May 10th, 2008
Putting together potato fields, a winter with over 200 inches of snow, sunshine, 20 degree nights and 60 degree days, there is liable to be some good spring skiing. I had heard about the famous Aroostook County crust cruising, but this spring was the first time that I was able to experience it. Below are a few pictures from our latest adventure.
The spring time has been good to us up here, the fifteen foot pile of snow in my front yard has shrunk down to a pile of dirt and twigs, the weather has been good and I have been riding my bike around, running too. BethAnn and I were even able to take a trip to Chicago to see my old college roommate get married, bravo Christian and Jane!
The pictures below are from a couple of Saturdays ago. We were a diehard group, including Brent Jepson, Bob Sprague, Carl Soderberg, Ben Paradis, Jeff and Sheri Dubis. The skiing really was excellent, miles and miles of potato fields allowed us to do a two hour loop without retracing steps.
Will and I were also able to get into the UMPI testing lab to get a baseline down for the training year to come. The woman in the foreground of the picture below is Dr. Sue Beaudet, our physiology guru.
April 4th, 2008
After distance nationals in Fairbanks I spent some time in Oregon, a few days in Portland and a day at the coast. A few pictures below.
After some disastrous races up in Fairbanks it is nice to be thinking about some R + R. However with the snow situation being so good in northern Maine I may have one more race on my schedule - the final Aroostook Cup in Madawaska, ME this weekend. The ski club up there just spent some good money on a new lodge and trails.
I must say that Fairbanks in March is a far cry from Fairbanks in October. The days were long and very sunny. The races were well organized and the courses were tough. I forgot to take pictures, so instead here are a couple from my trip to Oregon:
A self portrait.
The Oregon coast is nice.
Who doesn’t love a starfish? These guys were bigger than they look.
The end of the line for Lewis and Clark.
March 22nd, 2008
I was hoping that the Sugarloaf marathon would slip under the radar because of my unfortunate final 10m, but since I have seen the picture of me flounder-ing around in the snow at the finish on two different websites this week, I figured I had to post something about it. The ending aside, I had a fun time that day. I have spent a lot of time in Carrabbasset Valley, racing and training over the years, it is one of my favorite places, only an hour drive from the town that I grew up in.
