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Vancouver!  My bags are packed and I’m ready to fly with the team to Vancouver tomorrow morning.  We’ve got a full day of credentialing, briefing, processing (ie. picking up the new Team USA garb), press conferences, and the like.  Besides that, I really am not sure what the next couple of days will have in store.  All I can say is that I am psyched.

It’s going to be busy, but I’ll try to keep the website posts coming, even if I can’t get to many emails.  There are all kinds of rules about what can and cannot be posted on a personal website (as athletes don’t have media credentials), so you’ll definitely be seeing some changes here on the website and you may not get that inside peek you may have been hoping for.  I’ll know a lot more after tomorrow and will keep you up to date as much as I can.  Stay tuned for an exciting couple of weeks!

Unexpected, unsolicited support of the entire US Cross Country World Cup team (well, the men’s team, anyway), as seen on a store front in downtown Canmore.

Snow and tracks in downtown Canmore.  If you’re into skiing on the street, check out the Madison Winter Festival, February 20-21 around the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin.

We are still in Canada, eh?

phil bowen photograph - teamtoday.org

Finishing strong in Canmore.  We’re kicking back today and tomorrow, then heading to Vancouver on Tuesday.  Even without the races, we’re enjoying some more beautiful days here in Canada.  Looking forward to a little Super Bowl action later this afternoon.  Who Dat?! Saints Dat.

fasterskier.com

Another beautiful day for the Classic Sprint in Canmore.  The day started well with two US women, Kikkan and Holly, as well as five US men, Torin (2), Andy (10), Simi (24), Cook (27), and Kuzz (26) out of a strong field of 70 some.  Kikkan and Torin both ended up in 11th and the rest of us dropped back a bit.  Still, a solid day to have so many qualifiers as we head to Vancouver next week.

Here are a couple of shots from the day:

US Team coach Pat Casey provides an interview for fasterskier.com.  Topher and the Fasterskier crew have been doing a great job covering cross country skiing at all levels this winter.  Be sure to check them out to get your Nordic fix.  The early morning sunlight provided a cool pre-race atmosphere at the venue.

World Cup quality tracks.  This is how good they looked at the end of the day.  Solid.

Behind the perfect conditions all week here in Canmore stand over 450 volunteers.  These guys worked hard over the past two years to make this weekend such a success.  Congrats to Canmore local Sara Renner for her 3rd place finish today!

Men’s A-Final, fighting for 2nd place.  Sweden’s Emil Johnnson was already 10 seconds ahead of the pack and cruised in for his 3rd Canadian World Cup win in three years.  He sure put the hurt on the rest of us.

We’ve got another two days to relax here in Canmore before we head to the big show in Whistler on Tuesday.

Matt Liebsch kicks back in the Hot Seat after posting the fastest time of the day early in the races.  He held onto his seat for at least 10 minutes before the top Red Group skiers started crossing the line.

Congrats Matt on scoring your first World Cup points today!

We start racing tomorrow!  Friday, February 5: the women race a 10km Skate starting at 10am Mountain Time.  The men start the 15km Skate at Noon.  Saturday, February 6: the Classic Sprint qualifiers start at 10am for women, followed immediately by the men.  Sprint heats start at noon.

This is the final World Cup weekend before the Olympic Games.  Start lists, results, and live timing are available here and updated immediately.  Look forward to an exciting weekend of racing.  I know I am!

Testing skis, wax, structure to make the fastest boards possible.

US Teammates Noah Hoffman, James Southam, and Mike Hinkley

Taking a page from MTV’s Pimp My Ride, I bring you a sneak peak of some of the rides on the World Cup. . .

Canada’s National Tourism Bus.  Err, train?  Monster truck?  Who knows, but I’d be willing to bet the mileage isn’t as good as. . .

Olympic Gold Medalist Chandra Crawford‘s Toyota Prius.  Be sure to check out her Fast and Female Project as well.  Chandra really gives back to the sport and this program is absolutely amazing.

My buddy Donovan just returned from a trip to New Zealand.  He documented much of the trip on his website and included several photos of vehicles in New Zealand.  This one doesn’t look much different from the vehicles he saw. . .except this steering wheel is on the left.

Swedish National Team wax bus taken at the 2009 World Championships in Czech Republic.  The 18-wheeler might not be here this weekend, but you can bet their techs will be firing through all 12 gears.

For us Americans, it could be better, it could be worse.  It’s not how you get to the races, but what you do when you’re there.  I’ve got everything I could ask for here in Canmore, including World Class teammates and coaching support, and I’m looking forward to an exciting weekend of racing.

That’s right. . .the Hopkins boys upset the number one ranked team in the state to take the Section 6 title this afternoon and earn themselves a spot at the Minnesota State Meet!  The two teams tied for points and Hopkins prevailed with a 6 second faster average time than runner-up Eden Prairie.

Hopkins Nordic - 2010 Section 6 Champions

From Coach Rob Fuhr: “Today was epic, EP was amazing; they were there all pistons firing, but Hopkins prevailed.  Amazing day for all the boys.  Jack and Connor came in 1 and 2, a tie score for the team, then the tie breaker (whew) averaging the top 4 times.  Sarah Benton came in 4th after a great race and she goes to state too!  Great job by all the coaching staff volunteers and parents!”

Sarah Benton will join her brother Connor and Hopkins boys team at State

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the hierarchy of cross country skiing in Minnesota, the State Meet is huge. . .above the Birkie, above JO’s, and (dare I say) the Olympics (?).  I wrote an article that appeared in this January’s Cross Country Skier Magazine that you can order and read to get a better appreciation for the State of Minnesota High School skiing.

I had the opportunity to join the Hopkins team at a practice over Christmas and saw how much fun and how hard working this team is.  Jack Hinkens, who won the Section meet, can already destroy me on a mountain bike (although I accidentally almost killed him on a ride this summer – that’s a story for later), I think I’m going to have to start watching out for him on the ski trail as well. . .

Jack & Kuzz - post-workout at Wirth this winter

Congratulations to the Hopkins team and all the other Minnesota teams and individuals heading to State.  Keep it up!

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A brief addition to this post. . .another fast mountain biker, Jake Richards, just won the Section 8 Meet, setting the stage for a big showdown between Hopkins and Maplelag.  Stay tuned.

Some days are simply dialed.  Today has been one of those days.  Woke up at 7:30am after a full 10 hours of sleep to sunny skies and temps around -5 C (we are in Canada, eh?).  Got out for a light morning jog before a filling pancake breakfast at our hotel.  The World Cup bus picked us up, along with many of the other teams in town, at 9am and we were off to the venue–a short 10 minute drive across town.

Canadian Olympian George Grey showing off his backyard trail network

US National Team coach Justin Wadsworth is flying solo here until the other US coaches and wax techs arrive back from World Juniors in Germany later this afternoon.  Despite being spread thin, Justin had our wax cabin (closer to the trail than any other team’s), set up with benches and ready for me to scrape my skis and hit the trail.

Canmore World Cup Stadium - Home of the 1988 Calgary Olympics

The groomers in Canmore do their job better than almost anywhere I’ve ever skied (right up there with Little Siberia 😉 ) and today was no exception.  I hit some of the flat valley trails for my warm-up, then zipped around the 15km race course doing some relaxed threshold intervals.  The hardest thing about my ski today was not hammering too hard considering such great conditions and all the other World Cup athletes and coaches cruising the trails.  Gotta leave the cork in the bottle for a couple more days. . .

I caught the first bus home after my morning workout, grabbed lunch, and a quick shower, then worked out some kinks with an afternoon massage.  The US National Team is one of the few Cross Country teams that does not travel with a regular massage therapist.  Typically, any body work we get done comes out of our personal budget.  Massage is something that I’ve started to work into my routine this year and I’ve noticed a marked difference in my increased flexibility, and more importantly, injury prevention.  Two weeks before the Games, however, the stops are pulled out and we’ve got a massage therapist working with the team this week.

Living out of a suitcase again. Roommate Noah Hoffman

I kicked back afterwards with a brief nap and a little reading while my roommate Noah crunched numbers on his computer (actually, I have no idea what he was doing, but it sure sounded like there was a lot of crunching going on).  Noah, who stayed with the Adams Family in Park City all summer, and I reminisced about the by-gone days of our host family’s meals and entertainment.  I’m heading out now for a jog to the store to pick up a few snacks to tide me over between meals.  Although this is how most days should operate, it is rarely so.  I need to remember not to take these perfect days for granted, but appreciate every minute of them.  Get out and enjoy it!

Good-bye Park City; Hello Canmore.  Getting up at 4am isn’t always easy, but I woke up excited and ready to roll this morning.  Although it was a long travel day, each leg of the journey was dialed and on time.  I’m back in Canmore for the second time this season, this time for the final World Cup races before the Olympics.

The World Cup is a little different that the domestic SuperTour.  Going through customs into Canada, I was surrounded by Russian, German, and Finnish National Teams and their entourages of coaches, wax-techs, and therapists.  There’s a certain excitement that comes with traveling on the World Cup circuit.  I rode on the hour long shuttle bus from Calgary to Canmore with the Kazakh National Team, sans my old Salomon teammate Andre Golovko.  Kazakhstan, like the US, had 11 quota spots for the Games and Golovko just missed the cut.  Bummer.

Golovko and Kuzzy - 2009 World Champs - Liberec, CZE

After spending the past three weeks in Park City, it feels good to be back at one of my favorite venues on the circuit and to catch up with friends I haven’t seen since Alaska.  The highlight for me was catching up with my teammate Matt Liebsch and his wife, MaryBeth, who are on their first vacation together since having kids 2 years ago.  After several Podium finishes at the Minneapolis and Telemark SuperTours the past two weeks, Matt sounds confident and ready to fly.

Matt & MaryBeth

The conditions at the venue look optimal and I can’t wait to get out tomorrow morning and kick around the course!

Canmore, Alberta

I’ve gotten a few questions about the weeks ahead.  Here’s what’s on tap:

The next big event is the Canmore World Cup, held at the 1988 Olympic venue an hour outside of Calgary.  The team convenes in Canmore on Monday, where I will be joined by US Ski Team and CXC Teammates alike.  That will be the final big international competition before the Games.  I’ll be competing in both events, the 15km Skate on Friday, February 5 and the Classic Sprint on Saturday, February 6.

Canmore is one of the most idyllic stops on the Cross Country World Cup, nestled in the Kananaskis Valley en route from Calgary to Banff.  I’m always taken away with how spectacular the views are and it’s one of my favorite Nordic venues.  However, as coach Justin Wadsworth puts it: “Canmore is easy on the eyes and hard on the legs.”  The course has some serious climbing and the elevation of 4500 feet makes it that much tougher.  I’ve had a productive training block here in Park City and am ready to tackle whatever Canmore can throw out.

The next stop after Canmore will be Vancouver!  We arrive on Tuesday, February 9 and head up the new Sea-to-Sky highway to Whistler.  We’ll have a little less than a week to prepare for the first event, the 15km Skate on Monday, February 15.  I still need to determine whether or not I’ll participate in the Opening Ceremonies, but at the moment, I’m leaning away from it.  We’ll see.  My second likely event will be the Classic Sprint on Wednesday, February 17.  That should be a particularly exciting event for the US.  From there, the relays (skate team sprint and 4 x 10km) will be decided.  It will be nice to get some racing in early in the Games so there won’t be as much time to sit around anxiously.

For now, stay tuned.  As the sun sets on my camp here in Park City, it’s getting ready to shine bright on the coming weeks in Canada.  Can’t wait!

Kikkan Randall taking Team Sprint Bronze at 2009 Whistler World Cup with Liz Stephen