March 8th, 2008
After kind of a disappointing day in Drammen I made it back Vermont yesterday. The Sprint at Drammen started out pretty well. They did a great job lying down the course this year and with temps slightly lower than normal the track was a little bit firmer than in previous years. The snow was fast making it a difficult call to stride or double pole for the qualification but I chose double pole. I wasn’t sure if it was the right call when I was lining up to at the start wand since the majority of the guys around me had classic gear on but turned out ok. I ended up with the 9th fasted time and was really fired up to head into the heats.
Drammen is for sure one of the coolest races in the world. The crowd is unbelievable and the scene there is just intense.
They had the stage set up next to the track again this year so that when you were gliding down onto the flats at the bottom of the hill you would ski right in between the stage and the crowd and get a nice blast of rock and roll in the ear on every lap. Now that’s the way xc ski racing should be. The huge crowd also makes warming up and cooling down a little tricky too. All the athletes just kind of run back and forth on these two streets up by the wax cabins. It definitely is a little bit weird to do a ski race not be on skis for 45 mins before your start.
Virtually every skier had switched back over to striding for the heats. Because of the uphill finish it makes it really important to have some kick in the final 100 meters. Our skis were running really fast at Drammen too, but for one reason or another I caught some klister at the top of the first uphill and did a forward roll onto my head. It was kind of funny. I was able to get up pretty quickly and regain contact with the pack and even pass a few on the downhill. In the end the front two skiers were just a little too far ahead to catch in the final stretch. I came to the line in a three-way sprint for third but got edged by bother skiers and finish fifth in the heat. It was a disappointing day for the US team with no skiers in the A or B finals.
We flew home the next day out of Oslo. Its sucks we didn’t get to hang out for Holmenkollen but those of us who are heading to Canadian Nationals next weekend we needed to get back to North America. It definitely feels a little weird that the world cup season is over for me already. It’s hard to know what to think of this world cup season because of all the ups and downs. Last year was so much more consistent, so it much more disappointing to finish outside of the top 15 several times this year. On the other hand I had some of the best results of my career this season and despite the drop in World Cup standing from 6 to 10th… I scored more world cup points this year than last. It just goes to show I guess that there’s more than one way to have a successful season and that the level of competition is never going to stop getting better. One thing is for sure though; the sprint team is more fired up than ever and hungry for some more podiums next year.
Well even though I’m back home in Vermont now the season is far from over. I’ll be heading out to Vancouver on the 13th for the start of Canadian Nationals. I’m stoked to get in a LOT of racing over the next three weeks and hopefully have some good distance races. It’s awesome that these races are going to be on the Olympic trails too. After that we’ll be flying up to AK for our Distance Nationals. I think this might have to be the year when I do my first 50k. It’s gunna be sick!!
