David Chamberlain

Update on Northern Maine Conditions

David — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:46:11 +0000

A couple pictures below from Fort Kent. The conditions are still good for skiing up here despite some warm weather recently. The forecast for the next week is a mixed bag, but the crew from Fort Kent and Madawaska are working hard to make sure that the races will go on as planned. You can see below that there is still plenty of snow at the venue in Fort Kent. Tomorrow I am headed up there to watch the second race of biathlon nationals.

SuperTour Finals

David — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:29:34 +0000

I got back to the County late last night and this morning had a chance to go out for a ski at Nordic Heritage. Things are looking good for JO’s next week. Apparently the weather over the last few weeks has been unpredictable, but there is still a good healthy base left on the trails in Presque Isle. I also have a reliable second hand report from Fort Kent and Madawaska that the skiing up north is also very good.

I am going to put in a plug here for the SuperTour finals coming up at the end of March because I am fired up that they are here in my backyard. Here is the link to the website:

www.supertourfinals2010.com

The races start out with the 50k national championships on Wednesday and continue over the weekend with a three day Tour de Ski Event. I can say that the races at both venues will be fun. The folks in Madawaska have put in a brand new lodge and stadium within the last year and the trails are in a great spot overlooking the St. John River, Madawaska, and Edmunston Quebec. The races in Fort Kent will be at the same site as the biathlon World Cups coming to the US next year. My sources tell me that already there is a strong field registered with the number growing by the day.

There is going to be a lot of racing action up here in the next few weeks! The Junior Olympics start on Monday in Presque Isle, the week after Fort Kent will host Biathlon Nationals, and then the SuperTour finals. It will be nice to have a front row seat to all that is going on. Before things get crazy though, I am headed to the Rangeley Loppet this weekend.

Birke Fever and Pics from Madison

David — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:30:30 +0000

As always the Madison supertour races where a good time. I fell flat on my face in the second lap of the criterium and I didn’t exactly inspire myself with my sprint prelim. performance, but I had a good time skiing in a city downtown. The atmosphere around the races is always an electric one. A few pictures below from Sunday.

I have been following the articles about the Birke on Fasterskier and I am feeling a little Birke fever coming on. Tomorrow BethAnn and I are headed over to Hayward.

Grand Rapids

David — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:56:24 +0000

I thought I might sneak in a blog before the posts start coming furiously with Olympic news. I am hanging out with my in-laws in Grand Rapids, MN. The good news is that my knee is fully recovered, and I have been able to put the bib on a couple times out here, at the SuperTour in Telemark and again at the City of Lakes. I am not in my best shape at the moment, but am trying to get some miles into my legs over the next few weeks for the races later on in the season. Sunday I am all clear to race the Mora Vasaloppet, this is a race I have always wanted to do so I am looking forward to it.

My new training partner, Sadie has some serious endurance in such a small package. Two hours of skiing is no problem for her.

The lake that BethAnn’s folks live on here in northern Minnesota. My thanks go out to the groomer at the Grand Rapids High School ski trails. I hope he or she reads this. The first day I was here I marched through the snow across the lake to ski on the 5k loop at the high school. Every day since I have had my own private ski track across the lake.

Knees

David — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:34:50 +0000

I apologize for the radio silence for a few weeks. In the classic sprint at nationals I tweaked my knee in the quarterfinal and have spent the last few weeks layed up and gathering information about my injury. My knee was swollen and painful for about a week and the preliminary diagnosis was that I had some cartilage floating around in there. I got an MRI done as soon as I could and late last week I was able to get some opinions on what was going on in my knee. The short of it is that it turns out my meniscus is fine, a few frays around the edges, but nothing that requires surgery to keep me going. I had a lot of inflamation around my joint capsule, the likely cause being a strained IT band and a healthy bone bruise. After the first week, the swelling went way down and soon after I was able to move around without a limp. I have had cartilage problems before, and even though this past week I was able to shuffle around on my skis before I had any report on the MRI I was still worried that I might have a problem that required surgery. A while back I had a small tear in my right medial meniscus that caused a bakers cyst to form. I would be fine for a few weeks, and then the cyst would flare up like a golf ball in the back of my knee. It was a frustrating experience, but luckily I was able to get by without surgery. This time around I was happy to hear that my problems were not meniscus related.

I feel like I have dodged a bullet on this one and am feeling pretty good about myself. I took good care of my knee for the first week, lots of icing and vitamin I, I think that made the difference in the long run. Right now three weeks out, I am skiing with no problems. The word from my PT is that I can train like normal this week as long as I pay careful attention to the swelling in my knee. The first sign of swelling and it is back to the drawing board. I have been given the green light to try a race this weekend too. For a few days a couple weeks ago I was starting to think like a retired ski racer. I got some good use out of my birthday gift, the Sopranos box set, but I must say that I don’t think retirement suits me that well. Right now BethAnn and I are at her folks house in Minnesota, I will stage my comeback at one of the races in Telemark this weekend. We are headed over there on friday morning. Cheers!

My knee!