March 25, 2008-Canada Summary and off to Alaskan Adventures..

Since my last update I have had two races and a lot of good skiing on the Olympic trails. I am now sitting in the Seattle Airport waiting for my flight to get out of here to take me to Fairbanks. The two races I am refering to are the 15k skate...

March 18, 2008-Fun waxing makes for a exciting race.

Only 6 races to go and I am feeling like a ski racer. Today we competed in the 10km classic race on three 3.3km loops. Each loop consisted of two moderate climbs and one larger one. It was a lot of fun and was a very good course to ski. For today we had some exciting waxing conditions, I am glad that I was not having to find kick wax for all of us today, the coaches did a great job. We had fresh snow falling at about 0 degrees, so when that happens it is hard to make any wax work as it should. Many skiers did ski on waxless skis and others like everyone on our team seemed to be having better skis on a klister hardwax mixture. I am happy with my race, I was able to ski each lap at a relatively even pace and still double pole hard for the last kilometer. I ended up in 26th place so that was cool. A good result for me. I think there were about 160 starters in the open mens race today.

Tomorrow we have a 15km skate race, it should be fun. I start at about 12:05 and am bib number 487 if you happen to be around. I am feeling good about everything right now so life is good.

check out:

Faster Skier.com for a write up about the team sprint, they said my name in there somewhere...

X-C.com for some pictures from the team sprint, I am in the second picture down in the blue suit...

www.zone4.ca for all results and start lists...

March 17, 2008-Racing in Canada is wonderful!

One race down and seven to go...I am feeling good about the whole deal. After reaching Squamish late night on friday night we found our "shady" hotel downtown and went right to sleep. The next morning we did not waste anytime in getting out to the sprint course to test skis and try and a get a grip on the team sprint set for sunday. I have decided that I really like the trails here. You can tell they just spent 17 million dollars on the venue. It is the main venue for the Olympic nordic, biathlon, and jumping. Very cool area. The clouds have not really lifted so it is hard to see what it looks like. What we have seen is very nice and every time I see the clouds thinning I get excited.

So yesterday Bart and I competed in the team sprint. It was the standard team sprint format with 3 semifinal heats with 12 teams, the top 5 teams moving on to the final heats. The races are 2 person relays in which you ski the 1.2km sprint loop three times total and every lap you tag off to your partner. We had a very good semifinal heat and ended up in 2nd place, the skis were amazing and we were feeling good. In the final heat of the day we ended up in 5th overall. I did the first leg for our team and it was sweet. Lots of action with 12 others who all want to be in the same place, but no broken equipment so that was good. Tagging off after my final leg of the race we were tied for 3rd and then Bart was a little tired and our skis were not spectacular, it had just started snowing and we had some nice klister on the skis, so they were slow and not kicking as they should. We were struggling the whole race to get up the hill without having the kick we wanted. It was a good race though, I was able to recover well the whole time and just go out there and have fun racing.

Tomorrow we get a 10km classic race, conditions could be anything. We have 3 pairs of skis ready to go depending on what the weather does tonight and how the snow sets up for the race. I have my waxless skis, softer hardwax skis, and my klister skis all ready to roll in the morning if need be. I hope I am feeling good for the race, I am a little tired today from yesterday.

More to come later, I have not really been able to get any pictures yet, but hopefully tomorrow I can get some good ones of the area. To check out results go to:

www.zone4.ca

March 13, 2008-Racing again, life is sweet...

Well here goes, this is it, the grand final ending to the season. Tomorrow I am heading off to our great neighbor Canada. Whistler, BC to be a bit more specific. We are taking part in Canadian National Championships, we will be racing on the courses that will be used in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. It is going to be awesome. I don't really have a lot to report on since returning from Italy. When I got back I got a little sick and was recovering from a small virus that seems to have been with me for a couple of weeks. It took me a week to feel like a skier again, it is nice to be able to train hard again.

The next two weeks are going to be a bit busy for me, this next week in Canada I am planning on racing in the team sprint this sunday, then the 10km skate on tuesday, next is the 15km classic, the final event of the week for me is the skate sprint. I will then have a 10km skate on the next tuesday in Fairbanks. On wednesday I will have a classic sprint. Friday I get a 30km pursuit, and the final event of the season is the 50km mass start classic.

In the end it is 8 races in 2 weeks: 3-sprints, 2-10k's, 2-15k's, 1-30k, and 1-50k. I hope I am feeling well enough to do it all, only time will tell. So lots of updates to come and hopefully some good races in the mix as well.

March 2, 2008-Racing and Travel

I have now raced, and traveled. Here is a summary of the trip and some of my favorite photos...