Bend is just as I remembered it, warm, sunny, dry, and about eighteen feet of snow up at the base of Bachelor.  I am getting in good training out here.  In the morning we ski for a couple hours up at the trails, and in the afternoon we run, rollerski, do strength, and sometimes swim!  Bend has grown a lot since the last time I was here, I can understand why, it has to be one of a handful of places where a person can ski in the morning and get in eighteen holes in the afternoon.  This morning Pat Weaver and I took a break from the trails and skied to the base of Broken Top mt.  We skied through about two inches of new dry snow on the way up with hard flat crust underneath.  On Sunday the plan is to do a long OD crust cruise around the mountain. 

Chris Cook and I are staying at the house of Dave Smullin.  He has been a very gracious host, thanks Dave!

Rollerski testing and the Weave

The days are nice out here

Mt. Bachelor from the parking lot, this day was the last day of alpine skiing for the winter.  We missed the naked run, the last run of the day.

What a spring!  Last week we had our annual spring athlete meetings here at MWSC.  The boys came up from southern Maine for some training, testing, and a bbq at Will’s house.  We kicked off the training year with some good workouts and tests for everyone.

The weather has been okay up here, but we were able to ski until May this year.  It wasn’t until this past weekend that spring really hit, with the green buds coming out on the trees, even a thunderstorm on Saturday.   I have been riding my bike and slowly getting my running legs under me again over the past month. 

 Next week I am headed for Bend Oregon to do some skiing for a week, after that I am meeting up with the MWSC crew in Steamboat for some more skiing.   I am excited about both trips.

I have to add a little pitch here for Steve Fuller and his great photography.  One of the pictures from my blog banner is a photo courtesy of Steve and his website www.flyingpointroad.com.  He has great pictures of all sorts, check out the site.  The great thing about it is that all the proceeds from his sales are donated to NENSA. 

My new favorite doughnut shop

Training in the spring on the sunny days.  On a ski with Will and Sarah

On the rainy days I will probably be watching The Godfather, like here.

Above is what downtown Madison, Capitol Square looked like at 4:00PM on friday night.  Below is what Capitol Square looked like at 7:00AM Saturday morning.   

Even with limited snow options, the organizers here put together a great race.  For me Madison was always one of those places that you know the name of from memorizing state capitals as a ten year old but don’t know much else about it.  With a big university and a bunch of lakes in the middle of the downtown, this city has become a cool place.  We are staying just a few steps from the start of the race and just a few more steps from a couple of nice walking streets with shops and restaurants.  By 2:00 in the afternoon Saturday the picture above was filled with spectators.  These sprints were a big deal.

Nick Kline and I made the trip Minneapolis last Wednesday.  Our travel story for the trip was having to pull a u-turn in mid-flight to return to JFK because of a landing gear issue.  It was a bumpy set-down.  Apparently the steering mechanisms were also shot because to turn the plane the pilot had to slam on the brakes and ‘skip’ (his own words) the plane in the right direction.  It was a bumpy ride to the terminal.

I was happy to be in Mt. Itasca, mostly because my in-laws live there and I like the skiing there.  The cold weather issues continued with a few delays on the first day of racing, but by early afternoon it was just above legal.  I had a great race that day, edging Bryan Cook by one second at the line for the win.  My skis were perfect and I felt great too.  The next day was about the same temperature and even with a fully taped and dermatoned face I managed to get frost bit on my nose for the fifth time this year.  It is a bummer because my nose is still peeling from the last go around with the cold.  If anyone out there has a good remedy for a cold sensitive nose, please get in touch with me.  I am fresh out of ideas at the moment.  

We left Itasca for Telemark yesterday just in time to preview the course for the sprint today.  I am going to have to get some pictures up of the second uphill on this course, it is a monster. 

The wax I used on Saturday.  I didn’t miss one kick and my skis were plenty fast.  This little tin is worth every penny. 

It is a deep freeze up here in Anchorage and the forecast is for some serious cold over the next few days.  After getting in some good training up in Maine over Christmas I made the long trip to Anchorage on Tuesday.  After missing a flight in Newark, the trip ended up being a little longer than usual.  But I made it to Alaska in good enough shape, with bags and skis, ready to ski on Wednesday morning.  Aside from the cold, the skiing is good.  Plenty of snow and some nice courses.  Also some wildlife.  This morning I had a moose come charging toward me with pinned back ears.  Living in Maine I am used to moose, but this one was huge and scared the pants off of me.  Luckily all he wanted were a few branches from a nearby tree so as soon as he was thoroughly distracted I was able to sneak by.  Things in Alaska are a little bigger than everywhere else, a few kilometers up the trail from the moose I saw a fox that was about as big as a german shepard.  Crazy.  

Anyway, the racing should be pretty good this week.  Everything starts on Saturday with the classic sprint.  Pictures below of the stadium.

With the races being cancelled in Soldier Hollow we decided to head for Canada and race the NorAm’s here in Silver Star.  The schedule is pretty intense, two skate races last weekend and three races in a row heading into this weekend.  Today was the 20k skate, tomorrow is a classic sprint and saturday night a distance classic race under the lights.  The skiing here is really good right now, the last few days have been full of snow.  We have been getting in some good racing here and some good training.  I decided to sit out the 20k this afternoon to take an easy day and rest for the races coming this weekend.  The first americans in today’s 20k were James Southam and Noah Hoffman in 6th and 7th.  It was an exciting race, with a big group of skiers finishing within a minute of one another.  It was a perfectly clear day, but that is not going to last, the forecast for the next few days is snow and more snow.  Should make for some interesting classic races.

No skiing here in northern Maine yet, although yesterday morning we woke up to a thin blanket of white on our lawn.  And just this afternoon we had some more flurries.  Snow is on the way.

In the meantime, MWSC just extended the rollerski loop in Fort Kent.  The loop now has a total of 3.5k of really good rollerskiing.  The new extension adds a significant uphill to the loop.  The new construction also includes an adjustment to the old loop, adding a bit more terrain.  This past weekend MWSC hosted a biathlon event on saturday and a skate sprint event on sunday using the new terrain.  Even though the weather was gnarly, it turned out to be a great event all around.

Things are great with me, I am looking forward to leaving next week for Yellowstone. Pictures below. 

10th Mountain Lodge, Fort Kent

I just finished up a two week training camp, one week in Carrabassett Valley training at Sugarloaf and one week training with the us ski team in Lake Placid.  Sugarloaf is one of my favorite places to train, every year during the harvest break the coaches at MWSC take the juniors down for a training camp.  The access roads to the mountain are great places to do intervals, good pavement and really good terrain.  Plus the place is relatively deserted with only the mountain workers getting ready for the season and the students at CVA.  The highlight was a classic sprint at the end of the week.  A tough course heading straight up the condo access road.  We had a tough group at the front end of the race, Freddy B., Nick Klein, and Joey Bard.  The weather during the week was a little unpredictable, but the leaves were in full color.

I made the drive to LP on Saturday and spent the week there.  For the first few days the place was full of nordies.  Sun Valley, NENSA, CXC, Burke to name a few of the programs that were around.  Monday was the uphill time trial and it was just as hard as last year.  Straight uphill skating for five miles makes for a good workout.  I was pleased with how it went for me.  Uphill skating is my biggest challenge, it was a good sign that I was able to ski steady to the finish line.  After the time trial some of the teams cleared out.  Midweek I joined the sprinters for a speed workout at the jumps.  This is a great workout, working on starts, drop-in double pole, and transitions.  Saturday was the bounding workout at Whiteface, picture below.  It was a great week in Lake Placid, the focus was high and intense.  I drove home last night and will be here until heading west for Yellowstone.  The next weeks will be spent putting the finishing touches on the off-season training before the races begin.

The pictures below are courtesy of Justin Beckwith.

On saturday night Kuzzy, T. Koos and I spent the evening having dinner with the GMVS crew.  Lasagna, homemade rolls and cookies were on the menu.  We played mafia around the campfire after dinner.  They are a fun group and I wish them the best of luck this year!

We are at the tail end of a 10 day training camp out here in Whistler.  The camp has been perfect, good weather and good training.  The objective was to get in some good intensity sessions at the olympic venue with the US ski team.  We accomplished that objective and also had some fun times.  In ten days we did a classic sprint, sprint relay, skate threshold, and a duathlon time trial.  There really is no substitute for doing quality intensity sessions with the best in our country.  It is a great way to evaluate strengths and weaknesses. 

The olympic venue is coming along.  For the first few days we rollerskied on the 3k loop on the biathlon side of the stadium.  About mid-week the course on the nordic side opened up.  We did quite a bit of rollerskiing on the access road to the venue, good rolling terrain.  When all the construction is complete the venue will be one of the best.  Not much can beat the scenery around here.

A few pictures -

  Warming up on the access road.

Like I said above, nothing beats the northwest for its scenery.  I am a big fan of the mountains and trees out here.  We took a gondola trip up Whistler Mt. to do some hiking yesterday.  After a 20 minute ride we hiked around the mountain tops and took a swim in a glacial lake.

Here is the biathlon lodge.  There are still a lot of dump trucks and heavy equipment around, but as far as I could tell the basics are all done - road, trails, buildings.