February, 2010

In case you haven’t heard, Billy “Golden Boy” Demong and Johnny “Hat Trick” Spillane built on their silver in the Nordic Combined Team Event and took Gold and Silver in the Large Hill event yesterday.  I was already back home when they raced, but we watched the race in the Team USA athlete lounge in the Village.  Our excitement was off the hook when Billy made his move going up the final climb to pull away from the Austrian and take Gold.  Of course, the whole Nordic team went into Whistler for the medal ceremony to celebrate the first ever Nordic Gold medal in the Olympics for the US!

Billy D on top of the podium.

What a sight.

Todd Lodwick and his wife Sunny were on hand with Todd’s Silver medal.

Yeah Billy!

The band “The Roots” played after the ceremonies to a capacity crowd at the Medal Plaza.  This tuba player was seriously impressive.

I usually avoid taking party pictures, but last night was a pretty special evening.  The US Nordic team took over the Spyder House in Whistler, sponsored by the Alpine apparel company Spyder, to celebrate the Nordic Combined team’s success.  Here, USSA Nordic Director John Farra recognizes the Silver Medalists from the Team Competition: Billy, Brett, Johnny, and Todd.

Johnny Spillane and Andy Newell.  “Hat Trick” Spillane won three! silver medals at this Olympics.  To my knowledge, he and Bode are the only Americans to have won 3 medals at the 2010 Games.

The cross country crew, Andy and Liz.

Billy’s to-do list for the day:

• Win the Olympics.  Check.
• Get named flag bearer for the Closing Ceremonies.  Check.
• Get a shout out from Lance Armstrong.  Check.
• Propose to girlfriend Kate in front of friends and family after winning Gold.  Check.

(She even said yes!).

Billy Demong and Nordic Director John Farra.  Not sure which one is happier!

Liz Stephen checks out Billy’s gold.  “Man, this thing is heavy!”

Sweet!

Word on the street is that today’s 4 x 10km relay will be broadcast tonight on NBC in Prime Time.  This doesn’t happen often for cross country, so be sure to tune in.  Our relay team was made final at the last minute with our two distance skiers feeling a little under the weather this week.  We had a solid group of sprinters on our team that had the potential to take gold if we were racing a 4 x 1.5km relay.  As it was, we were a little further back, but had a lot of fun out racing.

The forerunners had their work cut out for them today and skied almost constantly around the course in small teams in front of the leaders, making sure the snow was out of the track for the racers coming through.  They were a little extra motivated as the Canadians had a strong start in their classic legs.  Andy Newell kicked off the race for our team.  He said the pack took things out pretty slow and he was able to maintain contact with the lead pack for the majority of his leg.

Some of the biggest snowflakes I’ve ever seen started falling during the 2nd leg of the relay when Torin got the tag from Andy.  Andy and Torin both skied on “Zero” skis (best at Zero degrees Celsius when the precipitation is between snow and rain) with a synthetic cork and rubber base in the kick zone, which offered the best kick and glide during the race.  Torin made a valiant effort to catch up to the Kazakh and Russian teams, but eventually paid dearly for the effort and lost a bit of time on his final lap.

I got the tag from Torin who came in with an Estonian skier.  The Estonian took off like a rocket from the start.  I figured he’d either catch up to the group in front of us (not likely) or he’d blow up and I’d catch him (very likely).  Sure enough, around 5km into my 10km leg I caught him.  I sat in and drafted him for a little bit, but he was skiing pretty slow.  I took the lead and made a hard pull to make up some ground on the guys in front of us.  While I wasn’t able make up a lot of time, I did maintain the pace and tagged off to Simi right with the Estonian.

The snow stopped and the sun started to shine for the final leg of the relay

Simi skied a smart race.  The gap was too large for him to make up time on the next pack, so he sat behind the Estonian and got in a good draft.  Sim’s skis were blazing fast and he was able to stand up and rest behind on the descents.  Finally, sprinter Simi put the hammer down going up the final climb and came into the stadium with a comfortable lead.  It definitely wasn’t the final result we were hoping for, but we had a good battle out on the trail and had a lot of fun.

Simi and Andy, all smiles at the finish line.  We’re definitely looking forward to seeing the next generation of skiers (or ourselves) battling with the leaders in the next 4 x 10.  The US cross country program is definitely stronger than we’ve showed at these Games, but I’m confident we’re taking the right steps.  We need the US junior programs to continue working hard and the elite and masters skiers to continue to provide support and coaching for the younger generations.  I’m looking forward to watching the United States win the gold medal in this event and I think it’s going to come sooner than later.

Simi in the “Mixed Zone” fielding questions from the press after the race.  I’m now finished with my racing at the Games.  I’m looking forward to getting into Whistler and taking in some of the festivities, as well as watching more events during the final days of the Olympics.  It’s been a great experience.

Thanks for following my adventures on garrottkuzzy.com.  I hope the site has provided a little break to your work day, given you some extra motivation for your Birkie training, offered a little insight into the life of an Olympian, or gotten you a bit more psyched to get outside and enjoy winter. If you’ve been enjoying the regular updates (I sure hope you have!), please consider making a small donation to help keep the posts coming.

Thanks for your support!

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In other news, I just got the thumbs up to represent the US in the 4 x 10km relay tomorrow!  Andy, Torin, Simi, and I – more of a sprint crew than distance – will be toeing the line at 11:15am Pacific.  This is the race I’ve been looking forward to the most in the Olympics and I’m stoked for tomorrow.

I watched some of the jumping for the Nordic Combined team event this morning on my way home from training.  Our men jumped well.  Simi, Kris, and I are watching the cross country leg of the race live on TV now.  It’s got the making of one of the most exciting races I’ve ever watched, especially as an American.  Be sure to tune in when NBC shows the race in prime time.

Stay tuned for tomorrow!

Today was arguably the most exciting day at the Games, especially for the US cross country team.  Both the women and men “cruised” through the semi and into the final.

The forerunners are definitely my favorite group of volunteers at the Games.  They’ve been valiantly skiing the course before the racers, making sure everything is fast and ready to go as soon as the top skiers go out of the gates.

I’ve got a special connection with these guys, as I was a forerunner as well, back at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.  In fact, I’ve run into several other forerunner alumni, like Jenny Hamilton and Jenny Abraham, here in Whistler.  The forerunners have the best job, because they basically have to just ski around the course and get the crowd fired up. . .and these guys are doing a great job!

In the pits at the team sprint are our wax technicians, Peter and Joachim, working hard to keep the skis fast between relay legs.  Chris Grover stands guard with his radio and spare poles, providing tactical information and encouragement to racers during the race.  The exercise bike is for spinning to clear lactic acid between rounds.

Caitlin Compton stands ready to hammer in the A Final of the women’s team sprint.  Hat’s off to Kikkan, Caitlin, Torin, and Andy for a solid day on the trail!

Dear Governor Pawlenty:

Garrott Kuzzy here, writing from Vancouver as a Minnesotan representing the United States at the 2010 Winter Olympics.  I am a Minneapolis/Golden Valley resident and grew up 3 blocks from Wirth Park.  I’ve witnessed Wirth improve significantly over the past couple of years, becoming a much safer, more beautiful, and more active park.  It is my primary training location when I am in the Twin Cities.

I am writing to urge you to support the Winter Training Center at Theodore Wirth Park in Golden Valley.

This project has state-wide significance. The Winter Training Center will allow Minnesota to attract national and international events like:

The United States Ski Association’s (USSA’s) Junior Olympics (1,000+ people for 10 days each year)

USSA’s Senior Nationals (1,000+ people for 10 days each year)

World Masters Championships (1,500 people for 10 days)

These events will have a dramatic economic impact on the Minnesota economy. The 2011 Junior Olympics alone will have about a $3 million impact – with about $1 million in hotel stays alone.

Some of the United States’ top Olympic skiers – including myself and my teammate, Caitlin Compton – train at Wirth Park. With infrastructure improvements, Olympic-level athletes will continue to train and compete in Minnesota – with the chances of Gold Medal performances significantly enhanced.

This project fights obesity among our youth. By providing high level and reliable infrastructure, the Winter Training Center will encourage and inspire regular physical activity in young people from throughout the state and the region.

With $1.2 million in matching funds, including $300,000 in direct private contributions, the Winter Training Center leverages significant community support. Moreover, because of this private support, this project is ready for short-term action and the state’s investment will yield both immediate jobs in construction and good longer-term jobs in tourism and servicing of the facility (jobs that will be paid for through use fees rather than ongoing tax revenue).

The Winter Training Center is the unique project that pays for itself through economic impact to the state while at the same time fostering other state-wide benefits like long-term jobs, Olympic-level facilities and a reduction in obesity.  The environmental benefit of having World Class trails right in heart of the city allows more skiers from the Twin Cities to get outside and enjoy winter closer to home.

I urge you to support this project as part of the upcoming bonding bill.

Sincerely yours,

Garrott Kuzzy

Conditions continue to be ideal here in Whistler.  I’m hitting the hay early after a busy weekend, getting ready for another busy week ahead.  Kris and James hammered out a hard 30km Pursuit on Saturday in warm, soft conditions.

I got a chance to catch up with my CXC teammates Brian Gregg and Matt Liebsch before breakfast this morning as they were relaxing between sprint heats at the Winter Fest in Madison this weekend.  Congrats to Rebecca, Maria, and Audrey who took over the women’s podium.

The Sprints in Madison are one of the highlights of the race season every winter.  Snow is trucked onto the streets surrounding the Capitol building.  It’s a busy weekend and there are events on the snow almost constantly.  Nice to see the CXC women “own the podium!”

While my CXC counterparts were ripping around the Capitol, I was hammering some pretty hard skate intervals on the 4 x 10km relay course.  There is no official word yet, as to whether or not I’ll be skiing the relay on Wednesday, but I’m preparing as if I’ll be racing.

Our two sprint relay teams should be exciting tomorrow, with Kikkan Randall and Caitlin Compton pairing up for the women and Andy Newell and Torin Koos going for the men.  I’ll definitely be up at the venue watching these guys go out and hammer.  For now , it’s been a big weekend and I’m looking forward to a good night sleep to get ready for the week ahead.  Stay tuned!

That’s right.  I’ve been up to the Nordic venue every day since I’ve been here.  On my day off today, it was time to get out and see another event–the Men’s Super G didn’t disappoint!

Klaus Marquardt, one of the German Biathlon coaches, was on the athlete bus to the race as well.  We used our athlete credentials to get some of the best seats in the house.

Andrew Weibrecht, from Lake Placid, New York, laid down an impressive early run while the hill was still icy fast.  It was exciting to watch all the other top skiers come up short against Weibrecht’s fast time.

Of course, watching alpine racing, we got to see some impressive crashes.  This yard sale happened right before the finish–notice the final gate that got taken out and the two skis that were lost.

Ted Ligety does a brief interview after his race.  Watching Bode squeak in ahead of Weibrecht to take the lead was awesome.  I thought the US was going to go 1-2, but Axel Lund Svindal snuck ahead of them to take the Gold for Norway.  At any rate, it was an exciting day to check out the Super G.

Swiss flags and Sid Crosby jerseys–probably the two most prominent items in the crowds at the Games.  I watched one of the most exciting hockey games of these Olympics with the Swiss team in the dining hall last night.  My parents were at the game and got to watch it live.  Crosby won the game with his shoot-out goal.

What an exciting week.  Thumbs up all the way around!

Olympic greetings to Matt and Mrs. Vyncke’s 7th and 8th grade Social Studies classes at Lindbergh Middle School in Peoria, Illinois.  Enjoy the Games!

Haven’t posted anything for a bit, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy.  On the contrary, the past day has been extremely full.  Here are a couple of shots . . .

It was a full day at Whistler Olympic Park for the Classic Sprint with ideal weather and conditions.

The Norwegian spectators, out in full force, were rivaled by the Kikkan Randall and Simi Hamilton Fan Clubs.

Spencer Paxson and Simi Hamilton kicking back after a big day of racing.  Congrats Sim!

Midd Alumni: Spencer, Tim Reynolds, Sim, Kuz, Chris Rodgers–a small part of the big Middlebury presence at the Games.

Gary and Janet Bohn made the trip from Minneapolis and have been hosting my parents at a condo in Vancouver.  Great to have so many supporters out on the trail.  Spirits were high on the beautiful Wednesday afternoon in Whistler.

My CXC teammate, Maria Stuber‘s parents, Aunt, Uncle, and Anne Riendl from the Lapham Ladies all made the trip to the Games as well.  Here, they’re kicking back after a long day of sprint racing.

Getting into the medals ceremony to watch Lindsey Vonn collect her gold and Julia Mancuso take silver was one of the highlights of the day.  Kikkan Randall finished an all-time US women’s best in cross country at the Olympics, finishing 8th.  We’ve still got some exciting racing to come on the cross country side. . .

Simi and I got out for a distance ski on some of the tourist trails this morning.  Another perfect day in Whistler!  Black Tusk mountain overlooks the trail.

Donovan Dums just returned from a sweet trip to New Zealand and Australia.  He’s got some cool waterfall shots on his website that were an inspiration for this trailside shot.

Even the crust skiing was awesome today.  It was fun to get off the race trails and explore some of the ungroomed stuff out in the woods.

We checked out some ski jump training today too.

Sim decided he wanted to try out ski jumping too. . .albeit on a slightly smaller scale!

The stoke is high in Whistler.  I’ve got a few days off of racing and look to take in a few more events and some festivities before pulling on a bib again later next week. . .

Got back up to the venue this morning to check out the Classic Sprint course for tomorrow.  Lots of skiers cruising around the short 1.5km sprint loop, testing skis, inspecting the course, and doing final race prep.  Zero skis (with synthetic bases) were kicking the best and harries skies (bases rubbed with sandpaper) were gliding the best–hard wax and klister were out.  The forecast, however, is for colder temps and no precipitation tonight, so it’s likely that we’ll be racing on klister (really sticky wax) tomorrow.

Simi Hamilton (pictured), Torin Koos, Andy Newell, and I will be starting the men’s sprint tomorrow, while Kikkan Randall and Holly Brooks will start for the women at 10:15am Pacific Time.  I’ll be in bib 48 and starting at 10:52am PT.  The Top-30 times from the qualifier in the morning will go on to race in the afternoon heats, starting around 12:15pm.  Heats will include 6 racers in each heat and the top-2 skiers will advance from the quarter final into the semi final, and then again into the final.

Sprint racing is arguably the most exciting cross country event to watch.  It is also the event that the Americans tend to do the best in (Kikkan Randall was 2nd at World Champs last year in this event).  If there’s one race to follow, this is the one!

Kikkan Randall with her husband Jeff Ellis (on hand at the Games as an Australian wax tech) after winning the Silver Medal at Worlds in the Czech Republic last year.

When we’re not competing or training, it’s been a lot of fun to watch the live TV feed of other events at the Olympics.  Here, the French and Germans are watching their compatriots compete in the women’s biathlon this morning.

Randy Gibbs has been waxing literally hundreds of pairs of skis since we’ve been here.  He estimates that he waxes about 40 pairs of skis per day, including test skis for glide wax, test skis for kick wax, and race skis for athletes.  Each pair of skis gets anywhere between 3 and 6 layers of wax.  Over the course of the 28 days that he’ll be in Whistler for the Games, that’s over 4,000 layers of wax during the month that we’re here at the Games.  Randy loves to wax and, other than Bryan Fish, is better than anyone else.

Randy getting some serious waxing done

The US wax trailer at the Games

Randy with his industrial strength wax mask.  Maybe we need one of these in our dorm room. . .

While life in the Village might be rosy, it certainly doesn’t smell like roses.  Our window and door are constantly open, but somehow we can’t get rid of the stench.  Of all the things they provide in the Village, matches, candles, and fans are nowhere to be found.  We’ve looked.  Trust me.

James and I fell asleep last night laughing about how bad the room smelled.  I think the biggest reason I’ve been sleeping so well is that I just go to bed asphyxiated from the stench every night.  Part of it is our training clothes, part of it is the damp West Coast humidity, and of course the great Mexican food in the dining hall helps too.

Attempting to dry clothes and shoes between workouts–a constant battle.

James can’t take all the credit for the stink in our room.  I’ve been doing my part as well.  At this rate, it’s going to be a long two weeks. . .