November 19th, 2009

I’ve been on my own or with other teammates for the past few weeks.  As of this morning, the whole CXC crew was back together and ripping around the Rendezvous Trails.  It was a surprisingly typical day in West, getting woken up at 4:30am by the elk hunters next door (they came home this afternoon with a small cow), then waking up again at 7am for isometric strength.  The trail was in good shape, although a little soft around the edges for pole plants.  Tested some new skis and I’m into the new boards.  Fish was out on the trail with his video camera and lactate analyzer, keeping us honest in our training.

Brian Gregg

There are surprisingly few skiers out on the trails.  I saw a couple biathletes and some tourists, but for the most part, it was a typical CXC domination of the trails.

Caitlin Compton and Audrey Weber

Kristina Owen showing off her new Vertical Limit jacket and Rudy Exowinds

Don’t forget to check the West Yellowstone Ride Board.  There is a ride coming up from Salt Lake on Saturday morning and Alye Bohn is looking for a ride from Bozeman on Sunday.

Silver Star is a 14 hour drive from West Yellowstone.  By Tuesday morning, it was time to leave my home away from home for the first half of November.  We got out for a short ski in the morning then packed up the  car for a road trip.    The weather could not have been better and we made great time on our journey.

We spent the night at my Grandparents half-way through the drive.  It was great to catch up with everyone in Idaho.  After a big breakfast on Wednesday, more than enough to get me through the day, we continued on to Bozeman.  Leif and Kristina stayed in Bozeman and I hopped in the van with Fish for the remained of the drive to West Yellowstone.  As Donovan says, it’s one of the best drives in the country.  On the route, we came across some big horn sheep getting their daily dose of road salt.

Big Horn Sheep in Big Sky Country

We pulled into West Yellowstone in time for a big pasta feed with the Team.  Great to be back in West!