APU.
For a prize – besides bragging rights, that is – coaches seemed to settle on the consensus of a roasted chicken.
That reward will end up going to Welly Ramsey of the Maine Winter Sports Center and Kris Freeman of the U.S. Ski Team, who led the men’s race more or less wire to wire, and to Ida Sargent of the U.S. Ski Team and Chelsea Holmes of the Sun Valley Gold Team, who won the women’s race.
Below, a gallery of the action.
Chelsea Holmes taking the win at the finish.
APU’s Sadie Bjornsen (also USST) and Kate Fitzgerald.
Stephen leads Canadian biathlete Nathan Smith, who was doing a separate workout.
Sargent feeling the burn at the end of her second lap.
Noah Hoffman (USST/Team Homegrown) and Reese Hanneman (APU).
Tim Reynolds (Craftsbury Green Racing Project).
Simi Hamilton of the U.S. Ski Team leads Sun Valley’s Mikey Sinnott.
Liz Stephen (US Ski Team) leads the women’s chase group.
Ida Sargent (US Ski Team/Craftsbury) in the lead.
Kris Freeman (US Ski Team) takes a corner.
Amanda Ammar leads the women’s field on leg two.
The end of the men’s field heading up the hill.
Welly Ramsey (Maine Winter Sports Center) already in the lead.
Jessie Diggins (left) at the finish of 30 k freestyle mass start at U.S. Distance Nationals in Craftsbury, Vt., at the end of March. She didn't know then that it would be her last race in a CXC suit.
BEND, Ore. – Jessie Diggins had a big year in 2012.
After thoroughly dominating the domestic racing scene in the fall and early winter, the CXC and U.S. Ski Team athlete headed to Europe, where she immediately made a splash on the World Cup. In her first race there, in Milan, she finished 18th in the freestyle sprint, then followed it up with a second-place finish in the team sprint with Kikkan Randall.
Diggins went on to have two top-ten performances in Russia, and contribute to a noteworthy fifth-place relay result by the U.S. women. Her efforts netted her, at age 20, a 34th-place ranking on the World Cup and inclusion in the top-30-only Red Group for distance racing – as well as an “A” nomination to the national team, a step up from her place on the “B” team that season.
But the excitement didn’t end with the season, and the Minnesota native had a noteworthy spring, too – in a different way. Both of her coaches at CXC left the program: Jason Cork to take Pete Vordenberg’s position with the U.S. Ski Team, and Gus Kaeding to head the newly formed Stratton Elite team. Diggins made a quick but deeply considered decision to leave CXC and join the Stratton team.
FasterSkier sat down with Diggins on the porch of the U.S. Ski Team house on Sunday, and talked about how her life has changed in the last six months.
FasterSkier: It seems like the coaching and club changes were probably not something you were planning to consider, right?
Jessie Diggins: It was not necessarily a surprise, because once I heard that Pete was retiring, Cork has done such an awesome job as a coach that we were like, well, there’s only so many coaches that are left, that they’re going to ask. And also that he’s one of the first choices you’d want. But at the same time, I was coming back from vacation and getting calls from teammates going, “What are we going to do?” And I was going, “What? Fill me in!”
I think that no matter how well you try to prepare for a transition, it’s always going to be hard, and I decided that the last two years working with Gus and Cork have been so perfect that if something works, don’t change it. It takes so long for me to get used to a new coach, a new style of coaching, and for them to know what I’m working on, that it would be really nice if I could keep things as stable as possible.
FS: You said earlier that you would still be in Minnesota a little bit. How is that going to work with the Stratton team?
JD: The longest I’ll be in Vermont will be three weeks, because it’s in between these U.S. Ski Team camps. I was thinking about it, and I don’t know if I want to move everything out there, to move my life to Vermont, if I’m not going to be anywhere for more than three weeks at a time. And I still have so many great friends and such a good support base in Minnesota as well that I don’t want to just pack up and leave. Just because CXC isn’t going to work out for me doesn’t mean that the community won’t work out.
FS: So how much time do you think you’ll actually get to spend there?
JD: I’ll have almost two weeks after this camp, and then a week in July, and a little in the fall. It’s not as much time in any one place as I might want, but that’s the price you pay for getting to travel to all these other sweet locations.
FS: You’ve obviously done the camp thing plenty of times, but how do you think it will affect you to be away from home so much?
JD: I think it will be really fun, actually, I think it will be really nice to get a totally new– I’ve never been to the Stratton area. The only spot in Vermont I’ve been to was Spring Series [in Craftsbury]. I’ve only ever heard good things about the training and rollerskiing, and that it’s a beautiful area, so I think it will be a nice change while keeping everything else stable.
Diggins in the 10 k classic at World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden.
The other piece is that I’m really excited to be joining this team, and I already know everyone on the team. I’ve gotten to meet them all and I really like them all – I have such great respect for everyone on that team. They’re all such hard workers. So it’s nice to be able to join a team and pretty much know what you’re going to get.
FS: Last year was such a big step for you, was there specific stuff from last year in terms of planning and training that you’ll be trying to carry on?
JD: I think a lot of it for me was learning a little bit more about myself, and taking care of myself outside of skiing – like how much sleep I need to get a night. Stuff like that is so simple, and it should be so easy, but sometimes it’s easy to forget. Like, it’s easy to forget to take the ten minutes to foam roll, but then you’re so sore the next day that you can’t really do your intervals. So just over time picking up on stuff like that.
I’ve been still working on trying to figure out the mental side of it, but I know that if my head’s in a good place I’ll race better, and if I’m out there for the fun of it, actually able to enjoy what I’m doing, I’m going to get more out of it and race faster.
So figuring out those things was really nice, because going into this year I’ll know if I’m super miserable and I’m tired and this and that, then just don’t race! I’ve learned these things so I’m not digging myself into a hole or anything.
FS: All that stuff must be a lot harder when you’re over in Europe on the World Cup.
JD: I was kind of nervous because I’ve never spent more than a month over there, and this year was quite a bit more time, but it was so great because we had a little ski family. There would be times when I’d come in and be so homesick, but then we’d cook Mexican food as a team or do something to try to get a little bit of America, and it was so nice to be able to feel that. Even if you’re on the road and you’re not going to be able to see your family you can skype them, and you have friends on the team.
FS: Are you going to spend the whole season on the World Cup this season?
JD: I think so. Right now the plan is, Novermber 11th we fly over and we’ll do the ones over there, and then we get to do some in Canada. My family is planning on coming to the Quebec ones, which is really nice. My mom was born there, so we’ve always wanted to go up there anyway, so now it’s like, “sweet!” Family vacation and some racing.
FS: That should be a really fun race, too.
JD: I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve never gotten to race the World Cups in Canada before, so it’s going to be really fun.
And then maybe a quick stop at home, but I’d really like to race the Tour de Ski. It’s a big goal of mine – I think it’s just a badass challenge. And then just kind of seeing if I can carry out the rest of the season, and racing Spring Series here.
It will be kind of sad missing Nationals, and not starting the season out in West Yellowstone is going to be weird, but I think it’s a good change.
FS: Starting in the U.S. worked really well for you last year – is it tough to know you’re just going to be jumping straight into World Cups?
JD: Something I’ve learned is that I like to race my way into the season. I’ll know that I’m in shape, I’m fit, I’m ready to race, but the first couple of races are getting the kinks out. The World Cup is not very forgiving. If you don’t have a very good day you will just drop like a stone on the results sheet. So that will be interesting to see in the fall, to be patient with it and work my way into the season.
Diggins in West Yellowstone, Mont., where she kicked off the 2011-12 season.
I really did enjoy getting to start my season in the U.S. last year. It was in some ways less pressure and in some ways a ton more pressure, so it will just be completely different this year. We’ll see how it goes.
FS: In terms of teams and funding and sponsors, has that changed a lot since your latest results?
JD: Yes. On CXC, it was a cool system where when I joined, I would not have been able to get sponsorships on my own. I would not have been able to pull any sort of deal. But the older people on the team who have the results and the names, they pull in the big deals and that helps the younger kids. So that really helped me going in last year. You feel like you’re able to give back because you’re pulling in the sponsors that will help the juniors get the skis and the equipment that they need. So, from that standpoint it was hard to leave because I would like to be able to give back more if I could. I was able to for a couple years.
Now that I’m not on a team it leaves you able to pursue whatever sponsorships you want, and that’s cool. It’s a little overwhelming to be signing contracts. It’s part of the job that I never thought about when I started skiing. But I’ve realized that that’s a big part of it if you want to be able to ski for the next ten years. You have to get smart about signing contracts and stuff like that.
FS: Have you had a lot of help and advice from your teammates?
JD: A lot from these guys and coaches, and my parents helped me out, saying make sure you don’t forget this or that in your contract and make sure you read the fine print. Little things like that. But all of the contracts and sponsorships that I’ve had, they take such good care of me. I trust them. I know that when I sign with Salomon, they’re looking out for me and not just trying to use me. We work together, so it’s nice to know that.
FS: So you’re still on the same equipment.
JD: Yes.
FS: And how is the camp going so far?
JD: It’s great. We’re in the same house as we were last year, so we have some good memories already. And I think the camp is twice as much fun for me because this year I know everyone on the team, and I know where I fit in, because last year I definitely had the deer in the headlights look. I was trying to figure everything out, and always so worried about forgetting my boots or skis, and this year I can just enjoy it.
FS: There were a lot of rookies last year, so now it’s just more comfortable for all of you to be together?
JD: Yeah, Holly’s technically a rookie but not really. She knows her way around.
FS: In terms of the coaching change, last year when you were here you didn’t have Cork out here. So is that a big improvement?
JD: That’s been really nice because although it was a bit of a shakeup for CXC, for me it didn’t change things and it might have even I think gotten better for me. I feel bad saying this because it sucked for the club team! But Cork and Matt [Whitcomb, the U.S. Ski Team women’s coach] are going to be my main coaches. Cork has always written my training plan, and now I’ll be able to see them on the road all winter, which is perfect. Because when you’re writing someone’s training plan you can always write it, but it’s easier when you can watch them race, and if you know that athlete you can look at them and say, “I can tell you’re tired, I’m going to change this part.”
FS: Was that something that was hard when you were first on the World Cup?
JD: It was just a lot more work to keep up because you have to be really good on the communication back and forth, so sometimes I’d be tired after a race and wait a little while to send in my training log. So it made it harder for him to write the next week, not knowing and not having seen how the race went.
U.S. biathlete Annelies Cook speeds up a hill at Mount Bachelor in Bend, Oregon.
BEND, Oregon – Even though the U.S. biathlon national team did not compete in the Pole Pedal Paddle on Saturday morning like their skiing counterparts, the athletes still didn’t get to sleep in for their weekend.
After all, this is training camp.
Instead, they headed up to Mount Bachelor to do intervals, and had to start early so that they could be off the race trails before the five-sport extravaganza began.
“Early in the morning it’s a little tricky because it’s a little bit icy, but it takes half an hour to warm up and then it’s awesome,” Sara Studebaker said after finishing up her last interval. “And they have so much snow, and the grooming has been really good. It’s really great.”
It’s the first time the current crop of biathletes have had an official camp in Bend, and only the cream of the crop are in attendance; eight “A” team athletes were invited, but Jay Hakkinen is at home in Germany and Leif Nordgren is recovering from surgery. That left Studebaker, Annelies Cook, and Susan Dunklee for the women and Tim Burke, Lowell Bailey, and Russell Currier for the men. Dunklee said that the Bend camp was an additional carrot for reaching “A” team status: not only was it a beautiful location, but the small number of athletes meant more individual attention from coaches.
And, of course, it’s a chance to get on snow. While the team hasn’t traditionally done an on-snow camp in the spring, women’s coach Jonne Kahkonen said the athletes were handling it well.
“We’ve been skiing a lot, pretty late on snow, so the transition was not so hard,” he told FasterSkier.
He added that even the venue’s altitude – the nordic center sits around 6,000 feet – didn’t have a major effect on the team’s training.
“I’ve been surprised – even myself, and I’m not in the shape that the athletes are,” Kahkonen said. “It’s weird, sometimes there are places where the altitude doesn’t really get you, and that’s exactly what the athletes say now. They don’t really feel it and maybe it’s just that they have more training done, and more background. The conditions are great, so that helps a lot.”
Another new development for the team: for the first time, they are attending a camp without even bringing their rifles. While Mount Bachelor does have a shooting range, it is rarely used and the team decided to focus on skiing instead.
“It’s awesome,” Studebaker said of the change. “It was so great, we were like, ‘Oh, we can put as much stuff as we want in our bags!’ It’s so easy to travel without rifles. And to have a camp where you’re just thinking about training is great. I think it’s really necessary every once in a while.”
Kahkonen said that the team is considering the idea of periodizing some of its training into skiing and shooting camps. Before coming here to Bend, the team had done a camp in Lake Placid that focused primarily on shooting. Kahkonen had done something similar in his previous job with the Finnish national team, and was excited to see the idea introduced in the U.S.
“In my two years we’ve always had biathlon camps, but I think the athletes are liking it,” he said. “They can just focus on one thing at a time. And after this camp they get a break, it’s an off week, but then it’s biathlon training. So now, ideally, all the basics are done for shooting, and the basics will be done for the skiing, and they’ll start putting it together.”
On Saturday, the athletes did a roughly 12-minute warmup alternating fast pieces with easy skiing before launching into a set of five-minute level four intervals. Even though it’s May, the team has already been hard at work with intensity sessions.
“We do a couple of sessions already, per week,” Kahkonen said. “We do a lot of volume, so if you look at the percentages it’s still quite low. And that’s the focus also – over the course of the year there’s less volume and more quality.”
By the time she finished her last interval, Studebaker was appropriately tired. Despite Kahkonen’s earlier assertion, she said that the altitude did make things a tad tougher.
“It’s definitely hard,” she said. “I come from the West, so I know what it feels like to be at altitude, but it’s an adjustment. I was up in Alaska before our training season started, and then Lake Placid, so here it’s really high [in comparison].
“But it’s great to be on snow.”
back studebaker
Women’s coach Jonne Kahkonen looks on as Sara Studebaker skis towards him.
Studebaker (foreground) and Lowell Bailey during the interval session.
Tim Burke on a flatter section of trail.
Kahkonen films Burke as he skates by.
Susan Dunklee training in Bend earlier this summer.
Lowell Bailey, about to disappear over the hill.
Dunklee.
Annelies Cook checks in with Kahkonen.
Cook attacking an interval.
Burke during his warmup.
Bailey.
Sara Studebaker skis away.
U.S. biathlete Annelies Cook speeds up a hill at Mount Bachelor in Bend, Oregon.
Freeman powering through the penultimate leg of the Pole Pedal Paddle.
BEND, Oregon – It’s hard to imagine Kris Freeman as an underdog in a race that involves cross country skiing and running. But to this city’s residents, that’s exactly what he was on Saturday morning before the start of the 36th annual Pole Pedal Paddle: some Olympian who was trying to unseat the hometown favorite, Andrew Boone.
Boone had won the race – which combines downhill skiing through gates, roughly eight k of nordic skiing, 20 miles of biking, several more of running, a kayak course on the Deschutes River, and finally a half-mile “sprint” to the finish – in 2011 by three minutes over longtime nordic standout Brayton Osgood. With Osgood out of the picture this year, who could be against Boone?
“This is my weekend warrior event now,” Boone said in an interview after the race. “Bend came out to support me.”
But a few people were familiar enough with Freeman’s accomplishments on the U.S. Ski Team, as well as his competitive drive, that they wouldn’t count him out. One of them was Boone.
Freeman in the final meters of the cross country ski leg.
“There’s no doubt that he came in, he wanted to win, and we all knew that he was going to throw down a good race,” Boone said. “It elevated [the level of the field] for sure. I haven’t seen the times, but I bet I was faster than last year.”
Boone was faster, beating his previous time by about 50 seconds. In the end, Freeman won by 57 seconds in a time of 1:46:00, but it was a tight, tactical race from start to finish. Boone led through the alpine-to-nordic exchange and out onto the Mount Bachelor trails; at that point, Freeman wasn’t even in second.
That didn’t last for long, as Freeman predictably came charging by once he was back on his own equipment; Boone told reporters that it was cool to see such a strong skier flying past him. By the time Freeman reached the next exchange and was helped onto his bike and into his clipless pedals by U.S. Ski Team staff, he had a roughly 30-second lead. Sprinting off onto Century Drive for his net-elevation-loss trip from Bachelor down to the town of Bend, he was chased by shouts that Boone still wasn’t in sight.
But Freeman knew that his gap might not be enough. Of all of the sections of the race, the bike was what worried him the most.
“It’s only my fourth time on a bike this year, so that was hard,” Freeman told FasterSkier. “I’m riding Andy Fecteau’s time trial bike, just once, and going 50 miles an hour for 30 minutes is a little nerve-racking.”
Boone, meanwhile, knew that the biking section might be his only chance to regain the lead – so he attacked as hard as he could.
Freeman, with Mount Bachelor in the background, on one of the bike course's few uphills.
“I knew he was a good runner, and I haven’t been running well off the bike,” Boone said. “I wanted to get as much of a cushion as I could.”
Freeman was hoping to maintain his lead until the run, but Boone passed him with several miles to go, as the road finally flattened out and headed into town. Adding insult to injury, drafting is illegal in the race, so Freeman was unable to tuck in behind his competitor as he would in a ski race.
“I didn’t really like that,” Freeman said. But even if he had been able to draft, that didn’t change the fact that Freeman was definitely the weaker cyclist. “He looked really comfortable, and I was definitely suffering those last couple miles.”
The U.S. Ski Team athlete faced one other challenge, too. Police directed him the wrong way around a roundabout.
“I had to jump a curb to get back on the road,” Freeman explained. “I lost probably 20 seconds there.”
Freeman was still flying compared to the rest of the field; the pair added to their lead and it was clear that nobody else would be able to touch them (XC Oregon’s Zach Violett finished third in 1:49:39). Freeman crept up on Boone in the first section of the run, then sat on his shoulder for two miles before putting in a small burst to create a gap.
“It went how I hoped it would,” Freeman said of the late stages of the race. “I was able to put ten seconds on Andrew at the end of the run, and then I thought I’d be a stronger paddler, and I was.”
Freeman and Boone separated by just seconds in the run stage.
Freeman – who says that he spend roughly four hours in a boat every week in the spring for cross-training – extended his lead in the kayak portion, and the race was essentially decided before he even began the sprint.
“He’s a pretty strong guy,” Boone said.
He was gracious about the loss, and if he felt disappointment, he didn’t let it show.
“I executed the best race I possibly could have today,” Boone said. “My training was definitely not where it should have been this spring, so to race against Kris Freeman and to go back and forth with him, I feel really good about it, and he was the better man today.”
He even praised Freeman for making the race more competitive.
“Last year I had a lead off the bike and just held it, so this time it was fun to have to use tactics,” he said.
Boone is loosely affiliated with XC Oregon, a ski team based here in Bend. Due to his other commitments, he barely ever has time to ski; according to coach JD Downing, just hanging with Freeman for two hours was an accomplishment.
“Being sick for three months, working full time, being a parent, and going to grad school, that’s so amazing,” he gushed. “He has a lot going on, and with that big a load it’s no wonder why he was ill. To do that against – everybody knows how great an athlete Kris is. I’m probably as proud of him as any athlete I’ve ever had in fourteen years.”
As for Freeman? The victory knocks off a longstanding goal that he’s been frustratingly unable to accomplish.
“I’ve always wanted to do this race. I’ve been coming here since I was 17, and I’m always coming here either right before or right after it, and always wanted to do it, and now I have. The last couple days I’ve barely seen my team because I’ve been so preoccupied getting everything organized, so now it’s back to work.”
Carolyn and Santi Ocariz complete their two-month rollerski across the U.S., called Ski Across America, by rolling into the Pacific Ocean on Friday, May 11. (Courtesy photo/SkiAcrossAmerica.com)
When Carolyn and Santi Ocariz clicked into their rollerskis slightly more than two months ago, neither really knew what they were in for.
The Wisconsin couple heard plenty of stories about the places they’d travel through. They took to heart the warnings about crazy drivers, snakes and treacherous temperatures while crossing America’s heartland. It might not be hot when they left, but it could get brutal, and the elements could change 180 degrees by the time they reached Utah.
Husband and wife, Santi and Carolyn Ocariz celebrate the end of their Ski Across America journey, in which they spent two months and five days rollerskiing from Charleston, S.C., to San Francisco to raise money for Food for the Poor. (Courtesy photo/SkiAcrossAmerica.com)
Carolyn, 23, and Santi, 25, prepared as best they could. As they ticked off the states and thousands of miles, the two couldn’t have been more surprised.
Drivers frequently slowed down beside them and asked what they were doing. Rather than threaten to run them off the road, they were genuinely interested.
“It was unbelievable,” Santi said on the phone from San Francisco, where they finished their journey last Friday. “I think we were better accepted on the roads in the south than we were back in Wisconsin.”
The hospitality they encountered throughout their trip, Ski Across America, had been overwhelming, he said. Once people heard they were rollerskiing more than 3,000 miles across the U.S. to raise money for a charity called Food for the Poor, many strangers opened their homes to them.
In all, the Ocarizes raised an estimated $17,000 to $18,000 dollars to help feed children in impoverished nations. They visited at least 400 churches along the way to deliver packets with their message, which they asked pastors to read to their congregation for donations. With their trip’s website still up and running, Santi hoped more money would continue to roll in.
The newlyweds from the Midwest had come a long way since early March when they first started their journey at the Atlantic coast in Charleston, S.C. In two months and five days, they raised some $12,000, crossed more than a dozen states and visited friends and relatives along the way.
Spending about seven hours a day on the road – sometimes longer – the two often chewed off more than a 100 miles at a time. While traveling through Yosemite National Park on the last leg of their trip, a park ranger informed them 10 miles in that they couldn’t rollerski through it.
They popped out of their rollerskis and ran. After logging a total of six hours on foot, most of which was downhill and would have been much more pleasant on wheels, the Ocarizes arrived on the other side of the park the next day.
“The legs took a beating,” Santi said. “When we’re in shape for running, it wouldn’t be any big deal, but when you’ve been rollerskiing for the past two months, not really running, it was kind of a shock to the system.”
He said they were lucky to have even been able to use the road; it opened the day before. Avoiding the 750,000-acre park altogether would have added an estimated three days of rollerskiing.
They camped overnight in Yosemite and woke up the next morning to find chocolate missing out of Santi’s backpack along with his cellphone. Apparently, a raccoon dug both out and dragged the latter to an obscure place at the campsite. Someone later found his phone and planned to mail it to him.
“It actually ran off with my phone,” Santi said with a laugh. “It couldn’t have been anything else.”
Before Yosemite, the Ocarizes encountered a similar “blessing” at Lake Powell in southern Utah. When they arrived at the second largest manmade reservoir in the U.S. nearly 200 miles long, they learned the ferry across opened for the season that day.
“Otherwise we would have had to go who knows how far around,” Santi said.
After climbing to around 10,500 feet on rollerskis, Carolyn and Santi Ocariz realized a mountain pass to Cedar City in southern Utah was closed. They had to backtrack to Duckville, Utah, then farther back the next day. (Courtesy photo/SkiAcrossAmerica.com)
They would always remember the good fortune they encountered on routes like those, he said. At the same time, they’d probably never forget when they skied more than 30 miles out of the way to the top of a closed mountain pass.
To get to southern Utah’s Cedar City, Carolyn and Santi picked a road that looked pretty doable: 60-65 miles of not-so-tough terrain. On the way, they realized they misinterpreted the map.
“It turned into like a ten-hour skiing day,” Santi said. “The whole afternoon we were climbing, and as we climbed, it got colder and rain turned to sleet and snow and the wind was blowing in our face.”
Alternating between rollerskiing and driving their Subaru, the two arrived at the top of the pass nearly 10,500 feet above sea level. There, they saw a gate across the road indicating the pass was closed.
“That was a demoralizing moment,” Santi said, jovially.
It was already getting dark and they had to backtrack to the next town. There, a landslide had closed an alternate route. They called it a night and drove farther back to an open road the next day.
Looking back, Santi recalled some of the most beautiful places they rolled through: Yosemite, Taos in New Mexico, the redwood trees and mountains near the California coast, and even the south despite its 88-degree days with 90 percent humidity.
“Sometimes the outlook of the south is, oh, it’s dangerous and weird people, but it was completely the opposite,” he said. “You won’t find any nicer places or communities, I don’t think, than down there.”
He and Carolyn bathed in mountain streams, at truck stops and campgrounds, but at the end of their trip — about 3,500 miles total — they soaked up the Pacific. With Santi’s cousin Alec biking alongside them for the last 30 miles while their friend Judy Krueger drove the car, Santi and Carolyn arrived at the West Coast and rollerskied right into the ocean.
Santi and Carolyn Ocariz complete their two-month Ski Across America by rollerskiing into the Pacific Ocean near San Francisco on Friday, May 11. (Courtesy photo/SkiAcrossAmerica.com)
“It was pretty awesome,” Santi said. “We had both been looking forward to completing the trip but at the same time it was like, what now? The last two months had been just all rollerskiing and suddenly it came to an end.”
They had memories to hold onto, friends like Rebecca Dussault and her husband Sharbel to thank for joining them for a day and a night.
They met a man running across the country for the American Heart Association (willpoweredrun.org) and even watched Tad Elliott mountain bike race. The spoke at churches on weekends and had plenty of people to inform that they finished.
Finishing up some computer stuff at his relative’s home in San Francisco, Santi said they were preparing for the next step. A member of the Central Cross Country (CXC) Elite Team for the last two years, he decided months ago to join XC Oregon in Bend.
Also a former CXC member, Carolyn would move there to train with the team as well. She was flying home to Wisconsin on Wednesday to spend time with family and gather their belongings before driving west once more. In June, the two will celebrate their one year anniversary.
Santi said Bend was a destination that had been on their minds for years. He spent several summers training there while in college at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Both born in the Midwest, he and Carolyn viewed their cross-country trip as the best way to get there.
“Bend is amazing. It’s a training mecca,” Santi said. “I think they still have ten feet of base snow so they’re gonna have snow until who knows when in July. So we’re going to be ditching our rollerskis and getting back on snow for a while.”
More appealing was the amount of people they could train with, which included elite runners as well as skiers.
“There’s just a very good crowd of fit and enthusiastic people,” Santi said. “Even though the team is smaller we have many more people to train with than Hayward.”
Part of the reason they finished their anticipated three-month trip earlier than expected was so that Santi could get to Bend sooner and Carolyn could spend more time at home. She would be meet him in Bend in a few weeks, he said.
On Saturday, Santi planned on racing the Pole Pedal Paddle in Bend with his brother Javier. After that, he’ll jump into training with old friends at the U.S./Canadian ski team camp there.
“I feel great, honestly; I have a ton of energy,” he said. “The body adapts. It gets stronger and I definitely feel very strong right now.”
For some, two months of nonstop rollerskiing might be draining. In his case, so many easy-distance days in a row gave him the rest he needed.
“In a way this trip was training, but I guess we didn’t consider it training,” Santi said. “We were just kind of doing it for the fundraising aspect of it.”
BEND, Oregon – Mt. Bachelor, known for immense snow pack and one of the longest Alpine ski seasons, will be offering North America’s longest Nordic season again this year with a commitment to keep groomed operations open through June 29, 2012. Having strategic natural attributes such as the highest resort peak in the Cascades, not to mention seasonal snowfall of 483” to date, Mt. Bachelor has the unique position to offer Nordic skiing and grooming later than any other Nordic Center on the continent.
Sue Foster, Nordic Center Manager exclaims “We’re thrilled to welcome back the US and Canadian National Nordic Teams, the National Biathlon Teams and the US Paralympic Team, in addition to continuing our grooming for the general public through June 29. We’re committed to offering groomed skiing on our entire network of trails for as long as conditions permit!”
The Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center will offer two ‘Camp Blocks’ following its regular winter season of operations; Camp Block #1 held from May 17- 27, 2012, and Camp Block #2 held June 11-29, 2012. Anybody can participate in either Camp Block for only $75 per person to access the groomed trails.
The Nordic Center Lodge will be open with waxing facilities and restrooms for guests.
The extended Nordic ski season through June 29th will offer local enthusiasts and visiting athletes the unique opportunity to train in Central Oregon with multi-sport opportunities including trail running, mountain and road biking, kayaking and numerous lodging options, restaurants and craft breweries in the base communities of Bend and Sunriver, 20 miles from Mt. Bachelor.
For more information and pass sales, contact Sue Foster at sfoster@mtbachelor.com or 541-693-0909.
About Mt. Bachelor: Mt. Bachelor is the largest ski resort in the Cascade Range, offering 3,683 acres of lift-accessible terrain. The mountain features 10 lifts, seven of which are Express Quads, plus two tubing lifts and two beginner carpets and an average annual snowfall of 370 inches. Mt. Bachelor also features 5 terrain parks, 56K of groomed and tracked cross country trails, snowshoeing, tubing, sled dog rides and summer attractions. For weather conditions, news and events visit www.mtbachelor.com.
Ladies, come have fun on your skis! Photo: Ski for Women Anchorage.
On Saturday, January 28 a brand new XC ski & snowshoe event will take place at Oregon’s Mt Bachelor Nordic Center. The inaugural Tour for the Heart presented by Heart Center Cardiology & St Charles Health System is a 5km celebration of women’s winter fitness created to educate and fundraise for women’s heart disease — America’s #1 killer.
The Tour features a gentle and scenic 5km route starting from the upper Mt Bachelor Nordic trails perfect for any level of XC skier or snowshoer. Costumes are encouraged with special prizes for organizations and schools with the largest number of participants. Yummy (and healthy) treats, music, and merriment will also contribute to making this a one-of-a-kind party in the snow for a great cause.
For more information and to sign up, visit TourForTheHeart.org. All net proceeds from the Tour for the Heart will go to the American Heart Association.
The Canadian National Ski Team (CNST) has kicked off its training season with its second annual camp in Bend, Oregon.
According to newly-minted CNST World Cup team member Len Valjas, the entire World Cup team was present for the 11 day camp, with the only exception being Alex Harvey, who is currently finishing up exams at home in Quebec.
While the weather in Bend had been less than ideal – in a recent interview with FasterSkier, Valjas described it as “rainy and snowy” – the Canadians have been putting in big and high quality training early.
In the mornings, the Canadians took advantage of great skiing up at Mt. Bachelor, where a base of roughly 10 feet of snow remains, providing for plenty of top quality skiing. In the afternoon, the workouts were similar to what most skiers are getting in at this time of year – rollerskiing and running on some of the wide variety of terrain available in Bend.
The early focus for the CNST is technique, and just getting back into the swing of regular training.
“We’ve been doing a lot of technique work and video,” said Valjas, “We’re trying to avoid developing any bad habits early in the season.”
In addition to the Canadians, the United States Ski Team (USST) is also training in Bend and at Mt. Bachelor, and the two teams combined for workouts on a regular basis.
For Valjas, having the Americans present provided some additional training partners. In a recent sprint workout, Valjas faced off against Andy Newell, giving the young Canadian an extra boost. And with Valjas, Newell, and Kershaw present at an interval workout, you get half of a high-quality World Cup sprint heat to test yourself against.
While the camp was Valjas’ first as a full-time member of the World Cup team, he is taking it in stride.
“It’s pretty similar to the World Cup season last year,” he said, “I was treated pretty well, so it’s been easy, the coaches have been really helpful.”
And Valjas is already noticing a difference between his shape this year and last, and the early training camp has put him into the training mindset right away.
As for the friendly rivalry with the Americans, so far a golf game was planned, but had to be cancelled due to poor weather. Instead, the two teams bought baseball gear, and went toe to toe on the ball diamond in an impromptu ‘World Series’.
Skiers race off the line at the 2nd annual SportHill Crescent Lake Challenge cross country ski race.
The 2nd annual SportHill Crescent Lake Challenge 14.1 mile cross country ski race around Crescent Lake race was held Sunday, January 16. Bend skiers dominated the standing but much of the Willamette valley was represented as well as skiers from as far away as Vancouver,Canada. Ages ranged from Wally Ceccanese of Eugene, 11, up to Reider Peterson of Bend, 71. Race director Jim Hill summed it up by saying: “It was wet but really fun, and fast.” The men’s overall winners, both for a second year in a row, were Eric Martin of Bend who set a course record of 1:00:57 and Sarah Max of Bend who set a women’s course record of 1:11:23.
There was no rest for the weary on day 7 at the USST camp in Bend, Oregon. The scheduled event for the morning was a team time trial consisting of two person teams, each person racing two, 5 kilometer legs.
“It was a fairly open-ended workout, and it was really fun,” said U.S. Ski Team coach Matt Whitcomb, who noted that because some athletes were feeling “a little beat up from the camp”, they opted to only do one of the legs instead of both.
“The goal of the event was to do something a little less serious than we have in the past, and to do something a little more team-oriented.”
Eleven men and four women competed in the time trial, a mix of National Team, Development team, and guest athletes from teams such as Craftsbury Green and Sun Valley.
Although the Canadian National Team is in Bend as well, they opted out of the time trial format.
“They wanted to do intervals,” explained USST Head Coach Chris Grover. “They felt like they weren’t quite as far, maybe, as we were into the training season – they weren’t ready for a time trial.”
Unfortunately the snow conditions changed for the worse yesterday, and the athletes experienced some heavy, wet snow on the track. Until now the weather in Bend has been cool, with a mix of rain and snow. “The weather hasn’t been great,” admitted Whitcomb, “but the skiing has been fast and firm.. . and then all of a sudden we’re in deep slop on the course.”
Simi Hamilton training in Bend earlier this week (photo: Matt Whitcomb)
Simi Hamilton didn’t seem to mind the slow conditions, however, even commenting, “It was a really good opportunity to be able to go hard the whole time.. . . stuff you don’t really ski in too often, but nonetheless it’s really good to be able to know how to ski in those conditions.”
Whitcomb listed Hamilton as one of several athletes who felt especially sharp yesterday, along with Andy Newell and Liz Stephen. Whitcomb said Stephen’s energy was “refreshing to see,” since she has recently come back from a winter of overtraining and then a recent injury.
Hamilton didn’t want to read too much into the time trial.
“I think for May – no matter how you feel – it isn’t really reflective much of anything, but it’s nice to at least be feeling healthy and my legs were feeling pretty good.”
Hamilton also liked the workout in that, having to ski hard for a lap and rest during your partner’s round before jumping back in for a second hard lap, it made for good practice in recovering between events.
“It was an interesting format. I think it’s really good to do that occasionally – it kind of teaches your body how to deal with a pretty large amount of lactate all of a sudden.”
The athletes had their lactate taken after their second and final lap, and Hamilton said there were a number of athletes who had lactates above 10 mmol/L, “a good number,” he noted, “especially after an event that is longer than 10 minutes – it’s good to be able to work that hard for that long.”
With just two days left of camp, Hamilton says the opportunity to ski with his peers and push each other through workouts has made for a successful camp.
“It’s been a good eight days here so far and I think we’ve all made a lot of gains – we’ve had a lot of really valuable time on snow and done a lot of cool stuff.”
Meanwhile, Kris Freeman was testing a new type of continuous glucose monitor by performing a 30 km duathlon time trial by himself, pausing every 5 km so that Grover could collect data.
Grover was cautiously excited about the results of Freeman’s time trial. “It was quite good. He had really stable glucose levels during the whole race and really good energy the whole time.”
Grover explained that they would have to perform numerous other trials on the device in similar events this spring and summer before they were confident in its ability to correspond well with what Freeman would see from a normal glucose monitor.
(There will be no results posted for this time trial, due to the informal nature of the event.)
BEND—Come join the best skiers in North America for a 40-year tradition of late spring skiing at Mt. Bachelor. This year, Bend Camp will have two blocks of camps: June 8-13 with clubs and teams from Idaho and Colorado and the second block is for athletes with school ending later in June and will run from June 18-22. Camps are available for juniors age 12-18 years, youth age 8-11 years and masters. Campers will learn from the best athletes in Bend with daily on-snow sessions. The coaching staff includes three-time Olympian and World Cup medalist Torin Koos, two-time Olympian and five-time National Champion Lars Flora, 2010 Swedish Team member Kristina Strandberg, three-time Olympian Dan Simoneau and former U.S. Olympic Committee sport physiologist and long-time ski coach Tim Gibbons.
PRICE: Juniors (age 12-18 years) – $250 and Masters – $300 and includes:
• Daily coaching and instruction
• Five on-snow training sessions (2 Classic and 3 Skating)
• Five dryland training sessions (bounding, roller skiing, circuit training and strength training)
The camp will be a mix of on-snow training, dryland training and a fun, social atmosphere. Junior athletes will have an opportunity to learn from the coaching staff both on and off the snow. Bend camps have been a fixture of skiing in the west for many years.
“Bend Camp is just about as good as it gets,” says Torin Koos. “Back in the day I vividly remember skipping the last days of the school year and completing my education on the ski trails of Mt. Bachelor. I’m sure the attendees will learn lots, and have a hell of a good time doing it. After camp, get ready for a few of your conversations to start out, ‘There was this one time at Bend Camp…”
Lars Flora adds “Growing up in Oregon, Bend Camp was a key moment in my development. It provided great on snow training in an exciting and fun environment. Back then a few US Olympians were around training at Mt. B and Dennis Oliphant was showing us the “Sun Country Tours Beaver Slide into the Deschutes.”
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/05/14-Sadie-Kate-Fitzgerald.jpg" "14 Sadie Kate Fitzgerald")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/03/finish.jpg" "Kikkan Randall, Jessie Diggins, 30 k finish")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/03/IMG_0307.jpg" "Diggins")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2011/11/diggins-skate-1-web.jpg" "Diggins getting high in the skate.")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/05/mountain-background-cook.jpg" "mountain background cook")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/05/Freeman-PPP-kayak.jpg" "Freeman PPP kayak")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/05/Freeman-PPP-ski-transition.jpg" "Freeman PPP ski transition"){kind=spacer}
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/05/Freeman-PPP-bike-Bachelor.jpg" "Freeman PPP bike Bachelor")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/05/Freeman-Boone-PPP-run.jpg" "Freeman Boone PPP run")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/05/Freeman-PPP-finish.jpg" "Freeman PPP finish")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/05/IMG_0913-1024x682.jpg" "Carolyn and Santi Ocariz, Ski Across America")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/05/IMG_08781-1024x682.jpg" "Carolyn and Santi Ocariz, Ski Across America")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/05/014-1024x768.jpg" "Carolyn, Santi Ocariz, Ski Across America")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/05/IMG_0902-1024x682.jpg" "Carolyn and Santi Ocariz, Ski Across America")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/01/redgroup.jpg" "redgroup")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2011/01/IMG_5155-start.jpg" "Skiers race off the line at the 2nd annual SportHill Crescent Lake Challenge cross country ski race.")
