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.

Ciao Everyone,

Everything is good, eh? Well yesterday was Mother’s Day so that is important and I hope that everyone did nice things for their mothers.

Hello Everyone,

I hope everyone is enjoying spring.  EH?  I have taken my two weeks off and about three weeks ago I started my bike training for the cycling season.  YES, from about April to August I am a cyclist.  I travel around the country with a bike bag instead of ski bag, and meet up with all of my cycling friends, who I haven’t seen since last summer.  Except for Marshall Opel, Reid Pletcher, and Scot Krankalla who are my buddies in both. 

After returning home from  Canadian Nationals I started my two week break from training.  Unfortunately I didn’t get to go to a tropical island, or float down the Grand Canyon, but instead got to spend my time in beautiful Sun Valley.  More than anything, these two weeks acted as a time for me to forget about skiing and just be a normal teenager, goofing off and having fun.  I stayed up late (which is a pretty big deal for me), didn’t wash my hands ALL the time, drank a coke, went downhill skiing, ate normal portions of food, and pretty much forgot about skiing.  Now, after that nice relaxation period, I’m working my way back into regular training.