Here is a slew of pictures from the Fall to make up for the lack of blog posts.

Our fall started with a tough academic block at school and then a camp in Keene, NY in October. We did Lactate/Vo2 Max testing at UNH and returned to school for another intense academic period. On the 20th of November we drove up to Stoneham, QC and have been here since. We are training at Foret Montmorerency where there was a 500m loop of man-made snow. Four days in, it snowed! It has been snowing since then and we have many many kilometers to ski on. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Burke Team saddled up on the Montmorency Merry-Go-Round again on the morning of the 25th. The plan called for level 4 intervals and we hid them inside a two-skier team relay. We had five teams and each skier did two laps of the course, tagged off, kept moving in active rest and then hopped on again. Four legs per athlete. It worked well and best of all it got harder and harder because it was snowing and adding up. It snowed all afternoon and then blew like no tomorrow all night. Down here in Stoneham it warmed up a lot and was spitting the good old “wintry mix” of rain and something else this morning, but by the time we reached Montmorency it was still snow.

The wind had eased and the crew from the lodge had been out and laid in some beautiful tracks. Most of it was perfect given that the cover was still not deep. Tricky classic wax…it took me a minute or two…don’t let anyone tell you that old minds don’t slow down…to realise the remark ” Man, my arms are tired!” was directed at my choice of kick wax and was not a compliment. I’d gone about a K before a little voice said “Hey! …smart — punk …wax your own damn skis…grumble grumble,” slip, slip, clog. Actually I did have pretty good luck with both of my trial waxes which this trip were a Ski-go Yellow, and Start Moly. Not too bad either one.

Skating firmed up and was fast and good for the afternoon session. Folks are showing up from all over New England and we all might pull together a time trial over the weekend. TG day is “OFF” for the Burkies. It has been a good week for us so far, and we are grateful to the crew at Laval University’s facility at Foret Montmorency. Great spot to ski!

the old fish

Burke’s coin landed on Quebec for the November training block this year. We reserved condos in Stoneham, and with snow iffy just put our heads down and drove. The first morning we drove up to Le Foret Motnmorency and I scouted while the team ran on the roads around Laval University’s Pavillion. Not far from the lodge I found a sweet, short loop of man-made and carefully groomed snow. Short. 500 meters. Classic and skate.  The post-run head count came up one short and visions of holes in the ice or the dripping fangs that populate the North woods sinking in to hapless Vermont flesh launched a brief and succesful search. After that we headed back to the condos to get ready for the next day’s training on snow.

It was a near thing. When we arrived this morning and I was busily setting up the wax bench, one of our French speakers came running out ot tell me we were being told “Non.” Understandable. The loop is indeed…short. It won’t tolerate too many people and give anyone quality, and much of the cost had been borne by the University so wanting to save it for guests of the lodge was reasonable. We gently persevered with our cause and as we waited in came the cancellation from UVM! We were in. Thanks, Paul! Hope it is great over in NY.

Skiing is good. Both skating and classic tracks are well groomed and hard. No rocks. Flat enough to keep a nice gentle pace and work on getting back to the game. The crew at the Foret have done a great job with very little resoursce. It won’t take much snow to open up a lot more terrain but for now, were here and we’re skiing. “You can’t always get want you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find…”. We may get dizzy but we’ve got what we need.

the old fish