FasterSkier

Tag: blogs

  • The FasterSkier Blog Giveaway!

    The FasterSkier Blog Giveaway!

    If you’ve ever placed 1,347th in the American Birkebeiner and felt you deserved as much attention and credit for your achievement as Kris Freeman does for a fourth place at World Championships, we’ve got a contest for you.

    Yes, we’ve got a way that you can be mentioned in the same breath as Andy Newell, Kikkan Randall, James Southam. And you don’t even have to break any anti-doping rules to do it.

    Nope—we’re not raffling off EPO. Instead, we’re giving away a blog on FasterSkier. Or—perhaps “giving away” isn’t the right terminology, because you’ve still got to earn it.

    Have you ever wanted to tell people how your four-hour overdistance workouts are more badass than anyone else’s? Do you have a killer raw-food diet, the advantages of which you’d like to expound upon for an audience of thousands? A FasterSkier blog will give you the platform.

    The contest is simple: in 150 words or less, let us know why you think you deserve a blog on our site. Entries can be submitted by e-mail to info@fasterskier.com, or in person at our booth at the West Yellowstone Ski Festival Expo. Deadline is Sunday—I mean, c’mon, you don’t have anything more important to do before then.

  • Updated Blog Home

    For those FasterSkier readers who frequent the blogs section, you may have noticed that we have redesigned the FasterSkier Blog Homepage, bringing the overall look in line with the main site and providing more useful information.  In the past the Blog Home merely listed all the blogs in order of most recent post, with the title of that post, and the blog’s description.  The new design still features a list of blogs in the center of the page, but instead of the never-changing description, each blog now displays an intro to the most recent post. This means you can quickly scan the page to see what has been updated, and get a quick idea of the content.   Our top featured blogs are shown in wide format at the top, and all blogs are listed below.  Order is still based on most recent post.  Not all blogs are listed in the center – only the 20 blogs who have published a new post within the last two weeks are displayed.  The complete list of blogs can still be found on the left.

    The left column has a box displaying Recent Comments from all blogs.  This makes it easy to quickly see new comments, without having to check a blog specifically.  Underneath the comment box is another text list of recent posts. This may seem redundant, but this list shows multiple posts per blog – the 10 most recent posts from any blogs are displayed here.  This means that have Andy Newell has 5 of the 10 most recent, they will all be displayed.  The center column only shows 1 post per blog.   The center area also features some blogs over others – not all blogs show up in the wide format top spot. But the list on the left is completely egalitarian.

    We are hoping to add another box that lists the most popular posts from the previous week.

    The top navigation now matches the main site and is nearly identical.  The search box has been configured to search all blogs.  This is a useful feature and can allow a visitor to quickly search for keywords across all blogs.

    Individual blogs remain relatively unchanged.  The banner and background have been adjusted to match the rest of the site, and the links to return to the FasterSkier Homepage and the Blog Homepage are now located beneath the headshot in the left column.  And of course clicking on the top blog banner will always return you to the Blog Home.

    The goal is to make the Blog Home a useful page where a visitor can quickly see an overview of all new posts and comments.  Check it out and let us know what you think!  As always, if you encounter problems, don’t hesitate to contact us.

    Visit the new FS Blog Home at http://blogs.fasterskier.com

  • New Blogs on FasterSkier

    Over the past few months we have added a number of new bloggers to the FasterSkier blogroll.  Since the end of the winter, US Cross-Country Ski Team members Morgan Arritola and Morgan Smyth have joined the ring.

    Smyth scored the first World Cup points of career this season, and looks to build upon that success heading into the Olympics.  A two-time National Champion and a member of the 2009 US World Championship Team, Smyth is currently based out of Kethum, Idaho where she trains with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s Olympic Development Team.

    Morgan Smyth’s blog:

    http://blogs.fasterskier.com/morgansmyth

    Arritola was moved up to the World Cup team this year after posting strong results at the Whistler World Cups and at the World Championships in Liberec.  Along with Liz Stephen and Smyth, Arritola represents a strong group of up-and-coming female skiers in the US.  She is also a teammate of Smyth’s in Sun Valley.

    Morgan Arritola’s blog:

    http://blogs.fasterskier.com/morganarritola

    We are excited to have both of these women blogging on FasterSkier and look forward to following their progress over the coming year.

    A third newcomer, Jessica Jerome, represents a deviation from the current list of bloggers.  Jerome is one of the top ski jumpers in the world, and is a leader on the US Women’s squad.  The goal of the FasterSkier blogs is to provide a variety of perspectives on Nordic sports, and to give North American athletes a forum for sharing with the ski community.  While the focus of the site remains on cross-country, jumping is a traditional Nordic discipline, and Jerome’s insights on training, competition, and the struggles of women jumpers are valuable additions.  It is also on opportunity for the general ski community to learn more about the sport of jumping.

    Jessica Jerome’s blog:

    http://blogs.fasterskier.com/jessicajerome