Just a quick update from Ramsau where Jess and I have been hanging out for Christmas, relaxing, and getting in a bit of training. A lot of snow has melted since we first arrived in Ramsau. The days around Christmas were well above freezing, sometimes reaching +7 – +10 c. So the skiing wasn’t great but it was nice to get a break from the cold and have warmer temperatures to ski around in. It was just Jess and I hanging out for Christmas, but our friends here at the Kielhuberhof hooked us up with a big apartment room and we were even able to set up our own little Christmas tree! There were a few other people around to hang out with though and we got to have some good times having dinner with Trond and Claudia Nystad over at their place.

The short break from racing is now over and I’m stoked. Although it’s only been about 10 days since our last world cup it feels like a lot longer and I’m ready to get back on the Tour. Tomorrow I’ll drive the big cargo van back to Munich to meet up with Grover and Peter J so we can make our way to Oberhof for the start of the Tour de Ski. I really don’t know what to expect with the the Tour but I know it’s going to be different and hopefully a good time. either way I’m fired up to get the bib on again.

our Christmas tree

Great view, lots of sun, but not too much snow

First off I want to say how awesome it is to see Tim Burke wearing yellow… it’s freaking unbelievable! In certain parts of Europe Biathlon is king, like huge, way bigger that xc skiing, so it’s amazing to see Timmy B kicking ass on Eurosport every weekend. Both the XC and Biathlon tours were in Slovenia last weekend, but for us it was the first time the World Cup has had a race in this country so it was a new experience for everyone.

Rogla was basically in the middle of nowhere. It’s not really a town, just an alpine ski area that was on top of a mountain. But it was really beautiful up there. wish I had some pictures or something to put up but I didn’t have much free time there since we arrived on Thursday night and raced Saturday and Sunday. On Friday when we were admiring the views and skiing around testing skis in the sun I was amazed at how we could be perched on top of mountain with such nice weather and no wind. Sure enough the sprint day rolls around and we could hardly open our eyes the sideways snow was so bad. When conditions are tough like that it can be hard to stay focused but I just try to remember that it’s shitty for everyone, and there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. Besides freezing my hands pretty good in the final it was a good day. Although I wasn’t able to make a good sprint for the podium it was great practice to be able to race the final and that long sprint course made it  fun to practice some different tactics.

One of the goals for this year is to do less intervals and more racing, so with that in mind I was ready to go the next day for the 30k mass start classic. I didn’t really know what to expect with a mass start 30 like that but it was pretty fun to be knocking skis with a big pack for a while. There were a couple crashes, a couple people yelling, it’s kind of funny. Some people get so worked up when their skis and poles are getting bumped around by other people. Maybe I’m just used to it from spending so much time on the sprint course. Some dude got so worked up that I wouldn’t let him into the track that he full on yelled at the top of his lungs at me… so I finally let him in. but what’s up with that? Maybe its was because I was wearing bib 66 out of a 71 person field, and he thought he could boss me around a little bit. The race was a good learning experience, and it was good to practice feeding during a race which is something I’m new to. It don’t really care much about finishing 41st for the day although I guess thats mu best distance placing, I was more looking at how far behind the leaders I could be, and since I bonked a little bit from hanging with the pack… my time suffered for sure. But I was happy to get my first world cup 30 out of the way.

After the race we had to do a quick turn-around again and pack, shower, and eat in an hour before getting in the car for the 6 hour drive to Munich. kind of sucked. But once at the Movenpic it was worth it. thats a sick hotel. In a way it’s our US Ski Team euro base. We are always staying there while flying in and out of Munich, we park the US Ski team fleet of cars there, and it’s always a spot in europe to catch up with everyone else. So once we rolled in late night we got a meal and drank some beers with the Nordic combined guys for a bit and caught up. A lot of athletes were at the movenpic… alpine girls, and few biathletes, everyone flying home for X mas.

For me it’s going to be a Euro X mas, so I grabbed Jess at the Munich airport yesterday and we drove to Ramsau where we will be training for the next week or so. We’re staying at the same hotel the NCers just left from yesterday and this place is awesome. Big apartment style rooms and skiing from the door…. and some great Austria Sunshine!

Ramsausunshine on the deck

With the World Cup race weekend behind us the team has be training here in Davos for the past few days preparing for the next stop, Rogla Slovenia. This past weekend was a frustrating one for me since I broke a pole in the sprint, but it was pretty awesome to see Freeman place 7th in the 15k skate (I believe that’s his best ever in a 15k skate!), and to see Kikkan have a successful day on the sprint course. The Sprint course here is super long… it’s actually probably the best course to brake a pole on because there is so much time to make up any lost places. That’s probably what made it so frustrating for me, I KNOW I should have been able to pass the other skiers back I just never made it happen. I guess the only thing to do is look to next weekend’s classic sprint.
The temp has dropped here in Davos over the past two days giving us some clear skies and great training. Since the snow situation is not so good in Rogla most of the other national teams have stayed here to train as well so there are a lot of athletes on the trails, and a crowded weight room this afternoon. I went out for an easy distance ski with some strength today, and will kick off some intensity tomorrow with some level 3 and 4 classic intervals to get the body ready for the weekend. The Schedule for the weekend is Sprint Saturday and 30k mass start classic on Sunday. Our plan is to pile into the van and drive over on Thursday. We’ve heard it takes anywhere from 7 to 9 hours so who knows what kind of trouble we can get into. stay posted for updates from Slovenia.

Nature

We have spent a lot of time at the Kulm over the past few years.

yeah, it happens. Even while getting ready for our races here in Davos we got bored in Switzerland. I apologize in advance to anyone who speaks or even understands German.

Just put a video up on the X Ski FIlms page. it’s a skierpost video and there is some pretty agro music, but it still gives you an idea of how nasty it gets out there. kikkan made the highlights. check it out at www.andrewnewell.com

A good way to trash your new ski boots is by bringing them to Dusseldorf and skiing in the rain for 2 days and running around with them on pavement in between the heats of the sprint. Besides everything I own being a little soggy it’s been a pretty fun time here in D-dorf. We ran into some travel problems on our way here and had to spend thursday night in Helsinki, and then wake up really early to catch a morning flight here on Friday. I guess a bird flew into the engine of our airplane while flying in Finland so we were grounded at this airport in the middle of nowhere while a mechanic had to drive from far away to come and fix it. So that was a bummer, but we got here in time to do a little rollerskiing on Friday and get ready for the individual sprint the next day.
When we got the info about this race we heard that all the teams were staying next to a soccer stadium, but what we didn’t realize is that we were really staying IN a soccer stadium. Thats how they roll here in Germany. It awesome. So on Friday night they gave all the racers tickets to the home Dusseldorf game, and we really didn’t even need to leave the building to get there. The Fans were rowdy too. Just like what you’d expect, taking their shirts off, jumping around and singing, throwing beer, and a lot of swearing.
Saturdays sprint was fast and tough with the course holding up really well despite the rain. I was able to advance easily through the quarter finals, and then tried to put in a strong finish and lunge in the semi’s but just missed the A final for the second weekend in a row. It’s for sure frustrating not to be able to race in the final again, but I’ve been feeling good so we’ll just have to take it one race at a time and keep trying.
after a hard day of sprinting it’s always tough to turn around and race the next day but it’s always worth it for the sprint relay. The D-dorf relay is for sure the craziest sprint race of the year. Everything that can happen does happen. Broken skis, poles, punches being thrown, it’s pretty awesome. In our Semi-Final heat I took a corner pretty sharp and got tossed backwards with Ola V, and landed real hard on my ass and doing the whole whip lash thing. My backside is killing me. So the both of us were bumped to the back of the pack and had to fight out way up to the front again. Thankfully we bother were able to advance so it was no big deal.
I couldn’t even tell you what happened in the Final. It was intense though, lots of crashes and bumping into each other. Russian tried to blow it open on the second lap, but there was still a good pack of people all together for the last exchange. Ola V got into some more trouble on the last lap and went down again, and we were put into a position to sprint it out for 4th,5th,and6th. by the last turn the top three had pulled away a few meters. Either way it was good times here in D-dorf.

it’s back to traveling tomorrow when we will fly to Zurich and make our way by train to Davos for the next stop. Stoked to meet up with the rest of the team. here are a few pics. the first one is a shot right from our hotel room window. the crowd was throwing them back before entering the game.

our hotel rooms and restaurant where we have been eating is literally right behind these stands

Just finished up our week here in Kuusamo. Don’t have much to say about the races other than they were a lot of fun. The Sprint here is always super fast and tough and that uphill is pretty gnarly. If you haven’t seen any video of it before I would check it out. It’s a pretty fun hill to sprint up but definitely makes your legs a little tired by the end of the day. I couldn’t believe Ola V pulled it off again, that guy is pretty incredible…. also stoked to see our man Polsa on the podium. I was bumming that I missed my shot in the Final and wasn’t able to fight it out with them.
15k was an amazing day for Bird and Kikkan. That course is really tough and the tracks were icy and fast again making for some fun downhills. Our techs did a great job with skis finding the best combo of grip and speed. It was awesome to see Bird so close to the podium and I think that was Kikkans best distance World cup of here career too. It’s so cool to see things coming together for everyone. I’m still getting into the feel of doing more distance racing but I definitely like it…. and it’s a lot more fun to race longer distances when you’re in decent shape.
From here we head to central Europe. Sprinters are off to Dusselfdorf for next weekends sprint and sprint relay, and everyone else is off to find snow (there isn’t much of it in Central Euro). Maybe Italy, maybe Davos. who knows. chasing the pow pow.
here are some pics from the week.

Mo and liz disco bowlin’ in Ruka. we had a USA Canada bowl-down

no shave november ends today. I hadn’t shaved since the start of Lake Placid Camp. 2 months of beardage

in case you didn’t know….. cross-country is cool

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Inspired by Billy D and Carl’s Bored in Norway rendition of Kelly Clarkson…. here’s Bored in Finland by Morgan, Liz and myself.

Thanks to everyone who is sending in video links for the new website! We’ve been uploading material daily to the X Ski FIlms page. Just put a pretty sick one up there from the Bogan Boys destroying some Norwegian backcountry. If you haven’t been there in a bit… check it out, and keep the videos coming. just send the link to me via the Contacts page on the new site.
 http://andrewnewell.com

The world cup opener today saw some icy fast conditions which made for some awesome racing. It was a solid start for the American squad with Kikkan finishing 21st in the 10k and Freeman 22nd in the men’s 15k. The racing continues tomorrow with the 4×10 relay and the US will start a team. Freeman/koos/Newell/Flora. Then it’s off to Finland for the next stop.