December, 2009

We’re back in Silver Star.  It’s so cold here that the battery on my camera hasn’t allowed me to take any photos outside.  The men’s and women’s teams are staying at different condos here at the Star.  This cold weather has really increased our appetites.

CXC Mens team: Brian, Matt, Bryan, and Karl

Silver Star is set up for training.  Cook and I got into the weight room in the afternoon–a welcome opportunity to train in shorts and t-shirt after being totally bundled out on the trail.

Cook: stacking it.

Nothing extraordinary, just getting it done.

I took Sunday off of racing, part of the plan that my coach Bryan Fish and I made earlier this fall.  Instead, I spent the morning exploring the vast network of trails at Bohart Ranch.  My favorite loop was the Loggers Trail, which goes high into the Gallatin National Forest, and supposedly offers some spectacular views of the valley, but the overcast skies made visibility more limited.  The dusting of new snow on the ground provided a great opportunity to see a variety of fresh tracks.

Loggers Trail - Bohard Ranch

After a couple of weeks skiing in West Yellowstone with hundreds of other skiers and the City Sprints in Bozeman, skiing on the empty Loggers Trail was exactly what I needed to relax and let my mind wander.  I’m reading the book “Why We Run” by UVM biology professor Bernd Heinrich.  So far, the book is more about nature and biology than it is about running, but his insights have opened my eyes to the environment on the trail around me.

At one point during my ski, at least an hour from the lodge without a soul in sight, I stopped next to some particularly big tracks crossing the trail.  My first thought was that the tracks were from a bear, but realizing it was the middle of winter, I reconsidered.  Taking a drink of water, I got an eerie feeling that I wasn’t the only one out in the woods.  I began to sweat a bit, even though I’d stopped and was cooling down.  Looking into the trees, I soon realized that, sure enough; I wasn’t alone.  There was a moose staring right at me.

Continuing along the trail, I almost ran into a fawn standing right in the middle of the classic tracks on a downhill eating buds off a small pine.  Glad that wasn’t the moose!

Finally, toward the end of the ski, I spotted a grouse, also eating buds off a tree.  I’ve got no idea why I never see grouse just sitting around when I’m actually hunting them.  At any rate, it was pretty cool to see it just hopping around and eating.

Grouse sitting on a tree branch in the middle of the photo

The 3+ hour ski turned out to be a great little adventure on the (posted) Bohart Ranch trails. . .

This weekend was a weekend of City Sprints, with the World Cup skiers flying around the streets of Dusseldorf, Germany, and the Continental Cup skiers ripping around Lindley Park in Bozeman.  City Sprints are always a blast because the courses are fast and there are a lot of spectators lining the course.  This weekend was no exception.  We had excellent mid-winter conditions with some great fans cheering on the racers in Bozeman today.  Simi Hamilton, one of my former college teammates, laid down the hammer in the qualifier and posted a solid time.  Gus missed qualifying for the heats by .01 seconds.  That’s close even in an alpine race.  He volunteered to be our chauffeur and brought our team back to the hotel for a quick lunch and hot shower before heading back to Lindley for the afternoon heats.  Bozeman got about 3″ of fresh snow last night, but the groomers from BSF did an awesome job making the track firm and fast.  The volunteers also kept the heats running right on schedule, which is not something to be taken for granted when racers are standing around in race suits waiting to start.  It was another solid day for CXC with most of our athletes making the heats and moving on into the finals.  Thanks to Fish and Igor for their hard work, especially re-waxing with the variable conditions this morning.  Looking forward to a long distance ski tomorrow, putting in some volume while the rest of the crew hammers out one of the more fun classic courses I’ve seen in a while at Bohart Ranch.  No pictures from the day yet, but I look forward to posting some as they become available.

We’re off to Silver Star after the races tomorrow, heading back to Canada.  Might be a day or two before the next update, so stay tuned.  We’ll definitely be up there in time to watch the big game at Lambeau on Monday Night.

Well, maybe we don’t tear out the walls quite like Joe Walsh.  We do take out the beds and furniture, then cover the floor with plastic to make ourselves a wax room.  It’s busy in there today, waxing for the weekend.  Everyone is pouring Toko LF blue, the fastest cold wax around, into their skis in prep for a frigid weekend in Bozeman.

Bozeman Best Western Gran Tree: our home away from home for the weekend

Caitlin Compton has been traveling with us this week.  Great to have her back with the CXC crew, bringing our focus up a notch and entertaining us with her stories.  Stay tuned as we dive into the races this weekend.  Here’s Caitlin showing off the stadium at Lindley Park in Bozeman.

Comp-town U.S.A.

Being a Midwesterner, I’m not used to the dry weather in the West.  There are definite advantages to the dry air, like being able to forget wet ski clothes in a backpack and still have them be dry when you’re ready to work out in the afternoon.  One of the disadvantages is that it seems to really dry out my throat and sinuses.  I’ve been trying all the tricks in the book to help get rid of that: taking steamy showers, drinking warm tea, and laying a wet towel over the heater in my motel room.  Those remedies all seem to be working.  In fact, when I was leaving my room this morning, my hand stuck to the doorknob.  While I was waiting for the knob to thaw so I could remove my hand, I realized two things: 1. there is plenty of humidity in the room and 2. it’s going to be really cold outside.

Sure enough, it was -22 F.  Perfect.  Got to try out my new Darth Vader mask by Air Trim.  The classic skiing was perfect with fresh, solid tracks, albeit a little on the slow side.

Of course, you can’t wear a mask like that and not have a little fun with it!  The mask really warms up the air so that when you breathe, it doesn’t feel anywhere near as cold as -22 F.  It also helped take a lot of sting out of the dry air.

Kristina demonstrating how it's done.

We’re packing up this morning and heading north to Bozeman shortly.  Racing resumes this weekend with a Skate Sprint on Saturday at Lindley Park in Bozeman and a 15km Classic at Bohart Ranch on Sunday.