from garrottkuzzy.com:

Not since my freshman year at CXC have I ski raced in the East.  Yeah, it’s been that long.  I can’t wait to get back.  We’re leaving tomorrow morning for the long drive from Wisconsin to Maine–27 hours according to mapquest.  We’ll be competing in the 50km National Championship and the SuperTour Finals.  Here are the details:

March 24: Marathon 30/50km mass-start skate

March 26: 5/10km mass-start classic

March 27: Classic Sprint

March 28: 5/10km skate uphill pursuit

To get me ready for the trip back East, Chris and Judy, my bosses at New Moon, had me over to tap some maples and enjoy some venison on the grill.  With the unseasonably warm March we’ve had, the sap is flowing fast.  Chris has already made several gallons of fresh Wisconsin maple syrup from the 20 or so maples in his yard.

My favorite energy drink, and one you can only find in the spring, is maple sap straight from the tree.  It basically tastes like fresh water with a hint of sweet maple syrup.  No other drink is more refreshing.  Chris and Judy sent me home with a jar of fresh syrup that tasted great on my pancakes this morning.

Of course, Egan couldn’t wait to show off his new boards too.  Chuck, we’ve gotta find Grant a pair of these!

Hopefully this is the only deer we come across on our road trip East.  Next post will be from Fort Kent, the Northern Most Town in Maine.  On a map it may look like the Northern Most Point in the US, but other places we’ve traveled this year are actually much further North, including Spokane, Washington, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan, and, of course, Fairbanks, Alaska.

We traveled due south from France into the Italian Alps and then along the vineyards of Italy through the coastal plain and finally into Slovenia.  The drive took us through beautiful scenery.  I had to catch myself a few times to match the appropriate salutation to the country.  Most of the trip was void of snow and we enjoyed warmer temperatures. There was no snow in sight as we closed in on Rogla, Slovenia but temperatures continued to drop as we ascended into the Slovenian Alps.  The view changed as we closed onto Rogla, and we started to enter a snow storm.  What a difference a few miles of travel upward makes.  Fortunately we arrived just in the knick of time, for the snow storm was just starting.  I’m not sure our vehicles would have made the mountain ascent if we waited another day.  The thirty-six hour snow storm resulted in high winds, cold temperatures and a lot of snow.  I would guess in the range of twenty inches.  We awoke Thursday morning to a four foot snow drift greeting our bungalow doorstep.  Matt Whitcomb took a great photo with his phone for evidence.

The lodging and food are amazing here atop this mountain.  My only concern I have is being selective with all the incredible buffet food.  Good thing we have three races in a row to provide an excuse to get out on skis.

Petra Majdic’s face adorns nearly every advertisement at Rogla, displaying their pride of the Nordic skiing superstar.  The alpine ski runs actually start from here atop the mountain adjacent the lodge and descend 500 meters.  There is an alpine slide immediately out the window of the men’s bungalow, which sits idol as a taunt.  The employees have been shoveling it out, which has been a topic of serious discussion upon conclusion of the races here.

Rogla is quite dialed in for Nordic ski racing, especially since they had a World Cup here this past season.  The wax trailers are close to the stadium and warm-up track, so we have electricity and gear storage immediately adjacent to the race venue.  This has made our role a bit easier than last weekend’s shuttling back down form La Feclaz to St Francois to test and wax.

Testing here has gone quite well.  The snow here seems to carry a great deal of moisture, yet the snow is very fresh due to all the new snow.  This unique blend resulted in testing throughout the temperature ranges.  The snow reminds me of the lake effect snowfalls of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  I suppose it is not ironic then that many of the better waxes we found were similar to those utilized in the UP of Michigan in the past.

The courses are challenging – not totally brutal, but quite relentless, so pacing and technical skiing play a major role.  The conditions are quite soft with temperatures around -5 to -10 Celsius.  The cloudbank on the mountain has lifted and the wind as substantially decreased.  The nighttime clearing is drying up the snow and we should certainly have firmer conditions tomorrow for the races.

There are three races in a row – Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  This is the OPA finals and they run them like the World Cup Finals.  Tomorrow is the Classic Prologue, Saturday is a distance classic and Sunday concludes with a pursuit start skate.

La Fleclaz OPA Races

Skiing here at La Fleclaz is amazing with abundant mountain snow.  The temperatures upon arrival were mild and near 0 Celsius for the first two days.  The snow is transformed and granular, so klister has been effective.  A dusting of snow tends to fall each day and temperatures have now dropped slightly (-4 Celsius) to dry out the snow.  Skiing is now very firm and fast as the new snow gets tilled in.

Classic Team Sprint:

We had a classic team sprint under the lights Friday evening.  The race started at 7:30PM and concluded around 10:00 PM.  We couldn’t figure out where the start/ finish was the evening prior while testing.  It became apparent why the morning prior as they plowed and moved snow onto the main street of the small La Feclaz village.  They groomed at 5:00 PM on race day, which left the course soft and sugary.  The track did begin to set up a bit as the temperatures dropped into the finals.  One might consider the set up as somewhat amateur, but watching the skiing of the participants during the daytime would tell you otherwise.

Observation can teach a lot and it was apparent during the training session that the best skiers here have a high cadence and more importantly, very quick and snappy movements – more quick and snappy than I am accustomed to seeing.  This observation would be confirmed in the team sprint eight hours later.  It was also observed at World Cup (like Canmore) in the last 200 meters of the sprints and likely to every Nordic ski fan in the 50 km in the Olympics to name just one example.  I believe this is something for us to pay more attention to.

The team sprint course was great for observation, for there was a little of everything – short and steep uphills to watch a running stride and herringbone stride as well as a couple long gradual climbs to witness kick double pole and long gliding diagonal striding technique.

5km Women’s/ 10 km Men’s Mass Start Skate:

The temperatures have been dropping to -14 to -16 Celsius at night, so the course was sure to be rock solid.  We headed out yesterday morning to test wax and it was status quo.  The waxes that had been running the days before were still running the best.  It was apparent however that the colder conditions had ruled some of the warmer waxes out.

It’s interesting.  Things are a little different which throw you off your “normal” game.  They are small items like European outlets for example.  My cordless drill can not be charged in Europe even though I have a converter.  The issue is voltage, which – I’m sure can be overcome – but not in the short period of time we were here in La Fleclaz.  I couldn’t charge my cordless drill up, so we didn’t have one at the start.  We didn’t have a wax room adjacent the race start even if we did have a European cordless, so we need to be adaptable and we were.  We had competitive skis.

We tested skis yesterday and the firm snow dictated a stiffer ski for control, but we also noted that the best skis that relatively light in structure.  Light snow fell throughout the day today and there was certainly a happy medium of structure.  Skis, structure and wax had to all be within a reasonable tolerance.  The athletes need to make small but noticeable adjustments as well.  France is 6-9 hours ahead of the US, so time adaptation is important.  We’ll also at moderate altitude.  Another very notable aspect is the competition.  They are unfamiliar and race slightly different.  We need to adapt and we did in many respects.

The adaptations made were effective for a number of athletes to have great races.  A number of athletes scored their best FIS results (Sadie Bjornsen, Erik Bjornsen, Mike Sinnott, Nicole Deyong and Brian Gregg).  The top American in the 5km skate was Caitlin Compton in 10^th place about twelve seconds from the win.  Caitlin Compton tangled with German strength Denise Hermmann and went down at the start.  Caitlin shuttled from last out of the gate to first out on the course and finally finished in 10^th. Brian Gregg was the top American in the 10 km men’s mass start.  Robin Duvillard had a break away that was reeled in, but he still won.  Robin was 6^th in the Davos World Cup this past December.

The most valuable item is simply mixing it up with a new group of competitors. We need to be adaptable.  We need to recognize that we rarely have home field advantage, so we need to make “home” on the road.  This is true at least some of the time.

Subtle changes will result in notable results at this level.  Brian Gregg noted he had a very good race but noted that he might have selected a ski with slightly too aggressive of structure for optimum results.  I agree.  Today was his best FIS result to date, but we need to look where we can squeeze additional seconds whether it is from fitness, recovery or equipment.  Structure and ski select will be an increasing focus for our whole CXC Team Vertical Limit program next year.  We made strides forward this year and will continue into next with a focus on ski selection for races as well as ski structure.

Birkie Wrap up & Europa Cup Travel Adventures

Birkie Wrap-Up:

Last weekend concluded with another successful American Birkebeiner.  A record number of 8,300 total Birkie event participants were met with perfect conditions.  It was great to catch up with the athletes to see how the race unfolded.  The men’s race seemed to be particularly strategic, which wasn’t any surprise with the four Italians there.  It was great to hear that Tad was strong enough to remain with the two Italians in the final break away and that the pace was such that only one Italian would remain at the finish.  It was also good to hear that Rebecca was able to maintain a high pace that lasted to the finish.  I look forward to seeing the new Birkie DVD.  It will be great to watch the action unfold.

Travels through Europe:

I was excited to find that my flights to Europe departed MSP at 3:30 PM on Monday.  This allowed time to pack up gear and clean out Vortanz’s pole barn where we had 12 wax stations hitting on all eight cylinders Friday night and Saturday morning for the Birkie.

My flights were seamless.  I checked my bags straight through from Minneapolis to Munich, Germany with a layover in Chicago O’Hare.  I met up with Amy Caldwell and Matt Whitcomb at O’Hare.  I hopped onto the plane, watched a movie and slept the remainder of the way.  It was morning in Germany and 3:00AM back home.

We drove from Munich through Switzerland via a stint in Lichtenstein and then onto the northern French Alps.  The total drive was a touch over 7 hours.  The last portion of the drive was eventful only due to the sheer number of villages named St Francois. I counted 4 total.  We checked out three until we found our final destination.  St Francois must to be pretty popular around here.

The City of Chambrey:

On the Wednesday, March 3^rd I had an impromptu scenic stroll around Chambery’s city center.  I headed down from our lodging near the Col de Plainpalais and into the city to pick up Matt Whitcomb.  Matt had returned one of our vans back to Geneva and took a train back to Chambery where someone was to swing by and pick him up.  I heard word of the need for Matt’s pick up time with little time to spare, so volunteered and hopped out of my clothes ski clothes and onto the road.

I found my way successfully into the City Center.  Chambery’s city center was beautiful, but challenging to navigate.  Many roads ended abruptly into old historic sections that had been preserved for tourist walking traffic only.  Urban planning and design was a concept developed long after Chambery’s City Center.  I opted to park on a near-by road close to the city’s Post Office, Police Department, Bus Station and Train Depot reside.  I took note of a full-sized statue for a notable landmark near my parking position, for the street signs were challenging to find even at a walkers pace.  A simple trip resulted in a memorable experience that includes a story I just can’t make up. I am now offering my expertise for hire as a travel guide of Chambery’s City Center due to my intimate knowledge of the pedestrian sites.

I was testing kick on Thursday as well as assisting Caitlin Compton with skate ski selection.  We dropped off her additional skis and my warm-up jacket and pants toward the tail end of our training session.  We placed them along the trail close to our entry/ exit to the parking lot.  Caitlin’s skis remained but my jacket and pants unfortunately did not.  I thought early departing athletes from our group snagged them, but unfortunately not.  They did say they were there when they left 15 minutes shy of my departure.  Well, I hope someone less fortunate than I acquired my warm-ups.  They will be happy to find a new Canon G10 camera and mid-temperature hard waxes in the pockets.  Bummer, since the USST kick wax box was lost by the airlines and the airlines traded by providing 7 sweet one-piece carbon hockey sticks.  The owner of the sticks is one NHL hockey player.  His name is engraved on them.

The International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) has 10 trails around the world they call “IMBA Epics” – sort of like the Seven Wonders of the World for mountain bikers.  Atop IMBA’s list is the most famous ride, so famous that Pink Floyd named a song after the trail, Comfortably Numb.

I’m in Whistler, BC at the moment, at a training camp with the national team, Sun Valley, Steinbock, NEG, and more.  The training and conditions have been awesome all week.  Check out TeamToday for pics and updates on the camp.  The great weather we’ve had finally gave way to rain this morning.

Time to ride Comfortably Numb.  It wouldn’t be an Epic without wet roots or an overcast view.  Pete & I hit the trail early Saturday morning, heeding trailside warnings to “Leave with plenty of time to return before dark.”  The 17 mile trail had over 1500 vertical feet of climbing–that’s about 25 round trip rides from Fish Hatchery to OO on the new Makwa Trail in Hayward.  Success is measured on this challenging trail not by how fast you can ride it, but how long you can ride without unclipping from your pedals.  My record was about 3 minutes.  It was an awesome ride, despite the bone chilling rain.  Kicking back in the condo this afternoon, I understand why they call the trail, Comfortably Numb.