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Archive for November, 2008

En ny Smak

Sunday, November 30th, 2008

Since the season opening in Beitostølen two weeks ago, things have been back to normal here in Lillehammer, or at least for me. I’ve had a chance to catch up on some schoolwork, reconnect a bit with the other international students, and continue with some good training. For some of my friends and neighbors, however, I got to give them some “new tastes” at the first Thanksgiving meal that I have ever prepared, in its entirety, on my own.

Firstly, I would like to take the chance to catch up a bit on a couple of responses to my blog, which aks about my coursework at Lillehammer College and how well my language skills are coming along. Both of which are great topics that I’ve been forgetting to mention—probably due to being frenzied by the start of the ski season. Anyway, the first question mentions if I’m taking a “reduced” workload at school this year. The answer to this question is both a yes and a no. Technically, my school workload this year isn’t “reduced” because I’m taking a full workload of classes, but, yes, I am finding that I have more time than I did at Williams to budget towards ski training and other activities.

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Posted in Norway, Student Life | 2 Comments »

Sesongåpningen i Beitostølen

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Even though it felt normal to switch to snow skiing almost three weeks ago, I’m still a little taken aback that it is only the middle of November. One year ago I was frantically finishing up my midterms and gearing up to travel to West Yellowstone for the first skiing of the year. Instead, I’m already finished one of the bigger races her in Norway—the annual “season opening in Beitostølen.”

This past weekend will definitely be a highlight of my time here in Norway. It was hard to believe that so many good skiers came together, both retired and active, to be a part of the season opening. To name a few, I saw Raphael Poiree testing skies for the Norwegian national team, Emil Helge Svendsen and Lars Berger on the shooting range, and Thomas Alsgaard broadcasting for NRK (something similar to ESPN, only the Norwegian version). Being continually surrounded by world-class skiers and biathletes, which is unquestionably an eye-opener, undoubtedly is a motivator and makes me look forward to the rest of the season. Feel free to check out some photos from Beitostølen in the photo-album.

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Posted in Norway, Racing | 1 Comment »

Beitostølen

Saturday, November 8th, 2008

When the word gets out that there is skiing in Sjusjøen, people seem to come from everywhere in the hope of getting some early season skiing. Today, I woke up at six in the morning and quick ate some breakfast before driving up to the Sjusjøen ski center. By getting up early, my teammates and I hoped to find some good tracks with fewer people, and we did, but by eight in the morning the 5km of trails were already packed with skiers. Among the skiers were the national teams from Germany, Slovenia, Austria, and of course Norway.

In addition to busy trails, I seem to have become much more busy with the coming of snow. This past week has been full of training, school, waxing skis, and organizing for another training camp with Team Statkraft, which starts tomorrow. This time we are headed to Beitostølen, which is a small town to the northwest of Lillehammer. Our training camp will culminate with some of the biggest races of the year. The races will be televised all over Norway. I know it is only the beginning of November, but these races will decide the European Cup and World Cup teams for the Norwegians. So for many of my friends and teammates, this is a very important time. The first race on Saturday will be a sprint, and the second race on Sunday a mass start. To have the opportunity to mass start with the Norwegian national team will be great and, of course, very fast. Wish me luck ;-)

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Posted in Norway, Racing | 3 Comments »

Der hvor skiene er Laget

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

Getting new equipment is always a treat, no matter if it’s passed on or bought in a store. This year it was a bit different for me. Last Tuesday I made the 20min drive from Lillehammer to Biri, which is the small town that the ski-company Madshus calls home. I’ve been looking forward to this trip for a couple months now, and the opportunity finally came to see “where skis are made.” I want to thank Peter Hale for helping me coordinate my trip to the Madshus factory.

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Posted in Norway, Training | Comments Off