My trip to New Zealand has been very productive so far. I have been pleased with my new post surgery legs. Skating feels very natural and the range of motion in my ankle has increased vastly. I have mostly been training four hour days with about two thirds of the hours coming from classic.

I competed in a classic sprint time-trial with Newell, Koos, and Floras several days ago. It was my first race effort since surgery so naturally I was a little nervous about it. The effort went extremely well for me though. The times for qualifying were as follows: Newell 3:50, Freeman 3:51, Koos 3:52, Flora 4:00.
In the quarterfinals I edged Koos by a boot length for first, In the semis Koos and I finished in an undetermined photo finish for a tie for first, and in the Finals I passed Newell in the final stretch for the win.

We are all on different training plans and were carrying various amounts of fatigue into the workout. By no means do I think I am sprinter now because I had a good day against my teammates. I will say that the workout was a good indication that I haven’t lost anything from surgical recovery time.

My feeling on snow is positive. I am enjoying every minute on the snow. My energy is high and the bar at the lodge makes an excellent cappucino.  Can’t beat that.

Yesterday my brother took time out of his busy schedule to take some video of my skating. My coach’s life has been a little crazy recently so the best way to get technical feedback is through video right now. After Justing had finished filming he sent me down a one way road to finish my workout. The road climbed for several miles and then continued a few miles after the crest of the hill. Justin warned me to stop at the top of the climb because the pavement ended abruptly on the backside descent. The “top” of the hill was ambiguous because the terrain rolled as it descended. I like to explore new roads so I did not heed my brother’s warning. Three times I tiptoed and braked around blind corners looking for the for-mentioned pavement end. On the fourth corner I threw caution away and made the curve at full speed only to see a dirt road looming at the base of the steep hill I just started to go down.
Its amazing how many options flow through my head when I know I am going to crash roller-skiing. I could have bailed where I was and yardsaled at about 20 mph in a bed of poison-ivy on the side of the road. There is always the undesirable option of laying it out on the pavement and suffering road rash. I chose emergency S-turns and an attempted glide out on the gravel road I was careening towards. The turns did little to slow my descent and my wheels hit the dirt going over 20 mph. I leaned back as I hit the gravel and it instantly slowed me. I was able to glide on the loose surface for about 60 feet before I knew I was going down. Then I jumped to the side of the street and yardsaled chest first on a well-manacured lawn that was located in a very advantageous location. I was unscathed accept for grass stains on my shirt, shorts, and cork grips. There were also a few stray blades of grass sticking out of my Oakley frames. I lay in the grass for a few moments to let the adrenaline in my chest subside and then filled in my divots. As I skied back up the hill my brother warned me about I had two thoughts, always listen to your brother and where is the video camera when you really need one?