First it’s wicked cold, then it is balmy, then it is way too warm, then it’s wicked cold again. The weather in MN over the last month has been all over the place, but one thing has been constant: the racing is as competitive as ever. Here’s a recap:

City of Lakes Loppet:
Bjorn Batdorf was the skier of the day putting in a huge effort to close the gap on Anders Asthus and Nikolai Anikin on the lakes near downtown Minneapolis. He then laid down a great sprint to beat Anders to the line and win his first major race. I saw this all happen from about a minute back as I just didn’t have it over the last few k’s and finished 5th.

Mora Vasaloppet:
This is my favorite race in the Midwest! It is my hometown race and I have had particularly good luck over the years with the hometown crowd pushing me to the line each year. This year it was Matt Liebsch putting in an impressive day and skiing away from the group. I skied about 30km by myself after I got dropped from the lead pack, but still had a nice ski coming in 7th.

Snowflake:
This is a little 10km that Gear West puts on the weekend between the Vasa and the Birke. Bjorn, Ben Popp, and I hammered it out with Bjorn just taking it at the line. Bjorn’s in great shape this year, not bad for a med school student. Speaking of, Carolyn Bramante is another med school student lighting it up on the Biathlon circuit and skiing at World Champs.

Birke:
The big one in the Midwest couldn’t have had better conditions this year. The snow was great, despite the half inch of fresh snow they decided not to groom which really made things slow. Matt Liebsch used the perfect combination of power and wicked fast skis to pull away and ski down Main Street by himself. I got yo-yo’d off the back of the lead pack at about 11km and then got swallowed up by the next BIG pack a few k’s later. I ended up skiing with this pack to the finish, which included Matt Weier, good friend Ben Popp (who is doing solo RAAM this year – crazy!), and a bunch of other guys who just wanted to hammer. I couldn’t really ski harder than the pack was going, but threw down a pretty decent sprint on Main Street to finish 29th. The Factory Team had a great day with 5 of the top 6 women and Rebecca’s stretch to the line to take the win by just an inch.

Well, the big races are over here in the Midwest. It has been a great winter and we just got hammered with about a foot of snow so there should be skiing for a little while yet anyway. I’m just psyched to get out a few more times and pull Anders around in the Chariot!

Keep skiing!
Chad

The Boulder Mountain Tour has come and gone and I am happy to say that we had a fantastic day. In typical Sun Valley fashion, we were greeted with sunshine, blue skies, a perfectly groomed course, and just all-around pristine conditions. It was impossible not to smile as the gun went off at Galena Lodge at 10am. The superb conditions made for fast times, and the top men completed the 30 km course in approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes, with the women just 5 minutes behind. Mikey had a strong race, skiing in the lead pack, taking one of the preems, and sprinting to the finish to take 4th overall. He was the obvious home-town favorite and was cheered along by the locals all the way to the finish line. 

The women’s race proved to be a strategic one- a group of five of us broke off the front right from the start and skied together for the majority of the race. Four of us were Factory Team skiers (Rebecca, Laura, Evelyn, and I), and Nicole DeYong (Fischer-Craft) was right in the mix. We skied together until the second preem, where Rebecca made a move and broke off the front. Laura, Evely, and I tried to keep her in sight but she proved herself to be the strongest of the day, winning the race by over a minute. I outsprinted Evelyn for 2nd, while Laura came in 4th, and Nicole 5th. It was an impressive day out there, skiing with such strong women and pushing each other mentally and phsically. Congratulations to Rebecca and Zach Simons (Rossignol) for taking the overall wins! And contrats to the Factory Team women for sweeping the podium…we’re already looking forward to next year.