Relay

Today I skied like a rookie. It's only my second international relay... but I'm still pretty annoyed with myself.

Other than the sections of the course that were salted (few) it was a full on slushfest out there. 5 inches of dirty wet corn. On those days it pays to start out smooth because if you go too hard there is no place to recover and every section of the course is work. Plus people tend to fade hard in these conditions so it you can ski a strong second half you can make up a ton of time on people.

Freeman started off and skied a great first leg coming in not far behind the Canadians and Germans who had some great skis being driven by Devon Kershaw who was on a mission. Cook skied a solid second leg as well bring us in 7th (I think) 20 seconds behind Kazahkstan and 15 or so in front of Italy. I started out nice and smooth trying to gradually work my way up to the Kazahk when about two thirds of the way up the first climb Killer Piller Cottrer came flying by. Had I been thinking, I would have thought "there is not way that I can maintain this for 30 minutes" and kept going about my work. Instead I picked up the pace and stayed with him over the top of the hill and tried to get a ride for a while hoping he might settle down. He didn't and that didn't work. I made it up the next small climb behind him and then my legs started to get wobbly. It took a little while but I managed to get myself back together and salvage something of a race out there but my legs were never right again after the early effort. Pretty frustrating.

Next up for me is the 50k on Sunday. The ladies do a 30k tomorrow which will be a good preview of how the course skis. If it is anything like it was today out there it will most likely be the hardest race that any of us have ever done. Making Sapporo, the previous hardest, look like a walk in the park. The rumor is that they will salt the course which would be beautiful.

Awesome!

Today has been amazing. It has been 27 years since the US won a medal at Worlds and to witness it and the way she earned it... Awesome.

That's more like it

The classic race was a hairies day and I was on kick wax... just a frustrating experience.

For the first time in my skiing career I was in there. The first half of the race classic skiing was just real comfortable. I had great skis and was relaxed in the pack. Starting back in the 50's you are very much at the mercy of those in front and I managed to avoid the crashes and tangles that can send your day down. I just stayed relaxed and picked my way up when it wouldn't take too much work. Climbing comfortable next to some World Champs was a great feeling, climbing past some was even sweeter!

Coming into the exchange I was sitting in 16th position and feeling good. My exchange was pretty slow and I ended up coming out a bit further back than I went in not a big deal since there was still a lot of skiing left. The biggest bummer of the day was I missed feeds on the first two laps of the skating. The feed zones are crazy and that just happens sometimes... So on the third lap I started to get some cramping and yo yo off the back and then on the final lap I wasn't able to hang on... Still I managed to get it back together and gain time back up to the guys right in front of me on the final climb and finished strong.

In the end it was my best mass start on the World Cup level, my best FIS point race, and a great boost of confidence. I was right in there with the best in the world for 25k! I am super excited for the relay and the 50k to come next weekend. Now I get a little rest and I start that off with a massage in a few minutes. 

Tomorrow we go

The ladies were under way today and tomorrow it's our turn. 

The courses here are beautiful. They are set around a hilltop overlooking the town and a really exposed which means it can get quite windy. Yesterday it was blowing hard and snowing so some places the course was icy fast and others you had snow drifts... today was much nicer.

It skis a lot like Soldier Hollow but a little bit bigger to make up for it being at low altitude. A lot of fun to ski when you are feeling good and brutal if you are having a bad day. It has two major climbs, a few minor ones that are still as big a anything we have seen in the US this year, and some gradual and flats thrown in between but everything is skiable. US course designers could learn some things from these guys... 

So I've been classic skiing better than ever, feel good, dig the course, and I can watch the new Lost episode online tonight... all good.

Pics

Some Italians brought out the red, white and blue for the classic race. Then we were off to Czech where they have done a sweet job getting ready. 

A little better

Feeling much better. Whatever I had was super low level and today I skied for 90 minutes and felt more like myself. I still won't race tomorrow. There is way more to risk than to gain when getting over a little sickness and it rarely works out that you see anyone have a good race, especially at this level. 

The sprint today was great to watch although totally frustrating. Torin was super solid and skied really well but just couldn't quite make it to the A final and finished well in the B final. Kikkan looked very much in control all day leading both the quarter and semi-final and was on her way to a podium when she tripped up around the last corner and lost it. So close to a great day. 

This is an amazing valley and our hotel is right on one of the big climbs that the Giro d'Italia goes up or down. It's pretty sweet to imagine those guys climbing by our hotel. For a reference, it takes 10 minutes to drive from town to our hotel and it's at least another 5k to to the top of the pass.

Ciao.

Italy!

Travel over was pretty miserable. 12 hours of delays...

I was about to drop off my rental car in Boston after driving down from Vermont Monday when I fortunately got a call from Air France saying my 5:30 pm departure was moved to 9:30 pm since the Paris airport was closed due to wind. So with nothing to do I drove around South Boston for a few hours looking in vain for something to do before heading back to the airport to start my trip. 

The flight to Paris was great. An empty plane and a solid 6 hours of sleep. I was supposed to have 2 hours there before getting on my flight to Munich. Waiting at my gate to board the flight just disappeared from the screen with no explanation. AHHH! So I run out of security since the little screen inside said nothing to the big board that said it was cancelled. Next available flight was 7 hours away... So after sitting around and walking back and forth across one of the lamer international terminals I have been in we took off, one hour late... Fortunately my iphone works over here, expensively. I was able to keep the ski team coaches somewhat up to date on my situation and Chris Grover was waiting on the other end to take me to Ramsau, Austria for the night. The next morning we drove 7 hours to Val Didentro, Italy where we are for the World Cups this weekend. 

A long trip, but the big bummer is I woke up in Austria with a little sinus cold. Nothing bad, but enough to knock me out of the races here. I will be fine for Worlds but it is always nice to get a race in to reintroduce myself to World Cup racing. 

Italy is as good a place as any to spend some time resting. Good weather with lots of sunshine so the easy workouts are a pleasure to do, the little town are always good to walk around and the hotels are always pretty nice with great food. 

I've got a camera again after someone ran off with that and my US Ski Team hat in Whistler so some pics should be coming soon. 

Ciao.

Win #2

Yesterday started with blowing rain, then snow, then sunshine in time for the race. Waxing was a little nuts but not as bad as it could have been. Once again I felt better as the race went being even with Lars after 1 lap, 20 seconds ahead after 2, and 25 or so at the finish. Right after I got the split I was 20 sec. up on him with 1 lap to go my pole came out of my grip! I had glued them on months ago and the have been fine until now...? It happened on a section of the course where there were no coaches or spectators so a brief moment of panic set in. "There is no way I am going to lose this race because my damn pole came off!" 

A college skier I had just passed caught back up and I offered him $50 for his pole, he laughed. I told him I was serious and he thought about it but said no way. I offered him $100. He still said no... 

It took a few minutes to get to where there was anyone who had a pole when Tommy Temple a legend in Eastern College racing appeared and had one for me. Thanks Tom! I got it on and tried not to go too fast too soon, got back to racing and held on to win. Quite a relief. 

I'm off to the airport soon to Europe. Until then...

Saturday Video

Some footage from yesterday.

It's dumping and blowing outside after raining and blowing all night. Today's could be a doozy...

More and pics

I miss my coaches. 

This afternoon instead of resting and going for a recovery session I spent 2 hours getting skis ready for tomorrow... I miss my coaches. 

Here's some pics from today. One more tomorrow then off to Europe. 

A win!

I'll get some pics up tonight but today was my first win of the season! It took a lap to get moving but I closed well and picked up 15 seconds on Lars who was second on the final lap. Now I've got to rest a bit and then go wax up skis since this trip I'm rolling solo. More to come...

Stowe

For the past ten days I have been getting back to work. Which means some HARD training. Since Christmas the training has really been pretty spotty. Super cold weather made the lead up to Nationals a lot easier that I had intended. Nationals being only one race for me and a short one at that made that week a lot easier than planned and World Cups the next week meant I couldn't do more than maintain fitness and try to be sharp for those. Three weeks and not a lot of quality work leading up to the Whistler races. I have read a few people commenting on the Canadians having 6 or 7 guys in front of the first US racer. When you look at their schedule compared with ours and the weather we had to deal with waiting to maybe race a 10 and 15k in the cold, while they did two 30k's including a pursuit. For everyone but Kris this was both our first 30k and pursuit of the year... what would you expect?

Enough about that. The training has been amazing with a lot of climbs to train on at Trapp's and Stowe, beautiful tracks every day and easy waxing have made for as good of a camp as I could hope for. I have another week of mellower training here before the SuperTour's at Trapp's over the weekend and going to Europe on the 9th. Can't wait to start racing again!