Hey there SVSEF blog readers. It’s been a few months since I posted anything, but I figured it was better late then never. This is pretty much an overview of my life after the 07-08 ski season, including my summer on the bike and my entry into the Colorado University at Boulder.

Hey Everybody,

It has been far too long since I have updated.  I recently returned from my two and a half week trip to Belguim and Switzerland with the US National Cycling team.  The trip was great!  The National Team’s home base is a big house in Izegem, Belgium, which is a small little Belgian town in the Flanders region of Belgium.  It is cool that there isa home base because they are able to keep tons of equipment, team vans, and team cars all stationed in one place.

The house is fully staffed with Belgians, half of which do not speak English.  The only American on the staff is the head coach of the Junior National team, Ben Sharp.  This was nice because we were immediatley immersed into the culture and had a staff that knew how to race in Europe.  The sougniers and mechanics took great care of us and treated us to European delights such as oil rub downs before races, massages at stage races, and other advice.  Perhaps one of the most Euro feeling moments was going down a downhill in Switzerland at 80k/h in the middle of an 180 person pack and reaching in to the pocket only to small pasteries wrapped in foil rather than “American” Powerbars. The culture in Europe is so much for cycling as well.

Cars driving by us on training rides would roll down the windows and chant USA USA.  People were always saying things like, “succcess” to us before races.  We would pull of to starts in the USA bus and the Belgians would be motioning to us to park in there driveway, then proceed to take pictures of us as we got ready.  At our first race a woman had us go in her house and use the showers after we were done.

The racing itself in Europe is just so fast and furious the whole race.  In Belgium the roads were tiny and rough, and the wind was hard.  My real welcome to Belgium moment was in our first race.  The racing in Belgium is called Kermese, or “Carnivals”.  The race comes to town to entertain, and unlike in the US the juniors are the race.  There is no adult category afterward it is just us.  We also got paid to race in Belgium.  You would pay like 3 euro to enter, but get like 7 back for retruning your number.  The people make money on the race because they gamble on us.  There is a large board where old Belgians put money on riders and try to win the big bicks.  In one race I was going as hard as I could on a cobble road (start/finish) through cigarette smoke, past the gambling board, while a Belgian man screamed in Flemish and I thought, “This is where I want to be.”  It was great.  And I picked up some Dutch along the way.  Here are some pics:

Marshal Opel is a good Buddy of mine and made the team as well.  He placed 3rd at this year’s Nationals!!!!

way to go Marsh.  He is a fellow Nordic racer and together we have traveled all over the place.  Last I saw of him was Switzerland.  Next time, West Yellowstone.  Hotverdoma Marsh!!!

Hey all,

My summer has been ridiculous!!  I have been everywhere.  I have been on more planes this summer than ever before.  I am a bike racer in the summer and the schedule is intense.  In bike racing, the emphasis is more on racing, and recovery from race to race, than training once the season hits.  Thus, I have been traveling around rocking the free world one race at a time.  I raced in Kentucky with Marshal Opel and the trip was crazy.  Marshal is from Glacier and we went from snow and 40 degrees to 95 degrees with 80 percent humidity in one day.  Here is the best part!!   You know the day before the race, where you hydrate, rest, open up the body, stretch, eat and what not?  Yeah, so here is how Marsh and I spent our pre race day.  We got up at like 9 am walked outside our cabin into freaking Jurrasic Park ( we were miles from civilization and the bugs were huge and loud, the trees thick and native ) and locked ourselves out until 5 pm.  Here is what we had with us for that time period.  1 pair boxers each.  That is it.  No water, food, phone, shoes, anything.  It was 97 degrees with 90 percent humidity and we sat on a porch.  It was great for getting the body ready for a 3 day stage race.  Shortly after I went to Massachussets.  That was good.  On the last day a huge French Canadian crashed me going 38 mph.  I have never slid that far on pavement in my life.  The frame of my bike cracked, my handlebars broke, I slid.  From there is was off to Boise for 7 days and tons of other areas.
So the coolest thing I have done was race my first international race.  It was in Canada and it was epic.  It was 5 days 6 stages and 27 teams 180 riders the nationals teams were abundant: France, New Zealand, Australia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan (yes like Borat) and Japan.  The race was ridiculous.  There were people everywhere, camera crews, helicopters. Little kids and girls wanted pictures, autographs, and water bottles.  So my coolest day was like this: The day started off super fast.  ( we were doing 100 k stages in 2 hr 10 min).  First it started raining really hard and a huge cross wind blew.  This made the racing super hard.  Then a camera helicopter had the good idea of descending to about 40 ft off the ground to get a great shot.  Instead, he created a rainy tornado.  Riders were crashing everywhere and it was super hectic.  About 20 ks later I got to see a French national rider and an Ukrainian national rider get into a fist fight on the bike.  That was different.  Then I flatted and got to chase back through the caravan following the race.  It was sweet because the were 45 cars behind the race and my team car was just going crazy to get me back up.  I got the hang up grabbing the car mirrors and slinging my self up one by one.  Once I got back up I was in a twenty rider pile up.  For some reason I was actually just loving life at this point.  I was bleeding badly, my clothes were ripped, my hand was bleeding all over my white handle bar tape, my bars were crooked, and I coudn’t use my front brake, but I was just laughing.  I finished safely and rode back to the hotel.  Once there I went to the medical office.  French woman just saw me and threw me this sponge and said “scrub!!.”  It was nice to know that she cared.  Bed felt good that night.

I am now in California at Junior Nationals!!!

I have good news though.  I have been put on the National Team.   This means I leave for Belgium on the 18th.  I will be there for about 2 weeks and will be racing in Belgium and Switzerland!!!

Free as a Bird.  yeah  ..    Max Durtschi

The Sun Valley Comp team is now wrapping up its second summer camp held in Canmore, Alberta.  This past week we’ve mainly taken to the mountains with the goal of bagging peaks and building a big base for the upcoming winter.  Mixed in with the hiking and running we’ve had a few roller ski sessions up at the Canmore Nordic Center, an intense game of Capture the Flag, and some strength work.  Its seemed like a tough week but everything was put in perspective today when we drove up to the Nordic Center to watch Ketchum local, Rebecca Rusch, win the womens 24 hour World Mountain Bike Championship.  Here’s some shots from the week:

The team with Fortress Peak in the background.

Moraine Lake to Lake Louise.  14 miles.  2 passes.  Epic views.  5.5 hrs.

The run out from Fortress Peak.

Sean Dumke leading the scramble up Fortress.

Glacial dip reveals more work to do in the strength room.

Julia Bowman and Makayla Cappel on Fortress approach.

Soaking the legs post run in Louise.

Scramble up Fortress.

Hike 3: Castle Peak 7hrs.

Rick Kappala recharging the system.